Sound was the first thing I was aware of.
There was a soft, steady beeping coming from my right that sped up a little as I started to wake up. Then pain slammed hard and heavy into my chest and I panicked a little, pulling at the cords attached to my body. The beeping got steadily faster.
"Wait, wait! Calm down," a husky voice said to my left. I looked over and blinked a few times, trying to make sense of what I was seeing.
Jungkook was sitting beside me, lifting a little and rubbing his eyes like he'd been asleep. He placed his hands over mine and shushed me. My eyebrows wrinkled together as I tried to speak, but no sound came out. Something was in my throat and in my chest and I struggled against it, the panic rising higher and higher like fluid filling my body.
Another sound from my right caught my attention and I looked over in time to see Jin shoving Namjoon out of the way as he jumped around him and ran to my side. He put his large hand on my arm to hold it down.
"Calm down, Morgan. You were electrocuted and had a heart attack. We had to intubate you to help you breathe. Since you can do that on your own now, we'll take the tube out, but you have to help us, okay?"
I nodded quickly, tears welling up in my eyes.
"Good girl. I'm going to have to suction a little and deflate the balloon. Just relax as much as you can, okay?"
I nodded again, and tried to do as he said. After he suctioned, he did something else and the inside of my chest felt a little less full. When Jin made eye contact with me again, I could see the faint trail of perspiration on his forehead.
"Now I'm going to need you to cough."
I did as he said, coughing as he gently pulled the tube from my body. It took a couple minutes and I had to focus to keep the fear of not being able to breathe down so I could work with him. Once it was all the way out, I took a deep, shaky breath. It hurt like hell, but it felt good at the same time to be able to do it on my own. Jin fitted an oxygen mask over my face then sighed with relief and sat down in the chair next to me. Namjoon stood at the end of my bed, chewing his thumbnail and looking small for the first time since I'd met him. Jungkook held my hand up to his lips on the other side of me. They all shared a degree of worry and exhaustion on their faces.
"Where's eve--" I started to say, but my voice was hoarse and it hurt to talk.
"Ssh," Jin whispered, rubbing his hand over my arm and pushing the mask that I'd moved back over my mouth. "They wanted to be here, but they had to take care of a few things after the power surge."
My eyebrows knitted together as I looked around at the three men. My lips formed the beginning of "what" but I couldn't make sound come out. Tears came to my eyes again out of frustration, but I pushed them back.
Namjoon figured out what I was trying to say. "After you...after your heart stopped, we were trying to get you back and something happened. Power surged across the house. Some systems were fried. But it's okay now. Everything's okay now."
His voice was soft and a little shaky, but oddly soothing at the same time. It made my poor, broken heart ache a little more but for a completely different reason.
I wanted so badly to speak, but Jin kept shushing me. "Your throat is swollen and damaged from the tube. We had to do it quickly, so I couldn't be very careful. I'm sorry to have hurt you."
I shook my head, this time not stopping the tears that leaked out from the corners of my eyes. "Thank you," I whispered. It was starting to hit what had happened. I'd died. They brought me back.
To my shock, Jin ran his fingers through my hair as he pushed it away from my face. "You're welcome." His smile was comforting. I turned and looked at Jungkook who looked like he was about to pass out.
"You should sleep," I whispered to him. As long as I spoke with breath alone, talking didn't hurt so bad.
He chuckled humorlessly. "You died and you're worried about me sleeping."
"I'm going to give you some medicine to help you sleep some more so your body can rest and heal from what you went through," Jin said, standing. "Are you in pain?"
I thought about it for a second, then nodded. It felt like I'd gone sixteen rounds with someone even stronger than Jungkook.
Jin patted my arm before turning to get something off the counter behind him. "Then I'll give you something for the pain, too. Your body metabolizes medication faster than anything I've ever seen, so I'll be back to check on you often. I imagine Jungkook will be here pretty much the whole time," he said in a deeper tone. It was more of a statement than a question.
"I'm not going anywhere, hyung," Jungkook ground out. I got the feeling it was something they'd already argued about. The younger looked like he wouldn't budge if you lit fireworks out of his ass.
Jin sighed. "Very well. I'll check on you in a little bit." His eyes left mine and flicked up to Namjoon's. "Come on, Joon. You need to rest, too." Reluctantly, Joon followed behind his elder, shutting the door softly behind him. In the silence, as the medicine Jin had put into my IV made its way into my bloodstream, I locked eyes with Jungkook.
Why was he so adamant about being here with me? Why did it matter to Jin? What was the deal with Namjoon?
Questions swirled around in my head, but I couldn't make my lips form the words to ask them. Instead, I just let the medicine pull me down into sweet, sweet oblivion.
***
Hours - or days, I wasn't sure - later, I woke up with a stiff back and sandpaper eyes. Jungkook was still beside me, but his head was resting on his arms on the bed by my hip and he was snoring softly. Carefully, I reached down to brush some hair from his forehead. He looked so young and innocent sleeping there beside me. So beautiful and perfect.
A deep sigh broke the silence on my other side. I turned and looked into Taehyung's eyes. My breath stilled in my chest.
"You're awake."
I nodded. "So I am." My throat didn't hurt nearly as bad as it had before and my breaths were easier to take.
"We didn't expect you to wake up before dawn."
I looked over and realized that it was still nighttime outside. We were above ground and I could see the faint glow of the city, but not the buildings giving off the light. "What time is it?"
Taehyung looked down at his watch. "Four in the morning."
I sighed and leaned my head back into the pillows.
"Do you need anything?" He asked, leaning forward and laying his head on my other hip.
"I could use some water."
Taehyung bit his lip. "Jin hyung said nothing to eat or drink until he checked you, but I could get you some ice."
I nodded and smiled weakly. He jumped up and shuffled out of the room, returning quickly with a cup and a spoon. He scooped out a couple pieces of ice and fed them to me gingerly. The cold water felt so good sliding down my throat that I shivered.
"Better?"
"Much. Thank you." I sucked on the ice until it dissolved and Tae gave me another spoonful. "How long have I been out?"
"About a day and a half."
I groaned a little too loud. Jungkook shifted beside me but didn't wake up. I bit my lip as I waited for him to settle. When he did, I looked back at Taehyung and asked more quietly, "what happened?"
"Yoongi-hyung said you must have touched a power supply and it shocked you pretty bad."
I nodded. I remembered that part. "There was a redundant system that was still feeding power to the projector. I missed it."
Taehyung nodded slowly. "It stopped your heart. Yoongi did CPR until the rest of us got there. He got your heart going for a minute, but it stopped again on the way up here. Jungkook climbed on the stretcher and worked on you the rest of the way up. Your heart would start again for a minute or two then stop again. It was bad." Tae looked over at his brother asleep beside me. "I've never seen him like that before. I've seen him kill people and he wasn't as scary as he was when you were dying. When you were dead." Tae's eyes slid back to mine and even in the low light, I could see that they were rimmed with tears.
I reached up and stroked his face with my fingertips. "I'm okay now."
He nodded and closed his eyes, leaning his face into my touch. Then, without warning, he leaned forward and touched his lips to mine. His kiss was urgent and needy, but not in a sexual way. It was as if he needed it just to reassure himself that I was still there. That I was real and not some very talkative ghost. His hand cupped my face, his long fingers curling into my knotted hair. I closed my own eyes and sank into the feeling of him, of his breath against my face and his fingertips fusing the broken pieces of my heart back together.
When he pulled away, I could see my own emotions mirrored back at me. I had been here so short a time, but something had already changed between all of us. Something none of us could explain. It really was like I had been made just to find them. Tae smiled softly and sat back a little.
"You should rest more."
I shook my head. "I feel fine now. I'm not tired at all."
"You died, Morgan. A few times. Even if you don't feel like it, your body needs to rest."
"Okay. But only if you stay with me." I couldn't bear the idea of being alone in that dark room again. Jungkook was there, but he was asleep. He didn't count.
"I'm not going anywhere. Promise."
When Tae leaned his head back on my hip, I combed my fingers through his hair, smiling a little when he sighed and allowed his eyes to flutter closed. For men so deadly, they seemed awfully soft in that early morning darkness. As I watched Taehyung drift further into sleep, a new feeling started to take hold within me. One that said that no matter what happened in this life, I would fight for this new family of mine. Something that said these men were mine and would always be mine, and nothing would ever take them from me. Not even in death. The sudden fierceness of my emotions were alarming, but they felt natural.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't go back to sleep. I felt wired. Like I'd drank about thirty cups of coffee and went swimming in a tub of ice water. It was weird. Like my body thrived on dying. I told myself that it was just the adrenaline of a near-death experience, but I knew deep down that wasn't it. The real answer, which part of me probably already knew, was a lot more frightening.
I just didn't know yet how dangerous I really was to these men I was quickly falling in love with.