Hey, I'm actually writing again! Yay! Anyway, real life has been kinda interrupting my writing schedule, but I'm taking the time to write just for you guys.

Many thanks go to: IronAmerica and XxDeathStarxX for their reviews last chapter.

I do not own The Cape or Trauma Center/Team.

Second Chance- Chapter Eight: Too Good To Be True

Rosalia liked being helpful, she really did. However, she was so incredibly miserable living back at ARK Towers that it didn't really matter that she was helping or not. It had been a few short weeks since the little blonde had been brought to ARK again. And, with the help of the doctor hired by Peter Fleming, the Rosalia virus was becoming less and less of an issue. An anti-serum had been made from the right dosage of her blood; that had been the real trick, considering that her blood was both a blessing and a curse all in one.

Everyone who had shown symptoms of the virus were treated with the anti-serum. Fleming was deemed a hero, even more so than he had been before. His adopted daughter couldn't see him as the hero that the other citizens saw him as. Frankly, the child couldn't wait to get the chance to be with Vince and Orwell again. They were more like parents to her than any of her other foster parents before them. She could only hope that they took her back soon.

-0-

Vince tried to get his partner to remain optimistic; ever since her father took Rose back in, she had been in a seriously foul mood. Any time Orwell smiled, it was only because of the vigilante. If he managed to do that much, he felt very accomplished. The romantic tendencies between the two of them were even harder to ignore than they were before. She needed a companion to be there for her, even though she wouldn't admit it herself. Vince knew that she did and he just held her. The sandy blonde couldn't help but feel guilty about kissing her, even though that was what he wanted. Vince just felt that he was taking advantage of her and he wouldn't do that again. Not until she was ready.

In reality, though, she was more than ready to be with him. From the very first day that they met, Orwell had dreamed of being with him. She admired him for more than just his good looks. She loved him for his adamancy, not to mention his family oriented traits. Vince was a great man; now that she knew that he wanted to be with her, it was all a little overwhelming. Her other half told her to indulge in the opportunity, but she wasn't sure just how well she could trust her gut feeling. One day she would trust her instinct; and that one day would hopefully come soon.

Taking a deep breath of air, the brunette blogger hunkered down in her chair with her laptop balanced perfectly on her lap. She had needed to do something to blow off some steam, but nothing was really working. Solitaire was boring her and she was having some serious issues with writer's block when it came to updating her blogs.

Vince carefully watched his partner from the seat he took straight across from her. It worried the hell out of him that she looked like she would break at any moment. The vigilante knew that the only thing he could do for her was be there, but even then that wasn't good enough. Ever since the quarantine let out, they had gone back to their hideout. Dana and Trip went back to their apartment, but with the satisfaction that the framed cop would be back to check on them periodically.

Orwell felt her partner's eyes on her and smiled sadly. Leaving her laptop behind, she padded over to him and sat down in the chair with him, curling into his chest. Instantly, she felt a weight alleviate from her shoulders. Vince was her safe haven and always would be.

"You looked a little lost over there, you know," the vigilante replied easily into her ear. He slipped an arm around her to secure her in place.

"I was just thinking," the brunette began, absently strumming her thumb against Vince's arm.

He gently kissed the crown of her head. "About Rose?"

"Of course," Orwell let out a gentle sigh, "I really hope that my father is treating her well. When I was little, I was so close to him. Just hoping that it's the same for Rosalia."

"You'll have to tell me about your childhood sometime. This I'm dying to hear," Vince spoke, running his fingers through her hair.

"You're the only one that I'd ever tell," the nurse replied, her eyes intently on his.

"'Cause I'm awesome like that, right?" the sandy blonde teased with a playful glint in his eyes.

Orwell smacked him in the arm. "Moment killer much?"

"Hey, it made you feel better didn't it?" Vince asked, quite proudly.

The brunette nuzzled into his chest again and just nodded. Her partner grinned victoriously and added, "My job here is done."

"Your job is never done when you're a superhero," Orwell started, a weak smirk in place.

"Well, my part-time job is keeping you happy, you know," the sandy blonde added matter-of-factly.

"That's 'cause you're a great big suck-up," the nurse explained.

"Is being a suck-up such a bad thing? It keeps you happy, doesn't it?" Vince asked; his lips were now millimeters from hers.

"More than you know," Orwell spoke distractedly. She tried to keep her head on straight. If she didn't keep it together, she would be indulging in a kiss. And most likely one would lead to another.

"Vince," the brunette added almost inaudibly. "I want you to kiss me," she stared back at him, losing her hearing to the pounding sounds of her heartbeat. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Nope, unless we're both wrong; I want to kiss you too," the Cape spoke in a whisper, subconsciously moving his lips closer to hers.

"It's simple, isn't it?" Orwell began, babbling to herself. "You love me and I love you. Is it a crime to love somebody?"

"I didn't think it was. You're going through a rough time and you need somebody there for you. Someone who does love you," Vince replied, slowly but surely.

"And you need me just as much as I need you, huh?" the brunette asked, realization dawning upon her.

"More than you know," the framed cop mimicked his partner's phrase from before.

Orwell nuzzled back into his chest after those words registered. A smile tugged at her lips as Vince kissed the sliver of skin that was exposed on her shoulder. Maybe that one day she longed for had actually arrived.

-0-

Dana knew that she should have kept her mouth shut about her husband being alive, but the public defender had lost her calm when she saw Marty Voyt coming up to her. The first thing that came out of her mouth was an accusation. She wanted to know exactly what he knew about Vince's murder. If he could come clean to her, it would make everything so much easier. The public defender and her husband had talked about what would need to be done for him to come back from the dead. It would involve many resources and many different hands, but it was doable.

The strawberry blonde welcomed Marty into her home, gritting her teeth the entire time. She felt that she was welcoming in the enemy or, if anything else, a complete stranger.

The off-duty chief of police sat on Dana's couch, wringing his hands together. He was a little nervous. Everyone knew that the public defender was a little intimidating, especially when you were her target of choice.

"So," she began, bearing two cups of coffee for them both. "How's life being the chief of police, hm?"

Marty began to squirm in his seat under her penetrating gaze. Being a mom, she definitely had that down pat. It took him quite a while, but Dana got him talking about the real Peter Fleming. His occurrences were recorded, just in case they needed a last resort for clearing her husband's name.

When the chief of police found out that his best friend was alive and well, he thought that he was delusional. The strawberry blonde had to repeat herself for it to really sink in.

"Vince is… alive?" Marty spoke slowly to try to understand the situation more clearly.

"That was my general reaction, yes," Dana began, "but now that you know, I trust that you'll keep your mouth shut. We're trying to clear his name, if you open your mouth that could ruin the whole plan."

"Dana, Fleming threatens my family; I… I can't have that," the chief of police replied, clenching and retracting a fist.

"Which is why we need you on our side. You keep your mouth shut and join our little army," the public defender said. It was times like these that Marty really wondered if she was a soldier just as Vince was. She surely had the bravado for it, didn't she?

"Alright, alright. You've got my word," Marty began, a rough sigh escaping his lips.

As Dana escorted him out a little while later, she took a few looks around to make sure that they weren't being followed and/or photographed. She smiled as she found out that neither were the case.

Unfortunately, this wasn't entirely true. Before they went back to the apartment, a fellow ARK security guard heard the chief of police's portion of the conversation and ran to tell Fleming without sticking around to hear who he was talking to. In a matter of minutes, the billionaire learned that Marty was speaking of Vince Faraday's death. That was enough to get the chief of police killed himself.

-0-

Rosalia sat Indian-style on the fluffy bed she had ARK Towers. It was about eleven at night and she couldn't sleep. She tried, she really did. But something was bothering her. The little blonde hadn't spoken to Orwell in close to two weeks and it was taking its toll. The brunette nurse had really become like her mother, no matter how short of a time that they had lived together.

The child looked on the nightstand next to her bed and saw the cell phone that her mother figure had given her. It was purely for emergencies if Orwell and Vince wanted to get in contact with her; they didn't want Fleming to find it. Rose, however, she could call the blogger and her partner anytime, no strings attached. She was actually thinking about taking her mother figure up on that offer.

Rose reached for the phone and went through her contacts to find Orwell's number. A smile tugged at her tiny lips as she hit the green send button. The good thing about the blogger was that she was a night owl; no matter how late—or early, depending how you look at it—it was she was always up doing something.

When the phone call came through on the nurse's end, she was curled up with her partner and catching up with her blogs. Vince was fighting sleep; every few seconds, his partner would hear snores coming from his mouth. Orwell looked down at her phone as she heard her ringtone start. She had no idea who would be calling her at this hour; she had her hopes, but she also had her doubts.

"Who is it?" the vigilante asked, his words slurred from his sleepy state.

The nurse checked the caller ID, her eyes brightening up instantly. "It's Rose!"

Vince smiled back at his partner and gave her a gentle kiss on her cheek as she answered the phone. He could make her smile, but he could tell that she felt just the same with Rosalia.

"Hello?" Orwell answered with a broad smile.

"Hi Miss Orwell!" the little blonde began, already letting her emotions getting the best of her.

"It's good to hear from you, sweetie," a sad smile tugged at the brunette's lips, "are you doing alright?"

"Uh-huh! It's not so bad, but I miss you and Mr. Vince," Rosalia began with a frown; she could practically see her mother figure's sad smile through the phone.

"We miss you too, I can assure you that," Orwell replied with that motherly tone that only came out when she was talking to the little blonde.

"Yeah, kiddo. It takes a lot out of me just to get her to stop worrying about you," Vince threw in, getting whacked in the chest for good measures.

"Way to tell all of my secrets!" the brunette began, prompting a giggle from the child.

"Have you two gotten married yet?" Rosalia asked, completely innocent.

The potential couple glanced at each other, both looking rather amused.

"No, sweetie; I don't think that'll be for a little while now," Orwell replied, her eyes still on the vigilante's.

"Aww. But why? I thought that things were going well!" the little blonde whined, which was really adorable.

The nurse smiled to herself. She was really rooting for them, wasn't she? "Things are working well, baby girl, but Vince and I have to get quite a few things straightened out before worrying about that."

Rosalia let out a sigh. When would they ever listen to her? "When can I see you guys again?"

"We're working on it right now, sweetie. If Vince can get his name back soon, then it'll be just as soon," Orwell began with a tiny smile. She wasn't worried about him leaving her after his name was cleared; as far as she was concerned, when his name was cleared, so was hers.

"Mmm. Okay. Try to hurry," the little blonde added in a murmur, "I really miss you guys."

Tears began to well up in the brunette's eyes at that point. "We really miss you too. We're going to work as hard as we can for you, alright?"

"Okay. Well, I think I'm going to bed," Rosalia sleepily rubbed her eye with a free hand. "Wanted to say hi before I did. Couldn't sleep."

"You can always call us, Rose," Orwell smiled down into the phone.

"And if she's sleeping, I'll put the phone to her mouth so you can hear when she snores," Vince joked, receiving a mocked-shock look from his partner. In turn, he leaned his head over and caught his lips with hers in a quick kiss. Again, the eight-year-old erupted with laughter.

"Now that Vince is done being silly, we'll let you go; alright sweetie?" the brunette spoke in a gentle voice. Now that she knew that her little girl was alright, maybe she could get some sleep.

"Alright, goodnight," Rosalia murmured sleepily.

"Night, Rose," the mother-figure replied, tilting the phone closer to her partner.

"Night, kiddo. No bedbugs, right?" the father-figure added with a grin.

The eight-year-old looked down at her covers, shaking her head a few moments later. "No, no bedbugs here!"

Vince smiled at his partner as she finally closed her phone a minute or two later. He already loved that kid; the vigilante paid a visit to his son every day, he just wished now that he could visit his daughter every day as well.

Orwell sensed what the sandy blonde was thinking about and kissed his temple. "Someday soon, Vince," she replied rather quietly.

He wrapped an arm around the brunette and gently guided her back to his chest. The last thing that he remembered before falling asleep was the blogger powering down her laptop and hunkering even closer to him to get comfortable enough to sleep.

Fluffy endings? Yay! Well, I didn't think that I'd ever get this chapter done. You know what to do. *points to box at the bottom of the page*