It had certainly been something to see a tall, good-looking man in a Superman outfit, complete with cape and snug-fitting shorts, come walking into the emergency room with an injured man slung over one shoulder and a frantic young woman limping at his side. There had been a flurry of excitement and activity as onlookers murmured amongst each other, wondering whether the Man of Steel himself had somehow managed to get sucked through the Nexus. Even when it became quickly apparent that he wasn't who he seemed to be, there was still some excitement in knowing a famous and homegrown movie star had entered their midst, but when it became clear that this wasn't a publicity stunt, but that someone - two someone's - lives were in danger, the ER staff wasted no time before taking action. It had been touch and go for a while, at least as far as Taylor had been concerned, and Jon had done his best to keep Kaylee calm and reassure her that he was in good hands.

As it happened, there were a couple of healers on staff, and both Taylor and Kaylee were well cared for. A few hours later found Taylor in stable condition and both resting peacefully, Kaylee refusing to leave Taylor's side. Jon had finally found a moment to call home and give them the good news, but had promised to stay a while longer to keep further watch over his charges. One of the nurses on staff had taken pity on him and brought him a white coat to toss on over his costume, as well as a sandwich and cup of coffee.

He claimed a seat across the room, in sight of the injured couple, but far enough away to give them a little privacy while he sipped his coffee and flipped through a couple of magazines to pass the time. Like Superman, he was only too happy to have been there when he was needed and to have been able to help. Family was important to him - more important than a Halloween party - and he had no intention of leaving until he knew for sure they were going to be okay, or until Rufus and Miranda arrived to relieve him, whichever came first.

With her injuries healed, Kaylee only had eyes for Taylor, her pale face deeply concerned as she watched him sleep. Curled up in the chair she had dragged close against the bed, her hand in that of the sleeping man's, she looked very young beneath the hospital's unforgiving lights. Despite their success, she was dreadfully afraid that Taylor wasn't going to wake up. As Jon came back in, she was speaking to the sleeping man, her voice very close to tears. "Please wake up," she was whispering. "I'm frightened, Tay. Don't make me do this without you."

Jon frowned as he watched the young woman - a woman whom he'd been told had once almost been like a sister to him before he'd done something stupid and broken her heart. Was he the reason she'd gone away' He wasn't really sure, nor was he the same person he'd been before, but he wasn't sure that mattered. All he wanted right now was to see a smile on her face, and he knew there was only one man who could put it there and it wasn't him. "Kaylee," he said as gently as he could as he stepped closer. "He's gonna be okay. He's just resting. They dosed him pretty good."

She raised haunted, wet eyes to her cousin, and for a long moment there was silence, the little girl who had always run to Jon conflicted with the young woman who was wary of everyone and everything. "He has to wake up," she whimpered softly, not even ashamed of how close she was to tears. "I don't know what to do without him."

Jon's frown deepened, his heart going out to the young woman who'd once been like another sister to him and he closed the distance between them, crouching down beside her so that they were more at eye level and he wasn't towering over her. He reached for her hands, taking them into his own, seeing the pain and the fear on her face, and the tears in her eyes. "He's going to wake up, Bug. I promise. You just have to be patient."

She startled at the sound of that nickname, something he hadn't called her for years. Her hands gripped his tightly. "What if he doesn't?" she whispered, heartbroken by the thought. "What if I'm all on my own again? I can't do it, Jon, I can't."

He gave her hands a gentle, reassuring squeeze, his voice as calm and comforting as that of a father to a child. "He's gonna be fine, Kay. He's just resting. You have to trust me." He let go of one hand to brush her hair back from her face, his heart aching to see the pain and fear in her eyes. "You're not alone, you know. I know I haven't been here for you much the last few years..." He frowned a moment, unable to remember past a certain point, knowing there had been some conflict between them. "But I'm here now. And so is Vicki and Humphrey and Des and Piper..." He broke off, as there were too many of them to name. "We love you, and we're all here for you, if you let us. I know you're worried about Taylor, but he's gonna be fine. You're both gonna be fine."

Kaylee held his gaze for a long moment. Unlike him, she remembered the incident that was bothering him, and had put it to rest a long time ago. "Jonny ....you know it doesn't matter, right?" she asked him softly. "I got over it, and now ..." She looked toward Taylor, sleeping peacefully but so still in the clinical bed. "I'm so scared, Jonny."

Jon's frown softened, blue eyes warm with affection and compassion. "I'm not gonna lie to you, Kaylee. I don't understand everything you or Taylor have been through, but life is full of worry. It takes a lot of courage to give your heart to someone. Nothing in life is certain. That's why you have to embrace it, grab on hard for all it's worth and hold on tight. Trust me, I know how hard it is. I never felt more alone than when I woke up in the hospital bed and couldn't even remember my own name. I did a lot of stupid things in my life, trying to figure out who I was. When I met Vicki, I realized none of that mattered. You can either spend your life worrying about dying, worrying about losing the ones you love, or you can spend it living. It's as simple as that. Every day is a gift, Kaylee. When he wakes up - and he's gonna wake up - you remember that. You embrace everyday together and have no regrets."

Bloodied, soot-stained, and covered in dirt, nonetheless he could see clearly as Kaylee absorbed what he said to her. It had been a very long time since she'd spoken to Jon; even before her seven month sojourn in that appalling place, she'd avoided him, and yet now, she couldn't understand why. He'd always been there for her, even when she had been absent. "Thank you, Jonny." Drawing her hands out of his, she leaned forward, wrapping her arms around the cousin she'd once thought she was in love with. Her lips brushed his cheek. "I'm sorry I stayed away so long."

He opened his arms to her, as he had countless times before, though he didn't remember it, offering the strength and the comfort of those arms, like a big brother might to a sister. He had come a long way in the last few years, and though there would always be a little guilt and a little angst lurking somewhere beneath the surface because that was too much a part of who he was, he had grown and matured into the man that he'd always wanted to be. "You were never far from my heart, no matter how far away you went. I'm glad you're home, Kay, and I'm glad you found someone who cares for you and gives you all the love you deserve," he told her quietly, intimately, as though these words were for her alone, which in all truth, they were.

She drew in a slow breath, not wanting to commit to anything too soon. But he was right - it had been far too long since she'd visited the Grove to see Humph, and it would be nice to see Vicki again, and meet baby Ben. "I'll try," she told him, holding off on the promise. "Take care, Jon."

"Don't be a stranger, Kaylee. I'm only a phone call away," he told her, sensing it was time for him to leave and let her have some time alone with the waking man. He didn't tell her the three little words that were echoing in his head, feeling it might be too soon for her to hear that, hoping she understood his desire to renew their relationship and put the past behind them. It was too bad it had taken such dire circumstances for the healing to take place, but at least something good had come from it. "See you later, Bug," he said. "Try not to smother him," he teased, and off he went to make a long-overdue visit to the Children's Ward.

He didn't need to tell her he loved her; she knew, in the same way that he knew she loved him. They were family, closer than most despite their relationship and difference in age. She smiled faintly, watching him go before she turned back to Taylor, rising to perch on the bed, his hand in her lap, impatient to see his eyes open once more.

Whatever it was Taylor was trying to say was still mostly incoherent, bits and pieces of mumbled words from a brain that was just starting to come out of the drug-induced stupor the doctors had put him in. There was peace there in the dark, but he preferred the light. His eyelids fluttered as he struggled to open his eyes, aware of voices nearby and someone holding his hand.

Kaylee leaned down, brushing her lips against his forehead as he struggled to rise out of his stupefied state, rubbing her cheek against his hand. "Wake up, boo," she murmured to him softly. "You're safe, I'm here. Everything's gonna be fine."

"Kay?" Taylor muttered, forcing his lips to work, struggling to make his body obey his commands, as if he was coming out of a very long sleep. He furrowed his brows, blinking against the light to focus his vision as his eyes slowly opened. He was sure it was her face that hovered in his field of vision, as blurry as she was for the moment.

She smiled, relief flooding through her as he spoke, watching his eyes open. No matter how slow he was to focus on her, she knew he was all right, letting out a quiet laugh to let that tension go. "Yes, it's me, it's Kaylee," she assured him softly, her fingertips gentle against his cheek. "You're in hospital."

"Are you okay?" he asked, the words coming slow. He blinked again, slowly bringing her face into view, relieved to find her there, but frowning at the soot and blood and dirt that tainted her. He lifted a hand to touch her face, an IV drip trailing from his wrist. "Where's Rufus?" he asked, sensing they were alone. Was it really over" Had they won' Had they all survived" He tried to remember. What did he remember last' Something about Lei rushing past him, blood, and darkness, and gore. And Kaylee's voice calling him back from the darkness.

"I'm fine," she promised him, her voice gentle as she coaxed him to full consciousness. "Rufus is at home with Miranda. They're going to come and see you in a couple of hours. And Lei's fine, too. We won, baby. It's really over."

"Over," he repeated, closing his eyes a moment to let that sink in. Over seven years of nightmares over in an instant. Seven years spent preparing to destroy those nightmares. He felt a strange elation, mixed with confusion. What the hell was he going to do with his life now that it was really over" Learn to live again, that's what. Go on with his life and find the joy in each and every day, with her by his side, or so he hoped. He opened his eyes again to focus on her face. What are we gonna go do now" Do you still love me" He found tears starting in his eyes and he wasn't sure why. "They're gone" All of them?" he asked, as if it was almost too hard to believe.

She nodded, a little tearful herself, though her tears were the result of a long, anxious wait to be absolutely certain he was well. She thought she must have driven Jon nutty with her crying and complaining while she was being Healed herself. "They're really gone," she promised Taylor. "Lei burned the place down after we left it. It's nothing but smoking rubble, and Rufus is certain they'll never get through again."

"I have to see it," he said in a quiet voice that was still a little weak and groggy. Not now, obviously, but soon. He needed to see the rubble for himself, to prove to himself that it was really over. He noticed the tear tracks on her face through the soot and the dirt and he traced them with his fingers. He remembered those last moments. In all the confusion, he'd almost made a fatal error, more worried about her safety than his own. It was probably why he was lying here in this bed. "My leg..." he started, realizing it was no longer aching. Had he only imagined it or had he been healed"

"We will," she nodded, needing to see the proof for herself as well. It would take time for the nightmares to abate, but if Rufus was right, there would no longer be a lurking presence in their minds, encouraging and feeding off their fear. She tilted her cheek into his touch, closing her eyes as she released a soft sigh of relief. "I was so scared," she told him quietly. "I thought you were dead. Everything happened so fast, and then we were at the Grove, and Jon brought us here, and they Healed us, but they want to keep you in overnight."

He took this all in quietly, slowly putting together the pieces of the puzzle. "I'm okay," he assured her, adding, "I think." He wasn't really in any pain anymore. He just felt tired and drained and a little lethargic, but that was most likely a side-effect of whatever drug they'd given him to sleep. "I'm sorry I worried you," he told her quietly, cupping her cheek in his hand, even as the IV drip trailed down from his wrist.

She shook her head gently, curling her fingers over his where they rested against her cheek. "You're fine now, that's the important thing," she told him. "They gave you something to help you sleep. They said something about massive internal bleeding. I guess that's why they want to keep you in for now, just to make sure they got it all."

He was sorry for so many things. Sorry for worrying her, sorry for being stupid, sorry for putting himself at risk, but he wasn't sorry she had survived and that she was there with him. He would have gladly traded his life for hers, if he'd had to to keep her safe. He arched a brow as she informed him of his injuries. Had he really been that badly off" He didn't remember much of it, except for a whole lot of pain and then darkness. No wonder she'd been so worried. "My leg..." he repeated, darting a glance at the bed to see the shape of both legs beneath the blankets. Whatever his injuries had been, it seemed he was on the mend now. He breathed a sigh of relief.