You know I'm the cliffy queen, but I actually probably would have taken this a tiny bit further. But you all have waited long enough. Next chapter you will find out if the surgery worked, so get exciteeeeed!

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Love you idiots. :) Collateral Damage and Remember Me for Centuries are both in progress. Not sure which will be done first!

Chapter 16

TPOV

The gently slapping of the nurse's rubber soled shoes drew him out of his stupor. He craned his neck, watching her with vigilant eyes as the woman checked her vitals. He didn't know what he was hoping for. Maybe a smile or a reassuring nob. Maybe a look of relief would pass over her face. He didn't know what he wanted, but he knew that it wasn't the tired, resigned look she gave him before squeezing his shoulder and walking out the door.

He was getting good at tuning everyone out. It hadn't been that long, but it felt like an eternity had past. With every blip of her heart monitor a century passed, and still she laid as still as Sleeping Beauty, lost to the world.

He brought her cold hand to his lips and brushed a soft kiss across her knuckles. "Come back to me, Spence."

It was hard. This was the hardest thing that he had ever done, and it was entirely because it was Spencer. It would have been so much easier to deal with this suffering himself rather than watch her go through it. It was nearly impossible, but he persevered only because everyone ensured him that she would wake up. And that she would need him. But they didn't know Spencer. As if she needed anyone.

He shifted through the boxes, growing increasingly frustrated. "Are you hungry?"

Spencer chuckled and nodded, peeling the tape off of the cardboard. "A little bit."

"Why don't I run and grab us something? You can relax."

Spencer snorted. "Do I look like a wimpy girl who can't carry her own weight to you?"

He rolled his eyes. "You have done half of the work here. Definitely not. I'll go grab a pizza though. You chill."

She just waved him off, slowly running her fingers over a box of books. "No sausage."

"No Spence, I was just going to get you a giant bowl of sausage." She acted like he didn't know her at all.

It took him a little longer than he had anticipated to grab the food, having apparently picked a busy time for a busy pizza shop. He shouldered his way into their apartment, apologies on his lips. But they faded away as he took in the perfectly organized bookshelf and pictures. "How...?"

Spencer laughed and shot him a happy smile. "Years of experience. What did you get me?"

"Toby?"

He jumped as Hanna and Emily filed into the room. Emily's voice was soft, but he still hadn't been expecting it. But he didn't really want to talk. He would just watch over Spencer until he knew that she was alright. He just needed to hear her voice. That was it. As soon as he heard her voice he would know that she would be alright.

Emily crouched down in front of him and passed him a plastic wrapped sandwich. "You need to eat something."

He just shook his head, sliding it back in her direction. He had no interest in food. He really didn't have interest in anything but watching her, but making sure that she was okay. If anything changed he would see it. He would be able to tell her doctors, and maybe that would give her a chance. She wouldn't fall further into this on his watch.

"Toby," Hanna sighed, fall less gently than Emily had. "Do you really want the first thing Spencer sees to be you looking like a disheveled idiot? Go clean yourself up. We'll baby sit while you're gone."

He tore his eyes off of Spencer to give Hanna an incredulous look. Emily sighed. "I would not have said it like that, but she's right Toby. I promise we'll look after her."

He just shook his head. He was absolutely not going to leave her. Hanna had tapped into his deepest held insecurity. What about him was enough to hold someone as incredible as Spencer? He took care of her, and he did it because he loved her more than anything in the world. But he just didn't trust his good qualities to be enough to keep her around.

Spencer laid across the couch, her head in his lap and Tyrion draped across her legs. Game of Thrones played on the TV, but he wasn't paying any attention to it. He was watching her face as she reacted to the noises and words being spoken. Spencer was as expressive as they came, and he absolutely loved that about her. He loved how excited she could get over the little things. He loved how he never had to guess what she was thinking or what she was feeling in any given moment.

"Is there a lot of blood?"

He glanced up at the TV and winced as a cascade of blood poured from one of his favorite character's throat. "Oh my God, why do we even like this show?"

Spencer shifted and swatted at his chest. "Describe it, Cavanaugh," she laughed.

Maybe his girlfriend was a psychopath, because she was certainly very interested in the blood flow. But it was okay, because she was his psychopath and there was no stopping it; not that he really wanted to. "It's blood, Spencer! It's red and thick and gross and everywhere."

She sighed, and with an indulgent smile she pulled herself up. "You're boring."

"I know," he agreed easily. He was lower, middle class at best. There wasn't much extraordinary about him. But what he had to offer was his ability to love unconditionally, and luckily that was somehow enough for Spencer. And he could never thank her enough for that.

She groaned and wrapped two loose arms around his neck. "No, you have to stop that. You are wonderful and amazing and just perfect in every single way. And I don't want to go a single second without you."

"What would I do without you?" He smiled, pulling her closer. "And trust me, you were better off just hearing it. It was pretty gross."

He felt her laughter. "Probably do boring things all day. I love you, you idiot."

"I love you too."

"Toby-"

"I'm not going to leave her," he interrupted Hanna. "She has never left me. Not once. Not for a single second. She has always been by my side, keeping me together when I didn't think I could do it... holding me when I just couldn't be strong anymore. And if you think for a single second that-"

"No," Emily shifted to the other side of the bed. "No, she's moving."

He jumped up so fast it was like a jolt of electricity raged through his body. He stared intently down at her, his eyes moving from the bright yellow socks on her feet to the heavy bandages covering her eyes. He looked at her hands, her lips, and her small chest moving up and down. He looked at her whole body, scared to death he was going to miss it, but he needn't have worried. Her fingers clenched in his, the first response that he felt from her in days. "Spencer?"

She groaned. It was a pained noise, but it was still a noise. It was still a sign of life, and it meant everything in the world. It was like everything was set right again. For hours... days... however long it had been... he had seen the world in shades of black and white. Grey was all that he knew. But suddenly, when he knew that Spencer would be okay, when he knew that she was on her way back to him, he could see everything in screaming color.

She was going to be okay. And it didn't matter if she could see. It didn't matter if she ever saw. He would be by her side through everything for as long as she wanted him.

Spencer was coming back to him.