Kat opened her eyes to find Angel kneeling beside her hospital bed clasping Kat�s hands in her own.
�Hey, there, Kitten.�
�Hi,� she answered sleepily. �Did you stay with me?�
�When they let me. I wanted you to heal more quickly. How do you feel?�
But Kat was now sitting up and looking across the room at her twin sister.
�Will Mitch be ok?� she asked fearfully.
�Yeah. Your dad said that it was a miracle that she hadn�t died by the time the ambulance got there. I guess she�s just as stubborn as you, Miss I-refuse-to-stop-fighting-even-though-I-shouldn�t-even-be-conscious-at-this-point. Anyway, your dad said you were right � I do have the ability to heal � and that�s part of the reason she�s alive now. Good thinking! I wonder how I missed that for 18 years.�
�Will she wake up?�
�Yeah soon.� Then lightening the mood, �Probably shouldn�t go dancing anytime soon though.�
�Not funny!�
Looking in the direction of Mitch, she noticed a vase of flowers by her bed. Angel, following her eyes, said, �Oh, sorry about the flowers. There was a dozen originally, but I used a few for the corsage and boutonni�re. My parents brought them over when they came.�
Kat didn�t mind that it wasn�t a full dozen, but the blue roses reminded her�.
~*~*~*~*~*~
�Hey, wait� Angel, you�re a Knight?�
�Oh, yeah�� she answered slowly. �I asked my mam-, er, my mother��
�Oh, no, you can call them Papa and Mama, you know. I thought it was really cute.�
�Oh. Ok. Well, I asked Mama and she tried to explain it to me. See, she wanted a son and so she asked Neo-Queen Serenity, who blessed her. Well, she did it so her child would be a Knight. Except, she didn�t bless Papa and using the laws of biology, the father�s genes determine whether the kid is a boy or a girl. So I happened to be a girl, but I�d already been blessed to be a Knight, I guess� Hey Kat, is something wrong?�
Kat had turned away and her eyes were filled with tears again. �It�s just that� I really like having you as my friend. And for once you seemed to be something special � something mine alone. But if you�re a Knight�,� She slammed her fists into the bed. �I just didn�t want to share you yet,� she sobbed.
At first, Angel didn�t know what to say. How could her being a Knight get in the way of their friendship?
She spoke quickly. �Kat, when I became your friend, it wasn�t �cuz you were a Sailor Scout. And it wasn�t �cuz I liked your family. I mean, I�m sure their nice and all, but I don�t know them. I know you. And I like you. For you.� She looked her deep in the eyes. �Kat, when he hit you with that last attack, my heart about stopped. And I knew that no matter what, I wanted to be friends with you. And me being a Knight isn�t going to change that. You can understand that, can�t you.�
~*~*~*~*~*~
After talking for a few hours, Kat had finally fallen asleep again. Angel was pretty exhausted herself. Between fighting and sharing her life force with the twins, Angel probably should�ve gone to bed as soon as the hospital had finished checking her out to make sure she was ok. But she hadn�t wanted to leave Kat and she couldn�t fall asleep while worried about her and Mitch anyway.
But now, with the relief of knowing that Kat was ok, she found that she was pretty drained and realized that she should probably get some rest.
She briefly considered the fact that she had never gone out to tell everyone that Kat was awake, but she couldn�t get up now and tell them, because to do so would disturb Kat, whose head was resting on Angel�s shoulder. Oh well.
She closed her eyes and started to drift off to sleep�.
But then the door opening jolted her awake again.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Kat was awakened as Angel jumped at the sound of the door opening.
It was Jian. Kat reached for Angel�s hand and squeezed it.
�I�m sorry. I didn�t mean to wake you. I wanted to check to see if you guys were ok�.� His voice trailed off as he stared at the floor. Then he said quietly, �I�m sorry, Kat. I know it doesn�t make up for it, but I wanted to say how sorry I am. And I�m glad you�re ok.�
He did look sorry, but then again, he had managed to act like her friend all that time without anyone knowing he really hated her and her family. She couldn�t forgive him, couldn�t trust him. Not yet. �Jian-wa, I-�
To her surprise, Angel came to his defense. �Kat, Neo-Queen Serenity called the hospital this morning and talked to Jian herself. She got the whole story, told him the truth, and has now pardoned him. As soon as he decided to help Mitch, he was freed of the evil that had held him hostage for so long. Your siblings don�t know that he was ever evil, although your parents do, but your dad checked him out and says that he truly has given up his past beliefs. As far as everyone else is concerned, Jian has totally reformed. You guys saved him. Anyway, all he needs now is for you and Mitch to accept him.�
�He almost killed us�,� she said in a small voice.
�Yeah, but Kat, he��
��but he helped save Mitch too,� she finished.
As if hearing her name, Mitch stirred. �Oh, Mitch!� Kat cried.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Mitch opened her eyes and allowed them to come into focus. She wasn�t at the dance, she knew that. Where was she?
�I- Is the dance over? Where- What happened?�
She saw Kat and Angel, who were sitting next to each other on a bed near hers look at each other.
�Uh, Mitch, don�t you remember what happened?�
Mitch was still groggy. She tried to remember it, but the whole night was kinda a blur. �I remember dancing with Jian �.� She realized that he was there next to her bed, looking slightly uncomfortable. �Hey, Jian.�
She finally woke up enough to get suspicious. This looked an awful lot like a hospital. She considered bolting for it, but she hurt too much to hardly even sit up.
�Hey! Am I in the hospital?! What happened?�
Kat looked her straight in the eyes and said, �We were attacked by monsters at the dance. You were knocked unconscious and managed to cut your wrist, silly girl. Don�t you remember?�
�No�.� Suddenly it dawned on her that Kat didn�t seem to mind talking about Sailor Scout in front of the boys. �Uh, Kat, do they know about�?�
