Wulf was sitting alone in his office, rubbing both his hands down his face. It was late, after ten o'clock. He was tired. He'd always thought he'd fully appreciated the word Ayumi did for him, but now he was finally getting the full scope of everything she took care of at The Stone Agency.

He didn't hate her, and he certainly wasn't going to fire her. In fact, he was pretty sure that come Monday, he'd be dying for her to get back to work. He was just angry at her, and he'd needed some time to get over it.

Much like with Katya. He glanced at his watch again. He knew he should go home. Climb into bed and make up with his girlfriend. He'd been avoiding her, too, but that was a lot harder. They shared a home, most of their meals, all of their time. Before Katya, he hadn't been much of a talker. Now he found he was missing her pointless chatter.

Stop being a brat. Get the fuck over it and make up with these two women.

Wulf sighed and stood up. Straightened out his desk, then shut off his lamp. He started heading for his door, but then his office phone rang. He frowned and turned around to face it. Who would be calling the office so late? Katya? He went back around his desk and glanced at the caller I.D. It was Ayumi's phone number. He took a deep breath and picked up the receiver.

“Look, we can talk about you starting back on Monday, okay? But I am so fucking tired right now,” he groaned.

“Wulfric Stone?”

He blinked his eyes in surprise when the voice on the other end of the line was male.

“Yes, who is this?” he asked, glancing back at the I.D. screen. It was still the same number.

“Do you know a Ms. Ayumi Nakada?”

His blood ran cold.

“Yes, I do. What's going on? Is she okay?” he demanded.

“Ms. Nakada has been in an accident.”

He was pretty sure his blood actually froze and he fell into his seat.

“Oh my god. What happened? Where is she?” he started.

“You were listed as the emergency contact in her phone. Could you please come down to ...”

A hospital name was prattled off and that's all Wulf needed to hear. He was out the door and in his car in minutes. As he sped through San Francisco, breaking the speed limit and cruising through red lights, he just focused on getting to her.

Please be alright. Please let me apologize. Please be alright.

By the time he got to the hospital, she'd been moved out of the emergency room and into a private room. She was unconscious, but he could see for himself she was okay, so he felt like he was finally able to breathe again.

“What the fuck happened?” he demanded of a policeman.

“Ms. Nakada made a call to 9-1-1 at approximately nine-thirty-five,” the cop said, glancing at his notes. “She wasn't able to speak to the operator, but she was able to keep the call connected long enough for them to pull her address. It sounds like she stumbled upon an intruder in her house. When we arrived on the scene, the intruder was gone and her doors were open. She was at the bottom of her stairs, it looks like she took a nasty fall.”

“So they don't know who was in her home? Or if he did anything to her?” Wulf asked. The cop shook his head.

“We won't know anything for sure until Ms. Nakada wakes up. But all of her clothing was in tact, she was even still wearing her jacket when we found her, and that's a good sign, Mr. Stone. She's going to be okay.”

After the cop, there were doctors and nurses to deal with. Ayumi had a concussion, as well as a nasty second degree ankle sprain. They didn't think she'd need surgery, but time would tell. She'd be okay, they assured him. Everyone assured him.

“Don't worry, she'll be okay.”

Wulf didn't believe it, though, till she finally opened her eyes.

It was almost two hours later. He was sitting at her bed side. He'd dragged two chairs up next to her, one to sit in and one to use as a foot rest. He had his head back and he was almost on the verge of dozing off when he heard movement.

“You look really uncomfortable.”

Her voice was hoarse and scratchy and quite possibly the best thing he'd ever heard. Wulf jerked himself upright and twisted around to face her. She was struggling to sit up in bed, so he grabbed the remote and pushed a button that would elevate her.

“Not as uncomfortable as you look,” he chuckled, scooting his chair closer. “How you doing, champ?”

“Eh, I've had worse days,” she managed to joke, but she had a hand pressed to the side of her head. “What happened?”

“You don't remember?” he asked. She frowned down at her lap for a moment. Glanced at him, then around the room.

“I remember ... I went out with Katya, didn't I?”

“Yes. She said you guys were meeting up at some pub.”

“Yeah. We did, and then we went home,” she seemed to be thinking hard. “I ... that's right, I got a call from my mother. She wanted me to go grab something from my house. So I went there and ... and ...”

It took her a long time, but it seemed to come back to her. When she looked up at him with tears in her eyes, Wulf reached out and held her hand.

“It's okay. You're fine now,” he whispered. She shook her head.

“Oh my god, he was in my home!” she gasped. “I think he's been in it lots! I'm so stupid, I forgot to ask for the key back.”

“Please. Don't cry. We can go over this tomorrow.”

“No. No, it was my neighbor,” she said fast, wiping at her tears. “Dean ... something. McClintoff. He lives in the place underneath mine. God, he was stealing my underwear and some jewelry, and he was saying all this stuff about a date we were supposed to go on, and then when he saw me call the cops, he flipped out. He was slamming me against the counter and I hit him in the face and then he ... he threw me down the stairs. God, like garbage, he just threw me. I thought I was going to die.”

Wulf stared at her for a long moment, then he reached out and delicately tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“I'm going to kill him,” he said softly. She started crying harder.

“Why did this happen to me? I never did anything to him,” she sobbed. “I never flirted with him, barely talked to him. What did I do to deserve this?”

“Nothing. Not a goddamn thing, Ayumi. Hey. Hey. C'mon! You're one of the strongest people I know, and you're damn sure stronger than anything some asshole did to you,” he said, keeping his voice strong. It seemed to work and her sobbing was reduced to sniffles. She took a couple deep breaths, then nodded her head.

“Wulf?”

“Yeah?”

“I'm sorry I lied to you.”

“I can't even express to you how much I don't even care about that,” he breathed. She managed to smile for him.

“And I'm really glad you're here.”

“Me too, Ayumi. Me, too.”

*

THE NEXT DAY WAS ONE of the most ... interesting in Ayumi's life.

First of all, Wulf took the day off work. Wulf never missed work, ever. Only for Katya. Nothing else. But he stayed in Ayumi's hospital room the whole time, just talking with her and watching tv with her and bringing her food. She woke up once after a nap and it was to discover him asleep in the chairs next to her, holding on firmly to her hand.

The second thing was the rape kit. What fun that was! She'd cried again as she was checked over very thoroughly for any signs of bodily invasion. She'd been unconscious when the police had arrive, anything could have happened between her fall and them getting there. She consented to the test, but she didn't enjoy it. She went limp with relief when they didn't find any signs of sexual assault.

Lastly was the arrival of her mother. She expected criticism. For being so stupid to go into a dark house. For confronting her intruder. For allowing him to have a key for so long. Instead of any of that, though, her mom simply burst into the room and almost collapsed on her bed.

“My baby,” she'd sobbed, hugging her daughter's leg.

Well, that's different.

She'd babbled on and on about blaming herself for a while, but eventually Wulf gently manhandled her out of the room, claiming Ayumi had a prescribed nap time.

She thought the idea of prescription naps was a pretty good one, but before she could recommend it to her doctor, Katya came sweeping into the room.

“I can't believe it,” she breathed, moving to stand at Ayumi's bed side.

“Oh, it's not so bad,” she insisted. “My ankle won't need surgery, they think I can get out of here tomorrow or the day after.”

“I should've gone with you,” Katya said, swiping at tears. “It was late. I shouldn't have let you go alone.”

Ayumi was glad Wulf had gone down to the cafeteria. Seeing his assistant banged up had been very hard on him. Just picturing Katya in the same state would probably send him into a coma.

“Stop it, no one could know this would happen. I'm glad you weren't there, then we'd both be hurt.”

“Did they catch the guy?”

Ayumi nodded.

“Yeah, just a couple hours after it happened. I guess he went to his ex wife's house, which he's not allowed to do. She called the cops and he got picked up there.”

“Good. I hope he rots in prison,” Katya said in a hard voice.

“He would hope for that, too, if he saw how angry Wulf is,” Ayumi laughed. Katya shook her head.

“You put the fear of god in him,” she said in a low voice as she finally took a seat. “I've never seen Wulf so upset. When I got here this morning and he was telling me the story ... he's serious, I think he'd really kill the guy if given half the chance.”

“That's ridiculous. It's a sprained ankle, I don't think he really meant to hurt me,” Ayumi insisted.

“And I don't think Wulf cares how little or how badly you were hurt – he still wants to murder the guy. You're really important to him.”

“He is to me, too. You both are. Thank you for being here, Katya.”

“I wouldn't want to spend Christmas anywhere else.”

Mostly, though, Ayumi spent her time thinking about Liam.

God, she wished he was there. If she hadn't been so stupid, she wouldn't have been at her house alone – Liam would've been there with her. Or they wouldn't have gone at all. Or they'd just now be finishing up their road trip. Something. Anything.

She wanted him to hold onto her and tell her everything would be alright. Wanted him to make her laugh and feel safe and secure.

She wanted to tell him she was an idiot, and that falling down those stairs had at least knocked some sense into her. In those moments of absolute fear and terror, he'd been the only thing on her mind. Wishing he was there, wishing she was with him.

A near death experience had done wonders for her psyche. She would always be awkward. Emotions would never come naturally to her. But Liam didn't care – he never had. He liked her exactly the way she was, complicated and ridiculous and neurotic, and if she'd let him, he would love her, too. She just had to listen to him and learn from him. Allow herself to like him back as much as she really wanted to; allow herself to fall a little in love with him.

Too late.

Maybe it would end badly. Maybe it was a bad idea. But maybe it would be incredible and amazing and the kind of thing love stories are made of. She was willing to take that chance, finally. As long as it was with him.

Ayumi wanted Liam was there in the hospital with her. But her cell phone had been broken in the fall, she didn't know his phone number. She didn't want to ask Wulf or Katya. It was a private moment, she wanted to share it with Liam and Liam alone.

She was getting discharged. Just a day or two, the doctors had said. Then she would go home and she would hobble over to his building and she would tell him exactly how she felt about him.

She would tell him he was the best thing to ever happen in her life.