Aria sat up in bed. She didn't know what time it was; there was an alarm on the side of the bed, but it wasn't the correct time, it said it was 1 pm, and that certainly wasn't right. It was the middle of the night. But when Aria had been messing with the electromagnetivity of the Earth, she'd pretty much screwed up every digital clock in the city. She figured it must've been about 2 or 3 in the morning. And she couldn't get back to sleep.

She kept having such weird, confusing dreams. Half the time, her dreams consisted of the things she'd seen as she'd been laying unconscious after Ome had tried to kill her. Those dreams weren't so bad, just puzzling. She couldn't make sense of any of the scenes that had spun around her. She knew now that the figure she kept seeing was Hiro, but why? What was going on in them? She just couldn't figure it out.

The other half the time, her dreams turned sour. She got to relive the horror of seeing Ome nearly kill Hiro over and over. Each time, she'd try to run and save him, but each step she took, the two would get further and further away, and would always end with Hiro, screaming in agony. She knew it wasn't real, but it shattered her heart more each time she relived the nightmare. It was making her insane.

She pulled her knees up to her chest. Tadashi's side of the room was so clean and organized. Hiro had kept everything the same since his older brother's passing, not even sitting on the bed. But after Aria had passed out midair, he'd brought her back here, and tucked her into covers that hadn't been disturbed in years. It felt too intimate for her. Like she was stepping on Tadashi's grave stone. She'd woken there earlier that evening, but Baymax had been the only one there. He'd told her to go back to sleep, which she'd been trying to do for the past few hours. She kept waking up.

She knew Hiro was sleeping on the other side of the paper partition, in his own bed by now. She'd heard him come in earlier, aided by Aunt Cass. Aria wondered now how he was doing. He had to have more broken ribs, there was no way he could have walked away from what Ome did to him without more broken ribs. At least. She let out a ragged breath.

'Poor Hiro,' she thought, burying her face against her knees. 'Why'd I have to almost die? I should've been there. I was the only one who could've stopped Ome from hurting him.' These were useless thoughts to be having; what happened happened. But she couldn't help herself. It was in her nature to beat herself up about these things. Especially when it pertained to someone she cared so much about. 'I bet Hiro's disappointed in me,' she thought. 'I was too weak to fight Ome off. He almost killed me. I let Ome beat Hiro up, and then I nearly lost control, screwed up gravity, and almost killed Ome. He probably thinks I'm some out of control freak. Great. Just great.'

It was right about then that Aria heard movement on the other side of the partition. Looking up, she could see Hiro's silhouette sit up in bed, resting his forehead in one hand. He was awake. Aria perked up.

"Can't sleep either?" she whispered in the dark, pushing the partition aside slightly. Hiro looked up, surprised to see Aria awake as well.

"No," he answered, rubbing his eyes. Aria bit her lip, hesitating for a moment, but then decided to be brave. She was in what must've been a pair of Aunt Cass' pajamas, and in her sock feet, she tiptoed over, and sat next to Hiro in bed.

"Is it dreams for you too?" she asked sheepishly. He nodded in response. Her eyes dropped to her hands. "Yeah. It's hard to sleep like this."

"Are you dreaming about Ome attacking you?" he asked. His eyes were so dark, that in the dim light of the early-early morning, Aria couldn't distinguish between his pupils and irises. But she knew he was looking right at her.

"No. About him attacking you," she said. Her hands trembled slightly.

"What?" His eyebrows shot up. "I'm not the one he…I'm fine, Aria. He didn't even come close to killing me." She glanced at him sideways, flushing from unhappiness and embarrassment.

"Yes he did," she said, her voice wavering. She didn't want to cry, not now! "I thought he was going to. I…I thought…"

"You're the one who was laying, seemingly dead on the ground at his feet." Their words were soft in the dark, though they hadn't needed to whisper. It just felt right, though. "Aria, when I thought you were dead…I can't even explain how I felt." He lifted a hand, touching her cheek and turning her face to look at him. "It hurt so bad. I hadn't felt that way in years, not since Tadashi. It felt like everything I had to look forward to was now gone. I never want to feel that way again." He pressed his forehead against hers, his hand snaking through her hair, holding her close. He closed his eyes, and Aria was shocked to see tears streak down his cheeks.

"Don't cry," she said weakly, holding both sides of his face in her hands. "I'm here. I'm not dead."

"You have no idea how thankful I am that you aren't." He didn't lean forward, didn't kiss her, but the moment felt as intimate as if he had. There in the dark, being so close, sharing each other's sorrow and relief, Aria felt closer to him than ever. It was like she'd been waiting her whole life to meet him. Everything that had led up to that first day in the café; getting irradiated, the cancer, her isolation during high school, her shyness as a child. It was all working towards one goal, and he was sitting right in front of her. How could she not celebrate every step it took to arrive here? The same moment she opened her eyes to look at him, he did the same.

"I think I love you," she whispered, and was immediately shocked by what her mouth had said. It had acted of it's own accord, she hadn't meant to let it slip out loud. But now that it had, she felt both nervous, and exhilarated. It was the truth, after all. Hiro didn't flinch at the declaration.

"I think I've loved you all along," he answered back, smiling slightly. Aria mirrored that smile.

"MAGNETIC MURDERER BEHIND BARS" the headline read. Aria stared at the newspaper in the man's hand, squinting, trying to read it from where she was behind the counter.

She hadn't been awake for it, but Ome had been 'escorted' to the nearest police station, where Hiro and the gang had helped the deputy fit Ome with a permanent regulator, rendering him powerless. She let out a sigh of relief. He was in prison now, awaiting trial, though Aria was confident he'd be given at least a life sentence, if not more.

"Aria?" Aunt Cass stuck her hand in front of Aria's face, waving it around. "Yoo hoo, anyone home?"

"Oh!" she squeaked, snapping out of it. "Sorry Cass!" The older woman rolled her eyes, smiling, and handed Aria a tray with several mugs and plates on it.

"Table six, sweetie," she said, winking at the girl. Rushing off to deliver the tray to it's intended recipients, Aria let herself relax again, and smile. This was nice. This was normal. And the best part?

No regulator.

She couldn't really explain it; maybe Hiro had been right, and her brain had just learned how to contain it on it's own. Maybe that mega-burst of power the other day had somehow helped her suppress her power's volatile nature. Either way, she no longer needed the regulator to keep her magnetism in check. And she was slowly weaning herself from the channellors as well. She would be 100% in control of her own powers within the month.

Dropping off the tray's contents with a few pleasantries to the customers, Aria turned and headed back towards the kitchen behind the front counter, passing Hiro sitting at one of the counter stools. He smiled that crooked smile she loved at her.

"Hard to believe you're the same girl who was stuttering and twitchy a few weeks ago," he said, as she set the tray down. He nodded towards the side of the main dining room, where the fork was still hanging from the beam, where it had almost hit her in the head that first day. Cass had left it there, unable to dislodge it from the wood, instead hanging a picture from it. One of Aria, Hiro and Baymax with the rest of the gang. "Not one fork has tried to kill you all shift!"

"Amazing, right?" she answered sarcastically.

"We could totally remedy that, though." He held up a fork jokingly, wiggling his eyebrows at her. She smirked, holding up her hand, and laughed at Hiro's shocked expression when the fork flew from his grip to hers.

"Wanna say that again now that I'm holding the fork?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows back in a mocking fashion. Hiro laughed just as the bell over the front door went off, and they both turned to see Fred leading the others into the café.

"Whoops, looks like we're interrupting your flirting," Fred said, just a bit too loudly, sliding into a seat beside Hiro. Honey Lemon giggled at Aria and Hiro's twin looks of shock, sitting on Hiro's other side. Aria turned before they could see her red face, and started making up cups of everyone's 'usual'; Earl grey for Wasabi, black tea with honey and lemon, obviously, for Honey Lemon, espresso for Gogo, and…well, there really wasn't a name for what Fred drank. It was the most unholy amalgamation of coffee, chocolate, mountain dew, caramel and whipped cream Aria had ever witnessed anyone consume.

"What!?" Hiro said, his laughter just a bit too forced. "Flirting? Haha, I have…absolutely no idea what you're talking about! Haha…ha…" His eyes shifted to Aria briefly, who shot him a panicked look.

"Dude, it's so obvious," Wasabi put in, leaning on the counter between Fred and Hiro.

"Really!?"

"That…and Honey Lemon already told us all." Hiro let his head fall into his hand, sighing heavily. Honey Lemon patted his shoulder apologetically.

"Sorry, Hiro! I didn't mean to, it just sort of…slipped."

"Not like anyone with eyes couldn't already see it." Gogo was sitting on the other side of Fred, picking fuzzies off of Fred's sweater. "Jesus, are you ever not covered in something, Fred?" Aria began setting teacups and mugs down in front of everyone, really wishing she could melt into the wall right now. Everyone knew!? Great, just great! This was the most intense feeling of embarrassment she'd ever experienced.

"So, now that the cat's out of the bag," Wasabi said, blowing on his cup of tea, "I gatta ask; are you staying in San Fransokyo, Aria?" Relieved at the reprieve from feeling embarrassed, Aria's eyebrows went up.

"Oh! Uh, well…no," she said, shrugging. Hiro, who'd been nursing a glass of soda for a while now, nearly spit it out at this. Swallowing hard, he gave her a worried look.

"You're not!?" he asked, feeling almost…betrayed. She couldn't go now! Not just when they'd come to terms with all this confusing 'love' stuff! He'd watched her die, for Christ's sake, come back to life, kick ass, nearly kill someone, and the pass out, all in the last 48 hours. Jesus, 12 hours ago, she'd told him she loved him! And she was going back to Los AngelOsaka!?

"I do have parents, you know," Aria pointed out. "I ran away from that life to get help. Now that I've gotten help and fixed the whole 'Ome' problem, I've got to go back. My parents are probably worried sick. I AM technically a missing person."

"Will you come back?" Honey Lemon asked, looking almost as hurt as Hiro. In the past few weeks, her and Aria had grown so close; she'd be sad to say goodbye to her new friend, especially if it meant saying goodbye forever.

"I don't know," Aria admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. "I don't have a job, it'd take me so long to save up enough to rent here in the city…"

"What about this!?" Hiro asked, motioning to the tray she was holding, and the apron she was wearing. "Cass would hire you full time in a heartbeat! And you could stay with us!" There was a desperate sort of edge to his voice.

"You could apply to SFIT!" Fred interjected, which was met with vocal approval from the others, though Aria just shook her head.

"You guys are forgetting that I'm not a genius," she said, smiling sadly. "I'm not some tech guru, or brilliant chemist, or even mildly good at anything technological. I have trouble operating my own smartphone sometimes!"

"That's because you still have to jail-break it," Hiro put in quietly.

"I don't belong at SFIT. And I can't stay here, with you," she added, motioning to Hiro. "I'm not gonna impose like that."

"It wouldn't be imposing!" Hiro protested. "We want you here!"

"Hiro," Aria said, a warning in her voice, but also resignation. She was about to say more, to close the matter, but Gogo got up then, walking up behind Hiro. Taking either side of his face in her hands, she turned him, directing his squished face towards Aria.

"Aria, look at him," Gogo said, raising an eyebrow. "He's like a dumb little puppy. He's gonna be mopey and sad and infuriatingly useless if you don't come back. Do you think any of us wants to deal with that?" Gogo kept a straight face as she said this, but Aria could tell she was joking. Hiro smiled as he was held in place by Gogo, and after a pause, wiggled his eyebrows. Aria had to take a deep breath to keep from laughing.

"I'll see if I can work something out," she relented, which was met by cheers from the others. She shook her head and smiled, setting her hand on the counter. Hiro's hand rested on top of it, causing her to look up suddenly. As the others were laughing and talking amongst themselves, the two of them shared a smile.

Aria knew she wouldn't be able to stay away for long.