I was sitting alone in what looked like an empty hospital wing. If I was right, this place would be a St. Elsewhere. The furniture I sat on was as stiff and dirty as the place looked. I heard water dripping from a pipe nearby and looked down to see there was definitely a puddle forming. God, that dripping was enough to drive a man insane. From the looks of this place, I don't dare want to move even though I know I oughta.

There was one noise that was enough to make me move though: a baby's cry. I jolted up from my seat and ran to go see what the ruckus was about. That poor baby sounded like it was in distress. I ran into the left room all the way down the long hall and found Scout lying in a pool of her own blood. The sweat that rolled off her body and the tears that rolled down her face was incredible. There was no baby in sight and the cries stopped once I reached her room.

"What the fuck did you do?!" I yelled at her.

"I tried," she gasped. "I tried so hard."

"Trying's not doing, is it?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Don't you ever scare me like that again!"

I was mad and I didn't know why at the time. I went to her bathroom and grabbed a towel to try to wipe her face with. She was a pitiful, messy sight and I was going to clean her up. She flinched when I grabbed her face and put the towel in front of her.

"Don't! I'm too raw; you'll hurt me!"

"I can only hurt you if you don't trust me."

"Please, I'm begging you. Please don't."

I didn't listen no matter how loud she pleaded with me otherwise. I wiped under her eyes first and sure enough I left a gash. I steady burst of blood flowed with her new tears. I tried the other eye and the same thing happened. I must have been out of my mind because the more blood that showed up, the more I would wipe it away only to make matters worse.

"It burns!" Scout began to shriek. "It's literally burning!"

"Stop crying, then."

"I can't stop. Why are you doing this to me? Can't you see that you're hurting me?"

"You hurt yourself first."

The sound of my alarm clock woke me up. Ever since Thanksgiving when she told me about her possible pregnancy and her possible miscarriage I had been having bad dreams about her every night. The one I just had was the worst one yet and the thing that upset me more than the dream was the fact that I was going to have to face her soon. She was coming back to New York which was why I was getting up early to meet her at the station. I didn't know how I was going to look her in the eye now.

I go to the bathroom to shave, shower, and dress all in a daze. Bad dreams and early mornings do not mix well. When I was finally out the door, I was happy to see that there was a taxi cab already outside the apartment complex waiting for business and even happier when we got to the station with no real traffic problems. I think I will take this as a good omen. Must be New York knew Scout Finch was coming back to her.

"Dill!"

A sweet, familiar voice rang out through the station from the platform I was looking for. She was here already and I didn't know if that meant she was early or I was late. It didn't matter because all I cared about was us being reunited again. I could see her again and she was happy. She smiled big at me and I couldn't help but smile at her when I walked over to her. I took her face in my hands and just looked at her for the longest time. I could tell by the way she was smiling that she didn't mind.

"Are you going to kiss me or not?" She asked. How could I say no? I gave her lips the softest peck I could possibly give and she looked at me stunned.

"You kiss me like you're afraid you're going to hurt me."

"Maybe I don't want to."

"Well, I'm glad you don't."

"What do you want to do?"

"Go home and go to bed. No sex, just sleep."

"We can do that."

That's exactly what we did. We hailed another taxi; talked laughed and held hands in the backseat all the way to back to the apartment; and then headed into the bedroom to sleep together for the first time in a week.

"I'm so happy you're back," I said as I rubbed her face.

"I'm happy to be back," she replied as my hand worked it's magic on her face. Her eyes slowly shut as she drifted off to sleep. Once I knew she was in a deep sleep, I kissed her forehead and wrapped my arm around her. It wasn't long until I fell asleep myself and dreamed only of good things for a change.