I really hope you like this chapter. I believe this truly marks a turning point in their trust. I feel that they are becoming more comfortable with each other. It just came so naturally and I know I may not be writing a very good "canon" Stiles but this just felt so right to me and I hope y'all are just as satisfied. Okay, enough gushing XD

The next time I open my eyes, I'm in a room with a monitor, and Clark is beside me in a chair. He's alert and aware of his surroundings so the moment I'm awake he's next to me handing me a small plastic cup of water. "I said no hospitals." I grumble.

"Too bad." He retorts and I look at him. "You've got three broken ribs and a cracked one. One of the broken ones on the right almost punctured your lung. They wrapped your ribs to help them not shift as much but they want you on bed rest for at least a week." This sounds like a lecture.

"But what about the-" I try to ask but he's quick to cut me off.

"The Merchant is not your responsibility anymore. You need rest so that you can heal." He says and I try to argue.

"Dude, I can rest once I'm back home." I say but he's not having it.

"We don't know when you'll get back home, and until then, you are my responsibility. You will do as I say and I'm saying you are going to rest." Boy, he sure is bossy. "I know you are stubborn but I'm faster, stronger, and a lot more hard headed."

"Are you threatening me?" I ask and he gives me a serious look.

"No, I'm simply telling you that if you don't rest, I'll be there to make you rest." He crosses his arms across his chest and I can tell he means business.

"Yes sir." I answer and he rolls his eyes at me.

"Also, Stiles, I want to officially apologize for my actions a couple days ago. It was not fair of me to assume that you went out of your way to find the Merchant, and if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't have ever sent you away on your own. Manjaro could have easily killed you, and if I would have been there, you probably wouldn't be in that bed right now. Therefore, I am deeply sorry." His apology felt extremely sincere, almost as if he blamed himself for what Manjaro had done, and I couldn't accept that.

"Clark, you can't blame yourself for what happened. Manjaro would've gotten to me sooner or later." I try to persuade him but it isn't working.

"No, Stiles, I should have been with you. I knew better. Please, accept my apology." My goodness, his sad eyes were making me feel guilty for not accepting it, even if I didn't feel like I should.

I let a sigh escape me. "Fine, I accept your apology." I say. "Can we please get out of here now?"

"Now that you're awake I'm sure we can start the process." He smiles and I know that's what Derek would look like if he ever felt a positive emotion.

"Wait, your actions from a couple of days ago?" I ask confused and his expression dims again.

"You passed out two days ago before I brought you here. You've been in and out since then but officially woke up today." He explains and I exhale loudly. "Hey, it's ok. Clearly you needed the-"

"Rest, yeah, I get it." I huff.

Five hours later and they finally release me. Getting dressed was a challenge. Every moment had me flinching, or wincing, and I knew that once the pain killers wore off, I'd be hurting pretty bad. "Maybe a week of bed rest won't be the worse thing." I think to myself as I gasp at the movement of pulling my shirt on.

Clark takes the liberty of stepping away once we're out of the building and coming back as Superman. "Ride for one?" He says cheekily and I want to facepalm. Was he always such a goofus?

"Why does Superman have to take me?" I ask and Clark explains.

"Have you seen the potholes in this city?" I catch his drift and nod.

This was the first time I had been awake while he carried me. It wasn't as embarrassing as I thought it would be, still a little awkward, but the scenery was probably the most beautiful thing I had ever witnessed, aside from Lydia Martin.

Lights glimmered across the water, the dark making them glow like dust from a genie lamp, golden and shimmering. The harbor looked different from up here, the bridge that goes across is lit up by vehicles with their headlights and tail lights, and I wonder if it's always this beautiful. We fly over the park, snippets of what happened there come back to me, and I tense a bit.

"You ok?" Clark asks and I shake my head yes. I feel him tighten his hold anyway.

Once we're to his apartment he sneakily, and very quickly, flies through an open window. He carefully sets me down on the couch and then goes and changes. He joins me a minute later on the couch and we talk about how cool it is to fly. I mention how cool the harbor looks at night and he agreed. The lights make it seem magical. He then asked me what caused me to tense up as we went over the park. I told him it was nothing but he didn't really seem to believe me.

"It was like a game of cat and mouse." I tell him. "The more he hurt me, the more reaction he got from me, the happier he seemed to be. At one point he grabbed me by the legs, began shaking me violently, and then let go. He seemed to really enjoy seeing me struggle to catch my breath after I slammed into the ground." My eyes are burning as I think about it. "That's not even the worst part, either. After he grabbed me he kept shaking and squeezing to force me to try and fight him off. I was ready for him to just kill me, heck, for a minute I wanted him to." A tear rolls down my face and I wipe it off. "But hey, what am I saying, I'm here, we're here, and Manjaro, he's gone. Can't say I'm going to mourn him."

Clark is looking at me with a solemn expression. "Stiles, that sounds like torture." His voice sounds pained. "I'm so sorry, I should've been there, I could have prevented all of that."

"Clark, you may be Superman, but you can't prevent every bad thing that happens." I reassure him but it doesn't seem to help. "Besides, you saved my life multiple times since I've been here, and I can't tell you how glad I am that you cared enough to do so. I'm a random stranger and yet you rescued me like four times now in two weeks." He laughs and it makes me smile.

"Don't worry, Lois is still in the lead." He informs me and I believe him.

"Just when I thought I was special." I smirk.

"Just for the record," he says, "it's really hard to not care about you, Stiles." He looks at me and gives me a genuine smile. That's one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.

Well? What did you think? Hopefully you had good thoughts lol