The Darkness in the Light

Chapter Twenty-Three

When I woke up, I instantly reached out to Jax with my mind.

Good morning. He said warmly, smiling. Suddenly the darkness condensed and he appeared sprawled across my bed in a hospital gown.

"Are you okay?" I asked aloud, rolling over to look him up and down. I knew most his injuries were either internal or on his chest and back, neither of which I could see beyond his gown. But the way he held himself off his torso, stiff and awkward, told me that he was in pain.

"I'm on strict bed rest, but otherwise, I feel okay. It's all just surface stuff."

"Surface stuff still hurts."

"Not as bad."

I kept looking him over, but suddenly his eyes caught my attention. I met his gaze, propped up on one elbow as we lay on the bed together. Fear ran through me, memories of what we'd almost lost, and the knowledge that Gemma was somewhere, probably hurting and alone, and I didn't know if she was okay. I hoped she was hurting, because if she wasn't, that meant it was even worse. I couldn't lose her after I'd only just found her again.

Suddenly he was pulling me close, using one arm to tug me into his chest. Carefully, I wriggled closer, my hand skimming the skin of his neck where his hospital gown had loosened. I pressed my forehead into his collarbone, listening to his heartbeat, loving how strong it sounded now.

"Thank you, for rescuing me, mainly. Everything else, too," he murmured, his breath stirring my hair.

"Thanks for not dying."

"I tried."

I lay there, curled against him, thinking. I remembered everything Gemma had said right before we realised Jax was missing, and the dreams Jax had shared with me when we'd lost hope. I recognised how safe I felt right now nestled in his arms, how much I never wanted this feeling to go away. But I didn't know when to ask, or what it was I was even asking.

Just ask? Jax spoke into my mind, confused, having overheard parts of my thoughts. I blushed.

"I wanted to ask about, well, what you shared with me yesterday. If you remember. You were pretty out of it."

I'd been staring at his chest, but he reached down and tilted my chin up to meet his gaze.

"I remember," he whispered, "But it's okay. I understand that you might not want any of that. I just promised you that I'd not keep secrets from you, and that was my last secret."

I blinked at him.

"I want that," I admitted.

He blinked, not registering what I'd said for a moment.

"You want that? What bit?"

"All of it," I admitted, and I opened my mind to him, just as he'd done for me before. I showed him how happy those memories and ideas had made me. I showed him my own hopes and dreams, of him laying here next to me as I woke each morning, of him sitting at the bar watching me sing like he had that karaoke night. I showed him us slow dancing in the night life, swaying to the gentle music. Me standing beside him lending him strength as he addressed his city and his people. Us, together, happy.

He hadn't stopped watching me, a smile slowly creeping across his face.

"As soon as I'm better, I'm going to start making those dreams come true," he promised, "I want so much for those dreams to come true. Though even this, right now, this is perfect, too."

I smiled, and settled back into laying beside him, my hands still on his chest, head beside him on the pillow and our knees brushing one anothers. He relaxed back into the cushion a bit, a smile on his lips and his eyes bright with emotions.

"Gemma will be happy when she finds out. She wants us to have kids just so she can see how we deal with toddlers that can teleport everywhere," I laughed, catching a laugh out of him.

"Of course she'd think of something like that," he chuckled, then he sobered, "Where is she?"

"You don't know?" I asked, and he shook his head. The sound of the shot replayed through my mind, the shadows quivering with the vibrations. Watching my friend fall to the ground, my father's hand on the gun. He reached up and grabbed my hand, squeezing it.

"She's tough," Jax pointed out, but he couldn't promise anything. She was tough, but he didn't know anything more than that. I refused to let my mind dwell on what-ifs. Because there was a lot of very bad what-ifs. We just had to hope she was okay.

"Tristan will take care of her," Jax reassured me.

"I want to check on her, but I don't know where she would be in the hospital. I don't know how to find her."

"We'll just have to hope Tristan comes home. The hospital is always too well-lit for me to easily snoop around, though I can try once I get some strength back."

"Tristan might not be able to get in."

"What do you mean?"

I told him about the committee and how they were thinking of ways to reinforce Rewes now that people had been looking closer into the sewers.

"Tristan is bright, and I'll be able to sense him coming once he's that close. But I think we'll need to do a bit more work with this barricade idea. Maybe we can set up security cameras to see who might be coming and going. Then it won't just be up to me to watch the tunnels. That will help if something like this ever happens again."

I frowned, "This better not happen again."

He reached up to run his thumb across my cheek, and I felt my body lean into the touch almost of its own accord.

"Humans know how to capture me now. I'll have to lay low for a bit, but I can't just stop saving people. Eventually I'll have to go back out there, and they've got ways to stop me now. All it takes is bright lights and I'm ineffective."

"But I'm not," I pointed out, "I can call people close enough for you to grab them."

"I thought you didn't want to use your voice that way," he pointed out, eyes searching mine.

"It depends on the circumstances. I don't regret helping with Sweetchild. Sometimes, it's worth it. Plus, I don't know if you were awake, but I did put a little contingency plan in place."

I showed him what I'd done, how I'd sung of monsters growing angry at trespassers in the drains, and how they had the ability to push back, and would, if people didn't stay away from their world. Only those within hearing distance had been affected by my song, but I hoped it was something that would pass on in gossip and rumours until it spread further. Hopefully it made a different.

Jax smiled at me, a spark of pride at the back of his mind when I showed him what I'd tried to do.

"Well, you'll be my partner in crime, then," he stated.

I'd caught his thoughts in that moment. In his mind, there was no denying that he wanted to finish that sentence at just partner and leave it at that. He wanted me to be his partner, more than just his friend. I could feel my cheeks flush a little as I smiled.

"Alright, partner," I teased him, and his eyes widened before he smiled.

"Now who's eavesdropping?" he joked, poking my side. I giggled, ticklish. The thought of calling him my partner sent a thrill down my spine, igniting butterflies in my stomach.

We spent the entire day in my bedroom, and with every passing minute it began to feel more and more like home. I got up and made us meals, and by the afternoon he felt well enough to sit on the floor and start on my mural again. I lay on my stomach, watching him paint, wondering how the world could seem so perfect.

Only it wasn't perfect. The way Jax winced when he moved was a constant reminder of what had happened yesterday. And when we sat around the dining table for dinner, the silence was deafening. We needed Gemma there to break the ice. I had no idea how to answer Brady's questions; was she going to be okay, did she need help, when was she coming back? Hazel's glares never ceased, and I knew that it would take her a long, long time to ever trust me again.

But for a few small moments, we were happy. I just had to hope those moments would keep happening, and that my best friend really was tough enough to pull herself through her injuries and find her way back to us.