Part XIX

An arn or two later, John entered Aeryn’s room, after hearing that her condition had improved significantly. She looked to be asleep, but her eyes opened when he knelt down beside her bed. She smiled at him. “You saved me again, against all the odds.”

“Yeah, well don’t start telling me that you owe me one. I still owe you plenty.”

“I wouldn't have it any other way.”

John grabbed one of her hands and held it in his. “I thought I’d lost you again!” he exclaimed, quietly, tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

“You never answered me before. Could you have killed me, had the time come?”

John looked into her eyes, thinking about what he had told himself earlier on. Being thrust into the situation again, of Aeryn being on the verge of ‘living-death’, had been painful indeed. He could not decide what he would have done, had the worst come to the worst. “I still don’t have an answer for you.”