Disclaimers: Nothing's mine except for the memories behind the story.

A/N: Again, I have no good excuse for what took me so long. I am incredibly sorry. I hope that there are still a few readers out there... Now that school is back again I will be at my computer more and I promise I won't let this go as long as I have. I'm planning on at least two or three more chapters, but I know they won't take as long to get out as this did. Also, I apologise for the brief length of this chapter, but where I stopped seemed to be a fitting stopping place.

Today is my seventh day in the hospital, and the doctor is finally letting me be transferred out of the ICU to a regular medical ward. This morning the nurse came in and woke me up way too early for my usual morning bandage changes, she actually disconnected me from the heart monitor as well as one of my IV's and now I can actually get up and walk around without help. I still have to lug around the awful IV pole but that I can handle for now. Sofia will be here in two hours after her shift is over and I am planning on surprising her when she arrives. She is trying to insist on taking time off to be with me but I am just as stubborn on the other end. She stays here most of the day and takes a nap when I do and then goes to work at night. I wish she would go home and get some real sleep. Deep inside my mind, though, I know that I would never be able to be this sane in a hospital without her here when I am awake. With that thought, I decide to try to get some more sleep before she arrives.

"Knock, knock!" I open my eyes to see Sofia standing in the doorway with breakfast. Immediately feeling the lightness of not wearing my cardiac leads, I leap out of bed to drag her into the room only to be stopped midway by my IV tubes. Instead of finishing off my journey, I stand in the middle of the room with the best puppy dog look I could muster up, but instead ended up laughing, with Sofia joining in.

Finally, I find myself able to talk again. "They are moving me to a regular medical ward today. That means that I'm getting ready to go home! I can't wait to sleep in our own bed!" I lean in towards Sofia and we share a gentle kiss, but I can feel that there is something that she is holding back that she is worried about.

"Fia, what's wrong?"

"Sara, I know that you hate when I bring this up, but just know that before I say it, that I am only looking out for you because I love you more than anything else in any universe that could exist and I don't know what I would do if I ever lost you…"

I look into her eyes and now I'm getting worried. I can't fathom what has her so tangled up. "What's wrong?"

"I just want to make sure that you are going to follow through with the plan that we created during our meetings with the social worker. That means that you go every single day to the outpatient program at the center for a month and then we will see what they say, but if you don't show up, they will keep you inpatient. I need to know that you are ready to leave here and that you are going to be able to keep up with what is needed. I promise, as I've promised so many times in recent weeks, I'll be there with you the whole way. I can't be with you during the day at the center, but I will be with you at home and you can call me whenever you need to, do you understand?"

I have no idea what to say. Of course I'm going to follow through with this. I know I have to. I look down at myself and I can still see the mess I was. My body is littered with scars and newer wounds that are covered in large bandages. I can see the outline of my bones through my pajamas. I can also feel the intense craving for a drink. I stand firmly by the fact that I don't have an alcohol problem, but I use it to try to forget about my "me" problem. I still have a huge me problem, and for that, my body is craving the alcohol to take it away. Then I look up again at Sofia. I realise I no longer need the alcohol because I have her.

"Sofia, I can never lie to you about this. I fully intend to do everything in my power to correct my mistakes and be able to have a normal life back at the lab and a wonderful life at home with you". I have to lower my head again because I can feel the tears starting to form in my eyes. I feel her strong fingers gently stroke my cheek and then softly lift my face up to face hers. She walks me over to the bed and we both sit down to share a more passionate kiss than the one upon her entrance. Our breakfast forgotten, we lose track of time within each other's comfort and love.

An unknown amount of time later, the nurse walks in to tell me that it is time to be moved. "Do you know when I will be released to outpatient care?"

"Honey, didn't they tell you? If everything goes well tonight, you can go home tomorrow evening!"

The thought of that brings a huge grin to my face. I look to Sofia and see her expression mirrors my own. She then walks up to the nurse and quietly asks where I will be located.

"Sara, I'll meet you in your new room in a few minutes. I have to go make a few phone calls".

Before I could inquire as to who needed to be called and for what, I was moved away while enjoying the sight of my amazing girlfriend's swagger.

Again, I apologise for the delay, but leaving a review may help with the next one!