Okay so chapter 20 got hardly any reviews ): I hope people still enjoyed it though. This chapter is slightly inspired by the song 'Silently' by Elliot Minor. Go listen to it before/while you read :) Haha.
As The Day Gets Older I Hear Your Voice,
Nothing Stays For Free, As The RaiN Keeps Falling,
I Hear You Calling My Name, And Some Will Say…
So Silently, You Make This Day,
So Unreal And Never Ending,
Standing On The Edge Believing,
That This Will Never End,
This Will Never End…
Silently, So Silently,
You'll Live For Me, So Silently.
Natalia awoke with a start, glancing around wildly trying to determine what had caused her to wake. Her eyes fixed on the sleeping form of her best friend, the man she loved. He was coughing weakly.
"Ryan?" She whispered softly. The hospital room was dark and the sky outside had a greyish hue which told her it wasn't quite morning. She looked down in the gloom at her watch, it was five thirty. "Ryan are you okay?" She injected more volume into her voice.
"Mmm." Came the sleepy reply, as Ryan's coughs subsided and the room fell quiet once more.
Natalia stood slowly, her back and legs ached from spending so long sitting down so she walked round to the other side of the bed. She couldn't remember falling asleep in the chair besides Ryan, but she had been so tired she realised it was probably inevitable.
Ryan was lying in a tangle of sheets, which he must have managed to push off while he slept. Natalia bit back a giggle and set about correcting the situation. As she drew the sheets up around Ryan's shoulders she leaned in and stole a quick kiss.
"I love you Ryan." She murmured gently, gazing down at his pale face.
XXX
Alexx had volunteered for overtime allowing her shift to be extended until six am, when the day staff would come to relieve those on night shifts. She hadn't had a busy night in terms of patients but there was always paperwork to be done around the hospital, and between that and the few patients she did have, Alexx realised she hadn't been up to check on Natalia more than once. She smiled, that had been at four and Natalia had been sound asleep on the chair besides Ryan, her hand still tightly wrapped around his. Alexx grabbed a coffee and hurried up to their floor.
Through the glass Alexx could see Natalia standing over Ryan, sorting out his sheets as he slept.
"Morning sweetie." She said, causing Natalia to flinch slightly.
Natalia whipped round to see their old ME standing smiling. "Oh Alexx, it's just you."
"Of course it's me, who else is crazy enough to be up at this hour?"
"Yeah, we are a bit crazy aren't we?" Natalia grinned, glad of the light conversation.
"Oh, we're not that crazy. I'm getting paid, and you're in love." Alexx's smile was all knowing.
"What?" Natalia spluttered in shock.
Alexx just kept smiling at her. "Anyway," she said deliberately slowly, "my shift is nearly over, and I really would like for you to go home too and get some rest."
Natalia's gaze flickered to where Ryan lay. "I can't leave him Alexx."
Alexx shrugged. "Well it was worth a try. I won't be back until this afternoon, but if anything changes I want you to let me know. No other doctor is going to treat my baby." She said pointedly, before drawing Natalia into a warm hug.
XXX
At half past seven Natalia's cell phone started to ring. She rummaged through her purse for it and immediately rejected the call to stop the noise from waking Ryan. Flipping it open she read the caller ID, it was Calleigh. Natalia sighed and hit redial as she stepped out of Ryan's room.
"Hey Cal." She answered wearily.
"Natalia, how are you? How's Ryan?" Calleigh asked sharply.
"I'm fine, so is he . . . as far as I know anyway." She stole a quick glance back at Ryan.
"That's good. Look Nat, Alexx rang and said you'd been at the hospital all night . . . let me come and take you home?"
"Thanks, really; but I feel like I need to be here right now."
The other end was silent for a while. "If you're sure." Came Calleigh's eventual reply.
"I am." Natalia assured her friend.
"Okay, well Eric and I were planning to come visit mid morning, is there anything I can bring for you?"
Natalia looked down at the glitzy dress she was still wearing from the party and suddenly felt faintly ridiculous. "Some normal clothes would be nice." She laughed.
"Okay I'll see what I can find for you." Calleigh said cheerily before hanging up.
Natalia ventured quietly back into Ryan's room, where rays of sunlight were starting to spill in through the curtained windows. She nestled back down in her chair and sat listening to the steady and reassuring beep of Ryan's heart monitor.
XXX
Ryan decided he must be awake. He had been lying silently for a while, trying to determine where he was and what was making the strange beeping noise which seemed to fall in time with his heartbeats, and eventually he realised he was no longer dreaming.
Warily, Ryan opened his eyes and stared blearily around the small room he appeared to be in. As his surroundings slowly focussed, he caught sight of a beautiful woman dozing on a chair beside him. Natalia? Aha, so I am dreaming. He thought; after all this was starting out the way most of his dreams did – him lying in bed with Natalia by his side . . .
But something was off about this particular dream. There was a strange stinging sensation in his right arm for one thing. Ryan looked down at himself and wondered why he was wearing clothes (in these dreams he almost never was) and more to the point, why he was wearing a hospital gown. Almost without thinking, Ryan lifted his right hand to run through his hair.
"Fuck." He howled as pain ripped through his shoulder and coursed through his body. Suddenly the room appeared to be swimming in front of him and it took several deep, calming breaths before his vision began to clear.
"Ryan!" A voice screamed, and suddenly Natalia's face was hovering worriedly above his own.
"Hey Nat." Ryan grinned weakly, trying to ignore the agony in his shoulder.
"Oh my goodness I'm so sorry I fell asleep again." Natalia exclaimed angrily.
"S'kay." Ryan murmured.
Natalia's worried frown refused to dissipate. "How do you feel?"
"Is this a dream?" He asked hopefully.
Her frown deepened. "Ryan, can't you remember what happened?"
"I – wait what?"
"Ryan, look at me Ryan." Natalia placed her hands on either side of his head and pulled him to face her. Slowly his eyes had unfocussed and he tried to slip out of her grasp.
"It . . . it was all real?" Ryan asked, starting to shake as realisation caught up with him and the pain and horror of the previous evening crashed down hard on top of him.
"Oh Ryan." Natalia felt tears prick her eyes as she gathered up Ryan's weak form in her arms and hugged him with everything she had. "You're safe baby. You're safe and everything's okay now. I promise you."
Ryan didn't struggle; he just lay there encased in Natalia's arms, wondering how on earth he was still alive.
"How are you?" He finally managed to choke out, wondering what kind of hell Natalia had been through.
Natalia waved her hand dismissively. "I'm fine."
"No, you're not." Ryan pointed out, knowing Natalia well enough at least to realise something was wrong, even if he couldn't tell whether it was emotionally or physically.
"I'm fine." She repeated stubbornly, her eyes flashing dangerously.
"Nat –" Ryan began.
"Oh my god Ryan just drop it!" Natalia screamed unexpectedly.
Ryan flinched visibly at the outburst. "I just wanted to make sure you –"
"Make sure I'm okay?" Natalia yelled in his face. "Why wouldn't I be? After all I was the one who left you alone in that house while I got out safely. How could you do that to me Ryan? I trusted you! And you got yourself freaking poisoned! Why didn't you tell me? Did you think I couldn't help? Hmmm? Because I could have! And then none of this shit would have happened because I'd have been there with you!" Natalia finished in a high pitched tone with tears of anger and hurt pouring down her face.
Ryan lay looking slightly abashed, unsure of how to reply.
Natalia leaned in close towards Ryan. "So don't you dare ask me how I am. Because you've put us all through hell wondering about how you are." Her minty breath fanned out across Ryan's face and for a second she actually thought she was going to slap him. Instead she did and abrupt turn and marched out of the room, slamming the door hard in her wake.
Yikes Natalia is not a happy bunny O_o
If you did listen to the song, it's sort of relevant for the time when Ryan was asleep and Natalia was just watching him (i.e. before the start of this chapter) Let me know if it works!