A/N; Alright guys, sorry to leave you hanging at the end of this chapter, but I'll be back soon enough. It won't be too long.

"Hello Jessica," Came the groggy greeting from Seth. The room went silent. Jessica looked intently into his eyes wondering if this was a dream. He squeezed her hand again and smiled at her with tears in his eyes. All of a sudden, the silence was broken by Jessica's quiet cries.

"Oh God." She smiled through tears. "Oh my God!" She began to laugh happily out of shock almost. "Seth!" She cried. "Oh my God!" Seth reached up to dry her tears.

"Doc?" Mort asked in amazement.

"Hello Metzger." He said with a slight touch of his usual sarcasm letting everyone in the room know he was feeling at least a little better. Mort just smiled back at him.

"Hello Floyd." He greeted the deputy.

"Hi Dr Hazlitt." Came Floyd's friendly reply.

They were all in shock of absolute amazement. Turning back to Jessica he asked,

"How's your leg?"

"How's my-" There was a pause in her voice. "H-How did you know?" She asked him.

"In rare cases Comas can cause Locked in Syndrome. I heard everything and I could cry but I couldn't respond." Everyone standing in the room at his bedside was almost speechless.

"Oh Seth." Jessica started crying as she took his hand. Just as he did a few years beforehand, when he was in the hospital after falling victim to a poisoning attempt aimed at Jessica, he reached up to dry her tears.

"So, I take it, you know we caught the killer?" Mort asked him.

"Yes, I'm aware. Where is Andy? Did he come with y'all?"

"He did but he's actually the one that caught Lily and, in the process, got himself shot by her and she got shot by him.

"Oh my God is he going to be alright?"

"Seems like it. He was shot in the leg. He's in surgery right now to remove the bullet." "He was in good spirits when I left him." Floyd informed the group.

"Okay that's enough stress on him right now he needs to rest." A deeper voice popped up. The three standing looked up to see the doctor still standing there messing with medicine bags and he buzzed for a team of nurses.

"I forgot you were here." Floyd stated which earned him a laugh from Seth, a look from the doctor, a confused look from Jessica and a slap on the back of the head from Mort.

"Well, he's laughing at stupid insults so he must be feeling a little okay." Mort chimed in.

Mort, Jessica and Floyd all stayed at the hospital with Seth and Andy. Once Andy was out of surgery, they checked on him for a while. He was still very groggy though and couldn't give much information.

"Hey Andy." Mort said quietly as he awoke.

"Hi Sheriff." Came the weak but optimistic response. He moved around a little and winced in pain. "How's Doc?"

"Alive and laughing." Jessica responded.

"Doctors say he's going to pull through and be just fine." Mort added.

"That's great." Andy groggily replied.

"The doctors say it will be a while before you can be released," Mort told him.

"Yeah, I'm aware. But if we got the killer and the doc is okay then it has been worth it." He smiled. He started to fall back asleep.

"I think we should let him rest. I'm going to go be with Seth." Jessica said.

The next week or so Seth spent recovering and none was said about love between the two of them. Seth wanted to say something but Jessica was only focused on letting him recover. She would spend most of everyday with him and check up on him every night until he was released. They both knew that the conversation would come up sooner or later and the fact that it was on both of their brains made simple looks at each other filled with romantic and even sexual tension. It was so easy for them to just fall into each other's eyes.

After that week or so, Seth was released back home. For the next couple of weeks, Jessica checked up on him every night before she went back home to bed. It was during those nights when they both got lonely, longing for one another.

"Jessica, will you stay the night here with me?"

He managed to gain the courage to ask her one night as she was getting ready to leave. Jessica was caught off guard by this.

"I'm not suggesting sex or anything like that I-I just need a friend. I've been lonely at night here. It's been a crazy month." Jessica walked over to him and gave him a hug.

"I was so worried about you Seth," She told him. Seth closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he wrapped his arms around her. "Truth be told, I've been so lonely at night as well." Seth opened his eyes to see Jessica standing there in front of him.

"Yes I'll stay the night here," She agreed as she smiled at him. She thought of something else to say to him but she couldn't help but forget as she just kind of fell into his eyes. He saw this but didn't mind. In fact he welcomed it. He had heard the conversations she had had with Eve and Mort and Lily who turned out to be the killer but nonetheless. He heard the tail end of Jessica shouting in agony for him to come back because she loved him. He wasn't sure if this was all just her mind going into shock trying to grasp for something to make sense of as she tried to keep him here or if it had all been real. Shock factor wears off. He loved her but what if she was just in shock and one day she came to her senses again? Well, if she did, he'd still be right there next to her every step of the way. Either way, her eyes said it all, he had to talk to her about it.

"Jess?" He asked her as she snapped out of her daze.

"Yes?"

"Sit down over here."

Jessica sat down on his couch next to him.

"That night that I was shot." Jessica quickly looked at him.

"Before I fell unconscious I tried to tell you something." He paused. "Something that I've never told anyone before."

"I remember." Jessica replied to him.

"Well, I'd still like to tell you before it's too late if that's okay."

"Of course, Seth."

"I heard you yelling out for me to come back because you couldn't do it without me and that you….love me." His voice trailed off. Jessica's eyes widened. "I also heard all the conversations you had in the hospital room. Especially the one with Eve who actually made her point." Seth chuckled very lightly upon recalling the remark that Eve had made about the two. Jessica could feel her heartbeat increasing. She could always tell how he felt but in this instant she couldn't decipher what he would tell her. "As I went unconscious the only thing on my mind was to be able to tell you that I love you Jess. I am so in love with you Jessica. I have loved you for years. I want to be with you and knowing that you loved me too is what kept me going believing that I had something to live for. I want to love you like there's no tomorrow and I want you to stop being scared and let me love you like we're on borrowed time because Goddamnit Jessica it's good to be alive when you're in it." Jessica's eyes started to shed a tear of happiness. It was true to them. All of it. They've needed each other in their lives to keep the other in line and be a shoulder to cry on and do fun things with. They've seen it forever but they've both just been too damn stubborn to admit that they need each other.

"So if you'll let me I'd like to do something with you because I don't want to risk us being shot again to come to our senses." He leaned in closer to her. His hand found its way to her waist while hers rested on his leg. He closed his eyes and she closed hers. They hovered in front of the other less than an inch from each other's face. They could feel the other breathing.

"Seth," she whispered.

"Yes Jessica."

She hesitated for a moment.

"Kiss me."