ᴛʜɪʀᴅ ᴘᴏᴠ

𝟮𝟰, 𝟰𝟴, 𝟳𝟯.

♛♛♛

Beneath the stars were a couple so profoundly in love. A treasurable moment for the two.

Even if they were polar opposites, they both loved like they never had before.

"This is our third night doing this, Juls." She looks over at him, away from the stars.

The grass tickled her skin, just like the touch of his fingers did.

"You like it don't you?" He softly questioned, his eyes still far up in the sky, unaware of where her gaze had rested.

"I love it." She said.

The melody of buzzing grasshoppers and a gentle wind allowed their words to linger in the air.

Each star in the night sparkled, matching their own gleams too.

"Can I ask you something, Juls?" She turns her eyes to the sky again, while he lets his fall to hers.

"Sure, Angel."

She took a long breath in, hesitancy surfacing suddenly. Julius, on the other hand, had placed her hand in his, calming her soul and reminding her who it was she was with.

"Do you think we'll be together forever?"

Silence occurs after her words. A silence of thought.

Soon, Julius breaks his peaceful composure into a smile. Allowing his demeanour to turn vulnerable to her.

"I think we will be. As long as we're with each other, yes?" He caresses her cheek with the back of his fingers, allowing her gaze to drop to his again.

She smiled.

"That's right." She gives in to his touch, allowing her cheek to be held by his hand.

At that moment, a thought crosses her mind. One that made her smile drop so suddenly.

"And what about if we're not, Juls?" She swallows the fear down her throat, the mere question lingers in the air, unanswered.

Julius decided to slant up and look down at her. An assuring look in his eye as he cups her cheek too.

"We'll find each other again," He said, lightly stroking her cheek.

"We always do."

♛♛♛

The young woman sat beside his bed, her hand holding his completely numb.

It's been 24 hours, they were supposed to leave for Paris today.

Julius had taken a bullet to the heart. Well, technically it missed his heart by a single inch miraculously.

If he wakes, it would only then be a miracle.

This was a feeling Hazel was all too familiar with. She'd been here before, in a hospital room, but the last time she was saying her goodbyes to a dead corpse

"Miss Alexis? We need to do a vital check on Mr Santo. Would you mind waiting outside?"

She breaks her strong trance away from her boyfriend, looking up at the young nurse who conveyed pity in her gaze. Hazel was reluctant to let go, she didn't want to leave, she hadn't since the moment she left this room.

Realising she had to, Hazel parts from the chair and kisses his hand before ever so slowly letting go.

I'll be back, Juls.

Passing the nurse, she exits the room and walks down the hall a little to sit in the waiting chair.

Her mind was completely gone, she didn't know what was happening, where or with who. All her mind constantly replayed was the moment Julius would wake.

He was in a coma. They said he could wake in a few days, a week, or a year. Time would only tell and Hazel wasn't sure she'd be able to leave this hospital until he was okay.

The last 24 hours were a blur, from after she saw the blood pooling through his chest everything was downhill from there in her memory.

It was a dreadful waiting game now.

"Miss Alexis." A demanding voice called.

With zero energy or care, she lifts her head and is met with a black uniform, one she knew all too well.

"We would like to speak with you regarding Mr Santo's recent tragedy."

Suddenly her breath catches in her throat. Nostalgia hits her like a wave and flashes from only a few years ago come spiralling back in.

"Did you have any indication that your sister was suicidal or contemplating suicide?"

"N-No.."

"Were you close with your sister?'

"Yes."

"Then how come you weren't aware?"

Her chest tightens as the memories come flooding back, she can feel the closeness of her lungs and the visual images of what this police officer could ask her.

This makes her panic rise and rise, breaking the capsule of her silence and turning her back into the panic mess that she was.

She hears the officer call her name many times, her first and last name. This only reminded her of where she came from, her childhood, and who she was.

"Hazel, baby?" Trace's voice soothes her, a sudden soft hand on her arm and she flinches as her eyes reopen.

The officer was suspiciously looking over at Hazel as he talks with the same nurse that went to check in on Julius, her eyes following back to the two figures in front of her.

Looking at the hand on her arm, she brings them up and lands on Trace's soft gaze then switches to Gracie's beside her.

"Hey, you're okay," She soothes, holding Hazel to her chest while Gracie rubs her hand soothingly. The two women calm Hazel with their love.

"What questions are you going to ask her? She's obviously got nothing to do with what happened to him, it was one of your stupid recruiters!" Gracie starts up at the officer, getting quite close to him.

"Stand back young lady!" He placed a hand on his taser and Gracie rolled her eyes, shifting back to Hazel.

"Officer Daniel Andrews has been suspended and is now being questioned and conceivably will be held in court. I have questions regarding that." The officer explains.

Hazel breathed heavily, her heartbeats ringing in her ears.

"How dare you," Gracie sneers at the man, a female officer now appearing by his side. "Julius was shot intentionally. He was doing nothing wrong. 'Officer Daniel Andrews' should be without a doubt detained for his actions."

All that was said were facts. Yes, Julius is a man full of crimes, all of which haven't been proven to be him. But in this situation, Julius is innocent.

The officer seemed speechless, but the female interrupted quickly.

"That's enough now. If you have something to say take it down to the station. Miss Alexis is required to talk to us as she was at the scene of the crime."

The female looks down at the broken woman, softening her gaze as she sees how vulnerable she was at this moment.

"But in her own time, when she is ready, she can come down to the station." She says, looking toward her partner and making a motion with her head to leave.

The male looks at Gracie and gives her a hard look, "Make sure she contacts us by the end of the week."

With that, they leave and Hazel is still a broken mess, though calm from her panic.

She shakily removes herself from the chair, inhaling deeply as she begins to walk back to his room.

"Hazel? Why don't you come and eat something?" Trace calls out for her, it reached one ear but it came out of the other in silence.

All her mind and body told her to do was to go back to Julius. Hold his hand, hoping that he'd wake. He would. There wasn't a doubt that he wouldn't.

Before her hand could pull the handle to his door open, a hand that wasn't hers was placed onto her shoulder.

Her head snapped back, her face blank though her eyes carrying everything.

"Haze, why don't we take you somewhere. Just so you can clear your mind, and If anything happens we'll make sure to bring you straight back here."

Gracie gave her a soft smile, one of sadness and grief for the woman. Gracie was upset about the situation but more upset about how much turmoil her friend was going through. She wasn't the Hazel she knew.

She stares at Gracie, emotionlessly. Then her eyes switch to Trace behind her. Shaking her head once in rejection.

"I'm fine." Her voice came out croaky, sweet but rough.

The women look at each other, reading each other's minds once again and then turn to watch Hazel walk into the room and shut the door.

Hazel lets her back fall against the door behind her, her gaze up at the ceiling wondering just how she ended up here.

And when she looks back down, toward her lover, her mind goes blank and all she hears is her heart.

Wires and needles clung to his skin, his body wrapped in a blanket and a hospital gown and if it wasn't for the situation Hazel would've giggled looking at him.

With his muscular body and intimidating demeanour, the gown looked ridiculous on him. Yet, amongst it all, Julius was innocently beautiful.

She realised she's never seen him sleep before. Well, fall asleep.

And now that she has, she realises how innocent and vulnerable he looked.

Walking forward, her steps were slow and steady towards the bed. It was as if she were to be close to him then she'd just shatter whatever was left.

She returns to the side of his bed, looking down at him with nothing for the moment.

The softness of his features lures her in. The way his skin was a shade lighter, the golden glow now a dull cream.

His flawless skin remained unchanged. His closed eyes allowed his long luscious lashes to fall beneath his skin, and the narrowness of his cheekbones accentuated his facial features.

Exposing his full lips, which were a light shade of pink, not the red flesh she was familiar with.

His thick brown hair was dishevelled messily over his head, and her hand had forced its way into it as soon as her gaze had settled on it.

Overlooking all of his features, she mesmerised them in her head as she's done many, many times before.

He looks like an angel.

She allows her hand to glide through his hair, breathing deeply as she watches his chest rise and fall in breaths. This was the only thing keeping her sane.

The rise and fall.

"I've seen in movies when one is in a coma, they can often hear the other person from the other side."

Slowly, her bottom reaches her seat again and she takes his hand, lacing her fingers through his tatted, limp ones.

Breathing deeply, she continues with her words.

"So, I'm going to try it. But it's okay if you can't hear me, I'll just tell you when you wake up." She smiles hopefully while looking down at their joined hands.

Her smile fades. Flashes of that night exhaust her mind, reminders of just how close they were to the happiness they needed and then how simply it was pummeled away from them.

"I don't know why this happened to you, to us." Her face frowns, "Just the other night we were dancing in the rain, we cooked and laughed,"

Hazel begins to fall apart.

A sob came from her throat, her eyes falling in tears.

"We were so happy Juls, finally."

Her tears fall and they fall and don't stop.

"I can't lose you. I need you to wake up, please." She whispers through the cracks of her voice.

Squeezing his hand, she kisses their joined hands and cries into her arms.

Hazel cries until she can't feel anymore and once she doesn't feel anymore, she sleeps.

♛♛♛

Hazel frustratingly runs both hands through her hair, refusing to have a breakdown because of some stupid hard homework.

She closes her eyes for a second, allowing her head to fall against her pillows.

After a few moments, she feels the bed dip beside her.

Immediately, her eyes fly open and her body slouches upwards coming into contact with her boyfriend.

He gives her a knowing look, the kind that said 'don't cry Hazel, you should've just asked me for help' kind of look.

Separating her hands from her face, the young woman brings them around his neck and hugs him to her body.

"Can you do it for me?"

A low chuckle comes from his chest and she embraces it with a smile.

"I will but you have to read over it so you know what to do next time."

She pulls away and purses her lips to one side, a look in her eyes that he knew all too well.

"But I won't need to because you'll be here to help me again." She tilts her head to the side, giving him a cheeky smile.

Julius shakes his head amusedly at her, drawing his finger to her hair that fell to the side of her face, gliding them behind her ear.

"You don't know that I will be." He blinks his eyes to hers, their gazes colliding.

An ounce of fear runs across her gaze but fades within seconds.

Hazel placed her body on top of his, straddling him and then cradling both of his cheeks with her palms.

"You will be. I will be. Forever remember?"

Julius looks into her eyes deeply. Gradually, a smile appears to contrast the cold away from his features.

"That's right, Angel," He leans forward to kiss the tip of her nose, "Forever."

♛♛♛

It was the second day. 48 hours had passed.

Julius still remained asleep, even if he was wide awake in her dreams.

The mirror in front of her fogged with heat, the shower had been running for more than 20 minutes, but Hazel didn't know that.

She'd been staring at her reflection for a long while. Staring at her naked flesh that she didn't like but Julius made her love.

Memories had been returning to her mind of the two of them. She was becoming sick, horribly. Mentally of course.

And if she didn't start absorbing something into her system, she was bound to become physically sick.

A shower was a start.

Because she finally stepped inside and allowed her locks of red to become damp and moistened by the warmth of the water.

As her eyes close, she sees him.

Stumbling back, she allows her tears to pour and her mind to think of his laugh and his smile and his silver eyes.

Her head is back against the glass wall, her arms wrapped around her body as she lets out a cry.

Calm down, Haze. He's fine, he'll wake soon.

She tries to calm her conscious, her words did little to soothe her, so instead of her voice, she imagines his.

With a memory, she remembers the time he embraced her with his words and his arms when she was beginning to have a panic attack. He removed the gun from sight and soothed her and allowed her to be with him.

The safety he gave, the protection he provided, wrapped itself around her like a blanket.

She begins to breathe in and out of her mouth slowly, eyes still closed with images of him.

"I'm here for you now, Hazel. I won't let you be alone again, okay?"

Her body slumps down the wall, crawling into a ball of comfort on the shower floor.

Those words of his repeat in her mind until she is stable enough to stand and stop crying like a sulking child, allowing her to clean her body and return to Julius.

Half an hour later, Hazel was dressed in one of his hoodies and a pair of sweatpants. Her hair was combed and placed into a simple braid behind her head.

She walks out of the hospital shower, looking over at Julius.

As she walks further into the room, her eyes fall onto another person inside the room.

Percy.

He tips his chin up at her, his green eyes meeting hers.

"Hey, Hazel." He gives her a small uncomfortable smile and tilts his head back to whisk away his hair.

Hazel's eyes flash down to the boom of colour in his hands.

It was a boutique of flowers. All different types and colours and it warmed her heart just the slightest.

"Hi, Percy." Her voice cracks, not having spoken in hours.

Percy walks towards her and opens his arms, Hazel stands there looking at them—not knowing if she should.

She didn't want to cry again. Her eyes were already red and swollen as were her cheeks.

But she did. Allowing herself to be comforted by someone other than Julius from her memory.

"I'm sorry this happened to you." He rests his chin on the top of her head, soothing her back with his hand.

She says nothing, only allowing her face to cuddle into his chest further, only wishing it was someone else's.

"Thanks for the flowers," She says just under a whisper. Surprised that he had heard her when he replied with a simple murmur.

"I brought you some unhealthy food to eat," He rattles the paper bag in his other hand, and Hazel winced at the thought of eating.

"I don't want—

"No. You're eating, I'll eat with you too." He gently pulls her away from his chest the scowl and worries on his features made her sigh.

Slowly, she nods and walks over to the small eating table toward the window.

Hazel sits down with her back to the sun, and Percy sits opposite her.

Opening the bag, she watches him pull out three cheeseburgers and two large fries, along with two bottles of water.

He opens everything around the table, placing a cheeseburger and a full packet of fries in front of her.

"Eat up, buttercup." He says with a blank voice, shoving a rather large bite of his cheeseburger down his throat.

Gulping, she takes a few fries and munches them down.

"Jamie wants to see you soon," Percy mentions, staring outside the window behind Hazel.

The memory of the little boy almost brought a smile to her lips. Almost.

"Tell Jamie that I'll visit him soon, and I miss him," Hazel says without a smile but her voice was enough to elaborate her truth.

Percy looks back down at her, watching as she plays around with the fries, making a square with them on the tissue paper.

"Hazel," He calls again, her eyes snap to him and she sighs once she sees his stern stare.

Picking up the burger, she takes a delicious bite of it.

They eat in silence, her burger only being half-eaten and her fries almost gone.

"How long have you been here?" He asked her quietly, glancing over his shoulder to look at Julius.

Hazel plays with the end of her braid, shrugging consciously.

"Ever since I woke up in a hospital bed. When they carried him away, I passed out, and since then, I haven't left this room or been anywhere outside of it."

He nods slowly to her response, glad that she had spoken more to him.

Silence takes over again. Allowing her mind to rewind and replay.

"I brought UNO."

She hadn't noticed the table be cleared of all the food, now a stack of UNO cards in the middle of the table.

Looking up at him, he raises a brow and gestured for her to take them.

She does. Beginning to sort their even cards out.

"I've got all day," He smirks lightly and cracks his knuckles, and surprising both of them, she laughs slightly. For a second, she had forgotten.

And so on, Percy starts first and they're sitting at the table playing UNO until the sun sets.

♛♛♛

The sun was radiant.

It was