Lights. That's all Riley saw when she opened her eyes and found herself on a gernie, being wheeled outside of a smoking building. "No," she thought, "not just lights... there's also... blobs?" The distorted figures above her eventually began to sharpen and became two paramedics, one was flashing a light in her eyes while the other spoke to her in a language she couldn't comprehend. "That's not," she began, "that's just slurs and... why aren't you speaking right?"

Unconsciously, she rubbed her forehead in an attempt to make her mind focus on the unknown language which, in time, became comprehendable. "Riley?" One of the paramedics asked, "Do you understand the question?"

With every intake of air, everything became more clear and understandable to the disoriented baker. She blinked once and muttered, "What was the question?"

"What's your full name?"

Riley looked to her right, trying to take in her surroundings while saying, "Riley Rose Darko."

"What year is it?"

No matter how hard she tried to remember, Riley couldn't remember where she was or why she was there. She remembered being in the host club and Tamaki and the twins wanted to go and get "commoner's coffee" however, everything after that was just blank. She sighed and turned her attention back to the paramedic, "It's 2014."

"Do you remember what happened to you?"

That question actually piqued her interest. "No. What happened?"

"Well," the paramedic said as she sat back, "you and that man over there," she said as she indicated towards Mori, who was sitting up on a separate gernie a few feet away, "were found in a storage room for Angelina's Toy Boutique. Our guess is you two simply lost consciousness due to excessive smoke inhalation." Riley glanced back at Mori, who was getting harrassed by the other hosts, all of whom had worried expressions on their faces. "Thankfully your dog was with you," the paramedic said as she collected her instruments with her collegue, "it was much easier to find you two with him there."

Almost as if summoned, Ghost came running up to his master. He got so excited as he jumped up on his hind legs and lied across Riley's torso that he let out loud cries as he nuzzled into her neck. "Oh Ghost, I'm glad someone cares about my well being."

"But my darling!" Tamaki said as he and the rest of the hosts approached, "We were merely giving you your space."

Even though all the hosts began speaking at once to her, all she could do was watch Mori, who was the only one who wasn't trying to speak to her. "Why?" She thought to herself, "Why were we in the back room together?" An almost fluttering feeling began to spark deep within her stomach and her breath caught in her throat. "Could we have... no. No nothing could've happened I mean, it's Mori."

The rest of the night was almost like a blur. It began with her being transported to the hospital overnight for observation. The same had happened to Mori, who was staying just a couple rooms away from her. It was around 2:30 in the morning when Riley looked out the window and sighed. "Why can't I sleep?"

Then, for a reason she couldn't fathom, she stood from her bed and peeked outside into the hallway. Not a soul stirred, not even a night attendant. No longer than twenty seconds later, she found herself outside of Mori's room and was debating on whether or not she should knock, go in or just leave. Before she could decide, the door opened suddenly and she was face to face with Mori, who looked surprised to see the baker just outside his door.

Feeling extremely embarrassed for having been found in such an awkward situation, she ran a finger over her lower lip and muttered, "Hi."

The surprised expression didn't leave his features as he responded with, "Hi."

She smiled up at him, "So, can't sleep either?" He shrugged his shoulders with a small smile. "Well," Riley said as she slid past him and walked into his room, "may as well stay awake together, right?" Mori's smirk stayed on his face as he sat in a chair beside the bed and allowed Riley to sit cross legged on his bed. He began to look a little uncomfortable though, since she sat the way she was and she was wearing a hospital gown. Almost immediately she noticed something was wrong and looked down and noticed what she was doing.

In an attempt to remedy the situation, she covered her lap with the blanket and smiled, "So, why do you think you're still awake?" Once again, he shrugged. "Is that your response to everything right now?" Before he could shrug again, she held up a hand, "Never mind. You don't gotta answer."

The silence between the two lengthened to an almost awkward point before Riley muttered, "Alright fine. I'll do the talking." After she began talking, she felt like she couldn't stop. She talked about small things, pointless things until she began talking about her hopes and dreams. "You know, I actually wanted to become a writer, before... everything. I used to love writing. My words used to flow, you know what I mean?" She asked Mori, who had stayed silent the whole time. Before he could answer her, she continued, "Like I used to spend my days just writing and I loved every second of it. That was back then though. Not that I don't like writing anymore but... how could I pay bills being a writer? If I go home and write another chapter of yet another story it's not like I'm gonna get paid for that one chapter for that one story. I would actually have to finish said story and find ways to pay the bills and pay for food another way. Y'know?

"Well, maybe you don't know because you have money coming out of every orfice of your body. You're lucky, you know. When will you ever have to worry about things like how am I gonna pay my next bill or will I have to choose between the healthy food or will I have to live on cups of Mr Noodles and Eggo waffles for the next month until I get paid again. I had to do that once you know."

Mori found himself rather amused with how she was able to just continue forming all those words and how, when she got really focused on a certain subject, her hands would start moving as if she were working her own form of sign language to try to express her feelings on it. While she continued, he found his gaze wandering from her eyes, which he found held more expression than her facial features, down to her lips. As his own eyes lingered, he felt like he could almost feel their touch against his own lips. It was almost like a ghost of a thought, a faint memory that he couldn't quite grasp in his mind but it felt real to him. So real, he could feel his cheeks burn and his breathing become slightly heavier.

At one point, as he watched her talk, her teeth grazed lightly across her lower lip as she tried to recall some memory she couldn't quite remember and when he saw the glint of her teeth, he could feel them also along his own lower lip. He swallowed and looked down at his lap, trying to get the thoughts out of his mind.

After Riley talked for what felt like hours, she lied her head on the pillow and she finally began to feel the exhaustion from the day. "Vet school... becoming a dog nurse... will I ever get out of debt? I wanna help but... I've always wanted to become a writer or continue painting like I've always wanted to do but... does that sound crazy?"

Mori stood from his chair and walked to the bed, "No."

Riley fell asleep after that. During her sleep, she dreamed. In her dream, Mori held her tightly as he kissed her and carressed her cheek in a misty or foggy like setting. It all felt so real that, when she awoke in her own room in her bed, her whole body felt warm and she rubbed her eyes. "Mori... get out of my head!"