"It always gets worst before it gets better."

"So he just flatlined and what? Came back to life?"

I know that voice, that voice is Angel

"Shit, I've done it, it's not that hard."

I know that voice as well, dumbass Elijah

"What about her? Is she going to be okay?" Angel asks.

"She's just in shock. I see it a lot here, the loved one's wellbeing decreases along with the one that's injured."

My eyelids are heavy, I can't quite open them. My body feels heavy as well, but my mind is the heaviest. I feel everything and nothing at the same time. I especially feel my head pounding against my skull. It's not an uncommon pain, I'm aware this pain in the ass headache is linked directly to stress.

"Let her sleep." A raspy voice rumbles under me.

I freeze

Not like I was moving before now, nevertheless my body tenses up.

Whatever heaviness I was feeling before hearing the voice, completely gone. I shoot up, ignoring the increase of a headache. My body was reacting to the voice despite how terrible I feel.

Cole's dull blue eyes meet mine, his lips now to their original color, sadly placed in a half-ass smirk. I reach up to poke his face.

Maybe this is still a dream

"Cole?"

"I'm here, Princesa," He smiles, "I told you I wouldn't leave you."

(Princess)

I immediately embrace him. He's just as quick to wrap his arms around me. I feel like the biggest weight has been lifted from my heart. He was everything at this moment. The only thing I knew or cared about. I'm okay with being desperate; for him.

If I wasn't I'd find it strange how one person could overwhelm any other sense I have. Most people won't ever get to have this feeling that I have. That makes me the luckiest person in the world. If Cole is okay, then I'm fantastic. That's all that needs to be said.

"I love you," I whisper into his ear, "I love you so fucking much and I want you to know it,"

"If you ever die on me again, I'll bring you back to life just to shoot you myself," I state firmly. Cole wipes some tears that I hadn't noticed fall.

"I'm glad you're alive bro," Elijah does the little boy handshake and gives me a side hug, "We'll let you be."

Elijah, Angel, and a nurse begin to exit the room. Before Angel exits the room completely she turns towards us.

"Get your man girl!" She smiles and quickly shuts the door.

Cole puts his arm around me and I lean on his chest. We both enjoy comfortable silence with each other. I have questions, of course, but all I want to do at this point bathe in his presence.

His aware presence.

"I heard what you said," Cole states after a few moments of silence.

"What?" I hum.

"At the meeting and here. I could hear everything, I just couldn't respond," He continues.

"When you were shot," I start, "Something inside of me just, broke,"

I frowned, "That's the best way I can describe it. Day's after that just run together. Time becomes just a word and heartbreak becomes a popular feeling," I explain further.

"I still meant everything, even if I said it in the heat of the moment,"

"I know you do, baby," He squeezes me tighter. "The hardest thing I've ever had to do is fight towards getting back to you,"

"Don't leave me ever again," I pout, leaning farther into his chest.

"I wouldn't dare think of it."

We fall again into silence. Staring out of the hospital window, the sky looks very similar to Paris's a few nights ago. The only difference is this sky was littered with bright stars and the full moon was spilling with fulfillment and promises.

"Shooting star," Cole perks, "Make a wish."

That I can go through anything as long as it's with you

"Did you make it?"

I nod, he chuckles.

"Well, what is it?"

"If I tell you it won't come true," I smile up at him, "Did you make yours?"

"Yup." He pops.

I don't even ask, already aware of the response. I do, however, look back up at him. His eyes glow under the moonlight like I've adored them do many times before.

I think loving him is the best thing I've ever done with my life. Life is him, and he is life. Such a strange sentence. A sentence that the ignorant would cringe at. The incredulous would call it fake, they would blame it on the myth of soulmates.

I'm not saying soulmates are real, I won't say that because I have no way of knowing. I will say that Cole Black is the only man I'll ever love. What we have, by description, is probably the closest thing to soulmates a human can get.

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" I shake my head, gazing back at the window.

"It's the other way around, Princesa," He caresses my cheek, lifting my chin to look up at him.

(Princess)

"What possessed you to fall in love with a beaten girl whose family couldn't even find it in their hearts to love her? Any girl in this entire world and you pick me? Why?"

"I'm the lucky one, darling," He just chuckles at me, "You're beautiful from the tips of your toes to the depths of your soul. When you started loving yourself, you found out you were invincible,"

"That has been the highlight of my entire life. From the moment I wanted to kill Braxton for even talking to you, to the moment you first fell asleep on my chest. I have always loved you and I always will,"

"You, Lorena Rose Vargas, have a place in my heart that no one could ever have," He states proudly, "I don't believe in fate, you know that, but if that's what this is I'll pray to the Gods to keep it,"

"I am absolutely, definitely, positively, unquestionably, no strings attached, beyond any doubt, unconditionally in love with you."

My eyes start to water, not from grief but of extreme contentment.

"You might be broken, Princesa," He adds.

(Princess)