A/N: WARNING – this chapter includes some blood, a swear word here or there, and graphic imagery that comes with a stab wound. This story is rated "T" but please be advised that this chapter is a little more "M".

Thanks!

-Song

Will's choice of granola and yogurt to accompany his black coffee contrasted nicely with Rose's thick lake of frosting that drizzled off her cinnamon roll. She dipped her fork into the last dregs of sugary deliciousness that remained on her plate and then licked it off slowly, savoring the taste. Will watched her do so with all the embarrassment and intensity of a high school boy with a crush.

"Are you trying to impress me with how healthy you are?" she asked him suddenly.

"Not at all," he grinned. "Just addicted to granola."

Rose finally released her fork and leaned back with a satisfied sigh. She placed both hands on the stool to hold herself steady and closed her eyes.

"Worth it," she said.

I agree… Will thought.

"Well, now that you've both devoured our good food, you need anythin' else?" Ronnie asked, leaning on the counter with both elbows. Her red nails scratched absently at one arm and Will pulled out his wallet.

"I think that's it. It's on me, Ronnie."

"Wait, Will-," Rose protested.

"Don't worry about it," he told her with a smile.

She stopped and her face went red again. Ronnie watched with all the enjoyment of a cat watching the birds out the window.

"Such a gentleman, ain't he? What with all that fancy bookstore money."

Will rolled his eyes at her. "Just get back here with my card, why don't you?"

Ronnie slipped the debit card out of Will's fingers and tapped it dramatically with her red talons.

"Hold tight, sugars," she told them.

Will looked back at Rose who was still blushing, but instead of feeling smooth for offering to pay, he suddenly felt his stomach drop. She didn't look happy at all.

"Rose? Are you okay? I'm sorry, I guess I should have asked first-,"

"No, it's okay," she said, but she looked miserable.

Will felt terrible. Why did he have to go and assume like that? They had been having such a nice time and he went and ruined it by acting like a chauvinist.

"I just…" he tried, but the words failed him.

Rose's face returned to its normal color after a few moments, and then Ronnie returned with his card.

"Now get outta here, you two. I'm sick of lookin' at ya."

Will shot her a half-smile, but he felt awkward and uncomfortable. Rose collected her sweatshirt jacket and the two of them left the diner in silence.

When they were back out on the street, the early afternoon was shifting to a cooler, windy day. The clouds above were greying and collecting fast. Rose shifted uncomfortably on the sidewalk and Will wanted to die of embarrassment.

"Rose, I'm really sorry if that made you uncomfortable."

Rose shook her head and Will was worried that the haunted look in her eyes would never go away.

"No, it's not that I just… you don't have to pay for me, you know? I've got it."

"Of course, you do, I didn't mean to assume or anything, that's not what that was I…"

He was about to tell her that the reason he paid was because he was hopelessly infatuated with her and that every move she made rocked him to his core. He hadn't paid because he'd wanted to impress her, but because he wanted her to have a free cinnamon roll, to brighten her day. It was stupid, but somehow, he wanted to give her everything.

He didn't get the chance to tell her any of this, though, because instead, she spoke again.

"You've got more important stuff to worry about. You should save your money."

"What?"

"I told you I wouldn't make it weird, but I know what hospital bills cost and I just-,"

"Oh," he said. "Oh, you mean Penny."

The sidewalk became suddenly crowded as people filed out of the diner. Rose looked even more uncomfortable, so they walked toward a side-street alleyway and got out of the way of foot traffic.

"Look, Rose…" Will wasn't sure how to phrase it. He felt like he'd had this talk with everyone he'd ever told about Penny for the past three years. His friends, his ex-girlfriends, even his grandfather before he, too, passed. Somehow this talk always seemed to drive people away, and he didn't want to do that with Rose.

More than anything he didn't want to do that.

"Rose, I've been taking care of Penny nearly my entire life. She's fine. We're fine. Of all people, you especially don't have to worry about me or her or anything else. It's not… it's not your problem. Well, not a problem, that's not what I mean-,"

Then Rose started to cry and Will sucked in a shocked breath.

"Oh, Rose, no, I'm sorry, I know you were just trying to help I-,"

But she moved forward and reached for him, wrapping Will up into a tight hug and didn't let him go. He held her, too. He didn't know what the matter was, but somehow, he didn't think he'd hurt her feelings. He dipped his head to rest his nose in her messy bun and couldn't help but close his eyes for a short second, savoring the moment.

But the second was over quickly when a noise in the alleyway interrupted their hug.

Will opened his eyes to see a man he once knew. Some guy named Ed who'd been put away for beating on his wife. He used to come to Vinnie's every other Thursday. The cops let him go early, though, much to everyone at the diner's distaste. Now Ed looked drunk, even at two in the afternoon, and he stumbled into the dumpster, making another loud crash that had Rose turning her face to see what was going on.

"Rose let's go," Will said quietly, but Ed looked up at the pair of them.

"Oh, how fucking cute," Ed slurred out. "You two been to Vinnie's? They don't let me in there no more. Not since last August."

The man spat on the street in their direction and advanced. Will started to push Rose behind him and out of the alleyway as subtly as he could.

"You look familiar, don't ya?" Ed asked Will. "You workin' at Vinnie's, boy? You part of that snitch party they had, tellin' people I hit my wife?"

"Rose, go," Will told her.

"I knew you looked familiar," Ed sneered, reaching down for something sharp on the alley floor and then rushing forward. "You ruined my life!"

"Rose, GO!" Will yelled again and felt the sharp stab of whatever it was enter his left arm.

He cried out and used his right arm to land a hit to Ed's swollen, drunken face. Ed yelled something profane and pulled the sharp object – a shard of glass – out of Will's arm. Will heard himself scream and he threw his right elbow into Ed's nose. Then he kicked him down and backed out of the alleyway. Rose was standing off to the side, hugging the concrete wall and talking quickly on her cell phone.

"-outside Vinnie's diner on, oh my God, Will!" she cried when she saw him.

Will looked backward to see Ed start to get up off the ground. Will turned away and ran for Rose.

"No time, hang up, go, go, go," he told her, grabbing her gently by the arm and pulling her further away from the scene.

"Your arm-!"

"I know!" He said quickly. They raced past the diner and down another street before Will hailed a taxi. The driver slowed down and looked terrified at Will who was bleeding badly from his left bicep.

"Hospital?" The taxi driver asked.

Will only nodded and he and Rose got in just in time. Ed was rounding the corner, bleeding from his face and pushing pedestrians out of the way as Will and Rose drove off in the taxi. Ed spit out blood and more profanity before a passing police officer detained him to ask him questions about the scene he was making. Ed ran from the officer, and it was the last they saw of him.

Rose watched in horror as Will lay his head back in relief, his pale face turned toward her, eyes closed.

"Will, no! Don't fall asleep – let me look at that."

He didn't move, instead, his head lolling down, chin on his chest, while she tried to get a look at his left arm. She was sitting on his right side, so she couldn't get a good angle on the cut.

"Yo, is he dead?" the driver asked her from the front seat.

"No, he is not dead!" Rose snapped at him angrily. "Just drive faster, please!"

The driver looked truly freaked out and Rose tried not to follow him in his panic. Instead, she took her sweatshirt jacket off and wrapped it around Will's wound. She wasn't sure that it was the right move, but it was all she could think to do.

As she cinched the sleeves of the jacket around his arm and tied it tight, Will's eyes opened a little and he gave out a pained sound.

"Sorry," she said. "I thought I should try to stop the bleeding."

Will gave her a soft smile and closed his eyes again. "Yeah, thanks. Good idea…"

The entire backseat was slick with red blood and Rose felt sick. She tried to look away from it, but it seemed to be everywhere. The driver's fingers tapped anxiously on the steering wheel as they rounded the corner and were stuck at a red light. Cars in front of them created a neat, long line of people waiting for it to turn green.

Will simply lay back against the seat next to her, and Rose regretted hanging up on the police and the potential ambulance.

Still, the light did turn green and they were only a few streets away from the hospital.

By the time that they reached the hospital, Will was barely responsive and the driver put the taxi's hazards on and jumped out, waving his arms and shrieking for help. Rose got out and opened the door to Will's side of the taxi and attempted to get him up, but his eyes looked so foggy and tired.

"Will, come on," she said to him, attempting to lure him out of the cab. "Please, Will? I need you to get up, we're at the hospital now."

"Penny?" Will asked her quietly. "Is she okay?"

Rose started to cry again and nodded. "She's okay, it's you that we're trying to help, you idiot."

Will only nodded and lay back against the seat once more.

"Will, no-."

Then someone was pushing past her, asking Rose to leave the area. An EMT was crawling into the side of the cab and checking Will's vitals. Rose stepped back and let them work, hugging herself and worrying on the sidewalk.

A police officer approached her after they had successfully gotten Will on a stretcher and into the building, attempting to wake him up and keep him talking. Rose retold her version of the tale, that they'd been talking in a side-street and a drunken man had started yelling at Will, then attacked him with a shard of glass. The police officer nodded and jotted down notes, then told her not to leave the area until they were done with their statements.

Then he went to speak to the driver.

Rose sat quietly in the waiting room for over an hour before someone came to get her.

"Rose Escher?" a nurse called out, scanning the waiting room.

"Yes?" Rose asked. People stared at her when she stood. She was still covered in blood.

"Right," the nurse said, appraising her. "Come with me, he's awake."

Rose follows her quietly down a stark white corridor to an elevator. They head up to the third floor and then down another hallway to a small hospital room that reads "301". The nurse says, "he's got a visitor, but you can go in I think."

Then the nurse gives her a reassuring smile and walks away.

Rose turns to look through the glass. She can see Will laying in a hospital bed, his arm wrapped in gauze; the distinct, bumpy line that suggests stitches were needed protrudes from beneath the bandages. She is about to barge in and tell him how relieved she is that he's okay when she realizes someone is yelling in the room.

Will's expression looks sheepish, and Rose adjusts her view through the small glass window to see a young girl, probably in middle-school, berating him loudly. She's in pajamas and her feet are bare and her hair is cropped short. But she's also wearing a bright purple witch's cap that bends at the tip and has a little bell attached. The more she yells and gestures wildly at Will, the more that the bell jingles her displeasure.

"-could you be so stupid! You're not a Teen Titan, are you? Are you!?"

Will shakes his head no and apologizes.

"No, you're not! Jeez, Will, what would I do if you went and died like that? I'd be down one less stupid brother, that's what!"

Rose's face flushes and she moves away from the glass in the doorway. She leans back against the wall of the hospital hallway and reminds herself that Penny also stays at this hospital. Penny, Will's little sister. The one who's sick, and probably shouldn't be so upset right now.

Was it all Rose's fault? Did she cause this craziness by crying all over Will in a back alley after all he tried to do was buy her breakfast?

The door suddenly opens to her right and she jumps; like she was caught doing something wrong.

"Oh, sorry," Penny apologized, though still looking enraged. "Didn't see you there. Who are you?"

"I'm…" Rose hesitated.

"Penny, who is it?" Will called.

"Some redheaded girl, do you know her?"

"Rose?"

Rose's face is beat-red now.

Penny looked at Rose and said, "I'm sorry about him, he's an idiot. Is your name Rose?"

"Yes."

"Okay, good. Nice to meet you," Penny said.

"Penny, let her in," Will called again.

Penny rolls her eyes at him and then smiled. "You're pretty. Are you my brother's new friend he keeps talking about?"

There's an audible sigh from within the hospital room.

"Uh, maybe?" Rose asked.

"Come in, then," Penny said.

Rose followed her inside the room to find Will laying back and looking both exasperated and tired.

"Hey," was all he said.

"I'm so, so sorry," Rose said immediately. "It's all my fault, isn't it? I made such a huge deal out of nothing and then-,"

"No," Will told her. "Not your fault. I promise."

Penny jumped up on Will's hospital bed. "It's his fault, I bet. I left D&D for this you know, since my brother likes to go and pretend that he's some kind of hero by getting stabbed by drunk people in alleyways."

"That's not really how it happened-,"

"Will was a hero," Rose said to the thirteen-year-old who acted like she was very put out by the whole thing. Most of all, Rose knew she was terrified – that she wasn't used to seeing her big brother laid out on a stretcher with stitches in his arm. "He got me out of the way when that guy ran at us, and he put his arm out to shield us both. I know he scared you, but he was really amazing."

Penny considered this for a moment, tapping her foot on the soft hospital blanket.

"So, what, like a Paladin knight in shining armor?"

Rose laughed a little. "I guess you could say that."

Penny rolled her eyes. "Well, I wasn't there, so I can't confirm any of this…" then she defiantly turned and gave Will a giant hug. He closed his eyes and hugged her back. Then Penny pulled away and messed up his hair a little and jumped back off the hospital bed. "But I'll take Rose's word for it. For your sake," she said to him.

"Thank you," he told her with a smile. "I'll still see you tonight. Don't think you're getting out of this just because I had glass in my arm," Will told her.

"Yeah, yeah," Penny said as she started to leave the room, her eyes shining with tears. "I'll make you learn Magic properly, with our without both arms. It was nice meeting you Rose, but I have to go. Prior engagements and all that, you know what I mean."

Rose started to say it was nice to meet her too when Penny slammed the hospital door behind her and the little bell on her witch hat jingled as she raced down the hallway to the elevator.

"I'm sorry about her," Will said. "She's just… after three years of hospitals, she's sort of turned a little more cynical about things."

Rose nodded. "I completely understand. I really liked her."

He laughed and then winced and Rose realized he was in more pain than he let Penny see.

"What did they say?"

"The word 'lacerated' came up a few times. They were worried I'd lose feeling in it, the way that he butchered it. I thought it was a quick stab, but they said he pulled upward…"

The look on Rose's face was frightened so he stopped talking.

"But you won't, right? Lose feeling?"

"No, no," he said and then with great effort wiggled his fingers at her. "I'm going to be fine. The painkillers are helping."

"Why do you always end up getting hurt?" she asked him.

"Me? Fallen off any bikes lately?"

Rose smiled and pretended to hit his knee. "Rude!"

"Well, I'm just saying, you're not the only one allowed to get a little scuffed up."

"And they said Jump City was safe."

"It is… mostly."

They sat there a moment, the quiet sound of cars passing in the streets below echoed over the nearly empty room.

"I know you were trying to be nice for Penny's sake, there," Will said, "but I could've done better back in the alley. Sorry, for everything."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I made you cry, and I should have just rushed us both out of there right away when I recognized Ed."

"The police told me he'd been a problem at the diner for a while now, you couldn't have known."

Will looked away.

"Well, still… I'm sorry for making you cry."

"No, I made a big deal out of everything. Of course you were just being nice. You're a nice guy, Will."

"I'm just glad we're both alright."

"Me, too," Rose told him. "Oh, but I broke my promise."

"You did?"

"Yeah," Rose said, going to sit on the hospital bed next to him. She took his right hand that rested near her knee. "I told you I wouldn't make it weird."

"You didn't, most people… they act a little differently when I tell them about Penny and me."

"That's true," Rose said, then running her thumb over the back of his hand. "But that's not what I'm talking about."

Will gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"Please don't let this make things weird," she said before she dipped her head and kissed him.

Rose felt some force of elation that exploded like fireworks in her mind. Kissing Will? She didn't realize how much she had wanted it before now.

But she also worried that she was being an idiot; a complete fool. Her heart was beating crazily, and she was even more worried that at any moment he'd pull away and accuse her of cornering him.

But he didn't.

His right hand left hers and he wound his fingers instead into her red, messy hair, pulling her closer and kissing her back. The way he did so made Rose think that he'd been wanting to kiss her for a while. He let her name slip between breaths, and her heart soared with the sound.

It made her smile against him, he smiled back, and they kissed for a long time.