Crisp, fresh air surrounded me and the sky shined brightly without a cloud above. I sat with my back against a large tree, watching the girl a few feet away from me play with her hands in the lake. I didn't speak, just watched.

Her eyes twinkled when she smiled at me over her shoulder with her hands remaining in the sparkling water but I didn't do anything in return, just watched.

Her face was familiar... Very familiar. Something about her being here made me feel a little more complete. More at home.

I watched as her curly, dark brown hair and ivory-colored dress lightly flowed in the wind, the soft, delicate smile playing on her face and her rosy cheeks faintly blushed on her light brown skin. As soon as we made direct and lingering eye contact, everything about her became clear to me.

Misty...

She looked gorgeous... And happy.

That's Misty... Was all I thought. It was all I could really think because of how blank my mind was.

She stood up and began to make her way over to me with soft steps as she walked across the vibrant green grass.
That's... Misty...

She gave me another smile as she knelt down and placed her wet palms through the exposed area of this robe I wore, resting them on my chest. It brought a cool, tingling feeling that spread throughout my body and soul. It was refreshing... I kept my eyes locked on her twinkling, hazel eyes as she finally spoke. Her voice was soft and soothing to my ears.

"Hey, dork... Remember the skate park?"

I only stared at her, internally answering, "yes..."

"...It doesn't matter how many times you fall, how deep the scrapes were, what matters is that you get back on the board..."

"That's what keeps you moving forward," I said in my mind as she said it aloud.

Her words echoed in my mind.

"Get back on that board, Jaden..."

"Get back on the board..."

Jaden

This time, I felt aching and heaviness around me, like I was being sat on by an elephant. My mind, for some reason, stayed completely empty and the peaceful surroundings began to fade away, Misty was leaving me. The trees, the water, the grass... They were all disappearing until it was all just... Darkness.

Darkness and silence...

I slowly opened my heavy eyelids, looking around at the dark room I was in.

Where am I?

Wait... Am I still tied to this chair?

I moved my numb wrists, realizing that they were no longer tied together. Soon, I became confused. Questions began to overwhelmingly swirl through my mind at once, giving me a headache.

I tried to clear my head again.

What's that sound?

Beep... Beep... Beep...

I squinted over at the monitor beside me.

Hospital...

I let out a sigh of relief, slowly pushing myself up to sit up straight in bed and stretching the stiffness from my body, feeling more painful aches and sores now.

I looked across the room seeing my nurse sleeping with one of her legs hanging off the chair arm. She snored lightly, soundly.

Should I wake her?

I narrowed my eyes at her face.

Hold on a sec... That ain't my nurse. She's one of the girls I work with... Damn, what was her name again?

She yawned softly and stretched before fluttering her eyes open. I watched as she rubbed her forehead, stressfully and cursed under her breath. Her eyes then raised to meet mine. I don't know why but I froze when she noticed me. My mind conflicted with itself on how I should react. Whether I should smile, or wave, or go up and hug her.

She winced at me then narrowed her shadowy eyes to get a better look. I gave her a small smile, not sure what she was so shocked about. It was like she saw a ghost... I should be the one who's shocked. One minute I'm getting whipped by freaks and the next I'm in a hospital with a cute girl who I couldn't name. I could only smile at her.

Surprise?

She stood up and turned the light knob to the dim setting. Good thing too because even that strained my eyes, they'd probably burn off if she set it on bright mode. She made her way over to the side of my bed, her face becoming more visible as she approached me. More beautiful.

"You're awake..." she whispered, almost not believing it.

I nodded, watching her take a seat beside me on the bed and admiring the way the soft, orangey glow coming from the light hugged around her gentle features.

"How are you feeling?"

"Uh..." It was weird hearing my own voice again. It sounded raspier. "Good... Sore, but good."

She smirked at me for a moment before finally saying, "I have to admit, you had me worried..."

"Did I?"

She nodded, her smirk fading away, "I was almost wishing you'd hurry up and die so I wouldn't have to deal with the suspense anymore."

Ouch.

"Damn... That's not nice." I frowned.

"I know but you should've seen yourself. I had no hopes left of you surviving. It broke me to think about it but I was ready to face the fact that you might not make it..."

"How uh... How long was I out?" I whispered.

She looked at me for a moment, her eyes softening with sadness, "A whole month... And a few weeks..."

A month?

"I thought it's only been a few hours." I chuckled.

She smiled slightly, shaking her head, "No... It's been a month, Jaden"

I winced, "Jaden... Is that my name?"

Her eyes darted up to me and her smile went away which kind of upset me, I liked her smile. "Yeah... It is..."

Jaden... Jaden... Jaden!

"It sounds familiar." I laughed. This was all so weird. I remember general things but not really specific things. Like this girl. I know I've seen and worked​ with her a few times but at what?

"What's your name then?" I asked.

She looked at the floor, biting her lip, "You don't remember me either?"

I searched her face, "Kind of... I work with you... Right?"

She nodded.

"And... Hopefully, you're my girlfriend?" I crossed my fingers for luck.

She shook her head with a small snicker, "Not quite."

Uh, let's see, maybe I've slept with her.

"Josephine?"

"No..."

"Stacy? Dani? Christy?"

She sighed, "Nope..."

"Rebecca? Jenny?" Wait... I think Jenny was a waitress.

She shook her head, "Not even close."

"Damn, that sucks. So we never got in bed together?"

Her mouth slightly parted open then she slapped my sore arm, making me groan in pain, "You slept with...!" she stopped and took a deep breath, "You're lucky I'm at the verge of losing my job right now or I would've smacked you back into a coma."

"Oh shit! Nicole!" It finally clicked to me.

She nodded, looking at me like I was stupid. Which I don't blame her for. She then chuckled, "Surprise."

"Wow... Nicole..." I laid down, letting her name sink in.

I remember her now. I couldn't get enough of her, and now that I think about it, I still can't. Even though she's been hard on me for the longest, I feel like we've connected in a way no one else can... She may pretend that she couldn't stand me but I knew that she had a little faith in me. I knew that we could relate with each other. I remember thinking this before. I thought it but I didn't understand it, I didn't believe it... I feel like I'm falling for her. For real... She doesn't know that of course, it was a new feeling I had. It took me a while to make sense of it since I've never actually fallen for anyone but now it was all clear to me.

While I was knocked out, her face always appeared, memories kept playing back, making me realize it. I felt strong feelings for her. I did things I would never imagine doing for any other girl. I even found myself fantasizing how life would be like if we had kids together which was wild for someone like me since I've never found myself letting any girl get to my head this way. I looked at her as more than a partner, more than a friend. That's why I risked my life at the mission...

The mission...

"The mission..." I whispered out loud.

Nicole raised her eyes to me, "Yeah... You remember what happened...?"

I sat up with a soft groan, nodding slightly, "That clown... He was mad at me... Angry... And... And that little girl... Her name wasn't really Cynthia... There was a whip and poison... It wasn't water."

What exactly did happen?

"Hold on, Jaden. One thing at a time." she crisscrossed her legs on the bed and faced me to listen.

I rubbed my temple, trying to remember in chronological order, faintly seeing the images return to my mind. "After we split up... Both of the suspects were there. They had a little girl, they wanted to keep her... Or eat her?" I groaned in frustration.

"Is she safe?"

"Yeah... Yeah, she is. I helped her escape, which got me a flaming arrow to the leg."

I remembered that part like it happened a minute ago. My leg still felt pretty painful.

She watched as I curiously moved the thin white blanket to check on my leg. It had stitches and a small dimple from the arrow. I hope that's not permanent.

"What did they do to you?" she whispered and watched as I covered my legs back under the sheets.

I smiled with a small chuckle, only because I was still surprised and grateful to even be alive, "Well... Isn't it obvious? They did whatever the hell they wanted to me... I don't remember a lot of it but the bits I do remember is enough for me to know that I was being tortured by them." I pulled the blanket up over my pelvis then lifted up the hospital gown up so she would see the healing scars and marks on my body.

She looked at me for a moment before her eyes moved to my body, her hand reaching out to gently run her finger over the stitches on my chest, "You're... So stupid..." she said in a low voice.

"Stupid?" I winced, putting the gown down.

"Why didn't you notify anyone? I could've gotten you out of there before any of this could happen."

I sighed, "I couldn't... That clown made me lose my earpiece, first of all. He found it when he heard your voice coming from it." I looked at her face, beginning to remember why I risked myself. "It would've been you in this bed if I had left before things got so dangerous."

"What do you mean by that?" her eyes showed concern.

I sighed, taking one of her hands, "I did it for you..."

Hearing that come out of my mouth made my skin tingle. "I could've gotten away peacefully but I wouldn't." I raised my eyes to meet hers, "They're looking for you, Nicki..."

Her eyes widened and the questions swirling in her expression was evident. I had to explain it more in depth to her.

"Nicki... From what I know, they're desperate. Desperate for kids, I guess... When they heard your voice coming from my earpiece, they fell in love with your dedication in finding me and Rebecca. They wanted you to work with them and be their next daughter... And Fire Catcher... She knows something about you. I don't know what it is but she knows."

Her eyes moved away from me as she tried to process what I was telling her.

"While I was there, they did all in their power to make me talk but I told as little as possible. They knew that you were here with me to arrest them, they knew about the mission but I didn't say a word about the agency or Simon or how we knew about their crimes. They found that out from a different source... They asked a few questions about you as well but I refused to answer those. They only managed to get your name."

"You told them my name?"

"Well, yeah. Kind of... They drugged me into talking. I guess the rest was just me saying a bunch of bullshit since they didn't get much information out of me. That, and I puked like a hundred times." I chuckled.

She didn't smile, "I'm sorry..."

I frowned at her expression, "No... It's okay... We're all here now."

"It's not okay... You shouldn't have gone through all of that. If I knew we would fail the mission, I would've had everyone retreat."

"It doesn't matter now. Everything already happened. Just be glad that we're able to see more days together." I pulled the wires and tubes off of my body, wincing at the pain in my back, "See?" I groaned softly. "I'm already feeling better."

She laughed, "That one hurt, didn't it?"

I nodded. My whole body, inside and out, still hurts to be exact but, "Just a little..." was all I said to her.

She smiled, showing me those cute dimples on her cheeks, "I'm not gonna lie, I've missed you..."

I smiled back, glancing at her perfect lips for a moment as she said those words, "I've missed you too..."

She smiled down at our hands, gently grazing her thumb back and forth on mine, "I got something for you." she almost whispered.

"What is it?" I asked, scooting closer to her to see.

She put her hand in her pocket then pulled out that diamond watch she got from the mall. I watched as she wrapped it around my wrist and smirked at it for a moment before letting go.

"You're letting me have this?" I raised my eyebrow in disbelief.

She smiled, her cheeks slightly blushing in embarrassment, "I... Yeah. It's too big for me anyway..."

I admired it for a moment then chuckled, "I knew you never meant those things about you hating me so much." I gave her a tight hug.

She chuckled, placing her hand on my chest, ready to push me off. "Alright. That's enough, Scarface."

"I have a scar on my face?" I furrowed my brows. Damn, what if they had to completely rearrange my face from how bad the injuries were. I shyly pulled away from her to ask, "Hey... Just out of curiosity... Uh... Do I look different to you?"

The playfulness left her eyes, "No... Jaden, I was just joking..." she placed the palm of her hand on my face, "You're only a little bruised here but you're still... Good looking." her words were unsure.

I smiled, "Good looking? I like that description." I twirled a strand of her hair, catching the sweet look in her eyes, "You're still beautiful..."

She smiled shyly and moved my hand from her hair, making me chuckle. She has no idea how much I love that smile.

"Looks like someone is ahead of schedule! How are you feeling?" The nurse walked in turning the light knob all the way, hurting my eyes.

I squinted through the brightness, shielding some of the light with my hand, "Yeah... Yeah, I feel a lot better."

"That's great news. Do you think you'll be okay to check out soon? I'll prescribe you some painkillers and you can head on home. It's what your boss demanded."

I nodded, watching Nicole stand from the bed, "That would be great..." I said.

"No problem. You'll have to wait a few days before we can send you out, though. Just to make sure everything is stable and so that we can develop your items, okay?" she smiled.

"Yeah, sure. That's cool..." I sighed then looked over at Nicole. I wanted to ask her if she could stay but she must've read my mind.

"I've stayed here for a full month and some weeks, I think I can keep an eye on you for a few more days." she shrugged.

"Sounds good. I'll be back in a few." the nurse left the room, writing in her clipboard.

I couldn't help but smile, "Wait... You were here this whole time?"

"I was... It wasn't fun, but I was," she smirked.

I smiled then nodded to myself. So she does care about people, well, cares for me at least and a lot more than I think. I wonder if she's ever done anything like this for anyone else before... It doesn't matter, what matters is that we're growing a little closer... I really like this girl and that's all I really want right now is to get closer to her. I'm not sure if she feels the same but it wouldn't hurt to try and take a chance with her. Even if that means taking slow, careful steps. To be with someone like her is worth all the time in the world.