Suddenly There Is Love

There was absolutely no way I could fall asleep, I needed to be awake when Zooey woke up again. I stifled a yawn and shook my head, and took another zip of my coffee. It tasted disgusting, as it had gotten cold. I thought back at the moment my phone had rang:

Zooeys name popped up on the screen, and I found myself grinning as I clicked the 'Answer' button and said: "Hello you!" I heard heavy breathing and Zooeys scared voice say: "Booth. Someone is following me." I jumped up from my seat in my livingroom, spilling my mug Coke all over my pants.
"Where are you?" I asked quickly, as I felt the cold liquid go through my pants, and I shuddered.
"In the park, I was walking through the park, and someone... They are following me, Booth!" I could hear the absolute terror in her voice, and I ran to the door and headed straight to my car.
"I'll be right there," I yelled into the phone. "Keep talking to me, Zooey. Keep talking."
"I... oh, I... Booth." I yanked the cardoor open, and jumped into my seat.
"I'll be right there, keep on running, keep on talking, I'll be there!" I started the engine, and a squeek of the tires made a mark on the parking garage floor. I heard her squel, and I was guessing she had fallen to the ground. I geared up, and drove as fast as I possibly could to et to the park.
"Leave me alone!" I heard her yell to the someone who was following her.
"Keep running, Zooey," I told her, and I had now arrived at the park, at the clearing I knew she would be coming to.
"Booth," she said. I could see her, although she was hidden in the shadows of the trees. I ran towards her, and just as she turned around to see if someone was behind her, she smashed right into my body. She screamed, and pushed herself away from me, but I held her back.
"Zooey, it's me. Calm down!" I saw a flash of recognition pass her face, and she leapt into my arms, crying and shaking. I embraced her, and I felt some of the tension in her body disappear.
"I... I...," she started, but I interrupted her.
"Come on, lets get you to the hospital," I put her in the safety of my arms, and lead her to my car. Safely in the car, she fainted.

Zooey started moving in her bed, and I jumped to my feet and caught gold of her hand. She opened her eyes slowly, and stared at me for a while.
"It's ok," I told her, keeping her gace. A single tear protruded from her eye, and I reached out my hand and swept it away with my finger. I sat down on the chair next to her bed, still holding her hand. We sat in silence for a short while, before Zooey finally spoke.
"Thank you!" Our eyes locked, and I gave her a gentle smile, squeezing her hand. She tried sitting up, and I jumped up to help her straighten out her pillow. She smiled at me, but flinched as pain crossed her face. She lifted her hand to find a bandage on her forehead.
"Right, I fell," she said simply, and I nodded. She also had bruises on both her knees, and quite a bad cut on her right arm, as well as the wound on her forehead had been pretty deep. Her glance moved from my face to my shirt, a shirt that had been white earlier, but was now covered in blood.
"I am sorry, I can buy you a new shirt," she said, but I simply shook my head.
"Don't even think about it. I have a lot of shirts." Her glance moved back to my face, and she gave me a look filled with gratefulness. I leaned down and kissed her on the cheek, not wanting to get near any of her cuts and bruises, but she grabbed hold of my face and planted a soft kiss straight on my lips. I greatly appreciated it, but it didn't last as I heard her yelp with pain.
"Thank you," she repeated.

I woke up the next morning, and felt my hair being ruffled, twisted around Zooeys fingers. I slowly raised my head, and looked straight into her ocean coloured eyes, and she smiled.
"You know, I have been here two hours more than necessary, because I wanted to you to get some sleep," she said, still twindling my hair in her fingers.
"You have been let go?" I asked, feeling drowsy.
"Yes, but I told them I could pay them a little extra if you got to sleep." I looked at her with an amused expression.
"You should have said something, " I started, but she interrupted me.
"You have been here all night, looking after me, so I took the liberty of taking care of you." I straightened out my back, and realised I had a terrible ache in my neck. I rubbed my neck with my hand, and twisted my face in displeasure.
"I can take care of that for you. All you need to do is take me home," Zooey said, and stood up. She had already gotten out of the hospitalgown, and was dressed in her own clothes - bloodstained and ripped on the knees and on the arm. I stood up, still rubbing my neck.
I was still feeling disoriented from the lack of sleep, but I placed my arm around Zooeys waist, and we walked out of the hospital together. I could hardly even remember where I had parked the car, but with a lot of thought, I managed to locate it, and we got in.
"You are quiet," Zooey pointed out when I started driving.
"Yeah, sorry. I think I'm halfway still asleep," I said in a teasing manner. I drove to her apartmentbuilding, and helped her get out of the car.

She unlocked her door with shaky hands, and I had to take the keys for her and get the door.
"Your home, milady," I said and grinned. She smiled back at me, grabbed hold of my arm and brought me inside. I had never actually been on the inside of her apartment before, I had only picked her up, but never actually set foot inside. Everything was painted in a faint creamywhite colour, complimented with strong-coloured curtains, pillows and paintings.
"Nice," I exclaimed, and she grinned.
"Do you want something to eat?" she asked, and I nodded and sat down on the couch, still feeling the lack of sleep in my body. I heard Zooey making noise in the kitchen.
"Shouldn't you be resting?" I asked, and strechted.
"I slept plenty last night," she responded and kept making food. "This will not be anything fancy, but it is food." I was appreciative, and chuckled as I heard she lost a pot on the floor.
"Whoops," she exclaimed and giggled. After a few minutes, she came out with two plates of toasted bread, eggs and lettuce. It was simple, but it tasted extremely good. After taking a few bites, Zooey put down her fork and looked at me.
"Wha'?" I asked, forgetting that I still had food in my mouth. She giggled, before the seriousness in her face came back.
"I am sorry for dragging you into the thing last night," she said, and the food in my mouth got stuck in my throat. I coughed, and gulped down a sip of water.
"What? You didn't drag me into anything! I'm happy you called me for help!" I was still holding my knife and fork, but I forgot to eat.
"I am not even sure it was anything serious. What if it was just someone walking in the same direction as I did?" She wasn't really asking, more talking to herself.
"Whatever it was, you were scared, and I was happy to help!" I exclaimed, and put down my knife and fork. I jumped over to her side of the couch, and placed my arm around her shoulders. "No matter what happened last night, I will be there to help you when you need me to. Even if it is only a kitten that scare you. I'll be there!" A tear fell from her eye, and I wiped it away, before I kissed her carefully right next to her lips. She grinned.
"You missed," she said, and turned her around to face me completely, and I placed my hands on each side of her face and kissed her softly. I felt something wet stream down my cheek, and that was when I realised she was crying.

Zooey had asked me to spend the night, and as we were taking it slow, I had insisted on sleeping on the couch. I had gotten a pillow and a blanket, and was settling in the couch when Zooey came out from the bathroom. She stopped and looked at me, lying in the too-short couch.
"You can come sleep with me, you know. I have a kingsize-bed. Plenty of room, we do not even have to touch." she said, and chuckled. I shook my head, insisting it was alright. She went over to me, kissed me on the cheek before returning to her bedroom. I couldn't sleep. I was staring at the ceiling, trying to find a comfortable position that would not hurt my back. After a while, I glanced over at the clock on the wall: It was 2 at night, and I sighed, trying to relax. That was when I heard a scream from Zooey's bedroom. I sped up from the couch, hitting my toe in the table in the process, and ran into her room. She was still asleep, but it was clear that she was having a bad dream. I sat down in bed next to her, trying to wake her up.
"Zooey, wake up." She screamed again, and I shook her harder, and her eyes flew open. She sat up right away, and threw her arms around my neck.
"Hey, you're alright. You're ok, I'm here," I patted her carefully on the back, and she shuddered in my embrace. I sat down properly beside her, and slid under the sheets to get closer to her.
"I relived it all, only this time you were not there," she said, and hid her face in my chest.
"But I am here, and I was there." We lay down in bed, and she placed her head on my chest.
"I am sorry. I am such a mess," she said, but I shushed her.
"Mess or no mess, I'm still here." We lay still for a while, and I felt incredibly warm.
"I know we agreed to take things slow, but could I please undress just a little. It's hot in here," I said, and Zoeey chuckled. She sat up, and watched me go out of bed.
"You could, like, turn away or something," I said, but Zooey shook her head. I shrugged, and tugged off my shirt, clearly to Zooeys pleasure, as she whistled. I stood there with my pants still on, glaring at her.
"Wow, I like the beltbuckle," she said, and I felt my face grow hot.
"It's a.. good-luck charm," I said, before I opened the beltbuckle, and removed my pants. I felt slightly embarassed as the underwear I was wearing was a bad red colour, with polkadots on it. I jumped back into bed, and lay down under the sheets a little distance away from Zooey. I turned my head, only to see her grin, her nose wrinkled.
"Silly," she said and lay down on my chest again, and I wrapped my arms around her, loving how she felt in my embrace. She breathed lightly, and each breath tickled on my chest. We fell asleep in each others arms, and Zooey slept through the whole night, as did I.