Harry rushed past the reception of the hospital and practically ran up the stairs to the floor that Nikki was on, deciding that the lift would take to long, and almost ran into Dr Winters as he was coming out of his office. Harry apologised but the doctor waved it off and directed them into Nikki's room.
"Dr Cunningham your wife's vital signs have picked up in the last few hours which is a very good sign" Dr Winters said and Harry looked over at his wife on the bed and smiled slightly "We can take her off the life support machine however if we do her body may reject having to work on it's own and shut down completely without giving us a chance to save her again" he paused and let Harry take this all in, he continued when Harry nodded.
"There is a chance she could recover if you turn it off?" Harry asked just to make sure and Dr Winters nodded.
"Yes, it's a very small chance but it is still a chance" he replied and Harry glanced over at Nikki for a few seconds before nodding and turning back to the doctor.
"Turn it off"
"You can stay in the room if you would prefer" Dr Winters told him and nodded towards the corner "But could you stay in the corner out of the way until we tell you otherwise?"
"Of course" Harry nodded, eager to stay in the same room as Nikki.
"Alright then" Dr Winters said as he headed towards the door "I'll get the team who have been working on Nikki together, we'll be about half an hour" he then walked out of the door leaving Harry and Nikki alone. For the first time in quite a while Harry felt relief. He walked over to the bed and sat gently next to Nikki and entwined one of her hands with his, being careful of the drip in the process.
"You hang in there Nikki" he told her as he ran his other hand over her cheek and leant down to kiss her on the lips "You can beat this. You'll be better in no time and then you'll be back in the lab and we can both drive Leo mad by kissing at every available opportunity and by our silly little banters and arguments" he was crying by now at the thoughts of either having Nikki back with him or losing her for good "Then we can try for a baby" he whispered as he brought Nikki's hand to his mouth to kiss "You'd be an amazing mummy Nikki" he kissed her hand again and moved some of her blonde hair away from her face where it had fallen at some point "I love you so much, you better not leave me"
Half an hour seemed like hours to Harry as he waited for the team of doctors and nurses to come and sort out the machines. The door opened behind Harry and he turned his head slightly to see Dr Winters and a host of other people behind him. Harry sighed and nodded to them before he leant down and kissed Nikki on the lips then retreated into the corner of the room to wait.
It didn't take as long as Harry remembered them taking to put Nikki on the life support but this thought went out of his mind as soon as the doctors allowed him to go back to his wife. All the wire were gone but the various drips were still in place. Harry sat back on his original position on the bed and took Nikki's hand in his.
"The first twelve to twenty four hours are the most crucial" he told Harry who nodded to show he had been listening "If she survives that then she has a very good chance at surviving the whole thing"
"What about any side effects?" Harry asked as the other doctors left and Dr Winters shook his head.
"None that any doctors know of, there may be headaches, body aches, nausea that sort of thing for a few days afterwards but that's just due to the medicine we gave her"
"Okay" Harry nodded then paused for a second "Thank you" he said "For everything you've done for us"
Dr Winters just nodded and walked out of the room, he felt very uncomfortable every time someone thanked him for helping them or a family member, he was just doing his job.
Harry called Leo and explained the situation to him and made the older man promise to go to the hospital to see Nikki just in case anything should happen to her. Leo could hear the hope in Harry's voice when he talked to him on the phone and the older man was very relieved to hear it.
"The doctor said the first twelve to twenty four hours are the most crucial" Harry told Leo when the older man visited them "and there shouldn't be any permanent side effects, there will be some like nausea, head aches, body aches that sort of thing"
"You've cheered up" Leo commented and Harry gave him the first true smile he had given in a while.
"That's because Nikki's nearly back with us" he didn't comment on the fact that her body could fail at any moment even though Leo knew "How long do I have off work?"
"The coroner said as long as you need to look after Nikki" Leo replied as he glanced at the woman in the bed who had a bit more colour in her cheeks than before "Including after she comes out of hospital"
"Well you know Nikki" Harry laughed "She'd pack me off to work even if she was feeling awful"
Leo laughed along with Harry, not doubting for one minute that Nikki would do that and was about to reply when his phone rang. He answered it quickly and had a short conversation with whoever it was on the phone before hanging up.
"I have to go" he informed Harry who just nodded "Keep me up to date will you?"
"Of course" Harry replied
Well there's only another two chapters to go after this so I may upload them tonight or tomorrow morning if you want them so I can start fresh on a new story when I come back from Austria. :D
xxx