*Sephie*
Well after dark, one of the nurses came in and informed us that visiting hours were ending soon and that we would need to leave. I couldn’t help it. I laughed. “I think you should call Dr. Williams and ask him if it’s a good idea for me to leave.” She looked at me like I was a petulant child. I mean, I partially couldn’t blame her. I was too tired to have any sort of tact at that moment. She tried to cop an attitude with me. Everyone but Andrei and Ivan stood up. I took a step toward her, crossing my arms across my chest. “Call Dr. Williams.”
She left the room in a huff and I returned to the side of Ivan’s bed. I felt slightly guilty about torturing him with having to share a bed, but I knew he didn’t feel anything. He didn’t seem to mind.
The nurse came back a few minutes later, her attitude visibly different. She was now overly nice and clearly frightened. She asked us if we’d be needing an extra bed. I put on my best fake smile as I nodded my head yes. She left as quickly as she could. The guys all laughed when she left the room.
“You don’t even need us anymore, gazelle. She’s more scared of you than she is us,” Misha said, yawning in his chair.
“She doesn’t know I’m the goddamn princess.” I mumbled, crossing my arms again across my chest.
A different nurse came in later with an extra bed. I looked at Misha and nodded my head toward the bed for him to lie down. “You’re clearly tired. You can have the first shift. We’ll be quiet.” He looked at everyone else, who all agreed. Viktor, Stephen, and Adrik were fairing better than the rest of us. I was happy making Ivan share, for now. Misha got up and stretched out on the small bed, his legs dangling off the end of the bed.
I laughed. “This is going to be the best night’s sleep you’ve ever had, my giant adorable Russian guardian.”
We were quiet so Misha could sleep. Andrei fell asleep quickly as well. I looked over to find Viktor and Stephen with their eyes closed, their heads leaned back against the wall. Adrik was still concerned about me, and would check on me every so often, but would close his eyes in between. Ivan was awake next to me.
I looked over at him, whispering, “you should sleep, Squishy. I won’t leave. I promise.” He looked at me, the fear in his eyes clearly visible.
“Promise?” he asked. He sounded more vulnerable in that moment than I would have ever imagined he could be.
“Pinky swear, even,” I said, holding my pinky up. He looked at me, puzzled. “Right. Let me introduce you to the pinky swear. It’s the holiest of swears there is. Like completely trumps swearing on all things holy, on your mother’s grave, on your life, all of it. It’s the holiest of holy swears. Like the pope himself can’t even make a pinky swear because he’s not holy enough.”
He chuckled and held his pinky up. I grabbed his pinky with mine. “I pinky swear I will not leave you.”
“Thank you,” he said, a look of relief on his face. He leaned his head back, closing his eyes. I looked over to Adrik, catching him watching our exchange.
I smiled at him, trying to let him know I was okay. He just mouthed “I love you” and closed his eyes again. I leaned my head onto Ivan’s shoulder and closed my eyes.
Nobody got much sleep during the night, but it was better than nothing. The nurses would have to come in every few hours to check on Andrei and Ivan. Whoever was on the extra bed would get up and let someone else have a chance to lie down.
Ivan eventually fell asleep, but had troubled dreams throughout the night. He would fall asleep for a bit and I would relax and start to drift off to sleep, only to feel his body start to jerk. I would just lean close to his ear, whispering to him to let him know I was still there, and he would calm down. I tried to be as quiet as I could, but Viktor caught me calming him down.
Viktor looked at me, with a knowing look. “You’re the only one that’s ever been able to do that. This isn’t the first time we’ve been in the hospital with him. It’s never gone this well. Being here brings up whatever is in his past and every time before, he’s struggled for days with it. They can’t sedate him either. We’ve had to hold him down before to keep him from hurting anybody.”
I sighed. “He has reason to be this way. He told me what happened to him. We should all be seriously impressed that he didn’t turn into a real monster.”
Viktor looked surprised. “He told you? Everything?” I nodded my head. “He’s never told anyone.” He thought for a second, before smiling. “I shouldn’t be surprised.”
I smiled at him, looking from him to Ivan sleeping soundly. I sighed again, “everyone has demons. My demons recognize a few of his and his demons recognize a few of mine. He felt comfortable enough to tell me, I guess.”
The doctor was back early the next morning to check on them both. I think he wanted to release them as soon as possible just to get them out of the hospital more than anything, but I wasn’t going to complain. I didn’t want to be there any longer than absolutely necessary. They both got the green light to leave. Both were instructed to take it easy for a few days. Both had their arms in slings. I’m sure it helped Andrei’s arm feel slightly less painful, but for Ivan, it kept him from overusing his arm and ripping the stitches out. He’d already tried to use it once because he forgot he wasn’t supposed to. It didn’t seem to matter that he was heavily bandaged. He still “forgot” that arm was currently under construction and not usable.
Viktor and Stephen pulled the vehicles to the door. The nurses showed up with two wheelchairs for Andrei and Ivan. I couldn’t help myself again. I laughed at them. “You guys wasted a trip,” I said, as both guys stood up behind me and walked out of the room. Yep, they were a different breed.
Ivan got in the passenger seat, while I climbed in the back, moving over so Adrik could slide in beside me. His arms were immediately around me, pulling me closer to him. He whispered in my ear, “I appreciate why you did it, but I don’t ever want to be apart from you for that long again.” He kissed my temple. I felt my cheeks blush.
We drove to the house, to give Andrei and Ivan a few quiet days. I was happy to be going to the house as well. After I took a nap, I was looking forward to a long walk. My hip was finally feeling almost back to normal, with only slight soreness now and then if I overdid it.
I leaned against Adrik, closing my eyes. Happy to be next to him. Happy that Ivan and Andrei were okay. Happy that we were all together still. Knowing that the storm was coming.
The guys all dispersed to their rooms, but not before I made sure that Andrei and Ivan would be okay on their own. Ivan slid his arm around my shoulders, saying quietly, “I know you barely slept last night because you were busy keeping me calm. You need to sleep for at least a few hours, princess. I’ll be fine.” I looked at him skeptically. He just held up his pinky and grinned. “Go. Your goddamn prince misses you.” He nodded to Adrik and walked toward his room.
I caught Viktor and Misha before they went to their rooms, on either side of Ivan’s room. “If you two hear him struggling again, come get me. I won’t let him fight this alone this time. I don’t care what time it is, come get me. He needs to keep that arm still anyway. If he messes up the doctor’s handiwork, he could bleed to death. Understood?”
They both nodded their heads. Viktor wrapped his giant arm around me. “Ivan is lucky to have you this time. We’re all lucky to have you.” He kissed the top of my head and continued to his room.
I felt Adrik’s arms around me. “How are you feeling, solnishko? Are you sore? Do you want a bath or a shower? You still have Ivan’s blood on you and I would much rather not see you in hospital scrubs,” he had a small smile on his lips as he pulled me toward the back stairs.
I sighed. “Which one will get me to bed faster?” I yawned as we walked up the stairs, finally feeling calm enough that I could sleep.
He laughed beside me. “Shower it is, then.”