[[[all of your flaws]]] [[[part i]]]

64.

In between visiting Lily and running home for clean clothes daily, I had one thing I needed to do. I spent roughly four hours in the department of records and births. Desperately trying to find her birth certificate. Without that, I couldn't do what I'd planned. I had roughly three weeks before Lily was released and I wanted it to be perfect.

She came on in leaps and bounds. They stopped the dialysis sooner than hoped. She was even able to walk around by the end of the first week. Slowly, but it was a big step. I hadn't even given much thought to my own injuries. My arm had put me out of action for two months, but that didn't matter. I had bigger things to worry about than my career.

'But if you don't get out there, you'll miss valuable gigs.' Lily had scorned me.

'Theres not much I can do without my tour manager.' I joked. I knew she hated being in the hospital. She hated being stagnant. But she managed a small laugh. We didn't talk about what happened. And that was fine by me. I never wanted to remember that night ever again. 'Maybe now is a good time to ring your mum?' I suggested. On my hunt for her birth certificate I had found a home address for her family. I'd contemplated ringing them and telling them what had happened, but I knew she'd go mad.

'Not yet, when I'm better, I will. I swear.' I wanted to tell her so badly about my plan. I would've liked to invite them. But it had to be a surprise for when she came home.

And just a week later, defying the odds, she did. I'd set up a load of balloons and 'welcome home' banners, pushing her wheelchair into the apartment. She didn't need it, but I'd insisted she didn't over do it. Her face was priceless as her eyes fell upon the white dress hanging from the metal beam of the mezzanine level.

'Dan?' She looked up at me. I knelt down in front of her and pulled out the small box that had been in my pocket for days.

'Lillian Jane Wood. I love you. I love you more than the world itself. We've had a tough few weeks, well, you've had a tough few years, and I want us to move forward with our lives, together. I cannot describe to you what I feel when I look at you, so strong despite everything you've faced, but if you marry me, then we have the rest of our lives for me to show you. Will you marry me?'

She began to cry. Not the sad, terrified tears she had the last time she'd been in this room. That's why I wanted to do this here, to override those memories and replace them with something happy.

'Yes.' She nodded. I slipped the real, rather expensive, ring over her finger.

'And if it's ok with you, there's a car booked to take us to somewhere in about an hour.'

'An hour?' Her eyes widened. 'Dan...we can't, you have to book these things, have paper work and-' I produced the pieces of paper from my other pocket and handed it her.

'Here.'

'Whats this?'

'Your birth certificate and our marriage licence.'

'How?'

'Don't ask.' I laughed. I'd pulled a lot of strings to do this. No registry office would normally allow a wedding on such short notice. But when I'd explained what we'd been through, people just fell over themselves to help. 'I just thought...we should do it now. Get married. If you want? This whole thing...it scared me. I don't ever want to lose you.'

'But Dan, this is nuts, how did you arrange all this on your own?'

'I'm not totally useless.' I told her. She was so happy that she cried and pulled herself out the chair to hug me.

'I don't deserve you.' She whispered.

'I am never going to let anything happen to you ever again. I am going to protect it you. Always.' I held her hand and looked deep into her brown eyes. I'd never been so sure of anything in my life.