Here's Quinn's POV:
Waking up here is a lot different from what it felt like when I was home. I couldn't really move my body because it was so tired. Another hindrance would be the tubes that were attached to my body. I looked around the room, which was still dark. It was probably the middle of the night already. I thought about what Dr. Lopez had told me before I fell asleep. "You can wake me up if you ever need anything, even if you're just bored." Should I really wake her, or would it be better to try falling asleep again? I take the latter option and tried to wait for sleep to consume me. It never happened. I tried making small sounds just to see if Dr. Lopez was a light or deep sleeper. It turns out that she was a light sleeper, because she moved whenever I made some noise. Dr. Lopez looks over at the bed and sees that I'm not lying down, but sitting up against the wall instead.
"Are you ok sweetie?" Dr. Lopez asked, concern evident in her voice.
"Yeah. I tried to fall asleep again, but it didn't work," I explained.
Dr. Lopez quickly stood up and turned on a little light so that she could see my face. "Look at me, honey."
I didn't react, because I felt so stupid for not being able to do such a simple thing. I looked down at the floor and refused to meet the Latina's eyes. Dr. Lopez gently puts her hands on my boney face and tilted it upwards so that she could look at me directly.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. I truly felt bad about waking her up.
"Why are you sorry?" Dr. Lopez asked. "Is it because you woke me up? You don't need to worry about that. I can't really sleep for long periods of time anyway, so I would have woken up sooner or later to check up on you. And remember that I told you that you could wake me up whenever you needed me before? That offer will never expire."
I relaxed at her reassuring words.
"Do you want to do anything, or do you need more sleep?" Dr. Lopez asked.
"I think I had enough sleep. I don't think I'm capable of sleeping any longer," I answered.
"That's understandable. You slept for almost the whole day and the night before. Your body would have automatically woke up by itself at some point," Dr. Lopez said as she looked around the room. "I could ask one of the nurses to bring you some juice or something else that you want."
"Juice would be great," I replied. "Thank you."
Dr. Lopez stood up and picked up her phone, which lay on the coffee table. She sent a text message and then put it down again, coming back to my side.
"Let's see if anybody is awake in the nurses' room. If there's no reply, I'll just go and get your juice for you. Will you be fine if I left the room for a moment?"
"It's ok," I said. "You don't need to leave. You're not supposed to, and I don't want you to get into any trouble."
Her phone lit up, making the doctor smile. "Good news, someone is awake! Do you want anything else other than an apple juice?"
"An apple juice will be fine" I replied. "If you're hungry, you should order something for yourself too."
"That's so sweet of you, but I'm good right now."
A couple of minutes later, the door opened and a nurse came in with a cup of apple juice and a straw for me.
"Here you go, sweetie. Have a good night," she said before leaving the room quickly.
"She's afraid of me, which is the reason why she leaves so quickly all the time," Dr. Lopez informed me.
"Why is she afraid of you?" I asked.
"Well there are a lot of categories that patients can be classified under. I started from the lowest category and worked my way up to the top. All of my patients have had good recoveries, while some of the other doctors and nurses have failed. The nurse that just came in started with the second highest category, but has fallen down the pecking order, so she's at the bottom now," Dr. Lopez said. "Do you understand what I'm getting at?"
I nodded. "You're one of the best, while she on the other hand, isn't that good. So that makes me really lucky to have you as my doctor, right?"
Dr. Lopez chuckled. "You're too sweet. Thanks for thinking of me in that way. Is there anything you would like to do?"
"I don't know," I answered honestly, looking back down on the floor.
"Why don't we start by finding something that interests you?" Dr. Lopez suggested.
"That would be nice, but isn't it a little early to do that now?"
"I guess so. How about you listen to some music for now, while I go get you some new bags for the morning. We can brainstorm some ideas later. They don't have to be spot on right away. You have a lot of time to try out different things. I won't stop you from doing anything, that is, unless it's dangerous or not good for your health," Dr. Lopez replied.
"I'm fine with that," I said.
I lay my head back down on the pillow again. I heard music softly playing in the background. Dr. Lopez lay down next to me, allowing me to rest my head on top of her. My felt my body relax into hers, making it easier for me to fall asleep. When we woke up, the sun was shining down brightly through the window and onto our faces.
