[Owen and Marlene were taken to the nearby Valley Medical Hospital after they landed in the airport hangar. Lieutenant Johnson radioed Mr. Stuart that the victims were taken from harm's way and all the police officers had left to do was to find the culprits.]

[Meanwhile, both victims were found to have severe bruises and scars on their bodies; so they eventually spent several days in the hospital recovering from it. Marlene's knee was eventually bandaged properly after she was given some antibiotics to lessen the pain. But unknown to anybody's knowledge, doctors found a little black and white tattoo on Owen's lower abdomen region with the imprints of O = mb², which might cause Marlene to do something drastic in the near future.]

~~~

I woke up to find myself lying in a bed with my head rested underneath a fluffy pillow.

I must be dreaming ... why would there be a bed in the middle of a forest?

But then I remembered what had just happened this morning when Owen and I were rescued. Pinching my cheeks in order to see if I was in a state of shock, I forced my fingers to touch my face.

'Pinch!'

Ow! It did hurt a bit. So, if I felt it, this has to be real!

Yup! I'm still alive, there's no doubt about it!

I glanced around the room and saw red, gold and blue balloons surrounding me that had the imprinted words of"Get Well Soon"; a stuffed teddy bear and flowers - blue lilies, and pink lilacs - scattered on the table next to my bed. Someone must be looking over me, people do miss me and am willing to share my gratitude!

Plain white walls covered the ceiling, and only two unwashed windows were seen as the highlights of this scenery.

It just occurred to me that I was in the care of doctors in a hospital; but where was my family? Are visiting times now over?

I tried getting up from the hospital bed, but since I was wearing a hospital gown with my exposed back showing, I felt super embarrassed.

My undergarments were all I had left on, so someone must have undressed me.

I turned to my left side and saw a familiar patient sleeping in the next hospital bed. I had a hunch who it might be, since I saw the same brownish shoulder length hair he has not cut for days.

I admit Owen looks adorable while he snoozes, with his dreamy, and alluring features. His snores are not as loud as I thought it would be; so I had an intuition that this clown might only be half asleep in order to tease me for his pleasure.

Couldn't stop smiling, because all I wanted was to talk to him to keep me busy, since it was so quiet.

There were also an HD TV screen tacked on the wall that I could turn on, but I wasn't in the mood to watch anything right now. I want to annoy my friend.

So I quickly thought of a game to wake him up.

Some bread on a saucer with butter and a cup of water on the side table was placed in front of me.

Hmm... I think a little food fight wouldn't hurt.

I turned to face him; if only our beds were next to each other, this would be so much easier.

I rolled some pieces of bread ready to be thrown at him.

"S-h-h-h-h-h-h-h....Owen!"

(The bread landed on his foot)

"Wake up! Marlene is calling you, get up!"

(The bread landed on his stomach now; okay I'm getting better at this pitch.)

I spoke a little louder now.

"Get up now, Owen! ... You owe me one 'Dear'!"

(The bread landed near his nose and I was patting myself in the back for almost hitting my desired target.)

And miraculously out of nowhere, he woke up yawning (probably for emphasis). Owen turned over to his left side, picked up each roll that was tossed to him and grinned at me.

I think the latter statement did the trick.

"Good evening, Sweetheart!"

"Good evening???"

Huh? I slept all afternoon and he didn't even bother to wake me up!

Some rage filled me as I rolled up another ball of bread and tossed it towards him.

I guess I forgot he was a former baseball player, because he actually caught that one in his mouth, and tossed the other ones that were in his hand as well as if they were popcorn kernels. Ugh! I can't believe him. That's so gross!

"Feisty, aren't we Mae? After all this time, you still haven't changed darling."

I think he's back to his old self again, but couldn't resist that clever charm of his.

"Why didn't you wake me up roommate? I would beat your chest, if I could just get up!"

"Oh? And what's stopping you, Miss Brennan?

" As if you didn't know," I replied.

I tugged on my hospital gown, and saw him snicker.

"So my Mae is afraid to show me her underwear."

My cheeks soon became the color of a cherry red fruit, as I shouted, "WHAT!"

Apparently, a gray-haired nurse came in at the sound of my voice.

"Hello, my name is Nurse Carter. I see you two are now both awake. I came to check on you guys, but heard your loud voices as I came in. Please tone it down now as there are other patients now sleeping in the next room." (She paused for a bit.) "Or do I need to separate you two?"

At the sound of her comment, Owen began to complain without allowing me to interrupt.

"We're sorry Nurse Carter. We won't be loud anymore, right Marlene?"

He didn't wait for me to nod and kept right on speaking.

HOW RUDE!

He positioned his bed upwards and looked at me with 'puppy dog' eyes of guilt.

"Very well, Mr. Thomas. I am sure you and your girlfriend will be quiet now. I have to tend to other patients now."

The nurse looked at me with concern on her face.

"My...My... Miss Brennan you must have some appetite to eat all that dinner by yourself!"

"Um... Nurse Carter it was only bread and water that I found on the table." I retorted.

"Are you sure? I'm sure our LVN (Licensed Vocational Nurse) brought in a slice of chicken and mashed potatoes with it."

My mouth started to feel watery after hearing all that food that was once on my plate. I was hungry 'for Pete's sake' and someone had to take it all away. Hmm... and just know who the culprit maybe.

I turned to Owen and saw that he pointed to his stomach.

"I'm sorry I ate half of it, Nurse Carter. I was really hungry and my own plate wasn't enough. I saved her the bread at least." Owen replied.

The nurse looked at him with disgust, and turned to me.

"I can get you another one dear. Would you like me to get something for you from the gift shop or would you prefer to wait?"

I didn't want to bother the nurse with my problems. I was already annoyed as is.

"I'm fine with this piece of bread and water. Thank you. "

The nurse smiled at me, and left.

Making sure the coast was clear, I spoke up again.

"Okay Owen, why are we in the same room? And since when was I your girlfriend?" I inquired.

"Must be luck Honey, must be pure luck!"

Pure luck my butt! I swear he must have talked to the doctors and nurses about this one ... the crafty impractical schemer he happens to be.

"Tell, me the real reason Owen or I won't talk to you anymore!"

"Is that a threat, Sweetie Pie?"

Okay, enough with the name calling. I'm raging with fire now, I looked at him.

"Owen why do you do this to me every time? This is like a rerun of our high school fiasco with Mrs. Borba!"

"Works like a charm, doesn't it Marla?"

He got up from his bed and went over to mine.

"What do you think you are doing Mr. Thomas?"

"Can you move, a little bit Marla, I want to lie down," he responded as he put his coarse hands in the air.

What? With me? Is he now going to sleep with me?

"No, can do Mr. Thomas. This my bed and I don't share, since you ate my dinner, just like the pancake I never got to eat on our college trip."

The cunning twerp sneered and slightly pushed me to the left.

"I guess you remember that huh? Well, since I now have you alone, would you mind if I tell you what has been on my mind all these years?"

"Fine! Speak up or forever hold your peace 'boyfriend'! You're this close to being pushed off to the ground Mister!"

I made a little sign with my fingers in order to show him what I meant.

"You know I like you Marlene. I always have. Since we are now together without catastrophic things happening to us; I would like this to be our official first date. Remember when I warned you about my conniving ways and came back with your food? I am in the mood to show that to you. Now please move over; I want to make up for old time's sake. We can just talk if you prefer."

I give up! Obviously, I can't win with this guy as he put his arms around me.

I hugged him back, but felt a slight tingle - warning me that something would happen; because as soon as I felt something near his lower abdomen region, I knew he was hiding a piece of ink artwork from me!

As I felt the little ink imprint on Owen's back, he smiled at me.

"Would you like to see it Mae?"

Curiosity got to me so I nodded my head yes. I don't mind human artwork, but if it's something I don't need to know about, he's going to be in a lot of trouble.

He turned around to show me his printed boxers and lowered a portion of it.

The black and white words on his skin read O=mb² and have a feeling what it meant.

I'm not stupid as he thinks I am, but I do know the scientific figure Albert Einstein theorized - when I see one that is similar to it.

For all the non-science nerds out there - Einstein's principle is E=mc², where E stands for energy, M stands for mass and c² is the speed of light multiplied together.

I put two and two together, and was about to push him off the bed, when he startled me.

"What? It's just a tattoo Marlene ... nothing to get upset about."

I blew some extra steam like a raging bull and started rambling.

"Nothing to get upset about? Nothing to get upset about? I'll tell you what made me angry. As if you don't think I can read beneath the lines! O stands for OWEN, MB² stands for my sister and I ... Were we a bet you just had to fall in love with? ... You still love my sister don't you? You never loved me - you just say you do, but you don't mean it! After all we've been through, you are still one heck of a scumbag! I liked you Owen, I even fell for your charm, but sometimes you're .... you are IMPOSSIBLE! I sometimes wonder what you ever saw in me since we argue all the time! And I think I'm going to cry right now, if I don't leave this room!"

I couldn't control my emotions anymore and started yelling.

I tried reaching for the intercom to alert the nurse that I wanted to move to the extra room, but the rascal blocked my view.

"No, Marlene! You have to hear me out! You just have too! You don't understand!"

And that's when my fury started, and pushed him off my hospital bed.

Grabbing the gadget that was embedded to the wall, I called for Nurse Carter to move me into another room, while I let Owen rot in his own drama for a while.

As soon as I pressed the gadget, the nurses' station heard my plea, because within a moment's notice, help arrived.

The same nurse who saw us five minutes ago came in and smiled, but was rather shocked when she found Owen getting up from the floor massaging his back.

Gazing at him, Nurse Carter nodded at Owen.

"What just happened here?" she asked.

Before the man on the floor could even reply, it was my turn to have my say!

"He was clumsy and fell on his butt." (He sneered at me, while I smirked.) "Nurse Carter, please take me to another room. I am not this man's girlfriend as he claims. He ate my dinner on purpose and I just want to leave!"

I did not want to shed another tear for I knew the nurse would interrogate me more.

Thus, she looked at Owen with complete abhorrence as if she were reprimanding her own son.

"You should be ashamed of yourself young man! I had a hunch I knew what you were trying to do! Come now Marlene, we will get you into another room. Just lie in your bed and I will get some assistants to help me out."

I was happy the nurse was on my side and treated me kindly; so when she left to fetch some orderlies to wheel my hospital bed to another room, I stuck out my tongue at 'can't keep his hands off' Owen.