When her world became more than just black, again, she found herself staring at a ceiling.

A white, tiled, sterile ceiling.

When she looked around, she saw that she was in a hospital bed, in a hospital room... presumably in a hospital building.

She had been wrapped in bandages where her wounds were, and the hand she had grabbed the door handle with had had particular attention to it, medically speaking.

Overall, it was calm, quiet, and peaceful.

And a look out the window showed it to be sometime at night.

Just as she was piecing things together in her mind, a nurse came into her room.

He looked at her, smiled, and made his way over.

"Well. Hello." he greeted her.

"Good to see you're finally awake." he commented.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

The nurse started to look her over, checking her injuries and how she was healing.

"Mmhmm, mmhmm..." he mumbled.

"You're coming along nicely." he told her.

"You're rather lucky." he then commented.

"You almost didn't make it." he said.

"Apparently that building almost collapsed with you in it."

The nurse just laughed.

"He knows." he replied.

"He was staying in here ever since he brought you here." he told her.

"He refused to leave, to tell you the truth." he then chuckled.

"We had to get Kalin in here to drag him home to rest."

"He's home." the nurse replied.

"Here." he told her, handing her a cell.

"It's his cell phone." he said.

"He told me to tell you to call him at home if you woke up." he then smiled.

"He truly cares for you."

She heard silence on the other end of the phone for almost 5 seconds.

"Erica!" Rene then exclaimed.

"You're awake!" he said.

"I'm going to make my way there no-" he went on, before he was interrupted.

"Wha? Kalin...? But she's... I mean, I said I... I know I... but... but I... okay, okay!" she then heard in sentence fragments, before she heard a loud sigh.

"I will visit you in the morning." he said in a more monotone voice, but there was guilt in it, like a child that had been admonished by their mother.

Or a boyfriend by their girlfriend. Which made more sense in this situation.

"Yes." Rene replied.

"I'll make sure you're going home in the morning." he told her.

"...I'm just glad you're okay..." he then sighed.

"Anyway, think about what you want to eat tomorrow." he went on.

"Because no matter what it is, we'll get it."

"....." again, Rene was silent.

"She's commanding me to not go straight to the hospital and wait until morning." he murmured.

"But I'll let you go." he said.

"See you in... well, a few hours, more or less." he told her.

"...so glad you're okay..." he muttered again.

"Yeah." Rene replied.

"See you." he said.

The call was then ended, and the nurse chuckled.

"It's adorable, really." he said.

"He cares SO deeply for you." he commented.

"Regardless, how are you feeling?" he asked her.

"You are not wrong." the nurse replied.

"You inhaled an alarming amount of smoke." he told her.

"But in time, you'll heal." he assured her, before sighing.

"But Rene is going to speed the process up, I know it." he then added with a small smile.

"And I know you don't want to be here." he added.

"So we'll gladly look the other way."