Chapter Eight

Five o'clock AM came extremely suddenly for Claire. There hadn't been a single disturbance all night, the two of them remaining in their cuddly positions. Then, with rash timing, Trent blinked his eyes open, recognized his surroundings, then sprung up to the sitting position, making Claire's head fly over to her knees.

Her eyes seemed to be sticking together at first, but when she finally got them open, she saw Trent struggling away from the bedsheets, trying to get to the floor to pull all of his clothes back on. Tired and confused, she looked meekly at the clock, seeing that it was much too early.

"Mmm?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes and yawning. It seemed to startle him that she was awake, spinning around as he buttoned his pants. "What's wrong?"

Although her entire room was dark, she could still see the look of panic in his eyes. This woke her up like a splash of ice-water to her face. "Trent?"

"I shouldn't be here," he said sharply, turning back around and searching through the blackness for his shirt. "All of that last night was out of control. It just went too far and the drinking had pushed it overboard..."

She couldn't believe he was acting like this…especially now. "What are you talking about?"

"…so inappropriate… If I hadn't all of that wine and… so stupid of me…" he rambled on. It was as if he couldn't hear a single word she had said. Claire got up out of bed too, coming to stand next to him, blood boiling with anger and heart cringing with an unfamiliar pain.

"It's okay, Trent, you don't have to worry about it, I promise. I was okay with it," she widened her eyes trying to calm him down. "The sun hasn't even come up yet…your mind is just foggy. Why don't you just lie back down?"

"Because none of this should have happened!" Trent threw his arms down, staring wildly at her. "I was just supposed to come over last night for the party, and then go home. I don't know when or where I lost track of the intake but I did, and it shouldn't have happened!" He went back to searching for his shirt, grabbing is tie and swinging it over his shoulder in the process.

Claire felt so hurt… shouldn't have happened? That was one of the best nights of her life, and he wanted to take it away? "Do you remember all of it?"

"Of course I do," he spat, finally grabbing his button-down from the corner of the room and throwing it on hastily. "Why else would I be acting like this?"

"You remember that kiss we had and how amazing it was? And how much it seemed like you wanted it as much as I did?" Claire couldn't believe herself for saying all of this, but in all honesty she didn't care. It was like her wall of self-defense had been torn down.

Trent stopped for a moment, straightening his back and trying to stare at her the best he could through the lack of light. "Y-you wanted those things with me?"

Embarrassed, she didn't answer. His frown was so deep she could see it clearly. "That's foolish of you, Claire. Absolutely foolish."

She was taken aback. Foolish of her to want those things with him? He was acting so weird! "Why would you even think that? You're an amazing person. I don't know anyone in their right mind who wouldn't want to be with you," she said honestly.

This comment seemed to make him furious. "Do not say that. In fact, you'd better stop altogether thinking these things about me, Claire. You're just going to end up disappointed with the way I really am…" He seemed to be arguing with himself more than with Claire. She swallowed hard, finding it harder and harder to understand him at this point. He ran his hands through his hair frustratedly, changing the subject. "I've never had that much to drink before… if it wasn't for all of the wine, I would have controlled myself… I wouldn't have acted that way with you."

"So what if you had too much… I did too, before, and we kissed that first time and we moved on, right? I was horrified, just like you are, but it was stupid and not even a big deal, you said it yourself!"

"This is different! I would have never done that with you if I hadn't been drinking so much, Claire! Never!" Although her view of him wasn't the best, she was sure he was as red as ever right now.

She sat back down on the bed, the swell of mixed emotions spreading everywhere throughout her body, weighing her down. "Would you want to do that with me if you were sober, though?"

He said nothing, furrowing his brow and starting to button his shirt back up.

"I don't even care, Trent. I had so much fun with you and with Carter last night, seeing you laughing and acting so free to be yourself… and when you kissed me, and when we held each other as we fell asleep… it was everything I had imagined before. Everything I had dreamed of. In fact, I wish we could do it again," Her voice was growing quiet, wavering slightly. "And I know you do, too."

Trent clenched his jaw, turning to open her bedroom door and walking through her living room, clearly irritated. She followed him, desperate for him to hear her out.

"I know you're scared about this, okay? I'm scared too! I've never been with anyone like this before, and I know you haven't either, but it doesn't matter. Think about it for a minute… don't just leave like this! I don't care about last night-I don't care that you were drunk, or that I enjoyed it or anything. If you want, we can just erase that any of it happened and just start over from where we were yesterday morning. I don't mind doing that-don't go!" She had grabbed ahold of his coat sleeve just as he had opened the door to leave. "Please…"

"Claire," Trent groaned, his voice softer now that he saw her distress. "This was all just a big mistake…"

"What was?" She looked back up at him. "The kiss? The party? The whole relationship? What?" While in a way, she was going out on a limb with all of this relationship stuff, she knew that he had feelings for her. He wouldn't have kept pursuing her otherwise…but then… why was he acting like this?

He avoided her eyes, his expression as if he was hurting a great deal too just from looking at her. Harshly, she pushed her hand off of his arm and started to back out again. "I'm sorry. This was all my fault…I allowed it all to go this far when I should have known better."

"What are you even talking about? Trent!" she wailed after him, but he slammed the door in front of her face. Claire stared at her wooden door, in sheer disbelief that this had all happened. Sinking down to the floor, she buried her head in her knees and tried to wrap her head around it all. What was that? She knew he was nervous about all that happened and everything…but this was just plain pathetic! Trent would never leave Claire like that if he had felt about her the way she thought he did. How could she have been so wrong about it all? There was all of the signs that he liked her, or maybe even more than that. But then, there were all of the other signs pointing in the opposite directions because of this.

She pinched herself, trying to see if this was all just some horrible nightmare, but it wasn't. She wanted to tell herself that this was all just misconstrued, that they had both just woken up and were not in the right mindsets, but she couldn't. She could think about everything clearly and so could he. Then, when she tried to tell herself that everything was going to be fine, she couldn't even do that.

Claire got back up to her feet and walked over to her couch. She tried turning on her t.v. to distract her, but all that ended up doing was making her feel worse. She resorted to falling back asleep after a horrible hour of replaying all of the events in her head over and over again.

Claire gave up on the idea of going to see him and talk things over. Trent had obviously done the same, not bothering himself to give her the slightest bit of contact. It was driving her crazy not seeing him. Even the thought of him set her teeth on edge, so she stayed away from the town… it was too risky a chance of running in to someone who would talk to her about him.

The night following that morning, after she was done with taking care of her animals, Claire went to the lake mine with her hammer and hoe, ready to pound away all of her stress with the dirt and rocks. After that day, she went there again, and then the day after that, and so on. It didn't quite take her mind off of it all, but it kept her busy-kept her from trying to talk to him again and looking pathetic.

She could tell on the fourth day of her mining that she wasn't really feeling the best, but she tried to brush it off, assuming it was just a common cold or something. It was then that Ann finally came to see Claire.

The redhead was bundled up in a coat with a blanket slung over her shoulders, obviously not a fan of the snow. Claire was on her way back from her dig and didn't notice her at first at the door, really just wanting to lie down. When she did notice her, however, Claire wanted no conversation at all.

"Where have you been?" Ann pestered. "Been feeling well? Everyone's worried about you."

"It's nothing." Claire mumbled, trying to get to her door.

"It has to be something. You're always coming in to town for a bite to eat… some of us saw the Doctor walking around outside more than normal…he seemed to be really upset-" Claire pushed past her, interrupting Ann as she opened the door and stepped inside.

"I don't care what you saw," the blonde said flatly, knowing very well where this was going. "I'm fine, I've just been too busy to stop by for a meal. So would you just leave me alone?"

Ann held her face skeptically, but was still too taken aback by her friend to just stand there. After watching her leave, Claire slammed the door angrily. Of course they'd all know everything that had happened. If it wasn't for stupid Ann screaming that day at the restaurant, this would still all be a big rumor in town!

Claire sighed heavily. Thinking about him made her feel so incomplete. Knowing that he was so close by too…she couldn't really explain it, but it bothered her more than if she knew he was far away. If he was far away, she wouldn't be that tempted to just take a walk to where he was; that ten minute walk it took to get to his place that seemed to call her down its path, reminding her that those beautiful eyes were just waiting to blink at her beautifully, so near. It was also another painful reminder that he himself could take that same ten minute walk, take that same road, think those same things and just reach out to her and put it all behind them.

None of that was happening, though. Being miles and miles away could at least give Claire the comfort of distance. She could tell herself that he wasn't talking to her because of the miles between them. But that wasn't an issue now. The distance was one of the things that was annoying her the most.

The next day came and she definitely felt worse than before, but it had been nearly a week since she'd spoken to Trent, and the sadness and loneliness was driving her crazy. She didn't even want to take care of her animals, just walking over to the mine at the crack of dawn, digging and pounding her way down to deeper and deeper levels.

She did have a headlamp on, but it was still getting darker and darker with every level she went down. Every now and then, she hit her foot against a rock, kindling her frustration more and more. With every swing of her hammer, she scowled at the repeating thoughts of him in her head. Why couldn't she just let him go already?

Smash!

She was obviously so wrong about his feelings for her.

Slam!

Maybe he thought they were friends.

Tink!

Claire squinted her eyes at a pathetic piece of junk ore, then moved on to the next boulder.

But then why would he always meet her for those sunrises?

Bang!

Why would he ask her out for all of those holidays?

Crash!

Why would he always smile at her like that? And look at her in that longing way?

Hit!

Why would he just leave her like that? Why wouldn't he try to talk to her or contact her or anything? Why-

Claire had fallen over. Her arms and shoulders felt like lead and she lie there, her face skidding across a jagged boulder. Her head was burning and there was blood leaking into her eyes and mouth. It took her a while to realize what had happened, and when she did, her body was useless. She couldn't stand up no matter how hard she tried, so she just lay there, her light now broken and her head clouding out of focus.

She could still hear his voice, too, even as she was fading out of consciousness.

Are you crazy? You weren't feeling well this morning and you still decided to dig that far into the mine? I thought I told you not to overexert yourself! Have you been eating properly? Drinking enough water?

Claire wondered for a small moment if he'd ever speak to her again, just before all of the thoughts were swept clean from her mind and her mind had gone dark.

"C-Claire? Claire? Wake up, girl…wake up! Oh, no. Oh….no!"

Claire could hear a man's voice, but only faintly. It was like she was listening through a door…

"GRAY! Help!"

Her eyes fluttered for a moment as Saibara the blacksmith stood over her. He seemed to be holding on to her shoulders, but her eyes closed again and she lost focus.

Everything was coming to her in short segments. She remembered being carried out of the mine because of the strong moonlight, and then she could recall for a moment a ton of panicky voices (she could have sworn she heard Manna and her husband, Duke), frantically screaming something that Claire couldn't quite comprehend, and then there was a moment, just a moment, when she opened her eyes and saw one of the street lamps in town.

When they arrived at the Clinic was when Claire was processing things again. Her body was still unable to move, but her mind was working again…slightly. She could hear everything, but it wasn't like she could make up any thoughts of her own…

"Elli, go get the Doctor!" Saibara's deep voice cried. He was holding her upper body, and Gray was at her legs.

Elli ran over, surprised at the sight. There was a soft thud, as she'd fallen in shock.

"What happened?!" Elli screamed.

"We found her deep in the mine… I had no idea she had ever even been there at all! She was laying against a rock and… her eyes have fluttered a few times and her heart beat is going slowly…" He was panting heavily. There was blood all over he, Gray, and Claire. Elli scrambled up to her feet, trying to go to the Doctor's office, but she kept tripping over her feet. Finally she gave up, sitting on her knees, letting out multiple screams for him.

"DOCTOR! HURRY! DOCTOR!"

Trent came from his office, face screwed in confusion. When he saw Claire, his knees nearly buckled. Not knowing how else to respond, he rushed to her and instructed the two other men to help get her on to the medical bed. Then, there was all sorts of strange sounds and voices, just before Claire had waned out again.

When she awoke, she saw Elli peering down at her. Her head was throbbing painfully, and she couldn't really muster what exactly was going on. She moved her eyes around, seeing that the was hooked up to an IV bag as well as another bag containing blood. She was in a hospital gown, too. Moving her head the best she could, she saw that Manna, Duke, Doug, Ann, Gray, and Saibara were standing behind Elli, all looking worried and relieved at the same time. Trent was on the opposite side of the bed, blood all over his lab coat. He had a medical mask on over his mouth and nose, but his eyes were soft, as if to tell her not to worry.

"Trent-!" she called with a weak voice. Claire tried sitting up, wanting to hold on to him, bring him in close, and apologize for everything, but Elli pushed her back down gently. Claire looked back at the nurse to see her eyes were all red-like she'd been crying.

"Just lay back for now, okay? Doctor had to do some stitching where you hit your head-"

"Hit…what...Trent?" She turned to him again, a wave of panic coursing through her veins.

Trent pulled his mask down past his chin with a gloved hand, mouth held in a relaxed way. "Saibara and Gray found you in the lake mine, unconscious, laying against a huge boulder. It seems that it wasn't too long after you had hit your head, because you were bleeding pretty badly at the time they found you, but it still wasn't past help. Anyway, you're going to be fine. I just stitched the side of your head where you made contact with the boulder… it's not too serious. You can't even see it if your hair's down." It looked as if he tried to smile for a moment, but his lips twitched and landed in to a frown. "You lost a lot of blood though, and you have a fever, which is probably what made you faint in the first place." His face hardened like he was going to scold her, but instead he looked up at all of the people in the room. "As Saibara and Gray were carrying you here, Doug, Manna, Ann, and Duke saw you, so that's why they're gathered here."

None of them said anything, Claire guessing that Elli and Trent had instructed them not to break down or shout worries at her.

Looking back at Trent, Claire wanted to cry again. She didn't even care that she'd had that bad of a fever, or that she passed out, or that she hit her head, or anything. She was so happy to see him…

"Trent…" she whispered, reaching for his latex-covered hand. "I'm sorry..."

He gazed down at her sadly, then drew his attention back up to everyone in the room.

"It's getting pretty late. I'd like to thank you all for waiting for Claire after we put the stitches in, and especially for bringing her to the Clinic. Who knows where she'd be if it wasn't for you. Either myself or Elli will call you all tomorrow to update you first thing in the morning, and I hope you can relay the information to the rest of the people in the town. However, I assure you that it's going to be a good report. Right now, Claire just needs some rest."

They all shuffled out, trying to get a last look at her, until they were all gone. Elli closed the curtain after them.

"What time would you like me back here, Doctor?" she asked politely, coming to place a gentle hand on Claire's shoulder.

"As early as possible. And thank you, Elli. You've been more help than I ever could have asked for."

Elli nodded sharply, then looked back at Claire. "You're in good hands, I promise." Then she left, closing the curtain yet again.

Claire and Trent stared at each other in silence, both not really knowing what to say. He finally gave up on trying to look for the words, dragging the flimsy couch that was up against the wall to the side of her bed where there was no IV or medicine. He kicked off his shoes, rolled off his gloves, removed his mirror, tossed his mask aside, threw his bloodied coat on the ground, then sat down, taking her hand as he did so.

There was a lump in her throat constricting her from speaking, so she just lay there, their fingers entwined. His dark eyes were shining at her nervously. "Close your eyes and you'll fall asleep."

"I'm… ha…p-py…that-" Claire tried, throat feeling very dry.

"Don't try to speak. I understand." He squeezed her hand and his face contorted. "Don't ever scare me like that again."

A single tear rolled down her cheek. Trent was quick to wipe it away with the back of his hand.

"I'm sorry for all of this, but I'm so glad you're safe right now… try to fall asleep on that thought okay? You'll be fine…just close your eyes…"

She did as she was told, quickly feeling herself be taken again by the darkness of sleep yet again.

Elli was the first thing Claire saw the next morning. She looked refreshed, certainly not as bad as the night before. Trent was no longer next to her, but she somehow knew that he had been there the entire night.

"Good morning. How do you feel?" the nurse asked as Claire started rustling around.

Claire reached up to rub her temple when she realized she was no longer connected to the IV and no more blood was being transferred to her. "I'm feeling okay. Just a little drowsy."

"Completely understandable. We suspect you'll be feeling weak for the next couple of days. The Doctor will come in and explain everything before you go home." Elli started putting Claire's medicine into a little baggie.

"I'm allowed to go home?" She sat up fully, noticing that she definitely felt much better than the previous few days.

Elli just smiled and nodded, then went to retrieve Trent. When he walked in, it was as if all of the tension between them had just been dropped and they had returned to square one. He looked at her with no special reserve of emotion; with the eyes of a professional doctor and that only. She couldn't say she was too surprised, but it still wasn't what she wished for.

He took her temperature in silence, studying the thermometer the entire time. "It seems you still have a fever. It's lower than yesterday, but it's not low enough for you to return to your regular activities right away. The stitching on the side of your head is healing well," he added after examining it. "We should be able to remove them in about a week. Now, when you go home, you'll need to take this fever reducer for today and tomorrow with all three meals. I want you to rest for three days straight, and I mean completely rest, before coming in to the Clinic again so I can see how you're progressing. So, no farm work, no playing with Ringo or Lennon, and especially no mining. Got it?"

Claire's mouth was hanging open. "What do you mean, no farm work? If I don't take care of my animals they're going to get really sick!"

Trent cracked a smile, going to scribble a few things in his notes. "You won't have to worry about that. The entire town has heard what happened last night, so naturally, they're rather insistent on helping you for the next week. They'll take care of your animals, brush them, feed them, entertain them, as well as give you things to eat. All you need to do is get plenty of time in bed." He called Elli back in and she helped Claire get up and dressed. Trent had his back turned the entire time, still scribbling. "Don't forget your medicine. Oh, and don't worry about the price, we've got it taken care of."

She was all dressed, clutching her medicine and gazing at the back of his head. From taking care of her last night to sleeping at her bedside… there really was nothing else she could think of saying. "Thank you so much," she choked out, her voice wobbling. All Trent did was nod and turn his head a little.

Elli led her to the lobby where Zack was waiting for her. He'd brought his horse for her to ride back on, which he walked alongside until they reached her home. Claire was shocked to see how many people were there.

There was Rick and Popuri, heading to the chicken stables, Ann, who was on her way to the barn with a bag of fodder in one hand and a brush in the other, Stu and May, the towns only two children, working together to put food in Ringo's bowl as well as playing fetch with him, Cliff, who was giving Lennon exercise by riding around the yard, and Doug and Anna, who were working their ways into her house with bags of groceries.

"Look who's looking healthy! You don't mind if we use your kitchen, do you? Of course you don't, you'll be resting!" Doug chortled, helping her into her house with Zack, the two men on either side. "Anna and I are going to make food for you so you don't have to!"

Mary shyly peeked out from Anna's back. "I brought you some books so you don't get too bored, too."

"Just wait until you see all of the letters you got, Claire!" Zack laughed, helping her onto the couch (they put her in the living room for now so she wouldn't get too bored or lonely). Sure enough, there was a stack of parchment from what seemed like every single person in Mineral Town.

Claire's heart warmed and eyes filled with tears. She couldn't believe all of this was happening! All of these kind, loving people that she'd surrounded herself with… there was no place she'd rather be for the rest of her life.

The next there days flew by-with nothing to do except sit in bed and on the couch and eat, she really mostly just slept. Ann and Doug came every day to cook for her, and they'd chat with her for a little, and the Mayor came early every morning to read some letters and books to her, but other than that she was pretty alone. Claire was actually pretty happy to go to the Clinic, hoping Trent would deliver good news about her health so she could finally go back to normal.

She couldn't help but wonder where things were going to go with them too…

Claire got ready, but it wasn't like normal. Everyone was still there, doing everything for her, but after she got out of her warm bath, Popuri and Anna came to help her get dressed in a warm flannel shirt and some jeans and brush her hair with special precaution around her wound. Then, they helped her get fed with a serving of soup before Zack picked her up and walked her to the Clinic.

When Claire entered, Elli jumped up from her desk to give her a light hug. "I'm so happy you're looking so healthy!" she cheered. It was a bit strange for Claire to see Elli acting so kind to her. Not that she was a mean-spirited person or anything, but the nurse always seemed to be a little jealous of the close relationship that Claire and Trent had developed. Still, that didn't really matter. Claire was happy that Elli was over that little obstacle.

"The doctor's been waiting for you all morning. I hope everything goes well," Elli said as she helped Claire out of her coat and escorting her to the examination room. Trent was already in there with his notepad, dressed in all of his regular medical clothing. When Claire came in, he looked up, not exactly smiling or anything but surely happy to see her. He helped her onto the cot and excused Elli.

"So, I'm assuming you've been feeling well?" he asked.

Claire nodded silently. It was so hard to do this with him…this doctor-patient thing. She didn't want to be just another townsperson again. What happened to that night he slept by her side?

"Could you place this under your tongue for me?" Trent asked, holding out a thermometer. While they waited for the result, he scribbled on his paper some of her information and she stared at her reflection in his little mirror, glad she looked rather well-kept thanks to Anna and Popuri. Even though she didn't care much about looking too pretty in front of him or anything, it was still mortifying that he witnessed her all bloodied and battered. "No fever, that's great. It looks like you can finally get back to work…or so it seems. Let's see how everything else is looking and then we can get you home."

"Thank you for this," Claire said softly. For the first time all day, he looked up into her eyes. At last, the Trent she knew returned for a minute. His face broke into a confident grin, a slight blush darkening his face.

"We'll check your heart rate, breathing frequency, and blood pressure. I also want to check your blood, too, just in case." He grabbed his stethoscope and wrung it around his neck. Suddenly, his face turned an even deeper shade of scarlet. "Um…you'll need to remove your blouse for this."

Claire straightened up, widening her large blue eyes. He was going to see her in her underwear…how embarrassing! Cautiously, she started to unbutton her shirt slowly, avoiding his eyes at all costs. When she was done, she crossed her arms over her chest.

Trent seemed to be as immature about this as she was, coming forward with the chest piece with a rather shaky hand. His eyes looked as if he was struggling a great deal to not look at her breasts, but he wasn't doing that so well. The instrument landed over her heart, making Claire wince and lean backwards, giggling.

"That's so cold!" she snorted, covering herself more, now. Trent's frustration grew.

"It's alright, it's only for a second," his dark eyebrows pulled inwards as he leaned over her a little.

Claire kept laughing, trying to push his hands away with such force she was laying flat on her back. It was so good to see him beaming and chuckling with her, acting kind and giddy, light with the happiness of being with her again.

"Can't you just listen to my heartbeat with your ear or something? Get that thing away from me!" Claire scream-giggled, finally taking ahold of his hands so he let go of the stethoscope. Trent was leaning over her fully now, his face right in front of hers. Claire's wide grin was swept off of her mouth and replaced with a sly smirk. The only thing she really wanted to do right now, the same thing she'd wanted to do for days of missing him, was kiss him. She took the back of his head and lowered him the last two inches of space between them. His lips were so soft on hers, undoubtedly kissing her back, holding her chin gently.

The steamy moment went as soon as it came. Trent cut it abruptly short, leaping up off of her body and turning his back to her.

"I'm so sorry… Why would I do that during the exam? Jeez, what is wrong with me?!" He placed a fist against his forehead.

"Trent, it's okay,'' Claire tried, knowing this wasn't going to go where she wanted.

He shook his head, turning slowly. "It's not, Claire. I don't know why, but I just can't control myself when I'm with you! It's all so inappropriate of me to-"

"You don't understand, do you? I don't mind when you kiss me, ever! I don't mind it when you touch me, or when we go out for the sunrise, or when you cook me breakfast, or when we spend the holidays together, or even when I talked to you, just for a little bit. I don't mind it because it always made me feel so wonderful. In fact, I loved when we did any of those things together… it didn't matter what it was, it was just that I got to spend time with you!" Before she knew it, all of the stresses and implications and injuries and painful emotions had taken it's toll on her as she broke down in a fit of tears. She grabbed her shirt, stuffing it up to her face. "I don't understand why you just freaked out that morning… I told you I didn't care about it at all, and you just blew me off like I meant nothing to you. I know it was only a few days, but I hated being away from you like that. It drove me crazy not seeing your smile or hearing your laugh… I guess you didn't care about me that way, you didn't even want to see me-" She was sniffing and blubbering, trying her best to hide her cry-baby tears. She was ashamed of this; she hadn't cried like this since she was a little girl. But it wasn't like she could help it…he was always provoking her emotions!

"That's not true," Trent's voice was so quiet she had to strain her ears to hear him. "I wanted to see you too."

The words sent goosebumps all over her body. Slowly, she lifted her face. He was standing closer to her now, looking as sorry as ever but at the same time surprisingly calm, like he had finally sorted everything out.

"It's going to sound so stupid… but you were right. I was scared…more than that. I was terrified. I've never felt this way about anyone before. With the way I saw my parents and their strained marriage, the way they treated me my whole entire life… I suppose I've always thought I'm not meant for relationships, that I'm only thing I'm meant for is being a doctor. The only other girl that's ever taken the time to be with me got so tired of never seeing me that she finally just left. I was nervous that I'd do that to you… that I'd always be tied up at work that you'd always be alone… I didn't want to do that to you, Claire. You're too good to be with someone who's rarely there for you. So that's why when we kissed or anything I just got worried… I thought it was wrong of me to fall in love with you the way I did because of that, so I tried to push you away, and at the same time I always wanted you to be with me…" He hung his head, letting his words set in the air.

Claire couldn't even process it all. First he was talking about all of these insecurities and then he admitted that he loved her?! All of it just made her cry even harder, hugging her arms around herself. "That is stupid, Trent! So stupid! You're not anything like your parents. You're so gentle, romantic, passionate, and caring…I could never get bored with you, never! You're always surprising me…it's always the highlight of my day when I see you. You're nothing like the man you think you are. You're so much more than that. And you know what? Comparing me to some teenage girl that you had a spring-fling with is totally not cool, because I would never just ditch you because you were busy! How old do you think I am! Don't you know that I love you, too?"

This seemed to shock him the most. It took him forever to finally look away from her with the bewildered look of disbelief. The air was so thick it was hard for Claire to breathe. Well, that and she was still blubbering into her flannel.

"Why don't we just finish the exam, okay? This has been a crazy past few weeks, and you're in no health to be worrying about this right now." He put the stethoscope back around his neck and walked back over to her. Claire figured it was pointless to argue with him any more about this, feeling drained and really just needing another nap. All of the thoughts kept going through her head, and she still wanted to talk to him about the subject more, but it was petty to press on the already sensitive issue more than they already had for now.

Once he was done with the health tests, he helped her get her shirt back on and went back to his clipboard. "Everything seems to be normal, but I'd really like it if you lay low for a while and get stronger. You can feed and tend for your animals, but no work with tools and try not to stay outside for too long. Eat a lot, drink a lot of water, and get a lot of sleep, alright? And the stitches have been feeling fine?" He waited for her nod before he spoke again, taking her arms and helping her onto the floor. "We'll get those removed for you next week."

"Okay," Claire said quietly, gripping onto his forearms. Her eyes were still red and puffy so she didn't want to look at him.

"Zack is waiting for you outside," he added tentatively, not quite letting go of her either.

"Okay," she repeated, this time collapsing into his chest and hugging him, tears returning. She wasn't sad this time though, in fact she was just so happy they were talking again. Trent squeezed his arms around her with no hesitation, although he was careful not to squeeze too tight (worried she was still unwell). They would have a talk about all of this when the time came, but for right now she was fine leaving with the sole fact that they weren't on harsh terms any more, that he loved her and she loved him, too. She peeled away, smiling up at him, eyes and nose still running. "I'll see you later."

He smiled, too, wiping her wisps of blonde hair out of her face and wiping her eyes and nose with a handkerchief from his pocket. "Take it easy, alright?"

Claire let go, walking with weak legs to Zack. For the first time in days, she could finally breathe again.

***Author's Note***

Hi everyone! I'm sorry that the chapter is so long; I thought at first that if I split it into two, they'd both be too short of chapters. It turns out that it just ended up being a super-huge chapter! Haha! Anyway I've been working on this for the last few days (I usually finish a chapter in a few hours) because I wasn't too pleased with it at first. I kept going back in and revising… in fact I rewrote the whole part with Trent and Claire waking up in the beginning at least twice, as well as revised Claire's check up at the Clinic so many times! I kind of knew that if I didn't hurry up and get it turned in, I would just keep rewriting it and revising it. I think it turned out pretty much the way I wanted it, though! I think I just have to tell that to myself so I don't go back into it again. Haha.

Anyway, I wanted you guys to know that this fanfic is ready to come to a close. :( It's actually kind of sad because I've really enjoyed writing it. I plan on next chapter being the last, but I'm going to make it rather long because I want to add a lot of stuff in there. However, I've been thinking for a long time of making an additional chapter. I'm not going to say exactly all of my plans for it because they'd be some pretty huge spoilers, but it would involve a long segment of going outside of Mineral Town for a while, and I'm not sure if it would fit too well with the Harvest Moon fan fiction thing, y'know? I really like writing about all of the other characters besides just Claire and Trent, and if I did the chapter I'm thinking about, we'd meet some pretty imaginary characters that have nothing to do with Harvest Moon and stuff, so I'm not sure if that's exactly fair to everyone reading it. We shall see, I guess.

Although I haven't written the next/last/semi-last chapter yet, I have already had the outline ready since the first chapter I ever wrote. There might be a little bit of mature themes with Claire and Trent (not too mature, though! I'll try to constrain myself!) but anyway, if you're not comfortable reading that, then I'm sorry. I could write a PG version and just email it to you, haha! :P On another note, I'm really excited about finally writing it, because besides this one, it's been the chapter that I've been really keen on getting to since I started this whole fanfic. I'll just leave you guys with that thought. c:

I also wanted to thank you all for taking the time to read my work, as well as review, favorite, and follow it! I had no idea that people even read it, so when I heard all of the positive comments it made me really eager to keep going. I can't thank you guys enough for that! I will try to finish this fanfic the best way possible and I hope you guys enjoy the ending. c: When I'm finally done with this story, I'm going to go read the other stories about the website and return the favor of favoriting/reviewing/following them! So again, thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you all!

Oh, before I forget. I recently noticed that the breaks I put inside of the chapters through on my computer don't appear on the fan fiction website, at least they don't appear in the live preview. I hope that this isn't too troubling for you guys, and I will try to go in and fix it if I can. I can understand that it can be really confusing!

Thanks for the hundredth time! I'm sorry this note was so long!

All my love,

Jessi.