I stared up at him, making no move to speak. I couldn't make my brain form coherent thoughts at the moment, not with the way he was looking at me. He moved slowly to the side of my bed, pulling the chair up as close as he could. His legs were pressed against the bed, and I knew he couldn't be comfortable sitting with his body crushed as close as possible. He looked down at me, expression guarded.

"How are you feeling?" He asked me after a while. I shrugged back at him, wincing as I did so.

"How do you think I'm feeling? Like every bone in my body is broken," I joked back at him, trying to break the tension.

"That's not far off from your actual injuries," he explained, voice still hard. I groaned internally, knowing there was no escaping the Dimitri-Belikov-self-hate-fest. Even worse, I now had a front row seat, one that I couldn't run away from.

"I'm alive, aren't I? That's all that matters."

"Barely, Rose! You are barely alive. I thought you died in my arms," his eyes filled with tears as he spoke. I felt my heart clench, and I wished I could reach out to him. I'd have to settle for my words instead.

"Yeah well I didn't so... you can just get over it," the words spilled from my mouth, and I regretted them as soon as they came out. I meant to have a little more tact, but it was too late now. He clenched his jaw, not bothering to give me a response.

"Why are you even still here? You saved me, I'm alive. You can go run back to Lissa and continue your life's work."

"It's not that simple."

"Yes, it is that simple. I know you're only here because Lissa wouldn't want me to die. And I'm not dead, so you have no more obligation to me. I'll be fine," I hoped I sounded tough, because all I really wanted to do was cry.

"I'm not leaving you," he stated firmly, reaching for my hand.

"I've never heard that one before," I pulled my hand from his grasp, wincing in pain as my arm moved.

Dimitri opened his mouth to argue back with me, but a light knock at the door interrupted our conversation. A nurse walked into the room with a relaxed expression on her face. I saw Dimitri slide the chair back to a more appropriate distance. He gave me a look I couldn't quite place as she noticed I was awake.

"Oh my god, you're awake?" The nurse half exclaimed, half questioned. Her expression had gone from neutral to shocked in seconds, and she was clutching her heart as if she was staring at the remains of a horror villain and not a patient.

"Um yeah?" I responded, unsure of how to answer.

"That's physically impossible," she said, stepping up to the computer next to my bed. She started typing aggressively while glancing in my direction, like I was some supernatural creature. I mean I techincally was, but she didn't know that.

"What does that mean?" I asked, confused.

"When you came in, your injuries were so severe that the doctors had to put you in a medically induced coma. They wanted to keep you asleep until you had really started to heal. You should have been knocked out for at least a week and a half," she explained.

"How long have I been out?" I asked, eyes flicking between her and Dimitri. I'm sure he looked normal to her, like a concerned friend, hanging on every word she was saying. But the look in his eyes told me it was more than that. He was hyper vigilant, like something was seriously wrong. I tried to keep my face neutral, but on the inside I was starting to freak out.

"Only two days... and not just that. The bruising on your face was almost black when you came in, and it's completely disappeared now," she was openly staring at my face, reaching out to touch me. I flinched at the feel of her cold fingers on my cheek, but she poked and prodded away like I wasn't staring her down.

I chanced a glance at Dimitri, who was completely ridgid except for the moment of his fingers. I looked at his hands and realized he was texting, something I'd never seen him do before. His leather duster didn't exactly scream modern, and the cell phone totally didn't go with the cowboy look. If I didn't have fingers in my face I might have laughed at how ridiculous the site was.

"I'll be back with the doctor soon," she said, pulling away from me and finishing a few notes before she exited the room.

As soon as the door shut behind her, Dimtri was on his feet moving towards the windows on the other side of the room. He tried to open them, but they only slid up a few inches before locking in place.

"What are you doing?"

"We have to get out of here. If the doctor comes back to examine you, he'll know something is wrong," Dimitri explained, looking around the room for an alternate escape route. He pulled out his phone and began talking at a rapid pace to someone on the other line.

It clicked for me then. My accelerated healing was going to cause questions we didn't have answers for. If we stayed here any longer, there was a chance we wouldn't be able to leave. I tried to stand, but fell back on the bed when my legs hit the ground. All the pain rushed to meet me just then, and I felt the breath escape my lungs. The sheets felt like sandpaper against the burns on my back, and I tried to muffle my cries. I heard Dimitri mutter something in Russian before making his way to my side.

"You're in no condition to leave," he observed, helping me into a better position, careful not to tug on any of the tubes sticking out of my skin.

"If you won't help me, Sydney will," I threatened, feeling trapped in this room. There was no way I was staying. What would happen when all my injuries suddenly disappeared, way too fast for human healing? I didn't want to find out.

Just then the same nurse from before came into the room, doctor in tow. I could tell he was arrogant from the way he dismissed the nurse, and I was revolted at the thought of him examining me. I looked to Dimitri for help, but he didn't seem to notice.

"I heard you were awake. It seems like you're making an impressive recovery," he said, as if he had anything to do with that. I rolled my eyes and settled back into my bed, trying to think of a way out of this. The doctor reached out to my face the same way the nurse had done earlier, but this time I stopped him.

"Is there a female doctor available?" I asked sweetly, fluttering my lashes at him.

"I'm the doctor on duty," he responded, seeming annoyed. But it stilled his hand, which was all I cared about.

"Is that a no?"

"It's a no for tonight. There will be one in tomorrow."

"I'd like to wait until she gets here before I'm examined. I would feel more comfortable that way," I explained, looking at the nurse. Her eyes widened at me, and I knew she thought I was crazy.

"Mrs. Belikov, your injuries are severe. We need to look at them to make sure you're healing properly," he said, exasperated at the thought of explaining this to me. I kind of liked pissing him off, but I knew I had to tread carefully so I didn't push him more than necessary.

"I agree. The female doctor can look at them tomorrow, which seems to be in just a few hours. I mean, it's not like I'm going anywhere," I glanced at Dimitri as I said so, and saw him smirk at the last part.

The doctor tried to persuade me a few more times, but I stayed strong in my resolve. He eventually left with a shake of his head, the nurse following close behind him. The second the door shut behind them Dimtri was in motion once again, and I could tell by the look on his face he was avoiding my impending questions.

He moved with total confidence, taking his chair and shoving it under the doorknob. It wasn't a foolproof lock, but it would deter entry for a little while. He asked me if I thought I could stand. I did so, determined to prove my strength to him. He quickly took the sheets off the bed and went to work on some intricate knotwork.

I stared at him, using his focus to my advantage. He didn't notice me admiring the look of determination on his face, the way his hair fell forward into his eyes. He looked so strong at that moment, it almost made me forget the amount of pain I was in.

He looked up and motioned me forward. I took a hesitant step in his direction, not wanting to get too close. I was still hooked up to the machines, and I didn't know how long it would take the nurses to notice when I wasn't anymore. I looked up at Dimitri and motioned to my arms. He stepped up to me and carefully removed the IV's from my skin, watching as a few drops of blood squeezed from each site.

I was still cautious of him as he took in the condition of my body. That was thrown out the window when the machines started beeping, alerting that something was wrong. He grabbed me, pulling me close into his chest in what I can only describe as a semi-hug. He held me tight to his body for only a second before stepping back and wrapping me up in the sheets.

"Excuse me, but what the fuck are you doing?" I asked, facing the widow as shifted and turned me how he liked.

"I'm trying to get us out of here without hurting you," he answered, never faltering in his work. I tried to ask another question, but he ignored it. After a few minutes, I was tied up snugly in a cocoon of sheets, and more confused than I ever had been before in my life.

"Thankfully, we're only on the second floor. That means I'm going to lower you out the window onto the grass below," he said motioning to the makeshift harness he had tied around me.

"So there's no way to, you know, just walk out of here?" I asked, knowing the answer.

"We wouldn't make it to the end of the hallway before they dragged you back here," he explained, walking to the window.

In one fluid motion, Dimitri raised his elbow to the corner of the window and struck it, hard, shattering the glass. He used the arm of his duster to push out any remaining shards before turning to me and sweeping me up in his arms.

He held me close to his chest as he leaned forward, carefully lowering me out of the now open window. I felt him press a kiss to my hair as I went down, steady and slow with him in control. I felt completely helpless, knowing I wouldn't be able to catch myself if the knots failed or the sheets ripped. I looked up at Dimitri and he gave me an encouraging smile as I got closer to the ground.

I closed my eyes tight, and in a few more seconds I kicked out and felt my feet hit the ground. I sighed in relief and nodded up at him, catching the rest of the sheet as he released it. It took him just a few moments to gain a foothold on the outside of the building, and only two more steps before he jumped off completely, landing next to me with a soft thud.

I was swept up in his arms once again as he moved towards the parking lot. He was going slower than I wished, trying not to jostle me too much. I told him to pick up the pace when I heard someone yell out our open window, but I could tell by their screams we were hidden by the darkness.

Only a few more steps and we would hit the road out of here. I knew we wouldn't get very far on foot before they sent someone after us. I briefly wondered where Sydney was in all of this before a car screeched to a halt in front of us. Dimitri opened the backdoor and I slid inside, crying out in pain and exhaustion as he climbed in beside me.

I heard Sydney apologize from the front seat, but I couldn't bring myself to respond. I was too drained to do anything but lay against the other body in the backseat. I whimpered in pain, hearing Dimitri try to soothe me in any way he could. Eventually he settled on running his hands through my hair, the only part of me that wasn't injured.

The motion of the car eventually lulled me to sleep, which kept on driving for a while. I had no sense of time when I woke up, I only knew that it was daylight when we pulled up to a motel. Dimitri lifted me from the car as Sydney walked towards us, key in hand. She let us into the room before saying something about "needing supplies", closing the door behind her as she left me alone with Dimitri once again.

I looked up at him as he shrugged off his duster, making himself more comfortable. He seemed way too calm, like our lives hadn't both been completely turned upside down just a few days before. The man in front of me looked relaxed, almost like he was right where he was meant to be. It was driving me crazy.

"You look like you have something you want to say," he said as he sat next to me on one of the two queen beds. He put some distance between us as he did so, and that longing to reach out to him returned once more.

I could tell he felt the same when he moved to push my hair out of my face. I felt the familiar shock to my system as his fingers brushed against my skin. Even after our time apart, he still had such a strong hold over me.

"I have some questions," I answered, thinking over which ones to ask first.

"Like?" He looked at me, amused by something I didn't understand. I rolled my eyes, knowing exactly what to ask in order to wipe the smirk off his face.

"Why did the doctor call me Mrs. Belikov?"

Dimitri looked away, cheeks burning pink. He wasn't expecting that one, and I felt a little satisfaction catching him off guard. Plus, it didn't hurt that he looked absolutely adorable when he was embarrassed.

"They only allow family in the ICU," he said, unable to meet my gaze.

"And you jumped right to husband?" I couldn't wipe the smirk off my face if I tried.

"We don't exactly look like family," he tried to explain.

"Neither do Sydney and I."

He was speechless after that, and his cheeks burned a little brighter. I almost felt sorry for him, but I wasn't letting that distract me. I was going to make the most of this. It was the first time I had felt like I did back when we were at the academy.

"Next time, comrade, you can be Mister Hathaway. I don't see myself changing my name for any man," I teased, finally relenting.

"Next time," he echoed, smiling back at me. I hadn't seen that smile in a long time, and it made me feel good despite my injuries. I smiled back at him, content to live in the moment for the time being. My other questions could wait.

A/N: I just want to say thank you to anyone who has favorited, followed, or reviewed! It all means a lot to me. I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts on the new chapter!