Hi guys!

I am so, so, SOOOO sorry about the extremely late update.

The reason behind my absence is two things:

1) I have been sick on and of (mostly on) since right after my last author's note. It's not until now, 8 months since I last left you guys a sign I was still alive, I ca sit more 5 minutes in front of any type of screen without feeling like my head is about to explode along with a lot of other crappy and extremely uncomfortable symptoms. I've been admitted to the hospital between 8-10 times since before new year's, so to say updating and writing Undeniably perfect hasn't been a priority is an understatement.

2) In addition to me being sick, there has happened a whole lot of different stuff on the family front with several bad periods.

I don't want to go any more into detail as were about to cross a line into my personal life I'm not comfortable with. I just wanted you guys to know I wasn't blowing off updating because I couldn't be bothered.

Now, I'm not going to make any promises as to how frequent updates are going to be from now on, but I have started writing again and I am really excited to continue Steve and Grace's story!

I hope you enjoy this chapter and as always reviews is what gives me life and I love hearing from you guys so!

XOXO Hannah 3

Worry

The clinical sound of respirators, defibrillators and nurses buzzing made Grace ten times more anxious than she already was, and she considered leaving the hospital all together, but the image of an injured Steve kept her seated in one of the endless plastic chairs that filled the halls.

Since she'd rushed to the hospital twenty minutes earlier, exactly seven ambulances had shown up and Steve had been in none of them. When Steve had told her he was going to North Korea to help Jenna get her fiancée back from Wo Fat she wanted to beg him not to go, and when Danny had told her he'd been kidnapped by Wo Fat and they were going to save him she wanted to go with them. Something she knew she couldn't do without raising questions she wouldn't be able to answer.

So that's why she was in the one place she hated the most, waiting for Steve to show up.

Feeling like her entire body was shaking, she stood up and started pacing. She wanted to believe he was fine, but her mind just kept going back to the worst case scenario. It has been a long time she'd cared this much about someone else's well-being and she didn't know how to handle it.

"Pacing ain't gonna make him get here any faster," Tommy said, walking up to her with a large coffee and finally breaking the silence. Even though she knew he was right, she couldn't make herself sit down. "Come on," Tommy said calmly while putting a hand on her shoulder and leading her back to the chairs. She looked at him with a worried expression, "I'm worried, Tommy."

"I know. He's gonna be fine, I have a feeling he doesn't break that easily." He said reassuringly. "Besides, he has the best doctor in the world waiting for him at the hospital so I'd say the odds are in his favour." Grace just gave Tommy a small smile in response as she accepted the coffee he'd brought for her and rested her head on his shoulder.

They sat and waited for what felt like hours, when a nurse finally walked up to them. "They're here." Relieved, Grace quickly got out of her seat and followed the nurse to the examination room Steve was in.

When she entered, he was laying on the examination table while another nurse was checking his vitals and assessing his visible injuries. He looked terrible.

Studying the monitors, she noticed his blood pressure was falling slightly and all she wanted to do was push the nurse out of the way and take care of him herself. "His blood pressure's falling," she told the nurse, not sure if her voice would crack or not.

Both the nurse and Steve turned their heads in her direction, the nurse confused and Steve shocked.

"None of his visible injuries should be enough to tank his blood pressure."

"What are you doing here?"

Steve and the nurse said at the same time.

Deciding saving his life was more important than indulging his curiosity, Grace stepped over to the nurse and placed her hands on Steve's torso to feel for internal injuries.

"He has two broken ribs, at least and what feel like a ruptured spleen. He'll need an x-ray and CT scan to be sure. I'd also do a head scan, just to be sure." She told the nurse. "And I'm here because you managed to get yourself kidnapped and tortured and I'm a doctor so…" she then turned to tell Steve who seemed extremely unsatisfied with having to be examined let alone be admitted.

"I don't need an x-ray or anything else, I'm fine." He tried explaining while the nurse was checking his vitals one last time before leaving the room to order the CT.

"Yeah, and the Germans won world war 2 and we don't need oxygen to survive." She replied sarcastically, earning her a confused look in return. "I'm sorry, I thought we were sharing idiotic statements that's nowhere near true."

"Funny."

"Not really."

The air suddenly thickened and Steve saw something in Grace's eyes he'd never seen before. She looked tired, like she'd been up for days and her eyes were puffy and lifeless. Her hair was in a messy ponytail and she was wearing sweatpants and an old, torn t-shirt. Compared to her usual colourful and warm attire and energy, she seemed drained.

"You ok?" he asked with trepidation.

"You almost died. I don't like it when people I… when people I care about almost die. I also don't like it when they brush it of like it was nothing, because guess what. When you die, you're not the one who has to deal with the aftermath of it, the people you leave behind are."

Her statement left Steve speechless, and he felt like an ass for being his stubborn self. "Plus, I really don't like hospitals."

Wanting to say something to make up for being an ass, he opened his mouth to apologise, but was interrupted by the nurse walking back into the room to bring him up to CT.

"I'll let you know when he's done," she smiled at Grace before rolling him out of the room.

Due to the hospital being busy during the weekend, Steve's CT and x-ray took a lot longer than it should have, and Grace was on her last bit on patience. About to head to radiology to see if he'd even gotten the scans yes, the nurse from earlier appeared and walked over to her.

"You were right about the ribs and the spleen. The rupture is so small that the bleeding will stop on its own and he also has a concussion, so he'll need to be waken up every two hours and kept under observation for a little while."

"Can I see him?" she asked, her voice shaky.

"Of course, he's in room 705." The nurse smiled at her, before walking past Grace and down the hall to the nurse's station.

Taking a minute to collect her thoughts, Grace just stood in the hallway and stared at the wall. It had been a long time since she'd felt the amount of fear that washed over her when she got a phone call from Danny saying Steve was hurt and they were bringing him back to the island so he could be checked out at the hospital. She didn't know what to think about it. She hated being scared and not being in control of things. Both of which she felt with Steve.

Knowing that if she though more about it she'd drive herself crazy, she took a deep breath and started walking to Steve's hospital room.

As she entered his room Steve was sitting in his hospital bed, changing between the limited choices of channels on the tv. "Hey," Grace said softly, while walking over to his bed and sitting down in the chair next to it. "Hi," he smiled at her. "So you were right, about my injuries." He carefully said, still remembering the eeriness he'd felt earlier when he'd brushed of the severeness of his injuries and Grace hadn't taken it well.

"Thankfully they're not too serious," she almost whispered. "I'm glad you're fine."

"Thank you for checking on me. If Danny had been the one to be here with me, I probably would have gone home without getting any scans or tests."

"You do realise how stupid that is right. Going home against medical advice? People have died from less."

"I'm not like most people."

"No, you are not. Unlike most people you're so stubborn it's bad for your health. Plus, no one likes a guy that always has to be right." Grace tried to lighten the mood, not liking the way the conversation was going.

Wanting to end the conversation with her half joke, Grace felt a sudden rush of bravery and before she could stop herself she opened her mouth again and started to talk.

"Look, if it hadn't been for the fact that you could've died and are now in the hospital with a ruptured spleen, broken ribs and a concussion I'd probably never tell you this and bury it so deep I could pretend it wasn't there. But I worry. I worry about you. I worry about you not going home at the end of the day. I worry about you getting seriously hurt. I worry about the feeling I get when I talk to you. I worry about the feeling I think I might have for you. I worry… I worry a lot. Which is a first for me, because I've never let myself worry about anyone before. But since the very first time I met you I don't seem to be able to do anything else. And it scares me, because it makes me vulnerable. I hate being vulnerable. That's why I avoided you after the times we kissed and the time on my couch. According to a psychiatrist I spoke to once, I have the appearance and IQ of an adult and the emotional intelligence of prepubescent child. Meaning I don't do well with handling and confronting my feelings and fears and suck at expressing those same things to people. Especially people I don't know very well. So when the urge to get to know you came over me, my brain couldn't handle it and everything went to shit and…" suddenly realising what she'd just revealed, Grace quickly stopped talking and the need to run away creeped up on her.

Surprised by the revelations Grace had just made and thankful for the better knowledge he now had about her and how she works, Steve gave her a smile. "I worry about you to," was all he said as he took one of her trembling hands from her lap and laced his fingers with hers.