Hospital: Stolen Moments

Jess woke up in an unfamiliar bed that felt harder than usual. She could hear the sound of an alien beeping and the low hum of the air-conditioner. She felt a sharp pain in her left arm, but couldn't be bothered to turn her head to check what had happened. Every muscle in her body was hurting anyway and all she wanted was to slip back into the ridiculously comatose sleep she'd just been in. She kept her eyes closed and tried to fall asleep, but failed. Frowning in annoyance, she tried to shift in the bed a little bit, hoping to find a comfortable position; something tugged at her hand again, but she ignored it.

As she lay on that uncomfortable bed trying to sleep, her mind started to wake up, much to her dismay. She began to wonder how she'd gotten there as she literally couldn't remember a thing. The last thing she remembered was deciding to take a nap in Nick's car on their way to the carpentry class.

Carpentry class.

Nick.

Her eyes flew open and was greeted by the evening light. Navy blue shadows danced across the walls and a machine on her side cast a dim red glow. She tried sitting up, and yelped when her hand twitched in the searing pain.

"Hey, hey, it's alright, I'm here," a familiar voice, slightly hoarse from sleep, came from her other side. "I'm right here."

"Nick?" she tried to say, but coughed instead. Her throat was too dry. As she struggled, she felt a the cold rim of a glass against her lips and she sipped the water gratefully, and fell back against the pillow. Nick took her hand in his and gently traced circular patterns with his thumb. Jess was too tired to pull away; besides, she'd been doing fine all this while, right?

She could allow herself a few stolen moments.

"Hey," she breathed, taking in Nick's tired features and tousled hair.

"Hey, Jess," he said quietly. "You gave us all quiet a scare there," he said, with nervous chuckle, slightly forced. She could hear the worry in his voice.

"I'm sorry," she said, closing her fingers around his and giving his hand an apologetic squeeze. "What happened?"

Worried at how still Jess was, Nick cut the engine and tapped her shoulder lightly. "Jess?"

When she didn't respond, Nick turned fully in his seat and shook her. "Jessica?"

Nick inhaled deeply, trying to quell the rising panic in his chest.

She's probably just deeply asleep. That's all. Nothing to worry about.

Shaking his head, he took her hand in one of his and squeezed gently, while the other hand continued to hold her shoulder and tried to shake her awake. Drawing deep breaths, he turned back to the windshield and honked thrice, eyes not leaving her face.

Definitely not sleeping.

Now fully alert, Nick decided that he'd have to drive her to the hospital. He looked at her sideways, and realised driving her the way she was sitting might hurt her neck. He dug his phone out of his pocket and called Schmidt; having just shared breakfast with him, Nick knew he was the only one awake at that moment.

"Nick," said Schmidt through a yawn, obviously still having his breakfast.

"Schmidt, I need you to come down right now," he said urgently.

"What, why? Nick, I swear if this is about that ridiculous-"

"Schmidt!" Nick cut him forcefully. "Downstairs. NOW."

Sensing the urgency in Nick's voice, Schmidt asked no more questions and said he'd be down in five minutes.

While waiting for Schmidt to come downstairs, Nick got out of the car and went to Jess's side, staring at her limp form. He contemplated sitting behind her seat and just holding her head from behind to keep it from lolling to either side while on their way.

No, no. That may not be a good idea.

Finally coming to a decision, he opened the door to the backseat, and stood impatiently, waiting for Schmidt.

Exactly five minutes later, Schmidt was downstairs, looking questioningly at Nick. "You need to drive us to the hospital," was all Nick said as he nodded at the car.

Schmidt's eyes followed and his eyes widened when he saw Jess. But Schmidt knew better than to question what happened yet; the nods exchanged between them meant 'save questions for later.'

"I need you to go inside and open the door on Jess's side."

Frowning, Schmidt nodded and did as Nick said, settling into the drivers' seat. He watched quietly as Nick opened Jess's door and caught her as she limply fell outward. Gingerly, Nick lifted her up and walked towards the backseat. He crouched and cradling her head carefully so it wouldn't hit the sides of the car, he lowered her into the backseat of his car. He got into the car himself then, sliding gently into the seat and holding her head up slightly, put it on his lap before sitting down comfortably.

"Good to go?" asked Schmidt, adjusting the rearview mirror.

"Yeah," Nick nodded, staring at Jess while gently rubbing her cheek with his thumb.

"Cece's probably still a sleep. Leave her a voice message, will you?" said Schmidt, looking at the rearview mirror. "She's going to kill me for not waking her up in the first place," muttered Schmidt.

Nodding, Nick pulled his phone out and left Cece a message to get to the hospital as soon as she could.

Once they were at the hospital and Jess had been wheeled away, Nick was stuck with a nurse to answer a few questions. Then he went to join Schmidt in the waiting.

"So what happened?" asked Schmidt.

"I don't know, man," sighed Nick. "I was telling her she should get some breakfast or eat something and then we got in the car. She just… passed out."

"Hm," said Schmidt. "Well, we all knew she was overworking herself," he muttered.

"Yeah."

Schmidt was a smart man. He also knew his best friend quite well, and that's why Schmidt had a feeling that Nick had been hiding something for a while now and it was quite evident right now as to what it was. Schmidt had noticed the gentleness with with his usually clumsy friend handled Jess, and the absent-minded way he'd been caressing her cheek all the way to the hospital. Schmidt really wanted to ask him, but maybe now was not the best time. Besides, he was sure that Cece would have his head if he got involved.

So instead, he lay a hand on his restless friend's shoulder and said, "She'll be alright, man."

Nick only nodded in response, and Schmidt continued. "It's a shame really. We were planning to take her to the beach this the day after so she could relax. And maybe even cheer her up a little."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "Who is "we"?"

Schmidt loosened his collar, inwardly wary of where he knew this conversation was going. "Oh, no one. Just… Cece… Me… Winston… And er, Aly."

Nick frowned at him. "And I you didn't tell me because…?"

"Hey, man, we were going to tell you today but well," Schmidt gestured around the hospital with both his hands.

Narrow his eyes at him, Nick leaned back in his chair. "Yeah, right. Schmidt, I'm not stupid. I've seen all of you whispering about something… God knows what. Jess says that it's only because I've been away for two months, but I know that's not true. I know something's up…"

Schmidt shrugged but was at a loss for words. What could he possibly say?

"And I know something's up with Jess," Nick added. "I heard you two the other night. This isn't just about her being busy is it? She's keeping herself busy."

"I'm… not at liberty to say," Schmidt muttered through gritted teeth.

"Schmidt, come on, man!" Nick said, exasperated.

Before Schmidt could say anything else, the doctor interrupted them. He explained that Jess had fainted because she hadn't eaten anything properly in a while, and also that she'd been pushing herself too hard. To make things worse, she'd not had enough sleep and that he'd given her medicines that would help her get some sleep. She would be knocked out cold for a few hours and would wake up around evening, and will probably be quite sore. If she were to complain about the pain, he would give her some pain killers. When she woke up, she was to have a full meal and a week of rest would probably do her some good; she would be good to go home tomorrow morning after breakfast.

It wasn't anything that Nick and Schmidt didn't already know, so they weren't too surprised. They thanked the doctor, but neither of them were sure about picking up the conversation the doctor had interrupted.

Half an hour later, Cece had stormed into the hospital, very worried. After Schmidt calmed her down, she was bitter towards both Nick and Schmidt for not waking her up. She told them that she'd already told Winston and that he'd be there when he was off duty.

Nick had asked Schmidt and Cece to go back home they both had work to attend to. He would be with Jess (perks of being the manager, he explained). Cece had protested vehemently and Nick watched tiredly as Schmidt and Cece had an intense but whispered conversation. It ended with Schmidt squeezing her hand reassuringly, while she sighed in defeat.

"Trust me, please," Schmidt had plead.

Cece looked at Nick and gave him a sad smile. "Alright, we'll head home. Call us if you need anything, alright?"

"Gotcha."

After the two of them had left, Nick had gone to where Jess was resting. He'd stared at her through the glass door for a few moments before entering. He chuckled darkly at the thought of how much Jess would hate this dull, grey room. He sat in the chair next to her bed and took in her pallid face. She was lying on her back, her face turned towards him, lips slightly parted. He could hear every breath she was taking, almost like a sigh escaping her lips. Instinctively, he reached out cupped her face in his hands, caressing her cheek with his thumb. She sighed again and leaned into touch, making his heart flutter.

God, he loved this woman so much.

He removed his hand from her face and leaned back in his chair. He continued to stare at her until he fell asleep, until he was woken up by a yelp.

"Well, nothing much really. We were fighting about how you should get something to eat. Then, to prove my point, you passed out in my car. And here we are," he shrugged.

She chuckled softly, feeling a surge of affection for him as she noted the worry behind his nonchalance. "Thanks, Miller," she said, smiling at him.

He looked at her warmly, still holding on to her hand. "Anytime, Day, anytime."

With his free hand, he reached for his phone. "Well, I better call the Schmidts and let them know you're alive and kickin'."

A relieved Cece had demanded to be put on the phone with Jess, who took the phone from his apprehensively. She held it an inch from her ear, wincing as she heard Cece yell at how she was extremely irresponsible for someone who tried to mother everyone around and how she'd scared everyone, eliciting a chuckle from Nick.

"Cece, I'm fine," said Jess, amusedly.

"Says the woman lying in a hospital bed after passing out in a car," muttered Cece, and lowering her voice, continued, "And um, I'm sorry about Nick being there. I know you may not have exactly-"

"Cece," Jess interrupted, throwing Nick a nervous glance. "It's… It's fine. I'm alright."

"Babe, are you sure? I'll come down if you want," said Cece, concerned.

Nick was looking at Jess curiously as she struggled to find the right words to tell Cece without giving everything away to Nick. "N-no. It's… good. Everything's fine… here. I'm okay."

Realising that Jess might want to talk to Cece alone, he started to get up but Jess tightened her grip on his hand. "Stay," she said quietly, looking at him pleadingly as she lowered the phone from her ear.

Giving her a small, but unsure smile, he sat back down, watching as she assured Cece once more that she was fine and cut the call.

Here she was, in a hospital room because of overworking herself in an attempt to avoid the very man who was sitting here with her, holding her hand. Jess did love ironies. She'd been doing well so far, and maybe now was the time to see how much progress she had made.

She carefully turned in her bed to face him, one hand tucked under her cheek, a smile on her face. "So here we are."

"Here we are," he agreed.

"I'm not very busy," she said.

"And you won't be for a few days," said Nick firmly.

She smiled at him sheepishly. "So I've heard."

Nick relaxed into his seat, starting to trace patterns on her hand again.

"Well?" she asked.

"What?" he asked, resting his head in his had, the elbow on the arm of his chair.

"We have all the time in the world. Talk to me, Miller," she said, as if it was obvious. "Let's catch up."

Besides, she'd been stealing a few moments since she'd woken up, so no harm in stealing a few more, right?

A/N: If it isn't already clear, I want to clarify that I don't know anything about illnesses and stuff lol. So I probably didn't get a lot of things right. Spare the amateur please :)

And huh, it's going to take more than two chapters to wrap this story up. Next one will be quite short though.