Weightless.

I felt like my body was floating. True peace.

"How do you feel?" Memerat asked me.

"Like a cloud" I said airily.

"Funny." Memerat responded.

"Fine. I feel good. Comfortable. Happy. Safe" I replied.

"Do you remember what happened?"

"Happened? What do you mean?"

"Think little one, how did you get here? Why did you start feeling this way?"

"I was... I-" I tried to explain, the lack of knowledge kept me from continuing.

"The attack? Your injury?"

"My... injury? I don't-" but then I mentally gasped as all the memories came flooding back. My pain, my confusion, my sadness. It all hit me like a freight train, bringing tears instantly to my eyes. "I died, didn't I?" I asked sadly.

"No! You are most definitely alive and in good hands".

Her tone had a telling lilt to it, as if she knew something I didn't.

"Whose hands?"

"Why don't you see for yourself?"

"I don't want to wake up. What if I'm still in pain when I open my eyes?"

"You won't be...well, not much. That was quite the injury"

"I'm not ready to take that chance" I thought quietly.

"Alright. But you can still see what's going on. I really encourage you to look"

"How can I see without waking up?"

"You may call it an... out of body experience. Simply imagine yourself in your bedroom. Let go of some of this weightlessness and ground yourself slightly to the real world"

I really thought about what he was saying and tried to bring myself out of my body without waking up.

Suddenly, I felt like I was being pulled by my belly button. I gasped out, clenching my eyes shut as the weird sensation took over me, and when I opened them, I found myself in my room. The air was freezing and my room was pitch black. The light in my bathroom was on and I heard the sink running.

"Hello?" I asked, but my voice sounded strange, a hollow echo of my usual one.

"No one can hear you like this"

"Like wha-" I started to ask, but stopped when I saw myself laying in my bed. "That's...me? I don't understand".

"I told you, out of body experience. You are just observing"

"What am I observing?" I asked. My answer was Alex coming out of the bathroom wearing only shorts. He pulled the covers of my bed back and crawled in. He gently grabbed my limp body, trying very hard to avoid my injury, and pulled me close to him. His giant form basically engulfed mine.

"This is really awkward. I feel like I'm invading on someone's personal moment, but it's mine, so I'm not" I whispered.

"You don't have to whisper. He can not hear you. And it is not 'awkward'. This is how it should be. You and he together. He is taking and will continue to take good care of you little one. Now watch"

I turned my attention back to the bed only to see Alex resting his head on top of my head. I slowly reached up to feel the top of my head, knowing that I should feel something... someone.... there, but I felt nothing. I noticed that when I moved my astral arm, my finger twitched slightly on my real body.

"It is hard to send actions from the astral body to the real one. A lot of emotion and focus is required. A full body movement in astral form is nothing but a blip, a twitch, in the real body" Memerat explained.

"I noticed..." I said, taking steps toward the bed so I could see better. I stood directly next to the bed now, where I could easily observe my body. I waved my arms over my head vigorously and saw my hand clench into a fist.

"Please don't do that to me again" Alex's voice caught me off guard. I took my attention away from myself and looked closely at his face with scrutinizing eyes. He looked so incredibly sad, it broke my heart. "Please". I could see the moisture welling in his eyes, which triggered tears of my own.

"I'm so sorry" I whispered, hurt by the amount of emotion he was showing me. I tried to touch him with my astral hand, but it went through his skin. Something about that action destroyed what little resolve I had left and I started bawling. I remembered how, when I was injured in the clearing, all I wanted to do was touch him. To feel his reassuring warmth. To hold my palm against his cheek...

Alex's body twitched with surprise when my right hand touched his face softly. He looked into my eyes, but when he saw them closed, he simply studied my face for a few seconds. My heart beat took off when I realized he was leaning in to kiss my body. When his lips made contact and I felt nothing, instantaneous regret for choosing to leave my body rather than wake up consumed me. I watched as he closed his eyes and tears gently rolled down his cheeks.

"I want to wake up" I said in a quiet but urgent whisper. "I want to wake up. Now! Memerat, I want to wake up!" I had now reached yelling volume.

"I-" Again, I started to yell but was cut off by that tugging sensation on my belly button. Suddenly, my stomach fell, like I was going downhill on a roller coaster and when I reached the bottom my eyes opened and I gasped, sucking in a deep breath.

"What?! What's wrong?!" Alex asked sleepy yet urgent voice laced with concern.

I looked around my room in shock and noticed how bright it was with morning light streaming in from the blinds on my patio doors. I was also warm, unlike I had been a few seconds ago. I turned to look Alex in the eyes, searching his crisp blue ones with my own sad eyes. He looked tired, disheveled, and impossibly handsome. I felt the tears welling up and spilling over as I remembered what I had seen.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong? What's going on?" he whispered wiping tears from my face. I wrapped both my hands around his neck and pulled him in for deep kiss. He was so confused, I could tell by his body language, but my kiss soon overrode his hesitation and he kissed me back, deepening the kiss. I gently pulled away from him and placed my forehead on his.

"Thank you" I whispered.

"For what?" he panted softly, his eyes closed and his brow slightly furrowed in confusion.

"For taking care of me" I said with a small chuckle.

"You never have to thank me for that. I will always take care of you" he said, giving me the most intense look I had ever seen. I had no response to his words or his look so I just laid my head against his chest and wrapped my arms around his torso. We were laying there all of five minutes when a soft knock came at the door. A low growl that I could hear and feel vibrated from Alex's chest.

"Hush" I shh'ed him gently and patted his side. He looked down at me and sighed, getting out of bed stiffly and making his way over to the door. He opened it to reveal Sophie holding a tray of breakfast items.

"Morning" she said hesitantly and quietly. Very 'un-Sophie' like. She slowly walked into the room, giving Alex side glances as she did. I would be to if he had been giving me the death glares he was giving her.

I smiled softly and patted the bed beside me so she knew it was ok for her to be here. She sat the tray of food on the end of my bed and sat halfway on the bed next to me.

Alex was standing by the door, glaring. I gave him a pointed stare, signaling him to go take a shower. He held my look for a few seconds before grudgingly heading into the bathroom. Now I could turn my attention to Sophie, who looked like the saddest of all puppy dogs.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Better" I said with a soft smile.

"You really freaked us out. I thought you were going to die but Alex seemed to think you'd be ok. And...well I was worried" I could tell she was trying to control her tendency talk quickly and yell.

"Well I am ok, so don't worry... Ummm Sophie what happened to Nate's mate?"

"Oh, during the fight she ran off" she answered enigmatically. I felt a pang of sadness for Nate.

"Oh...."

"No! Oh gosh, dumb me, not explaining. She ran off and Nate was angry but he was more worried about you. When we got here he made sure you were safe and then came downstairs. When he finally made it to the kitchen he said he had a weird feeling. Like he needed to go home, so he did. She was sitting on his front porch fighting to stay awake with that stupid collar on her neck. So he's at his house with...Natasha? And he said he'll be over later to check on you" she explained and relief flooded through me.

"Ok. And thank you for breakfast"

"I just delivered, your grandma made it! They weren't here when we got back yesterday but they were here this morning when I showed up. I told them what happened and where you were and...who... you were with and they acted very understanding and excited. They thought it would be more appropriate and less... embarrassing... if I brought food up to you... two" she said hesitantly. It was too funny watching her struggle to contain her questions about Alex and I. She wanted to know so badly.

"He put me in bed, snuggled up, kissed me, and we fell asleep. That's it, no questions. And you might want to leave because he'll be very frustrated if he comes out and finds you still here" I said with a laugh as I heard the water turn off. She jumped up with a squeal and clapped her hands.

"Sorry! Ok, leaving" she said in a much more chipper mood. She picked the tray of food up and say it in my lap before quickly exiting the room with a wave. And just in time because Alex opened the door wearing only a towel around his waist, and if I learned anything from my last incident with a man in a towel, it's that clothes are a better option for covering... body parts.

Apparently his mind was in the same wavelength as mine because the first thing he said, after he scanned the room for Sophie, was, "I don't have any clothes".

I nodded and slowly crawled out of bed, a little sore. Alex looked concerned and took a step toward me but I held my hand up letting him now that I was fine. I slowly walked past him and headed into my closet. At the very back of my dresser was a pair of basketball shorts and a faded, baggy Oregon Ducks t-shirt. I came back out and handed him the clothes with confidence even though it made me a little uncomfortable to part with them.

He took them but gave me a slightly less than happy look.

"Whose are these?" he said with a guttural tone, suggesting he knew they were another man's clothes... which they were.

"They are... uhh were... my dads" I said quietly.

I could tell he was not expecting that answer and that it took him by surprise. He had regret on his face as he looked down at the clothes again.

"Yeah, um, I kept them after he died and I wear them when I miss him or my mom. So just uhh, try to be careful with them" I said awkwardly, running my hand over the back of my head and neck, wincing when the skin pulled on my side, hurting my injury.

He nodded and started to drop his towel to change... right in front of me.

"Whoa! Uh um" I said, spinning around and covering my eyes.

The sound I heard next was one of the most wonderful things I had ever heard in my life. A deep, throaty laugh came from behind me and I felt my heart flutter with the sound. I turned around slowly to peek at him from between my fingers to see if he had shorts on, which he did.

I dropped my hands and smiled at him while he laughed to himself.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry it's just that we're mates yet you're just so cute and innocent and... why- why are you looking at me like that?" he said between chuckles.

"I've never heard you laugh before" I said with a soft smile.

"Oh..well...yeah" he said running the back of his neck, obviously embarrassed.

"Is it not satisfying to see your male embarrassed by your compliments? Does it not feel good to know that he thinks you are 'cute'?"

I smiled wider, ignoring Memorat, and crawled into bed, placing the tray of food back in my lap.

Alex looked down at the shirt in his hand one more time and then began to fold it carefully. He placed it on my bedside table and said "That's a memory of your father for you. I don't want to get in between that. I feel bad enough for the shorts". He crawled into bed next to me and I grabbed the remote and turned on the tv. One of my all time favorite shows, The Walking Dead, was on.

"Yesss..." I whispered and snuggled into the covers.

"Zombies? Really?"

"Yes Zombies. Blood, gore, violence, and brain matter all in one show. That's my kind of entertainment. Plus Norman Reedus is my husb-" I started to say husband but caught myself. I looked at Alex only to find him staring at me with raised, disapproving eyebrows. "My idol. I idolize him, yep I want to kill zombies just like him" I rambled. He gave me a dry stare but dropped the subject. I surveyed the platter of food and found fruit, toast, pancakes, bacon and sausage, eggs, and juice for two people. I was about to dig into some food when I noticed that Alex had left a rather large gap between our bodies, I'm assuming in an attempt to honor my previous wishes. I lifted up the tray and shimmy-scooted closer to him so that our legs were touching and placed the tray down so that it sat equally in both of our laps. I picked up a fork and the bowl of fruit and began eating. I could feel Alex watching me, trying to figure what he should do next. I decided to let him fly solo and instead watched as the main character of The Walking Dead, Rick, stabbed a zombie with a screwdriver. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alex began to butter and syrup the pancakes hesitantly. I reclined even further so that I could lean my head against his shoulder. He stiffened for a second but then took a deep breath and relaxed. He continued to make and then eat his pancakes while watching the show.

Five minutes into the episode, Alex took a bite of pancake and a drop of syrup fell onto his chest. He gently put his fork down and began to reach for a napkin, but before he could, something inside of me, some dirty, impish impulse, took over me. Before I could think about what I was doing, I sat up and leaned over, and kissed him on the spot where the syrup had fallen while simultaneous using my tongue to remove the drop.

Of course reality hit me like two ton truck and I fell back into my previous position. I resumed eating my fruit, trying to hide my blush and act normal. I attempted to focus on the tv until I noticed that Alex hadn't moved. His arm was still hovering near the tray, as if he was going for the napkin still and his face was an emotionless mask. In fact, his breathing hadn't even changed. I couldn't help but feel wounded at the fact that he hadn't been affected at all by what I had done when I could barely breathe and my heart was racing.

In a sudden move that made me jump, Alex got out of bed and walked toward my balcony. He opened the door and stepped out into the chilly air, quietly closing the door behind him. Luckily, my blinds were open and I could still see him. He stood, with his back to me, and took a deep breath, exhaling a long puff of hot air. He then dropped down to a squat where he placed his head between his knees and his hands on the back of his head. I saw his back rising and falling with each deep breath he took.

"What the-" I whispered as he had been sitting like that for at least two minutes. Just then, he slowly stood up and came back inside. He crawled back into bed, bringing the cold with him.

"Are... you ok?" I asked.

"Yes" he said shortly but peacefully.

"Ummm, it's a little chilly to be going outside half naked" I stated, looking at him as if he was going to explode.

"I know, but I needed it" he said vaguely.

"Oh...kay..." I replied slowly and returned my attention, hesitantly, back to the show.