Taking all of my energy...

“Well, that’s good.  I don’t think I can take much more change right now.”

“What other changes have there been?”

“Okay…. and how do you normally deal with it?”

“Normally? This is the first time a dragon has actually been seen, there is no normally.”

“Well, it’s nice to see I haven’t been gone so long that things like Aaron Brody have changed.”

“Things like Aaron Brody never change.”

“How brutal?” she asked, actually worried.   She didn’t know how things worked with her being here.  If they fought a dragon and died… would they die in real life?  Simply because she was here?  Was whatever danger this dream dragon presented permanent?

“As brutal as you might expect a dragon to be.”

“Indeed.  We’re not going to have to kill it are we?”

“Unless you want to wait for it to attack -- I’ve heard it’s brutal.”

“Now that, just sounds like a challenge.”

“Of course you’d think so. The point still stands.”

“Yup, definitely dreaming….”

“That would explain the dragon...”

“Don’t look so surprised.”

“There are very few things you could do that would surprise me.”

“I’m a hunter, I’m always hunting, I don’t see how you would be that surprised that I actually went ahead and shot an arrow. Also just to be clear I didn’t shoot it at you, I shot it somewhere around you. So that’s what this is? Your instinct telling you that coming closer to me is a good idea? Because if that’s what’s going on I can assure you that your instincts are wrong.”

“When the prey asks you nicely not to shoot an arrow, you’d think someone would be inclined to listen is all. Of course, you’re right, there’s a huge difference. My instincts are never wrong -- comes with the territory. Surely, if my instincts were wrong, I’d be in much worse condition right now -- if you’re as good as you imply you are.”

“Maybe I thought you were smart enough to not try and attack the person that just shot a warning shot. Was I wrong?” 

“I thought you were smart enough to not shoot an arrow at me, but instincts can be proven wrong sometimes, huh?”

“Call it a gut feeling.”

“Well, then, for someone with a gut feeling telling them to shoot me, you have a lot of faith in my not attacking you. You know, after shooting an arrow at me -- whether you hit me or not.”

“Really? I don’t see it that rude… not if the person deserves to have an arrow pointed at it that is. Maybe you will but you will have to be quick and I don’t think you can persuade me fast enough.”

“And what makes you think I’m one of those people? I --”

“And why would I want to do that? I’m not that easy to convince so you will have to do a lot more than a smile to make sure that I don’t shoot this arrow at you.” 

“I don’t know about you, but I think pointing an arrow at someone is rude, so imagine how rude it’d be if you shoot it? Then maybe we’ll have to put my skills of persuasion to work.”

“Was there ever any doubt?” She asked with a smile. “I’m gonna milk this whole almost dying thing.” She joked. “Yeah just a little pain but I’ll be fine. “Yeah but I’m getting food and a lot of rest. People being here don’t really help me, not that I don’t appreciate it… I guess I’m just not used to people caring.” She shrugged. “Hopefully they come soon and then they can go home. Oh you know about that?” She looked away from him but after a few seconds she turned back to face him. “It matters. No matter what I do it’s always going to matter. And I get that because if anything happened to you… I just can’t picture a world without Aaron Brody in it. But you saying stuff like that it doesn’t help especially because you’re more than likely saying it just because some part of you probably thought I wasn’t going to make it.”

“Not really.” He returned her smile. “Of course you are. You should be, a lot of people care, Bianca. Everyone who was here, who visited, proves that. Something tells me Ian, at least, won’t be going home until you are. Mhm. It’s not something I would have liked being kept in the dark about. I don’t think I understand that. I’m saying it because it’s the truth. Because whatever has happened, and whatever does and doesn’t matter, it’s the truth and I couldn’t let myself be elsewhere while you were here -- not physically and definitely not emotionally.”

"Maybe but also who wants to blame the girls that almost died?” She chuckled. The sudden movements making her entire body ache. “Shit” she mumbled before collecting herself. “That can’t be healthy. They need to go home, rest and just get on with their lives or at least come and see me so I can tell them that this isn’t their fault. I’m grateful that you were here and that you believed I would wake up… its people that believed I would wake up the ones I woke up for… you included so thank you so much for that. But I… shit. Just don’t do this to me, Aaron please don’t do this to me. Don’t say things that sound like you mean something that we both know you don’t mean.”

“You have a point.” He nodded. Moving forward, he frowned. “Are you okay?” His brows furrowed. “Not really, no. But that doesn’t seem like something likely while you’re still in here. They’ll come and let you tell them that at some point. Of course I was here and of course I was hoping you’d wake up. Does it matter what I say? Last I heard you did something with your emotions...” He sighed. “So it shouldn’t matter. I don’t blame you... But, all I’m saying is that being without you in that way is one thing, but taking that a step further -- if you hadn’t woken up, that would have killed me.”

“True but we sometimes blame the easiest targets rather than who’s really at fault. In this case that would be me. Have you seen them? They haven’t come around and I guess I understand… I just want them to know that I don’t blame them. Oh… why? Why have you been here I mean? You have so much more you can be doing with your time than just sitting here waiting for something that might have never happened.”

“In this case, for you, I think you’re the easiest target -- so I’m going to disagree. The hospital has practically been a second home for Ian, and Danny’s been around a lot too. They feel guilty and maybe that’s why they haven’t come to see you yet. But they will. Can’t think of anything that would have stopped me from sitting here and waiting... I couldn’t not be here, I couldn’t not be with you.”