Last chapter ladies! (and possible gents) PLease enjoy even though it is short!
The hospital cafeteria was quiet except for the few late night workers lingering around with cups of coffee. Addie embraced the utter serenity of the room as she walked in with Benji and Jane. It was about 1 in the morning. The night still glittered with sparkling points of white lights above and cool sea breezes pushed their way through the cracks between the doors. But Benji's stomach still growled monstrously for sustenance.
Jane glanced at the man with an amused expression as he simply blushed and grumbled embarrassedly under his breath.
"I haven't eaten in hours. I'm gonna be like a bloody vaccum." He complained as they stood in front of the menus, looking over their choices.
Carter noticed, however, that Benji was paying more attention to the individual on the other side of her, rather than the menu boards.
"I'm gonna go to the restroom first. Don't get anything to eat without me!" She told the pair as she walked off to the lavatories.
A comfortably casual silence stayed between the two, but for Benji it was nerve-racking.
'Buck up Benji. You'll never get anywhere that you want to go with just silence.' He thought to himself as he took a deep breath.
"Addie—"
"Benji—"
Addie blinked at their unison speaking times and laughed sheepishly. "Oops, sorry. You first."
"Ah, um, okay." Benji let out a deep, calming sigh. "The whole time you were kidnapped… I blamed myself for it. And when you and I got to do all the practicing and stuff together, I really enjoyed it. Um… Gosh I'm not getting anywhere with this. Forget it!"
He waved his hands and simply took Adelaide by the shoulders. In a whirlwind moment of spontaneity, Benji slammed his lips against hers without a second thought. Something in Addie's heart jumpstarted her whole body to react with the typical response; kissing back.
The technician pulled away and gave a confident grin. "Does that say it all or do I have to actually say it?"
"You're good, Benji. I get the message." Addie grinned back and embraced him, letting out a slight squeal of delight.
From the doorway, a pair of pleased brown eyes watched their happy scene with a pang of nostalgia in her stomach. Jane was extremely happy that Benji had found somebody and that it was someone with a great personality like Addie's. It reminded her of herself and Trevor when he was still around. The reminder of him being deceased made her a bit sick. She didn't want the two of them to have the same ending to their relationship as she did (if it ended at all, who knows?). Maybe if she stuck around to keep an eye on them, things wouldn't go as far south for them.
For now, a little congratulation was in order.
-l-
Sheri woke up hours later from the anesthesia with a mild headache. Her mind was a bit foggy and she felt pretty groggy, but other than that she felt rather okay. It was after a few more blinks of her blurred eyes that she remembered she was in the hospital and that she had just undergone surgery to patch up the hole in her leg. Recovery was going to take weeks, even months, so that her nerves in that area could all come back. Which meant no more missions for her for a while. At least none of the life endangering jobs.
Glancing to both her sides, Sheri found Ethan leaning back in a seat on one side with his hand clenched around hers in sleep and Brandt resting his head on the edge of her bed with an arm to prop him up, his hand clutching her other.
A warm, tingly feeling blossomed in her chest as she smiled at the two's sleeping forms. Leaning over, she kissed her brother on the forehead, like he used to do for her, and squeezed his hand gently. "Thank you for caring." She whispered.
Moving over to Brandt, she pecked his cheek and whispered, "Thank you for loving," squeezing his hand.
Both men squeezed her hands in return.
Love to you all! Hope the ending was good enough! ;) Next comes my lovely little epilogue.