I'm going to go ahead and apologize for the long delay for this chapter. Both myself and my beta/muse were in school and our schedules did not overlap in any helpful ways. But finals are over for us (until January) so for the time being we are back at it while we can, when we can.

oOo

Theo had been giving her a circular shaped pill every four hours. They made her feel loopy and very lightheaded but they also made the pain in her leg, arm, shoulder and face stop throbbing so intensely for a while. He also gave her one very large pill that was an antibiotic to prevent infection. When he wasn't playing doctor, he was sleeping, even though Hans and Kristoff were awake. Kristoff left occasionally to hit up the vending machines, but otherwise nobody left the room. Hans scribbled in his notebook, occasionally sharing a few words with Kristoff, but mostly he remained silent. They left the TV on for Charlie to watch but it was a wasted act of contrition because she only sat in bed staring ahead numbly in shock. Probably from the painkillers too. Hans' words still echoed in her mind. Nobody is looking for you.

She was so stuck in her moment of self pity and hopelessness that she barely registered when Theo woke up, or when he and Kristoff left to grab a late lunch around 3:00 PM. She wasn't sure how long they'd been gone, and only really realized they had left when the silence was broken.

"You can't expect to just sit around and pout from now on." Hans said from where he sat at a small table a few feet away.

She slowly, languidly drew her gaze from the spot on the wall to look around the empty room, before her eyes landed on him. Again, he hadn't even looked up from his notebook to properly address her. Ass. She thought, and resolved not to answer him. Not to give him the satisfaction of knowing he'd gotten to her.

"Or not," He continued. "I don't care eitherway. Honestly, I like you better when you're mouth is shut-"

"You're an asshole." She said softly. Now he did look up.

"Excuse me?"

"You are… an… asshole." She repeated slowly. "You didn't have to bring me along."

"You're right," He agreed. "I could have killed you."

"You could have dropped me off at a real hospital."

"I already told you why I couldn't do that." He countered.

"I was out for two days. That's a bullshit excuse."

"I had no way of knowing when you'd wake up."

"…All the more reason not to drag me around." She insisted.

Slowly, he closed his notebook, and set it on the table while he took off a pair of reading glasses she had just noticed, folded them, and placed them on the book. All the while he was saying, "You're sounding very… ungrateful, for someone who owes me their life." In truth, she had been making excellent points that he was not prepared to answer.

"You could have been left to blow up on the roof with the rest of the hostages." He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers together in front of his face. The way he was staring at her over his fingers reminded her of being back in the Nakatomi building. In Holly's office, while outside the police RV exploded, the light of the fire dancing over their faces. Her heart raced then too. His eyes were dangerous. Predatory even. Letting her know exactly who she was in their cat and mouse game.

"You think I should be thanking you?" She scoffed, though sounding nervous. "For ruining my life?"

"Ruining it?" He asked. "How about sparing it? Saving it?"

"How about the fact that you endangered my life in the first place? It's your fault to begin with." She retorted. "Normal people don't try to kill someone, and then expect a "thank you" just for not kicking them while they're down."

"I suppose not." He conceded, "But I bet normal people wouldn't shoot you without batting an eye, would they?"

"Fuck you, Hans!" She snapped, her voice breaking.

He smirked. She seethed. He'd gotten to her. The silence returned for a while.

Her painkillers wore off pretty soon after that, and in her stupor she had forgotten how bad the pain was. She'd been able to cope with it because the pills numbed it down to a dull ache that only really hurt whenever she moved too quickly. Now it hurt whether she was moving or sitting still. There was no coping with this. Her whole leg felt like it was on fire. Her arm was pretty bad too but at least it only hurt in one area. Her bullet wound on the other hand was excruciating. Her chest, shoulder and neck on the front and the back throbbed with a pain unlike she had ever felt before. On top of it all, the heat seemed to intensify with every beat of her heart which beat more as her blood pressure rose.

"Are you alright?" He asked. She figured her labored breathing probably interfered with his reading.

"I'm fine." She tried to sound sarcastic but couldn't focus long enough to bother and instead sounded out of breath. It hurt so bad.

"You're perspiring."

Trying not to sound like she completely hated the guy, she said. "…I could really use.. more of those painkillers."

"I'm not sure where they are." He replied, but they both knew he was lying.

"I'll find them myself." She replied, momentarily forgetting that she couldn't even stand. For a split second she decided she could handle whatever pain she needed in the next minute if it got one of those pills in her stomach. She got as far as both feet over the side of the mattress and planted on the floor before she was quickly reminded and proven wrong.

"No don't-!" Hans started to say as she shifted from the bed, preparing to stand.

She yelped as every stitch pulled at once against red swollen skin. Torn muscle ripped itself further as it flexed even for a split second. Falling back against the bed, she gripped the mattress tightly with both hands and gritted her teeth against the pain that lingered. Gasping heavily in place of screaming. At some point she unclenched her shut eyes and saw Hans standing from where he'd jumped up. He was leaning toward her as if ready to jump again, and to her surprise, he actually did look worried.

"Please, Hans… I need it." Tears streamed down her face.

"Stay." He said and then turned and walked out the door.

"Where are you going?" She asked right before the door shut behind him.

She tried to stand again- taking it much slower this time- but still couldn't put her weight on the leg. Crying in pain again, she wound up sliding to the floor, gasping for breath. A while later the door behind her opened and then closed again. She hoped it was Theo and Kristoff returning, but when the person walked into view she was only a little disappointed to see that Hans had returned. He was carrying the ice bucket in one hand and what could only be a bottle of her pain pills in the other. She figured they must have been in his pocket. He came around the side of the bed where she was on the floor and knelt next to her, taking the bag of ice out of the bucket.

"I thought I told you to stay put." He said as he put the bag of ice against the area of her skin that had the worst cuts and looked the reddest.

She groaned again as the mere touch flared up more pain, but then couldn't deny that the cool ice was having a slight numbing effect and was doing wonders to counteract the burning sensation of her inflamed flesh. Her shallow breathing began to slow as she started to calm down.

"I th-thought you weren't supposed to leave the room." She finally answered.

He slid the bag of ice along her thigh, underneath the gown she was still wearing to the curve of her hip. "It was a risk I was willing to take under the current circumstances." He handed her the bottle of pills with his other hand and she took two, swallowing them dry.

He raised an eyebrow at this but otherwise didn't mention anything. "Better?" He asked.

She said nothing, still feeling like an idiot for trying to stand. As she wiped the tears from her face she gasped when she accidentally pressed too hard against her left cheek. Immediately Hans took the bag of ice from her hip and placed it gently against her face. She couldn't help the contented sigh that escaped her lips, and she wasn't surprised when he lifted his other hand to gently wipe the tears from her other cheek.

"You don't really have plans to let me go, do you?"

"Really?" He asked with an edge to his voice. "This again?" He shuffled from crouching over her on his feet to sitting next to her on the floor, taking the ice away from her face to place it back on her thigh. Cold drops of condensation dripped down her leg.

"Why would I tell anyone anything?" She asked. "I'm the one who opened the safe, why would I jeopardize myself like that?"

"I don't know, Charlie." He sighed. "It's complicated."

"Then uncomplicate it." She replied carefully, trying to keep her temper out of her voice.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye for a second, before staring out the window. "You know, we had planned for everything- the heist I mean. We had taken into account every possible detail, planned for any conceivable hiccups and we had backup plans in case anything did go wrong…" He trailed off.

As they sat there, she could feel the medicine digesting in her stomach, slowly working through her system. "And?" She asked when he didn't continue.

"What?"

"You had all these plans… and?"

He slid the ice pack along her leg toward her knee, pressing a little harder than necessary. "And, it still went horribly wrong. John McClane slipped through our roundup, ran around spoiling our fun, my friends and comrades were killed or arrested… and then there's you." As he said the last part, he slowly slid the melting bag of ice back up her leg again, and it wasn't lost on her. And slowly, the pieces started to fall into place. Not all at once- there were still some things that were unclear to her- but one thing was for sure; he had brought her along for personal reasons. At some point, he had become possessive of her. The revelation made the muscles along her core tighten in a delightful way. If her face hadn't already been flushed from her current situation she would have blushed.

"Me? Did I somehow also ruin your plans?" She asked, trying to keep her voice even and not betray the new emotions suddenly flooding her.

"In a way." He said and to her surprise he actually chuckled a bit. "But if I'm being honest, you are also the reason we were able to get away in the end. If not for you, we would still have been trying to get into the vault when McClane got there. We'd be in jail… or dead."

She was silent for a moment. This was the closest she would get to a sincere "thank you" from him, and strangely it did make her feel good, despite the fact that she had helped him pull off a crime. "So… you're saying it's my own fault I'm here?" She finally spoke.

"What? No that's not at all-" He started to argue but then he saw the look she was giving him and shut up. It was still the sad defeated look she'd worn since she woke up, but now slightly mischievous and playful. It was only there for a second, but then it was gone and he desperately wanted it back.

"Only teasing." She spoke softly.

"Yes, I caught that." He replied, a small smile on his lips. They both fell silent, and after a few seconds she was the one to break their gaze.

"You must be hungry." He said, changing the subject.

"I thought Theo and Kristoff went out to get food?"

"They did…" He said, glancing over his shoulder to the door as if he expected them to walk in right then. They didn't. "I wonder what's taking them so long."

"…You don't think they ran into trouble, do you?"

"Can't imagine why." He replied, facing forward again and gazing out the window. "It's not like they're the most wanted in America right now."

By now the medication was fully in effect, and the world had gained a sort of fog around the edges, not unlike being high or drunk. It was like fighting sleep.

"I need clothes." She stated, picking idly at the gown she was wearing. It was now stained with her blood. She noticed that the clothes he was now wearing were not the ones from the other night.

"…Yes, we'll get on that," He replied, glancing over her. "Later tonight."

Later tonight? She wondered and glanced at the alarm clock on the night stand. It was already after 7:00 PM.

Noticing her confusion, Hans said "Once they return, and you've eaten, we will pack up and leave."

With an inaudible sigh, she nodded her understanding and moved to lift herself back on the bed. When she started to move, he was quick to offer assistance. Wrapping one arm around her back under her arms, and the other under her knees, he carefully lifted her back to the mattress.

"Can I take a shower?" She asked, glancing up to see his face. He froze for a second and so did she when she realized their lips were just a few short inches apart.

He recovered first, considered her request for a moment, but said "The doctors warned us not to get your stitches wet for at least a week." She could see a slight blush creeping up under his collar.

"…can I try to wash my hair?"

"If you really want to." He conceded. "Do you need help?"

She was about to tell him to 'fuck off' but quickly realized that she actually did. "Only getting up, and in there." She admitted, and he carefully helped her to her feet, allowing her to lean on him as they slowly made their way to the small bathroom, her mostly good arm slung over his shoulders again. His hand on her hip was hard to ignore, especially since she didn't think it was necessary.

"Does it still hurt?"

"Not so much anymore… since the pills kicked in." She answered as they went through the door.

He lowered her on the side of the tub, and then stood up, waiting as if he expected her to say something.

"I've got it from here." She said, and it still took him longer than necessary to leave.

"Just… just call me if you need anything." He said, and then closed the door behind him. She waited until she heard his footsteps walk away before letting out a shaky sigh. If he was developing feelings toward her then maybe she could still find a way out of this alive.