Melanie stared at the ceiling with a blank expression and let out a shaky breath. Since she had woke up, she had asked the nurse to not allow any visitors, not even her sister, as she wanted some time alone. To come to terms with what had happened and the nurse had agreed.

Her side was still giving her hell, three broken ribs and a fuck load of bruises but she was alive. She was alive.

Not the two-month old life that had been inside of her.

Closing her eyes, Melanie lifted her hands off of her stomach and laid them by her sides, feeling her throat closing up at the thought of what could have been. She would have been a great mother, not like her own at all, Melanie wouldn't up and leave because life wasn't 'exciting' enough.

Family was important. Family was everything to her.

Sighing, Melanie looked around the small hospital room she was in and was relieved that she hadn't booked a holiday with the money that Lucy had given her. She would have a hospital bill to pay and she would also need money for rent as she wouldn't be at work for a while.

After that, life would be the same but at the same time different.

"Stop being depressed," Melanie whispered, rubbing her temple as she talked aloud to herself, "you could have died… focus on living. Not the bad stuff."

Sitting up in bed, she winced a little at the pain in her chest and smiled as she saw the flowers on the windowsill. Lucy must have brought those in yesterday during visiting hours, when she was asleep. Melanie wondered if Joel had been with her… she also wondered if he knew about her situation and hoped that he didn't.

It was one conversation she wouldn't have enjoyed having.

"Miss Colt?" a nurse stood at the door, "There's someone who wants to see you, would you like a visitor today?"

Melanie guessed it would be her sister and gave a small nod, "Sure, I'm feeling social at the moment."

The nurse smiled in response and leaned back into the corridor, "You can come in now."

But it wasn't Lucy that came in and Melanie's eyes widened a little as Joel stood awkwardly in the doorway with his hands in his pockets, he looked over her and sighed "I think we need to talk," Joel said quietly.

With one look, Melanie could tell that he knew she had been pregnant and she nervously cleared her throat, "Yeah, I think so too," she replied.

Melanie leaned against the wall as she stared out the window, trying to ignore the sounds of pain the man was making as Joel beat him severely. Closing her eyes, she forced herself to think of Ellie out there, depending on them and didn't comment on Joel's actions. This was what had to be done and she wasn't going to stand in the way.

Anything to get Ellie back.

His friend was tied to the chair and his eyes were wide with fear as he heard what was happening behind him, "Please, you gotta talk some sense into him," he whispered desperately, "he's a fuckin' lunatic!"

"You're outta luck, buddy," Melanie said slowly, turning her head to look at him, "I'm on his side."

Her eyes flickered past him to Joel, who was now standing up and holding his side a little as he had exerted himself. "You wait here," he said to the barely conscious bandit on the floor and grabbed Melanie's knife from the table and made his way to the other one, not looking at Melanie at all.

Joel dragged the chair over also and sat right in front of the terrified looking bandit, "Now," he said in a deadly serious tone, "the girl…is she alive?"

"What girl? I don't know no girl."

Melanie felt her heartbeat increase slightly at the look on Joel's face, he wasn't happy with what he had just heard and without blinking, stuck the knife deep into the bandits knee. He yelled out in pain and shook in the chair as Joel still held the knife tightly in his hands. "FUCK!" the bandit shouted out, biting his lip hard.

"Focus right here," Joel said firmly, slapping his chin and making the other man look at him, "right here," he pressed down onto the blade making the bandit inhale quickly through his teeth, "or I'll pop your goddamn knee off. The girl."

It was so cold in the room that Melanie could see every breath that she took, hugging herself tightly, she didn't interfere with Joel's interrogation and waited in anticipation for his answer. The sooner they found Ellie… the better.

Nodding frantically, the bandit managed to speak a few words, "She's alive. She's-she's David's newest pet."

"Pet?" Melanie repeated out loud and looked at Joel worriedly: he seemed to be barely controlling his anger as his eyes fell on the man tied to a chair in front of him.

"Where?"

He didn't answer fast enough and Joel twisted the knife further into his kneecap "In the town! In the town!" he cried out.

Taking the knife out, Joel then proceeded to push it into the man's mouth and held up a map in front of him, "Now, you're gonna mark it on the map," he said slowly, "and it better be the same exact spot your buddy points too," he added threateningly "mark it."

Quickly, the bandit poked the blade through the map and Melanie pushed off of the wall and hurriedly looked at the map. The town wasn't too far away and if they hurried, they'd be there soon. "It's right there!" the bandit spat out the knife and looked at them pleadingly, his jeans stained dark red with his blood, "You can verify it. Go ask him. Go on! He'll tell ya."

"We should get going," Melanie said quickly, holding onto the map as Joel slowly walked to the back of the chair, "before it gets too dark."

"I'm just gonna let his friend verify this," Joel said in a dead pan voice.

The bandit tied to the chair let out a frustrated noise and looked to Melanie, "I ain't lyin'. I ain't lyin'!"

Melanie jumped back and covered her mouth as Joel suddenly got him into a headlock and began choking him with one arm, the other man's eyes widened at her before there was a sickening crack and his body went slack. The chair fell backwards once Joel relinquished his hold and the other bandit seemed just as horrified by Joel's actions.

"Fuck you man!" the other one shouted, watching in fear as Joel picked up a metal pipe from the floor "He told you what you wanted! I ain't telling you shit!"

Joel shrugged and stepped slowly towards him, "That's alright…" he said slowly and raised the bar above his head, "I believe him."

"NO! WAIT!"

The pipe smashed off of his head and his body jerked before falling still, Melanie felt the bile rise in her throat as she seen the blood begin to ooze from his head, as well as the sight of it splattered on the wall and on the pipe that Joel had now dropped onto the floor.

"I've seen that look before…" Joel said quietly, glancing at Melanie over his shoulder, "you don't approve?"

Lowering her hand from her mouth, Melanie looked at the two corpses and then down at the map. If they had asked them nicely, they wouldn't have known where to look for Ellie. This wasn't a fight about who won the ration card fair and square or who got the last piece of food, this was a fight of survival and she was slowly starting to accept that all these years later. The thought of Ellie back with them and safe. That was what she had to focus on, "We know where she is, thanks to you," Melanie said shakily, "let's just hurry up and get her back."

"You're right… let's go."

Grabbing her knife from the floor, Melanie wiped it clean on the bandits leg and stood up watching as Joel put on his backpack, "We're probably gonna have to kill this son of a bitch who took her," she said slowly, following him out of the room and towards the stairs "something tells me that he isn't going to give up Ellie without a fight."

"You okay with that?"

Melanie stopped and put a hand on Joel's arm making him stop, "I'm gonna do whatever it takes to get her back," she said seriously, noticing how Joel looked surprised at her words, "and I just want you to know, that I think you should too."

"Goes without saying," Joel replied softly and put his hand over hers, "we're gonna get her back… and after we do, I don't want you blaming yourself for this happening, okay?"

Looking down at their hands, Melanie squeezed his slowly before lowering her own. "You're the boss," she said with a small half-smile and he returned it with a lopsided one of his own.

"Come on, we're burnin' daylight."

Melanie watched as Joel came into the room and slowly sat on the seat next to her bed, he kept clenching and unclenching his fists before he finally spoke. "I know that you were… that…. You were pregnant," Joel said slowly, looking up at her with an expressionless face "before the accident…"

"Let me guess," Melanie sighed, rolling her eyes "Lucy told you."

"It was a misunderstanding," Joel told her sadly, "she didn't meant to tell me… but I'm glad she did. Something tells me that you wouldn't have told me otherwise that you…." He didn't say the word but Melanie knew what he meant.

Pressing her lips together, Melanie nodded "Isn't exactly the easiest thing to tell your ex," she said slowly "especially when wanting a child was the reason that you split up."

"I would have stood by you, Melanie," Joel's voice had grown tender as had his eyes as he looked at her, "I wouldn't have hated you for it. Did you really think that?"

Running a hand through her lank hair, Melanie shrugged "I didn't know what to think. My head was all over the place," she admitted but shook her head "but no… I didn't think that you would abandon me, I know you're better than that."

"Were you… were you on your way to tell me when… when the crash happened?" His eyes seemed desperate for her answer and as Melanie looked at him, she realized that he was blaming himself for her accident.

Straightening up, Melanie fixed him with a stern look "Don't go blaming yourself for this, okay?" she said firmly "I wasn't on my way to see you… I was on my way to the doctor so it isn't your fault. It's…it's just the way things turned out," she added lamely turning her head to look out the window "and I just have to deal with it."

"But you don't have to deal with it alone…"

Melanie frowned as she looked at Joel again, "What do you mean?" she asked, her eyes flickering over his serious face.

"When I found out you were in here…. When I was driving to the hospital with Lucy," Joel stopped and seemed to compose himself, "all I could think was how empty and-and shit my life would be without you in it. And then it hit me. My life was already shit because I had pushed you away and I didn't want that anymore," he said slowly, "just the thought of you dying and not… not having that chance to tell you how I really felt, scared me. So I made a deal with the big guy in the sky, when you pulled through this… I would tell you how I feel…tell you that I made a huge mistake and I wanna fix it."

Feeling her throat close up, Melanie felt confused "They have me on really, really strong painkillers," she whispered, wondering if he meant what she thought he did, "so you're gonna have to spell it out for me."

"I love you…. Melanie Colt," Joel said solemnly "I was too caught up in my past… to think about my future. My future with you. Now, I want to start doing that."

Blinking fast to stop the tears, Melanie hoped that this wasn't a dream, "You better be serious," she said softly, "or I'm gonna have to kill you for playing with my heart."

Standing up, Joel cupped her cheek tenderly, being careful of her bruising "After what's happened… I've been reminded that life is too short," he said quietly "I wanna spend every last minute of my life with you 'Mel, starting with a wedding and a dozen kids and ending with us old and grey with grandchildren."

"A dozen?" Melanie repeated with a watery smile "I was thinking one or two at the most."

"We can decide on that later," Joel chuckled and wiped a tear on her cheek away with his thumb, "I was an idiot to let you go… I love you."

Melanie let out a shaky breath as she looked up at him, "I love you too," she whispered "but are you sure this is what you want?"

"Am I sure I want to be happy with the woman I love and make new memories with her?" Joel asked "You bet your ass I am."

Happiness flooded through Melanie as she grabbed his shirt and pulled him down to her level, her lips against his in a passionate kiss. She knew there were tears in her eyes as he slipped a hand to the back of her neck and deepened the kiss but they were the good kind.

"I'm gonna be so pissed off if this turns out to be a dream," she said smiling a little against his lips as he pressed his forehead against hers.

Joel grinned and kissed her lips again, "Don't worry about it, I've finally woke up, just took me a while. Everything's gonna be okay now, you'll see."

A/N I know this is quite a short chapter but it's mostly a filler for the next one, which shall be longer and more angst. Hope you all enjoy new chapters! And thank you for all the reviews. They make my day. ~ BSI