Chapter 21

Love and Pain

"Dan?"

He jumped and turned to me.

"Evelyn! Oh, Evelyn!"

"Dan, can you come to me?"

"I'm okay, Evelyn. Don't worry about me, okay? Please!"

"Dan, come on," I held out my hand for him to come to me.

"No, I'm okay," he said shakily. "Don't worry about me. Worry about yourself."

I started to slowly push myself up, breathing heavily, trying to ignore the searing pain.

"EVELYN, STOP! Please stop! What are you doing!?"

"I'm coming to you!"

"Okay, okay! I give up! Stop, Evelyn! Please don't get up anymore! You're already hurt! I'll come to you!"

I stopped and collapsed back against the pillow, relieved I didn't have to get up, breathing heavily.

Dan wiped at his face, pushed himself up, and rolled off the bed. He slowly stood up, balancing himself on one foot. He hopped over to my bed and gently lowered himself next to me on the cot, shaking and crying.

I was almost in a sitting position, and Dan rested his head on the pillow next to me.

"I'm so worried about you, Evelyn," he said, looking up at me.

"Dan?" I asked. "What did you dream?"

"You were on the road," he whispered, "bleeding, dying, and I couldn't help you, so you just lay bleeding…"

"It's not real, it's not real," I said reassuringly. "I'm okay! See, look at me!"

I managed a weak smile.

"Oh, Evelyn," he said, tears streaming down his face. "I promised I would protect you! I told you I would never let him get to you! And I did let him get to you!"

"No, Dan!" I said weakly. "I went out to that coffee place; it was so stupid of me, and it's my fault! Please don't think it's yours! You didn't do anything wrong!"

"He-he would have killed you!"

"But he didn't! Dan, you saved my life! You killed him! Now I'm safe!"

I took his hand and held it to my heart.

"Feel that?"

"Your heartbeat? Yes…"

"That means I'm alive, Dan. You saved me, and my heart's still beating. I'm okay."

"Evelyn, he was holding that knife up in the street, just like you dreamed!"

"Yes, I know. But Dan, it's okay now. It doesn't matter! You killed him. Jeeves is no more."

I stroked his messy, curly hair and he held my hand to his cheek.

"Dan!? Where the heck did you get that gun from!?"

"I got it from the police department, and I swore I would protect you! I carried it around everywhere, everywhere!, to try to keep you safe!"

Realization hit me.

"The backpack."

"Yes. I didn't want to tell you because I was scared it would make it all too real for you! I'm so sorry! You must be so mad!"

"No, I'm not. They told me Jeeves might be looking for me, but I obviously didn't take it seriously enough, staying out alone in the dark like that!"

He was still shaking.

"I wish I could hug you, Dan, but I can't move!" I said.

"Oh, your side! How is it? Can I see?"

"No, it's bad Dan. Don't look!"

But he leaned over me anyway, ignoring my weak protests, and unbuttoned a button on the gown, and pulled it carefully sideways to catch a glimpse of my side.

"Dan!"

I sat up quickly, then fell backwards in horrible pain, moaning.

He watched me in fright.

"Evelyn! Oh…Evelyn!" He fell back onto the hospital bed with his hands over his face.

"I told you not to look! It's bad, huh?"

"Oh, Evelyn!" He started to cry again.

"Dan, please don't cry! What's done is done. I just need a little bit of time and I'll be good as new! Honestly!"

He was shaking.

I decided to calm him down before asking him about his ankle. I stroked his hair and rubbed his chest and shoulders.

"Evelyn, tell me everything he did to you."

"You'll get upset!"

"No, I won't! I'm calm now. Please tell me! I need to know so I can be careful with you!"

He turned and looked at me.

"Okay…"

He waited expectantly.

"Well, there's my side, that's the worst. There's various bruising, he kicked my back again, and he kneed my stomach. He slammed my head on a wall, and on the cement-you saw that. My hands and knees are scraped from the cement, and my left hand is slashed from the blade, and…he slapped my face…Everything hurts, really," I admitted.

He looked up at me.

"Oh, Evelyn," he whispered in shock. "I knew you were hurt bad, but I didn't realize it was that bad!"

He just watched me, looking so hurt at hearing my injuries.

He slowly reached out and cradled my face with his hand, just gazing at me.

"You must be hurting so much, huh?"

I didn't answer, and my silence gave it away.

"Oh, Eveyln."

He slowly lay back down again.

"I wish I could take all the pain away from you," he said.

I resumed stroking his hair and rubbing his chest. I wanted to kiss him, but moving brought on too much pain.

"I should be comforting you, you shouldn't be comforting me!" he said. "You're the one who was raked with a knife!"

I winced at his wording.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, honey!" he said, noticing. "I'm making things worse; I'm going back to my own bed!"

"No, Dan!" I pleaded. "Stay with me, please?"

I stroked his hair and talked softly to him until he stopped shaking.

"Better now?"

"Better. Evelyn, I'm so sorry you got hurt."

"You got hurt too, Dan! Tell me what happened to your ankle."

"Oh, no!"

"Come on, Dan! You have to!"

"No! It's embarrassing!"

"Dan! You owe me an explanation!" I exclaimed, knowing he would have to tell me now.

"I…I…I was furious that you were hurt, so I threw it down, the gun I mean, and…it…."

"And it went off and shot you in the ankle, right?"

"Um…yeah."

He was quiet, and then, "This could be another "Reasons why Dan's a fail."

I giggled, then winced.

He smiled, then watched me quietly.

"It's so stupid!" he said suddenly "You're all torn up with battle scars, and I shot myself in the foot!"

I reached for his face.

We were quiet.

"Evelyn, about the video we were talking about earlier, if you really don't want to tell the Danosaurs about us dating, we don't have to tell them. I'm sorry I tried to make you be in the video."

"No Dan, I was being a bit ridiculous. I didn't want to be in it because… I was afraid that the Danosaurs would hate me."

"What!? They won't hate you, Evelyn. I have awesome fans, and I'm sure that they'll love you!"

"That's what Phil said too. I went to the coffee shop after that to think and realized that you once put yourself on Youtube without knowing if people would accept you. And they loved you! The Danosaurs deserve to know about me for being the loyal fans that they are."

"You really feel that way, Evelyn?"

"Yes, I do."

"I'm so glad! Thanks Evelyn! I really want to tell the Danosaurs about you! Wow, I'm so exited! They're going to adore you! But if you change your mind, I'll understand."

I smiled. He was so exited that I wanted to do the video.

"I won't change my mind. There were these two girls in the coffee shop who said they were Danosaurs. They talked to me about you and I told them you were my boyfriend. They were so sweet and nice to me, and I told them you'd be uploading a video soon introducing me to the Danosaurs. They gave me their emails to give to you, they're in my pants pocket. I'll give them to you later."

"That's great! Maybe I'll give them a shoutout in a video."

"Yes! Do that! They'll be so ecstatic!"

We were quiet.

"Evelyn, I want to touch you, but I'm afraid I'll hurt you if I do."

"You can kiss me, that won't hurt."

He pushed himself up and leaned over me, his chest lightly touching mine. He pressed his lips slowly to mine, and lingered there, then lay back on the bed.

"Evelyn?"

"Yes?"

"Evelyn, I'm so sorry all this happened, with Jeeves."

"This was a horrific experience, yes, but if it wasn't for it, we might not be as close as we are. I think this whole ordeal made us realize our feelings for each other, right?"
He was quiet.

"Maybe so, Evelyn."

He sat up slowly and turned to me.

"Evelyn?"

"Yes?" I asked, staring enchantedly into his deep brown eyes.

"I love you."

I stared at him, feeling my love for him swell within me.

"Dan?"

"Yes?"

"I love you! I love you too!"

He pulled himself toward me and gently kissed me, reaching for the side of my face as he did so.

"Dan, if I'm being completely honest, I've never known love like this before. I've never had a boyfriend that I loved as much as I love you now!"

"Good," he said. "Because you just described how I feel about you better than I could've. Except I mean that I've never had a girlfriend that I loved as much as I love you now."

I smiled, going all teary-eyed.

"Aww!" he said. "You're crying!"

"I love you, Dan!"

He leaned forward and gently kissed me again, slipping his hand extremely carefully under my upper back.

We kissed until he tired of holding himself up to kiss me. He lay next to me and fell asleep with me stroking his hair.