Him.

“Thank you for letting me borrow your jacket, Joe”, I smiled at him while giving it back to him, and he gave a short nod to acknowledge me

“No problem, Olivia”, he walked alongside me as I bumped into him on his way out of the canteen. The rest of the McCarthy's were seated in the corridor just outside Nathan's ward and Sarah stood up to meet me the second she saw me appear around the corner.

“Oh Liv”, she threw her hands around me in a warm hug. “I'm so sorry this happened”

“So am I”, I said quietly as we broke away from the hug and I greeted the others, Jamie and Cassidy already giving me the go ahead to go inside Nathan's ward

“I'm worried about Olivia though, is she okay?”, I could hear Nathan's voice question just when I was about to go in and Violet's eyes rose to meet mine

“You might as well ask her for yourself”, she said still looking at me, to which Nathan also turned and saw me standing at the doorway, my lips already turning into a little smile from the sight of him

“Liv”, he breathed out softly while stretching out his hand at me, motioning I come closer and I strode inside. “Are you alright?”

I nodded my head at him.

“Mother, could you give us a few minutes?”, he asked quietly looking at her, and she gave a nod of understanding while giving me a gentle squeeze on the shoulder before walking out. I noticed Nathan was trying to push himself up, and I put both my hands out to stop him.

“You going to hurt yourself, let me”, I was about to help him by adjusting the pillows behind him, but he grabbed my hand

“No, I'm okay”, he reassured. “Come here”, he scooted a little on the bed cautious and carefully to not hurt himself and pulled me towards him so that I climbed onto the bed with him. I heaved a sigh of relieve when I laid besides him, carefully not to press my entire weight on him to hurt him and buried my face on the side of his neck. It hasn't been a long time since the last time I was in his arms, but it felt like eternity. This was my safe place. He was my home.

“This feels good”, I said quietly, and I felt his hands tightening a little than before around me, locking me into his warm embrace

“It sure does”, he whispered softly while heaving a sigh of relief. I looked up at him, finding his eyes already staring back at me, then his eyebrows ceased for a second as he tilted my head a little to the side and I felt his fingers gently brush against the patch on the side of my head before cussing under his breath.

“How serious is this? Did this cause any serious injury to your head?”

“The doctors ran a CT scan, and it's nothing to be worried about. I'm fine”

“Are you certain?”, he didn't sound convinced. “Because I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that wasn't the case”

“You're the one who's been stabbed in the guts here, we should be the worried about you here, not me”

“It rather is me lying here on this hospital bed than you”, he stroked my head gently. “I'm so sorry that this happened. I hold myself accountable. I should have done something about the situation when I saw it was becoming life-threatening but I didn't, and I put your life in danger, I'm really sorry Liv”

His eyes were showing the greatest level of regret I've never seen on his face before

“It's okay. The nightmare is over, so I guess we can move on with our lives”. I reached my hand up to hold the side of his face. It still felt unreal that he was okay, I could see the last look he had on his face before he passed out in my arms. If this was a dream, may no one dare to wake me up.

“How are you feeling though?”, I asked, and he twitched his lips to the side

“In pain, but it's nothing I can't handle”, a lazy smile played on his face before his face scrunched a little in discomfort. I just laid there besides him, tears gathering in my eyes, thinking how easy it would have been to lose him, but I shielded my face from him so that he didn't see me cry. I didn't want him to feel bad that he already did.

“Why are you so quiet?”, I felt his hand tilt my head up so that I could look at him and his eyes softened when he saw the state I was in, trying my best to fight off the tears that were already streaming down my face

“No Bella, please don't do that”, he hushed softly, pulling me up a little by my waist so that our faces were at level height. “You know I hate seeing you cry”

“I was so scared”, I said quietly as I leaned my forehead against his, stroking the side of his face with my thumb. “I really thought I was going to lose you”

“You'll never lose me Liv, cause you carry me in your heart just as much as I carry you in mine and for that I'll always be here with you”, he wiped the tears off my face gently, and I dropped my eyes from his gaze, trying to swallow this hard lump that was growing in my throat

“Hey”, he said softly while tilting my head up again. “I'm going to be okay, I promise”, he stroked my head softly before planting kisses on my forehead countless times. “I'm afraid you're stuck with me for a very long time”

I stifled a laugh while sniffing. “That's fine with me cause you see, you're also stuck with me for a very long time”

“I can live with that”, he smiled contagiously

“So can I”, I leaned in to peck him on the lips, but he grabbed my face just I was about to pull away and kissed me slowly for a few more seconds

“Okay, I missed this”, he breathed out softly as we both pulled away a little while after, and I snickered a laugh

“It hasn't been that long since you kissed me”

“It surely feels like a lifetime”, he put up his hand and I entwined our fingers together and he proceeded to play with my hand. “So much for a happy birthday huh?”

“Yeah, a lot happened in one night”

“We're going to be okay though, we'll get through this”, he tightened his hand around mine. “Together”

~•~

Nathan was discharged from the hospital a few weeks ago, and he was getting better with time. His wound needed dressing now and then but then it managed to heal properly all on its own, and he wasn't in much pain as before, he even said that sometimes he kinda forgot it was there. We've been attending trauma counselling after the whole incident (more like I was) because even though I knew Arial wasn't out to get us anymore; I don't know, the way everything happened it's like I could see her in my apartment each time I switched the lights off, remembering that swing she took at me in the dark. I tried convincing myself that I was just being paranoid and nothing bad would happen anymore but honestly, I just needed to let it all out and the counselling really helped a lot. Things were slowly going back to normal.

Aria was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for assaulting me and Nathan's attempted murder. Since it wasn't a deliberate, and she acted impulsively, the states' attorney managed to convince the judge that she wasn't in the right state of mind when she did that, and it was agreed that she would serve her sentence at a psychiatric hospital. Nathan and I attended the sentencing trial as I had gathered enough strength to finally face her and get the closure I needed to finally move on from what happened.

Aria locked eyes with me just when she was about to leave the courthouse to the hospital and mouthed a sincere apology to both Nathan and I before she disappeared down the stairs. I didn't know how I felt about this, but I was willing to put it all behind me, once and for all. Nathan's has been nothing but a sweet darling through and through as he's been really supportive, right by my side when I needed him the most. He bought with him the sense of utmost joy I carry with me because he was in my life. I was truly falling in love with him all over again each day.

“Hey babe have you seen my-”, walking into the kitchen, I stopped in my tracks just when I got a whiff of his cologne, instantly intoxicating me a little

“Seen your what love?”

“My, uh”, I even forgot what I was going to ask him because all my thought were clouded by his new scent. “Is this a new cologne or something?”

“Yeah, the one you got for me a while back”

“You smell soo good”, I pulled myself to his height to get even more taken out by how delicious he smelt, sniffing all of him and I could tell by the look on his face that he was taken aback a little, but secretly impressed

“At this point you're just inhaling me Liv”, he laughed, and I backed away from him a little so that he could breathe. There's nothing more attractive than a man that smells good, really sexy.

“I'm sorry”, I laughed nervously, and he pulled me back again

“Don't be. This is all you”, he picked me up, simultaneously wrapping my legs around his waist before setting me on the counter, I was surely three minutes away from passing out.

“What were you going to ask me before you for seduced by my scent?”, he bit his lip temptingly, gaining that mischievous look in his eyes

“My planner, have you seen it?”

“Yeah, here”, he pulled it from behind him and gave it to me. “I wrote down our appointment with the estate agent so that you don't forget”

We've been talking these last couple of weeks and decided it was time to take our relationship to the next level and invest in some property. Buy a house of our own so that we can officially move in together. I've never done this before, but I was really excited. It was a huge step, I agree, but I was ready for anything because it was with him and not at all skeptical. I could do with a change in scenery and starting all over again, positively.

“I wouldn't have but thanks”, I kissed his cheek before paging through it, finding that he wrote Appointment with the agent at 12 in a bold fold at the center of one of the pages

“I would definitely see this even if I was blind”, I joked, and he laughed before he pecked me on the lips just when I was about to jump off the counter

“This is really important for us, we can't afford any delays or slip ups”

“I know and I can't wait”

“Me neither”, he lifted one of my hands to his lips and kissed it softly. “Now go young lady, we wouldn't want you to be late for work”

“I'll be on my way kind Sir”, I laughed as I packed my planner into my bag and blew him a kiss goodbye as I approached the door and he caught the invisible kiss and put it inside his pocket

“Hey, Olivia Davis?”, he called out just when I was about to close the door behind me and I stopped in my tracks, turning to look at him

“Yeah?”

“This is just a quick reminder that you're loved; deeply and unconditionally by me. I need you to promise me you'll never forget that”

I smiled warmly at him. “I know you do, and I promise I won't ever forget that”

“Good”, he seemed pleased with my answer as he turned around to make himself a coffee, not aware I was walking back towards him

“Hey, Nathaniel McCarthy?”, he turned around, and he smiled sheepishly when he realized just how close I was to him and pulled me closer

“Yes?”

“I love you”, I pecked him softly on the lips. “Thank you for being all the man that I'll ever need and for that I really appreciate you”

“Hearing you say that makes me so happy”, he smiled beautifully. “I'm really looking forward to our future together”