I make sure Vik is safe from aunt Simon and then take the opportunity to go home, shower, change, grab something to eat and head back to the hospital. When I get there Lucas is alone again, he survived aunt Simon's prayers it would seem.

"So who else are you going to start a fight with?" I ask him, handing him the hot meal I'd brought him

It was his second favourite meal from his favourite place; a focaccia sandwich: stacked with Tuscan sausage, a sunny-side-up fried egg and Scamorza cheese. I didn't want to reward him for his foolishness by bringing him his favourite meal, but I also didn't want to let him suffer through hospital food. This was a compromise.

"Probably Vik." He shrugs, looking me dead in the eye as if to warn me of something

"What? Why? Vik saved your life last night!" I remind him, though to be fair he was knocked out cold and didn't know that probably

"Then I'll thank him before he catches these hands." Lucas shrugs, biting into the sandwich

It had to be the concussion right?

"That doesn't even make sense... do you know how good with your hands you have to be to operate on children's hearts? This isn't polo Luca!" I sharply point out

Luca might be taller and bigger but my money was on Vik if that fight was to happen, just as it had been on Luna on this fight that I'd attempted to stop, by bringing a beard. I throw myself on the seat and fold my arms over my chest, glaring at nothing in particular. I was so mad at him it didn't make sense. He'd almost died! Two days after I told him I loved him and he said he loved me too, he almost died! He seems angry about something too, and so we sit like that, in silence, while he eats.

The way his body had fallen on me like that... like my dad... I'd have to go for therapy again over this shit! My eyes were stinging and I could tell I was about to cry so I jump to my feet and attempt to head for the door, only for Luca's hand to grab mine and stop me.

"Where are you going?" He softly wonders, quite unlike the man who wanted to fight Vik Shah

"I need some air." I decide attempting to free myself of his grip

"Come cuddle me mo gradh..."

Can you believe the nerve of this man! I turn a glare towards him, trying more firmly to free my wrist. He actually moves to make space for me on the hospital bed, motioning for me to get in with him.

"Are you mad?" I wonder honestly at him as he uses his free hand to put the takeaway box aside and open the blankets

"I don't feel too good, I need a cuddle." He explains as if it was scientific

He'd lost his marbles!

"If you don't feel well, I can call the nurse on my way out." I assure him as he starts to cough theatrically

"Why are you coughing mate? That has nothing to do with why you're in the hospital bed!" I point out as he switches from coughing to moaning loudly now

"Cuddle me Funke!" He groans, grabbing onto his abdomen and rolling on the hospital bed as if he was in some great unspeakable pain

"This is not shakespeare bruv!" I complain as he starts whizzing and groaning on the bed

I can't believe he's not nominated for the BAFTA this rinsed tonk!

"mo gradh... mo gradh..." He starts mumbling my name, apparently now he was having a fever dream

I suck my teeth at him, step out of my shoes and crawl onto the hospital bed just so he can stop acting up. I should've let a nurse come in and tranquilize him and cuff him to his own bed! He pulls me into his arms and kisses my forehead, stopping his antics.

"I'm getting you a clown car for your birthday." I warn him angrily against his chest, apparently making him chuckle softly from the threat

He hugs me tightly, pats my hair and rubs my back, breathing in the scent of my hair like some weirdo in a perfume commercial and then he presses his lips against my forehead again.

"I'm sorry about last night mo gradh. I know it was hard on you." He softly whispers against my forehead

Hard on me? HARD ON ME? You call giving me flashbacks to when my father got shot, fell on top of me and died hard on me? Well, let me tell you something...

"You bad mochridhe!" I shakily hiss at him, tears welling in my eyes

"I'm so sorry mo gradh, I'm so sorry..." He coos soothingly as I cry into his chest while 8 out of 10 cats played as background noise

"I didn't mean to traumatize you baby." He vows soothingly as if that would take everything back

"I thought you were dead..." I sob into his chest, releasing the tightness in mine with each unflattering heave of my chest

"I know baby, I know... I'm so sorry." He coos, easing the tears out of me as he hugged me to him tighter

I was wrapped up in Luca's arms, receiving soft apologies and tender kisses all over my face when Angus and Carlen walked into the hospital room.

"Oh good, you still love him!" Angus announces, sounding relieved to see me, despite the broken tender state I was in

If you think Lucas Roland was going to let me up even a little so I can wipe my tears and look even the least bit presentable, you were absolutely wrong. I squirm in his grip, all for nothing as Carlen runs to my side.

"Funke! You're ok!" She cries softly cupping my face as if I'm the one who had a bottle broken on me

"Nice of you to come and see me." Lucas says pithily to his small sister

"You monster! Her father died just like that...took a bullet to his back and fell on her!" Carlen growls at Lucas, ready to beat him apparently

"She's had nightmares of it for years! Do you know how traumatized she was!" She adds, punching him in his shoulder

I'm as shocked as you are that they know anything of a detail about my childhood kidnap and the death of my father

"Your mother told us about it when you were having the panic attack. Let me just apologize to you Funke. I had no intention of last night going the way it did." Angus earnestly says cupping my hand and doing a little knightly bow

"I feel terribly responsible for it all and I will make it right by you, I swear it." He assures me

I wasn't exactly sure how he would do that, but I squeak a thanks and start to picture how much money he was going to give me by way of apology

"I'm sorry too mo gradh." Lucas chimes, making me roll my eyes at him

"I do come bearing good news, I spoke to Luna." Angus adds, his voice so light and proud I'm not sure the man understands what good news is

"She deeply regrets her actions last night and is willing to return the majority shares of the Solano group back to you as a token of her thanks for you not pressing charges." Angus reveals as if this was something I was even partially aware of

"Isn't it great? You can have your shares back!" Carlen chimes excitedly at her big brother

Lucas had had shares in the Solano group? Majority shares? Was this what the rivalry had been? How had Luna dispossessed him of them?

"I don't want them." Lucas haughtily states

"Angus bled her dry negotiating for your shares back and you will accept! What's the alternative? Sending her to jail for being a bit too passionate during a brawl?" Carlen growls, pointing a sharp manicured finger at her big brother

"As opposed to investing in her portfolio, maybe." Lucas shrugs stubbornly

"It doesn't have to be hers. With majority shares, you can decide who helms the firm... like maybe you, you said it yourself she got you kicked out because you were a threat to her dominance at the firm...and if not you, maybe Funke." Angus bargains, more calmly than his passionate wife and her brother

So what I'm hearing is that Lucas and Luna were colleagues and silent partners at her firm and she somehow kicked him out and took all his shares?

"You can even change it from the Solano group to something else." Carlen, now slightly more calm, chimes

Lucas seems to be considering it now, absently pressing his lips against my forehead...

"Justice comes in different forms, Luc. This might be the most satisfying of them." Angus sagely shrugs, his gaze turning to me as if to seek my approval

"Remember how much you lost." Carlen softly says

He sighs, turning to me for advise apparently from the look in his eyes. I didn't think sending Luna to jail would solve anything...

"Best revenge is your paper." I shrug softly up at him, seeing a soft smile come to his face

He rubs his thumb across my cheek

"Like... a marriage certificate?" He mumbles behind closed lips

"What?" I pry, hearing my own things clearly

"What? Did you say something?" He wonders curiously back at me and then at Angus and Carlen

Poor bloke must be concussed!

"Fine, I'll take the shares back." He sighs, giving in apparently

"Well I always said you had a hard head and now it's scientific fact." Carlen sasses him, unsuccessfully attempting to push him off me

You know what... I like Carlen.

"Would you like to say that to me in gaelic?" Lucas teases, Carlen's eyes widening scandalously at him

"Ever since the head trauma I've been hankering for home. Go on Carlen, tell me I have a hard head in gaelic, it'll so make my day!" He prods playfully as she cuts her eyes at him and threatens him with a glare

"You mochridhe!" I sigh, shaking my head at Lucas Roland, whose gaze shifts from his small sister and down to me

"It is you that possesses me mo gradh." He coos softly just as Angus pipes up

"You speak gaelic too Funke?" Angus wonders cheerfully, something in his eyes telling me he knew his wife didn't

I try and think of something catchy to say back when the only full sentence I'd ever said in the language comes back to me

"Tha mi ann an gaol leat?" I proudly announce, glad to have remembered it, not so glad when Angus replies

"Oh!" and turns a questioning gaze to Lucas, as if to ask if he was OK with that

"Did I say it wrong?" I wonder as innocently as possible now that I don't think Lucas ever told me what it meant

Carlen didn't seem to know either

"You said it quite well...I'm...flattered?" Angus says as if to check with me that I had meant what I'd said

So it was a compliment then. Ok.

"You're welcome." I shrug back, scandalizing him even more

"You see the thing is... she doesn't mean it." Lucas cuts in even though technically no one had asked him

"She doesn't?" Angus pries, confused

I'm starting to sense that maybe it wasn't a compliment?

"She doesn't know what any of it means. Lucas and Hervé teach her things and lie to her about what they mean and then she shouts them back at Lucas. It's quite an adorable scheme." Carlen reveals, Lucas hugging me tighter as if he knew I was about to fly out of this hospital bed and never come back

The lies! THE LIES!