Yes. You need to know about her past.

There's something you've been meaning to ask...

"Hey Vee?"
"Yeah?"
"Who... who..." oh man, this is harder than you thought it would be...
You breathe in before trying again. Vanessa sees you struggle and mentally prepares herself for what is obviously going to be a tough question.
"Who are you?"

The world seems unreal. It's like the concept of time is meaningless. It's like life has stopped working.
But unlike with the kiss, this time it's also filled with a lethal dose of pure unfiltered dread.

This was not going to be fun.

"W-what do you mean?" Vanessa asked baffled.

"I don't know who you are... I mean..." you take another drawn-out breath: "I mean, I know who you are, as in how you are as a person... at least a little bit... but I don't know anything about you. I don't know where you're from, I don't know how you became homeless, I don't even know your last name. I've really tried not to pry, but if you're going to be staying here for several days, we can't have this ominous black hole looming over us. We can pretend that we're ignoring, but we both know there is something there. We can't pretend it doesn't exist forever, Vee."
You look down into the leftover coffee grounds of your mostly empty coffee cup before continuing:
"Please... I need to know... please... if something terrible is going on with you and Olivia, I need to know, so I can help. My consciousness... my guilt won't let me rest until I know."
You didn't really expect that you would cry, but you can feel ice cold tears taunting you, as they race down your face.

Vanessa gets up from her couch, and plants herself right next to you. She swings her arm over your shoulder and gently leans your body towards herself. She caresses your arm lovingly, while you lay your head on her shoulder.

"Asta, you have been an absolutely amazing person. I almost believe that you are an honest to god angel. You let us into your home, use your water, wear your clothes, sleep in your bed, eat your food, and worst of all you let me wrongly mistrust you to a point where you had an emotional breakdown and at no point did you ever tell us that we couldn't or that we were wrong for doing so. You're an amazing person, and we are ever so grateful to have met you. And now, for the first time, you have asked something of us, and you are in tear-driven guilt over it. Why do you do this to yourself?"

You have no answer.

"So don't worry." she continues: "I'll tell you. It's gonna hurt to recollect it all, but if it's for you, it will be worth it."
You both blush a bit. You sniffle, and give her a diffident: "Thank you."

"You ready?"

You nod.

"First of all, our last name is "Chazen"."
"Like the art museum?"
"Yeah... I don't think we have a relation to it though."

She takes a deep breath.

"Okay. Olivia never saw our father, and I can barely remember him. He died of leukemia shortly before Ollie was conceived. We were raised by our single mother, and life was good for the most part. Yeah, there were the occasional bully or mean rich girl who mocked me or my sister with our lack of a father figure, but it was easy enough to ignore them. Our mom busted her ass to give us the best upbringing she could provide. Like, seriously, the sacrifices she made and the effort she put in was so magnificently altruistic. She worked two full-time jobs, she got my sister every single biology book she could find, she waited in the rain for hours for every soccer match I had. We never had a lot of money, and I could see it had begun to wear her out. She began to look really old all of the sudden. Despite that she wouldn't let me help her out. She said she wanted me to have a happy childhood that I could cherish. I eventually got out of high school and started working a few retail jobs, which eased her work load. She quit one of her jobs, but she always insisted that I should keep the majority of what I earned. She was amazing... and for all of those sacrifices, for all of that pain and suffering, for all of that unconditional love that she showed not just us, but the rest of the world as well, what was her reward?"

She is getting quite worked up. You are almost afraid to hear the answer: "What?"

"A house fire."

You feel a burden tighten over the entirety of your essence. A tinge of sadness has turned to an ocean. You are uncertain what hurts more: your heart or your soul.

"Without parents and without close family and without a home, we were truly alone. Since Olivia was legally a child when it happened, child custody had to get involved. I couldn't get custody of course; I had no home to provide. I told Olivia to go with the authorities, so she could be happy and she could get into college, which had been a dream for her... but she wouldn't listen. She wanted to stay with me... "till the better end" she said. So we ran away. She turned 18 shortly after anyways, so it wasn't that big of a deal for anybody but us, I guess.

She kept me alive. Every time despair held me down, she always rescued me. Made me fight for her life. I'm not super smart, and I'm not especially talented in anything, but Olivia... she deserves so much more than I can give her. She deserves happiness and purpose... and she deserves a home. And that's something I can't give her."

She lifts herself off the couch and walk away a bit. The memories have overpowered her. You quickly get up and follow her.
You're standing almost exactly the same place you kissed yesterday. You throw your arms around her in a deep embrace. She bawls into your shoulder. You hold her around the waist with one hand, and you caress the back of her head with the other.

"You are wrong, Vanessa. Home is not a place. It's not a shelter. It's not where you hide from the snow. Home is the people you love the most. By being by her side you have given Olivia the home she needed for the last six months. You are brave. You are resourceful. You are kind. And your love for your sister is truly humbling. You are her only home."

As Vanessa's crying begins to subside, you catch a glimpse of Olivia standing in the door frame. This time there are no snide remarks. This time the only thing you get is a scared sad eighteen year old girl. You give her the warmest smile you can. She nods, giving a weak smile back, and she goes back into the bedroom.

You hold Vanessa in your arms for what seems like an eternity. She has stopped crying, but she isn't letting go. And for the next ten minutes, all you can do is to provide a feeling of comfort and security by embracing her to the best of your abilities.
You hadn't realized till now, how much Vanessa and Olivia means to you. You had no idea that people could become so much so fast.