I do not own Midsomer Murders! I only own the characters I made up.

I felt like I was...floating. Well, not like floating, as in levitating, but floating as in laying in a rowboat in the middle of a gentle stream. Actually, my body felt like a heavy rock, and my mind was what was floating; floating on an imaginary watery borderline of sleep and conciousness. It was as though my mind and body were having an argument. "No, keep sleeping, I'm sore!" My body would complain. "No, it's morning; let's get up! Wake up! Wake up!" My mind would respond. The entire situation only frustrated me, and with a groan I slung my arm over my eyes.

"Ouch."

Brows furrowed, I lolled my head in the direction of the complaint, and found Ben's warm, brown eyes gazing groggily at me. He was also rubbing his left temple, which indicated to me that...I must have hit him in my attempt to relax. "Sorry."

A small smile tugged at the right corner of his mouth as he put his hand down, revealing a small red mark near the end of his eyebrow. "Don't worry about it; your knuckles aren't as hard as you think they are."

Ignoring his comments, I reached out with the hand that I'd struck him with and brushed my fingertips against the reddened area. "How long have you been here?" The curiosity had laced my voice like it would a small child's. I hadn't remembered him falling asleep against the hospital bed...

"About an hour."

My brows knit in confusion again. "Doing what?"

He chuckled. "Just sitting here, watching you."

"Why?"

"Can an uncle not show concern for his niece?" he asked as one of his brows quirked; though there was playfulness shining brightly in his eyes.

My fingertips strayed down his his cheek, before my wrist dropped lightly to his shoulder. He wrapped his long, slender fingers around it as I murmured, "It doesn't feel that way anymore."

Ah, it was his turn to furrow his brows. "What do you mean?"

I laid back a bit more into the pillows, a sigh passing my lips as I tried to find the correct words to describe my feelings. "I mean...it doesn't feel like an uncle/neice relationship anymore...it feels like father/daughter."

His soft eyes searched mine for a few moments, sparkling all the while. "Well, you are legally my daughter, since I adopted you a few months ago."

I huffed softly, frustrated at how emberrassed I was beginning to feel. Why was it so hard for me to explain this?! "Well, that was just legally...it didn't feel that way at first and, now it does. I mean...it didn't even feel like you were my uncle at first; you just felt like this random person that was taking me in. Then, you finished the adoption papers and you felt like family, like a distant relative, and then...ugh!"

Ben chuckled slightly at my frustration, and began comfortingly rubbing his thumb up and down a small section of my wrist. "So what you mean to say, is, you were used to not having real family-like care until I took you in, and then we got close, and now it feels-"

"Natural!" I said with a grin. "Yeah, that's it." However, I paused as the happiness slowly slid from my features. "But...I don't think I'm quite ready to call you "dad", yet. "Dad" sounds too...I don't know. For the longest time the person that I called "dad" was very...Not a good father, and it doesn't sound right for you at the moment. I'll have to work at that one." I bowed my head a little. "I'm sorry."

"Hey," my uncle called softly, "Some of the greatest things that people have done or gotten were achieved through patience. Don't fret about this one, alright?" he smiled gently as he completed the last sentence.

Ben's happieness must have been contagious, for a small smile graced my lips as well. "Thank you." Silence ensued then, until I realized that Mike and Jess were nowhere to be found within the small hospital room. "Where have Mike and Jess gotten off to?"

Ben seemed to hesitate before answering, as though he was considering his words, and how to use them carefully. "Jess actually had to go back to work, and Mike went back to Midsommer." he chuckled there. "He said his wife called and said to come and help her with their two youngest children, because Daniel was continually getting upset because he missed his father, Amber was being fussy and waking her up at all hours of the night and he's much past due in his share of the work in helping out in that area, April was starting to get testy having to deal with her obnoxious little brother, and Jerry is about to drive them all up the wall about coming here."

I narrowed my eyes. "You hesitated."

"Hm?"

I sighed. "You hesitated. You do that when you don't know what to say, or you don't want me to know something." And after scrutinizing his facial expression, I said, "You know something, and you're hiding it."

"Mhm." he nodded with wide eyes and knit brows, "I'm considering hiring you by the way you notice everything!" he said with slight amazement. "Think you'd be interested in police work?"

I huffed in frustration. "Ben-"

A loud noise suddenly filled the quiet room and tensed the atmosphere. It caused both Ben and I to jump from startle and turn our heads quickly in the direction of the sound. That loud sound appeared to have been the door when it had banged against the wall, and a sudden loud panting. My eyes widened as I took in the lanky form, the slightly messy black hair, the intelligent and nicely shaped eyebrows, the shining emerald eyes, the well-carved nose and those seemingly perfectly shaped lips, along with that beautifully chisled chin and jaw. My breath was completely stolen away, just like many times before when the young man was in the same room. Jerry Williamson stood, panting and seemingly frantic in the doorway, staring at me. Our eyes locked, emeralds and saphires colliding, and it seemed we couldn't do anything but just that.

"I'm...going to get a cup of coffee." Ben coughed from beside me.

"Uh-huh." I squeeked.

I barely noticed Ben walk out of the room, and barely noticed him close the door. In that instant that the soft click confirmed us complete privacy, Jerry was at the bedside, his arms wrapped around my back, crushing my lips with his. He kissed me like a man that was about to be dragged away to his death sentence, and as though they had a mind of their own my hands reached up and grabbed fistfuls of his hair to steady myself from his "vigorousness". He kissed me so roughly and possessively, that I do believe that I forgot how to perform the simple task of breathing. I squeezed my eyes shut as I began to feel light-headed, and I swear I could see stars behind my eyelids.

When he pulled away, Jerry studied my eyes for a moment, before lunging right back in after taking a deep breath. I gasped into his mouth, which left enough space between my lips that it allowed his tongue to swoop in and search, the feel and taste of it easily bringing whimpers and soft moans from my throat. I vaguely wondered if I would suffocate from the lack of air I was recieving when he broke away again, almost immediately dipping his head down to grip at the esophagus jutting out beneath my skin with his teeth.

"Jerry..." I breathed.

"Shush." he whispered, nipping up and down my throat.

"J-Jerry," I stammered, pushing his head away by his cheeks.

Jerry slid his face from my fingers and pressed it to the area between my neck and shoulder, panting as though he was trying to gain control over himself. He placed lingering kisses just beneath my collar bone, and then whimpered as he forcefully pressed his face back to where it had been against my neck. I wondered vaguely if it was sweat or tears that I was feeling against my skin as I cupped the back of his head, while my other hand rested between his shoulder blades.

"I'm never letting you out of my sight again." he panted.

I didn't realize he was practically on the bed with me until he pulled me closer. He was basically sitting on my lap, one leg on each side of my hips, and our torsos pressed tightly against the other. Yeah, it was hurting all of the wounds on my stomach and back, but I didn't particularly care; I only stroked his hair and back as he tried to gain control of his breath.

"I nearly went mad." he went on to say, keeping his face firmly in place. "I didn't know where you were...what he was doing to you." he stopped and took another deep breath. "And then I saw on the news that someone found you nearly...dead...on the side of the road."

My heart and stomach clenched at how he seemed to struggle with, and bitterly bite out the word "dead", as though he were going to choke on it. I held him tighter, and placed a kiss on the top of his head. "I'm sorry." I murmured. "I'm sure you know the story behind why I followed the man's orders."

He swallowed hard, and nodded against my neck. "I wanted to kill him." he shuddered. "I wanted to kill him so badly."

He pulled away from neck then, allowing me a full view of his face, which quite literally almost caused me to fall back over my pillows and into the headboard. His usually dark green eyes were light, almost like a light green fern, blood-shot, glassy with tears, and puffily outlined with red. Dark circles beneath his eyes told me that he'd barely had any sleep since my abduction, and the usually clean-shaven lower half of his face had semi-dark brown stubble, despite the inky-black of his hair. Speaking of his hair...its usually shiny sheen seemed to have dimmed, and it was very unkept, as though he hadn't even bothered to brush it in the mornings.

My heart seemed to clench and twist just at the sight of his condition, and my shaking hands reached up gently to cup his stubbly cheeks. "Jerry..." I whispered, my tone also shaky and pain-laced. "What've you done to yourself?"

He swallowed again. "I worried myself sick over you."

I felt myself wince. "Did you even eat? Bathe? Sleep?"

I recieved a feeble nod. "I barely slept at all, I didn't eat...much, and yes, I stood in the hot water for a bit."

I could vaguely tell that I was shaking my head. "Jerry..."

His arms slowly pulled from around me as he reached up to cup my cheeks as well, and leaning close to my face, he whispered, "Marry me."

That certainly caught me off guard. My eyebrows arched upward and my eyes widened. Whatever words I'd been about to speak stopped dry in my throat, and my thumbs, which had been rubbing lazy circles on those stubbled cheeks froze. My jaw worked but still, I couldn't get any words to come out.

"Please!" he begged. "Marry me! We...We can stay in a little place somewhere in Midsommer. I'll take care of you, watch you and tend to you every day! Please, please just say yes!" he whispered.

I had to swallow a few times before I could answer, and when I did, my voice sounded hoarse. "Jerry...I'm not even eighteen."

"But you will be!" he said quickly. "You will be in a few weeks. We're completely legal! We don't need our guardians' consent; we're at the age where we can marry legally if we want to."

"What about your dad, and Ben?" I murmured. "You know they're going to say no."

"Don't worry about them." he whispered. "Worry about what you want for once! Be a pirate, be selfish!"

I shook my head, the emotions and pressure building up like a soda can that had been tossed around. "I can't do that! We can't just run away, Jerry!" I closed my eyes for a moment. "What about school? Your education?"

He shook his head, too. "I've already graduated from high school, and so have you." he half chuckled, half sobbed. "Seventeen years old, Blake, and you've already graduated from high school! You don't need school; you were enrolled a year early and still completed it with the older kids without much struggle at all!"

I sighed, seriously considering him with tired eyes. "What about college, Jerry?"

Again, a strangled laugh passed his lips. "I have no plans to go to college, and I don't want to. But if you do, I'm not going to stop you. We could still be together while you go, you know that?" he took a deep breath, held it, and then let it out, seemingly calmer after he did so as he looked me in the eyes. "Tell me, Blake, do you have any plans about going to college? Do you want to go to university?"

"No." I whispered. "I don't have any plans to go to university."

He smiled softly. "Alright then."

"But," I said quickly. "What are you going to do for a job, hm? How are you going to support you, me, the possibility of a kid somewhere far down the road, and a house? Ben is always complaining about taxes, Jerry. How are we going to support us and a home if taxes are driving everyone up the walls?"

He chuckled. "I'll do exactly as my dad did; I'll become a constable. Dad seems to get payed well enough. We have to be careful with our budget, but we're getting by. We can do this, Blake." he leaned closer until our lips touched, leaving a light kiss on my lips. "Please, Blake, marry me. I'll take care of us and a house, and I'll ensure that there's always food on the table and money to pay the bills."

I studied his eyes for the longest time. Those eyes that were blood-shot, but still gleamed with the beauty of emeralds, and that were filled with the strongest hope that I would accept him. Placing my arms lightly aroung his neck, I whispered, "Okay, Jerry, I'll marry you."

His lips weren't as rough when they touched mine again. They were still passionate, yes, but that time tender, and gentle. I tightened my arms around his neck in a loving embrace rather than for support like earlier, and just leaned back and enjoyed myself. Hm...he tasted sort of sugary, like he'd just had a treat or something. Of course, this only drew me in more, making me want it to last for as long as possible. I pulled him closer, coaxing my tongue in. Jerry seemed to shiver against me, and whimpered at the intrusion, but did the same as he scooted closer on my lap. My lap. It was then that I realized the position we were in, and if someone were to innocently come into the room...

"Jerry," I panted, "You might want to get off the bed. If Ben finds us like this..."

Jerry's brows furrowed as he looked around, and then down, his eyes widening upon the discovery, and quickly crawled off of my lap and into the chair that Ben had been sitting in only minutes before. However, he didn't seem to have a problem with laying over the bed and practically on top of my legs, where his hand strayed to my shin and stroked.

It was about that time that Ben came in the room, seemingly cautiously(and not because he was carrying a full cup of coffee), and studied us for a moment before shutting the door.

"You alright?" I asked him quietly.

He took a sip of his coffee as he seated himself near my feet at the end of the mattress. "I'm fine, why?"

I didn't know whether to laugh or frown. Yes, he'd definately been wondering if he should have stayed in the room with us...and he'd had good reason to wonder. "You seem a bit...uneasy."

He cocked his head to the side and furrowed his brows. "Oh? Why would I be uneasy?" he'd seemed to glance at Jerry for a bit too long when he'd said that...even glared a bit at how he was laying across my upper legs.

"Hospitals get very annoying after a while. Maybe you're just tired of coming to this place, and it's making you grumpy?" I offered.

He took another sip of coffee before he nodded. "Yep...something is definately getting me stirred up."

I couldn't hold it back anymore. I laughed loudly and carelessly, earning yet another puzzled look from Ben, and a smile from Jerry. "Ben, stop looking at Jerry like that."

Ah. He tried looking as though he'd been falsely accused of something. Too bad he'd overexaggerated it a bit too much. "Like what?"

"You're practically glaring at him. Stop it, we didn't do anything wrong." I smiled as my fingers lazily ran through the inky black hair, earning yet another smile as Jerry closed his eyes.

"I know." Ben said as he dipped down for another sip. Looking pointedly over the rim of his styrofoam cup, he added in a decidedly meaningful voice, "I trust your judgement."

I rolled my eyes and scooted myself so that I was laying down again, allowing Jerry to lay across my stomach instead. This earned a frown from Ben from behind his coffee cup, but I only rolled my eyes at him with a sigh. "Ben?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Yes, sweetheart?"

"Please relax."

Ben only gave me another pointed look.

Thank you Rollieo 122 and FreekyDisaster18 for reviewing! I appreciate you and anyone else that reviews, please keep it up because it is very motivating! I'm sorry if the chapter ended abruptly, but I hope you liked it, and I'll have more out soon! Please review! Thank you!