Phil woke up with a pain in his side. Thinking back to the earlier events, he remembered he was stabbed. He looked around the room and realized that he was back in his trailer. Feeling someone holding his hand, he looked to his left and saw Jasmine's sleeping body next to his, with his hand in hers. He smiled to himself as he reached over slowly, with his right hand, to brush the hair out of Jasmine's face. He took in the sight of a sleeping Jasmine for a while before feeling his abdomen area where the bandage was. Although Phil could now feel the full effects of the stab, there was a comfort in his pain that came from Jasmine's hold on his hand. He turned his head slowly to look at Jasmine as she slept. He wanted to adjust his body when he felt a sharp pain, inadvertently squeezing her hand really tight.
As soon as Jasmine felt the squeeze, she woke up to find Phil's eyes closed shut in pain.
"Oh my gosh! Phil! Are you okay?" Jasmine asked, "I'll go get the morphine."
She was about to let go of Phil's hand when he held it tighter and shook his head lightly.
"The pain's passing. Don't." Phil said
Remembering the conversation by the lake, Jasmine realized that morphine was a kind of drug and no matter what, Phil wouldn't want to put it in his body.
"Alright." Jasmine said
A few minutes passed and Phil's face relaxed as he felt the pain subside.
"Are you feeling better?" Jasmine asked
"Yeah." Phil replied
"I'll go get a towel to clean up your sweat." Jasmine said
"No, don't… Stay." Phil said
Jasmine nodded and sat back down, "You're awake."
"Yeah…" Phil said, "Tamina patched me up?"
"Yup. Don't worry… She didn't use any drugs on you. You kinda passed out before she started to patch up your wounds." Jasmine said
"I'm pretty weak." Phil joked
Jasmine chuckled, "No… You're not."
Suddenly realizing that she was holding Phil's hand, Jasmine became embarrassed and wanted to let his hand go when he in turn, held onto her hand.
"What do you think you're doing?" Phil asked, "Aren't we an item now?"
Jasmine looked at him with a puzzled look as he slowly sat up by himself so that he was at her eye level. Distracted by worrying about Phil's injury, Jasmine didn't see Phil lean in as he surprised her with a kiss on the lips. Despite the sudden kiss, she still closed her eyes as Phil deepened the kiss. He broke the kiss after a while when he felt a sore pain.
"Are you okay?" Jasmine asked
"I'm good." Phil replied
"So… What was that supposed to mean?" Jasmine said
"It's pretty obvious, right?" Phil said
"Yeah… I know… But even though we're like in an apocalypse setting, you still can't skip the mushy part." Jasmine said
Phil laughed softly and said, "Okay… So, the kiss meant I like you and I want you to be my lady."
"Wasn't quite what I expected but since you're injured, I'll let it slide." Jasmine said
Phil smiled before saying, "So… Did you guys find out who Bradley was frightened of?"
"Yeah, we did. Donald Hager is his name. We found his tent and most of my family and my photos in it." Jasmine said
"Donald… I know that creep. If I see him again, I am going to slice his head off with my machete." Phil said
"Whoa, relax Mr Brooks. Let me shoot him first before you do your bit." Jasmine said
Phil smiled as he looked at Jasmine. She smiled back before letting out a gasp.
"I got to change your bandages." Jasmine said
Phil cocked an eyebrow, "You've been taking advantage of me when I was unconscious?"
Jasmine laughed and shook her head as she let his hand go while she walked over to get the clean bandages. She returned to his side and put the clean ones on the bed before undoing the bandages around Phil. While she patiently and attentively did the change, Phil couldn't help but watch her as she did it. He smiled as he watched her eyebrows knit together when she was wrapping the clean bandage around him. After she was done, she picked up his dirty bandages and threw them into the bin.
"Are you hungry?" Jasmine asked
"A little." Phil replied
"Do you want me to go get you something to eat?" Jasmine asked
"How about we both go out?" Phil said
"Are you sure you're fit enough to go out?" Jasmine said
Phil nodded, "I'm not a girl. I can take it."
"Excuse me?" Jasmine said, an eyebrow raised.
Phil smiled and said, "I mean I'm not like a weak girl. You're different. You're tough."
Jasmine laughed slightly and shook her head as she found a t-shirt lying in a sports bag by the bed. Knowing Phil can't move as easily, she helped him to put on the shirt. After, she helped him up and the two of them held hands as they left his trailer.
Seeing the sun about to set, Jasmine figured that it must be around 5 something coming to 6 in the evening. The campfire had been set up and there were people gathered around, ready for dinner. Alicia was the first to spot the 2 of them and smiled as she leapt up from her seat.
"Welcome back, Phil! Glad to see you're awake!" Alicia said
"Glad to be awake too." Phil replied
Everyone turned around and stood up as Phil approached the camp fire, with Jasmine by his side.
"Good to have you back, Phil." Paul aka Big Show said
"You're not wasting any time huh, amigo?" Hunico said
Phil smiled as he squeezed Jasmine's hand lightly before saying, "You got that right, hombre."
Bradley ran up to him and gave him a hug on his uninjured side, "Thank you."
Phil pat Bradley's head with his free hand and said, "No problem, buddy."
"Phil, I'm real glad you're fine but are we gonna have this dinner or what?" Ezekiel asked
Everyone laughed at Ezekiel's impatience as Phil and Jasmine sat down next to Bradley around the camp fire. It had been a long time since everyone at dinner had a fun time. About an hour and a half later, everyone either fell asleep by the camp fire or went back to their tents. Most of those who were drinking got wasted and passed out by the camp fire.
"We should get you back. I don't think you want to join the wasted bunch, right?" Jasmine asked, looking at Hunico and the other guys.
Phil shook his head, "No way."
Jasmine laughed a little as she helped Phil up.
She turned to Bradley, "You go with Alicia first, okay? I'll bring Phil back to his trailer."
Bradley gave an impish grin and said, "Jas, it's okay if you spend the night at Phil's trailer, you know."
Jasmine's face turned a little bright red as Alicia laughed at Bradley's remark. She heard a soft chuckle coming from Phil and turned to show him she wasn't amused.
"Just because you said that, I'm going to come back to the tent." Jasmine said
"Nah… I think it would be best you stay with Phil for the night. It's been only a day since he got stabbed. He needs someone to look out for him in his trailer." Alicia said
She put her hands around Bradley's shoulder and said, "I'll take care of Bradley."
"Thanks. You have a good night, 'kay buddy?" Phil said
Bradley nodded and Jasmine leaned into give him a kiss on the head before Alicia smiled and brought him back to the tent.
"Shall we?" Phil asked
Jasmine laughed and shook her head, "Let's get you back to your trailer."
Phil nodded as she slowly helped him back to his trailer. She settled him onto the bed before looking at the working clock on his table.
"I'll need to change your bandage in another 3 hours. You should get some sleep." Jasmine said
"Nah… I've slept enough." Phil said
He lightly pulled her hand and she sat down next to him.
"That's better. I was getting tired looking up at you." Phil said
Jasmine laughed, "You should really rest."
"I am resting." Phil said
"I meant in a sleeping position. Your body doesn't get any rest if you're still sitting up." Jasmine said
"Fine. I'll pretend to sleep." Phil said
Jasmine smiled as she helped him move nearer to the pillow. As soon as his body touched the bed and his head touched the pillow, Phil let out a soft, satisfied sigh.
"See… You'd rather be on your back then on your butt." Jasmine said
"I hate to admit it but yeah… It's pretty comfortable. Why don't you join me?" Phil asked
Jasmine shook her head, "I've got to stay awake for another 3 hours to change your bandages."
"Screw the bandages. You need your sleep too." Phil said
Instead of giving Jasmine time to respond, Phil lightly yanked her hand and she fell back onto the bed, next to him.
"See? That wasn't so hard, right?" Phil said
Jasmine tried to protest but Phil hummed loudly, drowning out her words. She gave up as Phil held her close to him.
"You know… I never thought I'd fall in love with anyone especially when I've been living in this shithole for the past 2 months." Phil said
"When did you know you fell in love with me?" Jasmine asked
Phil smiled, "When I rescued you from your house. Since then, I developed an overbearing need to care for you."
"Oh… So that's called falling in love with me?" Jasmine said
"In my world, yeah. As you can see, I do not look like a romantic sort of guy." Phil said
Jasmine laughed a little before she felt her eyelids get heavy. Soon, her eyes closed and she fell asleep. Realizing she wasn't talking anymore, Phil looked at her and smiled when he saw her sleeping. He kissed her forehead and held her close to him with his good arm, before he too fell asleep.