My vision blurry, I sleepily open my eyes when a full wave of pain washes over me, making me widen my eyes. I feel something tenderly wrap their arms around me and look up into the teal eyes of Fitz. I can't help but smile as I ask, "Where are we?"

He only smiles at me. "In the car. Going back."

"Where's Laurel..?" I hiss when a bump makes my scarred arm brush Fitz's torso. Fitz readjusts how I'm sitting so my scars won't brush against anything. "She's sleeping in Benen's arms," Fitz explains. "She woke up before you and almost woke you up with her squealing. But then she passed out after a few minutes."

I nod. But instead of saying anything more, I hug myself as I lay my head against Fitz's chest, smiling through the pain of the scars on my cheeks.

And I slip into a deep slumber.

For the first time in a few days.

...

When I wake up, I only find Laurel in the room with me. She yawns as she sits up, rubbing her eyes a bit as well. I sit up, preparing myself for pain that I didn't receive. In shock, I study myself to realize that all of my scars that Jacob gave me disappeared. I shake my head- I didn't think that all of them would heal fully.

Laurel and I see each other, and she squeals in excitement. I smile as we both jump out of bed and hug each other tightly. When we pull away in laughter, Laurel says in a jubilant tone, "Your scars! They're gone!" She squeals again before hugging me.

"Indeed they are," Mr. Wallace says, causing us to look at him; we didn't realize that he was in here with us. Smiling slightly, he adds, "It did take a while, but all of your injuries that Mr. Graham gave you have healed." He then frowns. "But when the police and I decided to ransack the area, he and his guards weren't there, so we can't accuse him of murder."

I sigh. "Why do the villains always have to disappear before they're caught?"

Mr. Wallace smirks. "Then people can't become heroes by stopping the villains over and over again." He then looks at the two of us. "Are you two feeling well enough for visitors?"

The two of us not without hesitation. Almost on cue, Fitz, Benen, Audrey, and Donovan rush into the room. Benen immediately embraces Laurel. He whispers something to her, and the female Altruistic blushes madly, hugging him tightly as well. Donovan then pats Benen's back. "You know you can't hog her from the rest of us, right?" he teases, laughing when Benen abruptly pulls away, flushing in embarrassment.

Fitz walks over to me. Can you still hear me?, he transmits.

Yes. Why?

Fitz sighs in relief. When Benen and I came to get you, I tried to warn you, but you didn't reply, the male Percipient explains. I had to transmit to Laurel, but she was cut off suddenly. I'm guessing that was because you two were unconscious when we found you.

I shudder at the memory of Jacob slamming the black crystals into my temples. Gingerly touching them, I tell him, He used two black crystals to send his memory of killing Michelle and David, but slammed them into my temples when I accused him. So I was out like a light.

Those are apparently called disclosers. You can knock someone out if you hit someone's head with them.

I raise an eyebrow. And how do you know that?

Benen and I might've ransacked the shelves before we got you. Fitz smirks at me. It kind of helped since Jacob was waiting for us when we were about to leave with the two of you. I shot him with a prostrater and knocked him out.

I frown. But before I can transmit anything back to him, Audrey interrupts me. "Yeah, sorry not sorry to disturb you," she begins, earning an epic eye roll from the both of us. "But I think I speak for everyone when I say- why the heck are you two making weird faces while staring into each other's eyes?"

Fitz and I both look at Mr. Wallace, who quickly says, "They're having a staring contest. The weird faces are to make the other one blink, right?"

Thankful for the rather flimsy excuse, Fitz and I both nod. Fitz then points at me and says, "Well, you blinked, so I win!"

I laugh, shaking my head. "Um- I think you blinked first."

"Fine. We'll agree that I won. Happy?"

I burst laughing. Smacking his arm lightly, I say, "Sure. We'll agree to disagree."

We both then hear obnoxious gagging and look to see Audrey looking at the two of us. She then gags more and says, "Too. Much. Romance. Can't go on. Too- cheesy..."

Laurel and Benen burst laughing when Fitz and I look away from each other, blushing noticeably. Donovan smirks at the male Percipient, earning a glare from him in return. I can't help but smile at that and blush more when Laurel raises her eyebrows at me, a sly smirk on her face.

I smile at how everything is more jovial again. Everyone's reunited, and no one's hurt right now. As everyone talks with one another, I shy away from the conversation and repeat the words that Fitz had transmitted to me by accident.

You should've waited.

Maybe I should've. Maybe then I wouldn't have gotten so injured. Luckily, Fitz waited one more day before coming for us.

Otherwise, he would've seen Jacob leave the warehouse before the sun rose that day.

(A/N: I know it's a short chapter, and I apologize for that. Don't worry- there's a good surprise coming up!)