Hopefully this one is a little bit better edited. Of course, it could be just as rough...considering I just worked a 15 hour day. Woohoo!

As always, I LOVE reviews! I just realized that this story has 66 of them...that's a record for me! :-) Thanks so much everyone!

Two weeks into what I began to think of as my "home arrest", I began to get very, very antsy. Dad had begun to go back to work, and Alex had school everyday. Luckily, I had Paul to keep me company, and help me with homework, but I felt as though I was holding him back. I tried to talk him into leaving me at home, so that he could get some sleep, but he always refused, saying that he wanted my company. I figured he just didn't want me at home alone.

"Can we go somewhere?" I asked Paul, as we were sitting on the couch together. I spent most of my time sitting on the couch now that I'd gotten the cast on my arm off: luckily, my wrist had only taken about a month to heal. I'd begun using crutches for exercise, though my overprotective family just wanted me to use the silly wheelchair. Paul detested the crutches and tolerated the wheelchair: his ideal mode of transportation was just to carry me everywhere. Not that I really minded that. It meant that I got to be in his arms, after all.

He cracked a grin at me, "Where exactly do you want to go?"

"I don't care. Anywhere. OUT OF THIS STUPID HOUSE!" I waved my crutch, which I was mostly using to annoy Paul, for emphasis.

He paused to think, "I know. How about my house?"

That caught me off guard. It was strange, but even though I'd been spending most of my time with Paul, we'd been staying at my house. I didn't even know the street where his house was, let alone what it looked like. The prospect of seeing his house was…very exciting. I felt my heart pump against my chest, which kind of hurt, because only one of my ribs had actually healed fully.

Paul had been watching my expression, guarded. I wondered how he could actually expect me to say "no" to such an offer. "Let's go NOW!" I demanded. He laughed- I knew it had been too easy.

"Easy there tiger. I want you to eat something first. Oh, and take a nap. I don't want to exhaust you."

"What am I, three?" I muttered. "I just want to go. Now!" I tried to stomp my good foot for emphasis, but wound up falling backwards. I would have landed rather painfully on my butt, but Paul was there, of course. He caught me gently and looked at me, his brown eyes smoldering. I struggled to remember how to breathe.

"I need you to eat, then sleep. Please, Lizzie. For me. You need to get better." His soft voice was way, way too persuasive for me to resist.

"Fine." I plopped down on the couch and crossed my arms. "But I need to get out of here soon. Otherwise I'll spontaneously combust, and it'll be all your fault. "

He rolled his eyes, "Of course, my dear. But let's get you healthy, in the meantime."

"Fine, fine. What's for lunch then, Mr. Mom?"

Paul paused, "I was thinking spaghetti, actually." He winked, "Left over from last night. It sat well with your stomach anyway. And I want to keep you healthy." I was going to pretend to pout again- I really was craving something closer to peanut butter and jelly- but all of the sudden, Paul swooped down and kissed me deeply, and I forgot where I was and what I was talking about,

"Well" he said, as he pulled away,

"Well what?" I asked, breathless.

"How does that sound?"

"Great." I told him. "But I want another kiss first, please."

He chuckled, "Yes m'am."

I pushed myself up to his lips, and crushed my body to him. The fire traveled throughout him, and I felt a need to be with him, to touch him everywhere. My hand traveled along the waist of his pants, slowly going up his shirt. I could feel his hand beginning to do the same. I needed him, I wanted him I…

Then, suddenly, Paul pushed me away calmly but firmly. I was pleased to see that he was panting as hard as I was. "Liz…we can't…not now."

I crossed my arms. This had become a daily argument. "Why not?" I demanded. "We're both almost legal adults. It's our choice. Why shouldn't we?"

His eyes tightened, "You have no clue how hard you are to resist. But…I…can't….not like this. Not when you're still recovering. I could hurt you. Not a risk I'm gonna take, Babe."
"What risk? I'm perfectly fine. You love me way too much to hurt me like that, Paul. I know you. I'm your imprint." I pointed to myself with my newly uncasted arm.

He sighed, "You know exactly what I'm talking about. And that's why I can say no. Because I know that there is a risk that I could hurt you. And I made a promise, remember? I keep my promises."
"Sure, sure." I rolled my eyes, "Whatever you say."

Paul grinned now, "You're so sexually frustrated." He touched my face, "Someday, I will relieve you. I promise. But until then…I'm going to make you some lunch so you can get better." He quickly ducked out of my arms, and I stuck my tongue out at him as he disappeared into the kitchen.

I slept very well after Paul made me spaghetti-even eating regularly still seemed to exhaust me. After my nap, I woke up stiff. Paul was laying next to me- I tugged at his sleeve, "What time is it?"

Paul yawned a huge yawn, and I felt really guilty for waking him up. I knew that Sam had him doing something at night, but I wasn't sure what. Either way, he definitely needed more sleep. I was beginning to hate Sam for forcing Paul to keep late hours.

Even though Paul must have been super tired, he looked over at his watch, "It's 5:00. Wow. Almost dinner time." He pulled me close to him. I felt myself relaxing into him. I had absolutely no desire to get up, much less leave the house. My previous need to leave the house had completely faded, leaving me perfectly contented to stay cuddled up next to Paul.

Luckily, he seemed to feel the exact same way, rubbing my back gently and humming under his breath. "I think we should save our field trip for tomorrow." I told him honestly.

He smiled- I wondered if he was just happy that I was staying somewhere 'safe'. "Good idea."
"But," I held up a finger and gave him a very stern look, "Tomorrow, we will be going to your house. No ifs, ands, or buts. Understand, young man?"

I could tall that he wanted to laugh, but somehow Paul managed to keep a straight face as he responded, "I'll pick you up at 9 tomorrow morning, after you eat breakfast. Deal?"

I gave him my hand, and we shook on it, "Deal."

The next morning, I was up at the same time as my father- aka, 6 am. It was early, but I was so excited- I couldn't wait! I was getting out of the house! Finally! And then there was the added plus of seeing that Paul actually existed in the outside world- sometimes I wondered if he was just a product of my imagination. He was mythical, after all. If my father and brother hadn't regularly acknowledged him, I would have been concerned that my pain medicine was causing me to hallucinate. Or worse, that the accident had done more brain damage than anyone had let on about.

As it stood, if Paul wasn't actually real to the outside world, that meant my brother and father were just as crazy as I was. Comforting, in a strange way.

I hobbled to the bathroom- ignoring the sharp pain in my leg and chest as I attempted to start the bathtub. I wasn't really supposed to get most of my bandages wet- even though there definitely were not as many of them by now-but I had been sponge bathing myself for the past few weeks anyway. It worked, and I always felt less smelly afterwards.

I decided to go a step further and wash my hair. I was lucky: my showerhead was removable, so I was able to bring it down to my head level. Still, it was messy: the bathroom was soaked by the time I was finished. I figured that Alex would clean it up- I'd just leave him a note or something. He had gotten good at the whole "Mr. Mom" cleaning up thing, especially when Paul wasn't around.

I dried myself off completely, wrapping hair in a towel. I'd deal with it later. Then I slipped on the blue plush bathrobe I'd been using to get from one room to the next without actually putting clothes on. It was comfy, and fit over all my bandages and cast.

I got to my room and collapsed onto the bed- showering had been exhausting! But there was no time to rest- I had to get dressed! I was actually going out of the house! Where there might be people looking! I needed something besides pajamas.

Unfortunately, my jeans wouldn't fit over my casted leg, and it was way too cold to wear a skirt or dress. I settled for some black stretch knit pants- they didn't look quite as sloppy as my sweatpants- a white long sleeve shirt, and a light blue vest. I decided to add a dark blue striped scarf, just for extra warmth. Plus, it was cute. I wanted to show Paul that I could actually look like a girl, after all.

After I was dressed- a process that took way longer than it should have- I brushed out my hair, wincing as I dragged it over my still slightly sore spot. The stitches had been removed a while ago, and my hair was beginning to grow back, but it still hurt. Vainly, I was still glad that they'd shaved the underside of my hair- I would have died if they'd made a mini bald spot on the top of my head.

I pulled out a blow dryer and began to dry my hair, but that was way too tricky- it exhausted my good arm. Instead, I just squeezed the moisture out of my hair with a towel, and hoped it would dry by the time Paul got here.

I glanced at the clock- it was already 8! How was that possible? It had taken me about 2 hours to shower and get dressed by myself. I shook my head, amused. If my father and Paul ever let me go back, this was not going to happen before school everyday.

I did some makeup, but gave up after a coat of foundation- the rain outside would just smudge whatever else I put on anyway. Then I hobbled downstairs, to find that my father had already left for work, and Alex had gone to school. But they'd left me a bowl of cereal out to eat- Captain Crunch, my favorite. I wolfed it down.

Just as I finished, the doorbell rang, and I jumped about a foot and a half. "Come in!" I called out, hobbling to the door in excitement. "I'm all ready for you!" Paul looked up and down at me, then his face broke out in a giant smile.

"You look beautiful." He told me, wrapping his huge arms gently around me.

I snuggled against him, "You're just used to seeing me look hideous, that's all."

He pulled my face up to look at him, "You've always been beautiful. You just look especially beautiful today." He motioned to my outfit, "You didn't do it by yourself, did you?"

I grinned, feeling proud. "It wasn't hard"

Paul shook his head, "And here I was hoping you'd take it easy for me." He looked concerned, "Now, you're sure you're feeling up to this? We don't haveta go today. We have a lifetime, and you don't need to get sick, you know….Maybe…" I placed a finger to his lips, silencing him.

"Shush." I told him. "We are going. No ifs ands or butts about it.." I gave him a severe look, wishing that I could stomp my foot for emphasis.

"Yeah…yeah…" he muttered, and, before I could say anything else, he had scooped me into his arms. "But I am going to carry you." I would have protested, but he was already walking. Plus, I didn't want to be exhausted when we got there. Heaven knows that getting ready in the morning was already taking its toll.

I settled for doing something goofy instead. "To the Awesomemobile, Youngman!" I announced, pointing forwards. Paul burst out laughing as he carried me out to his car.