“Of course, and I hope you know that this conversation won’t be repeated. Plus, I understand if you don’t want to go to the Buddies thing. But you’ve done so much for people with special needs, and I think it would be good for you to get some recognition.”

He smiled. “I don’t need it. I just want my people to be happy.”

“You’re an amazing man, Jo.”

“I have a great owner who sets the bar high,” he replied, and he knew she was smiling.

“Well, thank you.” Her words were dripping with her thick accent, which meant she was smiling big. “Go on, go check on your resident.”

“Thank you.”

When he hung up the phone, he looked over as Jensen shook his head. “I can’t believe you told her.”

“I had to. I’ve got to get back. I want to see Rodney.”

Jensen gave him a knowing look. “And you want to be there for Brie.”

He nodded, Vaughn’s heart full of worry for her. She was holding together like the badass she was, but he wanted to be there. He wanted to hold her and give her the support she needed. “Yeah.” When Jensen started laughing, Vaughn looked up from his phone, pausing in buying the plane ticket he had on hold. “What?”

“Nothing, I just never thought I’d see the day when you fell for someone again.”

Vaughn scoffed. “I care for her. I wouldn’t say that meant I loved her.”

Rolling his eyes, Jensen chuckled. “And when you own up to it, things will be so much easier. On you and everyone else, especially her.”

But instead of giving light to his best friend’s words, he hit buy on the ticket he had picked. Yeah, there were emotions inside of him he didn’t understand, nor did he want to understand. Because if he did, they might scare him, and he was happy with how things were. Plus, it didn’t matter what everyone else thought about how he felt. He knew what he felt, and Brie was important.

And all he cared about at that moment was getting home to her.

When Vaughn reached the ICU, it was almost four in the morning. He was dead on his feet. Though, he had caught a few hours of sleep on the plane. But he had been so worried about what was going on at the hospital and that he might miss something on the plane. He hadn’t wanted to tell Brie he was coming. He knew she would try to talk him out of it because she wouldn’t want to mess with his career, so it worried him that she might try to reach him while he was flying to her. When he landed, though, there were a few texts that made his stomach drop.

Brie: They’re for sure waking him in the morning.

Brie: What if he doesn’t wake up?

Brie: I tried calling you. I guess you’re sleeping.

Brie: Okay. Yeah, I guess, call me in the morning.

Each message hurt him a bit, and he didn’t understand why they did. He was doing everything to get there. He couldn’t do it all, but fucking hell, he wanted to.

For her.

Ignoring everything that was swirling inside of him, he made it to Rodney’s room after verifying with the nurse where he was. Thankfully, he had his NateWay ID so he could get in as a caregiver, or they would have made him go home. Or he would have had to call Brie, which he didn’t want to do. He was glad he hadn’t when he reached Rodney’s room. Curled up in the chair beside her brother, Brie held Rodney’s hand as she slept with her head on the bed. She was wearing sweats and a tee that he recognized as the one he had left at her apartment a few nights ago.

His heart couldn’t take it, and soon he crossed the room, picking her up into his arms with ease and then sitting down with her in his lap as she woke, her eyes widening. “Vaughn.”

“Hey, baby.”

“You’re here?”

“I am. Shh, go back to sleep.”

As she gazed into his eyes, her own filling with tears, she shook her head. “How?”

“I told Elli I had to be here.”

“You did?”

He nodded, a grin pulling at the side of his mouth. “Yeah, for my resident who had a heart problem.”

Her eyes widened even more. “You told her about NateWay?”

“I did, I knew I had to be here.”

“I can’t believe you came.”

He smiled. “Why? Didn’t I say I was here for you?”

“But the game—”

“I’ll make it. I have to leave tomorrow morning, but I’m here until then. Right here—with you.”

Her lips started to quiver as her eyes filled with more tears. “Do you understand how much this means to me right now?”

Leaning his head to hers, he shrugged. “Well, since I’m so amazing and all, I’m sure a lot.”

A sob escaped her lips, and she covered her mouth before wrapping her other arm around him and nuzzling her head into his neck. “You’re such an asshole.”

“I know.”

“But it’s endearing.”

“I think you’re the only one who would say that.”

He held her tightly as she cried, a little laugh coming from her. He smiled as he moved his nose along her hair, his eyes falling shut. “It’s okay, Soledad. Don’t cry, I’m here.”

“I needed you,” she whispered. “So bad.”

“I know, I’m here.”

Her body shook with her cries as he placed kisses along her temple. She pulled back to look at him, her wide blue eyes full of tears as they continued to rush down her beautiful face. He reached up, wiping them away with his thumbs as he held her gaze. Her eyes were so full of an emotion that scared him more than he cared to admit, and he discovered that his friends weren’t just giving him shit. She might love him, and it scared him that she was about to utter the words that would probably stun him stupid.

Vaughn wanted to beg her not to say the words. That everything was perfect as it was. They were happy. There was no reason to put those three words out there because then, then it meant that someone could get hurt. He wasn’t sure he could say them back, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care. His heart skipped beats regularly just by staring into her blue depths. But love… Fuck, it was so uncertain. And something as precious as love could shatter in an instant, and he didn’t want that.

He just wanted them.

He didn’t want to be the fools who rushed in. He had been there before, and now he wanted them to take their time. He wanted to enjoy them; he wanted this to work so fucking bad. It worried him as he started into her eyes, holding her sweet face, that the moment she said them, she would expect him to. And when he couldn’t, she’d leave. Then he would be heartbroken. Again.