Authors note: Here is chapter 44. It's still hard to believe that I've gotten the story this far. Hopefully I can get it to 50 :D Thanks to everyone for your contribution, whether it be reading, reviewing, favouriting or following. Thank you! Enjoy this next chapter and please review.

I don't own Hansel and Gretel.

Chapter 44

Considerations

I woke up with an insane headache. It actually made my eyes hurt to. My throat was dry and my body was sore. The room was bright and I didn't recognise it to be the room at the inn. Where was I? I turned my head slightly and was happy to see that Hansel was sitting in a chair next to the bed I lay in. Surely if he was with me I was safe? Where was I thought? How did I get there? I shifted slightly in the bed, feeling slightly uncomfortable. It seemed that my movement caused someone to enter the room and therefore for Hansel to wake up. Woops.

"Rose?" Said the man that came into the room. "I'm glad that you're awake." I got a feeling that this man was a doctor and that I was in a hospital room. Somewhere I didn't feel particularly comfortable . Hansel stood up and looked down at me with so much love. "Do you remember what happened?" The doctor asked. I tried to think back at the previous night, but things were kind of a blur. I remember the rain and the circus. I remember William taking Chrissie , I remember arguing with Gretel and throwing up. I also remembered feeling a lot of pain caused by William and partly myself.

"Relatively." I responded, my voice in a croak. As if Hansel reading my mind, he lifted my head slightly and held a glass to my lips so that I could drink the water. I was grateful to him for this. I looked up at him with smile in my eyes.

"Well, I'm sorry to tell you this Rose, but your body is in very bad condition and I'm going to need you to stay here for a while." I bit back a sarcastic remark as I reminded myself that the doctor was only trying to be polite and trying to help. I nodded in acknowledgement, not really smiling as I was not happy about staying in the hospital. I needed to get to Chrissie. Chrissie! I sat up very quickly, but reconsidered my actions went I felt sharp shoots of pain. I looked at Hansel and grabbed his shoulder, but another shoot of pain went through me as I attempted to grab him with my broken hand.

"I need to get to Chrissie." I told him. He looked very serious, but it was the doctor who spoke.

"No Rose. I said that you need to stay here. You are in no condition to leave. You need to take it easy." I resisted the urge to snap at him and tell him that he was not the boss of me, but I reminded myself again that the doctor was only trying to help.

"The doctor is right Rose." Hansel's voice was soft and soothing, just as it had been with Gretel when he tried to calm her during the argument. I looked intently at him. His beautiful blue eyes spoke so many languages and they were almost ... pleading. I sighed and nodded, allowing Hansel to lay me down gently. The doctor left, giving us time alone. Hansel kept his hands to himself, but he sat so close to the bed that he might as well be on it. He looked very deep in thought. Distracted. I looked at him with concern, worried about him.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked him, my voice in a whisper. He took a while to answer and I was prepared for the question to go unanswered.

"No." His voice was just as soft as mine. He wouldn't meet my eyes. "No Rose. I'm not okay." I started to sit up so that I could put a comforting arm around him or something, but he was much quicker than I was and stood up to keep me down. "Don't sit up. You have four broken ribs." That explained a lot of the pain in my torso. I moved toward the edge of the bed to make space for him and gently patted the spot next to me. He looked at me with a smile and sit down very carefully as not to move the bed too much.

"Tell me what's wrong." He took a long time to answer again.

"The news about Keira was hard for me. Not long after that, you run off on your own and when I finally find you, you're about to be killed by the same guy that might've killed Keira." He wouldn't look at me while he spoke. I put my hand on his, not holding it but keeping it there. "You have no idea how scared I was." I could barely hear him his voice was so soft. A knot formed in my throat at his words.

"Hansel ..." What was I going to say to him? That everything was be okay when I was sure it wasn't? That I was okay when I clearly wasn't? That everything would be okay when I wasn't sure of it? I wasn't going to lie to him. How could I possibly comfort him. "Look at me." My voice was gentle and it persuaded him to do what I asked. His blue eyes were filled with sadness, such emotion that made my heart clench. "Come here." My voice was almost as soft as his had been. He gave me a small smile and lay down on the bed next to me. I rested my head against his chest and he wrapped his arms around me. "I'm sorry." There was silence for a moment.

"Why are you sorry?" As if feeling my confusion, he gave me more to go on. "Last night you also said that you were sorry. Why are you sorry?" The memory came to mind and I debated whether I should tell him the reason. How could I explain my reasoning? Would he find the reason illogical? Would he think me silly for it? On the other hand, I loved Hansel. I should let him in. I should tell him the truth, no matter what he thinks. Besides, he loves me, he wouldn't think that I was stupid. Would he? I took a deep breath.

"I felt unworthy of your love. I felt like I had failed you."

"Why did you think you failed me?" He asked. The question was not what I expected. Despite the fact that I tried to think optimistically about what his response would be, I still expected a pessimistic response that would tell me that he didn't like me for thinking such things.

"I just ... I don't know." I'm pretty sure that I could have found a reason, but it wasn't very easy to think deeply while his arms were around me. He was quiet for another moment.

"You never fail me, you just scare me. And as for your worthiness, you are more than worthy of my love." He answered. It was such a simple sentence but it went deeply for me.

"Why?" Perhaps I was silly for asking that question, but I felt genuine curiosity as to why he would think that I am worthy of such love given by him.

"Well, for one thing you are brave and selfless, always risking your life to save others. You are brilliant and skilled, you are determined and strong. You're beautiful and amazing." Instead of finding happiness in his reasoning, I frowned. Selfless? Strong? Amazing?

"I'm not selfless Hansel. I wanted to kill William because he took Chrissie away from me. I killed Aliana because she messed with my mind by using you and used me to work with her evil plans. I killed those other witches because they took my family away from me. I went with you and Gretel when we first met because I knew it would benefit me. If anything I'm incredibly selfish." The slight movement of his chest caused me to look up at him. His eyes searched mine.

"Oh Rose, you believe that you are such a bad person. You love Chrissie and you want to protect her. You avenged your family and you stopped a lot of evil from happening when you killed Aliana." I noticed that there was one pointer that he left out, one that he didn't comment on.

"What about killing Aliana because she messed with my mind by using you?" We continued to search each others eyes as there was silence between us. His hand gently caressed my cheek and move a piece of my hair to the side. I was so amazed at how gentle his hands could be when in the same way they could be so strong and dangerous.

"I think you will have to answer that one for yourself." He whispered. At the stage when she tricked me into thinking that I had killed Hansel, I hadn't known or realised that I was in love with him. Perhaps my heart knew by my mind didn't. Maybe everyone knew except for me. I could remember how upset and messed up I had been when I thought that I had killed him. I had panicked and promised that Aliana would pay for messing with my mind in such a way.

"I think it's because I loved you without knowing it yet." This brought a smile to his face.

"You just said that you love me." His smile seemed to grow with every second. I had admitted to myself already that I loved him, but I hadn't said it aloud. Neither had he. Now I completely understood why he was smiling as such. I felt my cheeks grow very warm very quickly.

"I-I-I ..." I stuttered and felt my cheeks grow hotter.

"What, do you take it back?" He asked.

"No no no." I assured quickly.

"So you do love me?" This wasn't fair at all. I didn't know why it was unfair, I just knew it was unfair. There has to be something in the rules that goes against this. What was this? Blackmail? Trickery? Trick question? Anyone of those are unfair. Somehow, whether it was possible or not, my cheeks grew hotter and I couldn't stand to look at him. I felt embarrassed and kind of scared that if I admitted that I loved him he would reject. I knew that he had feelings for me, but did he love me? Did he love me as much as I loved him? I bit my lip but then rethought it as I felt the a cut there already. No doubt from biting it when my wrist broke.

"Yes. I love you." I don't really know how or why I said it. It just came out. Before I could stop it really. He was quiet for a moment and I was actually waiting for the rejection to come. For it to become awkward, for him to say that he didn't feel that way and then for him to leave me lying in the hospital bed and not speak to me unless someone else was in the room too, like Gretel or the kid or something.

"I love you too." I couldn't really describe the feeling that entered into my stomach at that moment. I couldn't really pin point what I was thinking at that moment. I could hardly tell where I was and how I got there. My mind was centred around Hansel. My worries seemed to be thrown out of the window, leaving me in a world with only me and Hansel. I was honestly surprised by his response. I hadn't expected him to say that he loved me. I was waiting for a rejection, not an agreement. For a few moment I doubted that I had actually heard right. "I love you Rose." This threw my doubt out of the window too. I had definitely heard right. He'd said it. He's said it twice!

"You ... You do?" That probably sounded like a really stupid question, but I was practically deemed speechless. He laughed, the musical sound surrounding my ears. I felt warmth in my heart at the sound of his laughter and the sight of the smile on his lips.

"Yes Rose. I do. I really do. I love you." Three times! He said it three times. I don't really know how I managed it, but somehow I moved up and closed the gap between our lips. At that moment I didn't care about my troubles, I didn't care about my worries, I didn't care about my pain. Hansel loved me and he had told me so more than once in less than five minutes. In the comfort and protection of his arms and the joy and pleasure of his lips I felt unbelievably happy. As I pulled back to catch my breath, I smiled broadly at him, despite the sting in my lips. I had hardly noticed that it started bleeding again.

"I love you too Hansel. I love you." I didn't really know why it mattered that he said it more than once, but there was this feeling in my stomach that gave me a lot of energy. It made me nervous but made me feel giddy at the same time. I had never really felt giddy before and it was strange but I enjoyed smiling around Hansel because he always held this look in his eyes when I smiled, and that was a look of fascination, wonder, awe, like I was the most amazing thing he has ever seen. He held me tightly in his arms, not enough to hurt me but I wouldn't care even if he did. I didn't know what to do or what to say to make this moment better than it already was. Maybe I would feel better if I knew that Chrissie was safe in the next room. Never mind, I take that back. The next room is another hospital room and that would mean that she would be hurt and that is not what I want. Chrissie ... Hansel had allowed me to forget about her for the moment of our confessions to each other, but now she was back in my thoughts and I was worrying again.

"What's wrong Rose?" I couldn't tell how he knew that there was something wrong. I had gotten very good at control and hiding my emotions, even though no one was there to see them. The only emotions I allowed to show where probably anger and disgust. Then again, I didn't feel much of anything else. I had gotten over most of my fears and my sorrows had turned into anger. That is why, when Gretel, Hansel and that kid showed me other emotions I was confused and a little bit slow in figuring out which emotions they were showing toward me. Still, the fact of the matter was that Hansel could tell what I was feeling and I didn't even have to tell him that I was feeling it.

"I'm just so worried about Chrissie. For just a few moments you distracted me from my thoughts, but I'm just ... I can't."

"I know. I know." He pulled me closer against him, my head resting on his chest. "I will do everything I can to help you find her and get her back, but for the moment you have to heal or you won't be able to get her back. You were at your health when you attacked him and look what he did to you. I'm not saying that I doubt you, it's just that I'm scared he will kill you if you go out like this." I didn't want to admit it, but he was right. It was actually kind of frustrating. How many times was he going to be right in one day?

I don't need anyone to tell me that William is unlike anything I have ever fought before. That means that I will have to find a different approach in order to defeat him, or at least get Chrissie back. The blood note came to my mind "if you want her back, trade yourself in her place" but I will note turn to that option. I will find a way to get Chrissie back, without trading myself. Surely that is selfish? I need to know what William is, but will that really help me get Chrissie back?

I've learnt some things as a result to the fight I had the previous night and that is that he has a lot of strength, inhumane strength, he is not easily hurt and he is fast. He is so fast that it seems like he uses transportation as a method of getting around. Perhaps he does use magic after all. Perhaps he uses a spell to make himself strong, to make himself fast, and to make his skin practically indestructible. Hopefully is it magic and not natural characteristics because if it is ... somehow that just makes everything worse.

"William is a different kind of threat Hansel. It is going to take a lot to beat him."

Authors note: Progress ... well, they have told each other that they love each other. Officially. And well you read the chapter so you know what's going on :) Thanks for reading. Please review.