At some point I had blacked out from the pain. When I woke, I had no idea how long I had been out. It was dark around me but not night time dark. It was a shadowy dark. I heard voices around me but couldn't make out what they were saying. Something wet touched my arm and it burned. I let out a whimper.

"Chloe? You awake?" A voice said to me softly.

The wet object was moved to my eyes, cleaning off the dirt and dried blood. I blinked a few times and looked at my arm that laid beside me. There was a gash that someone had been cleaning. I looked up at the source of the voice. Just now realizing I had been lying down.

"Hey," Simon smiled. He spoke softly but I could see relief washing over him. He brushed stray strands of hair from my face before they landed in my dry eyes.

I looked around. We were in a vehicle, probably SUV. Kit was driving, Tori was in the passenger seat with a bag of frozen peas on her face, I couldn't tell if she was awake or not, and Simon and Derek were sitting in this back seat with me laying across them. My feet were touching the side of Derek's leg and my head laid on a balled up towel in Simon's lap. Derek was in obvious pain but asleep, head against the cool glass window. From what I could see at my angle, he was black and blue. I tried to sit up and Simon put a hand on my shoulder, not forcefully but enough for me to get the hint not to move.

"You don't know what shape I'm in," I said.

Simon nodded, "You need to take it easy until we do."

I studied Derek's injuries that I could see from laying down.

"Dad gave him some pretty strong pain killers," Simon said.

"What happened?" I asked. My mouth was dry and tasted like copper.

Kit glanced back at me when he heard my voice.

"We showed up and found you guys. Derek said that guy had shown back up. He wouldn't say too much about what happened though, just kept saying sorry to you."

I closed my eyes. Remembering Derek lash out and let instinct guide him into a fight. I didn't blame him for not wanting to tell the others that. He was trying to prove he was a good werewolf and if they knew what happened, he probably thought that would mean they saw him differently.

"Chloe?" Simon asked. Thinking I had passed out again.

"Everything hurts," I said quietly.

"You weren't in good shape when we showed up. No offense but you look like you were mauled by a bear."

"Or a wolf," I heard. I looked up and Liz was sitting on the floor of the car facing me. "You called, I came as soon as I could."

"Liz is here," I said to Simon.

"Hi Liz," Simon said to the air. He held up the rag that he was using when I woke up. "Sorry Chloe, this is going to sting. But we have to make sure your cuts are cleaned."

He was trying to be as gentle as he could as he cleaned my arms so I stayed as quiet as I could. I sighed, Simon did so much for me. How was I ever going to repay him?

"Wait," I panicked. "You don't have any cuts on you, do you?"

Simon shook his head, "This isn't my first werewolf blood rodeo, I know what I'm doing. Just relax."

I forced myself to calm down.

"How is he?" I asked about Derek. Thinking a change of topic might help.

"He'll be fine but he took a hell of a beating. He wouldn't let us see if any ribs were broken though, because of the blood, so we can't be sure what shape he's in."

"How long ago was it?" I ask.

Simon shrugged, "We've been on the road for two hours maybe."

A flash of needle-like pain shot up my spine and I gasped. Unable to breathe. The taste of copper filled my mouth and I spit blood out into my hands.

"Chloe!" Simon tried not to yell but he was scared at this sudden turn.

The pain subsided.

"I'm okay," I said. Moving slowly and wincing a lot, I moved my arm to take the cloth from Simon.

He brought it up to my mouth and cleaned up the blood for me.

"No you're not." Simon looked up at Kit. "Dad can you pass back a water."

Kit handed him one and it passed through Liz. She gasped, mock offended. It made me smile.

"Here, try drinking some."

Simon helped me sit up without waking Derek. I took a few sips of the water and sighed.

"Internal bleeding?" I asked instead of letting myself think it was my body going through change aftershocks or something.

Simon's expression was clear he didn't like the sound of internal bleeding. But if it was, there was nothing he could do right now.

"Are you going to tell them the story?" Liz asked me.

"No Liz," I answered her.

Simon looked curious but didn't press on what we were talking about. I laid back down. I had so many more questions but I felt like I had bombarded Simon enough. And if I asked too many, he would start asking some back.

"Relax Chloe, everything is okay now," Simon said. "I'm here to take care of you."

I looked at him confused and my eyes followed him as he unclenched my hands. I hadn't realized that I was doing it. I turned my attention back to Derek. Bruises and cuts all over. He had fought Alpha tooth and nail. It was hard to tell his expression but his hands were fidgeting. Whatever the pain medicine was doing, it wasn't enough. I reached for his hand with a little help from Simon. The tension in Derek's shoulders seemed to lessen as my fingers ran over his.

I looked up at Simon, expecting to see him looking away or have a look of jealousy or something like that. But all I saw was care in his eyes. He saw the effect I had on Derek and how much Derek cared for me. Simon looked down at me and smiled.

"Thank you." He said quietly. I wasn't sure what he was saying thank you for.

Derek mumbled something and we both looked over at him.

"Did he say something?" Simon asked me.

"I said shut it," Derek repeated and opened his eyes. Well, as best he could given the swollen bruises around them.

"How're you feeling?" I asked.

Derek's gaze landed on me and he just grunted. He examined my injuries and guilt swam in his eyes. I squeezed his hand gently, careful not to touch any of the cuts. I opened my mouth to ask him again and the needles shot through my back again. I bit down hard to hold back the blood as I started coughing. But it trickled down from the corner of my mouth.

"Chloe?!" Derek shot up, ignoring his injuries.

"I'm fine," I said in between coughs.

"Dad," Simon called to him worriedly.

I didn't hear what Kit's response was. The coughing passed and I gasped for breath for a minute, holding tight onto Derek's hand as everything around me got darker and darker. I closed my eyes and forced myself to breathe normally. I wheezed like I was recovering from an asthma attack but I could breathe. I didn't want to open my eyes and see how light headed I was. Right now I didn't know which way was up.

Simon used the cloth on my chin again. I wheezed out a soft thanks.

I heard Liz say to me, "Chloe, you need to see a real doctor. That man did something to you."

"Later," I told Liz.

"Who's she talking to?" Derek asked Simon.

"Liz," Simon answered.