Charlotte frowned, and watched him for a moment. She was still startled and confused, but she didn't want to press.

_______

Josh smiled weakly, tears spilling down his cheeks. He reached up and wiped them away quickly, but he couldn't stop a few from dropping onto Erin's shoulder. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I don't know what's gotten into me..." 

He pressed his lips into a tight line, and struggled to stop trembling. He let his breath out slowly, counting down from ten in his mind slowly. Calm down...calm down... His eyes flickered open again, and he tightened his arms around her. 

"Doesn't matter if you wanted to or not," Josh said softly. "I don't think I'd let you." He considered loosening his grip on her for a moment, but panic and fear flashed through his mind so quickly he forgot all about it.

More tears sprang to his eyes, but he blinked them back, not wanting to look weak in front of her. He paused. Why the hell should he care about looking weak in front of Erin? Josh stiffled a sigh and set his head on her shoulder, breathing slowly. But his heart thundered in his chest.

{ Sorry for the late response; been grounded. }

{ Still grounded 8D Sneaking onnnnnn~ }

Josh lapsed into silent for what seemed like hours. He was thinking; you could tell from the square of his shoulders and the distant look in his eyes. "Nothing," he said quietly. "Everything is...numb. Cold." 

He hadn't told Erin what had happened yet, but he already felt like she knew. Lightning flashed across the sky again, lighting up the air around them. Thunder rolled overhead like the pounding of a drum. 

He loosened his grip on her, slipping one arm under her knees. Josh scooped her into his arms, clutching Erin against his chest like she was his most precious possession. He'd never had a problem with being close to people, but he felt...different around Erin.

Every sense in his body was hyper aware, every hair stood on end and every shadow that moved was a threat. Sometimes he wondered if the fierce protectiveness was from the wolf side of him; but he could never tell. 

Right now, he was feeling exactly how he said he was. Numb and cold. Josh's senses weren't hyper aware. Rather than that, he felt...groggy and weighed down, like someone was pinning him under a house or something.

__________________

Charlotte sucked in a breath and gripped his hand tightly. She kept her eyes outside the window in dear of staring at Derek again. Well, rather, being caught staring at him again. It was kind of fun to stare at Derek. He was so handsome and... She snapped out of her mini-rant and blushed.

Charlotte stepped out, a strand of blond hair falling in front of her eyes. "Thanks," she said breathlessly as she took his hand again. The last of the blush was starting to fade off of her cheeks.

{ un-grounded !!! :D }

{ nom }

Jace was blinded by the harsh light of the hospital. As people rushed around him and picked him up, set him down and jabbed him with needles, he felt overwhelmed. He couldn't feel Angel's presence, the pain in his chest or the headache he was starting to get. Everything was starting to blurr together.

{ -snuggle- :c }

Jace only made a short noise that sounded like a harr-umph. He wanted to tell Angel to stop whining and that he'd be fine; but he couldn't seem to figure out how to speak just then. Everything inside him was a garbled up mess of confusion. So he was stuck laying there and simering.

Derek smiled, walking her to the ticket booth, and buying the tickts. (Fail. <33 )