Forever: A Life After Legend Fanfic (Marie Lu)

June

I lay on the couch of our apartment. The boards that had crushed me had fractured my left leg in two, basically. I had internal bleeding in my abdomen from metal and wood fragments of the house hitting me when it exploded. They cut open my abdomen to remove some of the fragments. Others were unable to be removed, left in my body as scars.

I hadn't been this injured, let alone hospitalized, since coming down with the plague and being in the colonies. It was a new feeling of being hurt. Physical pain and not emotional. I now sort of know how Daniel felt for all those years with constant head pain and nightmares. I wonder if Daniel knew how it felt when I watched him get shot and I laid over him holding his head, begging him not to go.

I've been home for a week. I haven't slept during that week due to constant pain and screaming from nightmares.

It felt odd to be weak. To let my emotions surface and be vulnerable.

"June?" Daniel says and hands me some tea, distracting me from my thoughts.

I take it and smile at him lightly. "What are you thinking about? You have that look in your eyes." I stare into his ocean-blue eyes and see the ripple in his one eye.

"I almost lost you. I keep thinking to myself how being a soldier isn't the most safe line of work, but it is what makes you, you."

"I know, but I took the risk. Hell, we both did. I will say, normally I am not around combat anymore... not that it will make you feel any better. Also, Anden offered you the job of being a glorified bounty hunter. That's not safe, either." I reply and sip my tea.

Anden, when Daniel came back with Eden, offered him a detective position within the street police ranks. He is one his own normally, hunting down some of the nation's worst criminals. Ironic, I know.

"June, you are stating things I already know. I'm just saying I don't want to lose you. I want a family with you, and that will be hard if I have to bury you." He says softly with pain in his eyes.

I realize what he is saying. He's always been a family man. He did everything for the family. He is still protective over Eden. His family is his weakness, and I am a part of that picture now.

"I'm not going to die, Daniel," I murmur, trying to avoid the conversation that I know is about to come.

He runs his hand through his hair, knowing I am trying to avoid this conversation. "You don't want kids to do you?"

I widen my eyes and look up at him, "Daniel, of course! But.."

"But what?"

"Daniel, I don't even know if I can have kids now," I say coldly, grabbing my crutches.

I steady myself as I get up. I try to crutch myself into the bedroom, but Daniel stops me.

"June, sweetheart... I didn't know." His eyes soften, and he picks me up.

"The surgery I had was really intensive to remove the shards of metal and wood that cut my body. A part of one nicked my uterus. Tess told me in private one day after you had left." I reach up and cup his cheek as he gently sets me on the bed.

I think back to that moment Tess walked into the room with scans and sighed. She told me she didn't wish to tell me while Daniel was around because it would have pained him even more to hear it. When she told me and showed me, I teared up. I never thought about having kids as a teen. But bringing Daniel back to me made me realize how much I missed having my own family.

He kisses my forehead as he tucks me into the bed. "I'm sorry, June."

"You didn't know. I should've told you earlier when Tess told me." I watch him as he unbuttons his shirt and then crawls into bed with me. He wraps his arms around me, and I fall asleep despite the pain radiating through my body.

We lay in bed for some time until there was a knock at the door. Daniel gets up and goes to answer it. I reach for my crutches that sit beside the bed and follow slowly behind him. Eden and Pressa stood in the living room with boxes as Daniel shut the door.

"We are helping Daniel move in." Eden smiles and drops a box on the floor.

Daniel sighs and mumbles, "I've moved some things over."

I sit back down on the couch. "No point in unpacking when our house will be done being built anytime now, hopefully."

"You guys!" Eden shouts, "You act like you are still dating."

"We've been married for three weeks!" Me and Daniel say in unison.

Endn starts laughing, and we all trail behind him. We knew what he meant when Daniel was still going over there to get shoes almost daily.

"We brought food, too!" Pressa says.

"Good, I'm so hungry." I try to smile.

She sets the containers of food on the table. It was Chinese food. Daniel brings me a plate and then goes and throws a shirt on. He comes back, grabs a plate himself, and sits down beside me. Eden and Pressa follow.

"Has Anden said anything about the finding of how and why this happened?" Pressa asks with a mouthful.

"He was trying to stage a coo or a rebellion. They didn't agree with Anden spending money repairing the cities and our country in general. They liked his father's ruling." I murmur, thinking back to the real reason we went to Antarctica months ago... To ask for money.

"They've captured most of them, but there are still a few rouge members missing," Daniel replies.

"So, this was a failed rebellion?" Pressa asks.

"Very failed, you could say. The supposed leader was too easy to catch... It makes me wonder things, but some people won't let me work." I look at Daniel with spite, knowing that he won't let me even look at my work computer.

"We hope this is the end of it, though," Daniel finishes and takes a bite of his food, leaving the conversation open. The room fills with the sounds of us eating and our unheard thoughts of wonder. We all wondered a lot of things. Daniel has brought up many things to me about that day, how Faline acted, how Anden wasn't there conveniently, and so much more. But here I must sit, trying to heal up and better myself. Trying to pretend we are one big happy family, though, I just broke the most devastating news to Daniel that he may never have kids. Sometimes, life felt like a downward spiral.