Breath of the Future

Chapter 24

**Kathryn's POV**

I woke up in the hospital bed yet again and stared at the wall. Dave had interviewed me after my leg got stitched up and made it look like I was some innocent bystander in the chaos who ended up getting shot. We used my fake name, Grace Philips, for the interview. I must admit, it was a pretty solid plan. Dave reassured me that because Steve and Agent Sanchez were both killed in the incident, the bureau would take over for the police and eventually leave us alone if we laid low for a while.

But that was just the thing, Steve Haines was dead, and by my hand.

When I was working for Trevor, I never killed without good reason. In fact, I never killed at all. I left all of that to Trevor. Sure, I hurt people but whenever it got bad enough to require someone to be taken out, I made sure that the rest of the crew took care of it. The guys that I took out when I broke Michael away from his kidnapping incident didn't mean a thing to me, and they were aiding in the attempted murder of someone that meant a lot to me. That's not to say that Steve was entirely without fault, but I did like him when I first met him, even if that was a lie.

Perhaps in another timeline I could've had a fun time running around with Steve. He seemed like a super sweet guy when I met him at the lounge party. If he hadn't found out about my affiliation with Michael maybe we could've had something. Or maybe that was just a disguise he put on to get women in the sack. But I would never know, because he was rotting away in the morgue freezer at the LS coroner's office.

Dave arranged to have me taken back to Michael's house after a few days and while I wasn't in great shape, I wasn't dead and I wasn't immobilized by the incident. The bullet barely grazed the side of my thigh and left only a nasty gash that required some stitches and glue. The bullet itself was either never found or buried in the ground. I was limping around a little, but that ailment, fortunately, would not be permanent.

I got out of Dave's car and thanked him for the ride and everything else, but he didn't have much to say. He only nodded and reminded me to stay as low as I could and told me to tell Michael not to stir up any more trouble in the meantime. I eventually waved him off and limped into the house. Michael was standing in the kitchen waiting for me wearing a black wifebeater tank top and gray sweats. He stood up slowly and gave me a sympathetic smile when he saw me.

"Hey, sweetheart." He said softly, pulling me into his arms.

He stroked my hair and kissed my cheek, sighing to himself.

"Are you going to be okay?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, the doctor said that the stitches should come out on their own in a couple weeks. He just said to rest but to try to walk normally within reason so the limp won't become permanent."

He ran a hand over his chin. A little bit of gray and black stubble was starting to emerge, but I did like the look of it. I knew he wouldn't keep it for long, so I figured I should enjoy it while I could.

"That was ah...that was really brave, what you did for us out there. I certainly wouldn't take a bullet for myself."

"Good thing I'm not you, then."

He chuckled softly and licked his lips. I missed him a lot when I was in the hospital, but I couldn't help the looming guilt that floated over my head about what happened with Steve. The feeling started to boil over as soon as I stepped into the house. Michael noticed almost immediately.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

I shook my head and covered my mouth with my hand, attempting to blink away the tears that were no doubt on their way, but I couldn't stop them and a few fell onto my cheeks.