Hello lovely readers!
Well I just wrote this entire update while sitting on the couch with my roommates, drinking coffee and fucking around on our laptops. Well, I was writing the whole time...but J and K were reading aloud from their favorite blogs, looking up random shit on wikipedia (you can't wikipedia craigslist! that's cyber-incest!) and playing weird animation shorts on YouTube. Basically we are having the perfect Sunday. And it's not even over yet :) I should probably tell you all that this chapter has a mild angst/drama warning...I didn't intend to go there when I started out-- and y'all know my stories are mostly light and fluffy-- but sometimes you don't know where a story is headed until you get there. Don't worry, though, everything will always work out just fine for our girls in my world :) Enjoy!
Really
Chapter 4
By JewWitch
Ashley waited until noon to call Spencer's cell the next day. She would've stayed at Spencer's house all weekend if she could; she'd stay forever if she could, that had been no joke when she said it. But she'd already been wearing the same clothes (and the same underwear) for two days by that point, and felt that after all the leeway Spencer's parents had allowed them both in the last 36 hours, she really ought to give the some positive reinforcement by peaceing out at least for a little while.
"Hello?" Spencer's voice sounded sleepy and gravelly, and Ashley immediately regretted leaving.
"I woke you up, didn't I?" she asked anxiously.
"Yeah, but it's okay," Spencer murmured. "I'd rather hear your voice than sleep." She coughed, a horrible, bone-rattling cough, and Ashley winced in sympathy.
"Baby, you sound awful," she groaned. "Want me to come over and feed you some chicken soup?"
"That sounds great...but I'm not actually at home right now."
"Oh, yeah? What, did you decide to go out for a mani/pedi?" Ashley joked, snickering. Spencer didn't answer right away.
"...Don't freak out, okay?"
"Spencer." Ashley's heart began to beat very fast. "Where are you?"
"I'm, um, in the hospital."
Ashley almost took out a cooper-mini on the drive across the city, parking her car illegally in the loading zone by the hospital's main entrance and running all the way to the admittance desk. When she finally came skidding to a halt at the door to Spencer's room, she was severely out of breath. There were Mr. Carlin, Clay and Glen, talking quietly in hard plastic chairs, while a pale but peaceful-looking Spencer slept in the crisp white hospital bed. She still looked sick-- there were dark, bluish-purple circles under her eyes-- but the terrified visions Ashley had had in the car of Spencer hooked up to all kinds of scary machinery with beeps and ventilators had, mercifully, not come to pass. The only scary thing in the room were the thin breathing tubes up Spencer's nose; as soon as Ashley's eyes landed on them, her eyes filled with tears.
"Oh my god," she whispered, pressing a hand to her mouth to stop herself from bursting into tears and waking Spencer up again.
"Ashley." Mr. Carlin stood with his trademark reassuring grin firmly in place. "She's fine, she's just resting, okay?" Silent tears spilled down Ashley's face, and Mr. Carlin wrapped her in a bear-hug. "It's really not as bad as it looks," he promised.
"What, what happened?" Ashley sniffed, swiping the back of her hand across her eyes.
"She had an asthma attack in the middle of the night, but she's breathing fine now...we're going home in a couple of hours."
"What?" Ashley blinked, confused. "I didn't even know Spencer had asthma."
"Neither did we," Clay assured her, getting up and laying a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We were scared shitless, believe me."
"Apparently it's not uncommon for these things to develop in adolescence, especially after experiencing a major climate change like moving to smoggy LA...have you ever noticed her coughing at night, or in her sleep, when you've been together?" Ashley sniffed, trying to pull herself together and think rationally.
"Sometimes," she said slowly, a lead weight of guilt dropping into her stomach. Had she missed something important, something that could've saved Spencer from this suffering? "But she never...I mean, she could always breathe okay."
"That sounds about right," Arthur nodded. "Paula said it can come on very gradually, and it might have been so mild that we wouldn't even notice...this bug just got her real bad, and kicked it all up. But now that we know what we're dealing with, it's all under control...we've got some meds she'll have to start taking..."
"I'll make sure she takes them every day," Ashley said in a rush, her eyes fixed on the still, frail form of her girlfriend in the bed.
"She's going to be fine, Ashley," Arthur said again, patting her back and pushing her toward the chair he'd just vacated. She sat, hesitantly reaching out and taking Spencer's limp hand in both of hers. Her touch was very light, but Spencer stirred as soon as Ashley's hand took hers, her eyes cracking open and settling on her girlfriend with a weak, sleepy smile.
"Hey," she mumbled, blinking to clear the sleep from her eyes.
"Hey, angel," Ashley said quietly, drawing Spencer's hand up and kissing her palm. Spencer traced her fingers across Ashley's cheek. They were vaguely aware of Spencer's dad asking her brothers to go get a cup of coffee with him; their eyes were glued to each other.
"Don't cry, Ash," Spencer smiled sweetly. The hand Ashley held against her cheek was still gently wiping away her tears. "I'm okay."
"You scared me real bad, baby," Ashley whispered, pulling Spencer's hand away from her face and laying a slow path of kisses up her arm, from the inside of her wrist to the soft skin of her inner forearm, then her shoulder, then her forehead.
"I'm sorry."
"No, I didn't mean-- don't be sorry," Ashley sniffed, sitting back up and wiping away her tears hastily. "I should be the one comforting you, not the other way around. You're the one lying in the hospital bed."
"I'm okay, Ash, really," Spencer said quietly, giving the hand that held hers a light squeeze.
"What happened?" Ashley asked urgently, smoothing back a lock of Spencer's hair with her free hand. Spencer shrugged.
"I woke up coughing in the middle of the night, and just...couldn't stop."
"God..." Ashley whispered, willing herself not to cry again as the image of her girlfriend fighting to breathe rushed into her head. "That must have been so scary."
"Yeah, it was," Spencer admitted, rubbing her nose awkwardly around the oxygen tubes with a sniff. "I kept thinking, I'll catch my breath after the next one...after the next one..."
"I'm so sorry I wasn't there."
"Why?" Spencer blinked, raising her eyebrows. "You couldn't have done anything."
"I could have gotten your parents faster..."
"They couldn't do anything, either. That's why we had to come to the hospital. But it's fine now, I've got some pills I have to take every day and a rescue inhaler, so if it happens again, it won't be so scary." Spencer smiled encouragingly. Ashley blinked, and climbed into the narrow hospital bed next to her, wrapping one arm around her girlfriend's slim waist and gently rubbing her stomach, kissing her temple and nuzzling her nose into the soft blond hair. Spencer sighed contentedly.
"Don't you ever stop breathing again, okay?" Ashley mumbled into Spencer's hair.
"Never again," Spencer promised, resting a hand on top of Ashley's over her stomach. They stayed that way for a few minutes, soaking up the comfort of each other's presence, warm and whole and solid. "Ash?" Spencer murmured eventually.
"Hmm?"
"Could you get me some water?"
"Of course," Ashley nodded hastily, scrambling out of the bed and finding the pitcher of water on the bedside table, pouring some into the empty cup that sat next to it. Bringing it back to the bed, Ashley sat on her heels next to Spencer and slipped a hand behind her shoulders, helping her sit up a little so she could drink.
"Thanks," Spencer smiled gratefully, laying back against the pillows with a look of utter exhaustion.
"Sure," Ashley smiled back encouragingly, replacing the cup on the table and squeezing Spencer's leg. "So what happens now?"
"Mom's coming back to run some more tests...then if everything looks how she wants it to, we can go home. Once I get over this bug, as long as I take my pills, Mom says I probably won't even notice I have asthma."
"And you'll have me as your personal slave for as long as it takes for you to feel one hundred percent better," Ashley said firmly, sitting up slightly straighter on the bed.
"Hmm...that doesn't sound so bad," Spencer grinned. "What would it take to get you to be my personal slave when I'm not...huhhh..." Spencer pulled her hand from Ashley's, pinching her nose as her breath caught and her face scrunched up, clearly fighting to hold in a sneeze. She held her breath for a few seconds, then let it out. "Huh," she sniffed, again attempting to scratch her nose around her breathing tubes awkwardly.
"Okay?" Ashley asked anxiously.
"Uh-huh," Spencer nodded sheepishly. "Just didn't want to get boogers all over these stupid tubes." She rolled her eyes, and Ashley laughed weakly, knowing Spencer was trying to keep the mood light so she wouldn't worry any more than she already had. "So, back to the personal slave question..." Spencer grinned evilly, and Ashley laughed again, a real laugh this time. Then Spencer's nose scrunched up again, and the sneeze she'd just beaten back tumbled out, though she clenched her whole upper body to keep her breath from getting away from her, so instead of her usual huge sneeze, all that came out was a stifled K'shhh!
"Bless you, baby," Ashley said automatically, having become very used to saying these words over the last 2 days. Spencer sniffled, a strangely thick, wet sound.
"Thadks," she mumbled. When she took her hands away from her face, they were glistening with bright, tomato-red blood.
"Jesus!" Ashley gasped, leaping up from the bed as panic flooded through her body.
"Aw, fuck," Spencer groaned, pulling the bloody tubes out of her dripping nose and throwing them aside.
"Spence, don't! You need that!"
"Well I cad't breathe through it dow, cad I?" Spencer snapped, holding her head back and pinching her nose shut with one hand. "Cad you give be a kleedex, please?" Ashley grabbed the box of tissues and threw it into Spencer's lap, then bolted from the room out into the hall, accosting the first nurse she found and demanding she page Dr. Carlin immediately to her daughter's room. When Paula rushed in a few minutes later, she looked nearly as anxious as Ashley, who was tilting Spencer's chin up for her while Spencer told her again through a handful of bloody kleenex that she was fine.
"Spence, what happened?" Paula asked, immediately sweeping in and moving both girls' hands away so she could see Spencer's face. Ashley backed off without being asked, wanting Paula to have all the elbow room she needed to help Spencer.
"Nothing happened," Spencer said irritably, her voice sounding normal again now that the bleeding had stopped. "I sneezed. I got a nosebleed. I'm not dying or anything."
"Okay...you probably just got a little nick from the oxygen tube when you sneezed. It's not uncommon. How's your breathing feel now, honey?"
"Fine," Spencer said firmly, taking a fresh kleenex and attempting to wipe the blood from her face.
"Okay, we can probably just leave the tubes out now."
"Are you sure?" Ashley asked in an unnaturally high-pitched voice. Paula and Spencer both looked over at her; she was as pale as if she'd been the one with the nosebleed, and she had a bloody handprint on her forearm where Spencer had rested her hand when Ashley had insisted on holding her head back to help stop the bleeding. She was shaking from head to foot.
"Yes, honey, I'm sure," Paula said gently, going over to Ashley and squeezing her shoulder. "Come sit down before you pass out." Numbly, Ashley let Paula steer her back to the chair next to Spencer's bed.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Ashley asked again, her brown eyes filling with tears.
"I'm okay, Ash," Spencer repeated, smiling despite the blood still smeared above her lip. "I swear I'm okay." Ashley nodded, tears spilling down her cheeks. Get it together, she commanded herself angrily. You're supposed to be helping, you asshole! She gave Spencer a weak smile, and Spencer squeezed her hand.
"Well as long as I'm here, we might as well finish up those tests...then Dad can take you home, okay, honey?" Paula bustled over to where Spencer's chart hung at the foot of the bed, and began makes notes.
"'Kay," Spencer nodded, leaning back against the pillows in obvious exhaustion.
"Do you want Ashley to stay?"
"Yeah, I do." Ashley looked up and caught Spencer's eye, and they smiled at each other. Ashley's heart rate began to slow from its frenetic pounding. She sat quietly while Paula wheeled over a complicated breathing apparatus connected to a computer monitor, instructing Spencer to take a deep breath in and then breathe out as hard as she could. The screen showed her lung capacity, though the chart was far too complicated for Ashley to make sense of it. Spencer had to repeat this exercise three times, then another three after taking a puff on her new inhaler. Paula seemed happy with the results, and told them both she would be back with Spencer's dad after she'd signed the discharge papers.
"Ashley, can you help Spence get dressed so she'll be ready to go when her dad gets back?" Ashley and Spencer both stared at Paula in disbelief for several seconds.
"Uhh...yeah, of course," Ashley said slowly, blinking bemusedly. Spencer's face was a total blank as her mother kissed her forehead, and briskly walked out without looking back.
"What the freakin' hell was that?" Ashley gaped after Paula had gone.
"That...was my mom acknowledging that you're the only person who gets to see me naked, so you're the one I'd want to have help me get dressed," Spencer said in obvious amazement.
"Wow," Ashley murmured, staring off blankly into space.
"Yeah," Spencer nodded. After a pause, she added, "plus...she probably knows I'm not in any shape to take advantage of you getting me naked right now." Ashley shook herself out of her daze, grinning fiendishly at Spencer and wiggling her eyebrows.
"Personal. Slave. Effective immediately...and indefinitely."
"Yay," Spencer smirked. "Well c'mon, slave-girl, get me out of this hospital gown." She held up her arms, grinning, and Ashley happily reached out to obey.
