"If I were a man I'd make my move,

If I were a blade I'd shave you smooth,

If I were a judge I'd break the law,

And if I were from Paris…

If I were from paris,

I would say Oo la la, la la la la la."

-Grace Potter, Paris

!

Borrowed Time

!

"What did ye do? Put it in the wrong hole? She's spewin' like a keg!"

Patch shot Rixon a sharp look, his face pinched with heavy thoughts. Nora thought she recognized a twinge of embarrassment there too.

"Gah!" She gasped, cringing as the Irishman dabbed at her leaking wound with an alcohol-soaked swab of cotton. It came away red with her blood.

"Will ye refrain from strenuous activity from now on?" Rixon asked, giving her a good poke in the swollen skin just below the wound on her side.

Nora hissed, poking her bottom lip out. "Ow! Fine."

"Hold this on it," he said, handing her a dish towel.

Nora pressed her head back against the cushions of the couch. She didn't feel good, not at all. Her insides were like jell-o, squiggly and jittery. Her body felt like it weighed ten tons. She was hot, but her sweat was cold, making her shiver.

"Does anyone know where my pills are?" she whispered, closing her heavy eyes.

"I put them in my purse, babe. Need some?"

"Yeah. Losing blood isn't exactly healthy for someone that already lacks a stable amount of iron," Nora joked weakly.

Vee reached behind her and grabbed her bag off the coffee table. Nora could already hear the clacking of her iron pills against the plastic bottle and it was a big relief that her friend had remembered them. She felt terrible. Vee popped a pill out and dropped it into Nora's mouth. She swallowed it without water.

There was a faint vibrating noise and the cell phone in Patch's hands lit up. Dejectedly, Nora wondered if it was Marcie. In fact, she knew that it was. Probably spouting all manner of ill-will towards her, trying to convince him to come over and cozy up in her king-sized canopy bed.

Nora scowled and turned her back to them. Besides, she already felt like her stomach was a caged animal just dying to get out.

"Feeling alright, Angel?" he asked.

"Fine, thanks," she spat, imbuing just a bit more venom in the two words than she had meant to.

!

I am SO sorry. This is all I've written, and I felt like you guys deserved something. A lot has happened since the last chapter.

I moved into my first apartment on Thanksgiving. I got my first ferret, as well. Her name is Bon Bon, and she's precious. Three of my friends from high school died before Christmas, also. Respectively, from alcohol poisoning, a car accident, and the third was hit by a drunk driver.

This fic is officially on HIATUS. I will tell you why, and I hope you will forgive me! I've recently finished my first full length novel. I'm on an endeavor to become a published author, and believe it or not, it's a full time job. So I've switched from writing fics to rewriting my 60,000 words until it is perfect. Thank you to all who reviewed and favorited. I love it.

And last but not least, I implore that you read Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken and also Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series. LOVE!

Happy writing and hopefully you'll be hearing from me again soon!