Chapter 12
Sharon slowly slid open the glass door and walked into his room. The lights were still dim, but she could still make out his face. He was on oxygen, but appeared to be breathing on his own. There were bags hanging alongside the bed, presumably for fluids to drain. The machine against the wall that showed his heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen stats was blinking. His levels were all low, but he was alive. She quietly moved beside the bed reaching for the hand free of IVs and pulled it into her own. His skin was warm to the touch and she caught herself choking up. The last time she had held his hand in the ambulance it was cold and clammy. Sharon stood quietly holding his hand, keeping vigil over him for several minutes until she felt eyes staring at her. She turned around and found Nicole standing a few feet away, tears in her eyes, "He's alive," she whispered and Sharon nodded gesturing her to come to the bed and see for herself.
The young woman stood frozen for a moment, before slowly moving to the other side of the bed. Sharon looked up at her, "He's going to be okay." Nicole wiped away the tears falling from her cheek and nodded.
After a few minutes passed the shock of it all seemed to pass and Nicole regained her composure, "The nurses say the bullet hit his liver that's why there was so much bleeding. There was some damage and they had to remove a small portion of his liver, but they say it's okay he'll regrow it with time. He also broken two of his ribs and had a collapsed lung. It'll take him awhile to recover, but he'll be okay."
Sharon let out a sigh of relief, He's going to be okay. She repeated Nicole's words several times in her mind as a mantra or perhaps as a prayer.
The two women eventually pulled up chairs and sat down beside Andy. They didn't say much, preferring the comfortable sounds of machines beeping and clicking. They watched his chest move up and down with each breath. The nurses came and went, checking lines and taking blood. Time continued to tick away until Nicole's phone buzzed. The sound caused Sharon to look up. "Sorry," replied Nicole, "That was my reminder, I need to go pick up the boys. I'll be gone for a few hours. You'll stay?" It was rhetorical question, "Yes, of course," Sharon replied anyway.
"Well no one should give you any hassle and Charlie should be here to check in soon, if you need a break." Nicole added.
"I'm fine. He's going to be fine, so I'm fine." Sharon replied.
"Okay, you'll call if anything changes?" Again rhetorical, but Sharon nodded, "Yes."
Nicole leaned forward and gave her dad a kiss to the forehead and left the room. The room once again went still and Sharon returned her focus on Andy's breathing. At one point one of the nurses mentioned that he should be waking up soon, they kept him heavily sedated overnight, but they wanted to get him up and moving soon, it was better for the healing process. Sharon moved closer to his bed, standing over him and leaning against the railing. Softly her fingers traced a line along his forehead and into his hair. Her knuckles brushed his cheeks as she whispered into his ear.
"Andy, I need you to wake up. I need to see that you're going to be okay. You promised me that you'd never leave me, that no matter what happened between us we'd be okay. I love you Andy, I need you here with me. You're my person, my everything - that I didn't even know I needed or wanted or was looking for, but you were there." She pulled back some and continued brushing her fingers through his hair it felt very comfortable and yet immensely intimate. Her eyes moved up to the clock, Charlie would be getting here soon. She didn't want to leave Andy's side now that she was finally with him, but she and his son didn't have the best relationship and she wanted to be respectful. She took a deep breath getting off the bed where she had inadvertently perched herself. Before moving away entirely she leaned in placing both hands on either side of his face and placed a gentle kiss to his lips. Recalling something Andy told her when he proposed that she often recited to herself at night she whispered, "My Love, Always."
As she pulled her hands away and moved her face further from his she felt a finger touch her wrist, then two. The words were spoken so softly she wasn't sure if she heard them or was imagining it, "You're my fire." Her eyes flew open and looked at him. His eyes were still closed, but his mouth was moving and his fingers were now intertwined with hers. Tears welled up and blurred her vision she heard him whisper again, "You're my fire." The tears fell, sliding down her cheeks and falling onto the bed. She leaned in and kissed him again, "My love." She whispered back. They remained like that for a few minutes until Andy's eyes finally blinked open. Sharon smiled and let out a sob of joy at finally seeing his dark hazelnut eyes again, eyes she wasn't sure she would ever see again. Andy's hand reached up to her cheek and brushed away the tears that were falling freely now. She moved her hand up to meet his and looked down and up again, blinking away the tears, making sure it was all real. Sensing this Andy spoke again, "It's really me Sharon." His voice was weak and she could hear the pain, but she was elated. "I thought I lost you. They wouldn't let me see you and I had no idea what was happening." Her voice trembled as she spoke.
"I'm sorry I scared you, but I'm here now." He replied his hand drifted down her cheek as his eyes, now focusing again, caught sight of something dangling from the chain on her neck.
Sharon looked down following his hand, the necklace she was wearing had come out her blouse as she leaned in to kiss him. His hands touched the ring hanging from the chain, "How?" He asked confused.
She looked up at him, "When they wouldn't let me see you, I, I couldn't go home. I went to your house, I just need to feel near you. I found it in the drawer when I went to grab your grandmother's blanket." She paused uncertain what he would think about her taking it out of its box, but he just continued to stare at it, so she continued. "I sat on the floor with your blanket and the picture of us from the wedding and I held the ring. I never actually got a good look at it before," she said bashfully, "I, uh, I didn't know you had it inscribed." Her hand went up to the ring and felt the etching as she had done repeatedly since stumbling across it.
Andy was beside himself, between the pain and all the medication his brain was running slower than normal, he couldn't make out the significance of her sort of wearing the engagement ring he bought for her a year earlier. Sharon met his eyes and saw the confusion, "I'm not sure if we missed our moment. It seems that fate brings us together only to pull us apart again. I know before all this happened we talked about giving us another try - a real try." She paused to make sure Andy was following, when she saw him nodded she continued, "I still want that, I want you and while I'm not saying we need to rush down the aisle I would like to work towards that." Her eyes drifted down again, it wasn't like her to fully put herself out there, to risk her heart in such an honest way, but if there was ever a moment, ever a time to do so it was now. She was committed she realized, for the first time in all their years together she was 100% fully committed to him, to making a future together.
Andy's hand moved up to her chin, drawing her eyes back to his, "I want that too, I've never stopped wanting that." Sharon's eyes filled up again with tears and she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in. Andy pulled her down to him and kissed her, it was a soft kiss but one filled with promise and a future. She smiled again his lips and kissed him again.
*Cough*
They froze.
"Er, um, so I guess you're feeling better?" Charlie said sarcastically as he entered the room spotting Sharon half lying on his father's hospital bed in an intimate embrace.
AN: Hooray, no need to throw stones and daggers - he's alive and they're in love! And thank you all for the story love!
