Jekyll had never believed in second chances, but now he didn't have a choice.

He had been bedridden for several weeks with only one thought going through his head: it was his fault Lanyon died. His fault. His fault.

But then he heard the banging on his door, and it wouldn't go away, and when he answered it finally, it was Lanyons face. Partially rotted sure, but it was him none the less.

He could've cried from joy but he restrained himself.

"Robert?"

The creature stumbled into the house, seeming to have a hard time keeping itself up right or speaking.

"Robert. Look at me, please."

It took a good minute but he managed to turn his emotionless face toward Jekylls and the jaw worked itself for a moment.

"H- he- he-"

Oh god Robert couldn't even speak. Jekyll wanted to cry for an entirely different reason now. He reached out and grabbed his hand carefully, to ensure he didn't break anything and brought Lanyon closer, but still a good foot away just in case.

"Yes, I'm here Lanyon, and I'm so, so sorry. It's going to be okay now. I'll make sure of it."

Lanyon for the most part, was allowed to wonder around the house. On occasion, Jekyll would see a spark of light enter his blank eyes, and he seemed to gain some sense of self and sentience. the first few times it happened Lanyon avoided him like he was the plague. He shut himself in his room and cried non stop because he deserved it, it was his fault Lanyon died, his fault it was like this.

Now though, when Lanyon seemed to be more then a mindless beast, they got along. Played chess, Jekyll would talk about life (because Robert still couldn't speak) or read to Lanyon on occasion (he was missing the fine motor skills to turn individual pages and most likely the eye sight to read anymore). It was a pleasant experience.

Until finally, the occasional batch of flesh weaver wasn't enough, until Henry found himself pinned to a wall by his dead friend.

"Lanyon, stop it."

Lanyon opened his mouth and struggled to bite Jekyll.

"I mean it, stop it this instance! Or else I'm going to do something you won't like."

He continued to attempt to bite Jekyll, seeming frantic.

Luckily his rotting state made it easy for Jekyll to overcome him, but it still took him an hour and Lanyon loosing an arm before Henry finally locked him up.

The creature continued to struggle forward and let out pitiful sounds and Jekyll just stood there a moment.

"I'm sorry I- I am so sorry Robert, I will fix this, I swear to it. I just need some time."

Lanyon didn't respond, and Jekyll left and took the potion for the first time since Lanyon died.

As Lanyon slowed his manic feast, Jekyll sat down by him and unlocked the chains binding him. Lanyon scrambled into Jekylls arms and Jekyll started running a hand through his hair which he happily leaned into.

"See, you're not so bad, you were just hungry weren't you? Just tell me next time, it's easy enough to fix. Now, let's get your arm back on and then clean you up yeah?"

Lanyon hugged Jekyll harder and nodded as Jekyll chuckled at his friend.

As he worked on sewing the arm back on, Lanyons face seemed to fill with guilt and shame. He let out a low moan.

"What is it?"

He gestured to the blood on his face and tried to speak.

"S- s- sor- sor-"

Henry paused at his work.

"Hey, none of that, you have nothing to be sorry about. You need to eat and that's hardly your fault."

Lanyon shook his head, trying to get Jekyll to understand. How did he not see that this was WRONG?!

He stopped his movement when a hand was going through his hair again and forgot what he was thinking about.

Henry Jekyll never believed in second chances, but now that he had one, he would do whatever it took to keep Lanyon satisfied.