Here's a new chapter! Sorry it took so so so long to update. As you'll see at the ending of this chapter, this story is not over, not in the least. There's still quite a few chapters now, at least in the most recent plan. So review please, and I'll try to update sooner then last time. Thanks for reading/reviewing, you guys rock!
Enjoy!
-Jen
"Well, Oliver, everything looks good. Great actually." Doctor Jacobs said, listening to Oliver's heartbeat through a stethoscope, well a nurse looked at the monitors. "I was surprised at how well your body took the transplant. Not one sign of rejection. You'll have to continue to take the anti rejection pills as we move forward, and you'll have to be careful about getting sick."
I sat in the chair beside Oliver's bed, a huge smile on my face.
"How did you do this though?" Oliver asked, confused. "I was dying."
"Well, after you fell asleep the night you told Miley goodbye, she came to find me. She demanded I test her compatibility even though you forbade it. She's very convincing...and I'm in this line of work to save my patients, not watch them die. Plus she was your next of kin so she called the shots. So I quickly got what they needed, and brought it to the lab and waited for them to test it. they told me it was compatible, so I called and told them to prep Miley for surgery and get you in isolation to prep you. We did the transplant that night." Doctor Jacobs told him.
I reached out, taking his hand. "It only took me about two weeks to recover. I kept asking about you. Once you were declared as accepting it, you were moved to a normal room. Doctor Jacobs said that it still could go either way...you were in a slight coma. But you had brain activity. He said that your body was just waiting for both your body and mind to be ready." I smiled at him widely, "I've been praying that you'd wake up. And you finally did, on Christmas!"
He frowned. "I missed your birthday."
I laughed. He would think about that. "This is the best present ever." I said, gently placing my hand over his heart. "I don't care."
"You're twenty one now." He said. "You're legal."
I saw Sally shaking her head at her son's train of thought.
I laughed, standing, helping him back in to bed. "Well I can't drink alcohol now anyways, and neither can you. But I don't care. It's a small price to pay, considering what I get instead."
Doctor Jacobs interrupted. "I have to go do rounds...I'll be back in a while to see how you're doing. Merry Christmas, everyone!"
We all returned the statement, and I sat on the edge of Oliver's bed, just wanting to be close to him.
I took his hand in mine, holding tightly on to it. I was lost in my happiness, but heard him asking everyone to please give us some time alone.
Oliver's mother and sister kissed his cheek, hugging him on their way out, and his father gave him a hug, a long hug. Mr. Oken wasn't really one known for emotional displays, but over the past few months I'd seen him cry a lot; worried.
Lilly, Jackson, and my dad all gave him hugs on their way out too, and then we were alone.
He scooted over in the bed. "Lay with me," He said, and I did, laying out, turning on my side so we were facing each other. "You saved me," He finally said, softly.
I smiled. "I told you I could."
"I should have listened to you." He admitted. "I'm sorry."
"What's done is done," I said, brushing my fingers through his hair to push it away from his face. "All that matters now is that you're here with me, and we're together."
He smiled at me, reaching up to cup my cheek with his hand.
"I missed you." He breathed softly.
"Do you remember...anything? From when you were out?" I asked.
He thought for a minute. "I remember being in the dark." He finally said. "I just...thought. About you, mostly." He said. I smiled softly, as he went on. "Then I could see. I saw..." He trailed off nervously.
"What'd you see?" I asked.
"I don't want you to think I'm lying..." He said softly.
"Baby just tell me," I laughed, "I'll believe you."
"Remember how you siad that you wished your mom had met me? And I agreed? Well...I met her."
I felt my brow furrow. "How?"
"She said that for the two months that I was asleep, I was in...the in between. She said that she was an angel, technically, and could go wherever she wanted if need be. I talked to her, and she told me to just let go. Then...I woke up." He said slowly.
I was silent for a moment.
"Maybe it was the drugs," Oliver added hastily.
"No, I believe you." I said softly. "A few days ago I was alone with you in here. I was upset, and I asked my mom for a sign that you were going to be ok. you squeezed my hand. You hadn't done that before...to anyone."
We were silent for a while, laying there, staring at each other. Some may have found this awkward, but it wasn't.
"So," He said softly after at least ten minutes had passed, "What happens now?"
"You'll probably have to stay in the hospital for a few more weeks, but Doctor Jacobs said everything was being accepted well, you just had to wake up, so maybe only a week or so. You'll have to take rejection pills for ever. No alcohol is to be consumed. But...other then that life goes on." I told him, running my fingers through his hair, smiling.
He smiled back, "Life will go on, and you'll walk down the aisle to me, and then you'll have my babies, and we'll grow old together."
Smiling, I added, "and sixty years from now, we'll sit on the back porch or our house watching our grand kids play in our yard."
"I'll be a hot old man." He said, nodding. "You'll still want me."
Laughing softly, I reached forward to press my lips to his cheek. "Of course. I always will."
"I have a question."He stated, and I nodded, waiting. "Why haven't you kissed me real yet? I want more then a cheek kiss." He pouted.
"Germs."
"You said the doctor said I was fine. You aren't sick, I'm fine, and I missed those lips so let's go," He said, and I laughed, moving closer to him to kiss him.
When our lips connected, it was like my whole body woke up. He was ok, he was alive, he was healthy, he'd be fine.
I'd be able to become Mrs. Miley Oken.
I'd be able to feel his baby kick inside my tummy.
I'd be able to wake up in his arms for years and years to come.
I'd be able to look at him sixty years from now, grin, and say "look what we did" when we saw our children with their children.
It was like my future was once again attainable, my dream not a far fetched letdown.
He was back, which meant my life was back, because that's what he was...my life.
--
Five Months Later
May 25th, 2014
"Babe," I said, walking from my father's kitchen to where Oliver sat in the living room on the couch, watching some sport or another with my dad, Jackson, and his father. "I need your help."
Lilly, Chelsea, Sally and I were in the kitchen, planning.
The silver diamond engagement ring he'd given to me on valentines day sparkled on my left ring finger, and I was carrying a book of invitation script samplers. We were getting married November first of this year.
He let out a noise, eyes on the TV, shoving popcorn in his mouth with one hand.
Rolling my eyes, I sighed, and sat myself down on his lap.
Still nothing.
"OLIVER!" I shouted in his face, and he jumped.
"Oh, sorry baby...uh, what?" He asked.
"I need your help picking out the writing for the invitations." I said. "I like these three. Which one?"
"Um..." He said blankly, looking between the three. "Which is your favorite?"
"These three. Which one?"
He looked at them blankly for a while, before finally saying, "Miley, I really don't care."
I glared at him. "Oh yes, because," I glanced at the TV, "Football is so much more important then our wedding."
He looked at me for a moment. "...it's baseball."
I glared at him again, snapping the book shut, and stood, dropping it on the table, before heading out to the porch.
I sat on the top step of the wooden porch stairs, and looked out at the setting sun, fighting back tears.
"Miley," he said softly, it taking only a minute for him to come out here. I didn't look up but heard him moving, and in a moment, he was sliding his arms around me, his legs on either side of mine, as he sat behind me, his arms wrapping around my waist. "Baby don't cry," He said softly, sighing, as he gently pulled me back against his chest, as he lifted me up so I was sitting on his lap.
"It's our wedding and you don't even care!" I said, my voice breaking.
"Of course I care, Miley," He said. "I care about the fact that we're getting married. But I could marry you at a drive through chapel in Vegas and be ok with it because of what comes out of it. All I want is you to be my wife. The wedding will be amazing of course, and I'll regret it if I don't have one," he said, beginning to stop making sense, "but...I don't care about all those tiny details. All those cursive's looked the same. You pick out the writing...I'll help with the other stuff. You pick the writing and I'll choose the wording. 'Don't be a idiot, come see Oliver Oken make the best decision of his life.'"
I giggled, burying my face against his chest.
"Come on," He said, "You guys have been talking about the writing for the past hour." He said, standing up and setting me to my feet.
He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, and held me close. I wrapped my arms around his torso as we headed for the beach.
We walked together in silence for a while, before stopping, and we both sank to the sand, laying down. His arm was under my head, hand near my shoulder, and I lifted my hand up to take his.
"We'll be husband and wife in like, six months." He stated softly.
I nodded. "Mrs. Miley Ray Oken." I said softly.
"That has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" He asked, grinning, as he turned to kiss my cheek sweetly.
"It does," I agreed, moving to rest my head on his chest, over his heart.
"How come you do that?" He asked softly, as I shut my eyes, listening to the thumping of his hear underneath my head.
"Because," I said simply, "It still scares me to think about what almost happened. I almost lost you, Ollie."
"But you didn't," He said, and sat up , legs out straight, he gently pulled me on to his lap, straddling him. He picked up my hand, and placed it over his heart. "I'm fine," He said, kissing my forehead, "My heart's beating," He added, kissing the tip of my nose then, "and it," he added, "like the rest of me, is all yours." He said, before kissing my lips softly. I broke the kiss for a moment, looking at him,
"Forever and for always?" I asked softly, and he smiled, nodding.
"No matter what it takes, we'll stay together through everything. We'll take everything as it comes. Step by step. It may not be easy, but it'll be worth it."
He kissed me once more, and then we lay down again together, staying there for long after the sun had set before going back to my dad's house, and then going back to our apartment.
Looking back now, I wonder why I thought he was wrong. I thought "of course it's going to be easy. God's given us enough hardships for one lifetime, hasn't he?"
But oh how wrong I was, and oh how right Oliver was.
It wasn't going to be easy. Not in the least.