Two months earlier

It was a rush. Javiera hasn't had a second to breathe since she and Gonzalo got to the office of Dante Covarrubias this morning. Gross, vile, insane man. The only thought of his slimy, hypocritical face made Javiera stew in her rage. She needed all of her will not to kill him when they caught him red handed, and thank God they had already taken him away when they rescued Flavia and Melissa, or she wouldn't have been able to respond for her actions. Flavia was alive, so the unfortunate girl that had been kept in that basement for years, the one that everyone but her desperate mother stopped looking for three years ago. They weren't fine but they were going to be and this had to be enough. They didn't have time to stop, Javiera didn't have time to fall on her knees and cry her repressed frustration and distress out, she watched the first aid unit take Flavia to the hospital instead, and a piece of her left with them. She put on her best professional face and bit the bullet but deep inside the countdown to when she would have been able to see Flavia again had already started.

They found the body of a child and they didn't know which was better, praying that they finally found Mateo, even if it meant that they were too late and couldn't save him, or hoping that they disinterred one victim more, one more tortured and murdered kid in this country. Everyone turned off the brain, like they were used to when facing the atrocity that their job eventually involves and kept collecting evidence, cataloguing, on autopilot, like they were unconscious robots. Javiera herself didn't say a single word that wasn't strictly indispensable and clenched her teeth until the work was done.

Sunset came, a little too soon, a little too late. Gonzalo barely looked at his colleague and for once he allowed himself to see his long-time friend in that weary face, his right hand person both in the workplace and in personal life. He couldn't find the words to tell her all of it but told her to leave, that they didn't need her anymore.

"Ve a verla" were his words. "Ve a estar con ella" he said with a tired smile.

Javiera didn't give him the chance to repeat himself and left. By the time she entered her car, rage was gone, each fibre of her was careworn and her brain only had enough strength for one thought: Flavia.

5.34 p.m.

A never ending drive at the end of a never ending day led Javiera to the clinic where the Betancourts are. As soon as Miranda sees her she runs in her direction, to hold Javiera in her arms or to be held by her, the inspector isn't sure but she couldn't care less. Flavia's daughter has been crying, Javiera can tell, so she bites the bullet a little longer.

"Como està?" She asks in a worn out but always soft tone.

"Mejor. Me la dejaron ver un rato pero estaba muy cansada. Creo que siga durmiendo" The young woman says and her words settle down somewhere in Javiera's chest.

They sit down, Miranda asking, Javiera doing her best to explain something that hardly makes sense even to her. At some point a nurse approaches and Miranda stands up.

"La señora Betancourt se despertò." She starts, then looks at Javiera and stops.

"¿Usted es de la familia?" she asks because she has to.

Frozen Javiera tries to babble something but Miranda cuts her short "Si, es la novia" she assures and the nurse keeps talking:

"La temperatura corporal volvió a la normalidad, así como el estado de hidratación. Los examen confirmaron una gradual desaparición de los síntomas causados por la lesión en la cabeza pero la paciente ha tenido arcadas. No sabemos si son por el estado de shock o si son por traumatismos craneoencefálicos, así que tendremos que mantenerla en observación al menos hasta mañana."

A part of Javiera is relieved by the news, Flavia is not ready to go home but she is strong and she will pull through.

"Perdón, ¿la podemos ver?" Javiera asks.

"Por supuesto, señora. Se pueden quedar hasta las seis y media" The other woman politely answers and leads the way.

Javiera stops when she notices that Miranda isn't following.

"Andas tú nomás. Yo ya la vi y le va a hacer bien verte y estar sola contigo" Flavia's daughter says and her words are welcome and warm when they hit Javiera right in her chest.

"Gracias" Javiera's smile seemed to tell her.

The inspector's heart is pounding in her lungs like they were an echo chamber and it was the shock wave caused by each beat that led her to Flavia's room, not the muscles of her legs.

Finally the nurse opens the door and lets her in.

Everything is too white, too damn white in this place and when the inspector looks at Flavia in her bed, pale and covered by immaculate sheets, she looks like she was in heaven. She shouldn't be in heaven, not now, not yet. The prospect of eternal beatitude sounds cruel to Javiera, because no matter how selfish, she needs her in this rotten, polluted world a little longer, by her side.

"Hola" The inspector faintly says, in an already broken tone.

"Hola" The purest angel smiles from her hospital bed.

"¿Te sientes mejor?"

Opaque stone blue eyes look down as a weak tongue tries to encourage bloodless lips to utter more words.

"No se como me siento" a voice that vaguely sounds like Flavia says.

Javiera sits down on the bed by her side, takes her hand and it hits her, all of it, all at once so she bursts into tears.

"Javiera" Flavia gasps, concerned, perhaps, guilty.

"Teneba tan miedo." The younger woman cries.

"Pensè que...sabía lo que..." she tosses out. "Intenté no imaginar, no creer pero" she sobs "estaba muerta de miedo, Flavia." She cries and Flavia breaks as well. She could never forgive herself for this. She saw Javiera cry before but it was never like this, now each of her sobs stick a nail in her heart and her tears corrode her skin like they were acyd. Flavia pulls a too weak body down to shelter it in her arms and joins her partner's cry.

The watch hands chase each other on the dial and tears dry out.

"Perdon '' Flavia drawls and kisses Javiera's hand as she sits up again.

"Perdóname porque fui una estupida" "porque no se lo que, no se que quería hacer" she sniffs.

"Prometí que no iba a volver a esa casa y mira donde estoy, otra vez."

"Mira lo que pasó." "Tú me lo pediste, tú me lo pediste porque tú sabia..."

"y yo no te creí, no te creí porque no imaginaba que Dante podría ser capaz de tanto, que podría tener a Mateo...y a esa pobre niña en ese lugar terrible..." "Cuántas cosas le pasaron, mientras yo no me daba cuenta de nada...ni siquiera me puedo imaginar lo que..." Flavia starts to panic and Javiera immediately tries to calm her down.

"No, oyè" "Ya, no piensas en esto ahora" she says and hugs her as she sobs.

But Flavia needs to let things out because it is all too much to bear.

"Lo único que podía pensar era que me estaba muriendo y que tú me iba a encontrar muerta. Pensé en Miranda, ella también no quería que me acercara de nuevo a ese lugar." "Hice tan mal a las dos, a las persona mas importantes en mi vida..." she cries and she is like a border suddenly smashed down by the strength of water.

"Te hice tan mal, mi amor." She says, looking Javiera dead in her eyes. She had never called her like this and it may sound stupid but it means the world to the inspector.

"No pienses en esto ahora. Se acabó." "Tienes que pensar en ti, tienes que estar mejor." She reassures her, tenderly caressing her face.

"El doctor dijo que te vas a quedar aquí un rato más" she adds and Flavia's eyes get filled with tears again. "Dijo que te tienen que observar hasta mañana." Javiera forces herself to say as calmly as possible, even if the thought of leaving Flavia's side again feels almost unbearable; even if the last thing she wishes is leaving her alone for the whole night, let alone tonight, after everything that happened.

"No, no me quiero quedar aquí."

"Ya, mi amor. No digas así. Mañana voy a estar aquí de nuevo, no te voy a dejar sola ni un minuto.¿Vale?"

"Por favor no te vayas" Flavia almost cries, naif as it is, childish perhaps but Flavia is tired, too tired to think, to understand, to care about rules and protocols, to even consider anything but the pain compressing her chest and a way to get rid of it. She needs to be childish, she needs to be selfish and Javiera feels the pressure of her voice widening the cracks in her core.

"No puedo estar aquí, mi amor. Tú sabes que no puedo. Tienes que esperar y tienes que ser fuerte ¿si?"

Javiera wants Flavia to hear her words but the small, broken creature before her eyes doesn't go any close to the strong, brave woman that blossomed in her hand, and this sight is too much to take.

"No" the pale reflection of Flavia murmured "No quiero. He sido fuerte hasta ahora y ya no puedo. Javiera, yo no aguanto más." She explodes, almost with no voice but somehow louder than the sound of the inspector's heart falling to pieces.

"Ya no quiero ser fuerte y ya no quiero estar aquí" She lets out despite the lump in her throat, like using the last pinch of strength left in her body to vomit all of her sorrow out, in what seems like a desperate attempt to save herself from drowning.

"Llévame a casa" is her last, hopeless request, senseless as it is, but honest. There is nothing that Flavia yearns for more than leaving this hell behind, stop being scared, stop feeling responsible, guilty. She is exhausted and the only thing holding her from giving up is the hope of finally going home, wherever it is, with Javiera. There's nothing she wishes more than disappearing in her arms and forgetting about the world. This stubborn dream is what keeps her alive, along with the distant, pale desire of being able to let go, to heal, eventually.

Javiera knows it all too well and tries to give her a foretaste of home by offering the cradle between her own chest and arms. Once again it feels like holding a scared little bird in her embrace, with both its wings broken, with the echo of gunshots in its ears. Once again Javiera is almost afraid that if she is not careful she might kill Flavia by holding her too tight.

"Sì, mi amor. Te llevo a casa, pronto. Te lo prometo." The inspector forces herself to speak. "Pero ahora tienes que estar aquí." She says as caressing her hair. "Ahora tenemos que estar seguros que estás bien ¿Vale?"

Flavia doesn't answer but keeps weeping in her arms.

"No te quiero perder, Flavia. No te puedo perder."

All of a sudden Flavia stops crying and stares at Javiera, now tensed in front of her.

"Si alguien me hubiera dicho hace dos meses que un día me habría sentido así, habría pensado que estaba loco." The inspector nervously giggles, apparently looking for the right words to utter on her own hands or on the one they were holding.

"Ahora parece que la que está loca soy yo, y probablemente es verdad, pero me da lo mismo." She adds, and she doesn't mind if she sounds ridiculous, if she is saying it to a woman that a few months before tonight she didn't even know existed.

"Prefiero estar loca que pasar el resto de mi vida sin tí." The inspector's heart lets out and her mouth helps it with the task.

Flavia looks up, her mind fuzzy, her body numb. The things Javiera is saying have a precise weight, some would say that it is the heat of the moment but somehow she knows it is not, somehow she feels the other woman's intentions, knows she means every single word.

A part of her can hear it coming:

"Casate conmigo, Flavia" Javiera's trembling voice asks and Flavia's eyes go wide.

"Que?" "En serio?" She exhales. She can't believe she heard it right, but Javiera doesn't fall.

There is no time to shy away, this is the most senseless thing she has ever done in her life but it feels right, for everything feels right with Flavia. She did not lie, the thought of losing this woman forever scared her to death, and it was absurd, yes, but unmistakable. Flavia Betancourt took her hearth, some would say, but Javiera knows that she took much more and now she can't let go. At this point she could not imagine a future without her. It could sound sudden, if said like this, but the fact is that drop by drop Flavia turned her life upside-down, day by day they built a life they could inhabit together and together only, a life that was cut for them and the void she would leave behind would bring her name forever. The fact is that Javiera has never felt something so strong and she is not ready to do without it, she feels like she will never be.

"Si, en serio" "Puede parecer temprano, lo sé, a mí también me parece absurdo, pero no quiero alejarme de ti nunca más. Estoy segura."

With sweeter tears in her eyes Flavia looks at her and doesn't speak.

Javiera clears her voice, takes a deep breath and plays her final hand, the most important of her life.

"Flavia Betancourt, quieres ser mi mujer?" She asks and the sparkle in her eyes turns on every light in this world.

Maybe one day this precious woman will stop surprising her, perhaps one day Flavia will know the brightest joy so that new ones will feel a little paler. Or maybe not. Maybe it will always be like this, one day better than the previous, one day a little sunnier, a little happier until the end. Flavia doesn't know and doesn't need to know, the only thing she has to do is give it a go, try and see. She will look back at this moment someday and she doesn't want the future herself to regret a single thing more.

"Si." Flavia nods repeatedly.

"Quiero ser tu mujer y quiero pasar el resto de mi vida contigo." She sniffs and a couple of warm tears fall at the sides of her smiling lips.

Javiera is in her arms again and this time she knows that it will be forever, or at least that they are both willing to try.

"Linda" Javiera whispers as drying the face she loves with the tip of her fingers as soon as she pulls back.

Flavia's eyes look bluer after all those tears, look lighter now that the pain is leaving.

Like all of the best vows they seal it with a kiss, with the silent, devoted promise of eternity, if this word means something here in this land of mortals. This is the point perhaps, life is too fragile, too short to hide, to doubt, to fear, to simply wait.

Life is too short and Javiera wants to spend it on Flavia's lips, on the tip of her nose, on her chest, in her eyes, those gorgeous eyes.

A knock on the door calls the two women back to the hospital room, so they pull back. The nurse announces the end of the visiting time so they have to say goodbye.

"Chao mi amor, nos vemos mañana. Descansas" Javiera whispers. One last kiss and she follows the nurse outside.

Flavia reluctantly lets her hand go, she watches her now soon-to-be wife walk out the door and cries. She doesn't even know why, she will probably know some day, but not tonight, now she can only think about how much she would love to be in room 24, in Javiera's arms.