Part One

"I'm sorry…" Derek mumbled again, still frowning down at the pendant in his palm. I leaned forward and plucked it from his hand, tucking it safely into the back pocket of my jeans.

"Don't worry about it," I said brushing it off absentmindedly. I couldn't tear my eyes away from all of the blood that he was covered in.

I slid across the counter and grabbed a handful of paper towels and then turned to wet them in the sink with warm water. Waiting for some sort of protest, I lifted them to Derek's cheek, but when he made no attempts at arguing with me, I cautiously started dabbing at the blood stains. He flinched at first, but after a few minutes of gentle scrubbing, we could tell that most of the blood had come from his nose and some scrapes on his cheeks – nothing too serious.

He looked over my shoulder to the mirror, gingerly touching his nose, which had already started turning a faint shade of purple.

"I don't think that it's broken," he commented quietly, "but if I had been hit any harder, it might have been."

As relieved as I was, I still couldn't shake the feeling that he was hurting much more than he was letting on. The blood on his t-shirt was clearly from his nose, not spreading any farther down than the collar. But I could tell simply from the way he was standing that he was in pain.

"What else hurts Derek?" I asked him, reaching out to tug the bottom hem of his t-shirt up a bit. I had a strong sense that there were some nasty bruises forming under there.

"Nothing, Chloe, I'm fine…" he replied, not meeting my eye.

Sighing, I sat up on my knees, just barely eye-level with him in this position.

"Please don't lie to me," I told him seriously, watching his eyes intently, practically forcing him to look back into mine. In one simple glance I knew he wasn't telling the truth. "Sit."

I pulled him down into a sitting position on the counter next to me and began to peel off his jacket. Derek tried to help, but it appeared that if he moved too much, it caused him a great deal of pain. I watched him chew on the inside of his cheek in an attempt to hide just how tender his muscles really were. I pushed his hands away and slowly began to pull his t-shirt off as well, being careful not to cause him any more unnecessary pain.

"How you doing?" I asked him softly, once I managed to get the last layer off. I didn't dare look down at his torso yet, frightened of what it may look like. He shrugged, but even that slight movement caused a sharp intake of breath, and I looked at him worriedly.

"Just great," Derek responded sarcastically; the small crooked smile on his lips eased my nerves slightly.

I stepped back to get a better look at his injuries. It was clear that there were some large, underlying bruises beginning to form, but from what I could see, nothing looked broken. Tentatively, I reached forward, touching my palm to the center of his chest, moving it around slowly, trying my best to feel for any abnormalities. We didn't need any broken ribs at the moment.

When the tips of my fingers brushed his collarbone, Derek glanced down at me, and I swore I felt his heart begin to speed up.

"Am I hurting you..?" I asked quickly, pulling my hand away from him, but he caught my fingers in his, and placed my hand gently back on his chest.

"No, surprisingly not." Now I knew for sure that my heart was racing as well, and I had the slightest sense that he could hear it from where he was sitting. His skin was burning hot to the touch, and I knew that my hands had to be much cooler, explaining the trail of goose bumps that were beginning to appear.

I stepped closer, placing my other hand on his chest as well, spreading my fingers out in a fan. I couldn't bring myself to look into his eyes because I knew that my face must have turned scarlet at this point, but I continued to move slowly across his skin.

"It…it doesn't feel like…uh…nothing's broken I don't t-t-think…" I stammered, staring at the dirt beneath my fingernails, my face turning as hot as his skin.

"Are you sure?" he questioned, his voice calmer than I had heard it in days. I nodded frantically, turning my head to glance around the room, my eyes searching for something, anything to stare at. Derek reached out and touched my chin, coaxing my head around to meet his gaze. I gulped.

"Chloe?" Derek whispered, almost so quietly that I didn't catch it. However, there was one thing that I could not miss, and it was the piercing look in his eyes. Now that I was looking at him, I could not pull my eyes away from his deep pools of green.

"Yes…?"