The Phoenix

Fresh Scars

"How are you feeling?" Emily asked, standing beside the bed and pushing Lucy's hair out of her face.

"Tired, hungry, kinda gross,"

"You'll start feeling better soon, it'll just take some time."

"I hope so," she sighed.

"I'm going to step out for a few minutes. I have an entire list of people that I have to call."

"Who's on it?"

"Seth, the president, Alex, Hannah, Sawyer, Aunt Amy, Grandma, just to name a few,"

"Then you'd better get started," Lucy laughed, then Emily walked out.

She immediately picked up the TV remote and turned it on. The first station was, of course, the news, and the big story was about her rescue. Playing next to the news anchor was one of the videos that had been taken of her emerging from the building, limping, battered and bruised with an arm around Hannah.

"The press seems to be reacting well," Aaron piped up as the screen switched to the live feed of the beginning press conference. "Just think of how much of a field day they'll have after they find out I proposed."

Lucy scoffed.

"Yeah. It was a little rude of you to drop that bomb on me right before I went into surgery," she joked.

"Yeah, well, you know I've been wanting to propose for a while but-"

"What happened to me made you realize that you can lose everything in an instant, huh?"

"No," he trailed off, earning a look from her. "Okay, maybe it did remind me that there's no time like the present." he relented.

"Mhm," she nodded, knowingly. "Well, I'll have to find a dress for the wedding that'll cover up all of these scars so it looks like we've both got our work cut out for us," she laughed, followed by an awkward silence and a nervous look on Aaron's face.

"What? It's okay to laugh," Lucy told him. He still wasn't laughing, the look on his face changing from nervous to concerned. "Look, that's how I deal with things. I can either laugh or cry about it. The universe has dealt me a pretty shitty deck of cards but I don't have a choice but to play them. It's either that or give up."

"Lucy, I'm sorry about what happened to you." he sighed.

"God," she exasperatingly growled. "What is everyone apologizing for? Hell, you did exactly what I asked you to. You came with Emily because you weren't going to let anything happen to her."

"I don't know. I think everyone feels at least a little bit guilty about it."

"Guilty about what?"

"The fact that had we not been able to rescue you, you would've been killed because there was no way in hell the government was going to give them what they wanted," Aaron blurted, followed by a long sentence. "They couldn't have given them $5 million because of the message it would send. I knew it, Emily knew it, the president knew it, everyone knew it."

"I know. I literally had to come to terms with the fact that I was going to die because of it, but it wouldn't have been anyone's fault. This isn't anyone else's fault except for the people who did this to me. Please, just don't pity me."

"Alright," he said.

"Now, about that proposal,"

EMILY

Emily laid in the hotel bed, unmoving, listening to the muffled sounds of Aaron talking on the phone in the other room. The day had been long, so long, in fact, she hadn't even had the motivation to take her shoes off. Hell, the only reason she was laying in a real bed was that Hannah had convinced her to go to the hotel to get some sleep, and she'd stay the night at the hospital. At some point during her empty thinking, Aaron had hung up the phone and entered the bedroom.