When Jack and Kim arrived at her house, they were met with the both sets of parents. Since they we all in Jack's car, all four of them were made to stay for the longest conversation ever. First her and Jack's parents fussed over both of them to no end and then her mom made the same thing with Milton and Jerry. Mr. Brooks was out trying to coordinate some response by authorities that also did not cause a diplomatic blunder, so Kim's dad called him to let him know that all kids were home safe and sound. Mr. Brooks had insisted that he would come over to talk to them, but he first had to deal with the Hakhmakhi delegation.

Kim finally asked to go upstairs to change and both her dad and Jack made to go with her. Her dad's rationale was that she was taken from her bedroom and Jack did not even try to explain himself. She rolled her eyes, but the two of them followed her anyway and she ended up using her closet to change from her hopelessly dirty pajamas. It was then she noticed a hole in her cardigan. It was around her midsection area and she had a vivid flashback to the shooting and the moment Jack's body slammed her into the ground. She whimpered and tried to bite back a sob, but Jack heard her anyway. He opened the closet door and she looked at him trying to blink away tears, noticing her dad standing right behind Jack.

"Kim? What?" Jack asked unsure and she offered him her cardigan wordlessly. He took it, still looking at her unsure.

"Stupidly brave boy..." she said and he finally looked at the garment in his hand.

She knew the moment he located the hole, because his body went stock still and he stared at the sweater in his hands for long time, seemingly without breathing.

"What it is?" her dad tried to step in into the closet, but it was much too small for the three of them.

Jack finally drew an audible breath and shoved the cardigan at her dad and simply stepped to her to hug as close as he could, as tight as she could handle.

This was the kind of hug that she wanted to collapse into. It hadn't really sunk in- the warehouse, and the bullet that was meant for her, the bullet that he was willing to take for her - until the adrenaline had subsided. In the car, with Jack sitting near her and her friends' chatter, she had started to shake, feeling the same kind of freak out she'd experienced the night not too long ago, when four guys tried to rob her in the parking lot.

Being at home, in the same bedroom where she was taken from, it was almost impossible to keep it together anymore. And Jack was always a safe place.

"Shhh... Its OK, you are good. We are good." he was whispering.

Kim swallowed her hysteria down and nodded, not trusting her voice.

"Are you f-freaking out?" She asked, forcing the words out even though the shaking was there again, hard enough to make her teeth rattle. Her face felt numb and tingly, so much so that she had the urge to touch it to make sure it was still there. "I'm s-sorry, I didn't-... th-thought I could do it-"

He cut her off with his mouth, right hand fisted tight in her hair, and Kim let go and let herself shake.

"Yes. I'm freaking out." He whispered, letting his forehead rest against hers, his free hand running frantically over her midsection, probably looking for phantom injuries. "I am so fucking glad he missed..."

"I'm s-sorry, y-y-you were almost..." She stuttered, a hard shudder going through her body that didn't blend into the shaking, because Jack felt it. And then they were on the floor and he was whispering a thousand things against her face, holding her in his lap.

"So fucking… brilliant, Kim, I swear to god." His mouth was pressed against her cheek, hands stroking her hair. "You talked that guy into saving you. Just ... Don't flirt with princes, please... I know you can handle things yourself, but, please..."

Kim took a deep breath to steady herself with his smell, something comforting about his low, whispered ranting. "Just promise you'll never take that bracelet off. I need you to promise me."

Kim nodded, rubbing her nose against his cheek gently. "I'm sorry."

Jack sighed and seemed to be doing the same thing with her that she had been doing with him, tucking his face into her hair and inhaling. They sat there until Kim began to feel too warm from his body heat, her lower back stiff from sitting on the floor. Belatedly she remembered that her dad was there and, embarrassed, she looked up, but he was gone.

"We need to go down." Jack said once her shaking had stopped, picking her up automatically before he shook his head and set her on her feet. Kim took his hand in both of hers and held it to her chest, grateful for him, for his unwavering support and his stupid bravery.

It was pretty much decided that due to the circumstance involved - no culprits were to be found and Mr. Brooks understood that Uval had them - that the incident was going to be swept under the rug.

Kim's father was fuming, but also subsided when Mr. Brooks guaranteed that Uval was leaving Saturday evening and another visit to America was not going to happen any time soon. He wondered if there was even the need for the engagement any longer, but Mr. Brooks was convinced that there was. Apparently, the Royal family also promised that the story about Jack's and Kim's engagement and Uval's presence there would be widely publicized to make sure everyone understood that Kim was no longer an object of Uval's affection and therefore, no longer a target to be used as leverage. In fact, the Royal clan was planning to emphasize that Jack was Uval's friend and that was why Uval was taking part in the engagement. They ran the story of Jack's role in saving Uval again, deliberately avoiding mentioning Kim's name. Uval was quoted as saying that Jack was like a brother to him and the head of the Royal guard, who was also a friend of the Prince, also was quoted that Jack and his clansmen were honorable men that any proud Hakhmakhi would be lucky to call friends.

While they were being apprised of all the developments in Hakhmakhistan, a home security company workers came to the house, apparently to install new bullet-proof glass in all the windows of the house, bars on Kim's bedroom windows, state-of-the-art surveillance, and a panic room on the second story. When prodded, the foreman of the crew revealed that this order came from the Hakhmakhi consulate and they were paid a ridiculous premium to complete all possible installations by the end of the weekend.

Jack was beginning to feel better about Uval.

They finally parted ways, his parents eager to spent time with him to fuss and, he suspected, to scold him for being reckless. His mom stuck to him most of the time and kept touching his cheek. He would have been embarrassed, but he simply soaked it in. His dad, always the quieter parent, hugged him tightly and whispered that he was proud of him. He also insisted that Jack learn more extreme martial arts and, possibly, how to handle a gun. Just in case.

Though he was tired and haven't eaten in a while, he found himself without appetite and restless. Somehow the thoughts of what happened int he last 12 hours had been converging on him, making him think in circles about the what ifs. He finally gave up and pulled his phone and opened the app.

She was at home. Which was being reinforced and renovated to make it safer... It should have pacified him, but it didn't.

At last, unable to calm down, he called her and she answered immediately with a breathless Jack?, which made him calmer immediately.

"Sorry, you probably are trying to rest..."

"No. I mean yes, but I could not relax enough."

"Neither could I..."

"Are you... What were you doing?"

"Trying not to think all the possible scenarios in which I was late, or that guy did not move... You?"

"Same... Do you... Do you want to meet?" She sounded unsure, but his heart still surged.

"Where? Want me to come to your place?"

"I dunno.. It's a mad house here with all the workers... What about yours? I think... I think I need to see you..."

"I am waiting." He said and hung up.

Before she could leave, she had to battle a little with her parents, who were at the height of the protectiveness. Its only her pleading with dad that she could not rest here, now, when there was a ruckus being made by workers, that got her the permission to leave altogether. When she arrived at Jack's, Kim rushed the front door.

Which opened before she even knocked and Jack's anxious face greeted her. Somehow he looked paler than earlier and she wondered if he had his freak-out too. Now that they were in front of each other, she hesitated. "Are you alright?" she asked, her voice cracking as tears formed in her eyes.

Jack nodded slowly. "I am now," he assured her. "Now that you are here." he finished and opened his arms wide.

"Oh thank God," Kim muttered, forgetting her hesitation and and running up to Jack, laying her lips on his. She remained there for just a moment before pulling away, a blush on her cheeks. "Sorry," she muttered. "I was just-"

She didn't get to finish, Jack kissing her to end her talking. This kiss was longer, Jack moving one hand to her back and the other to her neck to support her while Kim put her hands on his shoulders.

Slowly, the two pulled back, each catching a breath after that kiss. They stood there for a moment before their lips crashed into each other, this kiss more frantic than the last two. Jack bit Kim's lower lip, teeth tugging at it and worrying it a little as her hands went into his hair pulling him closer and raising on her toes.

He finally let go of her lips and pulled back.

"I have never been more afraid than this morning" Jack said with a shaky breath, "and you..." she licked her lips, the taste of copper not even fazing her. "-you almost died today. But you didn't. I can't ... And I didn't-"

Kim blinked back tears, shaking her head, her grip tightening on his forearm, her fingers clutching at the material of his shirt.

"You're here, now, - that's all I want-" She kissed him again, slower and gentler now.

They finally walked into the house and into his room, Kim only vaguely registering Zoe's voice in the kitchen.

Inside his room, the energy between ratcheted up again and it only took a slightest of touches on his hand for him to fuse his body to hers. He was pushing her with his body into the door and she whimpered at the intensity of the kiss. He pilled back and simply lifted her by putting his hands under her butt and carrying her to the bed. He sat down with her still in his hands and they did not part their lips, the kiss still going strong.

His hands lift from where they on her butt to move tortuously slow over her body, making her aware of the heat of his body, scorching her through the thin fabric of her shirt. Her own hands explored, moving from his hair down his neck and sneaking in under the collar of Jack's shirt. Wherever she touched him, she could feel the energy between them connect and intensify.

The kiss became more confident and more desperate as it deepened. Jack's one hand roamed now everywhere he could reach - from right under her left breast, where it paused as if listening to the heartbeat to the pulse point at the throat to her still damp hair. His other hand was still holding Kim in place - her hip, the fingers stretching to the small of her back - but he held onto her tight, like any release of pressure would cause her to disappear.

Her tongue was curling around his, touching the roof of his mouth, and they both let out a moan. He bucked under her, while pressing the hand on hip down and it sent a jolt through her.

Her jacket was gone - and his hands paused to carefully trace her skin right on the edge of the shirt she wore. She knew he was asking her for permission and she simply took the shirt off, throwing in haphazardly behind herself. He pulled back and his eyes were darting everywhere, appreciative and hungry, making her blush hotly. He looked up at her slowly, eyes still dragging along her exposed torso and she was almost embarrassed if she wasn't so turned on by his obvious appreciation. Still, she dropped her eyes down, a little self-conscious and his hand came up to lift her face.

"You are alive... And beautiful..." his fingers traced her cheek and followed some invisible line down the neck, clavicle, bra strap, along the bra cup and finally wrapping around her ribs. "I always wondered how far this blush went..." he murmured into her neck and she shivered at the sensation.

His shirt wasn't hard to remove, but soon this layer between them was gone too.

He was beautiful. She saw him shirtless before, but this close he was breathtaking. Her hands roamed over the newly exposed skin and she could not get enough. She must have been doing something right, because he kept bucking into her steadily, her awareness of where she was sitting increasing as his bulge grew too.

He finally lifted her up and twisted them around, setting her on the edge of the bed and finding his spot kneeling right between her legs. Bold, she hooked her ankles together behind him.

He teaches her legs from ankles to hips and further and she squeezed him and pulled him closer, making him topple. He caught himself on one arm, going for a kiss in the process. He whispered something mumbled against her lips and she thought she caught words love and life, and she shivered.

Kim felt like breaking at that moment. Somehow this wonderful boy, no, man, loved her so much he was profoundly happy just because she existed. Her own emotions - gratitude, and happiness that they were both alive, and love - swelled up in her and she pulled his head back to bring it level with hers - his pupils are blown wide, his mouth red and swollen - and she whispered back, "I love you."

She kissed him, sloppy and hungry, and he responded in kind. Their hands moved furiously, bumping into each other and going back to greedy touches.

His hand was in her panties, somehow without taking off the skirt and she whimpered, when his fingers touched her for the first time. He was looking at her with a look she could not identify, but it was intense and heavy and made her hot. She bucked into his hand and almost died of the sensation overload, because that brought the hill of his palm right against her clit.

His eyes widened for split second and then returned to the same hooded and heavy stare, as his fingers explored her. One of them twirled in her curls, before going lower - and encountering the clit. He gave it a small circling touch and then the fingers went, until one was in her and the feeling was so stranger, but amazing that she whimpered again, bringing her hand to silence herself. He made shallow movement in and out and his thumb was finally on her clit, moving in small, tight circles.

It was so good that she could not control the sounds she's making - gasps and moans and whimpers that sounded foreign to hear, but feel so right on her lips.

He was still staring, silent and intense, and that, almost as much as the hand on her pussy, was bringing her closer to the edge. She was shamelessly moving her hips in counterpoint to his never-tiring fingers and when she whispered - Ohhh, right there - Jack simply increased the pressure and speed so she had no other choice but to come apart around his fingers, burying her cry in the crook of his neck.

Almost immediately, he kissed her so througouhly, she was almost out of breath and his body was covering her again, hands like iron bands around her. She felt his heavy erection beween them and she she tried to wriggle her hand to touch him, feeling unlike herself - bold and unafraid. He wore sweatpants and the elastic allowed her easy access and when she wrapped a hand around him, he garbled something like a cross between Kim and Killing me and ground into her hand. She wasn't sure what she was doing, was blind in a way and inexperienced, but his facial expressions, his body movements and growls and whimpers, led her on.

At some point t it must have been too much because he moved her hand and when she protested, he silenced her with another brutal kiss. He used his both hands now to keep her hands trapped near her head, kissing her like he wanted to permanently join her, and grinding his erection into her panties covered pussy. It was nearly unbearable. Somehow her recent orgasm left her sensitized and his powerful movements were winding her up again. She wrapped her legs around him again, instinctively moving her hips to meet his thrusts and she knew it was a right move because he bit her lip hard and she tasted the copper again. It should have brought her out of her haze of arousal, but instead it made her crave more of these hungry kisses, this nearly brutal speed of thrusts, this powerful man.

"Jack..." She moaned brokenly, "I need you..."

She didn't get to finish, because he shook in her embrace and dropped fully on top of her, his mouth on her neck grunting something garbled, and his body convulsing in his orgasm.

They laid like this for while, him on top of her, his pelvis still cradled by her hips, and their heartbeats next to each other.

They were alive.