He was extremely weak. I knew it was scaring him. I could see it written all over his face— that he thought his body was betraying him.

"You're going to be fine," I said. "It's just a precaution."

"I don'tfeelfine," Cyburn said, finally admitting to his strange anomaly of an illness.

"Maybe the effects of the light paralysis will fade soon," I said, trying to sound optimistic to give him strength that he desperately needed right now.

Cyburn scoffed and then muttered something about Jun under his breath that I couldn't understand.

"You are going to see this through to the finish line," I said.

Cyburn looked distracted and a bit skeptical, but he didn't challenge me about it. I could tell he wholeheartedly wanted to believe me.

When we reached the medical bay a few minutes later, I breathed a sigh of relief to discover that it was empty. A huge pressure lifted off my shoulders.

Nix and I helped Cyburn walk to one of the beds. It was hard to carry his weight. His arms were slung over our shoulders, but we managed the best we could. I felt like my bones were going to break. My thigh muscles strained in protest. I reminded my body that I was doing this for Cyburn because I loved him and cared for him.

When we finally reached the bed, Cyburn collapsed onto it with a loud thud. He sighed again and then passed out immediately, sprawled out on his stomach with his face buried into the sheet of the cot.

I glanced over at Nix, who still seemed perplexed about this turn of events, and how Cyburn was having such a bad reaction to the paralysis trick that Jun had used against him.

"Let's get to work," I said, determined to bring Cyburn back healthier and stronger than ever.

* * *

Cyburn's eyelids fluttered.They looked heavy. His mouth was slightly ajar. He had a groggy expression on his face. His fingers twitched. He murmured something inaudible under his breath. He moaned softly and his features twisted with pain.

I glanced over my shoulder at Nix who was standing just outside of the medical bay. He was guarding it, while I was inside with Cyburn, waiting for him to wake up.

We had run several tests on him using the equipment at our disposal and as best we could for the knowledge that we had about it.

We were confident that Cyburn would come out of this, but he was still fragile and acting sedated, even though we hadn't given him anything to cause that to happen.

I contemplated running to get Nix since it looked like Cyburn was waking up again, but I hesitated because I wanted the alone time with Cyburn. I wanted to talk to him while no one else was around. I felt like he would strip away his layers better if he was just talking to me one on one.

I squeezed his hand, hard, and leaned in close to him. I whispered in his ear to help him come around easier.

"It's me, Carmela," I whispered as enchantingly as I could, attempting to be a spirit of hope, a representation of life to help launch him back to consciousness quicker.

Cyburn's eyes blinked twice and then popped open. He stared at me, wild eyed and scared.

"What did you see?" I stood up straight and gave him a startled look.

He didn't answer. His breathing was shallow. He reached his arm up and tried to touch my face with his outstretched fingers. He was staring at me with bewilderment, but it was like he was staringthroughme instead ofatme.

"Cyburn?" I squeaked. My voice was scratchy. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"I need…" He trailed off without finishing the sentence.

"What? What do you need?" My heart stopped and I barely breathed while I waited to see what he would say.

The anticipation nearly knocked me out cold, too.

Cyburn continued to stare at me as if he was trying to tell me something, but he couldn't get the words to connect to his brain and his mouth.

"Cyburn," I said, gently stroking his cheek and softly dragging my fingers through his plush, white-blond hair. I leaned in close to him. "It's okay. You can tell me anything. I'm here for you. I am starting to really fall for you. My feelings are growing stronger by the minute—"

Cyburn sat up and interrupted me with the most sensational kiss I'd ever experienced in my entire life. It was even better than the first.