Gust was relieved when Xu announced that there were no broken bones and that the deep cut that she had on her leg wasn't as deep as he'd initially thought, but he felt conflicted knowing how close she had been to dying this time, and yet had still insisted on dragging the stolen goods all the way to the exit. Gust considered it just plain ridiculous, mostly because he couldn't understand how she had dragged Presley's stupid couch.

"The bruises look awful, but I'm glad there is no internal bleeding." the good doctor added. The Civil Corps nodded and promised to come back the next morning so they could figure out what the hell had happened in those hours, but Gust couldn't find it in him to leave. Sam promised to tell both Albert and Ginger they were at the clinic on her way out.

"You can see her now, but I don't think she'll stay awake any longer; she is exhausted." Xu whispered, a small smile on his lips.

Gust got up from his seat and headed to the bed behind the hospital curtain, but he wasn't prepared for what he saw under the clear light of the hospital. Rosie was covered in colorful bruises where the hospital gown and the blankets didn't cover her skin that went from pale yellows to deep purples. Gust could feel his body clench under the sight, and his jaw tightened when he saw the deep purple bruise under her left eye. Deep down he knew she wasn't at fault, he had seen with his own eyes the closed metallic door, and he figured out it must have closed as soon as the battery was replaced, so he wasn't mad at her. He was mad at himself.

"I'm sorry I didn't notice earlier." he whispered, his voice full of worry. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he had been truly scared.

Rose softly shook her head from side to side and smiled warmly at him. "I would still be on the grass if it wasn't because of you." she whispered.

"How are you feeling?" he murmured, biting his lip. He wanted so badly to caress her cheek, wishing to make her bruises disappear, but felt he would be stepping over the line. Still, she had been so close to not making it alive that he felt he needed to be reassured she was fine.

"Everything hurts.", she mumbled, already half asleep, "Out of everything, I wasn't expecting a talking bandirat prince."

Gust thought he must have heard wrong because, before he could stop himself he softly asked "...a what?"

"A talking", Rose yawned and closed her eyes, "bandirat prince".

And then she was out like a light.

The next morning Rose had briefly told the Civil Corps what had happened inside the cave, and had given Ginger, Gust and Albert a more detailed, exhaustive explanation, in which Ginger looked both in awe and worried for her best friend. Albert looked impressed and Gust was still processing the whole "rats talk" thing, he was still looking at her as if she had hit her head.

She had, but it didn't change the truth.

"I had just returned to work!" Rose pouted when she finished telling her story, letting her body fall backwards and regretting it as soon as the upper side of her body hit Ginger's bed. She tried to keep a straight face but the wince she had briefly shown didn't go unnoticed by either of them.

"Be careful!" Gust muttered angrily under his breath, he'd had a frown the entire time he'd listened.

"There's nothing you can do about your work, though" Albert smiled apologetically. He was currently sitting at the end of the bed and Gust was leaning against the wall, arms crossed. Ginger was sitting at her side, stroking her hair.

Rose had been dragged to the Mayor's house by the neverending insistence of Ginger. So now she had to stay at their home for a few days. She had tried to protest, but Xu agreed that it was for the best if she had someone who looked after her, knowing that otherwise she would be alone at home. She tried to be positive about it though, she was with her closest friend and she would be out of the game for two days at most, since she managed to not damage her hands again.

"I know. I'm just happy it was my leg and not my hands," she mumbled, although the entirety of her body screamed from pain.

"I'm happy you are alive and safe." Ginger replied, while lovingly stroking her hair.

"That, we are", Albert added, standing so he could pat her in the head. "We'll see you later, short stuff." Rose puffed out her cheeks at the nickname while she watched them go.

"So… what do you want to do?" Ginger inquired.

"You look terrible", Albert stated when he gazed briefly at Gust a few hours later, his nose deep in his documents.

Gust was just plain exhausted. He knew he had faint dark circles under his eyes; the hospital chair had been really uncomfortable, and he had spent most of the night feeling the uneasiness that refused to leave. When he finally fell asleep it was already very late at night, and he had woken up with his upper body resting on the hospital bed, just a couple of hours later.

"Try sleeping in a hospital chair", he retorted, his pencil never stopping. Gust could feel Albert was assessing him, even when he wasn't looking at him.

"It's not just that. You're not this grumpy when you don't sleep." Albert stopped his work to look at his friend.

"I don't like being worried," Gust stopped working too, leaning on the back of his chair. "I just… I just wish she wasn't a magnet for trouble." he said, passing a hand through his hair, exasperated.

"It wasn't her fault, though."

"Yes, I know…" he mumbled, "it's just…why did she have to bring everything with her? She was hurt!" he said with a tired sigh.

"It's just who she is," Albert answered nonchalantly. "You know, she is maybe the only woman I've met that hasn't slapped me. She is just that kind."

"She flirts with you, why would she slap you?", he asked, unable to hold back the bitterness in his voice.

Albert snorted, much to Gust's disbelief.

"Rose never saw me in that way. You don't have to be jealous about it", he added.

"I'm not-!", he started to deny, but Albert's gaze made him stop mid-sentence.

"I don't know if you realize, Gust, but it is obvious to me you fancy her." He added with a small smile.

Gust stared at him wide-eyed. The smile his friend had was not a mocking one, he was being serious. He tried to answer but whatever response he was trying to conjure died on his lips.

When Gust didn't answer, Albert continued, "What you did last night was something I've only seen you do for your sister."

"She is a friend." he muttered, and Albert snorted at his answer.

"I'm your best friend, and I swear you wouldn't have left Ginger alone if it had been me." he was smiling widely. "You know what? Scratch that, under other circumstances, you wouldn't leave Ginger alone with me."

Gust felt like his blood was both cold and boiling. He had indeed left Ginger alone with Albert, something he hadn't done since returning to Portia. And he already knew he cared for Rose deeply - last night's incident had been enough to leave him anxious for a couple of hours. But did he fancy her? Sure, he had bought her a brooch he had yet to give her when they were at Walnut Groove, but when he'd bought it he'd said to himself he was doing it just to thank her for walking QQ.

It wasn't a lie, but definitely a half-truth. And then there was that foreign need of human contact he felt every now and then, especially when she was hurt. He'd never been in love before, since he had distanced himself from people so he wasn't entirely sure if his friend was correct on his assumptions, but he had a weird feeling while trying to deny it. Still, if it turned out Albert was right, he didn't think he was ready to try and woo Rose. He didn't even know how to woo to begin with. He could feel the heat rise to his cheeks just from the thought of it.

He didn't realize he'd zoned out, and jumped at the sudden sound of his best friend's voice, "Just think about it." Albert said.

Gust merely buried his nose back into his work.

"You what?" Ginger was staring at her with an indecipherable expression. In Rose's defense, it hadn't been her intention to just spit out about having feelings for Gust, Ginger's brother. It was just unfortunate it happened that way. The truth was, she was terrified of telling her in the first place. She was her closest friend and she didn't want to upset her and lose her.

"I… think I like your brother?" she repeated, face full red while playing nervously with her hair, "I wanted you to know before I dared to try to give him a heart knot or anything." she stammered. "Are you mad?" she asked quietly while hiding her face in her hair.

Ginger was wide-eyed, and then she launched herself over her in a tight hug. Ginger had completely forgotten Rose was in pain, and let her go when she moaned.

"Sorry, I'm so sorry Rosie!" she carefully helped her sit up with a worried face, and then added, "Why would I be mad, dummy?"

"I don't know, I didn't want you to think I'm your friend just because of it." she mumbled, Ginger just rolled her eyes at her.

"Rosemary, you are my best friend. I know you are not my friend because of my brother", she scolded. Rosie's throat closed a little. She hadn't had a best friend in her life; she always felt like an outsider even with her closest friends.

Rose hugged her softly, a little bit teary. "You are my best friend too." Ginger returned the hug as softly as she could in order to not hurt her friend again.

"Are you really going to give him a heart knot?" she asked when she pulled back, and Rose could feel the heat rise to her face again.

"I was actually thinking about knitting it myself, but I don't know how to knit", she answered sheepishly. "I don't want to go to Alice's, it is a small town and I don't know if we could still be friends if things go wrong."

"That makes sense, though I really hope it doesn't come to that," Ginger shrugged. "Luckily for you, I know how to knit", she smiled.

Knitting was hard.

Ginger had taught her the basics, but she still ended up making some stitches smaller than others and ended with a rather impressive pile of irregular threads, but by midnight she managed to make a somewhat decent blue heart knot. She tied it on her wrist, with fear of losing the only acceptable heart knot she could make, and hid it under the sleeve of her long, white nightgown. After that, they spent a few hours reading until Ginger fell asleep. Rose was really tired, but had forgotten the pain meds downstairs at lunchtime and they had already lost effect, so she was shifting and tossing on the bed. She was secretly glad Ginger was such a deep sleeper; anyone else would have woken up by now.

Defeated, she slowly and painfully crawled out of the bed with the intention of going downstairs in search of her medication. Each step made her body hurt, and she was limping, trying to avoid putting more weight on her injured leg, and by the time she made it by the door, every muscle in her body was in pain. She didn't remember being so sore in her life, but she also didn't remember being tossed against a wall before.

Careful of not making a sound, Rose opened the door, just to face the reality that she had to climb down the stairs, the mere sight of them made her whine. She managed to go down the first two steps when Gust's door opened, effectively startling her. Even in the dark, she could see his olive eyes studying her with worry, and his loose blonde hair framing his face. It was the first time she had seen him without his braids, and if she wasn't in such pain, she probably wouldn't have been able to stop staring.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." she whispered.

"It's ok. I wasn't asleep anyway," Gust softly answered, "Is something wrong?"

"I forgot the painkillers downstairs." she answered sheepishly.

"I'll go for them, go back to bed," He had just turned to leave when she interrupted him.

"No, I…" Rose was really sick of being in bed all day, the thought of going back and waiting made her uneasy, even if it was for a little while. "I kind of want to sit for a bit." she found herself answering.

"Are you sure you can walk?" he inquired, frowning.

"I think so," Rose tried to slowly make her way to his door, trying to keep a neutral expression, not wanting to go back to bed, but it appeared she wasn't doing a great job because before she could reach him, he stood in front of her.

"Don't be so stubborn", before she could have time to react, he carefully scooped her up.

He went down the rest of the stairs and crossed the corridor that connected to the dining room and walked all the way up to the sofa, where he gently put her down, her heart hammering against her chest.

Rose couldn't find her words, and Gust left to light one of the lamps, illuminating the room just enough for them to see under the dim light. He disappeared behind the kitchen's door for a few minutes, and when he returned, he was carrying a tray with a glass of water, two cups of tea and her meds bottle. She looked at him inquiringly.

"I couldn't sleep. Sometimes it helps," he explained, putting the tray on the coffee table. Rose nodded in understanding.

"Thank you."

They sat in comfortable silence while she waited for the meds to kick in, enjoying the floral tea and the company. Gust seemed a little bit lost in his thoughts until she noticed him eyeing her wrist. The calm that had settled in her was now gone, and she could feel her heart again hammering against her chest, as well as her blood rush to her face. He hadn't asked, but he did look confused.

She knew it was probably not the best moment, but she figured it would never be the best moment anyway. It was a conversation she had to have, and if things went wrong then they could act as though nothing had happened in the morning. Or at least, she hoped they would. Rose returned her mug to the tray as calm as she could, and then she untied the blue string on her wrist.

"I…" she tried to clear her throat, her eyes settled on the knot, "I made it for you." Rose looked at Gust in time to see his eyes widen.

"For me?" he inquired, as though it was hard to believe her.

"Yeah I… figured it was for the best to do it sooner rather than later." Gust looked taken aback, and his lack of reply made her self-conscious. "It's ok if you don't feel the same. I like being friends with you," Rose nervously looked away, she put a strand of hair behind her ear, her fingers shaking, "I just wanted to know if I'd gotten my hopes up or…" she trailed off, unable to continue when she noticed that Gust was closer than she remembered.

His brows were slightly furrowed, as if he was considering something, but his eyes were fixed on hers. Slowly, he closed the small distance between them as if he was giving her the chance to step back but she was frozen in place, unable to comprehend what was happening, until she could feel his lips on hers.

After a few moments of panic, she found herself closing her eyes and returning the kiss. It was a rather chaste, sloppy one, but Gust's hand had found its way to her cheek, and one of hers rested on top of his chest, his heart beating as fast as hers.

Too soon for her liking, their lips parted, and now Gust was the one who was avoiding her gaze. He held his hand over hers, which was still resting against his chest, the blue heart knot between their fingers.

"I… I'll take it," he whispered, a bright shade of pink under his freckles. "It's-", he cleared his throat, "it's well done."

Rose felt as though her brain had melted. She didn't know what to say after he accepted her feelings, in fact, that was the first time she had confessed to anyone. It also was the first time she'd been kissed. Just for the sake of distraction, she slipped her hand off his chest, without releasing the heart knot.

"Let me…", she trailed off, taking his hand and tying the heart knot to his wrist. When she finished, he didn't let go of her hand. Instead, he squeezed it softly.

"How are you feeling?", he was looking at her again. She hadn't noticed the pain was not as awful as it had been, the meds already working their magic.

"I think I can walk now." she smiled at him.

"Doesn't mean you should. Come, you need to sleep." He stood in front of her and put her arms around his neck. She knew by now there was no use in resisting, so she let him carry her all the way to Ginger's bed.