"No!"

I wake up to Kira's upset voice, followed by a slap on my arm. For a moment, I don't know where I am and what's happening. Memories of Kira tumbling down the bleachers rush through my mind and tear through my heart, and then I remember.

I came to the hospital to wait for Kira to wake up.

I sat beside her bed for a while, chatting with her father while he worked. I was glad that he looked less stressed than when I went to the festival, but he was far from relaxed and happy. At some point, while he was on a video call with a colleague, I lay on my arms and fell asleep, holding onto Kira's hand.

I'm not holding her hand anymore, and I don't know where her father went. He is not in the room with us anymore. I'm sure Kira just shouted something, and she hit me.

"What?" I ask, lifting my head and rubbing my hand over my eyes to clear my vision so I can see what's happening. My head feels as groggy as if I'd slept a year.

Kira is glaring at me! Why is Kicks so angry at me? Did I hurt her?

"Why didn't you go to the festival? You promised!" she accuses me, grabbing the control dangling over her headboard to jack her bed into a sitting position so she can glare at me more effectively. As thrilled as I am to see her awake and glaring at me, I would rather see her smile and feel her holding my hand some more.

"I did go," I grumble sitting up too. "I've only been here for about 20 minutes." Actually, I have no idea how long I've been sitting here at the side of her bed. It's still light outside, so it cannot be hours and hours. I'm not Jet or Barn, who can tell the time by looking at the sun, counting the clouds or listening to the wind... or whatever weird sailor tricks they get up to.

The time is now a quarter past, still daytime.

"No, you didn't." Kira is still glaring at me, really angry now. Why would I lie to her?

"I did. See, I even brought you some juice," I tell her, popping a straw in a small apple-berry juice box (her favourite) beside me on the bench. It is still cold, so I really haven't been here that long. I hold it out to her and am relieved when she takes it and thirstily drinks it.

"Thanks," she says between sips. "But you didn't go."

"I really did go," I chuckle, realising it's time to bring out the big guns. Turning in my seat, I drag the large canvas bag from the floor onto the bench, satisfied to see Kira's eyes grow in surprise as I pull prizes from it. Some of them I won, others the gang brought me to add to my loot bag. Plushies, bubble baths, beaded bangles, chocolates, lollipops and the doll. I hand the ones I won to her one by one, telling her the stories of how I'd won them for her.

Kira listens with rapt attention, happily studying each prize, giggling when I embellish the stories of my prize-winning heroism.

"I beat up a little boy to get you this one," I tell her, handing her the cute ragdoll I traded Tommy for.

"You did what?" she chortles, her eyes sparkling with so much life that my heart grows larger, causing a happy lump in my throat while I look at her.

"Yeah, he beat me playing that thing where you have to tilt a table to roll a ball into the right hole, so I beat him up and took it."

"No, you didn't," she snorts, stroking her hand over the doll's head.

"I totally did!" I exclaim, feigning sincerity. "You told me to win you stuff, so I did. He beat me with the table thing, so I beat him up and took his prize."

"No way!" Kira giggles, shaking her head. Her laughter is the most beautiful music I've heard all day, and some of the stalls where I won prizes played actual music instead of tinny carnival junk. "Be honest. Where did you get the doll."

"Fine," I sigh, rolling my eyes dramatically. "The kid won the doll playing the table against me, and I swapped him for a cowboy hat I won in another game."

"A cowboy hat?"

"Yes, that's what he chose from my stash. The hat and one of these big-ass lollipops," I explain, picking up one of the giant flat, spiral-headed lollipops. "And my only packet of speckled eggs." I'm actually a little upset that Tommy took my speckled eggs. They are my top favourite sweet, aside from Kira's M&Ms... and fudge. Nothing comes close to Kira's fudge.

"Wow, thank you for the sacrifice. I love this doll," she grins, squeezing my hand and just like that, I could no longer care less about my lost eggs.

"So, did you have fun?" Kira asks when we're done discussing the prizes and naming all the weird stuffed animals in the bag. It's a hard question to answer. I know she wanted me to enjoy the day and not sit here moping. I did have fun in some ways, but overall, I did not. My heart was here in this small, ugly room with her.

I try to smile, taking her hand and holding it tightly, enjoying the warmth of her fingers and the softness of her skin. Earlier, when I got here and took her hand, it had been unresponsive, sleeping with her; now, her fingers curl around mine, and my heart can finally beat normally again.

"Yeah," I say in a voice that has gone completely hoarse.

"You sure won a lot of prizes today," Kira smiles, looking into my eyes with clear affection.

"Well, I was on a mission," I assure her. "And you weren't there to undermine me."

"I never undermine you!" she exclaims, but I know she knows I'm telling the truth. "You're the one always undermining me!"

That is also true.

"I missed you," I smile, running the fingers of my free hand through her hair. I'm not sure she understands just how much I longed to have her with me today.

When Uncle Joe and Doctor Grant enter the room, I rise from the bench and cross to the window to make room for the doctor to check Kira's vitals. I can see that Uncle Joe is feeling much better than he did when I just came back, and I am not surprised when the doctor tells Kira she can go home. I am relieved, though.

"Don't be too wild; get as much rest as you can and come back right away if anything doesn't feel right," Doctor Grant smiles, returning the wheeled instrument tray with the blood pressure gauge and other instruments he'd used to give Kira a once-over to the corner of the room.

Happy that she understands his instructions, he wishes us a good day and leaves the room. My heart contracts watching Uncle Joe hug Kira tightly. It wasn't just for Kira that I'd wanted to stay here. I figured it would be hard for him to be here. Having Kira lying in the hospital must be dragging so many sad memories of Aunt Trudy's death to the front of his mind. I hope my aunt did a good job distracting him while she was here. She is generally very talented in causing distractions, especially when she's not trying to.

"Okay, Pumpkin?" Uncle Joe asks, pulling away to look down into her upturned face.

"Yes, Daddy, I'm all good now."

"I'll get my laptop packed up, and we'll get out of your hair so that you can get dressed, and then I'm taking you home," he tells her, hurrying to the small table to pack his gear.

"Daddy, there's no need to look after me anymore," Kira tells him, flashing a beseeching look my way and I get that she's worried about his project. Uncle Joe puts a lot of time and effort into his work. She would hate to cause his hard work to fail at this critical point. I understand why he would give it all up to care for her, but I also know how heavily that would weigh on her.

"I feel completely fine now," she assures him. "I would like to go home, take a shower and go to the festival for a little while if that's okay. Please don't plan your time around me anymore."

That's a surprise!

I didn't think she would want to return to the festival. She must really be feeling a lot better. She seems to mean it, smiling at her father when he hesitates while closing his laptop case.

I take all the prizes from Kira's bed, struggling to stuff them back into the bag, and am about to remind Uncle Joe that I'm here and more than willing and able to look after her for him when I catch his eye. Knowing he trusts me enough to have the same idea warms my heart.

"Ethe..."

"Yes, Uncle Joe," I smile, nodding my head. "I'll take her home and then to the festival for a couple of hours, and if she even looks like she's not okay, I'm bringing her back here. Mum is insisting that Kicks sleeps at our place so she can keep an eye on her if you have to work tonight. We won't leave her alone. I promise."

Uncle Joe looks relieved but still hesitates, giving Kira's bright smile a long, searching look, and then he sighs. He leaves the laptop on the table so he can come to the bed and give her another long hug.

"Promise you'll keep me updated on how you're doing?" he says, letting her go.

"I promise, Daddy."

Uncle Joe turns to me and suddenly pulls me into a hug, patting my back and telling me for the 500th time how grateful he is that I saved his little girl. Then he grabs his stuff and hurries out the door. He is probably afraid that he will not make it outside if he doesn't leave fast.

"My dad gave me his car when I said I was coming here, just in case you needed a ride," I tell Kira, taking her clothes from the cabinet and placing them on her bed. "Call me if you need help."

When Kira leaves her room and joins me in the hallway, my heart lurches, seeing the blood stains on her T-shirt. It's my blood, but it still reminds me how close I came to possibly losing her. Suddenly, I don't want to be anywhere except Kira's bedroom, with her safely tucked in her bed and me cuddling Mr. Big Bear while I watch over her.

Will I ever be okay again?

I think Kira feels a lot better about all of it than I do because she has the energy to try and stop me from taking her to the car in the wheelchair I borrowed from the hospital. I honestly don't know why the girl always thinks she could win a clash of wills against me. After all, I'm the one she insists on calling a stubborn mule.

When I park the car outside their kitchen door, I regret returning the wheelchair to the hospital's reception desk after delivering Kira to the car. That regret grows when I jump from the vehicle and run around it to help her get out and she refuses to let me carry her into the house, no matter how much I beg her to let me.

"No," she says for the tenth time, swatting my hands away, and now I'm sure I'm not the only mule here.

"You can't climb the stairs."

"I don't have broken legs," she tells me, crossing her arms defiantly, releasing them sporadically to slap my hands when I reach for her again. She allowed me to give her a hand to get out of the car, but now we're standing beside it, having another battle of wills, and I can see that I am losing this time.

There goes my winning streak.

"Fine," I tell her, stepping out of her, but I'm only doing it because I don't want her to stand around like this for too long, and I'm afraid that if I pick her up by force, I'll end up hurting her. We enter the house and cross the kitchen with me hovering behind Kira, ready to grab her the second she stumbles or seems about to pass out.

"You can wait down here," she tells me when we reach the door leading into the hallway and the stairs. "I won't be long."

"No way." I'm not letting her out of my sight. Well, I will obviously not go into the bathroom with her, but I want to be near if anything happens to her.

"Ethy, I'm really fine," she sighs a little exasperatedly. "Just sit there. Eat some stuff from the refrigerator."

"No."

She slowly slides her eyes over my face, searching for clues to something I'm not sure what and then she turns away and goes up the stairs to her bedroom. She no longer stops me from tagging along. I leave the bag of treasures I brought on the floor and collapse on her bed when we enter her room. I watch Kira dig in her closet and drawers to gather fresh clothes.

"You're waiting here," she tells me, as if bathing and dressing her were even options available to me. Normally, I would say something teasing, trying to flirt with her or make her mad, but my heart is a ball of lead in my chest. I simply smile and lie back, pulling one of her pillows into my arms to have something to hold on to.

The pillow smells like Kira.

I bury my face in it, enjoying the fragrance and the sensation of being close to her while I listen to the shower turning on in the bathroom. Lying on her bed, with the smell of her shampoo soothing my soul, I close my eyes, giving myself over to the feeling of well-being, untangling the tight bands of anxiety that's had me tied up in their grip all day.

The droning of the shower increases in volume and changes in frequency while Kira's fragrance gradually grows in intensity, lulling me into a peaceful state. Breathing her scent in deeply, I open my eyes, surprised to find her face beside mine on the pillows. Her eyes widen in fright when she sees me looking at her.

I must've fallen asleep for a while because Kira looks fresh and clean. So much for my promise to look after her. What if she'd needed me?

I'm surprised to find her lying beside me, and I don't want her to get flustered and leave the bed. If I didn't know better, I would've thought she'd been watching me sleep. Perhaps she planned to prank me, and I woke up just in time. Whatever the reason for this pleasant turn of events, I don't want to get up and end it. Lying here beside Kira, gazing into her dilated pupils and feeling her minty breath whisper against my lips, is exactly what I need right now.

"You scared the shit out of me today, Kicks," I mutter in a voice sounding like sandpaper rubbing on a rough surface. It is breaking on the emotions stirring in my chest, trying to force their way through my throat. "I hate it when you get hurt."

"I hate it when you get hurt too," she whispers, and to my astonishment, she moves even closer and stops my heart by laying her sweet lips against mine. Their touch sends shockwaves through my body, jolting my systems back to life. For a moment, I lie stunned, too afraid to breathe and make what surely must be a dream disappear.

For a dream, the sensation of her lips soft against mine is very vivid, and when I move my lips tentatively, hers don't disappear; they move too. My fingers find her cheek, crawling over her soft skin until they discover her hair and tangle themselves in the soft strands, drawing her closer as I deepen the kiss.

We had a deal. I wouldn't kiss her unless she started it, and she definitely started this one. She doesn't resist my lips when they capture hers. First, the one, then the other, savouring their sweet softness. She responds with feeling, parting her lips for mine.

I'm only vaguely aware of rolling towards her, trying to get closer, needing to feel every inch of her against me, telling me that she is genuinely here. Telling me she is whole and that she is alive. I give myself over to the sensation of her skin under my fingertips and her tongue against mine, revelling in the joy of being alive and feeling her body vibrating with life.

For the first time today, I am convinced that everything will be okay, that Kira will not suddenly disappear from my life. She didn't shatter; she didn't melt. She is here; she is alive. I can feel her heart fluttering against mine while I drown in the warmth of her mouth.

This is what I've been longing for. This breathless closeness, this intimacy. This feeling of my soul merging with Kira's. I feel her one arm holding me close while the fingers of her other hand possessively weave through my hair, pulling me even closer.

Hearing Kira moan startles me back to the reality where I'm lying on top of her, forcing her body into the mattress. She's small, and I'm heavy. She is injured, and I'm entering a new level of passionate longing neither of us is ready for. I hurry to roll off her until I'm sitting on the edge of the bed, gasping like I've just played an exceptionally violent rugby match.

"If we don't leave now," I say after a minute, too scared to turn and look at Kira, afraid I will roll right back to her and pick up where I've left off. "We'll be too late for you to play any of the games." She doesn't respond, and I'm too scared to look at her. I'm not sure how much of what just happened was just me giving in to my desires and longing.

Perhaps she'd moaned in protest.

I doubt it. I didn't imagine her holding onto me while her fingers tangled in my hair. She was not pushing me away at all. I take a deep, steadying breath and get to my feet. I need a cold shower right now, but shaking my legs and concentrating on my breathing will have to do for now.

Kira stands too. She doesn't break the silence or touch me, which is probably good. I don't know what might happen if she touched me now. I glance at her, and her eyes shy away from mine, confirming my fears that she is well aware of my current state.

Kira and I have shared some awesome kisses during this week we've been dating, but not even the one on the beach when we were sharing ice cream came close to what just happened. I should be over the moon right now, but all I feel is shaken.

Kissing Kira like that confirmed one thing I already knew and feared. I will be devastated if she decides to end what she sees as some friendly dating to help me be a better boyfriend. I cannot lose her. There will never be anybody I'll feel about how I feel about Kira Croft.

I love her so friggin' much.

"Ethan?" she whispers, sounding worried, and I turn to look at her, smiling as sincerely as my stiff face allows me to. I know my feelings are probably written all over my face, but there's no way to hide how much I love this girl, standing there with her lips slightly swollen and red from the most amazing kiss we've shared.

"Thanks for saving me today," she suddenly says, breaking the tension building between us. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Relaxing under her worried eyes, I close the gap between us and wrap my arms around her small frame, hugging her against my chest. I'm happy to feel her stroke my back in soothing circles.

"I've been reliving that day you fell into the ocean, and I thought we'd lost you. I know today wasn't even half as bad, but I just..." I hug her closer, burying my face in her freshly washed hair, taking comfort from the soft strands and the subtle fragrance. "I was freaking out," I admit. "I'm okay now that I know you're really fine."

"Yes," Kira whispers, wrapping her arms tighter around me. "It's all good now."

♂♀