Alice wakes from surgery and the recovery of George Harvey's visit begins.
The strange floating feeling had returned, but Alice found it hard to move her limbs; panic filled her - had the damage been worse than she thought? What had happened in the operating room? As her heart raced and she felt the panic spinning out of control, she heard someone or something shift near her.
"Hey," Matthew whispered - his voice like a balm to her nerves - and she felt the bed dip a little as he gently cradled her hands in his. "Hey, hey, hey, sweetheart, it's alright, it's alright."
"Wha…?" she felt near to tears and a few slipped out from underneath her lids (she didn't want to open them just yet, what if all of this was a dream and she was back in that stairwell?)
"Surgery went well," he soothed her. "Lucien said it was a nice clean break, easy to fix, and no other damage elsewhere except for bruising; you'll be quite sore from the sound of it, but an easy recovery."
Alice let out a sigh of relief, "Good… Anna?"
"Asleep on a cot, you can see her if you open your eyes, sweetheart."
Slowly, she did as Matthew said - blinking in the low light of the room; their daughter was curled up on a fold away cot (Alice didn't recognize it as part of the hospital's supply, she wondered where they'd brought it from), Goose tucked in next to her. She smiled and relaxed back into the pillows propping her up - the smile disappeared when she saw the kaleidoscope of color on the left side of Matthew's face.
"It looks worse than it feels," he smiled softly.
"It shouldn't have happened at all."
"I made a promise to you, Alice."
"And you always try to keep them… but I didn't want you hurt."
"Things happen," Matthew leaned down and kissed her forehead. He lingered there, and Alice felt his lips tremble against her skin.
"Matthew," she whispered - her hands smoothing up his chest as his forehead came to rest against hers.
Matthew nearly sagged against Alice when he felt her hands on his chest; she was alive and moving and talking, his worst fears were lifted, but still the tears came.
"I thought I was going to lose you… I thought… I felt everything happening and I-I thought the worst. I couldn't see anything and I had Anna to comfort and I couldn't do anything."
Alice's hands came up to cup his face - her thumbs brushing away his tears as they fell. He'd come to rely on these little touches since his own accident, and now with nearly losing her, he'd cherish them even more.
"Don't hold back for me, dearest," she whispered in the little space between them.
He ducked his head and felt Alice gently curl her fingers beneath his chin to tilt it back up.
"You're the strongest man I know, Matthew Lawson," Alice smiled, "but you don't always have to be… not around me."
Matthew held her palm against his cheek and kissed the scars as he drew in a shaky breath and the tears started up again. While the pain from Alice's fight against her father had dulled in the hours following her surgery and initial recovery, it was still fresh in his mind - and he was constantly reminded of his own every time he moved his face. He felt Alice take his right hand and press it against her chest - right above her heart and mirroring what he'd done when their places had been swapped. The tears still fell - more and more with each steady beat of Alice's heart - but he was thankful for the landline.
She was here, she was alive, and she was still his.
"I felt all of it, sweetheart. I felt it and scared out of my mind that I'd lose you after all we'd been through together… all I wanted to do was have you in my arms. I couldn't even come to your rescue. And I know you don't need it, but…"
"You wanted to be there with me, I know," she brought his hand up to kiss his scarred knuckles. "Turns out I did need a little bit of saving."
He huffed a laugh through the tears, "Hobart really did a number on him."
"Good," she tugged on his hand, "C'mere."
"But, your bruises."
"Matthew, I am drugged out of my wits right now, they don't hurt a bit, now c'mere."
After pressing a (slightly) wet kiss to her forehead, Matthew let Alice pull him to lay against her chest - allowing him to shift around until he was comfortable - and wrapped her arms around him; as she combed her fingers through his hair, he relaxed and let the tears flow. They turned into quiet sobs and her pajamas quickly grew wet, but Alice didn't say anything as he finally relinquished all of the fear, anxiety, and relief that she was alive and they'd gotten through this in (relatively) one piece.
"I fought," she whispered against his forehead - her lips gentle along the edge of his bruises. "I fought so hard to get back to you, Matthew. I wasn't going to let him harm us again, and I wasn't going to back down without a fight this time… after all, we'd waited so long for each other."
"That we have," he chuckled in the crook of her neck, and pressed a kiss there as he slowly sat up. "That we have, sweetheart… and I think all of this - my accident, this business with your parents, raising Anna - just shows that we can get through whatever this mad universe throws at us."
Alice nodded, her own tear tracks shining on her face as she leaned up towards him; smiling at her silent request, Matthew met her halfway and softly kissed her. She melted into it - her arms snaking around his shoulders as he deepened the kiss - only for both of them to sharply draw back when his split lip reopened and he'd accidentally bumped her tender nose.
He kissed her cheek as she frowned, "No deep kisses for awhile, I'm afraid, sweetheart."
Her frown deepened, and the way she crossed her arms reminded Matthew of his niece as a young girl.
"Alice Harvey, are you pouting?"
"No."
"Uh-huh," he kissed her cheek again, "we can still kiss, sweetheart, just nothing more beyond that until both of us heal a little more."
"Oh, fine," Alice sighed, but he caught the smile on her face before she gave him a short, soft kiss. She shifted on the pillows propping her up and Matthew noted her eyes were slightly unfocused and hazy with all the painkillers and left over anesthesia in her system; she seemed to be trying to focus on his face - his favorite crease of concentration between her brows appearing the longer she stared up at him.
"What is it?"
"Which ones are yours and which ones are mine?"
"What?"
She pointed in the general direction of his face, "The bruises… which ones are yours and which ones are mine?"
As Matthew tried to remember where each of them had gotten hurt, Alice reached up and touched the split in his lip.
"Ow," he drawled as Alice winced along with him, but he smiled when she giggled a little.
"Alright, that's yours."
"Mmhm, and this one's yours," he went to tap on her still sore nose, but did it slow enough for Alice to swat his hand away in her drug-induced haze. She reached up to touch one of the bruises and he gently pulled her hand away (to more giggles). "What's got you so fascinated with the bruises?"
Alice shrugged and giggled some more even as Matthew leaned down to kiss her forehead.
"I see someone's gone loopy."
"Maybe," Alice smiled. "Did you ever feel this loopy? After your accident?"
He shrugged and nodded, "Yeah… double loopy because you also came in and confessed we were soulmates. I half thought I'd imagined that conversation."
"I'm half-imagining this conversation right now."
"Ah, I see I'm gonna marry a comedian," Matthew grinned as Alice giggled again. "The loopy bit wears off soon, and unfortunately the annoying ache settles in… so try not to be too cranky with the nurses, sweetheart."
"No promises," she poked his chest, but smiled when he kissed her forehead. "You'll stay?"
"Yeah, I'll stay, let me go get some tea for us though, the sugar might help you with that loopy feeling."
"Thank you, my dear Matthew… I love you."
He pressed another kiss on her forehead, "I love you too, Alice."
"How are we feeling today, Alice?" Lucien asked the next day - he and the hospital staff had convinced both Matthew and Anna to go home for a meal and change of clothes, so they could do a more in depth check up on Alice the second day after her surgery.
Alice - propped up on a few pillows so she could actually sleep at night - simply glared at him from her bed.
"That well, hm?"
"Just get on with it," she huffed and winced as she shifted on the bed.
"Someone's grouchy this morning, been taking lessons from Matthew?"
"Lucien."
He ducked his head to hide his smile, but was gentle through the examination - pausing whenever she winced or her breath hitched; she was sore and stiff, but there wasn't much Lucien could do to ease that beyond the painkillers she was already on, but he could try and see if applying a hot water bottle to some of the stiff muscles would help her.
"Your leg looks good today, Alice, but you'll still be here for two weeks."
"Two weeks!"
"Two weeks, minimum, Dr. Harvey," Lucien gave her a stern look - amused by the way she crossed her arms in a pout. "And then you'll be on minimum bed rest for another week after that at home with the aid of crutches. After that we'll see how the leg is healing to see whether or not you can handle part-time work in the morgue… maybe we can rig up a stool for you."
"But I have to move around the morgue."
"A stool with wheels?" He grinned as she rolled her eyes. "I'll coordinate with Matthew about the week at home, but I wouldn't be surprised if Jean offered to let you stay with us for awhile. Or maybe we can find a nurse to help out?"
"This is giving me a headache," Alice sighed as she rubbed her forehead - wincing when she pulled on one of her bruises. "Let's… let's just focus on a week at a time, Lucien, though I'm not happy about being here for two weeks."
"I'll talk with the matron about making this all more comfortable for you, and maybe we can stretch the visiting hours so Matthew and Anna can stay longer. I know you don't like being idle, and I know it hurts right now, Alice, but the more you rest the quicker you'll be out of here."
"I know…" she sighed again. "Thank you, Lucien."
"Feel better, my dear friend," Lucien smiled as he leaned over to press a kiss to the top of her head. "Now, are you hungry for some breakfast? I think they've got eggs and toast today. Would you like me to bring you some along with tea?"
"Please… even though the painkillers make it hard to want to eat."
"Let me ask Jean when I'm done here, maybe she can bring you some shortbread to nibble on."
"Only if you haven't emptied the bin already."
Swatting playfully at her hand for her teasing, but happy that she felt well enough to tease him, Lucien jotted down a few notes on her chart and asked a passing nurse to bring Alice some breakfast and tea ("If you can find some, please include some honey with the tea, Nurse." "Of course, Doctor.")
"You're doing great so far, Alice," he told his friend when the nurse returned, and helped her sit up further to properly eat her food. "Keep following instructions and don't get too cranky with the nurses, they aren't used to your bedside manner."
"Very funny, Lucien," she narrowed her eyes over the tea cup, even as the nurse hid a laugh in her cough. "Nurse Mackenzie here has already become well acquainted with me, so I'll be nice to her, but no guarantee with the others."
"Alice."
"I trust both of you are behaving?" Matthew's voice surprised both of them, but Lucien saw the way the tension in Alice's shoulders dropped at the sight of her soulmate (as bruised as he was).
"Going back to work already, Matthew?" Lucien asked as the man himself limped in with his uniform on (leaning more heavily on his cane today than he had been) and pressed a kiss to Alice's forehead as she slowly ate her breakfast. Nurse Mackenzie switched out Alice's IV bottle and left to finish her rounds.
"Ah, only half a day, can't let the paperwork pile up and there's some that Charlie doesn't know how to do yet, so I'm going to have him help me with it until lunch and then rest as you told me to."
"Where's Anna?"
"At the Blakes napping, sweetheart. She wasn't really up to school today and I called them to explain all that had happened. McAvoy said he'd clear it with the headmaster and she can have a long weekend - go back to school on Monday."
"Good," she nodded and smiled when he kissed her forehead again. "What about my father?"
"Currently nursing his wounds in a jail cell."
"What are we going to do with him?"
Lucien pushed a chair over for Matthew to sit in and lingered as he reached out to hold Alice's hand.
"He's being charged with assault of both you and me, and I think the hospital might be looking into charges of trespass against him - I personally want to know how the hell he got in here."
"He snuck up one of the back stairways," Alice squeezed his hand as Sergeant Hobart knocked on the door jamb.
"Boss, Docs," he nodded and touched the brim of his hat. "Came to return something to you."
"What is it?"
Hobart reached into his pocket and pulled out the locket Alice had worn since her and Matthew's trip to the beach.
"I'm sorry it took so long to return this, Boss, but I took it to the jeweler to get it cleaned and replace the chain. Oh, and also this."
Matthew took the locket from his sergeant as the man reached into his pocket and pulled out Alice's engagement ring.
"I reckon we could charge your father with theft also, Dr. Harvey," he passed her the ring; Lucien could see the tears start in her eyes and was just as surprised as Hobart when she reached out to gently grab his hand.
"Thank you, Sergeant."
Sergeant Hobart cleared his throat and awkwardly patted Alice's hand, "You're… you're welcome, Dr. Harvey. I hope you feel better soon."
"Thank you, Bill," Matthew shook his hand and with another tip of his hat (his ears starting to turn pink), Hobart beat a hasty retreat from the hospital room.
Alice still clutched the ring in her hand - tears streaming down her face as she held on tight to Matthew's hand; Lucien caught the look Matthew was giving him and nodded when his friend motioned towards the door.
"Let me know if you need anything," he patted Matthew lightly on the shoulder and pressed a brotherly kiss to the side of Alice's head before he too left the hospital room.
Peering back in through the window, Lucien watched as Matthew silently sat on the bed next to Alice's hip and wrapped his hand around the one holding the ring; he couldn't hear what his friend said, but the smile (albeit through the tears) on Alice's face gave him an inclination. Matthew gently took the ring from Alice's grip and slid it back on her left hand where it belonged; as his two friends leaned in to share a kiss, he looked away giving them the privacy they deserved after everything that had happened.