"What do you mean?"
                          
"You needed blood. Nicolette shares that blood and jumped at the chance to save you. She gave the most humanly possible. In turn, you're alive. She's at home napping now." 
                          
"Remind me to call her when I'm feeling better." I groaned rubbing my side. 
                          
"Sure Riv." 
                          
"You mean wifey." 
                          
"You don't have to make it a thing." 
                          
"Oh, you don't know me well enough." I laughed. 
                          
I looked back to Dox to see him take a deep breath in through his mouth. I could practically hear his heart racing from my bed. He leaned his face closer to mine and put on a devilish smirk. 
                          
"Tell me River what each kiss means again." He presses one to my cheek. 
                          
"We're friends." I smile. 
                          
"Here." He presses a kiss on my hand. 
                          
"You adore me." I laugh. 
                          
Then he pressed a kiss to my lips. It was quick barely touching long enough for my nerves to recognize it. 
                          
"A kiss to the lips," I spoke blankly. My lips still parted in the manner he left me. I'm afraid to move in fear that my brain will forget the feeling. 
                          
"And tell me again what that means River?" 
                          
"I love you." A chaste whisper. So quiet, almost as if it didn't need to be said at all to be understood. 
                          
"And that I do Miss Knight. In all your intensity." 
                          
I freeze with my face going red. He said it. He loves me. 
                          
"Um." I blink slowly trying to imprint everything about this moment in my head. 
                          
"River?" 
                          
"Um." I blink again while he stares back at me. I have no words for this moment. Instead, I lift my tired hands to grab both sides of his face and kiss his nose. Afterward, I press my forehead against his. My breathing is ragged and my hands have a little shake to them. 
                          
"If only." He whispered. "Someday." 
                          
"I'm sorry Dox." 
                          
"Don't apologize for you have done nothing wrong." A small smile appeared. "At least you are still here to give me the chance to say it to you." 
                          
"Well, you didn't really say it." 
                          
"Shut up. If you're going to take the easy way out and kiss my nose every time we talk, then you can't judge how I told you." 
                          
"That's fair hubby." 
                          
"I love you." He smiled kissing my lips one more time. "One day, you'll say it back." 
                          
"Always so sure of yourself." 
                          
"I just know you too well River." 
                          
"Miss Knight, Mr. Quinn." My doctor spoke with a nurse at his side. "We just need to run a few more tests. Could we have the room?" 
                          
"Sure. Want my wife to stay healthy." He smirked kissing my hand before leaving the room. 
                          
Maddox
                          
I went to the waiting room. The ice blue is blending into the lime green. With purple itchy waiting chairs and coughy people, this place somehow has found the ability to combine the suffocating smell of death and the freeing breath of life. 
                          
I got myself a cup of lukewarm coffee and found a corner to occupy. I watched couples and families reunite while exchanging hugs and warm tears. 
                          
It made me think of my River. My Princess, my goddess. My River Knight. 
                          
A smile tugged at my face. I know that River would find all this too sappy. Probably tease the happy couples or make some crude comment about these elders getting laid. 
                          
"Aww, looked at the smitten little stable boy." I turned to see Martha or Mars, as River calls her. She was in some sundress with a smile that showed all of her teeth. "Sorry, is only my Doll allowed to call you that?" She laughed sitting in the seat next to mine. 
                          
"It's our thing and I'm sorry Mars but, it's only ours." 
                          
"Oh, the love. So pure and innocent but also so fanatical." 
                          
"Obsessively concerned with something." 
                          
"Is this a vocabulary lesson now?" 
                          
"Spending time with River rubbed off on me. And I am obsessively concerned for her. She was shot for god shakes. She doesn't let anyone into her mind or her corners." 
                          
"Doll has some twisted secrets and her mind is not some straight road through a leafed wood. River's got some stone walls up and would it be too cheesy to say that she just needs a prince to climb them?" 
                          
"I'm her stable boy. I'll do whatever she needs." 
                          
"What I need stable boy is a drink. No watery bullshit, my hard stuff." River's angelic voice sounded. 
                          
I looked to see River in a blue hospital gown that made the gleam in her eyes sparkle brighter. She was slouching in a wheelchair with her dark wavy hair in a messy bun. Little curls framed her slender face. While she looked paler under this poisonous light, but her ruby red lips were still in a pout while she asked me for something. 
                          
"Water is all you're going to get Riv." 
                          
"Mars you can't show up and just mess with my stable boy. Yesterday he would have made my drink in a second. Today, it's only water." She rolled her eyes. "But thank you for coming down to see me." 
                          
"Doll, someone tried to put you away in a toy box for good. You think I'm just going to let that stand?" 
                          
"I suppose not." She giggles holding out of hand for Mars to grab. "I love you." 
                          
That hurts darling. Why can't she say it to me? What is so wrong with my love that she can't say it. But then she looks at me, grabs my hand, and smiles. Then all these questions go away. 
                          
I love her and I'll wait. 
                          
"Riv, you can't stay at your house anymore." I start catching her full attention and a slightly annoyed face. 
                          
"What do you mean?" 
                          
"You were attacked outside of your own home. You can't stay there until this investigation is concluded and your safety is assured." 
                          
"Where am I supposed to go then?" 
                          
"I could have the station put you up in a hotel if you'd like."
                          
"What about your house?" 
                          
"My house?" 
                          
"Yes. Can I stay at your house? I don't really want to stay at some dirty hotel." 
                          
"Works with me."