RYAN'S POV

When Becca walks in the room with Matt, she almost looks embarrassed that Landon's there. She walks directly to me and leans her back against my chest while I'm sitting on her bed. I realize the reason she does this is because the hospital gown she has on is very loosely tied together near her upper body and her back is showing through a gap in the fabric. I take the ties and fix them tighter so there isn't such a large opening anymore and feel Becca relax into me and rest her left hand on my knee before turning her attention to Landon.

"Hey Landon," she says and adds a sweet smile. He stopped pacing and I could tell he was trying to calm down so he wouldn't frighten her.

"Why didn't you tell us about him Becca?" he asked, getting straight to the point. Her body tensed before she replied.

"I didn't realize Ryan told you..."

"Hey," I leaned forward like I was telling her a secret, "I'm sorry Becs. I only told Landon and my mom that's it okay? I won't ever tell anybody else without your permission." She spun quickly in my arms.

"Why did you tell your mom?"

I scratched the back of my neck with one arm while trying to think up a way to pitch her the idea of living at my house for now without scaring her off; however, Matt took that moment to interrupt our conversation.

"Ryan, I need to talk to you."

Becca looks at me still waiting for an explanation.

"Can we talk in a second?" I ask and she nods. "Alright, is it okay if Landon stays in here with you while I talk to Matt?" She nods again so I gently lift her onto the bed and tell her I'll be right back.

"What's up?" I ask Matt as soon as we get in the hallway.

"Becca doesn't have a concussion but her ribs are broken. They look like they were broken for a while too but are healing okay. She has a cut near her hairline and she told me her head hit the headboard when she was thrown onto the bed but it doesn't need stitches."

Taking a deep breath, grateful that there's no concussion, I am ready to ask some questions but Matt holds his hand up and continues.

"She's staying overnight so we can monitor her breathing with the rib injuries and the swelling on her face to make sure that goes down. I want to give her a sedative later as well but I'm not sure how she'd feel about that. I normally don't have to work around the patient like this but she seems to have difficulty with trust..."

"Well, I will talk to her about the sedative. I'm planning on staying here overnight anyways," I state. Matt puts his clipboard to the side and locks eyes with me.

"Ryan, I'm not sure what your situation is with Becca but please watch over her for a little while okay? I see a lot of patients come in with a saving grace only to end up in the same position they had been in before."

Without missing a beat, I say, "I'm not leaving her Matt. She won't end up back there I can promise you that." He smiles and nods then walks down the hallway and around a corner.

When I open the door to Becca's room, I see a sobbing Becca in a panicking Landon's arms. His eyes were filled with uneasiness and practically begged for me to help him. I easily took his place, Becca falling into my arms, and he backed away towards the door. Lifting his chin in goodbye, he pointed to his phone letting me know he would text me later and then snuck out the door. After a little while, Becca relaxed so I lifted her onto the bed and sat in the chair next to her. She seemed to shy away from me so I just started telling her what my plans were.

"Becs, I don't know what you're thinking, but I was hoping you would stay at my house for a little while." My voice was nervous and somewhat shaky in fear of what her answer would be.

"Okay," she said quietly. My head snapped up to look at the beautiful, broken girl beside me.

"Okay? You're good with this?"

Becca nods her head seconds before I lean forward and wrap her in my arms. Her frame was so much smaller than mine and I felt like I could break her, especially in her current condition.

"That's the only reason I told my mom and she only knows what I was suspicious of. I promise nobody else knows or will ever find out unless you want to share it with them," I kept blabbering like an idiot, "I'm sorry that I told Landon too. He's just my best friend and we were both worried so when I found you I had to let him know."

"Ryan." She whispered so lightly in my ear that goose bumps appeared on my neck. "It's okay. I trust that the people you told had good reason to know."

I sighed in relief and ran my hands through the long ends of her hair. Well, I tried to run my hands through it. Becca laughs at my struggle once my hands are good and tangled.

"Do you think I could wash my hair?" she giggles.

Her sudden cheeriness is very welcome and soon I'm chuckling while trying to get myself unstuck from her dirty, but still beautiful locks.

"We can ask Matt next time he checks in on you."

~~~

Matt ended up coming in a few minutes later and sent the grumpy nurse in to wash Becca's hair. Apparently, the hospital doesn't have conditioner which was a big deal to Becca. She kept ranting about the snarls in her hair until she finally gave up and tied it in a bun on top of her head when it was partially dry.

The mood turned somber when Matt came in and asked about the sedatives. I hadn't brought that subject up and he quickly realized that so he left me with Becca to discuss.

"I don't want to take a sedative. I will be fine." She was already riled up and I hadn't said anything yet.

"Becca. Please listen to Matt's reasoning and then you can make a decision alright?"

"Okay..."

She was very hesitant even after Matt explained that they can't really monitor her accurately if she doesn't get a decent amount of sleep. Eventually agreeing, Matt left to get the IV prepared.

"Becs," I took her hands in mine, "I'm still planning on staying overnight if that's okay with you."

"Yes, thank you for staying. Thank you for everything Ryan."

"I know Matt will be coming back soon but I want to let you know... I have... there's something..." I can't find the right words to say because I don't want to freak her out. We haven't known each other for long yet I feel this insane pull towards her. My mind continues racing until I'm pulled from my thoughts by Becca's hand grasping mine.

"I feel it too," she says softly while looking directly into my eyes. "That weird connection: I think that's why it's been so easy for me to get closer to you than anyone else."

"Thank God! I didn't want to freak you out like I'm freaking myself out." Her pretty, blue eyes are still gazing into my own as she starts to grin.

"I don't get it either but I'm grateful for it," she says. I lean forward and cautiously press my forehead against hers.

"Me too."

Matt chooses that moment to barge in, causing Becca to jump. Her head smashes into mine which reopens the cut near her hairline and it starts bleeding immediately.

"Shit! Becs are you okay?"

She just starts laughing and leans back in the bed staring at something on my forehead.

"What?" I ask.

"There's, uhm, you have my..." she can't seem to spit it out.

"Her blood is on your forehead idiot," states Matt with no humor in his voice.

I quickly wipe it on my sleeve chuckling at his mood.

"Oh, hey Matt, I brought a little bag with some of Becca's things in it. Is it okay if she changes into some other clothes?"

Matt and Becca replied at the same time with: "You packed me clothes?" and "Yea sure."

I didn't answer either of them; I just went to the corner of the room and grabbed her backpack I brought along.

"I kind of jumped the gun because I didn't want you to have to go back to your house." I could feel myself blushing a bit.

"Thank you!" she squealed while already rifling through the backpack. Pulling out some underwear, a sports bra, and an oversized shirt, she swiveled to Matt checking to see if he would give her some privacy. He held up his hands and turned to leave. I was going to do the same but she stopped me.

"Just close your eyes."

I sat back down and did what she said. Soon I felt small hands on my shoulders as chapped lips gave me a peck on my cheek. My eyes opened slowly to her beautiful face. The swelling had already started to go down and her cheekbones were showing once again.

"Thank you so much Ryan," she whispered before heading to the bed and waiting for Matt to return. I sat frozen to my seat and only moved when the door opened and Matt entered with an IV for Becca. He hooked her all up and opened the drip for the sedative. I was snapped out of my little daze when her delicate hand reached out for mine, her blue eyes searching for my gray ones. Quickly obliging, I moved closer to the bed and rested my arm there to take her hand.

"I'll be here okay?" It didn't really come out as a question, more as a statement. Nonetheless, she nodded as her eyes grew droopy and she fell asleep.