— Hannah —

The more Amelia told me about that night, the worse I felt. Everything that happened was my fault. If I hadn’t called Lydia, Mel would never have been involved in this mess. When she described the car accident, and how it looked as if Michael might have done it on purpose, I nearly choked. At that moment I broke down and began crying uncontrollably.

I could tell that Mel wanted to lean in and hug me, to comfort me, but she remained still on the bed.

“It wasn’t your fault,” she said, holding my hand instead.

“It was,” I retorted. “Of course it was. I should never have phoned Lydia, that night. Then you wouldn’t have… you wouldn’t…” I couldn’t complete the sentence, from how shaken I was.

Amelia sighed. “Hannah, listen to me. You are not responsible for other people’s actions. It was Michael who did this. Not you. You were in danger, and you sought help, as you should. I’m proud of you. Okay? Don’t cry, please.”

I stared at the figure of my girlfriend lying on a hospital bed, and couldn’t help a few more tears from falling. “But… you almost died.”

Amelia snickered, and raised a hand to caress my face, wiping the tears from my wet cheeks. “Hey, I’m tougher than that. Come on, stop that, Honey. I’m fine. We’re fine, both of us. That’s all that matters, all right?”

I leaned into her touch. “Okay,” I whispered, and we smiled at each other.

Vincent chose that moment to enter the room again, followed by Lydia and Nathalie. Amelia seemed a little surprised to see them, but only for a moment.

“Hey, Nat. Lydia. Good to see you.”

Nathalie’s lips curled up in a sad smile. “Vincent tells me you’ve been wrestling cars lately. And taunting a drunk guy with a knife? Out of all the stupid things I’ve seen you do in the past, Amy, this one takes the cake.”

There was a hint of anger in her voice, but it was obvious that Nathalie cared for Amelia. Her anger was justified. At the end of the day, Mel’s actions really had been quite reckless.

“You know,” said Mel, “when I told our boss last week that I was thinking of taking a few days off to rest, this was definitely not what I had in mind.” She giggled, and Nathalie rolled her eyes, but smiled as well. “Tell the people at work not to worry, okay? I’ll be back on my f— Err, I’ll… see everyone there soon. Let them know, all right?”

Nathalie nodded. “Will do.”

Then she turned to her brother. “Vin, did you go to the police station?”

Vincent took a step forward, standing by my side. “I just came back from there, actually,” said the guy. “They have that man Michael in custody. It appears there was a cop in the scene. And they even got footage of the accident to back everything up. I doubt he’ll be bothering you two in the future,” he said, gesturing at Amelia and I.

Amelia let out a long sigh of relief, and I could notice the anxiety leaving her. When she smiled, it was without any of the tension from before.

“All is well that ends well, then,” she told me.

I frowned. “Are you kidding me, Mel? You’re in a hospital bed!”

“Temporarily,” she retorted.

“And you went through surgery!”

Amelia shrugged. “A minor inconvenience.”

I stared at her, baffled, then grunted. “Ugh! Seriously?! You almost died! How can you be so blasé about this?!”

Beside me, Nathalie chuckled. “Welcome to my world, sister.”

Amelia shot her a displeased look, and Nathalie snickered devilishly. I watched that interaction with interest, reminding myself that the two of them used to date. It was almost as if they were having a conversation with their eyes only. Eventually, Nathalie huffed, and turned to look at me.

“Well then, I need to go back to work. Contrary to some people here, I’m not on paid leave. And I can see that the two of you have a lot to talk about.” Nathalie then leaned closer to me, and whispered: “Good luck with that one. She’s a handful.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Nathalie, I… just… thank you. For everything, really.”

“Hey, don’t get all mushy on me, miss girlfriend,” she complained. “And I’m glad you came to me for help. You know, for a friend of Janis’, you’re not all that bad.”

“Nat!” Amelia called, angrily, and the girl responded with the same devilish smile from before.

“All right, all right, I’ll leave you two, for now.” Then, to my surprise, Nathalie turned to address Lydia: “You coming, gorgeous?”

This seemed to catch her by surprise. “What? Oh, me?”

“Of course,” said Nathalie. “I don’t see anyone here more gorgeous than you.”

I wrinkled my forehead instinctively, with the surprise, and Amelia facepalmed.

Lydia stammered. “O– oh, well… I… what? Why?”

“Nat, stop teasing her, she’s straight,” said Amelia.

“And taken,” I added.

Nathalie’s tone immediately changed, from charming to disappointed. “Damn, I was almost sure,” she said, mostly to herself, and everyone else began to laugh about it — except Lydia, who was still embarrassed about the whole situation.

They walked out of the patient ward together. Vincent lingered by for a few seconds, clearly nervous about leaving Amelia all by herself, but the younger sibling assured him that she’d be fine.

“If anything happens, or if you need anything, just call me, sis,” said Vincent.

“Will do,” said Amelia, nodding. “Now go, I know you miss your restaurant, you workaholic.”

He chuckled, bid me farewell, then exited the ward as well. Once it was just the two of us, I sat down on the edge of Mel’s bed, and took her hands in mine. We stared at each other for a moment.

“I was worried,” I told her. “When I walked in here and saw you on the bed, I… honestly, I thought I would go mad. And to think you confronted Michael and he pulled a knife on you… Seriously, Mel, what were you thinking?”

“I… guess I wasn’t…” she admitted, and I saw that for the first time that night she really did look embarrassed about her actions. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not mad,” I told her, taking her hand once more. “Just promise me you won’t do anything that reckless again.”

Amelia smiled. “Depends. Do you have any other abusive exes I need to take care of?”

I slapped her hand. “Stop joking about it, you could have died.”

“I know,” she admitted, in a more serious tone. “And I promise that I’ll be more mindful of my actions from now on.”

I leaned forward and kissed her forehead, briefly. “Good,” I said.

“Hey…” she called, caressing the back of my hand with her fingers. “Do you…” I could notice her breathing getting heavier. “…do you remember what Michael called me, that night?”

Oh.

That.

With everything that had just happened, and how surprised I was to find Amelia in a hospital room, I had totally forgotten that this was an issue at all.

But Amelia hadn’t forgotten it, of course.

“I asked Lydia about it,” I told Mel. “She showed me some videos. Interviews you participated in. I also talked to Janis for a little while, and did some research on my own. Were you really not going to tell me?” I paused to wait for Amelia’s reaction. The look on her face was one of absolute misery. She thought I was going to reject her, and it hurt me to see her like that. I took a deep breath, and continued: “Look, it doesn’t matter to me if your transgender or not. I was surprised when I found out, sure, but I couldn’t care less what gender you were assigned at birth, Mel. I love you for who you are now.”

I paused again. I could feel Amelia’s grip on my hand, strong, anxious.

“I am mad at you, though,” I admitted. “Because you didn’t seem to have any problem telling the whole world you were trans through a bunch of interviews, yet couldn’t spare five minutes to tell your own girlfriend about it. It hurts, Mel.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I really am. I was scared, Mel.” I saw her begin to tear up. “Do you mean it? It really doesn’t matter, to you? Honest?”

I couldn’t stay mad at her any longer. I leaned in, and kissed her eyes, feeling the salty taste of hear tears.

“Honest,” I said, and we touched foreheads. “But please, stop leaving me in the dark, Mel. I care about you, and it hurts when you don’t trust me with stuff that’s important for you.”

I noticed Amelia flinch, and pull her hands away from my face. She looked nervous. Something was wrong.

“About that…” Amelia began to say, in a whisper.

I felt a tug of anxiety inside my chest. “Mel? What is it?”

Amelia took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.

“Well… since we’re being honest with each other, there’s one more thing you should know.” She looked down at her lap. “Ever since I woke up the other day, I can’t feel my legs.”