Daphne's eyes fluttered open, and she studied the dropped ceiling above her. Where am I? She pulled on her left arm to help clear the goop from her eyes and felt something tugging on her arm.

  “What?” she murmured. She remembered the swirl of snow and the sedan coasting towards her.

  The woman had orange lips. Did I die?

  “Daphne!” Asher's voice called her name.

  She turned her head painstakingly to her left. Asher's face was thin, and he had huge bags underneath his eyes. His hair was tousled and his clothes wrinkled as though he’d been in them for a few days.

  “Asher,” Daphne murmured.

  Am I actually alive?

  “Daphne!” Asher exclaimed, jumping up from the chair at her bedside. “You're awake.” He clasped her left hand tightly, squeezing it. He let go and skittered to the other side of the room, sticking his head out the door. “Nurse! Nurse!” he called out into the hallway.

  Daphne lifted her left arm again, and with it, felt the pulling sensation of all of the lines and tubes connected to her. I'm alive. I was so certain that I was a goner. I already got one second chance.

  She attempted to prop herself up in her bed, only to realize that she couldn't feel her legs at all. Her eyes widened, and Asher came back over to her bedside, plopping himself into the chair next to her. “My legs,” Daphne said, touching both of her thighs and feeling nothing. “What happened to my legs?”

  “Ah, you're awake,” a female voice said. Daphne turned to see a woman in navy blue scrubs walking into her room. “I'm your nurse, Kat, and I'll be taking care of you for the day.”

  “What happened?” Daphne asked. Her eyes were still wide and her head swirling a little.

  “You were walking in the snowstorm and got hit by a sedan that lost control,” the nurse informed Daphne.

  “I remember,” Daphne said. “I'm more surprised that I survived.”

  The nurse wrinkled her nose and forehead, giving Daphne a little side eye. “The car wasn't going too fast,” the nurse added, “and the driver called an ambulance right away.”

  Daphne nodded. “As soon as the car hit me in that snowstorm, I figured I was as good as dead.”

  The nurse nodded. Her features softening. “I can see why you might have had that thought. It was probably a scary experience.”

  I died in that snowstorm before. She put her head in her hands. I figured there was no possible way I could make it out of that situation alive.

  “Once you arrived, we performed an emergency surgery on you to stabilize the bones in your leg,” the nurse told Daphne.

  “Is this why my legs feel weird?” Daphne asked. She poked at the flesh again at the top of her right one. “Especially this one.”

  The nurse nodded slowly. “We have you on a lot of painkillers right now. You'll probably feel odd for a while.”

  Daphne pursed her lips and nodded her head, bouncing around a bit more than she expected it to. I can't help but feel that I'll probably lose some sensation in my leg. There's no way that I could survive this without some level of permanent damage. The universe has to make up for the fact that I've gotten two second chances in life now. She smiled at the nurse. Better some permanent damage than being dead, though, I'll take what I can get.

  “Well, I'll let the doctor know that you're awake now, and I'm sure he'll be in shortly to talk with you both, alright?”

  “Alright,” Daphne murmured.

  “Thanks,” Asher said with a little smile at the nurse.

  The nurse turned and left, and Daphne looked over at Asher. Unlike the night she had gone out to get him medicine, his eyes were no longer swollen, and while his nose was bright red around his nostrils, he didn't have rivers of snot coming out of them.

  “How long has it been since the accident?” Daphne murmured.

  “It's been about a day and a half,” Asher replied. “Most of that, they had you on such a high dose of painkillers that they expected you to sleep. You fractured your hip and broke your leg, Daphne,” he said. “It was really serious.”

  “So, it's Christmas Day, then?” Daphne asked, raising her eyebrows and ignoring the rest of the information Asher had told her.

  Asher nodded. His brown eyes were dewy. “It is,” he confirmed. “This isn't how I wanted to spend our first Christmas together.”

  Daphne nodded again. “Me, either,” she agreed. “So, are you feeling better then?” She studied him closely, reaching her arm out to touch his cheek, but not quite able to reach it. “I was so worried about you,” she murmured.

  Asher pulled away from her outstretched hand, and her heart dropped a little in her chest. He shook his head at her. “You should have never left in that weather,” he replied, before taking her hand gently in his own. He kissed it, barely brushing his lips against the skin of the back of her hand.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “I would have been okay without the medicine. I ended up being fine without it. Why would you risk your life or something like that?” Asher asked, his voice building in volume. “We both agreed that you would stay in on the twenty-third. But you broke that.” He paused, letting her hand go free. “I almost lost you,” he murmured, looking away from Daphne's face.

  Daphne's lower lip trembled. Her heart ached. Here I was only thinking about how lucky I am to survive so that I could keep on living. But how selfish it is that I didn't even consider how it would feel for Asher to live in a world without me.

  “I'm sorry,” Daphne whispered. “I was worried that I was going to have to call an ambulance for you because of how high your fever was. I didn't know what other choice I had then to go out and get some medication for you.”

  Asher shook his head. “Still, you should have just called an ambulance.” He let out a short breath. “I'm just grateful that I get to have Christmas with you.”

  “I'm okay though,” Daphne replied. “It ended up being okay.” She searched his face. “I'm glad I got to spend Christmas with you, too.”

  Asher scowled at Daphne meeting her eyes. “It's not okay, though,” he replied. “You could have died if your leg broke differently. You were brought into an emergency surgery, which was risky for different reasons. You could have died on so many occasions, and I was completely powerless to help you. I didn't even find out what had happened until you were out of surgery.”

  Daphne swallowed hard. “Oh,” she replied.

  I guess I really didn't understand the gravity of the situation. Is it the painkillers that are making everything feel slightly unreal?

  Asher grabbed her hand again, and she looked over at him. Rather than looking angry, he now just appeared pained. “I love you. Daphne,” he said. “Do you understand that I need you to take care of yourself so that we can live a long life together? I want a future with you.” He shook his head before meeting her eyes. “To do all of those things I need you in my life.”

  A future together… She pursed her lips. I guess I can actually think about having a future with this man… since I survived both the car accident and Rose's attack. She chewed on her tongue a little internally, kicking herself. I've been paying too much attention these last couple of weeks to gardening and how I might be able to go about running a flower shop. I should have been thinking about all of the other things I put aside because of Rose.

  “I'm sorry. Asher,” she said. “I've been negligent. I wasn't thinking. I was just so worried about you.” She paused, sighing and covering her eyes for a moment before playing with her short hair. “I want to be together with you for a long time too. I love you. I'm so sorry.” Her eyes stung and tears slid down her face.

  It's all over. I survived this time when I died last time. I can actually think about the future. I'm free to live my life. She pressed her lips together hard. But by not thinking about the weather and having an accident happen, I may have set myself back. Somethings might move slower now than they would have if I had just stayed inside on Friday like I should have.

  “I won't do it again in the future,” Daphne promised. “I'll try to think about things more from your perspective as well.” She wiped the tears from her eyes. “We'll have so many more Christmases outside of the hospital, I promise,” she murmured.

  Asher's grip around her hand tightened. “I hope you know I'm going to hold you to that promise,” he said.

  “Please do,” Daphne said, letting out a heavy breath.

  Asher let go of her hand and pulled something up off of the floor next to the chair he was in. It was a small Christmas gift, complete with a bow on top of it. Daphne scoffed as he handed her the gift. “I'm sorry,” she said, holding the small box on her lap. “There's been so much going on that I haven't had a chance to get you a Christmas gift.”

  “Don't worry about it,” Asher said with a little smile. “You being okay and being here with me on this Christmas Day is good enough of a gift for me.”

  Daphne clicked her tongue at him, checking over the gift he handed her, looking for clues for what it contained. “I'll get you something as soon as I start feeling better.” She began undoing the ribbon at the top of the gift.

  Asher let out a pained sound. “You'll have to be in a wheelchair for three months for your hip and leg to heal properly,” Asher murmured.

  Daphne paused, opening the gift, her eyes widening at his statement. “What?” she asked, swallowing hard, her throat tightening.

  It's as I feared.

  Asher nodded. “The doctor said that your leg will have to be kept pretty stable to heal correctly, so that you don't have issues down the line.”

  Daphne thought about the apartment that she had moved into less than a month ago. I live on the second floor. There are definitely no accommodations in that building either. What am I going to do? Her stomach twisted around inside of her and she grasped her head with both of her hands, her breathing starting to sound ragged.

  “How am I going to live like this?” she whispered.

  Asher pointed at the box. “Open it and find out,” he said.

  Daphne let go of her head and eyeballed him suspiciously. Her breathing started to slow. Her heart ached deeply in her chest. How am I going to live on my own? She chewed on the inside of her lower lip. I may not even be able to plant flowers in the spring either. Then there are other considerations, like work. I had to break my right leg, didn't I? I won't even be able to drive myself to work. And Asher thinks that opening my Christmas gift is going to solve all of my problems?

  Still, she thought, picking the box up and raising her eyebrows at it. What could he be so confident that is going to help me in this impossible situation?

  She tore the wrapping paper off the box and opened the taped top. Her eyes widened and her eyebrows jumped up at the key and the small jewelry box that were inside.

  “I know you're completely doped up on painkillers,” Asher began, “and this is far from the scenario I thought we'd be in on Christmas. So, if you end up changing your mind, I won't hold it against you, okay?” he asked.

  “What do you mean?” Daphne asked, looking over at him. His eyes were puppy dog like.

  He looks like Tanpopo in a funny way.

  “Move in with me,” Asher said. “I know we're only we've only recently gotten together, but I already know I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.” He carefully pulled out the small jewelry box from the package on Daphne's lap. He opened it and Daphne gasped.

  Inside was a shimmering princess cut diamond ring. “Are you serious?” she asked. “You want to marry me?”

  I never thought this moment would come for me. She covered her face with both of her hands, feeling the heat spreading out across it.

  “No?” Asher asked, his voice was curious. “Is it too soon?”

  Daphne's eyes were wet again as she pulled her hands off of her face. Asher was worried, looking at her earnestly, waiting for an answer.

  “How could I say no to the man who crossed space and time to save me?” Asher's face broke into an enormous smile, and he carefully pulled Daphne's left hand close to himself so he could slide the ring on her left hand.

  “I love you, Daphne Woods,” Asher said, kissing her hand.

  “I love you too, Asher,” Daphne replied.

  Asher stood pulling Daphne's torso into a tight hug before reaching down his lips meeting hers.