"Well, this is an interesting change of pace." Kaiden smiled as he sat in the chair next to Katie's hospital bed.

"It doesn't feel right, being on this side of things."

He reached over and took her hand. "It's okay, the doctor says you can go home in a bit. They want to check your vitals one more time and review the results of the MRI. You took quite a whack to the head."

Katie reached up and touched the bandage on her head. "Doc says I was lucky, the wound wasn't too bad. How's Nathan?"

Kaiden growled. "Does it matter?"

"Well, yeah, it does. I hate him but I don't want him dead."

"He's fine. On his way back to Virginia Beach as we speak."

"You didn't have to take him?"

"No, I made other arrangements. I figured I'd hang out with Ma for a few days."

"Oh?"

"Unless you are in a hurry to get back to the beach too?"

She shrugged. "I've got nothing to go back to."

"Does that mean you are going back to Staunton?"

"I don't know. I mean, there's really nothing there for me either. My parents spend most of their time on the road in their RV."

"Why don't you take a couple of days and think about it. Ma says we can hang at her place as long as we want to."

A knock on the door sounded and the doctor appeared. He was a young guy, barely out of med school, but there was something about him that Kaiden really liked. "All righty, Ms. McCoy, it looks like you are good to go. I'll have the nurse come by with the discharge papers. You take it easy for a couple of days. Your body is going to ache something fierce from that tumble you all took."

"Thanks, Doctor. I promise to take it easy."

"I promise she will too," Kaiden said.

"Good, good, good. You take care now." The doctor bid farewell and disappeared into the hall beyond the door.

A minute later the nurse showed up, Katie signed everything and they were on their way back to the mountain.

The doctor was right. Every muscle in her body ached. Clara had made her a cup of hot tea and sent her to bed the minute she and Kaiden entered the mountain house. Now, three hours later, her body screamed at her as she tried to sit up. The room tilted and spun as she made it to an upright position.

Once everything around her stood still, Katie lowered her feet to the floor and attempted to stand up. She swayed violently, grabbing for the bed when a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around her.

"Whoa there, young lady. Where exactly do you think you are going?"

"I was going to go and find you but I have this splitting headache that makes me dizzy."

"That's going to happen for a couple of days. You probably shouldn't go anywhere without me from now on." His words were light hearted but his blue eyes smoldered to a deep grey.

"Is that doctor's orders?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am. Didn't you hear? I'm your doctor now." He gently lowered her back to the bed and fluffed the pillows before insisting she settle back against them.

"I will get very lonely staying in this big empty room by myself." She scooted over to one side of the king-sized bed and patted the space beside her. "Will you stay with me for a while, Doctor James?"

He smiled broadly. "Let me clear my calendar. Oh wait, already done." He climbed up and settled down next to her. Kaiden was on his side, his head propped up on his hand when he took her hand in his other one. Katie watched as he traced circles across her palm with his thumb.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I have caused you and your family."

"Trouble? What do you mean?"

"Well, if I hadn't been involved with Nathan—"

"The Nathan Marks case was my job, remember? You were part of that case. You didn't personally cause me any trouble."

"I let him kidnap me."

"I was going to ask you about that."

Katie looked away. She remained quiet for a good long time before she spoke again. "I heard all the gunshots and the yelling. I was afraid you were hurt—or worse."

"And so you left the truck I told you not to leave and tried to help."

She nodded. "Nathan must have been running away from you when he found me."

"Well, he won't be bothering you anymore. He's going away for a long, long time."

"How can you be so sure?"

"He confessed. To everything. Mommy and Daddy refused to finance his defense fund so he is stuck with a court appointed attorney. Apparently, he didn't think he held a snowball's chance in hell of getting off so he confessed."

"What did he exactly confess to?"

"It was all a huge get rich quick scheme. With all the concerns of pandemics and things, Nathan got involved with a pharmaceutical company who wanted to cash in on people's fears. They were going to stage an outbreak of Legionnaires' to scare people enough to convince them they needed a series of immunizations against various diseases. Turns out the vaccinations were all placebos. He has been singing like a canary—several high profile arrests are going to be made."

"And the vials?"

"They have been recovered. Nothing was done with them. The plan was for that big meeting in Norfolk so we stopped them in time."

"He killed Mandy."

"I know. He confessed to that too."

"He told me she had an accident. Like she tripped and fell into a bullet. Bastard. I hate him and I was mad at Mandy but I never wished her dead."

"I know you didn't."

"I simply can't believe Nathan got mixed up in all that and I let him drag me into it."

"You didn't let him do anything. He is an evil, deceitful man and you trusted him. Nothing wrong with that."

"I'm a real fool, trusting my heart that way."

"We've all made mistakes, Katie. The good Lord knows I've made a few. My ex-wife, for instance. Somewhere deep inside I always knew she wasn't the woman for me but I hated to be alone and I thought she loved me. At least for a while. I don't think I would change it though. I learned a lot about myself from my marriage and later the divorce."

"All I learned from Nathan is that I can't trust my own judgment."

"That brings me to something else we need to discuss."

She knew it was coming. She didn't think it would come up so soon. Katie needed to figure out what to do with her life. She couldn't stay at Clara's house forever and she really didn't have much of an apartment to go home to. Not that she would ever be comfortable there again anyway. No job, no home, no future. She would now be all alone and homeless. Yay.

When did she become such a whiny child?

She was a nurse and a damned good one. So, she had to move again, no big deal. The hospital wouldn't dare give her a bad reference after the way Kaiden handled them. She could start over. She'd done it before.

"I'm not going back to my apartment. I mean, I won't live there again."

"I figured as much. I arranged to have someone go in and clean the place up. All your things are packed and ready to go wherever you want them to go."

"Kaiden! You didn't have to do that."

"It wasn't really me. The agency owed you for trashing your place. I made them follow through."

"Thank you. It will make it easier to move out if I don't have to deal with all that stuff."

"I don't want you to leave Virginia Beach."

She looked at Kaiden, trying to gauge his words against the feelings in her own heart. "I don't want to leave."

He smiled and looked extremely relieved. "Good. I am glad we agree on that."

"I need to find a job."

"All taken care of." Keegan popped his head around the corner from the hallway. "Ma called a friend and hooked you up. When you are ready, she will tell you the details."

"I don't think I can accept another arranged job. It didn't work out so well last time."

"Our mother doesn't blow smoke for anyone, she vouched for you because she liked the way you took care of Kaiden when he was shot." Keegan said.

"And, I'm hoping my boy there will finally hook himself up with a decent woman!" Clara called from down the hall. "You'd be doing me a huge favor. I'm not getting any younger, you know! I need to see these boys taken care of before the good Lord calls me home to the great mountain in the sky!"

Katie looked from Kaiden's expectant face to Keegan's smiling one. She had never felt as comfortable with anyone other than her own parents as she did with the James's. She had been a dandelion in the rose garden of the Marks family and, although no one ever said anything directly, she knew it all along.

"All right, I will talk to your mom about the job."

"Nothing to talk about!" Clara yelled to her. "The job is yours—it's in the trauma care department. You start a week from Monday!"

Ten days. Plenty of time to get settled in a new apartment.

"Thank you, Clara!"

"You're very welcome, honey!"

"So, it's official then? You will stay in Virginia Beach?"

She smiled at Kaiden and touched his cheek. "It's official."

He leaned over and kissed her then. His lips found hers in a frenzy, the force knocking her back against the pillows. She snaked her arms around his neck and held Kaiden to her.

"Umm, I'm gonna go and see what Ma is making for dinner," Keegan said as he slipped out of the room.

Katie couldn't help but laugh.

"I don't find this funny at all. I know I'm a little rusty but…" Kaiden placed a line of kisses down her throat, pausing at the little hollow at the base of her neck.

"I was laughing at your brother."

"Everyone does. Now can we stop talking about Keegan and focus on us?"

"Us?" She pushed Kaiden back a little bit. "Is there an us now?"

He looked at her, puzzled. "I thought I was being obvious."

"I don't know. Since this started, you've been kind of hot and cold."

"No. More. Cold. Just. Hot." He punctuated each word with a kiss to her face or neck, ending up in the little place by her ear that had always drove her wild. She was impressed he had found it so quickly.

"I can work with that."

"Can you work with it for, say, the rest of your life?"

A month ago, she would have run from that room screaming had someone said something like that to her. But there, in Kaiden's arms, she could suddenly see her whole future spread before her and Kaiden appeared in every single scene.

"You know what? I think I can."

"Good. We will have your stuff delivered to my place this weekend."

"Are you asking me to move in with you?"

"I thought I just did?"

"Despite my recent actions, I am not the sort of girl that gives the milk away for free you know. Expecting me to live with you? I mean, I want the fairy tale, you know?"

He looked at her, his blue eyes seeing straight through to her very soul. His hand rested on her cheek, his thumb caressing the scratch from her jaunt in the woods.

For the first time in her adult life, Katie finally knew what it felt like to really be in love. What she had experienced with Nathan had been a cruel trick in comparison. As she studied Kaiden, her heart felt full and her head light—and not from the accident. Kaiden looked at her like she was the only woman in the world. She wanted him to look at her that way forever.

"Whatever you want, Katie McCoy, it's yours. You have had my heart since the first day you walked into my hospital room. I'll marry you tomorrow if that's what you want."

Tears welled up in her eyes but she fought them back. She didn't want tears ruining the moment. The moment she had waited for her entire life.

"That's good, Kaiden. Very, very good."

"So… is that a yes?"

She pulled him close and pressed a kiss to his lips. "Yes. I want to be with you forever. But I want a real wedding; white dress, cake and all. And you, in a tux. You look pretty hot in a tux, even when you are interrogating me."

"Oh, thank God!" Clara called through the door. "We will start planning the wedding as soon as you are up to it! Two down, one to go!"

"Let's not rush things, Ma!" Kaiden yelled back through the door.

"No, let's rush them," Katie said. "I don't want to spend another moment wondering what my life would be like with you in it. We can talk in the morning, Clara!"

"Wahoo! I knew it! Keegan! Your brother is getting married! When are you gonna find yourself a girl?"

"Please, Ma! One wedding at a time!" They heard Keegan call.

"I love you, Kaiden."

"I love you, too. You make me a very happy man, Katie."

"You make me a very happy woman. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like you to make me feel a few other things."

"Aren't you hurting from the accident?"

"Actually, everything suddenly feels absolutely perfect."

"I know exactly what you mean."

"I suppose there is only one thing left to do then," she finally said.

"What's that?" Kaiden shifted so that he wrapped her completely in the safety of his arms.

"Shut up and kiss me." She giggled as Kaiden pulled her close and pressed his lips to hers. "I've always wanted to say that."

"I've waited a lifetime to hear you say it."