"Well, that was interesting..." Geneva mused as Death disappeared into thin air.

        He'd sunk to the ground, unprovoked, and leaned against her in...Supplication? Geneva wasn't used to being worshiped and wouldn't know the difference between supplication and picking up a penny. But he'd knelt at her feet and offered that lush silk dark golden hair to her greedy fingers. She saw him rake his hand through it earlier when he was upset and was eager for her turn to do the same. 

        He'd groaned against her belly, a sweet pained sound. The noise was so familiar but just before she could place it, he'd...Freaked the fuck out and scrambled away from her as if she'd committed some foul act of stranger-danger. Maybe she had, Geneva thought. It was rude to run her hands through his hair without asking. Next time, she promised herself, she would ask.

        With Death out of the picture, Geneva could focus her attentions on Lizzy. The blonde was a hot mess. She looked as though she'd been run over by a school bus. Her delicate face was purple and bruised and there was a machine breathing for her. Had Geneva really thrown her arms over Lizzy? Good Goddess! She could have further disfigured her friend.

        Geneva, with Death now cleared from her mind, pulled a chair up next to Lizzy and sat down. She took her friend's pale hand, so white against her own caramel skin, and soothed her. Love had healing qualities. She herself was not a healer, but she'd heard that love could cure old age. Love was vitality and it was the only thing Geneva could do. So Cupid held vigil at her friend's bed, hoping that whatever flowed through a Cupid's body could flow through Lizzy's too.

        "Who are you? Are you family?" Geneva jerked awake at the sound of a man's soft voice. The Cupid rubbed Morpheus from her eyes and stifled a lazy stretch because she didn't want to let go of Lizzy's hand.

        "Um..." Geneva began dumbly, waiting for her brain to kick into action. It was still dark outside, she must not have slept very long.

        "I'm sorry, Miss, but visiting hours are over for non-family members," the older man continued. The nurse didn't seem to be at all worried about Geneva's presence other than possessing the knowledge of whether she was any family to Lizzy. A singular glance would let everyone know that Lizzy and Geneva were not related. If their skin pigment alone was not proof enough. Geneva had feline features, smooth and cunning despite her bubbly temperament. Lizzy had delicate soft features that reminded Geneva of angels sleeping. 

        When Geneva turned toward Lizzy to share a secretive smile, she remembered and was startled into a gasp. Her friend was quite severely injured. If Geneva had come a moment too late, Death would have taken Lizzy away from the Earthly realm. The bruising on Lizzy's face looked so vivid against her pale skin. If it were possible, she was paler than even Death himself!

        "Miss?" The nurse prompted and Geneva tore her eyes away from her friend. She blinked away the tears.

        "I'm..." What lie could she tell? She couldn't possibly leave Lizzy alone, not if her client was on Death's list. "I'm her girlfriend. Actually, we were suppose to go to a movie tonight...But she was late and.." Geneva choked on her tears and noticed that the nurse had paused to listen, completely enraptured.

        "I didn't know...I just. I was just waiting there. I was so mad at her. I thought she'd stood me up again so I just...I just went in and watched the movie. I feel so guilty. Please," Geneva looked up at the older man with sorrowful wet eyes. "Please don't make me leave her like this. I... I can't leave her like this."

        "Oh, um...Well," he began, looking awkward as he shuffled from foot to foot. "I guess, technically, you can stay."

        "Oh, thank you!" Geneva exclaimed and watched as the man checked Lizzy's vitals and monitors while trying to hide his blush. 

        "She's stabilizing. I'll be back to check on her again during my next round." The nurse rushed out of the room again, clearly unsure of how to treat a same-sex couple. 

        Only very recently was same-sex marriage recognized. And this very hospital had been at the tail end of an ugly lawsuit between a dying cancer patient and his husband. The man died alone in his room while his husband was barred from comforting him. Though it may not have been a key factor for that couple to win their case against the hospital, it certainly made for a pinnacle moment in unifying the cause for legalizing gay marriage. 

        Love knew of no such bounds. Just last year, Geneva brought two men together. It had been accidental. Jerry was her mechanic and not at all on her list. But when the AAA guy, Matt, came to drop off her rental car, Geneva saw their connection. It was really something, watching as they stole glances at one another. If Geneva didn't need to get the keys for the rental car, she would have remained silent and slipped away from the scene. 

        Love could be so random. And so could Death. Geneva looked at her two brown hands cupping Lizzy's limp white hand. The fragility of being unconscious, of sitting in a hospital, made Geneva close her hands over Lizzy's in the same protective gesture she'd done when the Reaper was here. 

        "Come around, Lizzy. You promised to show me Ball and Chain, remember?" Geneva whispered. She hoped that the blonde could hear her voice and respond to it, But Lizzy just remained still, her chest rose and fell with the help of beeping machines. 

        It was near dawn when Geneva woke up again. There was the sound of rapid beeping and rushed voices. The nurse from before was there and he helped her up from the chair and ushered her out of the room despite her protests. Geneva watched from the door and a doctor and a technician entered the room, shielding Lizzy's body as they bent over her and recalibrating the breathing machines. 

        In the corner of the room, Geneva saw Death. But no one else seemed to notice him standing there. He looked exhausted, more gaunt than before, as he watched the medical staff fuss over Lizzy. When he looked up toward the door and spotted her, his pale eyes darkened and he seemed to steel his spine before reaching toward Lizzy's cheek.

        Geneva, with a burst of adrenaline, rushed back into the room and tackled Adrian to the floor. 

        She was prepared to have the hospital staff pull her off of the Reaper, but they just ignored her. In fact, they hadn't even acknowledged that she ran screaming through the room. The only person who acknowledged her presence was the Reaper, who appeared to be scrambling desperately to get away from her.

        The Cupid watched in amazement. She'd never seen anyone so eager to be dislodged from between her thighs. Did she smell bad? Without using his hands, they were fisted and pushed against the ground for leverage, he used his abdominals to buck her off of him. But the movement only managed to make Geneva's butt slide from his stomach down to his hips. 

        "Get off!" The Reaper demanded.

        He bucked, twice as frantic now that he realized where the curve of her bottom was headed but it only made her reach her destination faster. Once she was there, Geneva's eyes widened with a new shock. 

        He was hard.

     She saw embarrassment wash over him. His usual pallor glowed red with the flush of his cheeks.

        "Get off of me." His voice was strained and low and he didn't meet her eyes.

        "No," she replied. She felt sorry for him, but she couldn't possibly stand up now. He'd take Lizzy's soul for sure.

        "Please," he said in a soft hush and closed his eyes. His fists were shaking and Geneva realized that he was trying not to touch her. That he wouldn't touch her because it would harm her. And he wouldn't harm her because she wasn't on his list. He was one of those honorable men. The Cupid let this knowledge sink in.

        He was throbbing beneath her. A reminder that, though he couldn't touch her, she could touch him. That he reacted to her touch in such a violently responsive manner. She recalled how he'd been brought to his knees hours earlier. 

        "If I get off of you, will you still try to take Lizzy's soul?" Geneva asked.

        He didn't speak for a while. He'd stopped writhing beneath her, but his fists were clenched tightly and still trembling. 

        "...Yes," the Reaper replied in a harsh whisper. Her heart clenched at his honesty.

        "Then I can't. We'll have to stay right here until the doctors stabilize her again." Geneva placed her hands on his shoulder. When they'd struggled on the ground initially, she'd gotten the upper hand by straddling him. She kept it now only because he couldn't use his hands to lift her off of him. She knew he possessed the strength to do so, but he also possessed the restraint not to.

        "Can you...At least move up?" Adrian asked, his voice quiet and chilly like fog rolling over the lake.

        "Oh, sure," the Cupid replied and used his shoulders as leverage as she dragged herself up the length of his erection. The unintentionally provocative movement illicit a groan from the Reaper, but he was otherwise still.

        "So...Are hospital generally your turf?" Geneva asked conversationally.

        "What?" Adrian focused his gray eyes onto her face and squinted with confusion and disbelief.

        "Do you come here often?" Geneva tried again and smiled with amusement at the clichéd pick up line.

        "I go where I'm needed. Wherever the list takes me," he replied flatly, clearly uninterested in chit chat.

        "So it's like a job for you guys too? I get a list, its sent via smartphone now, and I just bring people together. Hey...now that I'm thinking about it." Geneva turned toward the medical staff. Lizzy's machines were no longer beeping but the staff had clearly not noticed her presence. Last time she checked, invisibility was still a struggle for her. And yet, sitting on top of Death, the Cupid found herself not having to think about maintaining that invisibility. 

        "They really can't see me," said Geneva with wonder.

        "Of course they can't see you. In fact, no one ever saw me except you," Adrian said, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

        "Not even other Reapers? I have monthly Cupid meetings I would love to skip," Geneva replied with a roll of her hazel eyes.

        "Reapers are solitary figures. Unless we make ourselves known to our colleagues, we appear as nothing more than shadow."

        "How come I can see you then? Are you not very good at invisibility either?" Geneva asked, arching a brow. She hadn't intended to, but her hands were smoothing over the fine tightly woven wool of his dressing coat. It made the Reaper shudder and, encouraged by this, Geneva didn't stop the friction of her hands. It was an innocuous touch, nothing inappropriate except for the heap they laid in on the ground by Lizzy's bed.

        "I've never had an issue with invisibility before, not in all the years I've been a Reaper."

        "How long have you been a Reaper?" Geneva asked. She was very good at first dates. She'd never had an issue with conversation and prided herself on being able to talk to anyone about anything. She was about to add Death to her list of satisfied conversationalists when his face grew dark and his sensual mouth grew thin.

        "I'm done talking to you. You can't sit on me forever."

        "You'd be pretty happy if I did," Geneva shot back instinctively. Harmless flirting. She could flirt with a tape dispenser. But Adrian didn't seem used to such conversation and flushed deeply once more. Lucky for him, Geneva found his blush ridiculously adorable.

        "That's strange," said the doctor hovering over Lizzy's bed. "Recalibrate this machine. I know we stabilized her, but I don't think her readings should be this good yet."

        Geneva grinned broadly down at Adrian but he only glared at her. In that instant, she knew what she had to do to keep the Reaper at bay.

        "Ever gone on a double date, Death?"