So here is the next chapter. I know I'm slow. But I'm making sure I don't wind up on hiatus. I have six or seven done. (Not entirely sure.) and I'm waiting on some to be beta'd. But I'm having trouble with the current chapter. Mostly because I'm tired. I'm up ubber late roleplaying. I'm putting the link to the RP on my BIO if anyone's interested. It's multi-fandom and fun. You can choose to be involved with plots or not. I usually opt for not because I'm more for just playing around and goofing off. And the pace is decent so if you leave for like, two weeks, your not really out of the loop. I am shamelessly pimping. Because I love it. And I will pimp it as much as I can. lol

In any case, this story WILL be finished. I will write it all and I will post it all and I will not let you down this time! I just may take some time between updates because I'm not finished yet and I wanna make sure I CAN still post something. Once it's finished, you can look forward to probably a chapter a week. So keep that in mind while you deal with my erratic updating.

Watanuki stared at the face looking back from the mirror at him. It was still his face. Those were still his mismatched eyes that stared back at him from behind his glasses. He was looking at his own nose, mouth, chin... but he could tell he was older. The strangest part was his hair.

"I need a haircut," he muttered, fingering the dark locks.

The nurse, who was removing the sheets from the bed, looked up and smiled at him. "Your hair is really nice. All of the younger nurses are so jealous of it."

"We just haven't gotten around to cutting it again yet," she added, apologetically.

Watanuki turned away from the mirror. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Go right ahead." She replied, standing up and turning to look at him.

"While I was here... did anyone come to visit me?"

"Yes! Of course!" The nurse answered. "Let's see... there was a cute young girl with blonde hair. I think she said her name was Kohane. And then there was Yuko-San. Oh, we always talked every time she came. She was a lot of fun to chat with." She stopped and thought for a moment. "Oh. And that nice young man, Doumeki-San. He was always coming here to see you. I know I saw him here at least three times a week the entire time you were here."

Watanuki sat down in one of the chairs in the room. "Really? Doumeki was?"

"Oh yeah." She said, returning to putting new sheets on the bed. "They all came to see you quite often of course. I just remembered him being here a lot. All the younger nurses couldn't stop talking about him. Some of them even tried a little flirting. But the only thing he seemed concerned with was you. I'd see him sitting there by your bedside all the time."

Watanuki allowed the information to sink in.

She gathered the dirty sheets into her arms. "Well, you'll have to excuse me. I have to get back to work."

Watanuki blinked and gave her a grateful smile. "Goodbye then. Thank you for answering my questions."

"No problem." She replied, stepping out of the room. She turned to smile at him one more time. "Goodbye."

Watanuki sighed and stretched his arms out in front of himself. "There's still a lot to adjust to; a lot to catch up on, to get used to."

The sound of footsteps approaching drew his gaze up towards the image of Doumeki and Dr. Rondart stepping into the room.

"Everything is taken care of." Dr. Rondart said. "You are free to go now."

Watanuki stood up. "Really?"

"Mmm-hmm. You'll have to come back for a check-up in about two weeks. But other than that, you're all done."

He shifted his clipboard under his arm. "Do you have any questions before you go?"

Watanuki shook his head. Dr. Rondart held out his hand and Watanuki shook it.

"Now, make sure you take it easy for a while. Your body is going to need to adjust to being active again. You could hurt yourself if you try to do too much too soon."

"Got it," Watanuki replied shortly.

"Goodbye, then." Dr. Rondart said, turning to leave.

"Goodbye."

It was just Doumeki and him now.

"Ready?" Doumeki wanted to know.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

Watanuki took a deep breath and followed Doumeki out of the room.