Author's Note: Hi fanfictioners! I can't thank my reviewers, followers, and favorite-ers enough. :') You keep me going. Sorry for the cliff-hanger last chapter, but I couldn't resist! If anyone has suggestions for the plot, I would love to hear them! Anyways, about this chapter, it was fun to go back and do a snippet of the same scene from Nora's POV, and then Patch's POV was as much fun as it was challenging. Hope you enjoy! ...review!

Nora POV

I keep having flashbacks of this one time, when I was seven, where I fell off the money bars during recess and broke my arm. It hurt really, really bad.

I guess I keep thinking of that time because I only wish that I was in that much pain.

This pain now is almost unbearable.

Right now, I think I'm in an alley. Weird. But I don't really remember and I'm too tired to think.

I let my head fall forward; I don't even have the energy to lift it. Hot liquid is streaming down the side of my face and onto my lap. I have the absurd thought that it will stain my clothes. And then, all I can think is: Where is Patch? Isn't this the part where someone finds me?

I feel strong hands lift my head after what seems like an eternity. I hear someone calling my name and telling me to wake up, but I just can't. I'm jostled and I suddenly feel weightless, as if I'm being carried. I use every ounce of energy I have left to open my eyes and whisper "Patch?" Those dark, beautiful eyes stare down at me in his arms with such an intense mix of fear and love.

Ahh, too much thinking, Nora.

"… I think I'm just going to close my eyes for a little bit…" I say as strongly as I can, which ends up being a whisper. It's hard to think straight, so I close my eyes as Patch carries me to his Jeep. Now he's talking really loud. Why can't he just let me sleep?

I groan as I'm put in the car. Darkness consumes me.

When I surface, I wish I didn't. I'm still in the car. Taking short and shallow breaths, I wrap my arms around my abdomen and curl into a fetal position.

Please, let whatever fresh hell this is be over soon.

Patch POV

I park the Jeep in the first spot I see and prepare myself to face Nora's rapidly deteriorating state. She has definitely gotten worse on the ride over. I keep telling myself She is nephilim. She will survive. She will survive. But somehow, that doesn't console me at all. I know she is in terrible pain, and there isn't anything I can do for her. And deep down, I know that I was the cause of her attack.

I get out of the driver's seat quickly and I open the back door. Nora is curled into a ball, scrunching up her tear-stained, blood spattered face. She appears to be conscious, because her breaths are labored and shaky.

I take her in my arms, trying not to move her too much. The cold fall air bites into our skins, showing off the breaths that we exhale in little puffs. I cross the parking lot and burst through the emergency doors. Doctors and nurses rush up to our sides, and help me lay Nora down on a stretcher. I'm holding her hand and whispering "Its okay Angel, I'll stay with you. Its okay." The nurses are trying to push past me, and I allow them, only because they need to help her.

I won't let them keep me from her. I don't let them keep me from her. I follow the moving team of doctors, refusing to leave or stay behind in the waiting room. But, once she's wheeled into the O.R., I know that I have to let the doctors do their job. It just kills me to have her taken away.

After what seems like an eternity of sitting in the hallway, a doctor in blue scrubs approaches me. This middle-aged man sits on the ground next to me, as if we were about to talk about the weather, or watch a movie, or talk about anything other than her. He looks at me with a sorrowful expression.

"Patch, is it?" he asks.

"That's me. How is she?" I nearly growl at him for skirting around the issue.

He glances down at his lap and wrings his hands together. "I won't lie to you son, she's been better. Nora has just gotten out of surgery because of some internal bleeding. Along with that, she's suffered a serious concussion, broken her nose, has sustained several deep gash wounds on her forehead and sides, and has broken several ribs. Although things are bad now, I have every confidence that she'll make a full recovery."

I'm trying to keep myself from passing out or punching something by running my hands through my hair. As calmly as I can, I process this information and I ask what room she is in. He replies, "She was just in the ICU after surgery, but she's been transported to room 312. She is recovering surprisingly quickly. In fact, it's almost miraculous how quickly she is recovering. She's got people in high places, I guess."

You have no idea, I think as I jump up and run down the hall. I know that she isn't allowed visitors yet, but I think I can outrun that doctor. I round the corner and hear him shout after me, "Patch! Wait! She's still not allowed visitors!"

I bound up stairs and around corners until I finally reach her door. Just as I'm about to open it, a nurse that is busily looking at charts flies it open. I jump back and hide around the corner. Quickly, so I can catch the door and not be seen, I enter her room. This is ridiculous, I think to myself, I'm sneaking around this hospital and breaking the rules about visiting.

My inner-babble is cut short when I catch sight of her. She seems so tiny and fragile in that huge bed, hooked up to all of those tubes and wires. Her eyes are closed, her face bruised and scratched. She actually looks quite peaceful.

I walk over to her bedside and sit in the chair next to it. As I take her hand in mine, I notice that her knuckles are scratched. Of course my Angel put up a fight; she would never go down easy, I think to myself.

I hear Nora's doctor round the corner and bustle into the room. I quickly stand and our eyes lock.

"Patch you can't -" he begins.

I hold up my hands and smirk at the ground, saying "My bad doctor, I'll just be leaving." He looks momentarily confused at my willingness to leave, but doesn't question it.

Let's just say, I may or may not have mind-tricked him into thinking I left. No harm, right? I sit back down quietly in the chair and he proceeds to check up on Nora. When he seems satisfied, he hurries out the door to his next patient.

When the door softly clicks shut, Nora's eyes immediately begin to flutter open. I jump up from the chaise and run to her side. Please be okay, I think, please remember me, please. I kneel by the bed and I run the back of my hand across her cheek. Her face is still a little bruised, but overall looks miraculously better. Her nose doesn't look broken and the "gash" on her forehead is no more than a scratch. Weird. She looks at me, repeatedly closing and opening her eyes, as if she couldn't believe I was actually there.

"Angel," I whisper, as I try to blink away the tears in my own eyes, "I thought I lost you."

"Patch," she croaks, her throat dry. Her eyes fill with tears and she attempts a smile. I think she finally realizes she is in a hospital, because she starts to rip at the tubes and wires that are over her, frantic to be free.

"No, Angel, stop. You'll hurt yourself." I plead with her as she whimpers and gives up.

She lifts her eyes to meet mine, and I see them fill up and threaten to spill.

"It'll be okay, Angel, I won't let anything happen to you."

She closes her eyes and softly shakes her head. "No, Patch. You… don't understand." She struggles to get the words out, taking shallow breaths. I thought that she was struggling to breathe from the lack her breathing tube, but evidently, it was fear that took her breath away.

"Patch…" she says, "We need to get out of here."

~end of chapter 3~