Unhinged

Chapter Twenty-One

You slowly woke up, forgetting everything that had happened for a few seconds as your eyes adjusted, and then everything came flooding back to you. You looked around the familiar studio apartment that you've spent so many hours in – it definitely became one of your favorite places lately – before your eyes landed and stayed on your soldier's back. His muscles were playing under his maroon shirt, and you kept quiet because you could feel his anger as he sat at the end of the bed near your feet.

Your stomach ached and you slowly lifted your shirt to see the bandaging, especially where the braces' clips had been, but now they were off. Tears pricked behind your eyes as you watched him work with something in his hands and you let out a soft whimper, muffling your sob as it all came back to you in waves – fighting for your life and thinking you had lost. He tensed for a second before he turned to glance over his shoulder, probably thinking you were having a nightmare or something, but it just made it harder not to cry when you saw the pain in his eyes and the dark bruise under one of them.

Before he could react, you crawled down the bed to hug him from behind, his flesh hand going up to your arms to hug you back as you pressed kisses over his shoulder and neck, even through his shirt.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." You whispered like a prayer, knowing if he hadn't shown up, you would've been dead, and neither of you questioned how you knew it had been him – you just knew.

"He tried to kill you because of me." His hand fell with the confession, his blank stare meeting the far wall, and you saw it flash before his eyes – what losing you would look like, and it broke both your hearts.

"Stop," You pleaded, kissing him right above his ear and only hugging him tighter, "Please stop doing this to yourself," You took in shaky breath, ignoring the pain in your middle that it caused, "This, this is what's killing me for fuck's sake, James, please stop."

He turned around and you were kneeling on the bed as he leaned down, cupping your jaw in his hands, before he kissed you. You immediately kissed him back, never any hesitation, and you both poured it all into it as you gripped his sleeves with furrowed eyebrows.

He broke away, now kneeling on the bed in front of you, and he kept your face in his hands as he searched your eyes for something, his holding vulnerability and fear, but also adoration and care.

"I love you." You breathed out and he seemed surprised, but then a grin broke out on his face a moment before he let out a choked-up laugh, his emotions everywhere a second ago, but now they were focused. He was happy.

"I love you too, sweetheart."

A new warmth bloomed in your chest, your smile making your cheeks hurt with the best of it, and you could almost feel your heart swell behind your ribs. He meant it. He loved you. He loves you. He loves you. He loves you. He loves you back and you just know that you've never felt this before. You know you'll never feel something like this again if it's not with him. This is it. This is everything.

You both laughed out of pure happiness, kissing each other with a giddiness tossing between you, and you could cry from how good this felt. How safe and cared for you were. Never in your life did you think this was something that existed, let alone something you thought you could possess.

"Rough day?" You asked with a cheeky grin when you broke away for air and his smile grew slowly as he kept boring his beautiful blue eyes into yours.

"Something like that." He smiled softly, leaning his forehead against yours, and you know you were nearly cross eyed, but you couldn't take your eyes off him.

"Thanks for patching me up, Sarge." You smirked against his lips before kissing him again and he chuckled.

"Yeah, well, my badass girlfriend held off a juiced up United States army soldier long enough so that it wasn't too bad – your throat's okay? I meant to ask."