Page 65 of Out of Sight

“Will can stay,” I said, closing my eyes again. I felt him take my hand and heard the chair scrape as he scooted it closer to the bed and sat down.

“I’ll stay as long as you want,” he promised.

“You were supposed to be here,” I yawned. “I forgot to tell you before… I didn’t get to say it.”

“What do you need, honey?”

You. I needed to tell you the whole truth.“I love you, too. I didn’t get a chance to say it before.”

“Well damn. I love you, too. Maybe next time I’ll just let you get shot sooner if that’s what it takes for you to take a chance on me!”

I didn’t have the energy to laugh, so I gave him a little smile as I drifted back to sleep.

“Fuck it. Even if it means I have to piss in a cup next time, I’ll be here when you wake up. I won’t make you wait to say it a second time.”

“…But then Claire goes all Ninja Warrior and throws herself into the river!” Will was saying, arms waving around.

“That’s our girl,” Agent Blake said, looking fondly over at me. “Hey, good morning! Will was just filling me in on your adventures. Sounds like you all-”

“How are you feeling, honey?” Will interrupted Blake, taking my hand and turning his full attention to me.

“I’m okay. Thirsty.”

“Here,” he said, holding out a small pitcher with a straw. The water was beautifully cold as it slid down my throat, cooling and quenching as I swallowed. Will watched my mouth with rapt attention.

“Take it easy, pervert,” I teased. “I’m only swallowing water, nothing more exotic. Or salty.”

He let out a loud guffaw. “Claire! Jesus. Not in front of the kid,” he smirked, nodding at Blake who was might or might not have been his elder. “But we’ll talk about that later,” he winked.

“Oh?” Blake asked. “Something else going on here that Willie-Boy left out?”

“How appalling for you to ask such a thing. I, for one, am a gentleman and a gentleman would never kiss and tell.” Will paused. “We’re totally in love. I just won’t tell you whether I’ve kissed her or not.”

I rolled my eyes. Will was back to his confident, silly, teasing self. The doctors must have finally convinced him I was okay and wasn’t going to drop dead at any moment.

“You roll your eyes, but I know you’ve got some of that sweetness waiting for me, honey,” he teased, leaning closer and tapping his cheek for a kiss.

I debated slapping him, if only to spite him, but gave him the sweet little kiss he asked for instead. He was being a sweetheart after all.

Lucas Blake cleared his throat.

“Oh, that’s right,” Will mused. “You exist. Sorry.”

“I doubt it,” Blake drawled, but he didn’t look as annoyed as he sounded.

I wanted to fawn over the sight: Will and Blake actually seemed to be getting along now, unlike that weird rivalry they had at the beginning of this mess. It was nice to see Will so chill and getting along with other people, kind of like he did with Jim. Had they both mellowed out so much in the space of a week?

“What happens now?” Will asked.

That took the amusement out of me. I looked to Blake as well, suddenly desperate to know the same thing.

“Well, you two are still willing to testify, right?” We nodded. “Then we’ll put you in hiding again, but no more safehouses. You’re excluded from further WITSEC placements for not following the rules. The D.A.’s office has deemed your case too high profile and any community you’d enter would be too highly impacted by the threat of danger. Luckily, it has been not so subtly brought to my attention that you two could be put into the protection on a certain military base under the watch of a certain Air Force officer.”

“So I didn’t dream that? The Colonel is really here?” Did he actually come for me? I shook off the thought for the moment. Blake was still talking.

“There’s no more hidden listening devices on you all, so it shouldn’t be a problem to keep you out of harm’s way this time. This is strictly a short-term placement anyway—we were getting ready to pull you guys anyway to record the deposition. After that you’re less of a target since your testimony will officially be on record no matter what. Adding in all this stuff with Antonio Conti, we should have enough to bring Carlo Morelli in and keep him there. Maybe even Angelo Morelli, too, but we’ll have to see what the D.A. says once he finishes sorting through all the statements and evidence.”

“So we’re almost free? We won’t have to hide out anymore?” I asked, looking straight at Blake, but observing Will from my peripheral vision.

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