Ross is persuaded.

Ross sobbed into Madison's chest and she held him. They passed through the darkness together, then he lifted his head.

"Ok," Ross said, and her smile lit his heart on fire. She kissed him gently on the forehead and leaned him back like a mother laying her infant in a crib. Ross didn't resist, his frame splaying out limply across the bed.

Madison silently unbuckled his belt, then unzipped his pants. Slowly, gently, she removed his clothing. His member sat flaccid between his legs as she disrobed in the dark. Once both were fully uncovered, she rolled on top of him and pressed her body into his.

The warm, erotic embrace of the woman-thing released something in Ross and he moaned. It was a low, wet, animal sound of relief. Madison put a hand to his cheek in an intimate gesture of affection and he leaned into it yearningly.

"You've been through so much," she whispered into his ear. Her hot breath tickled his neck and he felt a stirring in his belly. "You need this."

Madison reached for her discarded scarf and looped it around his head twice, creating a makeshift blindfold.

"Forget about Madison," she commanded him. "Forget about Dr. Chambers. Forget about Erica and Andrew and golems and school. Picture a steel grate at the bottom of your mind where all of this sediment has collected. Open that grate and let it all flow out of you."

Ross gave a long sigh as he followed her instructions. He felt a warmth envelop him and tears came to his eyes.

*All of this will be here when you get back. Just listen to my voice, feel my body against yours. Let go."

He did as the voice said, falling backwards into a place between sleep and wakefulness. There was something on top of him and something wrapped around him. It wasn't squeezing or pulling but embracing. Ross hardened and it yielded. It was warm. It was soft.

He lay like this for an indeterminate amount of time, aware only of the glowing ember of warmth that encapsulated him. He truly forgot, existing in a state that was nothing more or less than pute welcome. Nothing mattered anymore, there was no happiness or sadness in this dim realm of experience.

Out there an egg hatched, a person cried in ecstasy, eyes opened and eyes closed. Out there a pile of dirt sat motionless beneath a stained blanket and another prepared for an 8:30 class. In her none of it was real. In her only one thing was.

Ross was home.