A/N - My apologies for the short chapter. I hope you enjoy it nevertheless! As always, please feel free to comment your reactions/criticisms/advice or even just a hello :)

Love and Light!
Kahelle

Chapter 29 – Take Me to Church

"There you are dear. Now, you will need to keep it in this sling for about a week. Of course, you can take it off at home and when you sleep so long as you are not doing anything strenuous. I'll see what we can arrange for physical therapy here to make sure you don't lose any range of motion." Recovery Girl tightened the straps on the sling around Aine's arm. She couldn't help but yawn as the effects of the school nurse's quirk zapped her stamina. The small woman patted Aine's good shoulder, "For now, feel free to take some time to rest."

Aine shook her head and moved to get up, "I need to check on Sa…"

A wave of dizziness hit Aine from the muscle relaxer she had been given before they redacted her shoulder, "He's fine, thanks to you and Aizawa. Minor bumps and bruises but nothing more serious." Recovery Girl gently guided Aine back down onto the cot. "Get some sleep, he won't be going anywhere for at least an hour or two."

"You sent for me?"

The man who gave her a job was sitting in a large chair, his legs elegantly crossed and his hands templed across his chest. "Yes, child. Have a seat."

He gestured to a chair across from him, Aine looked from his hand to the chair before shaking her head. "You prefer to stand? I promise I don't bite." He halfway chuckled. "It's fine, this shouldn't take long." He relaxed his hands back to their templed position. "I understand you have been packing your belongings?"

Aine gestured wildly, "Only what I brought with me or what I bought on my own. Nothing else, I swear!"

He looked mildly annoyed at her reaction, "That wasn't what I called you here to answer for. My question is, why are you packing?"

She dropped her hands to her sides, "Well, Tomura hasn't needed my assistance to sleep for over a week now. That was what you hired me for, to use my quirk to help him sleep." She shrugged, "So, I was planning to ask for the last of my pay in the morning and leave."

The man stood and turned his back towards her, "What if I were to offer you another job?"

"As part of your crime-thingies?"

He turned his head slightly, a humored grin teasing the sides of his mouth, "Is that what you think we do here?"

Aine leveled her eyes to look straight at his smirk, "I wasn't born last night, I've been around crime deals and I heard you and the good Doctor talking last night." She crossed her arms, "As much as it could be fun, I'm really not interested in being another 'look-out' or bait for another band of thugs."

He turned back towards the wall, reaching up to rub his chin. "I could offer you double the pay than what you originally were being paid, as well as your own living quarters here." He turned back towards her, hand extended to seal the deal.

Aine shook her head, "No, I'm done being the pawn – I don't want to take the fall when a job goes south and then my ass be left to rot in prison." She turned to leave, "I'll have my stuff ready to go in the next hour."

The man slid his hands into his pockets, "What if I can tell you that you won't be the one to take the fall? What if I could help you hone that beautiful quirk of yours and your other skills into a weapon to be feared – not taken advantage of?" Aine stopped at the doorway, "Stay here as not a 'pawn' but a member of the family. The daughter I never had, a sister for Tomura. You will never be alone again."

She turned around, "I'm listening."

Aine didn't remember actually closing her eyes but when she opened them to look out the clinic window it was already dark. The voices from the dream/memory fading quickly into nothingness.

"Hey Sleeping Beauty."

She sat up and looked at the figure slumped in the corner.

She sat up as best she could with one arm and swung her feet over the edge of the cot. The chill of the floor on her sock-clad feet made her glad that she was able to be in her street clothes and not a flimsy gown. "Hey. Where's Shouta?"

Nemuri stood up and walked over to sit on the cot beside Aine, "Interview. Your little dive after Sasaki has created a bit of a stir."

Aine looked in disbelief at the other woman, "You're kidding me, it's been what a couple of hours?"

"Not quite a couple of hours. The reporters were basically beating down the front gate as soon as they saw…well…. this…" Nemuri pulled out her phone swiping across screens before turning it towards Aine. There on the screen she could see a shaky video of the rooftop from the ground. She could barely make out someone's back up at the top of the building. Then barely a few seconds in, the video focused just as Sasaki went over the edge. Screams of alarm filled the video feed as she watched herself jump as well following him.

Any questions she had died on her tongue as she watched the rest of the video. It was only after the video cut off with the crowd closing in around her and Sasaki on the ground that her mind was able to form words again. "This must be a PR nightmare for UA."

"Partially but look at some of these comments: 'I heard she is a civilian. Looks like the pros aren't the only heroes at UA.', 'Do they give out honorary hero status?' and then there is this one." Nemuri scrolled further down the comments to point out where a person had taken a zoomed in screenshot of her as she dove after Sasaki. The setting sun streaked across the clouds behind her looking like wings of fire as she reached out towards the falling teen, underneath the commenter had put "UA's own guardian angel." That comment alone had already garnered thousands of likes.

Aine rubbed her forehead, "So much for staying low-profile, huh?"

"They're hyenas and you are fresh meat. Give them a week or two and it will blow over." Nemuri waved her hand dismissively, " Come on, let's get you back to your apartment."

Aine set the kettle on to heat as she replayed the events of the afternoon over in her head. The pain in Sasaki's eyes, the desperation in Midoriya's voice, the roar of the wind in her ears, the way Hizashi's voice seemed far away as he helped her stand, the sea of students parting as she and Sasaki were whisked away. It all seemed to replay in vivid color through her mind. She had wanted to stop by to check on Sasaki but, according to Recovery Girl, while she had been asleep his parents had transferred him to an inpatient facility for at least the next 24 hours.

She was startled out of her thoughts by the squealing of the kettle. She carefully removed it from the heat before grabbing the tea tin Aoyama had brought her that day. As she waited for the tea to steep, she removed the sling and hung it across the back of one of the dining room chairs.

"Looks like the pros aren't the only heroes at UA."

"Guardian Angel"

She shook the comments out of her head as she dropped her thermometer into the mug. Settling into the couch, she let the warmth of the mug seep through to her hands as she sat cross-legged on the couch. Just as Aine was preparing to turn on the TV, there was a knock at her door.

"Just a second." She called as she set her mug down on the coffee table and unfolded herself off the couch. She softly padded across the living room, opening the door to see Shouta standing in his white button up shirt, dress pants and tie holding his suit jacket.

"Sho!" Aine began to back away from the doorway to let him enter when he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to his chest as he stepped closer. The movement pushed them both into the room, the door swinging to close behind them as she released it. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly to his chest as one hand tangled in her hair. She could feel his breath ruffle the hair on the top of her head as she heard his heart beating steadily in his chest.

They stood like that for several moments, his arms and his scent surrounding her as he clung to her like life itself. She felt him press a kiss into her hair, "I almost lost you today. A fraction of a second's difference and you would have…" his voice was a deep rumble in his chest as she felt him bury his face in the top of her hair.

Aine couldn't speak, she hadn't allowed herself to think on exactly what the alternative outcome could have been had she not been able to grab the capture scarf.

She felt his chin rest on top of her head as he sighed, "Always so reckless…" he removed the hand from her hair to tilt her chin up towards him. Their eyes locked, an entire unspoken conversation passing rapidly between them before their lips collided, a feeling of urgency – of a need to waste no more of their finite moments - poured into the kiss.

His hands were on her back, pressing their bodies together as their hearts pounded against each other. Aine's hands found their way onto his chest, her unwounded arm sliding up the smooth fabric of the shirt until it snaked over his shoulder. With the other hand, she wound her fingers behind the knot in his tie, gently but firmly pulling it towards her before loosening the knot.

As the tie came loose in her hands, Shouta broke the kiss. His eyes followed the tie as she pulled it through the collar and dropped it on the floor, her eyes never once leaving his face. A flush was already beginning to spread across his face, it would have been more than enough to tell her what was flashing through his mind. He looked back to her; she could see his restraint holding on – waiting for her "Is this what you want?"

Aine nodded, "Yes." The moment the word passed her lips, he pulled her back close to him and crashed his lips against her own. Shouta's hands reached down to the back of her thighs, easily lifting her as she wrapped her legs around his waist. He broke from her lips to pepper her neck with soft kisses and Aine felt fire erupting across her skin at each point his lips touched, unable to stop the soft moan that drifted from her mouth like a prayer.

He growled into her collarbone, "Now it's my turn to be reckless."