*Sephie*
After my midnight walk and snack, I ended up falling asleep for a few hours again. I was woken up by one the nurses coming in yet again to check on me. The guys were still asleep, Adrik was only pretending to be asleep next to me. I could feel his thumb tracing circles on my back under his sweatshirt. He was growing impatient with the constant interruptions to his sleep. I couldn’t blame him. We all were.
The nurse noticed I was awake. “How are you feeling?” she asked.
“I’m okay,” I said quietly.
“You’re still able to breathe normally?” I nodded my head. She glanced around at the guys, checking to see if they were still sleeping. “Can I ask you a question?” she asked quietly. I nodded my head again, curious as to what she wanted to know. “Are you the girl that kept that guy from killing the doctor and the nurses in the ER a few months ago?”
I smiled, once again trying not to laugh. I nodded my head again. “You heard about that?” I asked.
Her eyes went wide. “The entire hospital has heard about that,” she said. “You’re a legend. None of us know how you did it. I worked a shift with one of the nurses who was in the ER when they were trying to sedate him. She said she’s never seen anything like it in her life. Nothing worked. They gave him enough to kill a horse and he just kept getting up. They thought he was on some new kind of drug nobody had seen yet. She was scared for her life, then you showed up. She said you just whispered something to him and he laid there, perfectly still. There are plenty of theories about what happened, but nobody can come up with a viable answer.”
I took as deep of a breath as I could. “He wasn’t on drugs. And he’s not a monster. He’s one of my favorite people.” I sighed. “I don’t have any special powers, either. I simply accept him for who he is. Everyone has demons. He has more than most people, and for good reason. He’s been through things no human should have to endure. But I love him for it. I love all his broken parts and pieces because they still make the man that would readily give his life to save mine. Sometimes people who’ve been through serious trauma need an anchor in the storms of their psyche. I’m that for him. And it’s not something that you’re going to be able to scientifically explain, either. Science is the death of magic and certain things are only explained by magic.”
She looked somewhat perplexed by my explanation, like her brain couldn’t comprehend my words. I held her gaze until she got frustrated and left. When he heard the door click, Adrik said quietly, “she 100% thinks you’re a witch now.” It caught me so off-guard that I laughed, which quickly turned to me cursing as softly as I could so as not to wake the guys. He opened his eyes, looking at his watch. “It’s close enough for your next superprofen that I think it’s okay if you take it now. You clearly need it, witch,” he said, grinning at me.
“Stop making me laugh. It fucking hurts,” I said, holding my ribs with my good arm. I smiled at him, still grinning at me, then said, “okay, don’t stop. I love it. And I love you, witch lover.”
Adrik moved slowly, so as not to hurt me. He pulled his arm that was around me back to him and propped himself up on his elbow. He was still smiling at me as he leaned closer to me and kissed me gently. His lips lingered on mine and I found myself wanting more. I parted my lips, taking his top lip between mine softly. His palm rested against my face, his thumb tracing lightly against my bruised cheek. I leaned into his hand, wanting desperately to not be in pain so I could kiss him the way I wanted to. I felt him smile against my lips. “Me too, solnishko. Me too,” he said as he got up to get my next dose of superprofen and some water. “Are you hungry again?” he asked as he walked back to me.
“No, I’m okay. It works faster if I don’t eat anyway,” I said. Adrik clicked his tongue at me. “Do you have more pain than usual?” he asked, climbing back into the tiny hospital bed with me.
“It’s nothing specific. My everything hurts. This bed sucks. I’m cold. I want to shower, but I still haven’t figured out how that’s going to work with this thing keeping my arm strapped down. And I want real food. And I want to leave. Okay, so that was more specific than originally thought,” I said, smiling at him.
Adrik glanced at his watch. “I think you’ll be able to leave in a few hours. I wanted to make sure your lung was okay before I took you home. That’s not something we can fix or help with. But it seems like you’re doing well without the chest tube, so I think the doctor will release you. If not, I think he can be persuaded. I’m very persuasive when I need to be,” he said, sliding his arm around me gently. I laughed softly at him. “Incredibly persuasive,” I said as I laid my head as far onto his shoulder and chest as I could manage.
The doctor was back early that morning, which I was happy for. “How are you feeling this morning?” he asked.
“Like I want to go home,” I said. I might’ve been grumpy, so it came across a little harsher than I meant for it to.
Dr. Williams laughed. “How has your breathing been? Still no wheezing? No sharp pains?”
“Only when I laugh, but otherwise I can breathe as well as anybody with five broken ribs can, so I should be able to leave,” I said. The guys laughed at me, but I knew they were just as ready to leave as I was.
“I want to take a few x-rays before you leave, just to make sure,” Dr. Williams said. “I’ll schedule them for later today and you’ll be able to go home tonight.”
“Or, hear me out here, here’s an alternate plan. You do them now and I leave after. I like my plan better.”
“I like her plan better too, doc. I think you should go with her plan,” Adrik said, seriously. Just for emphasis, every one of the guys stood up, arms crossed across their chests. They didn’t say a word, but it was enough to make Dr. Williams understand.
“It’s a good plan. We’ll go with your plan. I’ll have the nurse come get you right away,” he said, leaving the room quickly.
Once the door closed behind him, I said. “I can’t tell you how much I love you all right in this very moment.”
“You’ll heal faster at home, princess. I know you’re making the best of it, but you’re not happy here. That’s going to delay you getting better,” Ivan said.
“And you clearly need some real food to make you less cranky,” Andrei said, grinning at me.
“I do. That’s a real thing. I know you guys would like to go home as well. There’s no reason you all should suffer just because I’m suffering,” I said.
“Seph, we’re not going anywhere without you. You know that. This was probably the best hospital stay we’ve ever had, if I’m being honest. You make everything better,” Stephen said, his sweet smile stretched across his face.
The nurse came in to fetch me for the x-rays. Andrei and Misha got up to help me out of bed, which surprised the nurse. “Oh, that’s handy,” she said.
“Perks of being a princess,” I said. They all laughed, but she couldn’t tell that I wasn’t serious. I didn’t bother to elaborate, either. I really am cranky.
Adrik stayed beside me, offering his arm for me to lean on as we walked slowly to the elevator. The guys insisted on coming with us, as well, but stayed outside the x-ray room. Dr. Williams was there to take the x-rays of my lung to make sure there was no extra fluid after removing the chest tube. “Okay, so this is going to be uncomfortable because I have to move your arm, but I’ll be as quick as possible. I need you to lay on the table. It’ll give more support for your shoulder once I take it out of the sling,” he said. Adrik picked me up without a word and gently set me on the table. He helped me lay down slowly before moving out of the way so Dr. Williams could put me in the correct position for the x-ray.
When he released my arm from the sling and moved it away from my body, I had shooting pains in my shoulder, down to my hip. I wanted to scream, but I wanted to go home more, so I somehow managed to hold it in. When Dr. Williams walked away there were tears streaming down my face. I held still while he took the x-rays. Adrik walked to the table after Dr. Williams was done, before he walked back out, and wiped the tears from my face gently. He looked pained. He said, in Russian, “I felt that too. I know how much pain you’re in.” Dr. Williams came back to strap my arm in the sling once again. As soon as he moved it again, more shooting pain in my shoulder. This time, I heard Adrik inhale sharply. I was expecting it this time, so I was more prepared, but it didn’t hurt any less. Once Dr. Williams was done, Adrik picked me up, the pained look still on his face. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly in Russian. “I didn’t mean to share that with you.”
“What did I tell you about apologizing to me?” he said, carrying me out of the room. “I love you. All of you. All the time.”
“I’ll have the x-rays in a few minutes,” Dr. Williams called after us. The guys looked worried when Adrik carried me out.