“Ann, I need to talk to him,” I whisper. “I have to see him.”

Standing, forgetting about the stitches on my abdomen, I wince and immediately freeze.

“Fuck,” I hiss, pressing my free hand to my stomach. With one hand in a sling, and the other nursing a wound, moving is going to be pretty difficult.

“Stop, crazy. I’m here to help,” Ann says, shaking her head. “And when you get home, Benton will be there to help.

I smile gently as she helps me into my wheelchair, and we make our way down the hall. I signed all my release papers this morning, but I haven’t been in a rush to leave because I haven’t really known where I was going when I left here.

Now I do. I just hope he takes me as I am. Broken.

By the time we make it back to his place, I’m a mess. I want to cry and scream. I’m shaking from nerves, I’m sweating, in pain, and tired. Hot fucking mess.

“Come on,” Ann says as we slowly make our way into the building. I’m up and walking, but so incredibly slow I’m fairly certain a turtle would be able to pass me up no problem.

“You ready?” she asks when the elevator doors close and we start to ascend.

“As I’ll ever be,” I say, my fingers absentmindedly going to my ring finger. I only had the ring for a very short amount of time, but I had grown so used to having it on that I feel naked without it.

“You know he’s been back at the hospital every day since you kicked him out?” Ann says gently while watching the numbers of the elevator rise.

“Really?” No one told me that.

“Yea. Every evening after work, I would take Hannah back to his house and he would sit in the waiting room in case you decided you wanted to see him.”

“Huh,” I manage. He really was there. The entire time I thought he left and didn’t look back, and he was sitting just rooms away, waiting for me. Smiling, I look over at Annaliese. “I’ve missed him so bad.”

“I bet. You were a bitch to him, Gab.”

“Thanks for handling me with kid gloves, jeez,” I whine as the doors open and she helps shuffle me out into the hallway.

“Hey… look. I know you’ve been through a shit storm in your life, but you finally have something worth being happy over… someone that loves you deeply, and who will do anything for you. Someone that literally would kill for you,” she chuckles.

“It’s not really funny… but I’m so glad I have him,” I say, smiling.

“Good. Because we’re here, and I’m not staying. You two have shit to talk about. And I have a playdate with my niece,” she says. Opening the door, she walks me in, and I see Benton standing in the hallway with Hannah on his hip, a surprised look filling his face.

“Oh my god, what… how…”

“I might have lied.” Annaliese smiles slyly. “So, I’m taking this tiny one to the park, and you two are going to figure this out.”

Without any more words, Annaliese grabs Hannah’s diaper bag and stroller and has her out the door in mere minutes after arriving, leaving Benton and I starting at each other in his hallway.

“I uh… I thought you knew.”

“No. I mean…. She told me you weren’t getting out until tomorrow. I thought you were sleeping in her spare room,” he says, sounding hurt and confused.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I can go-”

“NO!” he blurts. “I want you here. So bad, Gabby… come on, can you walk?”

“No, Annaliese carried me in,” I say, grinning. He finally cracks one himself and I start laughing. “Yes, I can walk with a little help. You mind?”

“Yeah… absolutely.” He takes my arm and helps me move down the hallway to the couch. I feel so awkward with him, but I don’t want to. I want to feel normal with him, I want to be able to feel comfortable around him, but I feel so bad for pushing him away and I have to apologize. I take a breath to speak… to get out everything that I need to tell him.

To apologize.

Before I’m able to say anything, though, he starts in with a worried tone to his voice.

Something’s off with him, and I know what it is.

“Listen, Gab,” he sighs. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but just because you pushed me out of your hospital room doesn’t mean you pushed me out of your life. If that’s what you were trying to do, you’re going to have to try a whole hell of a lot harder than that… and even then I’m not certain you’ll be able to ever get rid of me. I don’t know what’s going on in your mind, but I’m here. I’m giving you your space, but I’m not gone.” He sighs and curses. “But, before you say anything,” he blurts. “I have to tell you something that might change the way you think about me. It’s nothing I planned, it’s nothing I’m proud of… but I can’t change it.” He’s going to tell me about my mom, but seeing the sadness coursing through him, I can see he’s actually having a worse time with the news than I am.

“Benton, I know what you’re going to tell me,” I say smiling. Resting my good hand on his cheek, I shake my head. “I’m not worried about it. I know you didn’t mean to… I know it was an accident… I also know that you love me and you’d never hurt me. Ever. I know this. I also know I love you more now than I ever did before, and I didn’t even know that was possible. What you did? You cleared my slate. Wiped it clean. Something in me snapped when I heard the news about her. Something in my brain clicked back on… and now all I can think is how big of an asshole I was to you.”

A smile breaks his tense features, and I’m finally starting to feel right again, but I’m not done with what I have to tell him. This is important to me. This is something that I was never given when I was younger.

“I’m sorry, Benton,” I whisper, feeling the knot in my throat grow.

“Gab, no,” he says, taking my face in his hands.

“No, I have to. I wasn’t in my right mind, and I thought that pushing you away from me would keep you safe. I’m so sorry I did that. You’re my world, and I can’t function without you.” I’m rambling but I can’t stop. I didn’t realize how badly I missed him until I was told I would be discharged… and I didn’t know where to go. I don’t care that I sound desperate or that I’m bawling my eyes out. I don’t care that I’m probably coming off as weak. I’d be all over him, begging for his forgiveness, if it wouldn’t be for the stitches in my side not letting me move without pain.

“I love you, Benton. I do… and I screwed up when I made you leave. When Annie told me you were at the hospital every day, I realized just how much I ruined,” I whisper through the tears.

“Oh god, Gabby, no… No, baby, that’s not… I’m not… Baby, you didn’t ruin anything.” Gently he takes my face in his hands and leans in to kiss me, thumbing away the tears. “Gabby, I told you I’m not going anywhere, and I meant it. I’m so in love with you it hurts physically when I have to think about a world without you.”

He stands and walks across the room. As he walks, I notice the small things about him that I fell in love with. The muscles under the t-shirt that I can tell are tense right now, the hair I love to run my fingers through, the strong jawline that currently is harboring a few days of beard growth. All of it making my libido roar back to life as if I never were shot. Unfortunately, my current condition won’t let me act on it. Damn, this is going to be a long six weeks.

“When you pushed me out of that hospital room was the day I heard about what happened to your mom. It was one of the worst days I’ve had this last year… and it’s been a rough year as you know.” He chuckles lightly. “But, Gabby, I knew you were hurting and I knew I just needed to give you space so I did. Granted, I still came up there every night just in case you decided you wanted me… but I couldn’t stay away, Gab.”

He walks back to the couch and sits back next to me, turning so he’s facing me.

“I’d love it,” he says, opening his closed fist to reveal my ring I so stupidly handed back. “If you would put this ring back on your finger, and never hand it back to me again.” He’s grinning a stupid grin and I can’t help but laugh at his way of proposing for the second time in a month.