It had been six months away from my Aris. When WCKD captured him I thought about him every second of every day. From the moment I woke up to before I went to sleep to even in my dreams, I was constantly thinking about him.
We had planned for this, and it was successful. Kind of. Their Minho friend was still trapped, but we could figure something out later.
For now, as cold as it may be, all I cared about was Aris.
I don't know the extent of the hell he had to go through. Just that he had visibly been beaten.
I was here now though. I was here. He was here. We are finally together, exactly where we belong.
Now I just had to fix him up.
His face was the first thing I looked at. He understandably winced a few times, especially around his lip and eyes, but he was as strong as ever, probably even more.
It took a while, but I ended up cleaning his face up okay. I had bandaged up his cheek and kept the rag to his lip, just in case.
That was the easy part though.
With the curtains drawn, I was as gentle as possible with his back. From old wounds now scaring to ones that looked only days old, it was something that I wouldn't wish on anyone but WCKD themselves.
“I’m sorry,”I apologized, seeing the way he flinched as I touched his shoulder. Not saying anything, he just took my hand and kissed my fingertips.
“It's okay,”He whispered, opening my hand and tracing the lines on my palm. “I’m okay.”
“I missed you,”I whispered after another minute of comfortable silence.
“I had nothing to do but miss you,”He said, still tracing my hands. Turning them over, he fidgeted with my fingers as I stood behind him, cautiously wrapping my other arm around his chest as I savored the feeling of him, of having him back.
“Not a minute went by where I wasn't thinking about you. I didn't want there to be,”I promised, lightly brushing my fingers over his uninjured shoulder.
“I’m not going again. I’m not leaving you,”He reassured me, leaning against me.
“I know, Aris. I know. Because I won't let you. I won't let anything hurt you again,”I swore, closing my eyes as I rested my chin on his shoulder.
“And I won't let anything get in the way of us. Never again,”He whispered, still leaning against me as I nuzzled my face in his neck. While I am a Medic for just a moment I didn't want to be that. For just a moment I wanted to be his girlfriend. While I always was, I hadn't gotten to show it in so long.
So now I have to.
Now I will.
I’ll never take him for granted, and most importantly I will never let anything so anything to cause him pain. While I’m not usually one for violence if someone so much as lays a finger on my Aris I’ll kill them, and I put that on my grave.