The Captain or Grey as he prefers to be called takes me across the road to a nice looking house with a dead lawn and overgrown flower beds. Grey really wasn't joking when he said his yard was in bad shape.

Grey couldn't see my expression when he said, "See I told you it was in bad shape. I'm going to be the one to get the most out of this deal Miracle." It always makes me smile when he calls me Miracle. Silly I know, but hey a girl can't help but feel what she feels.

Grey takes me to the stairs and helps me walk up. Stairs are what the therapy dragons have been having me work on. Although I don't really need help it's comforting to have his hand on my arm, I do still have pain. A particularly bad pain had me stop in my tracks and squeeze his arm hard. I tried desperately to blink away the tears, I don't want him to see me cry.

"It's okay Miranda, we'll take it as slow as we need to." Grey's calm voice is reassuring and after a bit the pain goes down to bearable levels. I take another step forward and I'm finally off those damnable steps. I give a near silent sigh of relief and hear Grey chuckle in response.

"I heard that with some people with trauma like yours they find stairs particularly trying. Fortunately these are the only stairs I have." I love that  man's laugh, it's low and sexy. Damn, if I'm not careful I'll be on a one sided love affair. Been there and done that, not interested in doing that again.

"Sorry, I-" I start but Grey interrupts me.

"No, I'm sorry. You're still recovering and here I am laughing at your pain." At his words I look over at him in astonishment. A gentleman, and he's apologizing to me for a nothing.

Grey frowns in puzzlement at my look. "What's wrong Miracle? Damn, I'm scaring you off already aren't I?"

No, but if he could hear what I was saying to myself he'd be scared and running as fast from me as he could get. He's looking at me and waiting for a response. "No, Grey. Just the opposite in fact. For some reason I'm comfortable with you and not when I'm with other males. In fact they had to put me with only females therapy aides or I wouldn't, or rather couldn't, do any of the work. I would get too anxious and go into a panic attack." I looked away from him with this confession. I didn't want to see the questions or pity he'd show me.

"Miracle, why won't you look at me?" Grey asks softly now. "I don't hold it against you. Obviously you have had bad experiences with men before that your body remembers even if your mind doesn't."

I can't lie to him any longer. "Grey, I need to talk to you and I can't do it out here." I can't keep the tears from falling now or keep them out of my voice.

Grey lets me into the house and I go over to the couch and sit on the edge. He goes back out to retrieve the wheelchair. He folds it up and sets it next to the door before coming into the living room and sitting in the chair perpendicular to the couch. I know he studies me as the silence lengthens uncomfortably.

I glance at him, his face is blank and difficult to read. It's not going to get better. I take a deep breath and begin. "After this you might wish to take me back to the hospital, maybe even the mental ward. I wouldn't blame you.

"I do remember, Grey. I haven't said anything because I know I'll sound crazy. Before I was hit by the car... damn there's no way to say this without it sounding like I'm a loon." I'm already planning on him taking me back to the hospital and committing me. I angrily wipe the tears away from my face.

"First off, I'm divorced. My ex husband was incredibly abusive. If I could forget anything it would be those years I lived with him, unfortunately we don't get to choose. Or at least I don't. So yes, there is a real reason, a very valid one for why I couldn't be near those therapy aides." Grey's jaw is clenched like he is angry and doing his best to keep things to himself.

Dammit, I felt the beginnings of a panic attack coming on and I know some of the fear must have shown on my face. As I struggled Grey also tries to control himself more and it makes it easier for me. Finally I can continue.

"Shortly before you found me in that ditch, now this is the crazy part, I had gone out on a normal spring day and fell asleep on the apartment complexes lawn. I awoke to the sounds of mortars going off and dirt being thrown up in my face from bullets hitting the ground near me.

"I was in the middle of a war zone. This valley, my valley I was born and raised in, was now in a war zone. The whole area showed signs of prolonged fighting. Houses and buildings that should have been there weren't, and I don't mean they were destroyed by the war. I mean they were never built. I was terrified and didn't know what to do, when a voice speaks to me.

"He says, who the hell are you?" Miranda takes a deep breath before continuing. "That man was Captain Grey, although I didn't know that at the time. He had been out scouting behind enemy lines and was returning to his side. That he stumbled on me well I don't know who was more surprised. You're identical to him Grey.

"Anyway he wouldn't leave me there and seeing how I was too petrified to move on my own he picks me up and carries me with him into his camp. He takes me somewhere, I don't know where, I was still too shocked about everything to pay any attention. He started yelling at someone before storming off elsewhere. His anger frightened me and I think he could feel me shaking and tried to calm down.

"It didn't matter of course. I may never have been in a war, but I'm smart enough to know that my presence would be considered that of a spy. I figured that wherever he was taking me I would be incarcerated and interrogated. I was half right anyway. 

"He took me to the medical tent. I seemed to be the only one there but again I was in too much shock to really notice. The captain placed me on the bed and then places cuffs on my wrists although the doctor was fighting him about it.

"When I was no longer as shocky as I was before, first the captain, then the doctor asked me questions. Every time I answered the same. The captain became angry and slapped me. He immediately apologized to me, but it didn't change things. He said it was the first time he'd ever hit a woman or a prisoner. The doctor threw him out and banned him from seeing me.

"Then it was the doctor's turn to ask me questions. But I didn't care. I couldn't eat, every time I did I became sick and ended up a mess, so they gave up on forcing me to eat. I was dying.

"After a time the captain was allowed back in to see me. He told me that I would be allowed my freedom. I had convinced them I wasn't a spy, but they wanted to send me to a mental institution. I just wanted to go home.

"After being nearly beaten to death the captain offered me a place to live, very like you Grey. But the difference was he had intended to have me warm his bed. I had started eating but after that I stopped completely.

"After awhile the captain came in and I asked him to take me back to where he found me when I die. He promised.

"The next thing I know I wake up and it's nighttime. It wasn't where he found me, it was about a block away but it was close enough. I get up and start walking home. That's when the car hit me." I wipe the other tears away impatiently. I'm terrified what Grey thinks, it wouldn't take much and I'd be stuck in a mental ward probably for the rest of my life.

"That captain sounds like a real ass Miranda." His words take me by surprise. "No wonder you were so scared of me when you saw me in the hospital." So he did remember my reaction to him that day. "Is that why you called me captain on the way here?"

I stare at him unsure what I should be feeling. Somehow I find my voice, "Yes." It wasn't very strong and I have to clear my throat. He moves off his chair and sits next to me on the couch. "Is that why you sometimes expect me to get angry?" His voice is soft and controlled. It doesn't do anything to calm my fears though. Some people I knew were the angriest when their voices become soft.

"Yes. What are you going to do now Grey?" He's so close to me and I really can't tell if he's hiding his anger or if he thinks I'm crazy or least believable of all actually does believe me.

"Tell me something Miranda, did that Captain ever have a pet name for you?" I can't look at him anymore and just nod fighting my tears. He's going to have me committed. "Was it Miracle?" I look at him astonished, how did he know?

Grey chuckles, but instead of the sexy chuckle of before the dark holds unknown fears in it for me. "I thought so. When I called you Miracle it wasn't the first time you'd been called that and seeing how your family refuses to visit you, I didn't think it was them." He takes my hand and waits until I look at him. "You haven't asked to see your room yet. Aren't you curious?"

He chuckles at my look, "I'm a big believer in there being more out there than science can explain. It sounds like you've been to an alternate reality. It doesn't make you crazy and you've never acted that way with me. You've been abused a lot in your life, that doesn't make you crazy either. I'm not taking you to the funny farm just yet. And I'll only do that if you give me real reason to do so, like try to kill me or someone else without valid reason." 

With those words I break down crying. I put my head in my hands and just start sobbing. He believes me, or at least is willing to believe. I'm not sure that's ever happened before and I'm not sure how I feel about it.