No Strings Attached? // Roman Godfrey

The hospital.

You were awake, you knew you were. But your eyes weren't ready to open. Not yet. You heard machines beeping around you, felt someone holding your right hand, and heard people mumbling to each other.

It was most likely that you were in the hospital, but you weren't sure who were with you. You didn't know what Roman had done to Peter, or the other way around. You then recognized your sister's voice mumbling that she was hoping you'd wake up soon.

"Destiny?" you managed to get out, slowly opening your eyes and let the adjust to the light. You felt her hand gently squeezing yours and you turned your head to see her smile at you.

"Eva!" she said happily. Her eyes were red from crying. "You're awake!"

She got up and pressed a kiss on your forehead. You furrowed your eyebrows as you looked behind her and didn't notice the hospital room. "Where am I?"

"You're at the White Tower." you heard Lynda say from you left. "Roman brought you here to let Pryce take care of you."

You turned your head and she greeted you with a smile.

"Where is Roman?" you asked. "And Peter? Are they okay?"

Lynda nodded. "They're outside the room, probably taking a nap. They've been taken turns sitting by you at night."

"Do you want us to get them?" Destiny asked, getting up from her chair.

You nodded and let out a sigh. Lynda and Destiny went outside the room and you heard them talking to Roman. A few seconds later he walked in and smiled.

"Hey pumpkin, how are you feeling?" he asked, as he sat down on the chair to your right.

You shrugged. "Feeling alright, I guess. I'm probably stuffed with painkillers though. What about you? Whose blood is that?"

You pointed at his jacket, that was covered in quite some blood that had now dried. You were just hoping it wasn't Peter's.

Roman ran a hand through his hair and cleared his throat. "That's yours. After I turned Peter back, Destiny took him to my car and I stayed with you in the church and called Pryce to come and get us."

"Is Peter okay?" you asked. "And what happened to cause that blood to get on your coat?

Roman nodded. "He's good. He just feels really awful about what he did to you. Do you.. remember anything?"

"No." you slowly shook your head.

"He bit your arm." Roman replied. "And a part of your side."

You noticed your left arm laying under the blanket, you moved the fingers on the hand a little bit and it immediately started to sting really badly, making you wince and suck in some air. You used your right arm to pull away the blanket and you were shocked to see that your forearm was covered in bandages with blood on it. Your eyes widened and you immediately pulled up a piece of your hospital gown to reveal the same blood stained bandages around your waist, the right side being quite red as well.

"Oh god." you whispered as your eyes filled themselves with tears.

You swallowed and looked at Roman. "How long have I been here?"

"About a week." he answered. "It's actually looking better than it used to, but the bandages need to be changed."

He got up and walked over to a cabinet, took out some stuff and walked back to you. He put the bandages and disinfectant supplied on a table next to your bed and walked to the sink to wash his hands.

"What are you doing?" you asked carefully.

"Destiny and I have been changing them the whole time." he said with a comforting smile. "I know what to do, if you're okay with that. I could fetch Destiny if you want."

"No it's fine." you said. "I'm just a bit.. scared."

He carefully cut loose the bandages around your waist and slowly started to remove them, making sure he wouldn't hurt you. Which he didn't succeed in, but that wasn't his fault. As the bandages were off, he took a damp washcloth and looked at you. "This might be painful, but I have to clean it."

You looked down to your side and saw a bunch of stitches surrounded by bruises and a large stain of dried blood. You noticed that the wounds looked like they were healing okay, but it was a scary sight to see.

Roman carefully wiped off the blood around the stitches, as he held your hand in case you needed to squeeze it when it hurt. He then dabbed it dry and wrapped some new bandages around your waist, which was hard to do because you couldn't really lift your back from the bed. But eventually it was around you.

"I'm surprised you're not triggered by all that blood." you jokingly said, trying to make the mood a little lighter.

Roman chuckled. "Well, I drink a lot of blood before I visit you. But it's still pretty difficult, if I'm honest."

He gave you a wink and started cutting the bandages that were around your forearm. At that moment, Peter opened the door and walked in. Roman got to your left, so he could get a better look at your arm and so Peter could sit on the chair next to your bed.

Peter took your hand between his and gave it a kiss as he started sobbing. "Eva, I am so sorry this happened."

"Peter." you quietly said. "It's not your fault. I would say that it was mine, but I won't. Because I would have done it again if I had the chance."

"If any, it was mine." Roman then said, as he threw away the blood stained bandages. "I should've stayed focused and I should have seen you coming at me, Peter."

"No, it's no one's fault." you said, still with a weak voice. But you knew they heard that you meant it. "We're all still alive. And that's what matters."

"Look at your arm, Eva." Peter said, a little angry. "I bit you and you will always be remember of that whenever you look at your arm and side."

You raised your arm a little bit, seeing the stitches that were in there. You knew they would leave scars. A lot of them. But you couldn't care less. Roman was safe, Peter was safe, Destiny and Lynda were safe, and you were too. That was worth all the scars.

"Peter please!" you said. "I don't care about my arm or my side. I care about that you and the rest of my family is still alive."

Peter got up and placed a long kiss on your cheek, as he kind of gave you a hug and trying not to put any pressure on your stomach. You wrapped your good arm around him, the two of you stayed like that for a while. Peter then let go of you and wiped away some tears.

"I'm gonna go get something to eat." he said. "You guys want anything?"

"No thanks." Roman replied, wrapping the new bandages around your arm.

You shook year head. "No, I'm good."

Peter gave you another smile and walked out of the room. Roman then secured the bandages and got up to put away all the supplies. As he came back, he sat down next to your bed again. "You know I'm still taking the blame, right?"

"Well I'm not letting you." you said, giving him a look. "It's not your fault."

"You got hurt while saving me." he stated. "That's on me."

"I confronted Olivia, even when you specifically told me not to." you then said. "That's on me. So we're equal now."

"Alright. We'll call it even then." he said, rolling his eyes at you. "Smooth topic change; would you like it if Shell and Letha came by tomorrow?"

You nodded. "Yeah that would be nice."

"I'll tell them." he smiled, taking your right hand in his. He started casually playing with your fingers and drawing figures on the back of your hand. "I should go and let you get some rest."

You quietly nodded and watched up get up and saw him hesitate for a moment. He then leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss on your cheek before leaving the room.