Afterwards: An "After" Fanfiction

Chapter 30: Last First Kiss & Epilogue: Story Of My Life

Tessa couldn't believe she was back at the hospital so soon. But this time, she wasn't the patient.

Hardin was tucked into a hospital bed, his chest bare aside from a heavy roll of gauze wrapped around his stab wound. The pain killers were finally wearing off, and his eyelids slowly drifted open. There was Tessa, sitting by his bedside and holding his bruised hand. "You stayed." Relief flooded through his broken bones, making his chest ache in the best way.

"I did." The girl acknowledged. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got stabbed in the stomach." He answered candidly, smirking through the pain.

The other didn't find any humor in his statement. Her eyes flickered to the television, which was broadcasting the daily news report.

"Two bodies were found at the scene of the fire: one has been positively identified as Leroy Anderson, also known in the narcotics underworld as Big Shot. The other is presumed to be publishing boss Christian Vance. Both deaths seem to be related to the fire..."

Hardin exhaled, turning away from the screen. "I had just gotten used to Vance being my birth father. Now this."

Tessa felt his pain. She knew what it was like to be without a dad. Though it had been revealed that Christian was the one who caused her fatherless childhood, she knew in her heart it wasn't ultimately Christian's fault. If Richard had wanted to change for his family, he would have.

"I'm grateful to you Tessa." Hardin continued on a different note. "Without you I would have shared his fate. It's because of you that I'm still alive."

Flushing, she averted her gaze to the white sheets. "It was nothing." Of course, shooting a drug dealer in the ear wasn't something she had ever planned on doing. But if that's what saved Hardin's life, she would do it one hundred times over.

Thinking back to that night, she didn't know whether Hardin had remembered what transpired after their escape. He was so far gone by that point, he probably didn't remember the kiss at all. She wasn't even sure if she wanted him to.

Their relationship was up in the air at that point. In the span of just a few weeks, they had made their relationship official, met each other's parents, broken up after the confrontation on New Year's, and had kissed passionately after nearly losing their lives to a drug lord. If that wasn't enough to blur the lines of their relationship status, she didn't know what would be.

"You know..." Hardin began, taking her from her thoughts. "The last time we spoke, really spoke, I hadn't left you in the best situation."

His admission surprised her. At least their minds had wondered to the same place. "You don't have to explain. I know you didn't sleep with Molly." She found comfort in the way he subconsciously shook his head no. "And I also understand if you want to completely start over." It hurt Tessa to propose this, to come to terms with the fact that they might not be right for each other after all.

"What are you saying?"

"Sometimes..." Tessa searched for the right words before realizing she had said them to Hardin before. "Sometimes people just aren't good for each other, and the universe has a way of making that known to everyone involved."

The words took him by surprise, and he couldn't justify her assumption with a proper response.

"What I'm saying is...I can understand if you don't want to be in a relationship with me. We've been through a lot. Maybe we need some time apart." Though making their breakup official would depress her, perhaps it was the right decision. She would leave it in his hands.