Disclaimer: I do not own Pandora Hearts or any of it's characters.

Recovery

When Oz had woken up Gilbert asked him if he wanted to go skiing, but the blond turned down the offer, wanting to go with Alice; but in her current condition she wasn't exactly eligible for that. Gil prodded, telling the boy he needed to loosen up, but Oz countered that as well, saying that he was completely fine now that he knew Alice was fine. After a few more minutes of debate, Oz won.

They stayed at the reinsworth mansion, leaving to visit Alice often. After a few days of visiting his chain Oz began staying overnight every other few days; which Gilbert was fine with since the more time he spent with her the more happy he seemed. Just watching the boy laugh and interact with her made him happy, and as long as he stayed that way he couldn't care less if the rabbit was the reason for his good mood.

The doctor let the brunette go home after a few weeks and a promise that she wouldn't do anything stressful to her injuries. Gilbert wheeled her in a wheelchair to the carriage they rode there and Oz sat next to her the entire ride, making sure that the bumps in the road didn't jostle her around too much.

Gil was completely convinced that Oz was being way overprotective of his chain, though the blond denied it when his valet brought it up. The boy was also spoiling Alice, making sure she always had everything she needed.

For awhile, the brunette didn't wear a shirt or bra; the bandages wrapped tightly around her chest concealed enough. The first few times Oz spotted her he almost had a heart attack, and only after Gilbert started threatening her did she put her shirt back on; though she left it unbuttoned.

Unfortunately Sharon was off on a mission with Break, leaving the two boys to fight over who got to change Alice's bandages. Gilbert didn't feel like getting his head bitten off by the carnivorous rabbit, but Oz insisted he do it; because even though the blond was her contractor, he wasn't exactly comfortable with doing something like that.

Eventually Oz got stuck with that responsibility, and every time he removed them he attempted to put them back on with his eyes shut, with some help from Alice of course. After some practice he got used to it and would open his eyes once he was almost finished; but regretted it whenever he got a glimpse of the stitches crisscrossing her chest. Alice almost always immediately noticed when he laid eyes on her wound, and quickly cheered him up every time.

The pain subsided after the first week or two, though Alice was still widely restricted on what she was and wasn't allowed to do. It took a total of about 8 weeks for Alice's broken ribs and flesh wound to heal completely, leaving behind a large scar in their wake; luckily for Oz the scar wasn't very visible unless you were searching for it.

One thing that severely irritated Alice as that she had to take it easy even after the stitches were removed and she was completely healed. According to the doctor she needed to restrengthen her muscles before she could do anything strenuous. To the gang, that meant no missions for awhile; but that also meant a lot more missions once they started getting them again.

Sharon was back by the time Alice was done recovering, and demanded she be told every single detail of what happened while she was gone.

Most of the time for the first several days Alice slept, only waking up to eat and go to the bathroom. Because Oz refused to leave her for even a second, he ended up napping with her every time. They also cuddled a lot in front of the fireplace since it was winter now.

Gil had been planning their skiing trip now that Alice had the doctor's approval to go along with everyone. They left for their trip 3 days after Sharon and Break got back. Instead of going to an actual frozen lake, they went to a ice rink not that far away from the mansion.

Alice must have had some former experience, because she was an excellent skiier. Oz hadn't been skiing in awhile, and took a bit to get his edge back. Gil sucked horribly and spent most of the time clutching to the walls or falling. Break and Sharon looked like experts as they skated across the ice, performing multiple tricks in perfect synchronization. when they decided to head home everyone was exhausted.

Overall, those few months for the gang were crazy. Sharon saw them as a chance for Oz and Alice to grow close to each other, Gilbert saw them as the most boring time of his life. Even though it was obvious that the two teens' relationship had grown, neither of them let it show too much when they were around the others.

Throughout the time it took Alice to get better, her and Oz came up with a secondary form of communication that only they truly understood, which made it easier for Oz to help the brunette whenever she was in too much pain to talk. Gilbert questioned their sanity from time to time when one of them burst into laughter or said a seemingly random sentence to the other; unaware of the signals being passed between the two.

Luckily for Alice and Oz, that special form of communication was going to save their lives one day, though no one knew that quite yet.

Finished with this chapter! Anyone who has a guess as to what they think is going to happen in the next chapter please write it in a review, and if the guess is better than what I had originally planned I might just use that idea instead! Reviews= faster chapter updates!