It was hard to decide what hurt more; actually being shot, or having it done in front of her. But none of that mattered now as Taylor fell into unconsciousness, never knowing if he was to return again.

Although later he would be able to piece together the next few days, they were a total blur now. He drifted in and out of consensus, only remembering brief images of what he saw. Medical droids arriving and stabilizing him. The sound of the paramedic’s ship rumbling through the sky. Being brought up a flight of stairs. Several men, working over him. And then darkness.

They told him afterward that he had been dead for three and a half minuets, but he would have sworn it was a life time. His eyes awoke days later extremely hazy. He could make out the ceiling light and what appeared to be the four posts of a bed. And her, sitting at his side. The drugs prevented him from speaking or moving, but it didn’t matter. He was alive, and she was alive with him, smiling and holding his hand. He drifted back into sleep feeling, for the first time in as long as he could remember that all was right in the world.