Page 99 of The Fool
“Mm,” she moans, closing her eyes as she tries to talk, but it must be difficult for her.
The nurse comes in after I’ve pressed the ‘call’ button and does the usual checks, all the while grinning between Bea and me.
“Can she have a drink?” I ask.
“Is that what you want, honey?” the nurse asks her, to which Bea nods at the same time as clutching hold of her throat. “Just sip it…here, use the straw.”
Bea sips at the water gratefully, before leaning back onto her pillow. She appears to be a little disorientated but then turns to look at me with the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen. I beam as I grip hold of her hand, feeling beyond excited by the pressure of her fingers as she gifts me with a gentle squeeze.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers to me with a crackly voice, “I guess I flipped a little.”
“You remember what happened?” I smile at her, and she nods, only to find the movement too much to bear. She closes her eyes and winces through the pain.
“How long have I been out of it?” she asks with her eyes still shut tightly.
“Four days,” I tell her. “Bea, I was so frightened I’d lost you. I love you so much, please don’t scare me like that, ever again.”
I bring her hand to my lips and begin kissing it over and over.
“Four days? Wow,” she says with her voice beginning to slur. “I love you…”
She passes out and I begin having heart palpitations; the steady beeping noise of the machine is the only thing keeping me vaguely calm.
“Relax, Mr Carter,” the doctor says as she enters the room, “she’s going to find these episodes pretty tiring, so be prepared for her to fall back to sleep. Her waking should get longer, but for now, be thankful she’s waking at all.”
“Jeez, you’re going to have to set up a bed for me because my heart’s going to give out after all of this.” With relief washing over me, I slam my face inside my hands. The nurse and doctor laugh at my inability to play it cool. “I’m going to update her parents, excuse me.”
_____
Nate
It’s been over a week since Bea woke up and her episodes of being awake are getting longer and longer. There doesn’t seem to be any lasting damage to her, besides her missing spleen, and they’ve even started talking about her getting out of here. I’ve already told her she’s coming home with me, but I think I need to drive the point home. She says she doesn’t want to put me out and begins rambling on about having to take care of an invalid.
“I’ve only just started going to the bathroom by myself,” Bea argues, “I can’t sit at your house all day doing nothing. Especially as you’ll be returning to work. I can’t expect you to then come home and cook and whatnot.”
“Oh, baby, I have someone for all that,” I tell her, which doesn’t seem to be a good argument, for she merely rolls her pretty blue eyes at me.
“Look, Nate, I love that you want to take care of me, but I can’t ask that of you.” She smiles before taking hold of my hand and bringing it up to her cheek, which will always feel warm after having felt it when she was stone cold. “I’m an awful patient.”
Don’t I know it! She’s incredibly impatient and often ends up arguing with everything and everyone. Then she feels guilty and becomes emotional.
“I know that,” I tell her truthfully, earning me a hard stare. “But you’re mine, and I want to take care of you. Who do you think has been by your side each day and night?”
“That’s different,” she mutters.
“How so?”
“Because I had no control over that,” she huffs.
“Well, I guess you have no control over this either,” I argue. She opens her mouth to argue, but when no words come out, I simply plant a quick kiss on her lips, a kiss that soon turns a bit too passionate for a hospital. She grips hold of the back of my head and leans further and further into me, so much so, I have to chuckle into her mouth. “Frustrated, babe?”
“Having you here fussing over me, showing me how much I mean to you; I’m sooo frustrated,” she whispers with eyes that tell me how hungry she is. My cock involuntarily shifts inside my pants. As much as we want this, it makes me nervous because I don’t know how safe it is to engage in any of that stuff, so I force myself out of her grip. She groans with irritation as I back away. It’s a good thing too because right at that moment, Cam walks in with the doctor following behind him.
“So, the good news is we can let you get out of here,” the doctor beams and I hear Bea clapping her hands with excitement from beside me. “Have you decided where you’ll be going?”
“My place, I’ll leave the address-”
“Wait up,” Bea interrupts, “Doctor, how soon can my boyfriend and I…you know?” She then actually winks at her!