READ THE NOTE BELOW <3

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Oh, I love dreaming. 

The feeling of being free, the feeling to do whatever I wanted. Unless, of course it was a nightmare.

Like now for example. It was weird; one moment I'm wandering around in a dark forest and Florence pounces on me, sinks her teeth into me and I'm willing my body to move, the next I'm folded within Michael's arms and he's planting kisses on the nape of my neck in his study.

The switch between dreams was driving me to insanity. But no matter what I tried I couldn't wake up. I wasn't usually one that was able to wake up from a dream that's why my sleep pattern as a child sucked.

It got to a point where Michael and Florence were arguing and I'd had enough.

What was that smell?

My nose wrinkled as I lifted my oddly heavy hand to my nose. It smelt like... disinfectant. 

My hand suddenly stopped halfway and I blinked open my raw and scratchy eyes. The light above my head was dim but it still made my eyes sting like crazy.

I groaned almost immediately as I tried again to rub my eyes to regain focus. 

"Oh, you're awake."

I blinked again and noticed a woman at the foot of my bed with a clipboard. What was she doing in my room? 

Wait a minute, this wasn't my room. I darted my eyes from left to right and sighed.

I was in a hospital room. A private one at that because no one else was in here. I looked down at my hand and saw the thin tub connected to the top of my wrist. I followed the tube to a large clear bag of fluid that was hydrating my body. How long...

"You've been asleep for almost fifteen hours," The young woman I now noticed was in a nurse uniform said.

The events of the last twenty-four hours hit me and I suddenly started to hyperventilate. I brought my hand to my neck; it was covered by gauze. My body was sore, my neck felt like I had whiplash probably from when she strangled me. Where was Michael? Nate? Am I a...? 

 "Easy, calm down. My name is Carol, I'm going to do a few tests and call the doctor in, okay? You don't have to speak if you don't want to; your throat may be a little sore so they'll be yes or no questions."

She asked me a few simple questions like if I remembered where I lived, if I was having any trouble breathing, if I remembered the last twenty four hours. She asked me to say a few words and walked out for a few seconds before returning with a cup of water. She started asking me harder questions that required more than a yes and no. 

"Your doctor is on her break but she'll be back in half hour. Meanwhile there are a few visitors here for you," The blonde's eyes started to sparkle and I knew exactly who the 'visitors' were. "Do you want them to come in?"

"Yes," My voice was extremely groggy; I had to take another sip of water. I hoped I didn't look like hell.

The nurse pressed a button on my bed that positioned it upright before walking out.

And then Nate poked his head in.

The smile on his face as he walked in and shut the door had me thinking positively. He hadn't changed his clothes. He'd taken off his hoodie so he was wearing a grey cotton long sleeve. He'd clearly washed his face and hands but his knees were muddy and his shoes looked like he'd been running in dirt for hours. 

"Hey," He whispered. "How're you? Do you need-?"

"Can you just tell me please? Tell me now... Am I?" I cleared my throat and watched him.

He stared at me blankly for so long, I started to have a panic attack.

But then he grinned and said, "You didn't die thanks to Michael. You passed out; the shock from everything probably hit you hard. Have they told you what was wrong with you?"

I shook my head.

"Alright I'll give you the abridged version. First of all, Michael and Florence's blood has most probably healed you by now. The stab was just above you hip bone. Unfortunately they did have to wheel you into surgery because they found splinters and had to remove them. Luckily, it didn't pierce any of your major organs or arteries. Yes, it almost went right through but thankfully didn't. If you didn't pass out, you would have died from shock and the amount of blood you would have lost. You were unconscious when we brought you here. I'm sure your doctor would give you a more complex explanation."

My shoulders slumped in relief. It felt like my shoulders were a hell of a lot lighter.  Thank god. If I were Florence's I wouldn't know how to live with myself. "Where's Michael?" 

"He is downstairs parking somewhere else. We've been here for a while and I would have done it for him but it's still light out."

"Are you two on speaking terms?" I shifted.

A devilish smirk lit his face. "For now. We've agreed to cooperate until you woke up." He strolled into the room after closing the door.

"Where is Florence now?"

Nate dragged the chair to beside my bed and sat down. "Pamela and Nicholas tracked her and her protégé all the way to Toronto."

My eyes widened. "That far?"

"The scent stopped at the airport." He smiled.

"Airport? Shouldn't we be worried she's-"

"Not here anymore." He finished for me. "If she's gone then that's the best thing to happen. She won't come back for you. She may think you've turned but you're under protection now. You have me and your friends Pamela, Nick... Stop shaking your head."

"I don't want all of that. I don't want you all to waste your time. Pam and Nick have their own lives; I want them to forget about me. And you? You're free of her now. You can leave without her dictating everything you do." I took a sip of water as my throat started to protest. "That's what you've wanted."

His head tilted to the side like it always did when he was curious or confused. "It is what I want," He lay his arms on the edge of my bed and rested his chin on his forearm. "Your friends will protect you, Evie. They love you."

I gazed into his grey eyes for a moment. Florence's words echoing through my head about Nate...  "What about you?" I asked quietly.

As if he knew exactly what I was talking about, he parted his lips. "What about me?"

I sighed quietly before deciding against the thought. So, I said something else: "As in will you go? Leave, I mean."

He blinked and moved back into the chair. He glanced at the door before answering. "It's hard to say."

Something inside of me panicked but I had to accept it. Nate was free now, he wasn't under orders, and he didn't have to be with me anymore.

"I don't want to." He amended. "But this situation is hard."

"Why is it hard?"

"Hmm..." He ran a hand over his dark blonde hair. "Michael and I... With us, we can never be friends again. Eighty years is a long time, Evie. I've changed, he's changed. I don't necessarily hate him, but he may hate me. With an obvious exception, I hated him for selling himself to a vampire to save me. I think he was absolutely brainless to have done that."

"Do you blame him for becoming a vampire?"

He shook his head briskly and leaned forward on his knees. "I blame her. She was mad then and even madder now. I've never blamed him for what I am."

I slowly nodded my head.

"And then... well, there's another situation that is reasonably hard."

My eye brows furrowed. "What's that?"

"Well, you see," He stood up and stretched upward. His arms tensed and his neck cracked before his shoulders slumped. "I have this friend. A best friend more like. I mean I haven't been so real with someone since Michael. But this friend, she's so perfect. So real and persistent. And, well, she's damn well stubborn but that adds to her perfection," 

I smiled and he chuckled quietly. 

"She taught me that I had the strength to turn my nose up at human blood. Thinking about her helps me turn away from the smell of it. I can't bare the thought of being away from her. Just thinking about it now, it would pain me not to have her in my life. Plus, you know I care about her. She's not bad to have around." He smiled genuinely.

I started to laugh and watched him sit at the edge of my bed beside me. His large calloused hand covered mine and I paused.

"Of course, there is something else."

Yes, of course there was. "Nathaniel-"

"Saying it would only make matters worse so I won't. It's funny really. Michael and I, we're different. I know what type of woman you are and what you want in a man. You want excitement. You want love that consumes you." I parted my lips to speak but he kept going. "I'm going to be leaving for a while and before you protest, I think its best. Michael doesn't want me here, so what more could I possibly stay for?"

There was a moment silence before I said, "Me."

He smiled. "I knew you'd say that. That's why I think it's best if I do go for a while. Your friend, Katherine? Much to Michael's dislike, she's offering to make me a ring so I'm able to walk around during the day. I haven't been out in the sun in over eighty years. Maybe I can even change my sleeping pattern." He chuckled. "Want to know another reason why I'm leaving? After all of these years I still care about Michael too much to hurt him. I'd never dream of telling him how I feel about you. He'd go mad. And now, he's about forty seconds away from the room so that is my cue to leave."

"Wait a second; you haven't given me a chance to-"

"Not to be rude, but I don't think I want you to respond. I don't want to ruin our friendship although I'm pretty sure I already have." He let go of my hand and stood up. "I should be leav- Oh, Evie. Stop it."

I couldn't help it. I was frowning like a four year old that hadn't gotten their way. "Don't."

"I'll be back. I promise you, I will." His head dipped and he pressed a delicate kiss to my cheek. "I'll always watch over you." He pressed his forehead to my temple for barely a second before he stood up straight.

And then he turned away and walked to the door. Before he walked out he turned around and said, "Take care, princess."

"I told you not to call me that anymore." I beamed at him sadly.

He sent me a wink and a laugh before going completely out of sight and closing the door. I covered my face with my hands and then ran my hands through my tangled hair. It'd be different without him around, I knew that much. Technically, he wasn't around that much but when he was, it just... made a difference.

For one moment I did hurt a little bit. A pain in my chest I deemed unrecognisable. But as soon as Michael Reeves stepped into the room, the pain subsided a little. He looked tired; I've never seen him like this before. He literally had bags under his eyes. His hair looked just like when he got out of bed, and there was a constant frown on his face.  He didn't say a word as he sat in the seat Nathaniel was sitting.

Michael clicked a button on the bed that lowered it. His eyes still hadn't met mine just yet which worried me. But then he sighed and rested his head on my leg.

I smiled down at his closed eyes and suddenly relaxed face and stroked his cheek.

"I don't think I've ever been so worried in my one hundred years." He croaked in a tired voice. "The worst thing... about having to watch you being wheeled off into that surgery room was not knowing whether you'd come out human or not. But then again, I would have known. The process it's exhilarating and not in a good way. It hurts." He finally opened his eyes to stare at me. "Will you ever forgive me?"

"Forgive you?" I asked sceptically. "For what?"

"For leading you into this life. For getting you hurt. For everything that has happened within the past four months."

"None of this is your fault, Michael."

"Really?" He sprung up causing my hand to fall to my side. "I am hers aren't I? I was the reason she was here. I am the reason Nathaniel is a vampire. I am the reason you almost became a vampire." He started pacing toward my window and stopped to turn to me. "If it weren't for me, you'd be living a normal life. If I'm in your life I'll ruin it. My existence brings a shit load of drama and it's not something you need."

I blinked. "Are you being serious right now?"

"Is there any other choice anymore?" He threw his hands in the air. "Us being together, it's hurting you both physically and emotionally. We-"

"Stop. Come here." I held my hand out to him and waited. At first, her stared at it like it was the most fragile thing on earth but then he carefully took it. I pulled him to the side of my side and shifted to create space. 

He truly looked pained. I've never seen so much conflict on one face before. Of course, he had his signature torn look but I hadn't seen that on his face since we first met. And to see it now just had my heart breaking even more.

"What hurts me the most is the fact that after everything, after all of the things I've stuck by you with, you're willing to give this all up because of this one incident." The guilt on his face had me squeezing his hand. "Couples have problems. Married couples have problems. My parents who have been married for almost twenty years have problems. The love they share for each other practically erases whatever was wrong. I know you're trying to protect me, Michael. I know. But if giving this up? Giving up what we have, the love I feel for you just because of a minor glitch?" My voice was beginning to betray me. "Then I'd rather die. I'd rather not live than spend the rest of my life without you. Because, to be honest, I don't see a life without you in it anymore."

He watched me carefully before relaxing his shoulders and looking down at our hands.

"I know this probably isn't something you'd like to hear, especially right now. But one day Michael, I do want to turn. I know it's not something you want to hear and what I don't understand is why. Pamela told me that her Nicholas made a fair argument. That every day he grows older, she stays the same. Soon enough it'll be the same for us. I'll be... twenty-eight going on twenty-nine and you'll still be twenty-three." I took a large intake of breath and slowly let it our before saying, "You once asked me if I'd still love you if it were possible for you to live forever. I remember saying to you that I would. Even after you asked me what if the end was now, I said I'd die loving you. Last night it applied. It will always apply."

There was a small curve to his lips by then end of what I said and I started to get angry. "Sometimes I wonder whether you're older than you say you are. Because the things you come out with are just too logical for your own good."

"Funny."

"You are right. I'm sorry I said that, I panicked. I care about you too much to watch you go through something like this again. Hell, your parents care about you too much. They're downstairs by the way. Your mom's on call and your dad and brother are in the café. I promise never to say anything like that again. I promise we will talk about... turning. We can come to an agreement, I assure you."

"Agreement?"

"We'll talk about that when we're not in here. I don't want you turning yet."

"Okay, that's fine."

"Not until you're twenty-one."

I clenched my jaw. "What."

"It's reasonable."

"It's two and a half years."

"It's better than five years."

"You were going to say five years?" I practically shouted.

"This is why I didn't want to talk about it now. I have more pressing matters to talk about. Like Nathaniel."

I watched my thumb brush over his knuckle. "What about Nate?"

He didn't answer so I assumed he was waiting for me to look back up; when I did, he resumed. His green eyes were the object of emeralds, as they always were. "I'm not oblivious and I presume he knows this which is a reason why he's gone. I'll look past the way he feels for you but..."

"What?"

"It's the way you feel about him that worries me."

"Nate and I are friends. I can promise you this. Not once have I ever thought otherwise." And I hadn't. I hadn't even considered it... um...

Well... Not until Florence had said...

"I realise that he and you will never be on the same page as you once were so I can understand if you don't want me seeing him again."

Michael turned his head to the side, inhaled and then sighed before saying, "I'm not ruling out the thought completely but I couldn't ever ask you to not see him again. Even if I did, you'd find a way to see the asshole with or without my permission." I frowned at him and he shuffled closer to me. "Evangeline," His smooth large hand cupped my cheek. "I love you, so very much. And no matter what happens in the next three, five, twenty years I always will love you, protect yo-"

"I know where you're going with this. It's one of those speeches that will end with a kiss, a pledge to our eternal love and other promises you say you'll keep but will be broken within the next year."

A huge grin spread across his face and he chuckled. "Oh, honey. The fact that you said that just makes me want to end the speech to get my kiss even more."

"Then finish the speech."

"I'd rather just kiss you." And he did.

He pressed a smiling kiss to my lips twice before deepening the kiss cupping both of my cheeks. I placed my hand on his thigh and sighed with content. When was the last time we were this... relaxed?

"Okay, Miss O'Shea- Oh, my. I'm so sorry."

Michael pulled back revealing a short haired brunette probably in her later thirties. She looked slightly amused but she didn't comment any further as she walked further in, leaving the door open obviously as a signal for Michael to leave.

"I didn't mean to interrupt." She stopped by the end of my bed with a smile. "And I'm sorry it took so long for me to get up here, my meal took a bit longer than anticipated. Right, I'm Doctor Allan; if you'll excuse us, Michael..."

He pressed a kiss to my forehead and stood. "Look after her Doctor."

"Believe me, I will."

Michael threw me a grin and walked out of the room. His smiling face was on my mind as Doctor Allan explained in more tech terms what happened to me. She is and still remains to be surprised at how fast I have recovered from surgery. After she helped me up and to the bathroom, my parents came in with fatigued and worried faces for which I felt absolutely guilty for. They both have been through so much what with Aaron being attacked. That was my story; I was attacked. Except the wound to my hip is and it will seem to always be remained a mystery. Well, that's what Michael says at least.

They 'convinced' Doctor Allan that my attack was so out of the ordinary they had no explanation to it. 

I was told to stay one more night, just in case, during which time my mother helped me into the washroom and Katherine waltzed in with a pair of my clothes from home and a pair of pyjamas.

"Do you mind?!" I half yelled covering myself with a towel.

"Not at all sugar. Here you go, Mrs O'Shea."

My mother smiled lovingly at the witch. "Thank you dear."

As my mom and Kate talked about God knows what, I opened one side of my towel and looked down at the scar above my hip. The pale skin was slightly stretched, stitches still visible but barely. If I measured it, I'd probably be four centimetres by four. I wasn't allowed to get the stitches wet but they still took off the bandage covering it just in case.

After dressing, my mother helped me back to bed and went back down to her office in her own ward. I was absolutely exhausted and I don't think I've ever been this tired. As I finally drifted off to sleep, I heard a quiet creak