"Tommy," Kim muttered as she looked down and felt a weight on her stomach and saw Tommy lying there. She didn't want to wake him, but she desperately needed to go to the bathroom and knew that she did not have the strength to move him on her own. She barely had the strength to shake his shoulder, but she had no choice in the matter. "Tommy, wake up."
"Five more minutes," Tommy whispered as Kim smiled down at him. Leave it to him to forget where he was and think his mom was trying to wake him up for school. His hair half covered his face as he rolled away from her and she laughed.
"Tommy…come on," Kim begged as Tommy forced himself to sit up and he looked up at her. That was when the recognition hit and he reached up and gave her a hug. He was surprised to see her awake, he had thought that she would sleep through the night without any problems. "You feel good, but I need to go to the bathroom."
"Can you?" Tommy asked as she shook her head no. Her legs were too weak to support her right now and Tommy could see that in her eyes as he scooped her up and carried her over to the bathroom. This was why he was here and he was glad to know that he could help.
"I love you, Tommy," Kim whispered as he placed her on her feet and then turned to walk back out. He knew his place here, he knew that she still needed some privacy from him. There would be a day very soon when he wouldn't have to do this anymore, but he had no choice about it right now.
"I love you too, yell when you need me," Tommy said as she barely nodded as he went to stand right outside the door.
"He's too good for me," Kim muttered to herself as she managed her business and then looked over at the door. She was not sure how to react to this anymore. She was not sure where they stood. They were in an odd place between just being boyfriend and girlfriend and getting married. He was the one person that she could trust to be there for her and make sure that she would be all right. She knew that her parents didn't understand this, but his did. His knew just how hard it was for her to do things without him and just how much him just being there comforted her. "Tommy!"
"Yeah," Tommy said as he peaked back in and she had already forced herself to stand, but he could tell her legs were likely to give at any moment. "Got you, come on, I'll take you back to bed."
"Can you be my pillow?" Kim asked as Tommy smiled down at her. He was sure that the doctors wouldn't really appreciate it, but this was what she needed and that so happened to be something that he wanted as well. He had gotten used to sleep with her next to him every night and it was much harder now for him to do that without her there.
"Yeah, I can," Tommy said as he placed her in the hospital bed and then crawled in next to her and she snuggled herself closer to him and he saw her eyes close as she quickly went back to sleep. "Sleep Beautiful, sleep good."
"Mr. Oliver!" Karen exclaimed as Tommy shot up from the bed the next morning as he heard his named practically being shrieked. "What on earth are you thinking?"
"That this is the only way that she was going to sleep after waking up last night," Tommy explained as he looked down at Kim, who had miraculously not awoken when she was slung off his chest.
"Haven't your parents given you any sort of boundaries?" Karen asked as Tommy shook his head no. The only thing that they had said to him was that he was to take care of her and in his mind that meant doing whatever was necessary to make sure she was all right.
"It's not like she's in any condition for us to…" Tommy trailed off as Karen blushed. Even as a grown woman, she didn't like the idea of hearing that sort of confession. They were teenagers and although she fully expected that they had experimented, she did not want to hear about it and she had just opened that subject right up.
"I didn't expect her to wake up last night," Karen said as Tommy nodded his head in agreement. He had thought the same thing, but he had been happy to see her awake last night. It let him know that she was getting over the sedation medication all right. "How was she?"
"She didn't seem like she was doing too bad, it's just that she was really weak. She couldn't exactly stand on her own," Tommy said as Karen nodded. She had expected that, she had seen that from so many patients before.
"I need to check her vitals, but then I'll let you get back to sleep," Karen said as Tommy nodded before Karen walked around the bed to Kim's side. The poor girl had more bruises than any girl her age should have, but there was nothing that she could do about it. This disease was rough on everyone that it affected and she hated that it usually affected the young, that had so much more to live for.
"Thank you, so much, for last night," Eric said as Charlie looked over at him.
"It was the least that we could do for you," Charlie said as they all walked down the halls towards Kimberly's room. It was a special sort of room and if any of them wanted to go in, they would have to scrub down and put on masks. Of course her parents wanted to see her, but they were not sure if they were going to go inside just yet.
"Her room should be somewhere nearby," Melody murmured as they walked past the rooms with large windows that contained others that had to stay away from the rest of the world. "Eric, do you really think we made the right decision by letting that boy stay with her?"
"Melody, she made the choice on her own. We are her parents, but we are not much more to her right now, you just have to remember that. She's going to get married soon and everything will work out just fine," Eric said as Melody stopped dead in her tracks and the others looked over at her, wondering why she had even stopped.
"Why is he sleeping with her?" Melody almost screeched as Eric looked over at the room and then down at Melody.
"I'm sure that she has a hard time sleeping without him there now," Eric said as Charlie and Daren took a step back. They did not want to get in the line of fire if they could help it, but there was always a chance that this would all be blamed on them, very soon.
"They've been sleeping in the same bed!" Melody yelled as she wheeled on Charlie and Tommy woke up from the commotion that he could hear outside.
"She has a hard time sleeping, even if she's tired. He's been helping her get to sleep lately," Charlie explained as Tommy looked towards the window and couldn't help but glare at their parents.
"You should have never…" Melody started as Tommy rapped on the window and they all looked towards him and he motioned over to the intercom, so that he could talk to them.
"Could you please keep it down, I just got her back to sleep," Tommy said as Melody just glared at him and she silently dared him to continue talking.
"You should not be getting her back to sleep young man, you have a bed, right over there," Melody said as she pointed towards the empty bed and Tommy looked over at his parent's hoping that they could explain this, so that he would not have to.
"I tried Tommy, it didn't work," Charlie said as Tommy nodded his head and then pressed the button on his side to begin talking again.
"I've been helping her get to sleep for the last few weeks and I know that you probably don't like the idea of her sleeping in the same bed with me, but I can promise you that we have done nothing more than sleep," Tommy said as Melody just stood there, in complete and utter confusion. She did not like the idea of doing any of this, but there was nothing that she could do about it. Her daughter had chosen this boy to stay with her instead of someone else.
"Fine, when will she be up?" Melody asked as Tommy just shrugged his shoulders.
"She's still sleeping off the sedation, I'd give her a couple more hours, at the least before she wakes up again," Tommy said as Melody nodded and then grabbed Eric and dragged him out of Tommy's view. "Not going so good, huh?"
"They're just taking it hard that she did not choose them to stay with her, but they'll be fine. They know how much you care about her Tommy, they'll understand eventually," Charlie said as Tommy just nodded his head in agreement. "Go on back to her, I'm sure that she needs you more than any of us do right now."
"Thanks Mom," Tommy said as Charlie just smiled. It had taken her awhile to get used to the idea that Tommy was really growing up, but he was and he was taking on some things that most people never had to deal with in their lifetime. To say that she was proud of her son was an understatement, she was eternally grateful that he was her son and she was so proud of the man that he had become.