The next two or three days following the fight in the alley were ones Rosie would not remember in the slightest. Dakota'd be at her bedside, but she wouldn't know it. All she knew was the blackness of sleep, interupted by the terrors of nightmares and the wonders of her dreams.

Her face would remain pale beneath the vivid bruises. She'd look like a racoon of sorts, except this mask was a rainbow of blacks, blues, purples, greens and reds. Kat's healings may have stopped the bleeding in her nose, but it didn't straighten it. Her nose looked like she'd been in one too many boxing rings.

During her nightmares she'd whimper and toss her head. She'd seen images of dragons... Brian snarling visiciously, Dakota choking Brian... all memories of the fight in the alley way. But just as soon as those dreams would come, they'd fade to blackness.

The morning of the third day, she awoke. The fever had broken during the night and there were no more nightmares. Opening her eyes slowly, she had to blink a couple of times to focus. And there he was, the man she loved. Her voice was hoarse and cracked as she whispered to him.

"Dakota."

It seemed that took all the energy she'd had in her because after a shy smile, her eyes would close again and she'd doze off.