Hey! Again, sorry for the long update. Have any of you seen the trailer for Monday's episode, Emily Lake/Stand, yet? If not, it's shown at

.com/watch?v=gMxuwteWPmY

If you wanted to see it. It does contain spoilers. Anyway... Here's chapter 10!

Disclaimer: The same as always, plot is mine, all else not. R&R!

Four weeks had passed since the incident. Pete was up and about, but was under strict orders to avoid any strenuous activity, so mainly hung around at the hospital with Myka, opting to sleep there no matter how many times Leena tried to persuade him to stay in a comfy bed.

Myka was still extremely weak, and although she hadn't suffered any long-term injuries she was going to be out of action for at least a month, providing they kept their jobs as Warehouse Agents. She had seriously hurt her neck, but no lasting damage was done. Pete had enquired after her to one of the nurses that came to see him, and she had replied saying that she was extremely lucky, it looked a lot worse than it was (it had looked like she was dead) and the worst thing that had happened to her was that she lost too much blood (Pete found out later that the drippy thing had helped with that). Myka had also lost the tubes, so could wander round the hospital without 24/7 surveillance. They were sitting next to each other on Myka's hospital bed, talking about memories and happy times at the Warehouse. Both agents had grumbled at one point or another, but there were a surprisingly large amount of good things to talk about.

"There's something I never told you," Pete chuckled.

"Amongst other things, I'm sure," Myka replied. "What is it?"

"Remember that time when we were looking through the Warehouse after McPherson had blown Artie out of time and space?"

"Why am I being reminded?" Myka grimaced.

"Because I was poking around with the red light thingy-"

"The durational spectrometer," Myka interrupted.

"-Yes, that. I jumped, and you asked if I was Okay. And then you gave me a weird look when I said I was now, but 5 hours ago I would've screamed like a little girl. It was a mouse," Pete admitted.

"A mouse?" Myka asked incredulously. "You go on extremely dangerous missions, have been almost killed a number of times, and you're scared of mice?"

"It was a big mouse," Pete looked stung. "More like a rat, really."

Myka just laughed, but then her face turned serious.

"Pete..." She trailed off, unsure of how to begin.

"What is it?" Pete frowned.

"Do you remember that talk we had in the car?"

"Yeah. You said you needed time."

"Maybe... Maybe I've had enough time," Myka said in a small voice. Pete kept a straight face, but inside was grinning and making 'victory' signs.

"Are you sure? We don't want to rush into anything. Especially while you're still weak," he added.

"The situation at the Warehouse was traumatising, but I've had weeks." Myka smiled. "I'm more or less completely over it now. Also, I'm not stupid. I know we're probably going to lose our jobs, but maybe that's a good thing. I mean, obviously I want to stay at the Warehouse, but if we get kicked out then we don't have to go back to a job where we could die at any time. We could get a nice, easy office job, buy a house, and start a family..." Myka looked at Pete hopefully. Pete was obviously struggling with his emotions. He'd wanted to get his hands under this woman's top since he started at the Warehouse, but before it was because she was beautiful. Now it was different. Pete had meant every word he'd said when Myka had been stood there in a model's dress, about her being even more beautiful on the inside. He would protect her life at all costs, even if it meant sacrificing his own.

"I'd really like that, Myka," he breathed. No way was he going to tell her what he'd just thought. Not yet. There was probably CCTV everywhere...

Myka beamed. "Does Artie know?" She asked suddenly.

"Myka, we didn't know until five seconds ago," Pete said. "But no, he doesn't have a clue. The only people we have to worry about are Claudia, who'll somehow find out straight away, and Leena, who'll read our auras."

"I've always wondered how she does that," Myka mused.

Pete laughed. "The same reason I get vibes, probably."

"What's that?"

"A mystery."

Myka yawned, and Pete stood up.

"Well, that was my cue to leave," he smiled.

"Are you staying, or going back to the B&B?" Myka asked.

"I'll stay."

"You need a proper nights' sleep, Pete," Myka insisted.

"With you and Leena, it's like the WNG."

"WNG?"

"Woman's nag convention."

"Let me check my sides," came Myka's sarcastic reply. "They might have split. But seriously, Pete, it's not doing your back any favours."

"Look, Mykes, I'm a big boy, okay? I can take care of myself."

"I was only saying."

Pete leant over and pecked her lips.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He smiled, and walked out of the door. His limp was almost gone, but not quite.

Myka lay down on her bed, left alone with her mind again, a time she dreaded. As soon as she allowed herself to be sucked into unconsciousness she knew all she would see was the Warehouse burning down. She tried to think of other, less disturbing things, like whether or not they were going to keep their jobs, but hr mind couldn't focus. She picked up her mobile (Pete had dropped it off earlier) from the bedside table and texted him.

Pete, I've changed my mind. Can u come back here and spend the night? I need 2 talk.

Myka hit send, and rested back onto her pillows. She didn't need to talk at all, but didn't want to sound too needy. Her phone buzzed not a minute later.

Sure, I'll set off now. I knew u'd c sense sooner or l8er, no lady can resist me ;-P C u soon xxx

Myka smiled. It irritated her a little how much text slang he used, but as long as she could understand it she didn't mind too much. He once sent her a text saying

LOL rofl! Wuup2? Cba gng 2 party 2nite, strictly byob. L8ter x

Myka had exploded at Pete as soon as she saw him again. She had grown up around books, not phones or Facebook, so had no idea what most of those things were. She smiled to herself as she remembered the days before she realised Pete was just right for her. They were like chalk and cheese, but in a way that was why the relationship worked so well. Pete encouraged Myka to have more fun, and Myka reeled Pete in when he got carried away. The more she thought about it, the more she realised that they had already been together before they made it official. They were always touching, never more than 10 metres away from each other. She smiled again, a smile that grew even wider when she heard footsteps and Pete's head appeared round the corner.