Alex made a big show of closing the door and covering the windows. The he pulled the sodas out proclaiming, "Tadaaah. Technically, these are a controlled substance here, so help me hide the evidence." He set hers up so that she didn't have to move to drink it, the he dumped his backpack out on the bed saying, "Eat up, before i get locked up."

Neva laughed when she saw the food and shook her head slightly. "you shouldn't of done this, you could get in trouble if you get caught." she said but her stomach growled and got hte better of her. Before she knew it she was bitting into a burger and enjoying it more then anything else. Not eating for a month wasn't something she recomended for other to do.

"I know. i should be punished," Alex replied with a mischievous grin. "But how could a leave a damsel in distress in need? "It would be too cruel, too cruel i tell you!" He began to laugh. He grabbed a burger and dug in. He wasn't going to tell Neva this, but this was the first time he'd eaten in a while. he'd only left to eat on the occasions he almost passed out from lack of food.

Neva shook hwr head when she heard him, "I would of been fine with regular cafateria food." she said but stopped complaining as she ate more of her food. Soon it was all gone and she smiled happily, "but this tasted great and I am happy you got it." she said as she looked at him, "so what have you been up to while o have been asleep?" she asked

"Errr....." Alex didn't want to tell her he'd spent as much time a possible here, sitting next to her.. "Not much.." He tried not to blush. When he thought she wasn't looking, Alex rolled up the sleeping bag as fast as he could, and stuffed it into the backpack. When she was done eating, he also put all the trash in there. He pulled up his chair and sat down next to her, wondering what he should say.

Neva smiled at him and nodded but could guess that he had been here. She had seen a sleeping bag out of the corner of her eye when she had woken up. She then looked at him, "so how have you healed since we have seen each other last?" she asked and coudl tell he was better then before.

Alex nodded and said "Fully, but the doc's wanted to keep me here until you either flat-lined or came through, they were worried about my mental health or some such crud." He didn't tell her that he'd almost had a nervous breakdown when he'd tried leaving to go to work. "When they release you to come home finally we'll throw a party." then he shuffled his feet, blushed and said, "And... I'll have to talk to you about something...."

Neva nodded and smiled at him, "well your okay now so that is all that matters." she said as she smield at him. But when she heard about a party she wasn't to sure, "are you sure? am I going to like a party? I haven't been to one." she said as she looked at him and smiled. But when she saw the blush on his cheeks she wondered what was up, "talk about what?"

"Umm..... Well." Alex stuttered. He'd told her so easily when she hated him, why was it hard now? "Its about..... Well.... " He took a deep breath. "When you were.... not yourself.... I kind of.... said something.. And i wanted to see if you remembered, and if not..... I'd... I'd say it again." Then he quickly added, "It wouldn't be a party so much as you and me and possibly one or two more people celebrating the fact that you're back." He was feeling jittery. Maybe he should tell her now if she didn't remember. "Um... Do you remember what i said, when i grabbed you when you weren't yourself..." He quickly added, "If not that's fine too."

Neva was surprised when he said those words and blushed as she remembered. She then smiled and nodded, "of course I do, why wouldn't I remember that?" she said as she looked at him. "infact those words were the only thing that kept me going when I was inside my head." she said softly and looked down at the ground.

"Wha- Really?" Alex was truly surprised. he'd never have thought that that was the case. He held her hand and looked into her eyes. "Lets try this again without you passing out alright?" he softly joked. "Neva, I love you."

Neva blushed and nodded when she heard him. But when he took her hand and looked into her eyes she coudlnt' help but smiled. She smiled when she heard his words and then hugged him, "I love you too." she said softly and was so happy.

Alex hugged her back. He'd truly never felt as happy as he did now. He'd never been loved by anybody before. Sure his family loved him, but this was different. He leaned back a little bit, so he could look at Neva's face. He was just drinking in the fact that despite everything, they were both still here, and still able to be together like this.

Neva smiled and stayed close to him, happy to be in his arms. After all the time she had spent alone made this even more special. She finally had someone who loved her and she knew wasn't going to leave her. When he leaned back she coudlnt' help but smile at him. She then found herself moving vloser and gently kissing him on the lips quickly before pulling away.

Ian was paralyzed. Being kissed by Neva was the most amazing feeling that had ever happened to him. It felt indescribably good. He leaned back into her and continued to embrace her. He stopped thinking about the future. He was just content to be with her, here and now.

Neva smiled at him and held him close to her. She didn't want him to let go of her, ever. In her mind she had thought she might never get to do this with hima nd now she was. She coudl hold him and be with him all she wanted and that was all she wanted.

Alex was still hugging her when he heard a knock at the door. He sighed, and extracted himself from her arms. He opened the door, and saw Tessa standing there. Fighting his surge of anger, he stepped aside, and let her in. He leaned on the wall, with his arms folded. When she was done, he wanted to talk to her.

Tessa was glad taht Alex let her in but could tell he wanted to kill her. She then looked at Neva and smiled, "it is good to see you awake, we were getting worried." she said softly and neva smiled, "sorry to worry you." she said and Tessa nodded. "well I just wanted to come by and say thank you. if you hadn't of gone in to get those people I dont know what I would of done. My brother had been in that group and I didn't want him to be added to the list of people who have died." she said softly and neva nodded. She understood that compltly and she hoped aht Alex did. "and I am so sorry about what happened to you. If I had known I wouldn't of sent you. But as a thank you for saving my brother I wanted you to know that I am indebted to you." she said as she looked at her and Neva was surprised. Someone was indebted to her, it was something very new.

Alex was surprised. He didn't know that she'd had a brother. When he was certain that Tessa was done, he lightly touched her shoulder, and said, "I'd like to talk to you for a moment. Are you busy?"

Tessa shook her head, "not busy at all, what do you need?" she asked as she looked at him.

"i want you to assign a partner to Neva." he said bluntly. "At the very least she need sniper over-watch. Somebody to stop this from ever happening again."

Tessa smirked when she heard him and nodded, "I can do that, now I have a question for you. Would you like to be that partner?" she asked.

Alex shook his head sadly. "I want to, I really do, but I don't think Neva would like that very much. I think I would seem overprotective, and chances are I would be. Besides, I don't have the mentality." he grinned, "You and i both know that I'd shoot the mission to hell in a hand basket to protect her, No matter how important it is. Let's face it, I'm too emotionally attached to be good in that position. All I ask is that you get somebody good." he was prepared to beg even for it to come about. Neva's protection was the most important thing to him. He'd even set aside his quarrel with Tessa, if it made Neva safer.

Tessa nodded and smiled at him, "dont worry, the person I put in charge of her will keep her safe." she said as she smiled at him. She then patted his shoulder, "now then I better start looking for someone." she said and dissappeared out of the room. Neva watched her go and then looked at Alex and frowned, "why do I need a body guard?" she asked.

Alex sighed. "You don't," he said, "And i wish she hadn't used that word. I wanted you to get a partner. I don't know much of what you do, but i know its dangerous. You shouldn't do that kind of stuff alone unless you have to." He looked at her, sadness in his eyes, "i also never want you to never get hurt again. It's unreasonable to make you stop, or send an entire squad with you. It's also a waste of your talents to make you do safe things. This is the best way to protect you that I could think of." He felt really bad about going over her head like this, but he wouldn't back down from this. Not even for Neva.