Almost

He had no idea why she kept coming back.

Mike Doyle had been hospitolized for nearly 8 months now. Every week was the same. Physio Tuesdays and Thursdays, a call from his brother on Mondays. But the best part of his week was Friday when Nadia Yassir visited.

Everytime was the same. She'd causiously knock on the door, taking careful and quiet steps to the chair next to his bed. She'd sit and watch TV with him. Sometimes they'd talk about CTU or the latest treatment for his eyes...But most of the time they were silent, just watching the TV. He wanted to talk to her, maybe even apoligize for suspecting, then interigating her all those months ago, but he just couldn't do it.

When Mike woke up from a fitful sleep on a monday afternoon he jumped. Nadia was standing in the doorway watching him. He stared at her as she did the same thing she did every Friday--walk in, sit down. But this time she reached for his hand, delicatly avoiding the IV needle in the back of it. She cupped his hand firmly in her's, making circles with her thumb across his knuckles. Mike's face flushed, but he didn't pull his hand away. He watched her face, calm and cool as she gazed intently at their joined hands.

"Mike," She whispered, still looking down "I need to tell you something."

Mike braced himself for the worst, blinking hard. "Okay." He found his gruff voice to be just above a whisper.

Nadia swallowed hard and looked up at him, her eyes glistening. He was struck by how tired she looked, worn down even.
"I've had a lot of 'almosts' in my life, Mike. I almost died...more than once. I almost had something with Milo. I almost stood up before he did.
But I don't want to almost tell you how I feel, then not do it."

Mike found himself tightening his grip on her hand. He started to open his mouth to say something, but she quickly leaned forward and kissed him. Despite her lips locked on his, he managed a smile. When the kiss broke and she pulled away he was still smiling.

Returning the smile she said quietly "That's how I feel." And gave his hand a squeeze.