***Trigger Warning***

My sleep is disrupted by an annoying beeping sound. "Turn it off." I groan and scoot away from my kryptonite.

When it doesn't silence, I sit straight up. I knew that sound anywhere. Someone's IV pump was beeping. It must be my patient's IV. I had to get it to stop.

A deep voice brings me back to reality. "Sorry, I don't know how to make it stop or if I'm even allowed to touch it."

I feel a million times better seeing Brexton. "It's okay, I can do it in my sleep at this point."

His eyes burn holes in the back of my head as I reprogram my pump. "What happened? Why am I in the hospital?"

"You're the one who owes me an explanation. You shot yourself Lyra." His voice is laced in anger. He's mad at me.

My head aches as all the memories come flooding back. "Inara." Is all I can think to say.

The anger vanishes from his face. "She's, umm okay. She's up in the ICU. She's alive, but she's in critical condition. I've been going back and forth between you guys' rooms."

The ICU? I start to remove my IV. "I need to see her."

He pulls my hand off my IV. "You need to heal. You were shot too."

"I'm fine, it was only in the shoulder. I need to check the meds they're giving her. Some of the doctors here really don't know what they're doing. I have to..."

"No." Brexton interrupts. "You're not going anywhere. It's not your job to save everyone."

He stands next to my bed. "I won't let you neglect yourself again."

Something about his words makes me emotional. It's been so long since I've had anyone take care of me. I'm always the caretaker, not the one being cared for. I don't know what to do in this new role.

My eyes blur with tears. "I'll wait until the doctor clears me, but when I see her I'm going to push for discharge."

He says nothing.

"Are you okay?" I ask after a too-long-for-comfort silence.

He sighs. "We're all alive. Everything else can wait until you're recovered."

That definitely didn't sound like he's okay. "Talk to me. I'm not as fragile as I look right now, I promise. There's too much going on to put anything off, including talking to me."

When he doesn't speak, I continue. "Please Brexton, I can't stand you being mad at me. That's worse for me than ripping my IV out."

He scratches his head. "Why didn't you tell me?"

I don't have ask what he's referring to, I already know.
"You wouldn't have let me go through with it."

"If I would've said no, don't you think there'd be a good reason for it? Like, I don't know, maybe you could've died?"

I know he's right. Keeping everyone out of the loop only made things more dangerous. I could've gotten us all killed. I messed up. "I'm sorry. I should've told you. I risked all of our lives and I feel awful about it."

"I thought you trusted me." He says huskily.

I reach for his hand and am grateful when he doesn't pull away. "I did. I do. I just know that you're really protective of me, which I love, but I'm protective of you too. That's why I did all this. It was extremely stupid of me, but I had good intentions."

He uses his thumb to draw circles on the back of my hand. "It was stupid, but it was also brave and selfless."

My eyes go from our intertwined hands to his entrancing eyes. "It was?"

To my disappointment, he avoids meeting my gaze. "You went to meet up with your murderous ex and challenged him. You risked your freedom and your life for my sister and I. I can't think of anything more selfless."

I feel warm inside until he releases my hand. "I appreciate what you did, but if you ever do something like that again you and I are going to have problems."

I nod. "I won't."

He smirks. "Good cause I really want to hug you."

I open my arms for him. He squeezes me so tight I can barely breath. "I'm sorry about Inara."

"It's o-okay." I can feel his tears soaking my shirt, but when he pulls away moments later his face is stoic and dry. "By the way, I spoke to the police and they want to talk to you as soon as you're feeling up to it."

I was more than ready to talk to them this time. "What did you tell them?"

"I didn't have to say much, they heard you say Brant did it before you lost consciousness."

I grin, happy to hear that I played a part in his downfall. "Brexton?"

"Yeah?"

He licks his lips. "I love that you keep saying my name."

"Come here." I motion him closer. He does as I ask.

I catch myself staring at his lips as I speak. "I'm going to tell them Brant shot those nine girls." I say, just above a whisper.

He shakes his head. "What? No! Those girls need justice, I need to pay for what I did to them."

I choose my next words very carefully, knowing that this was a delicate topic for him. "This isn't your fault, it's Brant's. He's responsible for all of this. What you did was save your sister. Those girls all cared about her. They wouldn't want you to pay for Brant's mistakes. Justice is getting him behind bars."

He nuzzles his head into my neck. "I don't know. It feels like I'm getting off too easily."

I play with his dark, velvety hair. "Well, unfortunately for you I only promised I'd tell you if I was planning to do something. I never said I'd listen if you say no."

He kisses my neck. "I'll talk to Inara and see how she feels about your little plan. Don't count on her liking the idea though."

"I want to come with you to visit her."

"Only if the doctor says it okay for you to leave this bed." He checks me out, then adds. "If she says you can't leave, then I'm tying you down. I learned a thing or two about restraints during my time with you."

I'm about to respond, but a knock on the door stops me.

I clear my throat. "Come in."

The doctor comes in and to my joy, tells me I am good to go. I tell her not to, but Brexton insists on having her teach him how to redress my wound and when to give me my medicine. He listens attentively and asks her a dozen questions.

When he's confident in his ability to care for me, we go to see Inara.

I don't know what to expect when we enter her room, but I'm happy to see her bright eyes staring at us.

"Lyra!" She squeals.

I run to her side. "Hey how are you feeling?"

"Better now that you're here! Come here, I need a hug from my best friend." I hug her, deliberately avoiding her injured abdomen.

"I'm so sorry about everything Inara! I should've never let those creeps take you."

She playfully hits me on my good shoulder. "Stop it! There's no way you could've known!"

Brexton comes behind me. "I'm glad you're awake, now I can do this."

He grabs an extra pillow sitting on her chair and hits her gently on the arm with it. "Never take another bullet for me! I could've lost you!"

She sticks her tongue out at him. "I'd do it again. What are you going to do about it, kill me?"

Brexton gives her a death glare. "Not funny."

I smile at her with my teeth. "We're just happy you're alright."

"I didn't have a chance to not be, you guys would be a mess without me."

"I'd have no one to fight with me." Brexton teases.

I laugh. "I'd have no one to almost hit me with their car."

"Oh, I almost forgot!" I sit the brown plastic bag I brought her on her food tray. "Steak salad. I checked with your nurse and she said you could eat it."

She claps her hands together. "You are officially my favorite!"

I smile, remembering the time she brought me food when Brant poisoned me. "Just returning the favor."

She wastes no time digging in, bringing a large bite to her mouth.

I didn't want to overwhelm her with questions but something was bothering me. "Can I ask you a question?"

She flips her bouncy blonde curls over her shoulder and takes another bite before answering. "Mhmm."

"Why did you come back? I told you to go talk to the police so you wouldn't have to see what I was about to do."

"I heard shooting." Inara says sheepishly. "What do you mean, what were you about to do?"

Brexton and I exchange a look. "I sort of shot myself a little bit."

Inara drops her fork. "LYRA!"