"Hey, beautiful, how do I look today?" Denny asked his bride-to-be as she came into the room. His cheeks were healthy with color, his wonderful eyes alert and shining. He smiled at her and her whole world lit up.

She smiled back at him, her heart so relieved to find him alive. Every single day since his surgery Izzy worried that time spent away from would end up being fatal—that his body would reject his new heart, or worse, that he might have a blood clot. It would most definitely be a quick death, if she had to choose, but one that would happen in a mere second. It made her want to elope----to marry him right there in his hospital bed. To hell with the rest of it.

"You look gorgeous." She leaned down to give him a kiss on the lips and tenderly ran her fingertip across his dark unshaven cheek. "Just like always." She checked his monitor, then took her stethoscope off her neck and checked his heart.

He watched her affectionately. He'd never met anyone quite like her but he was forever grateful to have her in his life and soon, to be his wife. He reached up and brushed a stray lock of hair behind her hair. "You don't have to do this, Izzy. I'm fine."

"Shhh." She hushed him, her eyes narrowing in concentration. "You can't talk when I'm doing this."

"Okay."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, darlin." He flashed a grin at her again.

She flicked her gaze at him in mock annoyance. "Maybe we should have gotten you a new pair of ears instead of this heart."

"Oh, my ears work well, woman." He joked, as she took off the scope and hung it around her neck again. She sat down on the bed and took his hand into hers. "And so does my new heart." He added softly.

She looked down. "I know. I can't help but worry about you, that's all."

"You worry wart." He teased.

"I know—I'm just----" She looked around the room, trying to get what she felt into words. "I'm scared that I'll have to give you up some day."

"Like you did Lindsay?"

She nodded. She had told him about the child that she had given up for adoption when she was only a few days old, told him how much it broke her heart. He hadn't condemned her, or judged her. Just held her and told her how brave she was. How unselfish. He knew that it was the hardest decision she'd ever made, seconded only by the cutting of his L-Vad wire.

"You won't have to lose me, baby. I'm here. I'm alive and I'm not going anywhere."

"I can't lose you."

"You won't. And you know what else?"

"What?"

"We're gonna make beautiful babies together and we're going to be a family and I'm gonna tell them all how their mother saved their father and gave him new life. We're gonna be happy. You'll see."

"But what happens if----"

He tilted her chin to meet his gaze with his free hand. "Izzy, I'm fine. I feel fine and I don't want you to worry about me all the time. It's not healthy. Dr. Bailey said that I'd be released at the end of the week. She checks me about every fifteen minutes—and that's in addition to you checking me every fifteen seconds."

"Will you still love me if I worry too much?" She asked, lying down beside him and wrapping one arm around his waist.

He kissed her hair and fought back the urge to cry. "I will always love you, no matter how much you worry."

"Me too."

"Marry me?"

"You already asked me that." She giggled. "Or don't you remember?"

"Of course I remember." He chided gently. "I mean now."

"Right now?"

"Tonight. Now. Right now."

She looked up at him, genuine surprise written across her face. She reached up and felt his forehead. "Are you running a fever?"

"Nope. Completely serious." He leaned her forward and made her look at him. "So, what do you say? Marry me? Tonight? I love you Isobelle Stevens. Marry me."