Charlotte's POV...

"Emma, what are you doing here?" Levi belligerently asks her.

"You're walking!" She says with surprise and excitement in her voice.

"Sort of.... you didn't answer my question," he growls.

"I wanted to see you, I missed you," her voice becoming high pitched.

Levi squeezes my neck in his arm to wake me up. "Unlikely," he says to her.

This feels like a dream. If Levi hadn't grabbed onto me tighter, my eyes would still be fixed on her, dumbstruck.

"Charlotte, please bring me back to my chair," he whispers into my ear.

I turn us around so we can walk back to his room. I can feel Emma walking behind us, watching closely. I quickly glance back at her, her head slightly tilted and lips pursed together. She's studying the way we're walking.

I help Levi into his chair and unlock his leg brace so he can bend his knee.

"I thought we could go out and get a cup of coffee, catch up on things?" I hear Emma ask. I want to punch her pretty little face, I'm not sure how much self control I have left in me when it comes to her. Levi almost died because of her.

"No, I'm good," Levi retorts.

Emma crosses her arms and frowns at him. " Come on Levi, Mark told me you went out with the guys last weekend, so I'm sure you can go out for a cup of coffee with me," she argues with him.

"Fine, there's a coffee shop two blocks down from here," he finally gives in and I catch myself glaring at him for agreeing to her request.

What is he thinking? He shouldn't be going anywhere with that selfish she-devil. I don't know what's got into me, just her being in the same room as Levi is making me angry and nervous at the same time. I feel sick and shaky inside.

Levi maneuvers his chair towards the door. " You don't want to walk with me?" Emma asks.

"No, I'm fine in the chair... let's go," he commands her.

He looks back at me quickly before leaving with her. For a second I see guilt flash through his eyes, but I'm too pissed to do anything else except cross my arms and avoid his gaze.

A small crowd of flashing cameras follow them as they make their way down the sidewalk together.

This is not going to end well, I think to myself. What is she really doing here anyway? She heard he went out with his friends last weekend, so that justifies her visiting him now, after five months!

"Why the sour look on your face?" Nate asks while walking by me.

" Emma just showed up and they are out having coffee together," I answer.

"Oh...... umm, Jake is waiting for you in the gym," he says, concern clear in his voice.

Jake is sitting on the floor mat when I enter the gym. His head jolts back as he gives me a wide eyed stare. Before he has a chance to ask me about my foul mood, I proceed to tell him everything.

" I wouldn't worry to much about Emma anymore," Jake tells me.

"I'm worried about her hurting Levi again," I point out.

"You shouldn't worry about that either, it's you that he cares about, not her," Jake informs me.

"What makes you think that? Jake."

"Haven't you seen the way he looks at you and how he acts around you... it's love!" Jake exaggerates.

"You mean his constant mood swings?... He needs me to help him, it's not love he's feeling, it's gratitude!" I try to convince him.

Jake shakes his head, giving me a disappointing look and continues trying to persuade me. " Charlotte, I feel overwhelming gratitude for you too, but I'm also in love with my girlfriend, there is a difference between the two."

I shrug my shoulders and he realizes I still don't believe him, so he continues on. " His mood swings are from feeling confused and frustrated. Gratitude doesn't relieve his panic attacks or calm his spasms or make him fight to be better... love does."

"Having my girlfriend here every day by my side, helping me and supporting me through it all, shows me how much she loves me. She is the reason why I don't give up. It's Love that makes me want to get better, for us... and that is who you are to Levi," he divulges.

I stay quiet, holding Jakes feet firm to the mat while he completes his sit ups and I ponder everything he's just told me.

Maybe Levi does feel something other than gratitude for me? I know I have feelings for him, the way my body shivers when he squeezes my hand, how I'm always thinking about him even when I'm not near him. He makes me laugh, and cry, he gives me purpose and makes me feel needed. These are things I have never experienced before with any other guy. I want more of him, but I can't. I wish there could be more, but I'm not naive. As soon as his treatment is complete and he can live on his own again, he will go back to England, go back to his his famous life, probably go back to Emma too or any other beautiful famous actress.

I help Jake get up to stand, hand him his crutches, and thank him for the talk.

"Charlotte, please think about what I told you. I think it's you who has to figure out what you really want now," he says to me on his way out of the gym.

Dammit Jake, why do you have to be right!

Just as I enter the hall I catch Levi rolling toward his room from the lobby, Emma following behind. They're both arguing about something, but I'm not close enough to make out what they're saying.

By the time I reach Levi's room, I see him sitting on the edge of his bed. I was about to knock and enter his room until Emma gets up onto the bed and straddles her legs around Levi's, aggressively kissing his mouth then his neck. I'm frozen by the door, once again in shock by Emma's actions. I see Levi pull his head away, trying to avoid her lips and harshly tells her to get off of him. That makes me smile. She ignores him and continues to invade his neck. " Get the fuck off me Emma!" He shouts.

Emma climbs off of Levi, and slowly backs away, startled by his rejection. Levi looks over at me which causes Emma to turn around also.

Emma's face turns red, her eye brows crease as she angrily glares at me. "It's her isn't it?" She hysterically asks Levi while pointing at me. "You're a fucking movie star, you deserve someone like me, not some therapist!" She adds with equal hysteria.

"Just leave Emma! I don't want you here," Levi tells her.

Emma grabs her purse and walks through the door, gives me a smug look and gloats, " See you two next weekend."

My head is spinning. What the hell just happened? This day has brought nothing but torment. I need to take a walk, clear my head.

Levi quickly gets himself into his wheelchair and starts after me.
"Charlotte, wait, where are you going?" He frantically asks while I  jog down the hall.

Suddenly he grabs my left hand with his right to turn me, then pulls me down towards him and crushes his lips onto mine. A jolt of electricity surges through my body, my lips moving slowly in sync with his until my mind regains control of itself and I pull away.

I focus my gaze towards Levi's perfect face. I'm so confused right now and the way Levi is looking back at me shows my feelings are reciprocated.

" I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pull away like that... I'm  just confused," I quickly say to him.

He's looking at me like he's hurt now, so I start spitting out what's going through my mind. " You spent the day out with Emma, then she's climbing all over you sucking at your neck, then she leaves and you pull me down and kiss me! I'm upset, confused and I want to kiss you again,"  I blurt out.

His eyes change from worry to glowing after he realizes what I just said.

I grab his hand and give it a slight squeeze letting him know I acknowledge what he feels.

"Can we talk?" He softly asks me.

We both head into the empty lounge and sit down on the couch together. He proceeds to tell me that he thinks Emma only came because someone told her he was walking. He told Emma about his progress and all the ways I've helped him, but that she just seemed angry and disappointed in him, and when she saw how we walked together, she was jealous.

I thanked him for telling me then brought him back to his room and helped him to his bed.

" I have to go to California for three days this week," I nervously say to him.

"Why?" He asks, his tone angry.

I tell him about my new opportunity to expand my rehab center. "There's a new building my partners want me to look at before making any renovations."

"It'll only be three days and when I return we can get ready for our trip to England," I promise.

" I know, me leaving is bad timing."

"Yes, it is," he grumbles. "I'm sorry if kissing you, ruined what we already have. I don't regret kissing you, I don't want to lose you either. If I've crossed some kind of patient/ therapist boundary or you don't feel the same way about us as I do, please let me know right here and now. If I'm being delusional in thinking you'd actually have feelings for me or want me...." I walk over and smash my lips to his, breaking momentarily when I need to catch my breath. "I want nothing more."

He smiles and hugs me like his life depends on it.

"I'll be back in a few days. Nate will keep you so busy with therapy, you won't even realize I'm gone," I smile back.

"That's debatable," he chuckles.

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Thank you all so much for reading! My next chapter will be pretty long, I should have it finished and posted by tomorrow...

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