“Ms. Tuesday,” she heard a voice calling. A gentle hand shook her shoulder and she blearily blinked awake.

“Gina,” she said, smiling at the familiar face. “Or am I supposed to call you Nurse Callahan when you’re not downing picklebacks at my bar?”

Gina gave her a scandalized look, but her blue eyes sparkled. “Tali! How dare you!” she muttered. “I am a lady. A lady doesn’t ‘down’ picklebacks at a bar.”

“Guess it was your evil twin, then. My apologies,” she winked. “What time is it?” she asked, yawning widely.

“A little after 8 a.m. There’s breakfast ready. Wanted to give you a heads up before I bring it around.” Tali saw her glance around the room briefly, her eyes lingering on the chair where Cole sat, head lolling and snoring slightly. “Honey, is it true? Did you really get attacked by wolves? That’s what they told me when I started my shift. I can’t believe it.”

Tali nodded. “Yeah,” she said, hardly believing it herself, even as the memories came flooding back, making her feel nauseous. It was a little over twelve hours ago that she’d almost been ripped apart. Until Cole came to the rescue. She remembered her plan. And how chatty Gina was when she was sober, and how her chattiness grew exponentially with each pickleback she shot. “It was awful. Thank God Cole was there,” she sighed, giving him her fondest look. Which wasn’t hard. “He was so brave. I’d be dead now if not for him.”

Gina stared at him again, open-mouthed. Tali had made the doctor treat him too, even though Cole had protested. His wounds really had started to heal faster than hers but he’d been marred enough for the staff present to see that he’d clearly suffered animal bites.

“So the two of you,” she said. “You really are...together?”

“Yes,” Tali said firmly. “We are. And I know what everyone here thinks about him, but I don’t believe it. Maybe I did, for a sliver of a moment when I first heard, but I don’t anymore. He could have died so easily last night doing what he did to protect me. But he didn’t hesitate. Not for a minute. I trust him. And I love him.”

Gina stared at her, brow knit.

She was skeptical. She was definitely skeptical. But she wasn’t looking at her like she had ten heads, and that was something.

“Well, okay, honey. I’m just glad you’re okay. God, that must’ve been so terrifying. I can’t imagine. And I heard one of them got away? I won’t let my Kelsey out the door until someone catches that thing. Anyway, I’ll go get your breakfast.”

Tali saw her glance at Cole once again. He looked so sweet dozing there. She just gazed at him for a few moments, still sleepy. It was so bizarre to think that two months ago, she’d been living in LA where the most eventful things in her life involved food delivery trucks letting them down at her restaurant or Cass accidentally exploding glitter bombs in their apartment when trying to do some weird art thing.

Now she was in love with a man who was also a bear, and who everyone thought was a murderer. Which...was technically true. But also totally justified.

She couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity of it.

“What the hell are you laughing about at this hour, you nutjob?” Cole grumbled at her, eyes still shut. “Are you still high on morphine or something?”

“No. I’m fine. I’m just...whatever. Morning, sunshine,” she smiled. “I told you to go home. If you’ve got a crick in your neck, I definitely told you so.”

“I do,” he muttered, tilting his head back and forth until his neck cracked. She winced. “Worth it though.”

Before she could chastise him for doing what he knew she hated, there was a knock at the door, and Gina was back. “Hey hon,” she said. “I was about to bring in your breakfast but, uh, you’ve got a very insistent visitor who isn’t taking no for an answer.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, there was a cry of “Tali!” and a blur of red hair ducked under Gina’s arm and barreled into the room. A moment later, Ella threw herself onto Tali’s bed, hugging her hard, head buried in her chest. Surprised and touched, Tali hugged her as best as she could.

“Oh my God!” Ella professed, sitting up to look her in the face. “Are you okay? I’m sorry, I wasn’t even thinking, did I hurt you?” She pulled away quickly, standing beside the bed, looking horrified.

“No, sweetie, it’s just my leg really. You’re fine.”

But Ella didn’t look fine. Her lip started to tremble and her brown eyes filled with tears. “Why didn’t you call? I…I just heard from Jenny’s dad, who heard from his sister who works here—you were attacked by wolves? I can’t believe it...”

Cole stood up fast. “I’m gonna give you two a couple of minutes,” he said in a rush, practically bolting.

“I’m sorry, honey,” Tali said with a pang, reaching out for Ella’s hand and pulling her closer. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to worry you. It was late and...I’m fine. I am.”

She sat up in bed and pulled her in for another hug, a better one. “You could have died,” Ella mumbled into her shoulder. “Mr. Callaway said there were five of them. That’s insane. I’m so glad you’re okay.” Tali could feel her shaking and held her tight for a few minutes, not sure what to say. But it seemed that simply feeling Tali there, alive and real and solid, was enough for Ella, who eventually pulled back on her own, wiping at her face.

A few minutes later Cole came back, standing in the doorway, looking sheepish with two paper cups in his hand.

“Um. Hey,” he said. “I brought you coffee,” he said to Tali. Then, even more awkwardly, turning to Ella, he added. “And uh, hot chocolate for you. Because kids aren’t supposed to have coffee? I think?” He looked at Tali again questioningly. She felt herself grinning doofily at his obvious desperation for approval.

“That’s right,” she said kindly. “They’re not. This one does though,” she added, giving Ella a look. “Because she’s kind of a brat. Who doesn’t care if she ever gets taller than five feet. But thank you.”

Cole trudged in then, handing over the drinks. “Ella,” Tali said. “This is Cole. He…” she trailed off a little, wondering how she should describe him to her niece.

“Yeah, I know,” Ella said, nodding. She looked at Cole unabashedly and said, “You helped my dad build our deck like four years ago. We played basketball once. You helped me figure out how to perfect my layup technique.”

Cole gave her a crooked half-grin, looking surprised. “You remember that?”

Ella tapped her temple twice, and simply said, “Elephant memory.”

Cole smiled at her. “I think your dad told me your team won the championship that year. Impressive.”

Ella snorted. “I guess. If you consider a bunch of eight-year-old girls running around and screaming for two hours impressive.”

“Your dad definitely did,” Cole said. “He spent a good ten minutes giving me the rundown of the final game.”

“Eeesh,” Ella muttered. “That must have been painful.” But she had a warm smile on her face too. Tali felt a brief pang.

“Nah, it was sweet,” Cole said. “You still play?”

“Just for fun,” she said. “I only do hockey competitively now.”

“A true Alaskan,” Cole said, nodding approvingly. He gave a brief but pointed glare above Ella’s head at Tali, because she was definitely giving two very distracting and over-the-top thumbs up signs to him, but then he turned his attention back to Ella. “What position do you play?”

Tali’s brain gave up on trying to listen then, as it usually did whenever anyone so much as mentioned sports, but she was grinning from ear to ear as she drank her terrible hospital coffee.

She had a man who loved her, and a niece who loved her, and they seemed to be getting along swimmingly. She had air in her lungs, and was not being digested by wolves. This was a very good day.