Pete had already left to get the medicine, so she hunted down Trudy in her room. Trudy had a suitcase on the bed and packed the very few warm weather clothes that hadn't been abandoned at her old Colorado apartment. Prince slept sprawled out on the floor with a sock waded up in his mouth.

"Are you and Pete staying?" She walked in and nibbled her lip. If these men thought she and Jason were here, no one was safe in the house.

Trudy shook her head without turning around. "We're going to California to stay with a good friend of Dr. Port's. Prince is coming too. With all his hair." Trudy's voice quivered and then she burst into tears.

"Trudy, it'll be alright." She stepped forward and wrapped the shorter woman in a hug.

Trudy held her tight. "We all looked and looked for you. I never thought you'd come back. I heard your fight that day, and I told him to go after you fast before you got scared and disappeared, don'tcha know. He got so depressed and locked himself in his study those first three days." She let go and brushed at her eyes with the apron. "He said you'd found out what a monster he is, that he didn't deserve you. He hardly slept and ate. Then he learned about those awful men looking for you, and he started searching like a mad man in a tunnel. Wore himself out trying to find you and came down with pneumonia nearly three weeks ago. The doctor wanted to hospitalize him because of the breathing problems the poor dear has from the fire. Dr. Port wouldn't have it. He said he had to find you before those men did."

And she'd accused him of not caring, not trying to come after her. She closed her eyes, feeling sick to her stomach at the dark irony.

Trudy pulled back to look at her with a quivering lip. "And now he found you. But what if you don't come back again?" she blubbered.

Her heart ripped, and she hugged Trudy again. Why hadn't he said how frantically he'd looked for her? She swallowed hard and rubbed Trudy's back. "We're working things out. I'll come back, Trudy."

The woman wiped her eyes and stepped back. "I should be packing you up and not blubbering like a crazy peacock."

"I can do it. You have your own things you need to pack." She grabbed undergarments out of a drawer and started packing while Trudy sorted through the pajamas.

"No, I want to help, don'tcha know. I can't find much for summer things. I'm sure Dr. Port will buy you some things in Florida." She seemed to perk up. "He had so much fun finding you those dresses for your birthday. He'll be like a dog in puddles helping you shop for clothes."

The man continued to surprise her right and left. He didn't seem like one who would like shopping, especially for women's clothes. "Trudy?" How could she approach this subject tactfully? "He said to ask you and Pete what happened in the fire, but not about Charlotte." She nibbled her lip and then looked at Trudy, her heart beating fast.

Trudy stilled, her eyes downcast. "It was an apartment fire in Maryland at two in the morning," she said, her voice so solemn. "My sister got hurt, I think I told you. It ws in the fire." Trudy raised her eyes, with tears shimmering. "My sister said the place went up so fast that most people were trapped inside. She got trapped in a hall when a dresser from the floor above fell through and crushed her legs. She said the heat in the building was painful, and she screamed and screamed for help."

Trudy wiped at her eyes. "This man walked through the smoke like an angel, she said. He was covered in soot with a wet rag tied around his face. He heaved the dresser off and carried her through the fire. She said she thought they were going to burn because every exit he tried was blocked. He finally climbed out a window and set her down on the sidewalk where an ambulance pulled up. Then she said he turned and ran back inside. Three other people laid on the sidewalk who were a bit injured too. He ran in three more times. The final time the firefighters had arrived and wouldn't even go in. They could hear someone still inside screaming." Tears ran down her face.

"My sister said he ran in again. This time he didn't come out." She sank onto the bed shaking. "I read in the paper that he had died two weeks later, the man who had saved my sister, whom he hadn't even known besides passing her in the hall maybe at the apartment. It was purely by chance a year later that I saw a man at the market in Minnesota. His face was burned off, and people stared and shied away like he was some creature. I just knew. He looked like an angel to me. I walked up to him and the poor dear looked startled when I kissed his hand. I told him that he saved my sister's life and kept my niece and nephew from becoming motherless. He just stared at me for a moment."

She sank onto the bed beside Trudy and wiped the tears from her own eyes. The kind of courage and selflessness it took to go into a burning building over and over again without even protective clothing or oxygen. That newspaper article he'd shown her had called him a hero. And he was. Oh god, how she'd misjudged him.

Trudy's face crumpled. "The first thing he said to me was, 'You don't fear the monster everyone else does.' He looked like he couldn't comprehend such a thing. Can you imagine, a man who had lost so much to save so many lives but be so ostracized? He still thinks himself some kind of beast," she sniffled. "I told him that I saw an angel. He stared at me again for a moment." Then tears rolled down Trudy's cheeks. "He started crying in the middle of the store. What kind of curelty he must have experienced for a man like him to fall apart in public like that. At the same time, he had such grace and dignity. I knew I couldn't leave him. I knew Jesus had planned for me to meet him. What are the chances and when I thought him dead?" Fury darkened Trudy's eyes. "Those heartless beasts in there stared even worse. I took him outside away from the eyes and hugged him. He held on like he'd never know a human touch again."

She couldn't stop the tears from coming as hard as Trudy's.

"We talked for a minute. I mentioned I'd been laid off and was having trouble finding work. He was there on business and asked if I'd want to come to Colorado to be his cook and housekeeper. I owe him so much, so I came. Never has a day gone by when I regret it." Trudy took her hands in earnest. "He is a good man, and I love him like my own son. Sometimes he's terse and distant, but it's because he's afraid of being shut out. I think he feels safer being so formal with Pete and I. But there are times when he's up late at night and he lets his guard down and talks to me. He loves you. I know sometimes it's hard when he closes off, but in the three years I've known him, I've never seen him as happy as when he's with you."

She couldn't help but give a watery smile. "Trudy, you don't have to advocate for him. I want to work things out with him too." The woman looked so relieved.

"Emma," he called, before coming around the door. "Stevens got the medicine-" He stepped into the room with a pill box and stopped short seeing her and Trudy in tears. "What's wrong?"

The love, grief, admiration, and a dozen emotions swept through her. She got up and quickly walked over, flinging her arms around his neck and standing on her toes to hold him tight. "I love you," she whispered.

He pulled back and his eye searched her face, the anxiety building. "Emma? What's wrong?"

It was as if he hadn't heard. Then she gave a watery smile and stroked the good side of his face through the mask. He didn't seem to even realize that he'd let her hug him with her cheek against the burned side of his face. "I said I love you."

The stress faded from his eye. An embarrassed smile touched his lips. "I love you too. I can only hear low tones in that ear, though."

The love overflowed. She didn't care about Trudy being there or him not having a teeth bridge yet. She pressed her lips to his, wrapping a hand around to cup the back of his head and grabbing a fistful of his shirt to not let him go.

He broke the kiss after a moment and smiled, looking a bit embarrassed that Trudy had witnessed the intimate moment. He cleared his throat and handed her the pill box. "Take one pill once a day. I'd surmise you would prefer to read the side effects rather than me discuss them. If you have any trouble, we can adjust the dose or switch meds." He looked at her pointedly like a scolding doctor. "You have to tell me if you have trouble. I think you might be better off starting it after the twenty two-hour car drive, just in case you have trouble."

She took the box. "Why what are...?" Turning it over, she read the side effects. Headache, diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain, nausea, flatulence... "Oh." Her face burned, and she quickly held the box behind her back and folded her hands.

His forefinger hooked under her chin to raise her head to meet his eye. "I've seen it all at the hospital. All you have to do is come to me and say the dosage needs adjusting, nothing more. I don't want you to try to wait it out because you're embarrassed to say." His matter-of-fact tone made it a little less mortifying. "Your weight is already low, and we don't need problems with you losing more nutrition. Most people tolerate the drug well, so there likely won't be a problem." He set a roll of calcium tablets in her hand. "Use these in the meantime so your stomach can start healing. These won't give you trouble."

"Thanks." She smiled in embarrassment, but genuinely appreciated his concern and care to make the conversation as un-mortifying as possible.

He kissed her forehead, and her heart melted just as it did whenever he made that tender gesture. "I'm going to go finish up, Emma." Then he left.

Turning around, she met Trudy's eyes. Trudy simply gave a knowing smile and resumed packing.

She sought out Pete a few minutes later. He was shrugging on his coat at the front door and had a large suitcase. He glanced at her. "Ready?"

"Actually, I'm hoping you have a few minutes. Jason said I should ask you about the fire, but not Charlotte," she said carefully, watching his expression.

He still for a moment and grew very quiet. His eyes remained downcast. "I don't like discussing it. I mentioned before that I tried to commit suicide after my family left."

She set a hand on his arm. "You don't have to talk about it."

He kept his eyes diverted. "After my family left, I got an apartment. I tried to hang myself the night of the fire. I heard everyone screaming from the fire, but I didn't care. I wanted to die. Dr. Port and his mate broke down doors trying to get everyone out. Dr. Port broke into my place right after I kicked away the chair to hang myself. He got me down. I think I passed out because I woke up outside on the sidewalk and saw him go back in." He took a shakey breath, trying to rush through the tale.

"I was in the same hospital as him for psych treatment. He was on the burn unit one floor up. I happened to get off the elevator on the wrong floor a few weeks later for my appointment and saw him walking the hall. I thanked him for what he did, and we got to talking. He was having a hard time adjusting to just having one eye and getting over the grief of his mate not having made it out of the fire. Dr. Port offered me a position to be his driver. I'd lost my badge due to my alcoholism, but he said I could have the job if I agreed to random sobriety tests. He helped me get my life straightened out, and I guess I helped him not lose his independence when he was sent to live on a mountain. I couldn't do it if I was him-be trapped in a house by roads he can't drive. They force him to be dependent on me. Sometimes I go crazy for him." Pete seemed incredibly saddened and grabbed the suitcase and walked out to load the car.

She chewed on that for a bit. Jason had saved at least six people that night - at the cost of his physical injuries and losing the man who'd been like a brother and father to him.

"Are you ready, Emma?" Jason trotted down the stairs with a laptop bag over his shoulder and her suitcase in his other hand.

He seemed mostly at peace with what had happened. Something in her gut whispered that he'd do it all over again to save those people. He frowned, and she snapped out of her daydreaming. "Oh! No, Trudy was doing the clothes and I got sidetracked." She hurried to the stairs and started to pass him.

"She packed toiletries and practically everything from your bathroom in here."

"Oh." She stopped on the stairs and looked at him. Odd how knowing the truth now made it seem like the past few weeks hadn't happened, how easily the anxiety about him had melted away. It was almost as if the anxiety about him hadn't really been there but more a fear it would be. A peacefulness settled around her. She set a hand on his chest.

The warmth in his gentle eye promised love and protection. Without a word, he set down the suitcase on the step. He cupped her face in his hands, so gentle yet strong. "Emma," he whispered. "Let me be beside you. Take me with you; wherever you go, let me come too. I want to be your shelter and the wings you've been for me. Let me love you."

Tears welled in her eyes. "Promise a world with no more lies. Promise that this time we won't break each other's hearts like that ever again."

He shook his head. "Close your eyes, Emma."

She did. Perhaps he'd picked a rose When his bare lips brushed over hers, she inhaled sharply in surprise. It had been so long since he'd kissed her like this. Oh god, she'd missed him so much. Her heart squeezed painfully hard until she broke the kiss and held him tight with her arms around his neck. He held her close as she softly wept. "I love you. I missed you so much," she said against his shoulder. "Tell me that you'll love me until we die."

His warm lips kissed her neck, and he cradled her in his arms. "No, Emma," he whispered, his voice thick. "I'll love you forever and a day."