"Gwen? Where are you? What happened?" my dad yells into the phone. "I'm okay. Please come and get me daddy." I pleaded, giving him directions to where I was sitting. "I'm on my way baby. Don't move." He commands, hanging up. I try to compose myself while I wait for him to arrive. Only ten minutes later, I hear the familiar rumble of my dad's old Subaru. "Gwenny?" he yells as he runs toward me. I pick myself up and run into his arms. "Shh. I've got you now. It's all going to be okay. Shh." He soothed me. He helped me into the passenger seat of the car and drove home with me silently sobbing my eyes out.
"There now, don't you feel better?" my mom asked as she wrapped a blanket around me and handed me a mug of apple cider. I had taken a shower and now I was in dry clothes sitting on the couch. "Yes." I lied to make her smile. "Okay. I'm going to bed. Goodnight honey." She murmured, kissing my forehead. I sat alone for a while before my dad walked in and sat down next to me. "What happened?" he asked bluntly. I looked into his eyes and saw all the love and compassion in the world. And it broke me. I leaned into his shoulder and cried while telling him everything. Not just the fight, but my sickness, and how hard I was trying every day. I told him how tired I was and how scared I was when the doctor had told me. He just rubbed my back and held me like I was five. When I was finished, he asked a few questions and let me cry some more. Then, he carried me to my bed, tucked me in, and stayed by my side until I fell asleep.
"Fine, I won't tell anyone. But your mother gets to know. And you have to at least talk to Kevin. He hasn't stopped calling since midnight and it's giving me a headache." As if to emphasize his point, the phone began to ring again. I ignored it, and my father gave me a look. "I'll talk to him eventually." I promised. He sighed and kissed my head. "I'm going to work. I want you to stay here and sleep. You need your strength." I nodded. He walked down the stairs and the phone rang again. I heard my father pick it up. I picked up the receiver that was in my room so that I could listen in. "Hello?" my father asked. "Umm…is Gwen there?" Kevin mumbled. "Yes." "Uh…can I talk to her?" Kevin mumbled again. "No." There was a moment of silence, and then my dad spoke, "Look Kevin, you hurt her. She called me last night and had me pick her up from the side of the road. Do you know how wet and broken she looked? I don't know why she doesn't trust you with what's going on in her life, but that's not my place. I just want you to know that if you make her feel like that again I will find you, and no amount of osmosian power will be able to save you. Understand? And, lastly, you can come over here if you want to talk to her. She'll be in her room. I bet if you let her know how much I know you care about her… she'll let you in on a not so little secret. Okay? Okay." And then he hung up. I groaned and huddled under the covers for a nap. If he was coming over, I was going to need all the strength I could muster.
"What am I supposed to say to her?" Kevin's voice came from the far side of my room. I heard someone yelling on the other side of the phone. "Other than that you idiot!" he muttered. "Yeah I already talked to her dad." He waited a moment. "He's pissed at me…what did you think? I can't believe I hurt this bad." He choked. "No! I'm not crying." He yelled. "I have to go. I think I just woke her up." He whispered. I looked at him and he looked back. "What are you doing in my room?" I asked calmly, yet still with anger in my voice. "I came to apologize." He mumbled, not moving. "Why? You were only saying what you felt." I muttered, climbing out of bed. My head started to spin, and I felt nauseous. "Oh God, not again," I groaned. "Kevin please hand me the pills off of my table." I asked. My vision started to fade. "Hurry." I urged. I felt the bottle being pressed into my hand, and I opened the cap to take the two pills. As soon as I swallowed them, the pain was gone and my vision was back. Kevin was sitting on the bed next to me, reading the pill bottle. "What the hell is this Gwen?" his voice was hard. "Well…" I began.
"Why wouldn't you tell me?" he yelled. I felt the anger re-enter my eyes, "Because I was scared that you would react like this." I yelled back. He froze and his face fell. He buried his face in his hands and sunk down to sit on the floor. "Kevin." I sighed, leaning down to comfort him. I snuggle into his side and say nothing. Slowly, he opens his arms to me and I rest against his chest while he holds me. I want to be able to comfort him, to tell him I'll be okay. But I can't, so he just holds me, and we both silently reassure each other. After a while, I fall asleep again.
When I wake up, I'm lying on my bed and Kevin is kneeling beside me. "I know I haven't done this in a while. I'm not sure I really believed in a higher power, but for her to exist…there has to be something good out there. Right? If you are up I hope you can hear me. I'll never do anything illegal again. I swear on my mother's life. Just…please…don't take her away from me. She's the most important part of my life. I can't live without her. I'll do anything you want. You can't take her. I don't really know if that's how it's supposed to work, but I hope it's good enough. Amen." The most shocking part of that prayer was that Kevin had said 'please'. I don't remember him ever being polite before. I let my eyes flutter open and decide to let him think that I didn't hear that moment of weakness from him. "Hey." I murmur my voice thick with sleep. "Hey there beautiful." He whispers back, smoothing my hair away from my face. "I'm sorry for falling asleep." I blushed. I'm sure it's not very attractive to fall asleep while being held by your boyfriend. "You needed your sleep. I liked watching you." He smiled. I smiled back and sat up. "So…what do you want to do now?" I asked. He looked a little uncomfortable and asked, "What are you allowed to do?" I laughed and kissed his cheek. "I've been doing everything for three months. I can do whatever I want. In fact, I might even be up to a little training." I smiled. "No." he said immediately. "Why not?" I asked, surprised. "I've pushed you way to hard the last few months. I just want you to rest. Okay?" he looked genuinely. "I'm not an invalid. Let's go train." I insisted. I brushed my hair and grabbed some clothes to change in the bathroom. "I'll meet you downstairs in a few minutes." I smiled. I saw his shoulders slump in defeat before closed the bathroom door.
When I was done changing, I rushed down the stairs only to run smack into Kevin on his way up to get me. "Whoa there!" He grinned that grin that made my knees go weak. I smiled a little and pressed my lips to his. I felt his arms wrap around my waist to pull me flush against him. I could feel every inch of his chest against mine. I let my fingers delve into his hair, and he groaned into my mouth. I smiled against his lips and opened my mouth slightly to allow his tongue entrance. Now it was my turn to moan and have him smile. "Gwen." He whispered against my neck. He placed a trail of gentle kisses from my mouth to my collar bone. My head tilted back to give him better access and my eyes rolled back in my head. It seemed like my body was reacting without giving me a chance to tell it what to do first. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, it felt natural. He suddenly lifted me by the waist and swung me around the waist. I laughed and heard him laughing with me. When he finally put me down, he gently kissed my lips and rested his forehead against mine. "I love you." He murmured. "I love you more." I replied with a slight smile. "Not possible." I rolled my eyes and he gave me a chaste kiss on the lips before carrying me, bridal style, to the car.
When we arrived at the training room, I turned the simulation to the usual setting. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked. I nodded and we both got into position. The bots started flying at us from all sides. I put a shield around us and began to shoot manna at them. Without warning, one struck me in the back of the head, and I fell. I couldn't believe one of them got through my shield. "Gwen!" Kevin shouted from across the room. "I'm fine." I shouted back. I watched in anger as he shook his head and turned off the simulation. "What are you doing?" I yelled. "I'm making sure you don't hurt yourself. You need to be more careful." I groaned and walked out of the room in frustration. I had a feeling I would never be able to train or fight again. "Gwen wait!" Kevin yelled.