Note: Not related to any of my other works. Relax&Enjoy.

Chapter 1

The trip had been his idea. Which was only natural; most of the best ideas were his. Things had turned quiet in Chi-Town, thanks to the three of them leveling Limburger Tower (again) a few days ago. It would still be a while before it was reconstructed, and like always there was a brief lull in mischievous activity, which generally lasted until the tower was complete again. And as always, it felt nice at first to have a breather...but it quickly grew boring. Which was why he suggested that they do something about it.

Charley was the one to actually come up with the idea of leaving town for a little while. Get away from the fast pace of the city and head a little south, where things were a bit more rustic. Quiet and down to earth. They could slow things down for a change, kick back, enjoy a little nature...

It all sounded pretty boring to them, but Charley had retorted that a location was only ever as boring as the people in it. You couldn't really argue with her there, and they soon came around to her way of thinking. Well, he had actually changed his mind first and then verbally badgered his bros until they gave in.

It was one of his many gifts; talking people into something. Or talking his way out of something. He was pretty sure there wasn't anything his mouth couldn't do for him. But when he was growing up, his mother had repeatedly warned him that the one thing it was guaranteed to do was get him into trouble. In fact, the wildness of his nature and the abrasiveness of his personality were a perfect recipe for trouble - which was exactly the way he liked it. Living on the edge of danger was the only way to go.

Sometimes his bros echoed his mother's words and warned him to be careful. It seemed like everyone he met did at some point. Everybody was forever telling him to watch out. But what no one ever considered - himself included - was that when the day came when his recklessness finally caught up with him, it would be someone else who got hurt.

There were no thoughts of danger or risk in any of their minds the morning they packed for their little vacation. They each grabbed the essentials; lunch boxes, fishing tackle, a few changes of underwear, toothbrushes, and a variety of camping gear. No motels for them; they were going to rough it. The weather was warm and there was no rain in the forecast, so all they really needed was a set of soft blankets to curl up on, with the sky and stars serving as their tent.

And of course they needed to bring along a cooler full of root beer and hot dogs, and supplies to build a fire to roast them over - no trip would be complete without that. After everything was packed into the back of Charley's truck and Charley had closed up the garage, she left an 'on vacation' sign in the window, got into her truck and drove off, with the three of them following close behind.

As much as they loved the city, there was something freeing about leaving the confines of the heavily trafficked streets and heading out on the open road for a change. They hit the expressway around mid-morning, and once there, there was little to do other than sit back, radio blaring, and blaze along at high speed.

It could get a little boring, since the local authorities would frown if instead of staying in your lane you wove wildly around other vehicles, so the best thing to do was to just sort of zone out for a while. Let the mind clear and the impulses fade away, and just feel the wind and listen to the roar of the engine. It was kind of relaxing, actually. Like high octane meditation.

The four of them drove for a few hours, made a quick stop at a roadside café for lunch, then drove for a couple hours more. It was some time in the early afternoon when they rode into the outskirts of a cozy little town - a picturesque, postcard-ready kind of place.

There were shops that looked like they hadn't been remodeled in at least fifty years, quaint little cottage homes, a town square, and multiple parks and historical sites. The three of them weren't familiar with the place, but Charley easily navigated the narrow streets, which were lined with old fashioned-looking lamp posts. Cheerful banners bearing names of businesses and places of interest were tied to the posts, and spaced along the sidewalks beneath them were large planters brimming with flowers.

It was a sleepy kind of town, but as long as they served hot dogs and root beer and there was room to ride, Vinnie was cool with it. And in the distance, just beyond the slightly shabby buildings, there were miles of open fields, and beyond them were thick lines of trees. Not a common sight in Chicago, but around here, in virtually any direction you looked there was a forest or wooded area on the horizon.

After driving through the center of town, Charley pulled up at a curb outside of a large park and got out. As he and his bros parked alongside her truck, Vinnie noted that it looked like they had come here on a good day, because there was some kind of local festival going on. Music was playing in the distance, kids were playing on the bevy of playground equipment, and vendors were set up out on the grass, peddling everything from useless junk to popcorn.

As he looked around at the crowd milling around, roaming up and down the rows of vendors and perusing the merchandise, Vinnie remarked, "You think we'll stand out any?"

Snickering, Throttle looked over the locals with him, most of them casually dressed in t-shirts, shorts, and sundresses. "Nah," he decided. "Though we're probably the only bikers for miles."

Charley smirked as she came around to the back of her truck and pulled out her suitcase. "You never know," she said wryly. "There are bikers everywhere, and events like these never fail to cater to them."

"Really?" wondered Modo.

She nodded and pointed across the lawn to a row of tables in the distance, with a black backdrop set up behind it displaying a variety of t-shirts and vests featuring images of flames, chains, skulls, and an assortment of bike brand logos. Male and female patrons that weren't dressed all that differently from them were scoping out the tables, which were covered in a wide range of belts, belt buckles, patches, bracelets, and collectible knives.

"I think that's you three squared away for the next couple of hours," Charley noted, laughing at the way the three of them practically started salivating. "I'm heading to the restroom to change into something better suited for this weather; I'll meet you later, okay?"

She headed off, while the three of them scurried in the opposite direction, though they took note of the hot dog vendor they passed on the way. Vinnie quickly lost all track of time, gazing over row after row of biker-related goodness, but what really caught his attention wasn't a t-shirt or a belt, but one of the framed posters that were propped up on the ground in front of the tables.

"That one's mine," he announced, pointing to a large poster bearing the image of an eagle soaring against a smoky background, with a glistening bike beneath it racing over the tops of flaming letters that read 'Born to Ride Free.'

"Where you gonna put it?" Modo wanted to know.

"Back at the scoreboard," Vinnie responded logically. "We've got walls, don't we?"

"Yeah, but they're already pretty full," Throttle reminded him.

"I'll make room," Vinnie insisted.

"You mean, we'll make room for you."

"You catch on so quick."

Unfortunately, he didn't have enough money on him. Vinnie practically whimpered as his bros dragged him away. "You'll forget about it in a minute," Throttle said unsympathetically.

"I already forgot about it," said Modo, yawning. "I'm ready to dive into those dogs we saw earlier."

Vinnie continued to grumble to himself, but he followed his bros back to the hot dog stand. There was a line and they had to wait, and his eyes wandered as he tapped his foot impatiently - and then his gaze fell on something that made the rest of the world vanish, like a quiet puff of breath snuffing out a candle.

Over at the edge of the lawn a few feet from the hot dog stand was an ice cream vendor. There were rows of eager young kids waiting for their cones...and standing with them was someone a little older. Someone wearing a breezy white sundress with matching sandals, the skirt displaying the graceful curve of her legs, the slender straps snug against the softness of her shoulders. She suddenly let out a laugh and put a hand on her skirt as the wind picked up, the bright sunshine catching the golden highlights in her auburn hair as the wind teased glossy tendrils around her face.

Vinnie was dumbstruck and tongue-tied. When Charley-girl said she was going to change, he had pictured jeans and a t-shirt, not...that. Unaware of his gawking, she stepped away from the vendor with a chocolate and vanilla swirl cone in hand, absently reaching up to push her billowing hair back from her eyes. Her mood was relaxed and casual, and she obviously thought nothing about how she looked right now, but to Vinnie it was like she had just stepped straight out of a dream.

It wasn't the first time he had thought so. Since they first met she'd struck him speechless repeatedly - which was not an easy thing to do - just by being her. It was in moments like these he felt all his careful layers of bravado peel away, until he felt strangely small. Anything but special. And the exact opposite of worthy.

An ache of longing formed deep in his heart as he continued to gaze at the beautiful figure that moved almost tauntingly before his eyes, and he found himself thinking - hoping, and not for the first time - that maybe someday, somehow, he would be good enough for her.

It was a depressing thought and he never let it stick around for long. He just tried all the harder to get her to notice him, and that meant being himself - loudly. He still hadn't gotten her to notice him in the way he wanted her to, but at least he never failed to get her attention.

"Hey, Sweetheart," he called out, yelling over the heads of the throng of people between them. "You want a root beer with that?"

Charley looked in his direction, but she took her time weaving through the crowd, occasionally taking delicate licks of her ice cream as she made her way over. "No thank you," she said crisply when she finally reached the three of them. "I'm good."

Now that she was close, Vinnie was having an awfully hard time not blatantly staring. The cut of her sundress was simple, the cotton material plain, but it looked great against her creamy skin and hugged all her curves in just the right way. Behind him he suddenly heard a strange coughing sound, and he tore his eyes away to see Modo turning his head and averting his gaze, his cheeks reddening slightly beneath his gray fur. Throttle looked equally surprised, his eyebrows raising above his specs as he looked Charley's change of clothes over.

He looked a little too long and hard for Vinnie's taste, and he elbowed him in the ribs with a scowl. Throttle didn't say anything; he just turned away from Charley and looked at Vinnie instead, an irritatingly smug and knowing grin on his face. Vinnie scowled harder and elbowed him again, but Throttle merely snickered in response before turning his attention back to the hot dog stand.

Vinnie continued to glare at him for a moment more, then faced Charley again, his expression quickly shifting to a pouty, begging look. "Charley-girl, do you have any cash on you?"

By early evening, they had scoured every inch of the large park and scored a small pile of useless goodies each, plus consumed massive amounts of junk food. The sun was just starting to dip in the sky, painting the world with hues of red and gold, and Vinnie felt full and relaxed as the four of them walked back to where they'd parked.

"We should go find a camping spot before it gets dark," Charley noted, shading her eyes as she squinted at the horizon.

The three of them tagged along behind her again as Charley backed her truck away from the curb and followed the road as it curved around the park, turning off onto a dirt road that wove through thickening groups of trees, until they were riding alongside a dense wooded area that went for miles. Vinnie didn't know much about Earth trees (or any kind of trees for that matter) but he recognized the distinct shapes and leaves of towering oaks, elms, and maples, mixed in with species he didn't know and heavy undergrowth.

When they passed a break in the trees, forming a wide path that descended a steep hill from the roadside, Throttle suddenly pulled to a stop. He and Modo did the same, knowing what Throttle was thinking. Up ahead, Charley slowed down, then backed up a few feet before turning the engine off and hopping out. "It's another mile or so to the campgrounds," she said as she walked up.

"Why bother?" Vinnie asked with a grin. "We'll make our own site."

"A place all to ourselves," Modo added.

Charley looked doubtful. "I still have to find a road that heads down there so I can bring the truck," she reminded them.

"You can come back for it later," Vinnie said firmly. "We need to find a spot before it gets dark, right?"

Without waiting for a response, he snared his tail around her slender waist and lifted her up onto the spot behind him. It was such a habit he did it without thinking, but it wasn't until the skinny appendage was wrapped around her did he remember that something was different; she wasn't wearing her normal outfit right now. He could feel things through the thin fabric of her sundress that he couldn't through the thickness of her usual shirt, from the soft curves of her torso to the gentle warmth of her skin. Her bare shins brushed against his legs as she wiggled around, trying to tuck her skirt modestly in place, before she loosely placed her hands on his shoulders.

It was tempting to tug her forward, until he could feel those other curves that he was used to being particularly tantalized by as they pressed firmly against his back, but he checked himself...for once. His bros chattered as they rode down the hill, while nerves kept him uncharacteristically quiet as he followed along behind them. He noticed that Charley also stayed silent, and instead of leaning forward and slipping her hands around to his chest, like she usually did, she remained sitting upright, her grip on his shoulders staying light.

Was she aware of the differences her thinner attire was making right now, too?

Her distance and silence made him wonder a little, and as he rode on through the dense, overgrown path they were on, his mind wandered...or rather his tail did. He tried not to, but he kept loosening and tightening it around her waist, acting like he couldn't quite get the right hold. In reality, he was discreetly (or at least he hoped he was being discreet about it) exploring the subtle shape of her torso. He could feel everything; the edge of her hipbones, the bottom of her ribcage, even her belly button. Her skin was so nice and warm, and he could easily imagine how soft it was, just out of his reach beneath the barrier of her dress...

He knew he was getting carried away with himself, and that she was probably going to notice as he snaked the very tip of his tail away from the coils of the rest of it and drifted it over the curve of her belly, just below her navel. When Charley's hands suddenly tightened on his shoulders, Vinnie felt his heart pop into his mouth, and he cringed inwardly as he braced himself for the incoming verbal - and probably physical - beating.

"Let go."

Surprised, Vinnie cleared his throat. "What?" he said, feigning complete innocence.

Behind him, Charley grunted and released his shoulders. "You're holding me too tight - let go," she repeated, a hint of strain in her voice. "I can barely breathe."

Blushing inside his helmet, Vinnie immediately uncoiled his tail and pulled it away. He couldn't just let it hang free, since it would slap against her in the wind, so in the end he hooked it around his own ankle, keeping it safely away from her bare legs. The two of them fell silent again after that, and Charley didn't put her hands on his shoulders again. Feeling uncomfortably self-conscious, Vinnie made sure to steer carefully as he followed the other two around a bend in the dusty path.

They emerged a moment later in a wide clearing, surrounded by swaying trees, spindly bushes and gnarled roots. Wildflowers and green plants grew heavily around the thick tree trunks, and patches of mushrooms were sprouting around a couple of fallen logs. Throttle, who had taken the lead, suddenly pulled to a stop, so he and Modo did the same.

After taking a sniff of the air, Throttle noted, "I smell water."

Modo pulled his helmet off and listened for a moment. "I can hear it, too."

"There's a river farther ahead," Charley explained.

The three mice exchanged knowing glances. "Sounds like the perfect spot to kick back and fish," Modo commented.

"Probably plenty of room to make camp and set up a fire," Throttle added, a note of approval in his voice.

Grinning suddenly, Vinnie revved his engine once. "Wanna see who can get there first?"

Like he even needed to ask. He and his bros could turn anything into a competition - which was something Charley-girl didn't quite understand. "Do we really have to turn this into a race?" she asked dryly, as the three bikes lined up at the edge of the clearing and their riders bent forward.

"But of course," said Throttle, as the three of them switched their visors on to keep fluttering leaves and other debris from getting in their eyes.

"And what does the winner get?" Charley wanted to know.

"Gloating rights," Vinnie said promptly.

It was prize enough for anyone. And with a whoop that echoed through the trees, he was off and pulling ahead. Charley had no choice but to hold on, her fingers digging into his shoulders as he poured on the speed. It was growing dimmer and he didn't really know where he was going, and the overgrown path between the thick trees was unclear. It was actually pretty dangerous, cutting through here at top speed - which was exactly why it was so much fun.

The three of them laughed as they swerved dangerously around trees and swapped barbs with each other. Occasionally one of them pulled ahead of him, but never for long. This was one contest he was going to make sure he didn't lose. Not that he really had anything to gain, other than the bragging rights - and of course the opportunity to show Charley-girl just how awesome he really was.

Whooping again, he sped up and rode over a thick root growing across the path, sending his bike momentarily airborne and then bouncing sharply when he landed again. Straight ahead the path headed up a steep rise in the dirt, and he tore up it recklessly as he sensed the other two closing in behind him. He could smell that the river was close now, probably just a few more yards. There was something so elating about all this; the speed, the risk, the competitive fun of it.

And then, as he raced up to the top of the rise, Vinnie saw something that made him let out an unhappy squawk.

As he crested the hill the path turned sharply, but that wasn't what took him by surprise. What made his heart turn over in his chest was the low-slung branch stretching directly in front of him, hanging practically to the ground. Gritting his teeth, he didn't stop to think; he hunkered down as low as he could and thrust his hand out. He managed to snag the shaggy branch and it bent back like rubber from the force of his momentum. He and his bike rode on safely, and he released the branch and sat up with a sigh of relief.

Behind him, he heard a faint twang as the branch snapped back into place, and he noticed that it sounded like his bros' engines were several feet behind him now. The branch would probably slow them down further, he thought, and he eagerly poured on the speed again. It was clear sailing after that, straight down the other side of the hill and out into another clearing. The ground was flat and smooth, the dirt neatly compacted, and turning moist farther ahead...right on up to the river's edge.

Grinning in triumph, he turned sharply around so he was facing the way he came and waited for his bros to catch up. It was almost half a minute later before he saw them, riding almost side by side as they came to the edge of the hill and started down the other side. They were moving awfully slow for a race, Vinnie thought. Unless they realized they had lost and were sulking in defeat.

He continued to grin as they drew nearer, but he noticed that they both had funny looks on their faces. They were frowning hard, but not really in a 'we lost' kind of way. More like a...he couldn't even name the sort of look they both gave him as they pulled to a stop in the clearing.

After a lengthy silence marked by those stony, almost scolding looks, Modo spoke first. "Lose somethin', bro?" he asked, his tone cold.

"Heck no," Vinnie responded firmly. "I won fair and square."

"Forget about the race, Vincent," Throttle snapped. "It's not important."

It was plenty important when you thought you had a chance, Vinnie grumbled inwardly. Typical.

Out loud, he said, "You're just sorry I won."

"Not as sorry as your passenger," Modo told him dryly.

Vinnie opened his mouth to retort...then closed it again. Passenger?

He quickly jerked his head around and looked over his shoulder. The spot behind him was empty.

A cold chill swept over him as an image of himself shoving the branch back flashed through his mind. Suddenly everything else was meaningless and forgotten, and his hands felt numb as he took off like a shot and headed back up the hill. "Charley-girl!"

The area by the offending branch looked empty, and he quickly pulled to a stop and switched his visor off as his eyes swept from side to side. He hadn't bothered to pay attention to the details as he ripped through here before, but now he saw that the right-hand side of the wide path was covered in patches of grass, weeds, and a sparse collection of skinny young trees.

He expected to see Charley-girl standing among them, an extremely sour expression on her face as she dusted herself off and waited for him to pick her up, but there was no sign of a girl in a white dress. He squinted into the distance for a moment, then checked the left side of the path.

The trees were taller and thicker there, growing a handful of feet apart. As he scanned them, Vinnie noticed that they all looked a little funny. It took him several moments to realize why; all of them, including the one with the sagging branch, were growing tilted away from path, like they were leaning in the opposite direction.

As he looked closer, Vinnie saw a tangle of roots growing visibly at the base of each trunk. It was strange, like there was no earth there to hide them...and as he continued to look, Vinnie realized in growing horror that there really wasn't.

Beyond the thin row of slanting trees, the ground stopped. Cut away and made a straight drop. A drop that a slender body could have easily tumbled down, slipping neatly between the trees after being flung off a speeding bike.

The only thing that stopped him from riding straight off the edge was the thought that he might land on Charley-girl when he hit bottom, and the only thing that kept him from flinging himself bodily into orbit without his bike was the firm hand that clamped down on his shoulder as he got up from the seat to do exactly that.

"Don't," Throttle warned. His voice was low and calm, but even then he couldn't completely mask a note of worry. "If you just jump off you could break every bone in your body."

The words thrust an image of Charley into his head, lying on the forest floor, her body broken and bleeding...

Vinnie couldn't withhold a sound of dismay as he jerked his shoulder free. "Thanks, that makes me feel so much better," he snapped.

"We need to find a better way down there," Throttle told him firmly.

At least they were all in agreement that they needed to get down there as quickly as possible. The three of them rode back down the hill, heading in the direction they first came. There wasn't a clear path in either direction other than straight ahead, but the underbrush was thinner along the side of the hill. It was still too thick for them to bring their bikes, plus the dirt was damp and slippery, so they dismounted and went on foot.

Aside from the sheer drop above them, the ground sloped downward at a fairly steep angle for several feet before finally evening out again. Under the waning light of dusk, Vinnie glanced up once, catching a blurred glimpse of the edge in the rapidly deepening gloom. It made his heart turn to ice and his throat tighten, and he didn't even want to try and calculate just how many feet below they were.

The three of them fanned out a little as they searched, Throttle sticking close to the wall of earth just beneath the drop and Modo heading farther out, leaving Vinnie somewhere in the middle. They each called out loudly from time to time, their voices echoing off into the timber. Vinnie noticed that he sounded increasingly upset - afraid - each time he yelled Charley's name, but he didn't care.

All that mattered now was finding her and making sure she was okay. She just had to be okay.

In the growing shadows, everything started to look the same. There was no visible path down here; just scattered trees, ferny undergrowth and more tangled roots and weeds. Vinnie squinted up at the ledge again, gauging that she couldn't possibly have fallen much farther than the spot above with the sagging tree branch. He paused and was just about to call out again - and that was when he heard a soft groan somewhere near his feet.

Relief roiled in his core, and he let out a rush of air as anxious hope filled his heart. He hurried forward, pushing aside the branches of a spindly shrub and not even caring when he felt thorns poke into his palms. For a moment he didn't see anything, but then his gaze fell on white fabric nestled amid the leaves, looking almost ghostly in the gloom.

Taking a second to call back that he had found her, Vinnie all but ran forward and dropped to his knees on the moist ground. For the briefest of seconds, like the shadows were playing tricks with his eyes, Charley looked perfectly safe and unharmed. Like a forest fairy who decided to curl up for a nap, hands folded on her middle with a bed of moss for her pillow.

Then his vision adjusted and he saw that she had one arm draped awkwardly across her chest, her other arm lying limply in the dirt at her side. Her pretty dress was torn and stained, her skin marked with scrapes and muddy streaks. Her head lay to one side, almost resting on her own shoulder; her face looked almost as ghostly white as her sundress.

"Easy, now," Vinnie heard Throttle say somewhere behind him, as he reached for the prone figure.

Vinnie swallowed thickly and nodded, knowing that he needed to be gentle. His fleeting hope had vanished; he knew for sure that she was hurt. What he didn't know was how badly, and his fingers shook as he slid one arm under her back and carefully cupped her head with his other hand.

Charley made a quiet sound as he lifted her from the ground, though only high enough to cradle her in the crook of his arm. With his free hand he pushed back her tangled hair, searching her face and neck for any serious injuries. At first he didn't see anything, but as he brushed her hair back from her forehead, he noticed that his fingertips were suddenly stained red.

It was a sight that sent his heart plummeting straight into his stomach. Throat constricting, he checked along her hairline carefully and soon traced the source of the blood to her right temple.

After swallowing thickly, he heard himself say weakly, faintly, "She needs a doctor."

"We can't take her on our bikes," Throttle said sensibly. His voice sounded strangely far away. "Let's get her back to her truck."

The next few minutes were like a haze in Vinnie's mind. His body seemed to move by itself, functioning mechanically despite his thoughts being numb. He remembered lifting Charley carefully, like if he so much as squeezed too hard she would shatter, and the next thing he knew Throttle was helping him into the front seat of the truck.

Modo was sitting in the back with their bikes, who were acting as nervous as the three of them felt. Throttle remained the most calm and took his place in the driver's seat, while Modo sat wedged between their bikes with his chin on his knees and looked like he was trying not to cry. Vinnie felt too numb to tear up right now, though part of him wanted to. Part of him wanted to cling to the helpless girl in his arms and let the tears flow, letting everyone know just how sorry he was.

Instead he sat mutely while Throttle drove at a slow pace, knowing that going too fast could be dangerous. Charley mumbled from time to time, and shifted her head occasionally, but Vinnie couldn't tell if she was conscious or not.

Finding the small town's hospital wasn't hard. They asked a girl at a gas station they passed and she pointed them straight to it. A little while later, the three of them sat in numb silence in the waiting room while Charley was taken away for x-rays and other tests.

No one said anything as they each glanced frequently at the clock, but Vinnie knew what they were all thinking. This was his fault. His. He had caused this and no one else. You got that, you stupid mouse? he told himself darkly, fists clenching. This is your fault. You did this. This has got to be your biggest screw-up yet.

Yeah. He'd screwed up all right. And yet Charley was the one who had to suffer.

When this thought hit him, the tears that had sneaking up on him all this time finally came, and ducking his head and squeezing his eyes shut as hard as he could did nothing to stop them. And even though he didn't deserve their sympathy, his bros still politely looked away and pretended not to notice.

One thing about being in a small town was how easily people excused your quirks. Sure, they might look at you funny, and whisper behind your back, but they didn't ask questions; they just kind of shrugged and said 'that's big city folk for you.' So even after they had been sitting in the waiting room for several hours, no one came up and wondered if they wouldn't be more comfortable if they took their helmets off.

Nurses and other staff members passed back and forth through the room from time to time, but there was no one else sitting around besides them. It was after hours already and the hospital was quiet except for a murmur of voices in the distance, the soft hum of electronic equipment, the faint beep of monitors.

When a middle-aged man dressed in a doctor's uniform suddenly came into the room, Vinnie was the first to his feet. Calm and polite, the doctor shook each of their hands before getting down to business. "You're the three who brought in the little lady who took the tumble out in the woods, correct?"

Vinnie wasn't in the mood for pleasantries or formalities. "Is she okay?" he asked, nerves making him sound testier than he meant to.

Throttle nudged him, but the doctor didn't look offended. "All things considered, it could have been a lot worse," he said, as he turned and indicated for them to follow. "She has quite a few bumps and bruises, and her left wrist has a tiny fracture running through it, but it's nothing that won't heal in a few short weeks."

Vinnie was so relieved his knees almost buckled. "And that's it?" he wondered, thinking about the blow to her temple.

"Well," the doctor continued cautiously, adjusting his glasses, "it looks like she hit her head when she landed, but we took x-rays and while there's no sign of any fractures, she definitely has a concussion. But her vital signs are strong and when she woke up a little while ago she seemed lucid. We'll monitor her for a little longer, but I see no reason why she shouldn't go home in a day or two."

Vinnie felt his heart lift. "She's awake?" he asked eagerly.

"Can we see her?" Modo wondered tentatively.

"Just for a moment," the doctor advised. "She needs quiet and a lot of rest. Try not to get her excited, all right?"

After leading them to Charley's room, the doctor walked briskly away to attend to other duties, though a nurse was hovering nearby as the three of them went in. She didn't say anything as they huddled next to Charley's bed, though Vinnie felt her eyes on them, so he didn't take his helmet off as he knelt at Charley's side.

She was blinking sleepily, though she wasn't quite as pale as before. She had been cleaned up and changed into a hospital gown, and her left hand was wrapped in a flexible brace. It was partly hidden by her hair, but it looked like a roll of cotton and gauze was attached to her temple by a strip of white tape...which probably meant they had shaved a patch of her hair. Thinking about how much she was going to complain about it when they got home almost made him smile.

Instead, he swallowed down the thump that rose into his throat as he gently took her good hand and held it in his own, pressing his other hand over it. His eyes studied her face, noting that even when she was pale and a little banged up...she was still the most beautiful thing in the universe.

As he took a shaky breath and started to speak, he noticed that her eyes were studying him in return. The other two was standing behind him, but since he first came into the room, her gaze had never left his face. Which he knew wasn't necessarily a good thing right now.

"I know this is all my fault," he began unhappily, "and if the first thing you want to do when we get home is sock me in the nose, you can go right ahead. But you know that the last thing I would ever want is for you to be hurt, and I am so, so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"

He tightened his grip slightly, and as she blinked her green eyes a couple of times, he felt Charley curl her fingers around his. Her forehead puckered just the tiniest bit. "Sure," she said softly.

Vinnie let out the breath he hadn't even noticed he was holding and started to relax. He suddenly wanted to reach out and hug her, but that probably wouldn't be a good idea right now. But maybe, he thought to himself, she wouldn't mind if he kissed her hand.

He should probably wait until they were home and no one else was looking, though. Or maybe, he thought wryly, he'd wait until after she'd socked him in the nose. If he timed it right it could actually be pretty funny, and he loved making her laugh.

He was still debating, his eyes glued to Charley's face, when a slight frown touched her lips. Her expression had turned puzzled. "I just have one question," she said, her voice still soft and weak from her ordeal.

Vinnie smiled and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. "Go ahead. You can ask me anything."

Charley blinked again, her frown deepening. "Who are you?"