Ch. 31

Visitors

A few days had past and Josh was still in the hospital, he had his right hand in a cast. After X-rays were taken it showed that he only had three broken bones and two fractured ones, the doctors assured him his hand would make a full recovery. His right shoulder was stitched up and bandaged as well.

The T.V was one and he watched some news, there were going to be many meetings to discuss Earth joining the Lylat system. He didn't care about any of it though, his mind was only thinking about Krystal, and where she could be. He left her with the two medics back at the Great Fox, and that was that. He tried to leave the hospital to find her but the doctors refused to let him leave. There was a gentle knock at his door, he looked over to find Col. Ryan, and Fox.

"What's going on?" He asked. Col. Ryan walked up to him.

"How are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm fine Sir, what's going on?" He asked again. Col. Ryan placed a hand on his other shoulder.

"What's going on is Earth is saved because of you son." He said. Josh shook his head.

" I didn't do anything." He said.

"You Killed the Gorton King." Fox said," With his death, the army retreated, that's what General Pepper told me."

"The president wants to award you with the Medal of Honor, for your courage and bravery."

"Thank you Sir." He said, but he didn't want it. He didn't need a medal for something that anyone could have done, but before he could object.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone, Fox has a few things to say." Col. Ryan said and walked out closing the door. Josh looked at Fox who was looking at him, their eyes met and Josh spoke.

"I didn't get a chance to say this earlier…Fox I'm sorry about Peppy." He said, Fox smiled a little.

"Thanks, Peppy was a good man, and a good friend." Fox cleared his throat and held out his hand. "I would like to extend my hand to you, one warrior to another." Josh smiled and used his left hand and shook Fox's.

"There's one thing I would like to ask you." Fox said.

"What is it?" He asked and sat up straight.

"I would like to give you the chance to join the Starfox Team." He said, Josh nearly choked on the air he was breathing in.

"You want me to be a member of your team?" He asked, Fox nodded.

"Of course if you said yes, there would be a few things that would have to be done. First and most important, you would need to go into the Cornerian Defense Army Academy for the ten week training period. After you pass the academy you will become a member of the Starfox team." He said. Josh looked down at his feet for a second.

"I'm honored but…" He was cut off.

"I know Krystal would like it." He said, Josh looked up at him at the sound of her name.

"Have you seen her?" He asked. Fox nodded. "Is she okay?" He was barely able to get the words out.

"She's good, when I told her about you possibly joining, needlessly to she was happy…You wouldn't want to let her down would you?" Fox asked.

"No, I wouldn't." He replied. Fox nodded.

"We will remain here, until your wounds have healed, after that we will take you there." He said and walked to the door, he opened it and walked out.

A few hours had past and Josh was trying to eat his lunch that the nurses brought him, it was a burger, fries and some Jell-O. He was able to eat the burger and fries just fine. However he had trouble trying to eat the Jell-O.

"Damn it." He said as he gave up trying to eat it with only one hand, every time he tried to put the spoon in there, the cup moved around and he was unable to pull the spoon out with Jell-O on it. He sighed and rubbed his face with his left hand for a bit.

"Let me help you." A familiar voice said to him, Josh quickly lowered his hand and saw Krystal standing next to his bed holding the Jell-O.

"Krystal! I was so worried about…"He tried to finish, but Krystal placed her finger over his lips. She removed it and grabbed the spoon, she then brought it to his mouth.

"Eat up." She said, Josh looked up at her face again and noticed the few cuts that were on it, her left eye was a bit swollen, and she had some stiches on her arms. Other than that, she looked fine. Josh opened his mouth and Krystal gently put the spoon in it. He closed it and she pulled the spoon out.

"I was worried about you too." She said and brushed some of his hair out of his face, she got another spoon full of Jell-O and brought it to his mouth. Josh felt a little embarrassed being handfed Jell-O, he felt like a baby…Although, it was tasty Jell-O he'd admit that, and above all else, he was with her again.

"Are you doing okay?" She asked as she fed him the last bite of Jell-O, he nodded and swallowed it.

"What about you?" He asked, Krystal nodded in response and threw the empty cup in the trash. She grabbed a chair and brought it to his bed and sat down next to him. She placed her hand on his, feeling her furry hand again made him smile.

"I'm glad you're okay Krystal…I don't know what I would have done if…If I lost you." He looked into her cyan eyes and watched her lips form a smile. She slowly leaned her body onto his and laid her muzzle against his neck, he felt the warm air on his neck every time she exhaled. Painfully he moved his right hand and laid it on her back and held her tight. He ignored the pain, this one moment was worth the pain.

Krystal slowly leaned up and looked into his dark eyes, she placed both hands on his face to cup his cheeks.

"Why did you not tell me you were going to stay?" She asked. Josh lowered his eyes and took a deep breath; he was hoping he wouldn't have to tell her this.

"I saw you with Fox, and I knew that if I stayed, you would be forced to have to choose between the two of us, I figured that you could never love someone who wasn't your own species…I didn't want you to have to choose between us, you've known Fox for years and were engaged to him, I knew you would have feelings coming back after you two met again after being apart for two years, I knew there was no way I could ever compete with him…That's why I stayed here, I wanted to make it easier on you." He said and looked away from her.

"You're mistaken." She said, Josh looked back into her eyes, "I had to kiss, Fox…I had to be sure that if I was to rejoin the team that, I had no feelings toward him like I did…When we kissed, I could only picture kissing you. It made me feel guilty that I was kissing him instead of you…It showed me, how I truly felt about you…You may be a human, but…You're my human, Your my U-Kia and you're the man I want to be with." She said.

Josh could see the love in her eyes. She slowly leaned in and instinctively licked her lips and tilted her head to the side planting her lips on his. This wasn't like all the other kisses they shared, no this kiss was filled with their hopes, their dreams, their fears, but mostly their love, this was truly a kiss between two passionate lovers.

Krystal pulled away after a few seconds and looked into his eyes and could also see the love in them. He placed both hands on her arms and smiled.

"I love you Krystal." He said, He then felt as is a heavy weight was lifted off his heart after admitting it to her. Krystal smiled and kissed him again, although this kiss was shorter than the first. When she pulled away she moved her lips to his ear and kissed it before saying.

"I love you Joshua Grant, with all my heart." She then wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a hug that lasted for a while, not one of them dared to move and cut the wonderful moment short.

And there we go, the last two chapters of the story. Next week its the epilogue.

I want to thank all of you guys who stuck with the story so far, it really means a lot to me.

remember to review and let me know what you think.

until next week.