When R's eyes opened, he wasn't quite sure who he was. Or where he was. He lay, his eyes softly blinking up at the ceiling, wandering through lazily drifting thoughts, trying to figure that out.

It was frustrating, knowing there was an answer beyond the feeble flickering of his consciousness, but being unable to reach it.

His mind felt slippery, as if something had been loosened that wasn't meant to be, and he was left holding threads that didn't go anywhere.

But he felt wonderfully relaxed. Comfortable. Peaceful. That was nice.

"Oh my gosh, he's awake!"

A female voice, urgent, excited, came from somewhere in front of him, washing over him like a warm wave.

Then a face appeared. A beautiful face, long wavy blonde hair framing blue eyes that were somehow worried and delighted at the same time. His eyes traveled over her rosy skin, her full lips, stretched back in an uncertain smile, and he felt his mouth echo it, even as he tried hard to bring a name up from the murky mess of his mind.

Those ocean blue eyes dipped to his mouth and back again and her smile grew, until he was basking in a blazing display of love and joy, that he couldn't help but reflect, even as he wondered whose face that was.

"Still not all there, are you?" the beautiful girl said, and he wondered how she could know him so well.

"Let me help," she said softly, her mouth pulling into a grin, as her warm hands cupped the sides of his face.

Then she drew in and kissed him, and as their lips touched, his mind found its anchor and the threads weaved into a cohesive whole.

He was Rowan, and this was Julie, the girl he loved above everything else.

Their mouths pressed eagerly together, searching, seeking, tasting, and he pushed himself up and wrapped his arms around her body, holding her as close as he could, feeling her skin like fire against his own.

Slowly, their kiss softened, and gently, he drew from her, grinning as their foreheads touched.

"Hi," he said, his voice a dry whisper, his eyes locked on hers, only inches away.

Julie grinned back. "Hey..."

Someone cleared their throat behind them.

Rowan shifted his head, peering around Julie's as she turned as well.

It was the Colonel, giving him a cool smile, standing in what looked like attention at the end of the bed. The man nodded. "Good to see you awake. You had us worried for a long while."

Rowan frowned, finally absorbing where he was. The hospital. He was sitting on a bed, surrounded by monitors and machines. An IV line led to the back of his left hand, the fingers bandaged. The other arm, the one with the bite, was bandaged as well. There was something in his neck too, and something taped to his thigh?

In fact, something felt really weird down there, something he'd noticed as he'd sat up, and curious, he lifted the sheet a little.

"Um, yeah..." Julie started to say, "They... uh..."

"Jesus!" Rowan cried, staring down at the tube coming from a place tubes should never come. "What the hell?! That's not...! Why?! Can someone get this out?!"

"I can," came a familiar voice from the doorway.

Rowan looked up. Nora was walking into the room, dressed in a colorful nurse's shift and carrying a tray of food. A sly grin crossed her face as she set the tray down next to him with a wink, and his skin flushed bright red.

"Nora," Julie sighed.

"What? I'm a nurse! It's completely legit!"

Rowan just looked between the two girls, his face burning, then looked up at the Colonel.

John just shrugged, but his smile got a little wider.

Nora laughed. "Relax R, I'll get someone else. Although... it's nothing I haven't seen before."

"Nora!" Julie yelped.

Her friend laughed and then gave R a warm smile. "Seriously though, it's really good to see you up."

"Thanks..." R said quietly, shifting uncomfortably in the bed, suddenly very aware of the damn tube. Then it struck him. He didn't feel any pain. A little weak, sure, and there were a couple of aches, in his side and shoulder, but otherwise... He gazed down at himself again, and was stunned to find that the bruises that had peppered his side were gone. New scars, still a little angry and raw, had joined the old ones over his chest.

He looked back up at Julie, his mouth falling open. "How long was I out?"

"Too long," she said quietly, and squeezed his hand.

"Almost three weeks," Nora answered, pouring a glass of water. "We had you on a feeding tube and everything. Some folks thought it was Stephen's fault."

Julie's face darkened at the mention of the doctor's name.

"But Dan thinks your mind just wanted a bit of downtime to let your body heal," Nora continued. "You were in pretty bad shape."

Rowan blinked. Three weeks?! Holy shit!

Utterly astounded, he looked at Julie, and his heart fell as he saw lines of worry on her face that he'd missed before.

"Julie..." he whispered, reaching out to trace them away, "I'm sorry... I... wow..."

"Yeah," she said quietly, looking down and leaning into his hand, "that wasn't fun..."

Then his mind backtracked to something Nora had said and he looked up at her, confused. "Wait... Stephen's fault? What?"

Julie's face darkened even more, and R was surprised and confused, to see her so angry at a man who'd been so good to them both. And she was livid, he could see that as clear as day. A fragment of a memory came to him then. The jittery feel of Julie's panic, reaching him through a fog of medication and pain, and the struggle to wake. To help. Stephen's voice had reached him, the doctor's words cutting through his fear, assuring him everything was okay.

From the look on Julie's face, things were not okay.

"Did he hurt you?" he asked, feeling a sudden surging dread.

She shook her head, "No, not like that. He just-"

"Stephen's in custody, Rowan," John said firmly, talking over his daughter, "He's under house arrest pending a trial. Your condition was weighing heavily on his conviction, so I expect he's going to be relieved."

"Oh, that's great," Julie snapped, her voice bitter, "so happy for him!"

Rowan looked at the Colonel, then Julie, and back again, completely confused. "Can someone just tell me what happened?!" he snapped, his voice rising, "House arrest? What the hell?!"

Nora winced, "Ah..."

"That asshole put me under," Julie answered sharply, glaring daggers at her father before looking back at Rowan, "then he almost killed you..."

Rowan blinked, "What?"

Julie wasn't finished, and talked over him, "Then he stabbed your dad with a syringe full of corpse blood!"

"WHAT?!" Rowan shouted, his heart jumping in his chest in a panic.

"After making him immune to the infection, Julie," John said calmly, "which some might suggest was a hell of an achievement."

"But he didn't KNOW it would work!" Julie yelled back, "He didn't even TELL-"

"Wait wait wait," Rowan said quickly, sensing Julie's imminent explosion, and desperately needing to understand what he'd just heard, "My dad's... immune? He... he can't get infected?"

The Colonel nodded. "Exactly. Thanks to you, and Stephen. And while his methods certainly needed some work, he-"

Julie's eyes bulged in disbelief, "NEEDED some WORK!?"

"I'll come back later," Nora whispered, and headed towards the door.

Rowan sat on the bed staring at the far wall as Julie exploded at her dad, who remained calm for a moment more before yelling back. He didn't really hear any of it, his mind circling instead over what the Colonel had just said.

His dad was never going to get infected. Ever. Somehow, Stephen had found a way to immunize his father against the disease, and if he managed it for his dad... then that had to mean he could do it for others.

For everybody.

Which meant... they'd won.

A smile started to spread on his face as he sat there, as Julie and her dad kept arguing. It turned into one of the widest grins he'd ever grinned in his life, and he suddenly felt like laughing.

We won.

"Your boyfriend gets it," Rowan suddenly heard the Colonel say, and he looked up to find John nodding his way with a smile.

Julie turned then, her eyes angry, and shifted away from him on the bed, "So you think it's okay, what he did?!"

Rowan shook his head, "No, of course not... though I'm still shaky on the details..."

"Then why are you grinning like a goofball?" she squeaked, but he could see the beginnings of a smile playing at her own mouth, as she was caught up in his.

"Because it means we won, Julie," he said softly, staring into her eyes. "We beat it."

"We beat it," she parroted flatly, her eyes still pinched with hurt. Then slowly, as he watched, the words seemed to reach her, and the anger and pain she'd been carrying fell away.

"Oh..." she whispered as her eyes softened, her voice filling with awe, "I guess... I just... I was so angry at him, I didn't see it like that." A beautiful smile spread across her face like a slow sunrise. "Wow..."

"Yeah," he answered, and then he did laugh, the sound bubbling up from a wild joy he felt inside. It wouldn't be able to touch them anymore - the disease, the curse, whatever it had been, wherever it had come from. It couldn't touch them, and everyone could start living again.

For real this time.

"Rowan, I'd like to debrief you as soon as you're up for it," John said, leaning on the metal frame of the bed, "We've got some huge gaps when it comes to understanding the situation at the house, and we're hoping you can fill us in."

Rowan nodded, still smiling, his eyes still fixed on Julie's. "Sure..."

"Sooner rather than later," John added, "it's important we..."

R leaned forward, catching Julie in a kiss.

"...get..." Her dad sighed. "Oh, for heaven's sake..."

The Colonel's words faded as R and Julie leaned into each other, their lips meeting around smiles and laughter. As Rowan circled her in his arms, falling against the bed, Julie landed on him giggling. The last time he'd done that, the fall had been longer, the landing much harder.

"Hey," he said, reaching to curl a strand of her hair over her ear.

"Hi," she answered, smiling down at him. Then her eyes grew vulnerable. "I thought I'd lost you R... thank you for coming back."

Rowan tilted his head against the mattress, staring up at her. "Thanks for bringing me back," he said quietly, then looked down. "I..." Suddenly, he didn't know how to say what he wanted to say. As crazy as it all seemed, he remembered everything, the strange in between times with his mom, and wanted to share, but didn't want to sound... odd. "I... would have been lost without you."

Julie's eyes were searching his own, as if she could see his thoughts, see his reservations, and he smiled up at her. Really, it was dumb to be so worried. If there was anybody he could talk to about this stuff it was Julie.

"It was hard... seeing you so upset," he said finally, leaving things vague.

"Well," Julie sighed, "it was hard watching you die."

Rowan smirked up at her, "How many times is that now? Three?"

"Just two. I'm done with it though okay? You don't get to do that to me again. Ever."

His eyebrows arched, "I have to be immortal now, huh?"

Julie nodded with a giggle, "Yeah, you do." Smiling, she moved to his side, lying stretched out next to him, with her hand against his chest.

Rowan looked down, finally seeing the rest of the room. The Colonel had left them alone. "Guess your dad gave up on us."

Julie shrugged, then propped herself up on her elbow. "You know he arrested me?"

R gave her a lopsided stare, "What?! When?!"

"When we came back... guess it wasn't really an arrest, just an armed escort..." she smirked, "We'd just come back from looking for you," she said, her smile falling, "and I wanted to go back out again. Dad had other ideas."

Rowan reached out to brush her cheek, "I know you didn't want to stop looking Julie, but my dad made the right call. You were half frozen."

Julie nodded, "I know. I just..."

R smirked, lost in the memory of that moment, "Yelling at you was rough though. He was just really upset."

"Wait... your dad?" Julie frowned, "R... how'd you know about that? Did your dad tell you?"

Oops.

"Um..."

She pulled her head back, still frowning, confused. "When did you have time to talk to your dad?"

Rowan met her gaze, "I... didn't?"

"I don't understand..."

R blew out a heavy sigh and looked up at the ceiling for a moment. This was it. He was going to have to tell her. He didn't know why it was so hard. They'd talked about stuff like this before, and he knew she had a pretty open mind.

"I was there," he said quietly. "In the car with you, outside the plane, before you and dad headed back to the city."

Julie stared at him, baffled. When she finally spoke the sound rode a strangled laugh, "What?"

"I was in the car, but you couldn't see me. I think... I think I was a..." Jesus, he couldn't say it. It sounded so stupid.

"A what?"

Rowan gave her a sheepish look. "A... ghost?"

He was more than a little surprised when Julie burst out laughing.

"A ghost?!" she said, giggling, "But R... you don't believe in ghosts!"

"Hey," he said with a smirk, "I didn't believe in zombies years ago, look how that turned out."

"Are you really serious?" Julie asked, then shook her head, "No... wait, how'd you hear about it? Maybe your dad told you about it when you were out?"

"Nope," Rowan said softly, and smiled at her. "You were sitting in the car, waiting for my dad to come out of the plane. It was snowing like crazy and your teeth were chattering. When he came out without me, you were upset. You'd hoped I was in there."

The smile fell from Julie's face.

"Then you wanted to go back to the park, but dad wouldn't. You tried to grab the steering wheel and that's when he yelled at you." Rowan let out a heavy sigh. "You kept blaming yourself. But it was never your fault Julie." Reaching out, he brushed a tear falling down her cheek. "It wasn't your failure."

"Oh my god," she choked, "R..."

"It was mine," he said quietly, frowning. "I never meant to say that stuff to you... I was just upset, angry... about me. Everything I'd done was just... ganging up on me. Too many terrible things. I wasn't thinking straight when I went out into the storm."

He looked away at nothing in particular. God, he'd been so lost.

"I got too cold... I fell into the snow, things got quiet." He released another heavy sigh. "I saw mom. I saw my body under the snow..."

"Oh R..." Julie's eyes were wet, and she wiped her hand by her nose, brushing back tears.

"And I saw you, and dad. I tried to touch you, but..." he shrugged then, looking up with a smirk. "I thought you saw me at one point, but you were just looking through me. You knew I was at the park though, I could feel that."

She nodded, still crying.

"And you thought you were going to find me, no matter what." He grinned with the memory, remembering her unshakable belief, her absolute certainty, and he stared at her, amazed. "And you did Julie."

"Jesus, R... you really were there," she whispered, awestruck, tears falling freely down her face.

"Yeah, I really was. It's kind of blowing my mind." His grin grew wide again, and he shook his head. "Totally screws up the whole atheist thing I had going too. Mom thought that was hilarious."

Julie gave a little astounded laugh, then stared at him in awe. "That's... amazing. And wonderful... and I don't know what to say." Then she frowned. "You know, you mentioned your mom, just before you... at the house... when you..."

R nodded, "Yeah, she was there too." His eyes fell. "That was horrible... I hated seeing you so upset. You asked me to breathe... and I couldn't... I wasn't... in... me anymore." He pressed his head back against his pillow. "Jesus, I sound crazy."

Julie smiled softly and shook her head. "No you don't. It's amazing. It's like a gift... seeing your mom again? Wish I could do that." She looked down at her hand curled lightly against his chest. "I used to feel her around. But I never saw her, never heard her. Then I stopped feeling her one day, and that was it."

R stared at her for a moment, hearing the sadness in her voice, and hugged her close. "Well, I never felt mom, but apparently she was always near. I'm sure your mom is too."

"Yeah. I guess." She didn't look convinced.

"And I don't recommend dying as a way to hook up with moms. It sucks."

Julie smirked, "Okay." She propped herself up on her elbow again. "What did you see? Like, a tunnel? A light? Heaven?" Her expression was playful, but there was something very hopeful and a little needful behind her eyes.

R shrugged. "No tunnel, no light. Just mom and... home."

"You went home?"

"I guess so? It was like home when mom was alive... just better than I remember." The memory made him smile.

"Oh." Julie nodded quietly, staring at nothing.

R looked at her.

"Something's bugging you."

Julie shrugged.

"I get to tease you about shrugging, right? 'Cause... you're shrugging." When she only managed a slight smile to that, he frowned. "What's wrong?"

"I didn't see anything," she said, her voice quiet.

R looked at her, confused. "When? You mean when I died?"

Julie shook her head, looking back at him. Her eyes were pained. "No R, when I died."

The words hit him like a slap in the face, draining all the humor out of him, leaving a terrible hole in his gut. "Jesus..."

The horrible moment when she'd turned to him, corpse grey, played in his head, swamping him with the same sense of utter despair. "Oh fuck," he groaned, squeezing his eyes desperately against it.

"Rowan? Hey... no, don't..." He felt her hand against his cheek, "I'm okay now..."

"I'm so sorry," he choked, drawing his hand over his eyes. "You never should've gone through that Julie... never... goddammit... that was my fault."

"No it wasn't..."

"Yes it was. If I hadn't wandered off like a brain dead fucking moron..."

Julie sighed. "If I hadn't left you in the plane..."

Rowan withdrew his hand, "If I hadn't driven you away..."

Julie rolled her eyes. "If you hadn't been a zombie in the first place Rowan, Jesus." She smirked. "You're right, it's all your fault."

The corners of Rowan's mouth lifted in a smile, despite himself, and he let out a heavy breath. "I'm sorry."

"I know," she said. "Me too."

"How much do you remember?" he asked softly, grasping her hand against his chest.

Julie blew a strand of hair from her eyes. "All of it. Well... I don't remember dying. Just cold and darkness. Just being, not breathing, no movement... god that was so weird. I was so still."

R studied her face, remembering the grey, the deathly emptiness there, the need. It was strange, knowing Julie had been through it too. And it hurt, knowing it had happened because of him. That he couldn't protect her from it. He nodded slowly and looked down at their hands.

She followed his gaze. "I remember smelling you. Seeing you. Not knowing you." A soft sigh left her. "And biting you." Her eyes drifted to his bandaged forearm.

R's eyes fell there too.

Julie reached out, hesitating for a moment before starting to peel up a corner of the bandage.

R tried to pull away. "Don't Julie... you don't need to see that."

Julie squeezed his hand, holding him there. "I have to sometime R. Please?"

Rowan watched her for a moment, then relaxed, letting her pull the rest of the bandage away.

"Huh," he said quietly, looking down at the suture lines crossing his forearm like confused railroad tracks. The stitches had been removed, but the scars were still red and puckered. It looked pretty horrible, and as he turned it sideways, the skin noticeably dipped under the wound.

Julie made a small sound, and he turned his head to look at her, then quickly swept her up in his arms. The look on her face had been devastating - shock, horror and shame etching deep lines around her eyes and mouth as tears spilled down her cheeks.

A terrible sob broke from her then, and he held her, as close as he could, cradling the back of her head as he pressed against her trembling brow.

"Not your fault," he whispered, over and over, until her sobs slowly turned to sighs.

Eventually she grew quiet, her breaths deepening, becoming soft and easy, and shifting only slightly, he pulled away to look at her. She was nestled against him, the creases gone from her closed, damp eyes, her mouth gently open.

Asleep.

R watched her for a long moment, drawing a stray strand of hair back from her forehead with his finger. Her mouth closed slightly, then slowly eased open again, and he smiled.

God, she must have been exhausted. Julie was never the one to fall asleep on him. He'd always gone first, usually after they made love, which he always found a little embarrassing. He'd always wake before her though, and loved to watch the subtle movements of her eyes, her mouth as she dreamed.

Rowan frowned. Her experience at the house was haunting her, and he wished he could take her pain away. But if he'd never done that for himself, how could he do it for Julie?

Just then someone came through the door into the ICU. A male nurse he didn't know, wearing glasses, carrying a little bundle of medical supplies.

It took R a minute to figure out what the man was doing there, then he realized - it had to be to remove the catheter. Thinking about it brought that desperately uncomfortable awareness of the tube back and he winced. He'd give anything to get the thing out, but wouldn't wake Julie in a heartbeat.

The man finally looked up and seemed a little surprised to see two people in the bed instead of one. He slowed, frowning, as R started shaking his head.

"Bad time?" he whispered, cocking an eyebrow.

Rowan nodded, gently drawing his arm around Julie as she shifted slightly against him.

The nurse nodded back, placing his bundle on a side tray against the wall, before walking back to the door and out with a little wave.

Julie stirred again, making a soft sound as her head shifted on his arm.

"R?" Her voice came as a whisper, and he looked down to find her blinking up at him, her eyes puffy. "Did I fall asleep?"

He nodded and smiled. "Yeah. You can go back to sleep if you want."

She smirked and shook her head, rubbing her swollen eyes. "No. Not while you're awake. There's been too much of that." Her gaze fell again to his arm, and he pulled it away to his other side, turning it so she couldn't see.

Julie sighed. "It's okay, you don't have to protect me."

"Yes I do," he answered quietly. "Always."

She smiled, and reached over him, taking his hand in hers, drawing his arm up again. The wound glared angrily at them both.

"What a mess." She sighed. "God I'm sorry."

R twisted it in the light again, marveling at it a little. This was a true zombie bite. Not like his first clean nibble at the ankle. It was going to make an amazing scar.

Shrugging, he smiled at her. "It's impressive. I'm sort of proud of it."

Julie rolled her eyes with a smirk. "You are such a guy."

"Thanks."

She giggled then, and the sound made him happy, gave him hope that she was going to be able to let go of what had happened.

And he was going to do his best to do the same.

As her eyes held his, he felt himself drawn again into the soul behind the blue. Gently, his lips sought hers and engulfed them, softly wet and warm. She smiled against his mouth, her eyes dipping down as he tasted her, and returned the kiss, drawing it deeper. Their breaths rushed faster, and he roamed the warm skin of her back, marveling in the heat against his bandaged hands.

The urgency grew, and he needed her so desperately at that point he was almost breathless. One hand circled to the soft skin of her belly and rose to cup her, squeezing her gently, and she gasped against his mouth. His mind happily took a backseat as his body took over, rising to the occasion.

And he jumped about four feet in the air with a wild yelp.

"Shit!" he squeaked, sitting up and drawing his legs into his chest.

"What?! What happened?!" Julie asked, frantic as she shot up next to him, grasping his arm.

"Ah..." he started, his face going bright red, "The ah... that wasn't fun."

"Oh." Julie said, her eyes dropping briefly, then rising to his again.

Then she burst out laughing.

"Oh, sure," he said, smirking, "Funny."

Julie covered her mouth, "I'm sorry... it's just..." and lost it again.

The door opened and the nurse with glasses ducked his head in.

"Is now a bet-"

Rowan didn't even let him finish, as Julie's laughter filled the room.

"YES!"

Back to R and Julie, as it should be. :) This was a very welcome peaceful moment for me to write for these two, and a very well deserved break for them both.

I'm sure everything's smooth sailing from here on out. I mean, what could *possibly* go wrong now?