It was late at night and Dahlia wasn't excepting any guests. Thus when her doorbell rang she was confused. She quickly shushed Cano before heading to the door.

Once it was open, Dahlia was overcome by three emotions;

Happiness as she spotted Tristan's face.

Confusion when she saw the way he posed. Down on one knee. As if he was proposing?

Horror as she saw a dark liquid pooling at his foot. A red, metallic-scented liquid.

"Tristan," she started slowly.

"Dahlia, my paradise! I love you so much" he exclaimed. Was that alcohol? Dahlia could smell it now that he was talking. "Would you-"

"Tristan you're bleeding!" everything clicked once she spotted his shirt. The left side of which was drenched in crimson.

"What? No, It'll stop," he didn't sound fazed, but he did sound drunk. 

"Get up. I'm taking you to a hospital."

"No!" he coughed and blood splattered the doorway, "No hospitals."

"What were you doing?" Dahlia asked, frantically removing his shirt to locate the wound. He groaned lightly when she exposed it.

"It'll close, Dahlia."

"I don't... I don't understand." The wound was in fact very slowly closing but that didn't stop the blood loss. It didn't prevent Tristan's face from becoming pale. It didn't stop him from sweating profusely. And it definitely didn't stop his temperature from dropping dangerously low.

Dahlia cautiously lifted the barely conscious man upwards. She slammed her door shut before staggering down the stairs. 

"Are you carrying me?" he laughed.

"Oh God," she looked at his face. His eyes were lidded and his mouth was covered in blood. "Don't you dare pass out, Tristan! Stay awake."

"So dry," he spluttered, "So cold," his legs gave out completely. Now Dahlia was really carrying him.

If Tristan were awake, he would've felt the single tear that fell on his face. He would've heard the little pleas targetted towards him. 

"Stay awake. Stay awake, Tristan."

~~~~~~~~~

"Dahlia..." It was the first thing Tristan said when he woke up. Lucky for, him she was standing at the doorframe talking to a doctor.

"Hey," she walked towards him, "How're you feeling?"

"A little headache but otherwise all right."

"Good," she sat on the end of the bed, "You're an idiot."

"I-"

"How dare you? How dare you come to my doorstep bloody and drunk and- and," she took a deep breath before holding out a small silver band. His mother's engagement ring. "You dropped this."

Tristan didn't take it. "Am I good to go?"

Dahlia rolled her eyes, "After some paper signing and check you're free to leave."

"Perfect," he stated before rolling off the bed and into a kneeling position. He took the ring from her. "Now, will you marry me?"

"What is wrong with you?" she whispered.

"It's just three months then you're a free lady again. No one has to know if you don't want them to. Three months then you forget me."

She scoffed before taking off her glasses and rubbing her nose.

"I'm sorry, Dahlia," he smiled softly, eyes full of sadness, "I just know that I'd never ask anyone if I didn't ask you," he put the ring away, "You're spectacular," he got back on the bed, "Wonderful. I wouldn't be able to look at another woman with a ring in my hand without seeing you."

"Idiot," she shook her head ignoring the tug on the corner of her lips, "I will," she finally smiled.

"What? You're serious?" he stared at her, jaw hitting the floor. He was even more dumbfounded when she placed her hand in his, separating her fingers slightly.

"I love you," she whispered once he'd finally put it on her ring finger. It was the first time she'd said those words to him. Tristan felt like crying. He couldn't remember another time that was so euphoric.

"I love you too," he said as he slowly got back on the bed. He didn't understand why she agreed. He was being childish and foolishly hopeful and she was too. They understood each other. They respected and trusted each other. Nothing else mattered.

"So you just happened to have a ring on you?"

"Yes, It was my mother's."

"Oh," Dahlia said for lack of better words.

"I'll get you one. Huge diamond and all, as soon-"

"Tristan, Tristan," she stopped him, "I don't want another one," she slowly grasped his hand, "I'm honored that you thought me worthy of your mother's ring."

"You're amazing," he sighed leaning backward, never letting go of her hand.

"I know," she smirked. Her usual smirk, but this time her eyes weren't playful or determined. They were full of adoration. Full of a joy that matched Tristan's own.

"I'm sorry. I just... I just wanted to see you. I felt the pain too late and I knew the nanocollagent wouldn't save me. I was dying and all I could think about was your eyes. They give me peace. I wanted to see them one last time."

"So if you hadn't come to me you would've died?" she got off the bed, huffing as she slumped in a chair, "I'm happy you're alive, but you owe me. I sounded like a crazy woman, telling them you lost a lot of blood from a weeks-old wound that was already closed."

He laughed, "I'll take care of the information. How did you even convince them to allow you here?"

Dahlia chuckled nervously before replying, "I told them I was your wife."

"That's true now," he pointed out and they were both plunged into a comfortable silence.

Dahlia was fiddling with the ring, turning it around her finger again and again. She wanted to say something, Tristan could tell, but he didn't ask her. He chose to admire her instead. How her glasses framed her face perfectly. How the sun made her brown hair seem golden. How her fingers delicately touched the ring as if fearing it would disappear.

"What happened?" she finally asked still looking at the ring.

Tristan thought for a moment. He hadn't yet told her the full truth of his life. He didn't mention his parent's murder at his young age. Or time travel. Or any of the awful things he'd done. He realized, however, that the events that led up to this didn't include any of his past.

"I had a meeting with some other agents. One of them insulted you and I got angry."

Dahlia looked at him sternly and gave an exasperated sigh, "You're a 36 for crying out loud. You can at le-"

"Dahlia, my paradise, let me continue. They couldn't tell I was angry, I didn't act on it. Only the agent closest to me," Leon. Leon betrayed him. Tristan shook the thought away as he continued, "Only he could tell something was wrong. He asked and I said that the mission was going smoothly, no one suspected me, the standard reply." Tristan stopped talking as he took in a deep breath.

"Go on," Dahlia's soft hand encased his own.

"He's lying," Leon stood forward, closer to Tristan. Something was wrong. He wasn't acting normally. Leon would never stand against him.

One of the agents scoffed, "801, Who have you gotten attached to this time?"

"I haven't gotten attached to anyone."

"Are you in love, 801?" an agent younger than Tristan teased. Why was this child here?

"I'm not in- What does this have to do with our meeting?"

"You know the first rules of any mission right?"

"No attachments," Tristan repeated what he'd said at almost every meeting.

"And yet you've gotten attached."

But Leon could tell. He could always tell. "801," he put a warning hand on the younger man's shoulder, "Tell the truth. Don't get yourself in trouble."

Tristan would've told the truth. He really would have. Except they would erase Dahlia's memories of him. Or they could kill her, and Tristan wouldn't be able to live with either of these options.

He looked Leon in the eyes and he knew. He knew the exact moment when his fate was decided. They would kill him here and now.

That's why Tristan was faster. He was the first to grab his gun and although he wasn't the first to pull the trigger, he was the only one able to kill. Two people, maybe three if he hadn't got shot. If that little bastard of an agent hadn't wounded him first.

"I didn't mean to kill them but," Tristan furrowed his brows and closed his eyes. He didn't want to look at Dahlia right now. "But we were trained to kill. My natural instincts were to target the most important organs."

Dahlia squeezed his hand before letting go, "No more killing for the rest of these three months."

"You're fine with this?"

"Of course, I'm not fine with it. But I'm human."

"I'm selfish," she said after a pause.

"And I love you," she said after a longer pause.