The Escapade
Chapter Thirteen: Value Part II

I'd never been shot in my entire life before that time.

Yeah, I screwed around with some BB guns when I was little; a couple of rocks hit me, but nothing major. I screwed up my leg pretty bad when I was thirteen, and got a nice battle scar from it.

Never been shot, though.

I thought I was dead. At least I died protecting someone I love.

"Lexie, can you hear me?" someone said. Their voice was far away, and I could barely hear it. It was almost inaudible.

Okay, so, maybe I wasn't dead.

Being the nice, smart, intelligent person that I was, I decided to shoot straight off of whatever I was laying on, taking some IV cords (that were placed in my hand; and everyone knows you shouldn't jerk around an IV cord) with me. Screeching in pain from my shoulder, I laid back down.

"Oh, thank God." The same voice said, coming over to me and waving their hand in front of my face.

"Yeah, I can see. And yes, I can hear you." I said, not too nicely. I looked up and recognized Kakashi. I blushed. "Sorry. I'm just in a lot of pain. I didn't know it was you."

He shook his head and sat down on my bed, kissing my forehead. "Love, what were you thinking? You could have gotten killed out there."

"He could have easily killed you, too." I defended. "Then, I'd be a widow. Sort of."

"That doesn't—" He sighed in defeat. "They removed the bullet easily. They said you're going to be out of here by tomorrow, tonight, if we're lucky. You lost some blood, though. But you're okay."

"My shoulder hurts." I complained.

"I know, love. You're going to rest at home after this until your wound heals. No complaints, either. I'll wait on you hand and foot."

I made a face. "What if I don't want to be?"

He shrugged. "Too bad. You're going to."

"Are you staying overnight with me or going back to the house?"

Saying, 'the house' felt pretty weird to me, considering I was just shot by the man who got me fired and burned my apartment down. Within a few weeks, I had a new job and a place to stay, plus I was getting married. No doubt I was the type to recover fast.

"I'm staying with you." He said. He sat down in the chair beside of the bed where I was. I sat up so I could look around. I was in a hospital, no less. The room was painted an off white with blue trim. I was in some weird hospital gown with IV stuck in me, which I wasn't a big fan of. "Your mom stopped by earlier. But you were asleep. I think she's still here, want me to call her?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind."

A few minutes later, my mom was in my hospital room.

"Oh, I knew you'd be okay!" she exclaimed as she walked in and saw me talking to Kakashi. She came in and hugged me, and my dad and grandparents followed suit, everyone taking turns. "Why did you jump in front of that bullet, Lexie?" My mom asked me.

I rolled my eyes at her. "Because, if I didn't, he would have gotten killed. Maybe."

"So could you!"

"When you love someone, it doesn't matter. You'd protect them at any cost, even if it costs you your life. I love Kakashi. And if I was meant to die, then I would have. But obviously not, so here I am. And I'd do it all over again if I had to. And I'm pretty sure he'd do the same for me."

I saw Kakashi nod out of the corner of my eye, and I smiled.

"You're silly. But we love you."

I looked around the room. "Did anyone ever bother to bail Julie out of jail? That's kind of what we were there for."

As if on cue, Julie, LB and Iruka walked in.

"You moron! You jumped in front of—" LB started, running toward me. She smacked me, hard. Iruka grabbed her by the arms, and she jerked back and smacked him hard across the face. "She could have gotten killed! Doesn't anyone understand this? She risked her life for him!"

Iruka was now holding her, and I could see tears coming down her face. "I was so scared, Lexie. I was so scared that I lost you. I can't lose my best friend. I just can't. Why did you do that?"

I sat there and looked at her, then looked at my wounded shoulder. "Because I..I love him. I wasn't about to sit there and do nothing. I couldn't let Shane kill him. I just couldn't do that. That's what Shane wanted. That's what he's always wanted."

After the five-minute silence, Kakashi stood up and placed his hand in mine. "Well, I think we have this established that Lexie jumped in front of a bullet to save me," he scanned the room. "I am very grateful that Lexie is alive. If she were to die—well, I really don't know what I would do without her. I fell in love with her ever since I saw her at the diner. Which is why you should know, if you already don't, that Lexie and I are getting married, and Lexie is already moved in with me."

No one said anything after that, and I really didn't know why.

My family came over to hug me, and so did Julie. We talked about everything, and finally everyone left. I fell asleep that night into a deep slumber.

The next morning I was released from the hospital. I couldn't really do much with my arm, obviously. Kakashi drove us home and packed me, bridal style, onto the bed where he told me that I was to stay until I got better, or else.

And I wasn't about to question him.

I turned on the television to meet my fate, and seeing myself get shot.

"This morning's story was covered two days ago at Ridgeway jail, where a civilian was shot and wounded and two police officers were downed. None other than Ridgeway's now infamous criminal, Shane Weston, was the offender. Weston was being transported to Ridgeway jail, where he saw his ex girlfriend, Alexandria Rivers, and her fiancée, Kakashi Hatake. Weston, in turn, fought the restraint that he was in, downing two police officers in the process. He grabbed a pistol from a downed officer and aimed at Kakashi. Rivers then jumped in front of her fiancée in order to save him. Rivers was in critical care for one day, then released. Weston is now sentenced to a maximum sentence of fifteen years in jail."

"Sounds like we're celebrities," Kakashi said, entering the bedroom with some hot chocolate. He handed me a cup and laid down beside of me.

I sighed. "I can't believe we've been through all of this," I said, turning the television. "It's ridiculous."

"That it is, love. That it is." He grabbed something out of his pocket and handed it to me. It was multiple pieces of paper, looking somewhat like notes. "I read over these. Mind telling me why I am the core subject?"

I opened them up and began to read them, laughing at certain ones. These were notes that LB and I passed to each other at the diner when we couldn't get on break. Our main subject was Kakashi, whom I didn't know at the time. I laughed when I read the one about him being "finer than a piece of fried steak," and I put them away.

"They were notes that LB and I passed at the diner when we couldn't get on break. And," I looked over him. "Tu eres muy interesante, Senor Hatake."

"Gee, thanks." He muttered. He leaned back against me, and sighed again. "So. We have to talk about this, you know."

"The wedding?"

"Yep."

"Well. What do we start with?"

He scratched his head. "I don't know, you girls are better at it than us guys. Unless you want me to be gay for thirty minutes."

I shook my head. "Um, no. No, thank you."

"Good, because I wasn't about to be," he turned to face me. "Colour scheme?"

"What's your favourite colour?"

"Anything you like."

I smacked him playfully. "Not helping. Blue and green?"

He raised an eyebrow. "How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess." I got a pen and paper and started to write things down. "My favourite colour is blue."

"Large or small wedding?" he asked.

I shrugged. I really didn't know that many people outside of my family, and I knew he probably didn't have much of anyone to invite.

"Small," I said, twirling the pen. "I have a big family, but most of them don't live around here."

He nodded in agreement, and didn't say anything about his family, even though I secretly understood. I snuggled up to him for comfort, knowing family was a touchy subject for him. I never asked him how his parents died, or if he had any family he could possibly invite, because I didn't want to make him sad. He raised an arm up to put around me, bringing me closer to him. I inhaled the scent of musk and set the pen and paper aside. He looked down at me, and I looked up at him. We both smiled at each other.

"You feel it, don't you?" he asked.

"Yes. Yes, I do."

And there were no words for what we felt. There were just feelings, and that was basically all we needed.