The Overdue Escape

Chapter 9: To Have and to Hold

Michael slowly opened his eyes and realized he was still in the health center, but Sara was no longer beside him. Looking around the illuminated room, he saw her sitting in a chair next to the bed, reading what looked like a medical chart. She yawned, covering her mouth with her hand as she read. Michael couldn't help but notice how tired she looked. He studied her for what seemed like hours, before she noticed his eyes on her.

"You look beautiful." Michael said as he tried to sit up in the bed.

"Thanks, but you're a bad liar." Sara said as she got up from the chair, placing his medical chart back in the file holder on the edge of his bed.

"What were you reading?" Michael asked.

"I was reading about you and your unusual reaction to jelly fish stings. I'm sure there is some statistic about how rare a reaction like that is." Sara explained as she walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. "I guess you're just lucky."

"I know I'm lucky to have you in my life." Michael said as he took Sara's hand and kissed it. Sara returned the affection by running her hand gently down his cheek.

"You feel a little warm. How are the sting sites? Can I take a look?" Sara asked as Michael pulled the sheet back, exposing the irritated skin.

"They itch a little, but the pain is less." Michael said as Sara was touching the sites gently.

Sara shook her head in disbelief as the sites were a little red and slightly hot. "How does that not hurt?" Sara asked, their conversation interrupted by a knock at the exam room door.

"Mr. Scofield, it's good to see you're awake. I'm not sure if you remember, I'm Dr. Stuart. I've been taking care of you today." Dr. Stuart said, as she entered the room and began to wash her hands.

"Today is a little hazy; I don't remember a whole lot."

Dr. Stuart walked over to the bed, looking down at Michael's abdomen. "Those sting sites look a little red. Are you in any pain?"

"I don't have a lot of pain, it's mostly just sore. But I am very tired." Michael answered, looking at Sara.

"You're going to be very tired; you've had a stressful day and your body is going to need some rest. Let me look you over quickly and you can get out of here."

After a 15 minute examination, Michael was ready to hear if he was being discharged. "Your blood pressure and heart sounds are good, but you do have a low grade fever. You may be fighting a small infection as well as slight dehydration. We will need to give you IV antibiotic's before you can leave." Dr. Stuart reported as she put her stethoscope back into her pocket.

"Is that really necessary? I'm feeling much better." Michael said looking at Sara as if she were a lifeline. However, instead of coming to his rescue, Sara agreed with Dr. Stuart on the necessity of the extra fluids. Sara even went so far as to discuss Michael's rare jelly fish reaction with Dr. Stuart like two colleagues consulting on a random patient. Michael just sat there in the bed while the nurse hooked up another bag of IV fluids, checked the monitors and fluffed his pillow.

"I'm so over this, and did I tell you I am starving?" Michael said to Sara as she looked at the IV bag hanging over head.

"I know, you told me, I'm hungry too." Sara said, "This IV bag will take about an hour to empty out and then we will get you out of here and have dinner. Just give me a few minutes to go back to the cabana and change. I will bring some clothes back for you. Be good and don't give the nurse any trouble." Sara gave him a kiss on the top of his head as she left for the cabana.

Ten minutes later, Sara put the key into the lock of Cabana 12, turned it and opened the door. She took a deep breath as she stepped into the entry way. She felt nauseous as she was faced with the reminders of how sick Michael had been just hours ago.

Looking around, Sara saw Michael's dirty t-shirt that he had thrown up on as they were leaving for the health center. She picked it up and walked to the bathroom. Turning on the bathroom light, Sara saw Michael's swim suit and t-shirt from the beach on the floor. She stood there overwhelmed, thinking back on Michael calling to her for help from the bathroom floor. Watching in fear as he eventually passed out cold where she was now standing. It was all too much and she left the bathroom quickly.

Walking into the bedroom was another agonizing reminder. The bed sheets were all over the floor as well as clothing, water glasses and resort literature. Sara walked over to the side of the bed and sat down, resting her hands in her lap as she looked around the room. She picked up the pillow Michael had used earlier and put it up to her face breathing in his scent. Holding the pillow tightly, Sara lay down on the bed and cried as the repressed emotions of the day flooded in like a tidal wave. She cried for Michael, she cried for herself and she cried for all the losses in their life.

Sara's crying was interrupted by a soft knock on the door. She got up, wiped her eyes with both hands and walked to the door. She looked through the tiny hole in the door and saw Javier standing there and opened it.

"Miss Sara," Javier said looking at her strangely as a tear fell from her eye. "Is Mr. Michael okay?"

"Yes, Javier, he will be fine." Sara said as she opened the door for Javier to step through. "I'm really glad you came by, I wanted to thank you for helping us earlier today. I could have never picked Michael up off the bathroom floor by myself. I wanted to thank you also for taking us to the health center, it was very kind of you." Sara hugged him. "I will forever be grateful." Sara said as she stepped back and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I'm glad I could be of help. Where is Mr. Michael now?" Javier asked, leading Sara to the couch to sit down.

"He's still at the health center. I need to go back for him shortly." Javier handed Sara a tissue.

"If you don't mind me asking, why was he so sick?"

"Michael had a severe reaction to a jelly fish sting. It was really bad. He's never had any kind of reaction like that before. It was pretty scary there for a while. Plus, he is not a very easy patient to deal with." Sara said trying to laugh through tears, wiping her eyes with the tissue.

"The jelly fish here can be brutal. I guess you don't see many jelly fish from where you are from?" Javier said holding out the box of tissues to Sara.

"No Javier, there are not too many jelly fish in Chicago." Sara said smiling and began to stand up. "Anyway, I need to get back to the health center, if all goes well, we should be back soon." Sara gave Javier another hug and walked him to the door. "I really do appreciate everything you have done for us. Thank you again." Sara said as Javier walked out the door.

After packing a small bag for Michael and taking a quick shower, Sara was ready to go back to the health center. She grabbed her bag, keys and phone from the front entry way table and opened the front door. As Sara stepped out onto the front door mat, there was a small vase of flowers waiting for her. Picking up the vase, Sara looked around for who may have put them there. She then saw Javier, who just smiled and waved.

"Thank you." Sara whispered as she blew a kiss his way.

Picking Michael up from the health center was a whole lot easier than taking him there. After helping him to get dressed, he was given his discharge papers and a bag of supplies including sports drink for the dehydration and calamine lotion for the itching. After a wheel chair ride to the door, Michael and Sara got into a resort vehicle and were on their way back to Cabana 12.

"I'm so ready to go back to the room and just relax with no doctors, no needles and with all my clothes on." Michael was rambling. "I can't wait to get a shower. Did I tell you I was starving?"

"Yes, about 20 times now. What would you like? I can order room service?" Sara said looking over the discharge instructions.

"What about the deep dish pizza Lincoln sent?" Michael said looking over Sara's shoulder at the discharge instructions. "If he went to all that trouble to send it, then it would only be right to eat it. Don't you agree?"

"After all the vomiting of the past 8 hours, do you think that pizza is the best choice for you? Wouldn't you like some soup instead?" Sara said as they arrived at the cabana.

"No, I'm thinking pizza." Michael said as they walked up to the door of the cabana.

Opening the door, Sara was so relieved to see that Javier had been there and that he had cleaned the entire place up. There were no reminders of the past 8 hours anywhere. The only thing that remained was the small bouquet of fresh flowers on the table.

"The flowers are very nice. Who are they from?" Michael asked Sara as he picked up the vase.

"They are from Javier. He gave them to me earlier." Sara said as she was unpacking the calamine lotion and sports drinks from the health center.

Michael came up behind Sara and put his arms around her. "I told you someone has a crush on Miss Sara. Should I be jealous?"

Sara pushed Michael towards the bathroom. "Go get a shower and take one of these with you." Sara said as she handed him an orange flavored sports drink.

"What are the sports drinks for again, other than the obvious?" Michael asked looking at the bottle.

"They will replenish electrolytes and help with the dehydration. Now go and shower. I will get the pizza started."

After having a quiet, uneventful dinner, Michael went to the bedroom to relax, while Sara put the rest of the pizza away and turned off the lights in the living room.

"Michael, you have one more bottle to drink…" Sara said as she walked into the bedroom holding the calamine lotion and another sports drink in her hand. She stopped talking when she saw Michael, asleep sitting up, with the TV remote in his hand. He must have fallen asleep before the TV was even turned on. Sara knew he was exhausted, but she didn't realize to what extreme.

She smiled as she walked over to him and took the remote from his hand and placed it on the bedside table. Sitting down on the bed next to him, Sara ran her fingers over his face and through his short hair, kissing his cheek. Michael never woke up as she gently took the pillow from behind his back and eased him into a lying down position, transferring the pillow to behind his head.

She carefully lifted his t-shirt and applied the calamine lotion gingerly to the sting sites on his abdomen with a cotton ball. The pink liquid was slightly cold when it touched his skin which caused him to wake up briefly.

"Hey there sleepy, how are you feeling?" Sara said as she pulled his t-shirt back down.

"I'm so tired." Michael said very softly with his eyes closed. "What was that?"

"It's the calamine lotion, it will help with the itching." Sara said as she recapped the lotion and placed it on the bedside table.

Michael was fading fast as his words began to slur, "Tomorrow will be a better day for us."

Sara leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips and whispered, "I know it will, it has to be."

To Be Continued…

Author's notes: Thank you to everyone for the reviews, follows and favorites. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. ~Kiki