Wet kisses rained down on his face and he smiled. He could wake up this way every morning.

“Gabe,” came her voice. It was the voice of an angel. The voice he loved. The voice he wanted to hear every day for the rest of his life. “Gabe, can you hear me?”

His eyes flickered open and then the pain hit. His shoulder was on fire and he groaned as he tried to move.

“No,” she said. “Stay still. The ambulance is coming.”

He looked at Nadine and saw the fear and worry in her eyes and then it all came rushing back to him. The gun, Jeanie. The pain as she had shot him.

“Jeanie,” he said, struggling to sit up.

“Shh,” Nadine soothed. “It’s okay. She can’t hurt you now.”

Gabe kept his eyes on Nadine. “Are you okay? Did she hurt you?”

She shook her head. “I’m fine. But you need to keep still. You’re bleeding. A lot. I can’t keep the pressure on if you keep moving around.”

Right. He could feel it now, the way she leant her full weight on his shoulder. It burned like a bitch but he’d rather that than bleeding to death.

“Oh God, Nadine. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”

She leant down and kissed him on the mouth, shutting him up.

“None of this is your fault,” she said when she lifted her head. “It was all her fault. All of it.” Nadine took a breath and her eyes hardened. “She drugged me. She manipulated me into thinking I was going crazy.”

“Oh baby,” he said, not knowing what to say. He should have seen it. He should have protected her.

“Oh no you don’t,” she said, her eyes snapping. “You are not going to take responsibility for this. I won’t let you. That woman carries all the blame.”

He grinned up at her, his head a little woozy. “I’ve missed you,” he said. “I’ve missed the feisty Nadine that came into my office full of fire and snark.”

She kissed him again and he surrendered to it. There would be a hell of a mess to clean up but he would worry about that later. Right now he had the woman he loved in his arms…well, sort of in his arms and that’s all that mattered.

“You’re going to have to move ma’am so I can get a look at him.”

Nadine scowled up at the paramedic that had arrived and moved out of the way, not letting go of his shoulder. The paramedic looked down at her hands and then at her.

“I’ve got it,” he said, “you can let go.”

She reluctantly lifted her hands and a rush of pain hit him, causing him to groan. The paramedic worked quickly, binding the wound and then filling a syringe.

“No,” he gasped. “No drugs.”

“It’ll just take the edge off,” the paramedic said. “The trip to hospital will be a bitch without it.”

Nadine’s cool hands were on his forehead as she tried to soothe him. “Let the man do his job,” she said and he nodded in acceptance.

It didn’t take long for the painkiller to work and as he was wheeled out of the apartment he felt himself dropping off.

“Nadine,” he called.

“I’m right here,” she said, squeezing his hand.

“I love you Nadine,” he said. “Marry me.”

“Probably not a great time to propose,” the paramedic said quietly. “You might want to wait until there is less blood.”

He didn’t care what the other guy said, he only had eyes for her.

She was smiling at him and crying at the same time.

“I didn’t mean to make you sad,” he said. His voice sounded funny and he grinned at the stupidness of it.

“I’m not sad,” she said, “I’m happy.”

“Does that mean you’ll marry me?”

“Yes,” she said and bent down to kiss him just before he was loaded into the ambulance.

“That’s my girl,” he said to the paramedic who just rolled his eyes.

Nadine paced the waiting room. Gabe had been taken straight into surgery but no one would tell her anything because she wasn’t family. She didn’t think a drug-induced proposal counted. The detective at the scene had questioned her briefly before letting her go. He told her he would be in touch. She didn’t look at the body of her friend as she walked past. She didn’t want to remember her that way, her dead eyes staring at the ceiling. Jeanie might have been a monster, but Mandy had been her friend.

Which she knew was screwed up. The woman had tried to take her identity and had made her think she was crazy to boot.

“Nadine?”

Jace’s voice had her spinning around and the tears falling once again. For someone who never cried, she was sure doing a lot of it lately.

“Jace,” she said, running at him and throwing herself into his arms. He wrapped her up in a hug and for the first time in far too long she felt safe. She didn’t really know where she stood with Gabe, drugged proposal notwithstanding. But she knew she had to fix this thing with her family and her band.

“God. We were so worried about you,” he said, not letting her go.

She held on tighter and breathed in his familiar scent. Jace had always been there for her. From the moment their parents had died, he had been her rock. She had been such a bitch to him and she owed him so much.

“Nadine?” Vanessa’s voice pulled her from Jace’s arms, but not completely. She dragged her sister into the hug as well and a small piece of her heart clicked back into place. She had missed them. Missed this.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Stevie said, patting her on the back.

She hugged Stevie as well. Another part of her family who she had been neglecting.

“We haven’t met,” a woman said, standing a little off to the side. “I’m Amaya, Gabe’s sister.”

Nadine couldn’t help herself. She pulled Amaya into a hug too. Amaya held on tight for a moment before they separated awkwardly.

“He’s in surgery,” Nadine said, “but they won’t tell me anything because I’m not family.”

“Leave it with me,” she said and strode out of the room.

“Are you alright?” Stevie asked, grasping her by the shoulders and looking into her eyes. “Really?”

“A little bruised and battered, but nothing serious.”

“And Mandy?”

Nadine’s face fell. “Dead,” she whispered. “The police shot her after she shot Gabe.”

Stevie pulled her into another hug.

“He’s out of surgery,” Amaya said coming back into the waiting room. “The operation went fine and they’re taking him to recovery.”

“When can I see him?” Nadine asked.

Amaya hesitated and Nadine felt herself straighten up at the implied threat.

“After I’ve spoken to him,” she said and Nadine nodded.

She understood Amaya’s protectiveness but she wouldn’t be kept from him. She had a lot of things she needed to tell him and no one was going to stand in her way.