"I'm sorry," Theo said quietly to me. One of his hands was ghosting my stomach while the other gently tugged at the cold metal dagger, warmed by my own blood.

I flinched when it made the first move.

"I'm sorry," he whispered again, focusing on the blade.

"Don't worry," I groaned back, "it only feels like I'm being impaled. Nothing life ending."

Bryce let out a small laugh from the corner of the room. "Here that, Theo? That's the Shadow we all know and love."

"Do I hear a confession coming on?" Levi asked, smiling brightly.

I started laughing, but my moving stomach made me bite back a gasp.

"Sorry," Levi and Theo mumbled in unison.

"Just take it out already," I complained. "The suspense hurts more than the actual whole in my side."

He looked me in my eyes, then nodded. In in swift motion, the dagger was pulled from my stomach. It wasn't until a second later that the pain really hit me and I was biting my lip. It burned and stung and itched all at the same time.

"Sorry," he said, again. "I'm going to start the stiches now."

I nodded as he walked off a ways.

"I wish we had some sedatives." Mila was in the corner, keeping her eyes trained on the door.

I smiled from the small bed I was soaking with red blood. "You and me both."

Theo came back carrying a small needle and thick thread.

"How is it that they have everything for every possible injury," I questioned, "except pain killers. That seems so stupid. It's all like 'thanks for doing your job, person who got hurt, but you'll have to live through the pain while we stick a needle in you'."

I felt the cold sting of the needles metal press against my skin. Coming over from the side, Mercy placed a thick shirt in my mouth.

"So you don't grind your teeth."

I nodded, then closed my eyes, ready for the pain. And suddenly, I was glad to have the shirt in my mouth. The first stich went in and I stifled a gasp. My teeth sank into the shirt as the next stitch went in. Instead of letting myself succumb to pain, I occupied my mind by counting seconds between stitches.

One...two...three...fo- I let out a low groan.

One...two...three- A sharp sting went through my hip area.

One....two...th- I bit into the cloth.

One....two....three....four....five....six?

I peeked my eyes open to see Theo back away, looking at my stomach. Sighing to myself, I lifted my head as far as I could to get a look. And immediately regretted it. Lifting my head and neck involved using my stomach muscles, exactly where I was hurt.

"For gods sake," Bryce complained, coming over. "I thought you were supposed to be some kind of genius." His hands snaked behind me, one supporting my back while the other supported my head.

I smirked. "Well, aren't you gentle today."

He scowled. "Don't get to cocky. Just remember that we'll have to take watch over you both here and on they way back. So you'll be in my mercy."

Well shit.

I looked down at the two and a half long slit right above my hip bone, on my right side. Little parts of the thread popped in and out of my skin like a worm. For the most part, the wound was clean, though Theo still wanted to wrap it in case I got hit. He was pretty sure I'd manage to get myself in trouble between here and Lament. I didn't have much of an argument for that.

"Sorry," Theo said for the tenth or so time tonight. "I know it's not the best, but since I'm the only one with any medical training around here, so we didn't have many options." His fingers twisted around themselves, the way he always did when he was nervous. "We'll get a real doctor to look at it when we get back."

I nodded. "Don't worry about it. I've done stitches on myself before, and trust me, this is a lot better than I could ever do."

"Wait a second," Levi said, from the other side of the room, where he was hiding from my 'disgusting' wound, "you've done stitches on yourself? When? Who hurt you?"

"Calm down, Romeo," I half laughed. "I told you before that I wasn't always an amazing fighter. I got hurt."

"I wanna meet young Shadow," Mila mumbled. I have to admit, I was a bit amazed that her stomach could handle the stitches. Especially since Theo wasn't amazing at it. They were a bit crooked, some clearly bigger than others, and some were wider apart or closer together.

Realization hit me and I gasped. The others jerked their heads in alarm towards me.

"Are you okay?" Levi asked, alarmed. "Did it start hurting again?"

"Not that," I answered. "I just realized I'm gonna have matching scars." I pointed in the direction of my left hip where a similar scar was now showing.

"I was wondering about that. You really like scars, don't you Angel?"

"Don't do that," Bryce whined.

"Aww, were you worried for me? How sweet."

He scowled and then roughly set me back on the bed.

I laughed at him, and so did most of the others.

A knock at the door caught our immediate attention. I could see the others hands reaching for their weapons, readying for a fight.

"It's me," a familiar swordswoman's voice called from the other side of the door.

"What's the password?" I yelled back.

"What the hell are you talking about? We don't have a password."

"Okay, it's her."

Mercy went over and unlocked the door.

Baylee came in, hand casually resting on the hilt of her sword. Her eyes skimmed over the room before landing on me. She did a quick once over before looking at Theo.

"What's the damage?"

"Nothing too bad, as far as I can tell. I stitched her up as best I could, but I still want a real doctor to look at it."

"What about you, Mrs. Thief? How do you feel?"

"Just as great as I did when I got stabbed. I wanna get back to Lament and get some pain killers."

She nodded. "I was thinking about the best way we could do this, and I want to go over the details with you." She looked at me, waiting for my approval to continue. I gave her a nod. "Since one of our teams is going to have to stay behind and look over the kids, the other team has to go ahead and give the Government the okay to send in soldiers or something to help. Is she okay for travel, Doc?"

Theo nodded. "As long as the stitches hold and she we keep her bandaged, she should be fine."

"Should be," I mumbled, "I always hate those words."

"Good," Baylee continued, ignoring my comment, "then we can send you off to Lament for soldiers. Tell them our location and that we need help with the children and the captives. Sound good to all of you?"

The others nodded and so did I.

"Okay then, everyone besides the doc and the patient get to go pack up supplies." She smiled at me and Theo. "You two get a break."

We smiled our thanks as the others left the room.

When they were gone, I sighed, relaxing my head into the slightly lumpy pillow. I fiddled with my hands, anything to keep myself distracted from the searing pain.

"I'm going to go grab some gauze. Wait here."

"Wasn't planning on going anywhere."

I could hear his soft laughter being pulled around the corner as he walked away. When he was gone, I immediately missed the sound of his voice. I'd really screwed myself over with this one.

Theo came back a few seconds later, holding a ball of gauze in his hands. He kneeled down besides me, having no chair to use.

"So," I asked, looking down as him, "how're we supposed to do this?"

Tipping his head to the side, just a little, in concentration, he thought about it. When he straightened up, I knew he had an idea.

He crawled up onto my bed, and I could feel a blush spreading across my cheeks. Luckily, I wasn't alone. Theo's cheeks were also turning a light shade of pink. Oh my gods, what the hell were we, school kids? This was beyond a little ridiculous.

He came up behind me and took a hold of my shoulders. Using his immense strength, he pulled me up. His body came up behind mine, and I was set on his chest. From here, I could feel his heart speeding away against my back.

"Comfy?" He asked, nervousness in his voice.

"Yep."

We're so awkward.

One of his arms came around the front part of my stomach and he began to wrap. Every time his fingers ghosted my skin, warm chills would shoot down my spine. Not bad chills, not at all.

Around and around his hands went, making a steady rhythm of it. I counted ten minutes before he was done and the gauze was neatly wrapped.

I was expecting him to move. Waiting for the warmth of his body to leave mine. It didn't. Instead, his arms wrapped around my stomach, carefully avoiding my stitches. His chin rested on my shoulder, and I could feel the steady flow of his breathing softly skimming the skin of my left collar bone.

"Where'd you learn to do that...medical stuff?" I finally asked, breaking the sweet silence.

"My family." He spoke softly into my ear. "Remember how I told you we were big time cooks? Well, since we generally worked for wealthier families, sometimes, just every once and a while, an attack might happen. Our entire family is trained from when they turn fifteen, when they start going off and working."

"Wow. I don't know which sounds safer anymore. Being a soldier or a West Family Chef."

"Yeah well, my medical stuff came in handy toady, didn't it?"

"I guess it did. But you're obviously out of practice."

"How could you tell?"

I let out a light laugh and immediately regretted it. My stomach clenched with each breath I took in, and I could feel the slit beating along with my heart.

"Can I ask a question?"

"You will anyways, won't you?"

"Of course."

"Then I don't see why not."

"When I was looking at the cut in your stomach, I my have also looked at the other scar. Your 'matching scar'. And I noticed something. Towards the center of the scar, there was another scar. It was rounded. What is it?"

I sighed. "You know what it is."

"You're right, I know. But I could always hope, right?" He let out a long, exhausted sigh. "Shadow, who shot you?"

"You know I can't tell you that."

"No, you can tell me that, you just don't want to."

"No, Theo no! I swear I really do want to tell you. I really wish I could."

"Then why won't you?" His voice was loud in my ear.

"Because...I can't. I don't want to..."

"You don't want to tell me?" I could hear the hurt, clear in his voice. "Do you not trust me?"

"No! Gods, Theo, I trust you more than anyone I've ever met. I've never trusted anyone as much as I've trusted you! I don't want to tell you cause...I don't want to drag you down with me."

"What?"

"Theo, my life has been a living hell. There are people who want me dead that will do anything to get to me. If I tell you what I know then you...you'll be a part of it. And I couldn't live, knowing that I was the reason that you...that you..."

I could feel warm tears forming behind my eyes.

His arms wrapped more tightly around me, surrounding me with his warmth. His scent.

The door clicked. I turned to see Mercy smirking at us in the door.

"Come on Prince Charming, Cinderella. Time to go."