“What happened?” he asked, pressing a kiss against the top of her head as he reached over and placed his hand carefully on her cast.

“I beat the shit out of your brothers,” she admitted with a sniffle.

He chuckled weakly as he pressed another kiss against the top her head. “That’s not what I meant.”

“You beat the shit out of your father,” she said, still regretting that she hadn’t been there to stop that. “Your brothers had to pull you off and in the process your back was broken and the scar tissue from your old injury and surgeries tore, pulling free and caused some internal bleeding. They were able to stop the bleeding and remove the scar tissue, but your back-”

“I had weak spots in my vertebrae from the shrapnel,” he said matter-of-factly as she struggled not to cry again. “I was supposed to take it easy.”

“They broke,” she said, her voice breaking.

He was quiet for a long time before he asked, “Was my spine compromised?”

“Can you move your toes?” she asked, repeating the question that they’d been asking him every time he regained consciousness and terrified of his answer.

“Yes,” he said, and just to prove it, he brought his leg up slowly, bending it before he slowly returned it back to the bed and just like that, she lost it.

“Shhhh, don’t cry, Tinkerbelle. I’m fine,” he said, soothingly.

“I’m sorry,” she said, trying to stop, but heaven help her, she couldn’t.

He’d scared the hell out of her!

“Did you really beat up my brothers?” he asked, kissing her head again and obviously trying to distract her.

“Yes,” she admitted with a sniffle.

“Why?”

“Because they hurt you.”

“It was an accident,” he said, but she didn’t miss the amusement lacing his tone.

“I don’t care,” she muttered, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her hand. She could take one of the painkillers the doctors had prescribed her, but she’d been out of it enough over the last two weeks to last her a lifetime.

“I shouldn’t have hit him,” Danny said, sighing heavily. “He started talking and I just lost it.”

“Your father’s not mad.”

“That’s great, but that’s not really what I meant. I want to know why you left me.”

“Because you were pulling away,” she said around a small sob, and wow, did she sound pathetic.

“I wasn’t pulling away,” he promised her.

“Yes, you were,” she said, because she knew the signs. She’d seen it before with Jerry. When she’d felt Danny do it, she’d decided to leave before he could hurt her. She hadn’t been able to stomach the idea of going through that with Danny.

“I would never leave you, Tinkerbelle,” he said, gently cupping her chin and tipping her head so that she was looking up at him. “Never.”

“Then what were you doing?” she demanded, wanting to know what kind of bullshit reason he could come up with for the way that he was acting. He said that he hadn’t been pulling away from her, but-

“I was planning your abduction,” he said, blinking innocently down at her.

She opened her mouth, but couldn’t quite find the words to respond to that declaration.

“I had to make a few phone calls and call in some favors to get the ban temporarily lifted from Vegas just long enough for me to drag you off and marry you before you got a chance to run away,” he explained calmly as she continued to lay there, staring dumbly up at him.

“I’m sorry, what?” she finally managed to get out.

“We’re getting married,” he said, shrugging like what he’d just said was no big deal.

“I told you that I didn’t want to get married,” she reminded him.

Another shrug. “I chose to ignore that.”

“Okay…….,” she said, because really, what else was she supposed to say to that?

“As soon as they release me, we’re going to get married,” he announced and yeah, now she was wondering if they’d missed a head injury when they’d examined him.

“And why exactly are you so determined to marry me all of a sudden?”

“Because I love you,” he said with another shrug as he nodded towards the cup of water. “Can I have another drink?”

“D-did you just tell me that you love me?” she asked, staring at him and unable to help herself, because now she was pretty sure that he was suffering from a brain injury. It was either that, or the drugs in his system making him say this.

“Yes,” he said, closing his eyes. “Figured it out the day at the reptile zoo. It pissed me off that you didn’t love me back, but I figured in ten years or so with enough mind blowing sex, you’ll end up falling head over heels in love with me so it’s okay.”

She chuckled, she couldn’t help it. “You’re planning on using sex to make me fall in love with you?”

“Mmmhmmm,” he mumbled sleepily. “I’m willing to make that sacrifice.”

“Wow, you’re a giver,” she said, smiling down at the man that she loved.

“That I am,” he said, smiling that sexy grin that drove her crazy. “And you’re marrying me. Soon,” he said, firmly even as he started to nod off.

“I am,” she said, nodding her head solemnly in agreement, sniffling as tears started to roll down her face, “because I love you.”

He stilled for a minute, that sexy grin of his turning into a frown. “What about all the mind blowing sex?”

Smiling, she leaned down and kissed him. “I’m still willing to have all the mind blowing sex.”

“That’s very big of you,” he said, grinning against her lips.

“It really is.”

*-*-*-*

“She finally fell asleep, huh?” his father asked softly as he glanced down at Tinkerbelle, who was snuggled up by his side.

“Yes,” he said, smiling down at the woman who loved him.

Not that he was surprised, he was a fucking catch after all.

“Looks like we finally found the right combination of pills,” his father said, picking up a blanket off the other bed and carefully placed it over them both.

Frowning, he looked down at the woman softly snoring in his arms. “You drugged her?”

“Put it in her apple juice,” his father said with a shrug. “She was in pain and refused to take anything for it so I drugged her.”

“I see,” he mumbled and just like that, the silence became awkward.

That is until his father decided to pick up where they’d left off.

“I’d raised you to face your mistakes, Danny.”

“Don’t start this shit again,” he said, grinding his jaw as he looked up to face his father.

“You ran off, Danny,” his father said, rubbing the back of his neck as he shook his head, looking a little lost. “You just ran.”

“You didn’t give me much of a choice,” he said evenly.

His father met his gaze as he said, “No, I didn’t. I kept pushing you when I should have just accepted the fact that you weren’t perfect, Danny.”