~Chapter Six~

Kate secretly thought in the back of her mind that it would be magical. Truly a scene for when they made her life into a movie. She would have leaned over his bed and kissed him, and then his gorgeous blue eyes would have fluttered open. He would have smiled and there would have been celebration and tears and a real proposal.

There wasn't.

She had been playing Brick-Breaker on her phone, trying to drown herself in beating her high score, take her mind off. She had been in the middle of level 5 when her ear caught something, and gave her goosebumps all along her arms, even though she was wearing her jacket.

That godforsaken heart monitor was picking up.

She remained still, letting her ball fall into the never ending pit of death, and could only stare at him. She jumped, probably more than she should have, when she heard the faint, hollow, yet audible sound of his inhale. She threw her phone into the seat next to her ("GAME OVER" was now flashing mockingly on the screen) and jumped up, bending over him and reaching her shaking hands tentatively for the side of his face.

"Rick? Rick, can you hear me? Rick?" Yet again, she felt tears sting in her eyes, but at this point she was in near hysterics and did not by any means care.

His breath grew at an aggravatingly slow pace, but it was growing surely. When he was able to open his mouth wide enough, he ever so softly stuttered with a "k" sound on his lips, as if he were trying to say her name.

"Hey, hey, shh, I'm here, it's alright," she hummed like all one word. She gently twiddled a limp strand of his hair between her fingers before she pushed it back to the right position. "Can you open your eyes? Please? Can you try?"

It wasn't the most graceful sight in the world. His eyelashes started out fervently twitching, then his right lid rose a little by itself. His left made a fraction of the right's progress, and then the right rose a little more. His lashes kept twitching as both lids rose to normal height, then fluttered back down a little, just to give the drowsiness that overtook him all that more apparent. Those blue eyes she had waited what seemed like an eternity to see finally shone with that familiar sparkle, despite his medication. Kate let out a soft laugh that was more of a sigh of relief, and she grazed her hand along his cheek, the warmth slowly coming back to the tips of her fingers.

"Heh...I knew you were gonna be okay, I knew it."

"K-...k-...Ka-"

"Shh...it's okay. I'm right here. I'm right here, and I'm not gonna leave you. Not now, not ever." She held up her left hand to where he could see it, and felt her tears slip down onto his hospital gown as his eyes grew even wider with relief. "I love you so much." She bent down further and placed a gentle kiss on his mouth. She may have imagined it, but she thought she felt him try and kiss her back.

(A/N: This isn't the end, don't worry. ^^ I'll bet a lot of you were wanting to wring that heart monitor's neck.)