Dr. Stevens looks at me with honest eyes. "Sara, you only just woke up from a coma. Give yourself some time." He goes to adjust the bandage around my head. My brow furrows as he fiddles with the gauze, his fingers nudging the wound and making me wince.

I don't need more time; I've already wasted three years giving myself time, hoping the pain would just go away. Sometimes waiting doesn't make anything any better. Sometimes it makes it worse.

I sit up when he finishes. "Can I go now? Where's her room?" I start to pull my legs out of the hospital bed, but Dr. Stevens puts a hand up to stop me.

"You can't go anywhere right now; you need some time to rest." He's so frustrating, it kills me! "I just fucking got done 'relaxing', now tell me where Tegan's room is!" My shouting startles him and he drops his hand.

I sit at the edge of the bed and attempt to stand. When I lift myself up, I feel the stitches in my arm strain, clutching it despite my efforts to appear well enough to leave.

"Please, just tell me where it is." I give him my most pleading gaze and hope he gives in and lets me go.

He stares back at me and bites his lip with an expression of understanding on his face. "I'll walk with you." I give the biggest grin I can manage without stretching the stitches in the back of my head. He holds out his arm and helps me gently off of the bed.

Being the height I am, I almost have to hop down. Dr. Stevens practically lifts me up and slowly down until my feet are firmly planted to the ground. He stands by my side as I take my first step towards the inevitable.

TEGAN

"Sara's coming?" I can already feel the butterflies making their way into my stomach as the nurse nods. "Now?" Another nod and the butterflies morph into dragonflies.

She's coming.

She's awake.

She's okay.

The nurse turns to leave and I remember how insanely famished I am. "Wait! Um, do you have any Cheerio's?" My mother laughs lightly and says she'll get them for me. I sink into my pillow and sigh "Thanks, mum."

Five minutes after she's left to fetch me a bowl of cereal, I hear Sara's voice behind the wooden door.

"This is it?"

Oh, god. She sounds hoarse, much like she does after practicing "Walking with a Ghost", a song that she's admitted to struggling with vocally. The dragonflies go insane when the doorknob turns and Sara's small frame enters through the door.

She looks to her right before turning to face me, new to the room. Our eyes lock and it feels like my heart's caught on icy fire. I realize now, as Sara smiles at me with purest feeling I've come to accept and embrace, that I never want to lose her. I would die without her. If she'd had never woken up, I think I would have refused to open my eyes at all.

Without Sara, there is no Tegan. We were made for each other, and if one our sets of little lungs stop, the other will follow suit.

I've never been more sure in my life than I am right now, staring into Sara's glossy orbs, into the depths of her, at her deepest need. I see myself in her eyes, even behind my reflection as Sara makes her way to me.

She sits in the seat our mother had been occupying not ten minutes ago. She uses her left hand to scoot the chair closer to the bed and it finds its way to my right. When she looks back up at me, I catch a glimpse of her right arm.

"How are you feeling, Sara?"

"I'm okay. It hurts, though." She says, acknowledging her forearm.

"Your tattoo, it's ruined." The ship was cut off by an obvious line of stitches that almost burned burgundy.

"It's fine, really. I just won't wear t-shirts for a while. I don't wear them often, anyway, so..."

I grimace and look down at the casts encasing my legs and feet. "And I guess I won't wear shorts ever again."

Sara follows my eyes to my legs and inhales sharply. "Tee, I'm so sorry."

"It wasn't your fault. They said I'll be able to walk again in like, a year." Sara's eyes glisten with fresh tears.

"Sara, no. Don't cry. It's okay; they said I'll be okay." I plead with her not to cry, but I feel my own tears welling their way into my eyes. Sara buries her face in her left arm resting on the side of the bed. I lift my right hand to rest under her ear and wipe away a tear with my thumb.

"Shh, Sasa it's okay." I can't subdue the sob that breaks out past my lips. Sara lifts her head up slightly and searches for my eyes, locking them with her own. Her hand finds mine and links our fingers together.

"Tegan, I can't live without you. After everything, all I want to do is to just hold onto you. I'm afraid if I let go, I'll lose you forever. I... I know it's got to be hard for you to feel it, too, but I n-need you, Tegan. I need you more than you'll ever, ever know." Her tears are falling past her cheeks now, each one building up after the other, faster than the last. She says it all in a rush, almost in a hurry.

"I can't lose you, Tegan. I've already lost Emy; I can't bear to lose you, too. Just promise me you won't leave, promise me you won't do something you'll regret."

Sara's eyes cut into mine. Here, in this hospital room, I've found the very thing I was born to live for.

Sara.

SARA

Our fingers are tightly intertwined and it feels as if our tears are synchronized. I reach to wipe away Tegan's damp cheeks, and just as I begin to lean into her, our mother walks in.

"Tegan, I got your-" I let go of Tegan's hand in a hurry and wipe my eyes with my hospital gown. Tegan looks over at our mom as I sit back in my chair, cradling my arm. "...cereal." She walks over to us and hands Tegan the bowl of Cheerio's, followed by a plastic spoon.

I take to focusing on the sound of Tegan crunching on her breakfast and hide my eyes from my mother. She pulls up another chair from the corner of the room and sits on the other side of Tegan, facing me.

"Sara, I'm so glad you're awake. I was beginning to worry." She examines my arm from across Tegan and a look of concern invades her smiling face.

"I'm fine, mum." My eyes still burn from crying and I try to blink it away.

Tegan finishes her cereal and our mom gets up to take the bowl back to the cafeteria. She's always been overly polite like that. I want to tell her to forget about the fucking bowl and stay, but once she's left the room, I decide I can't wait any longer.

I wait for the door to click shut and stand over Tegan, leaning into her until our faces are inches apart. Without breaking eye contact, I let my heart spill out over her chest and watch her anxious eyes as I finally give Emy what she wanted from me.

"Tegan Rain Quin, my sister, my twin. I, Sara Kirsten Quin, am in love with you and I don't give a single fuck what anyone thinks of it."

Tegan's still mesmerized when I lean in and press my lips firmly against hers. I wait for her to react, half expecting to be pushed away. She hesitates for a split second and I feel myself falling apart until she starts kissing me back, lips returning the same amount of heated pressure I'm giving. Eyes closed, Tegan deepens the kiss until I'm begging for breath. With all the strength and will left in my body, I pull away and bring my lips to her ear. I hover there for a moment, letting her hear how jagged my breathing is, how easily she takes it away.

"Do you love me?" I ask, whispering as softly as I can, afraid of scaring her away.

She reaches up and cups my face in her hands, bringing it directly in front of hers and looking straight into my wide eyes, full of want and need.

"I love you, Sara."