I kissed her forehead as she drifted off. She smiled warmly, though I wasn't sure if it was a conscious effort or if she was already asleep. Her beautiful golden hair almost seemed to be glowing in the low light of the lamp across the room. I wanted to just hold her and kiss her so badly but I knew I couldn't. Instead, I watched her until I was absolutely sure she was asleep, then laid down in my own room, finally able to sleep at around three in the morning.

~~~

The morning exercises went as usual, and she could stand up by herself for almost a minute. She still had to work on her balance, but other than that things were going quite well. Her shoulder looked almost back to normal, too. She made a quick breakfast before we headed out to the studio.

~~~

After a somewhat boring session, we arrived back at the house, ready to sit back and relax. Martha curled up on the couch and watched cartoons with me and Linda. We were both petting her and every once in a while our hands would make contact, her face reddening. We watched as Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny carelessly ran around the woods, and it gave me the urge to step outside and take a long walk through the forest.

Linda hummed a bit beside me, mumbling something that sounded like "I miss it,"

"What's that?"

"Hmm? Oh, growing up, my family lived in the country. I miss being able to run through the woods like that," she closed her eyes and smiled to herself, probably recalling lost memories.

"Let's do something,"

"Like what?" She asked "I can't really do much of anything"

"I just want to sit in the woods somewhere and get lost," It was impossible to get lost even if you tried. There were signs everywhere, for everything.

"That sounds nice," She agreed. "When?"

"Whenever. Maybe even now," I answered. "Would you go with me?"

"Sure!" She was smiling already. "Will we take Martha?"

"Of course!"