Chapter 18:

"No. I'm not doing this right now. I told you he would get crazy overprotective." Isabella tells mum.

"You were right. Sorry, cucciola. Calm down, Owen. Alexander is a good kid. He's lovely, actually. Your father likes him a lot too."

I look at them for a minute. "Fine. I won't make such a big deal. But I still want to meet him."

"Ugh, fine! He's in Hawaii visiting his dad. He's coming back in 3 weeks. I'll invite him to dinner, you can meet him then."

I nod. "Good."

I decide not to talk about the subject anymore. For now, anyway. We eat lunch and enjoy ourselves. Nonna Francesca asks Karen about her kids and she gladly tells her about them. We finish lunch and nonna says her goodbyes, saying she has a busy day at the bakery. We all thank her for lunch and Isabella offers to drive her.

Karen excuses herself and goes to her room.

I am left with my mum. "You want to go talk in the study? We can wait for your father there."

I nod. We walk across the living room and she opens the door to her study. The last time I was here there was only one desk, usually it was mum occupying it. Now though, they've changed the layout. Instead of one desk, there are two desks facing each other. Behind each desk there is a big bookshelf, both completely filled with books.

Mum walks to the desk on the left and sits behind it. I sit down on the chair in front of her.

"When did you guys change things in here?"

"About a year ago. Your father started working from home more, so we made space for him here."

I nod.

Mum's cell phone buzzes. She picks it up. "Your father says he's on his way. He shouldn't be long."

"Okay."

She looks at me and nods to my hand. "Is it too badly bruised?"

I raise my right hand, unwrap it, look at it and wince. My knuckles are swollen and purple. Scabs have started to form in the cuts that I got. I put my right hand on the desk and mum gasps. She takes my hand and runs her thumbs delicately over my knuckles.

"You didn't kill him, did you?" Because I really don't want to see you in jail."

I laugh. "No, I didn't. I probably would have if the policemen hadn't been there to stop me."

"Has Karen received any calls from the police asking if she's going to press charges?"

"I don't think so. She hasn't told me anything. I'll ask her though."

"We've already contacted our lawyers, they know the situation. The sentence is probably going to receive a lot of attention from the press. They're good with high profile cases. Here."

She opens her drawer and pulls out a card with the law firm and lawyers contact information.

"Thanks." I take it and put it in my pocket. "How long has Isabella been dating this guy?"

She laughs. "This is really bothering you, isn't it? They've actually been together for a little more than a year now. They met in History class. He's studying Art History."

"I've talked to Isabella on the phone enough times for her to tell me. She never mentioned him."

She raises her eyebrows. "Seeing as how you reacted just now, I can tell why."

I open my arms wide. "She's my little sister! How do you expect me to react?"

The door to the study opens and dad walks in. "I wouldn't have expected you to react any differently, son."

He closes the door, walks towards me and ruffles my hair. He walks behind my mum's desk and gives her a kiss.

"Your mother told me you wanted to talk to us both. How's Claire doing?" He sits on the chair next to mine.

I take a deep breath. "When Karen and I got there, it was basically pandemonium. There were reporters everywhere. We had to push our way through. The police got there a little while later and helped us get through. They told me they were going to call you, dad."

"Yes, yes. They did. We formed a very rough strategy, but tomorrow first thing in the morning I'm going down to the police station to perfect it. You and Karen have nothing to worry about."

I nod. "Great. Thanks, dad."

He smiles at me. "After that, Karen and I went to the ICU to see Claire and while Dr. Fukunaga was telling us that Claire had been responding to treatment, he was paged. I saw it in his face that something was wrong. So Karen and I followed him even though he told us to stay. We saw him trying to resuscitate Claire."

Mum gasps and covers her mouth. Dad's eyes widen. "My God."

"It took them 10 minutes to bring her back. They had to basically drag us out and after an hour, Dr. Fukunaga came out to tell us she was awake. I talked to her for a little bit and then… she dropped a bomb on me." I grab a pen from my mum's desk and start fiddling with it.

"What do you mean? What did she say to you?", mum asks.

I look up at them both. "She told me she was engaged 3 years ago. She said that was the reason why she came to New Haven, to apologize for how she reacted. Especially because she was hiding this important detail of her life."

Dad looks at me and asks, "What did you do? What did you say?"

I rub my face. "A million things went through my mind, but I decided to not say anything. I left the room. I didn't want to have a discussion with her, not in the state she's in. So I told her I would see her tomorrow."

My parents look at each other and I go back to fiddling with the pen.

"How are you feeling?", mum asks.

I look up at her. "She completely caught me by surprise. Of all the things she could've said to me, I definitely wasn't expecting that. But, when I was talking to nonna I realised that I don't care. I mean we're not like everyone else. We went on a date once and it went horribly. Then we went from ignoring each other for a long time, to dating each other again after being chased by a dinosaur. We haven't really being together long enough for us to get to know each other that well, but I know after a month of us leaving the island… that I love her. So I don't care if she was engaged before, because my feelings for Claire haven't changed. If anything, I'm surer of how I feel about her and I'm going to tell her that tomorrow."

Mum is smiling at me and I can tell dad is too.

"It feels right, doesn't it?", dad asks.

"It feels right."

I look at mum. "No woman gets to be loved by my son without my approval."

I laugh. "Come on!"

"Now you know how your sister feels."

I raise my hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. Point made." I remember my conversation with Karen. "I talked to Karen and I told her it was okay for Claire to stay here while she recovered. Are you guys okay with that?"

"Of course. We were talking about that last night, actually. We were going to tell you. We were thinking for her to stay in the pool house. It's big enough for Claire to feel comfortable in and she won't have to climb any stairs. What do you think?"

I nod. "Yeah, that sounds perfect. I'll stay with her, help her out as much as she needs to."

"I wasn't expecting anything less. Let us know when she'll be released so I can make sure everything is ready for her.", mum says.

"Thanks, guys." I stand up and hug them both.

As I climb the stairs to my room, I realise that I've told basically everyone in my life that I love Claire. The only person I haven't told is Claire. Let's see if I actually gather up the courage to tell her those 3 words.

There's this sense of things finally falling into place. I hope that feeling becomes a reality. I don't think I can stand any more tragedies. I want to have one of those lives that everyone gets bored of hearing. I don't want to keep being the guy who has the crazy, interesting stories; I'm past that now. I want to have an ordinary life, with an extraordinary woman of course.

I stay in my room thinking about what I'm going to say tomorrow to Claire. She's a businesswoman, so maybe being direct and straight to the point would be the best way to tell her. But there's also the possibility of me sounding too cold. I want her to understand how I feel about her. I don't want to down play it. I don't want to simplify it.

The hours pass by, night falls and I'm still nowhere near knowing how to tell Claire that I love her. I guess I'll just have to do it the Owen way. I'll wing it.

I wake up the next day so nervous, I'm basically shitting myself.

Literally.

If I say those words, that's it. It's all up to Claire. I would basically be ripping out my heart and handing it to her. If I say those 3 words, there's not taking them back.

Just get up. Get out of bed, Owen!

I shower and get dressed. It's 8am. I go down to the dinning room and there's no one there. I go to the kitchen and find the 3 maids getting breakfast ready.

"Good morning."

"Good morning.", the 3 of them say.

"We haven't been introduced. I'm Owen." I stretch out my hand to an older woman.

"Nice to meet you, sir. I'm Patricia."

"Isabella tells me you bake really good cookies. I would like to try them very much. I'm a sucker for cookies, Patricia."

She smiles. "Then I'll make sure there's always a batch around while you stay here."

"I would appreciate that very much. You must be Augusta, then."

I shake the hand of a younger woman, not as old as Patricia, but not as young as Teresa. "Yes, I am. It's nice to meet you."

"I hear you're super strong."

She laughs. "If you have trouble opening up a jar of pickles, I'll be glad to open it for you."

I point to her. "I'll definitely remember that."

"What would you be having for breakfast today, Owen?", Teresa asks.

"Same as yesterday, please. Could you throw some ham into my scrambled eggs?"

She nods. "Of course."

"Thanks."

I turn around and go wait in the dining room. I grab the newspaper that's sitting on the table and read it while I wait for my food.

Claire and I are front news. We don't get the front cover photo. Since it's debate season, that's the news they focus their attention more on. But we still get a good two pages worth of writing. They don't know much. The story is mainly resuming 'dinogate' and what happened two days ago. They mention the drunk driver and give some details about him. His name is David Castell, he's a 45 year old divorcée. Allegedly, he has been to rehab twice before and both times he's left the facilities before completing treatment. He's currently in jail awaiting trial. Which reminds me, I have to ask Karen if she knows something about it.

Teresa comes out of the kitchen with a tray and she places scrambled eggs with ham, a fruit salad and coffee in front of me.

"Thank you very much, T."

"You're welcome." She turns and goes back to the kitchen.

I continue reading the newspaper. I'm glad they haven't infiltrated the hospital. These journalists always manage to pay people off for information. At least they drew the line there. Or maybe they tried, but no one in the hospital accepted. Either way, I'm happy about that at least.

"Good morning."

"Good morning, Karen. Claire's on the newspaper." I pass it to her so she can read it.

Karen reads through it and her eyes stop at a certain part. "David Castell. Do you think what he did to Claire was his rock bottom?"

"I don't know. I want to say that I don't care but honestly, I feel sorry for him."

"Yeah, me too. I was thinking of all the things he had to have happened to him for him to reach this point."

"Well, at least being in prison will force him to sober up. Have you gotten any calls from the police regarding him?" I sip some coffee.

"I did last night. He already has a lawyer, they're waiting for me to press charges."

I pull out my wallet and give Karen the card mum gave me with the lawyer's contact information.

"My parents already talked to them and they know the case. They are just waiting for your call."

She takes the card and stares at it. "Owen, thank you. But I can't afford your lawyers."

I shake my head. "Don't worry about it. I'll be the one paying everything. This is for Claire and I want justice to be made as efficiently as possible. I don't want this to be a thing that's hanging over us. We should be focusing on Claire and only Claire. So don't worry about it. We should take advantage of the press' attention. If the lawyers build the case within the next week, then the court will feel pressured to give a resolution as fast as possible."

She nods. "Yeah, you're right. Thank you."

"No need to thank me."

Teresa brings Karen her breakfast and as soon as we are done eating, we are on our way to the hospital.

We step off the elevator into the ICU and we are greeted by yesterday's nurse. She buzzes us in and we wait for Dr. Fukunaga.

He is taking a while to show up. I'm starting to think that something happened again when I see him round a corner.

I relax.

"Good morning." He shakes our hands. "Sorry I left you waiting but I was reading Claire's latest blood work and everything looks good. We can now operate to get the skin graft she'll need to close the burn on her arm. You'll have to sign some papers, Karen. I want to do the surgery today, the faster we do this, the better it'll heal."

"Were will you be getting the skin from? A donor site?", Karen asks.

"No, the human body will only recognize skin that's your own. If we try to close her wound with a skin graft from a donor's site, her body will reject it within the next 3 weeks. That's usually a temporary solution. We are going to be taking a section of skin from her thigh. There will barely be any scarring. The method we use is very advanced. I have an opening, I can do the surgery in an hour."

"Oh, okay. Um, I'll sign whatever it's needed."

"Perfect, you can both see her today. One at a time and, like yesterday, 10 minutes each. I'll let the nurses know and they'll come for Claire in about half an hour to prep her for surgery."

We don't get to say anything other than 'thank you'. He leaves quickly to get everything ready for Claire's surgery.

"Go Karen. It's your turn now."

She smiles. "Okay."

I am left to my thoughts again. I can feel myself vibrating. I want this day to be over to be honest. By tomorrow morning I'll know what Claire said. I'll have my answer. I can't help but doubt if she'll say that she loves me too. The signs are all there, if I were looking from the outside, I would think she definitely loves me. But it's never that simple, at least not for us. She could be scared to the point of telling me she feels nothing for me. She could say that too much has already happened, that's it's obvious it's not going to work out. I don't know. I don't know what she's thinking.

I try sitting down, I try pacing back and forth, I try to just be, but nothing settles my nerves. I lean on the wall and pull out my phone to check the time and I see my lockscreen. I smile. I think of all the times in my life when I thought I would spend the rest of my days alone. When I had no family to talk to, no friends. No one I truly trusted. Then Claire came into my life and changed everything, albeit not immediately. That first stolen kiss felt like nothing I've felt before. I'm not nervous about the future. I'm nervous about how we'll start that future.

I'm so entranced watching my phone, I don't even hear Karen standing next to me.

"She looks really happy in that photo."

I turn my head and see Karen looking at my phone. "Yeah, that was the day of our second date. I surprised her by kissing her on the cheek. She wanted to delete it but I begged her not to. I love that photo."

"It's a really good photo."

I put the phone in my pocket. "Hey, how is she?"

"She had a bit of a rough night, but not because of her injuries."

I look down. I feel guilty. "Yeah. I guess I should fix that, huh?"

She smiles. "I guess you should."

I nod and start walking in the direction of Claire's room. My mind starts running once again. Just wing it, screw it. You always do that any way and most of the time things turn out fine. Please baby Jesus, let things turn out better than fine today!

I knock lightly on Claire's door and she turns her head towards me. I step in and close it. I look at her for a minute. Her eyes are swollen. Shit. That must've aggravated the pain on her ribs.

"You're angry.", she says.

I guess I was frowning. "I'm not angry."

"You look angry."

"I'm thinking."

"You look angry when you're thinking."

"Stop talking.", I say. I stand at the foot of the bed and cross my arms. "I was talking to my grandmother yesterday and she gave me a piece of advice that I think I'm going to follow."

"What advice?", she asks a little wary.

"We can't keep doing whatever the hell it is that we're doing. I can't keep doing it. I simply can't."

I hear her heart monitor spike a little. Word your thoughts better, asshole! You're going to give the woman a heart attack.

"Owen, I know I was wrong in reacting the wa-"

I raise my hand to stop her and shake my head. "I don't give a shit…" Her eyes widen a little. "… that you were engaged before."

A look of disbelief settles on her face. "What?"

I walk to the left side of her bed and sit on the chair. "I couldn't care less if you were engaged before. I'm not going to focus on the past. I'm going to focus on the present. I didn't tell you about my family and you didn't tell me about this person you were going to marry. I think we can call it even."

She's still looking at me in disbelief. "Wh- what are you saying?"

"Oh, am I not making myself clear?"

She shakes her head no slightly. "I don't think I'm following your train of thought."

"Okay, then I'll simplify it for you. I love you."

The look of disbelief in her face changes into one of a catatonic person. "Either you said what you just said or I've been given too much morphine."

"No, you heard right. I, Owen Grady, love you, Claire Dearing."

Her heart monitor really starts going crazy. To the point were I think nurses are going to rush in any moment now. She starts breathing really hard and I see her close her eyes. Her hand goes to her side.

"Wow, okay. I'm sorry. Probably should've chosen a better moment to say this. Claire, calm down. I'm so-"

"I love you too."

I freeze. "What?"

She starts to try and control her breathing. "I love you too."

She's looking at me, gauging my reaction. I put my elbows on the bed and cover my mouth. "This turned out better than I thought it would."

She laughs and winces again. "Sorry, I'm sorry. I keep forgetting you have broken ribs."

"It's okay. I like it when you make me laugh. Even if it's a little painful."

We look at each other. A smile starts slowly creeping onto our faces until we're both smiling like the Cheshire cat. I stand up and kiss her. Not for long so she doesn't have to take a big breath after.

I kiss her on the forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too."

I sit back down on the chair, lay my head next to her arm and close my eyes. I take a deep breath in.

We stay quiet. We don't say anything to each other. The 10 minutes I was supposed to be here have already passed, but since no one is telling me to leave, I won't. Dr. Fukunaga said half an hour, Karen was here 10, I guess I could stay 20.

I feel her fingers on my hair. She starts playing with it. I open my eyes.

"Doesn't your arm hurt?"

She shakes her head and keeps playing with my hair. "Not really. It's just a broken arm. If I raise it for too long it hurts, but since my elbow is supporting it, I'm okay."

I nod and close my eyes again. I'm not tired, but this urge to take the moment in overwhelms me.

"Owen?"

"Hmm?"

"What happened to your hand?"

I open my eyes and look at her. "I crossed paths with the guy who did this to you."

She pulls my hair a little. "Always so impulsive."

"His jaw will eventually heal." I say not regretting what I did for a minute.

"So will I."

"I know."

I guess this is the time to ask her if she wants to stay with me after she gets out of the hospital.

"Hey, I was wondering if maybe you would like to stay at my house when you're released? While you heal."

She looks at me. "Your parents house?"

I nod. "Yes. When I went to ask them, they said they were about to offer you a place to stay. Mum said the pool house is all yours if you want it."

She's smiling. "You fixed things with them?"

I smile. "Yeah, I did. They were here for a little bit. Isabella was too."

"They were?"

"Yeah. So? What do you say? Will you be staying at the Grady-Vernelli residence with this man as your humble servant?"

"Servant?"

"I'll do what ever your heart desires. What ever you need, you'll get."

She raises an eyebrow slightly. "I think I find the idea of having a servant is very appealing."

"Is that a yes?"

She bites down on her lower lip and nods. "Yes."

I stand up and do a happy dance. She laughs softly and I sit back down on the chair.

There's a knock on the door and Yolanda walks in.

"Sorry to interrupt. But I have to get Ms. Dearing prepped for her surgery."

I nod and stand up. "See you when you wake up, okay?"

"Okay."

I lean forward again and give her a peck. "I love you."

"I love you."

I smile at her one more time and walk out of the room. I walk to a corner and lean back on the wall.

This is it. I know it is. This is the day were everything starts. The first day of the rest of my life, and I couldn't be happier. I walk out of the ICU and see Karen. I smile at her like a crazy man and hug her. I even pick her up for the sake of it.

"I take it that you told her and she finally listened to me?"

I put her down. "I told her and she totally said she loved me! Wooo!" I do a happy dance again.

"Ah, finally! And for the record, I'm glad she chose you."

"Thanks, Karen. I'm glad she chose me too." I hug her again.

We walk out of the ICU and into the waiting area. I text Isabella and tell her about the new development. She replies immediately.

*What?! Oh my God! I'm so happy for you, big brother! You know what's next, right? *

*What? *

*You need to introduce us. *

*She accepted to stay at our house after she's released. You'll meet her then. *

*When's that going to be? *

*Don't know yet. I'll ask the doctor later today. *

*Okay. See you at lunch? *

*Don't think so. Claire's having surgery to cover up her burn. Probably be home by dinner. *

*Okay. I'll let mum and dad know. See you at dinner! *

*See you. *

Karen and I have to do the thing that I hate very much doing. We wait. 30 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour and an hour and a half later, we see Dr. Fukunaga approaching us. We stand up.

"How'd it go?", I ask.

"It went very well. She's still asleep, but she should be waking up any moment now. She's been moved to a regular room and you can both go in if you want. Go to the nurse station and they'll tell you her room number."

"Great, great. Thanks, doctor." We both shake his hand.

We go to the nurse's station and they tell us Claire is in room 354. We climb the elevator to the third floor and we look for 354. We open the door and we see Claire asleep, her left arm wrapped up in bandages. Her room is big, there's even a couch next to her bed, up against the wall. We sit there and wait for Claire to wake up. This type of waiting is not that bad.

Karen's cell phone starts ringing. "It's Scott." She stands up and leaves the room to answer her call.

I look at Claire and see the familiar scrunching up of her face.

She's waking up.

I stand up from the couch and kneel next to her bed. I cross my arms on top of the mattress and rest my chin on my arms. She opens her eyes slowly. I don't say anything. I just look at her.

She smiles softly at me. "Philadelphia.", she says with a hoarse voice.

I frown. "What?"

She smiles again. "Philadelphia."

I look at her confused. "Uh, some context I think would help me understand. 'Cause you saying Philadelphia is very vague and I can only think of one thing when you say Philadelphia."

"What do you think I mean by Philadelphia?"

I look at her as if she just asked me the most obvious question. "Duh, food. Cream cheese, that's where my mind goes. Are you hungry?"

She shakes her head. "God. No, I'm not hungry. I meant Philadelphia as in folder number 2."

Realisation dawns on me. "Oh! The pharmaceutical company. You made up your mind?" I nod. "I guess we're moving to Philadelphia, then."

She nods and smiles. "I guess we are."