Crisis averted! I got a huge blast of inspiration out of left field and we now have the final chapter. Please remember that if I get enough requests I am more than happy to add one more epilogue chapter. Enjoy! And please review, I want to know what people think!

Becker's POV

Becker came to slowly, his head still swimming a bit as the last of the sedatives wore off. He could feel the tape around his mouth and reached a hand up to try and take it off, only to encounter what he assumed was one of those breathing tubes you see on TV. A hand grabbed his before he could try to take the damn thing out of his mouth. Another hand joined the first, wrapping his cold hand in a bundle of warmth, and he felt a pair of soft lips press against his knuckles. He turned his head as far as the tube would allow and was relieve to see Jess standing there with her lips pressed firmly against his hand. Her eyes were closed, but Becker could see the tears leaking out from between the lashes. Following his instincts Becker reached over with his other hand to brush the trails of moisture from her cheeks, ignoring the pain that shot through his ribs. Jess opened her eyes the moment Becker's fingers touched her. She leaned over and touched her forehead to his.

"Please don't scare me like that again," she whispered, tears evident in her voice. Becker closed his eyes and breathed in the scent that was purely Jess, not taking his hand away from her cheek. After a moment Jess stood up straight and let go of his hand.

"I'll go get the doctor," she said just as she turned to leave. Becker's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist before she could walk away. He didn't want her to walk out that door. Part of him was afraid that she wasn't going to come back. He remembered asking her to marry him, but he passed out before he heard an answer and he was worried that he'd freaked her out by asking so soon. Jess must have seen the worry in his eyes because she leaned towards him and kissed his cheek, lingering longer than usual.

"We need to talk," she said softly brushing her thumb across his cheek, "and we can't do that with that thing down your throat." Becker nodded carefully and watched her walk out the door. His whole body was tense as he waited for her to walk back through, which she thankfully did. Flanked by a few nurses and the same doctor who'd been treating him for his first injury.

"Good to see you awake Captain," the doctor said. He did a few tests to check his reflexes and motor function, which only served to piss Becker off since all he wanted to do was talk to Jess. He started to tell Becker what his condition was, but Becker barely heard any of it. He was too busy looking at Jess who had yet to take her eyes off the floor since she'd come back in.

"Okay, I think we're ready to take that tube out of your throat. On the count of three I want you to cough as hard as you can. Do you understand Captain Becker?" Becker fought the urge to make some kind of obscene gesture at the doctor, for talking to him lie he was stupid, and simply nodded. He'd do anything the doctor wanted if it meant he could finally get an answer from Jess.

"One, two, three…" Becker coughed when he was supposed to and the doctor slid the tube from his burning throat. Note to self, Becker thought, never get put on a ventilator again. Becker rubbed his sore throat and instantly tried to tell the medical team to leave, but nothing came out.

"The tube causes some mild trauma to the vocal cords, so try not to talk for a while." The doctor said before turning to one of the nurses. Becker groaned as he tried to figure out how he was going to talk to just when he couldn't actually talk. The sound of the door opening again had everyone looking up quickly. Katie looked surprised when everyone's attention was suddenly on her, but recovered quickly and walked over to Becker, handing him a notebook and a permanent marker when she reached him.

"I figured you might need these," she said, and Becker could have kissed her if it wouldn't have gotten him in trouble with Jess. He instantly started writing and turned the paper towards Katie.

"Everyone out but Jess," she read aloud with a laugh. In no time she'd hurried the doctor and nurses out, despite their protests. Becker had written his first message to Jess while she'd done so and waited for Jess to turn her attention to him.

"I don't know if you remember half the things you said so I'm giving you an out on the whole asking me to marry you thing," she rambled, "we can forget it ever happened and just go back to what we had-Hey!" Jess shouted when Becker threw a wadded up piece of paper at her to get her to look at him. He held up his paper.

"So will you marry me or not?" it said. Jess gapped at the sign he was holding and Becker hoped it was a good stare and not a 'what the fuck?' stare. Jess moved closer to the bed, close enough for Becker to touch her, but he held back just in case she didn't want him too.

"You want to marry me?" Jess asked after a minute of silence, her voice shaking. Becker nodded his heart beating a mile a minute as he waited for her answer. Jess slowly nodded, a huge smile spreading across her face. Becker grabbed her as fast as he could and kissed her. She kissed him back with a fierceness that surprised him. Maybe I should almost die more often, he thought then threw that idea out the preverbal window and focused on kissing his new fiancé. Jess pulled back, which Becker was not too happy about.

"Only you would propose when you're bleeding to death." She said with a smile before kissing him again.