"Mac," I hear beside me. "Mac, come on. Love, let's go."

Love... My eyes peek open. Jack smiles down at me.

"Morning, Love," he leans down and kisses my cheek. "You get discharged today."

I smile, sighing as I relax against the hospital bed. It's not comfortable, but at this point, my body will accept anything but the cold hard floor.

"When am I discharged?"

"In about 30 minutes, I brought you some clothes so let's get you up and changed."

"Where are my parents, what happened to my clothes?"

"You're dad's at work, and your mom's talking to the doctor. The doctors had to cut open your clothes, they aren't wearable anymore. They had to see the severity, so I get it."

I nod slowly. He grabs my hand and my back, being careful with my ribs, helping me sit up in the bed and turn to my side. When I'm sitting upright and stable he rummages through a bag and pulls out a shirt of his.

"Dont you have school, what are you doing here?"

He pauses, "I called in sick to take care of you today, to help out your mom too."

"Stupid, you need to go to school."

He comes back over and leans into a kiss, I go to grab his head and run my fingers through his hair, but my arm stings. I pull away and curse.

"You okay? What happened?"

"I lifted my arm," I say looking over. The hospital gown covers what I assume is purple and blue bruising.

"Be careful, I brought a button-up so you dont have to move your back or your arms."

It is a red and black flannel, with tan-colored click buttons at the front. He unties the back of my gown and helps me slip it off my shoulders. I'm almost embarrassed by him undressing me, but I know he's only taking care of me.

"Yesterday," I start as he puts my arm through one sleeve, it's very loose. I imagine it's tight on him "You..." he pauses, and I can see different scenarios going through his head. "You said you loved me?"

He sighs and smiles, "Yes, Malcolm, I do love you."

I grin, wanting to reach out and hug him, but all I do is grab his hands.

"I love you too."

He chuckles and finishes putting on the shirt, he buttons me up and kisses my forehead.

"I realized I loved you when I almost lost you. I thought I lost you. I've never been so scared in my fucking life, Mac. You have no idea what you looked like, Love."

"Actually, I do," My smile fades. I reach for my phone and groan. He gets the message and grabs it for me, I put my thumb to the button and it unlocks. I go to my gallery and open the screenshot of the message. "This was sent to me yesterday, I blocked the number after getting the photo."

He swallows hard, then closes his eyes. He takes a few deep breaths, and I grab his hands again. One final breath and he opens his eyes. "Love, you need to send this to the police so they can charge them. They won't be harassing you again, I promise. But, they need to be punished."

"Jack, I'm not pressing charges. I'm not giving them another reason to hate me. They get arrested, they resent me for life, and they act again. I'm not going to do that."

He hugs me softly, trying not to hurt me.

"Okay, I won't push you. I just want you to be okay. I dont want you to see them and then go into a panic attack. I just need to make sure you're okay."

"What did you mean when you said they won't hurt me again? I told you not to do anything. What did you do?" Silence. "Jackson..." I press some more.

"Okay, so I might have gone off a little. It wasn't bad, I promise. I am suspended for the rest of this week though."

"What did you do to them?"

"What they did to you... but I was nicer. They didnt need the hospital, I regret not fucking them up more. Just, dont look at social media for a while."

"Why not?"

"The fight is all over everyone's socials, I dont want you to see me like that."

"Like that?"

"Blacking out, getting pissed, and starting a fight. I dont want you to think of me badly," He places his forehead on mine. "I dont want you to look down on me, or to see me as a bad person. I didnt think. When I saw them all I saw was you lying on the floor bloody, then I saw red. I didnt think, all I did was attack them. All I thought of was you, making sure they wouldn't touch you again. I heard what they said about you," His voice breaks lightly. "I know it all, they didnt hold back from telling everyone how proud they were of themselves. Everything they said kept ringing in my ears, their grins, everything. I couldn't control myself. They were just a bunch of rich white conservative republican kids, the type I hate most. I know I did wrong, and I know I should think about what I do before I do it. I'm sorry, please dont be mad at me," His voice is quivering, like he's about to cry.

"I'm not mad at you, and I'm not disappointed either. Thank you for protecting me, Jack. I know all you did was protect me. Thank you. I know that I'm safe when I'm with you. Thank you, Jack."

He stands and turns his back to me, his hands go to his face, then through his hair. They fall to his side, then back to his face. He rubs his eyes and breathes, then turns back to me with a smile.

"Can you stand yet?" He asks and goes to the bag. "You should finish getting dressed," he pulls out elastic shorts.

I slowly scoot off the edge, my bare feet touching the cold ground. I cringe but use the bed to stabilize myself. I grab the shorts and lean against the bed as I lift a leg, I bend to the side but stop when a shock goes through my back. I groan and go back to a straight position. He grabs the shorts and kneels, He lifts my foot and puts my leg through, then does the same with my other leg. He lifts the gown and pulls the shorts up to my waist. I thank the doctors for leaving my boxers on. Jack helps me sit on the bed and removes the second knot in the gown, he slides it off the rest of my body and puts it to the side.

"Feel better?"

"Less exposed? Yes. No more pain? No."

He chuckles and lightly pulls my head forward. Our lips lock.

Am I happy? Yes.