Every Day I Like You a Little More
Day Seventy Two
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As the sun began to shine through the curtains her eyes slowly fluttered. Haley felt him next to her and a smile appeared on her face. The comfort she felt in when he was next to her was something she would never give up, and hoped to never have to. Looking at the big window she wondered when the curtains had been closed. She remembered going to sleep when Nathan was next to her, and unless he was sleeping like a dead person, she never felt him move from her side.
The door slowly opened and Emily walked in. She smiled as she walked in from seeing the two in bed together. "Morning" she softly whispered, trying to not wake Nathan.
Haley smiled at her, "did you close the curtains?" she asked, still confused at the fact that they were now closed.
Emily shook her head as she walked closer to Haley and began to cheek all the machines, "no, I think it was Veronica." She then got a hold of Haley's arm and began to take her pressure and other things.
"He's a nice guy" she pointed out, nodding to Nathan.
Haley looked to her side and back to the nurse, nodding. "Yeah, he's great."
"He hardly leaves this place. Kinda like you." Emily remembered all the time Haley spent there when Nathan was in care. Haley did visit the hospital everyday because of her father, but it was obvious to everyone that the girl was spending extra amounts of time there because of the boy.
Haley blushed at the memory of her always wanting to know how he was. She was about to say something when she felt him stir next to her. Looking at him she saw him bring his free hand up and rub his eyes as they slowly began to open.
"I'll be back to check on you later" Emily said, making her way towards the door and exiting ones she reached the door. The last thing she wanted to do was disturb the young couple.
Haley simply nodded at her until the door was closed and she looked back at him, "morning, sleepyhead."
"Hey" he said, softly as he leaned down to place a soft kiss on her forehead. "How'd you sleep?"
She gave him a big, bright smile, "great."
"I'm glad."
"Oh my god, you're awake" they both heard Brooke say. The girl wasn't even inside the room as she spoke, she had just opened the door and the words were blurted out of her mouth.
"Hey Brooke" Haley said, letting out a chuckle. It was funny to see Brooke react the way she was, when she had treated her so poorly the first time the bumped into each other. Haley still remembered that day.
He would have continued, but the door had opened. On the other side were three people, three people Haley thought no longer talked to each other, well at least one of them.
"Peyton?" she questioned, unable to believe what she was seen.
"What are you doing here, Haley?" Peyton asked, walking closer to her friend. "Why aren't you with your dad?"
"I-"
"She-" Nathan cut her off, but he was interrupted as well.
"…is a nerd, and shouldn't be here. Seriously, what is she doing here?"
Lucas, who was standing behind the girl spoke, "Brooke" he warned.
"What?" she said, "it's only the truth."
"I think I'll go" Haley said, standing up. She knew that she wasn't part of the in crowd per say, but she never thought that they would be so rude. She wasn't able to get all the way up when she felt Nathan pull her down by the arm, and once more she was sitting.
"No" he order, then he looked at her with softer eyes, "stay."
"But… I…um"
"Please" he begged.
She gave him a soft smile and a simple nod, and that was assurance enough for him. That was all he needed to know that she would actually stay and be there for him.
"I think she should go" Brooke said, "I mean, you don't need her if we're here."
"I'm so happy to see your eyes open" Brooke said, walking over to Haley and pulling her to a light hug. She would have wanted to hug her tighter, but she knew that it was probably a bad idea considering the state in which Haley was in.
Haley hugged her back, and felt Brooke pull away. "I'm glad you're here." Not long after the words had left her mouth Julian and Peyton walked in, with Lucas not far behind. Haley smiled at her friends and felt her heart fill with emotions. She couldn't believe that they care enough to be there for her, and to actually stay until she was all better.
"Don't ever scare me like that again" he said, walking over to her and hugging her. After pulling away he walked over by his girlfriend and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"I love you" Haley said to Julian, "and I promise, no more."
"That's what you said last time."
"This time I mean it."
They all laughed at the comment and they continued to talk. Eventually they all made themselves comfortable and talked to Haley about what it felt like to have her gone. They all had their own stories, but in the end they all concluded to the same thing.
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The day continued as normal, well on what could be considered normal. Nicolette had gone home and checked on Jim the night before and came back not long after Haley's friends had left the room with some blueberry muffins, Haley's favorite. After that she had to go back home to do a few more things, including getting things ready for Haley to come home.
Now Haley was in the room alone just looking out the window and watching as the rain dropped. She was in a higher floor, so she couldn't see them landing, but seeing them make their way down was one of the many advantages of having a room with a big window.
As she continued to look she saw a lightning strike around the building and not long after a loud thunder shake the place. Now Haley wasn't scared of storms, but when there was one of those that was a little to big, well, that scared her. The fact that she was powerless to do anything by not being able to move scared her, even more so now that the thunders came closer together and would often shake the small room.
"Hey"
She felt the hand on her shoulder and let out a loud scream. Quickly turning around she saw Nathan standing by her bed and she swatted her hand hitting him on the arm. "You scared me" she told him. Apparently with the loudness of the thunder she missed the sound of the door opening and now had a visitor who seemed to have gone in the room like a ghost.
"I'm sorry"' he said, pulling her to a light hug as he sat on the bed right next to her.
Haley held on to him and allowed him to hold her for a longer period of time, "don't do that again" she said, against his chest.
Nathan let out a chuckle and nodded, "I promise."
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They watched some movies as they laid down on the bed together, and at some point she had fallen a sleep. During that time Nathan took the time to go out and get some fresh air and also get some food. He knew first hand how horrible hospital food. Besides, Haley would take him food everyday when he was in there, the least he could do was bring her one decent meal.
As he walked through the door of the house he could smell the food. The smell was like nothing he had smelled before. His mother never cooked, and the food he got from Haley when he was in the hospital, and when she invited him over for dinner was the best he got.
"Hey" He said, smiling as the older woman stir something in a big pot over the stove.
"Nathan" Nicolette said, turning around to see him.
"I wanted to get some food for Haley" he informed her, "I know she doesn't like hospital food, and I wasn't sure if you were going back. Besides, it's probably not a good thing for you to go out in this storm."
After he started dating Haley he spent long amounts of time at her house, and Nicolette was a big part of that. He had learned to love the older woman as a second mother, even a grandmother figure. His family wasn't that close, so having Nicolette treat him as part of one was something he enjoyed.
She smiled at the nice gestured the young boy was doing for her and sent him a single nod, "thank you."
"No problem" he said, walking towards her. "So, what are you making?"
"This" she said, stirring some more "…is Haley's mom's recipe. Chicken dumpling soup. She used to make this when Haley was sick."
"I'm sure she'll be happy to have some" he assured her. He could see that Nicolette was trying to make it all seemed like it was fine, but he could see passed it and see that she was actually hurting. It was probably not easy having Haley in the hospital and having to be home with Jimmy who was in a coma.
Nodding Nicolette turned the heat off and walked over to a cabinet pulling out a bowl with a lid. She set it in front of her and poured some soup in it. She walked over to the fridge and grabbed the apple juice, and after went to another cabinet and pulled out a plastic to-go bottle, where she put some orange juice. She packed everything and a paper bag and handed it to Nathan.
"Make sure she eats it all" she told him.
Nathan nodded "trust me, she will" he assured her.
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Haley heard the door clicked and her eyes shot open. She looked around the room and didn't see him, and wondered if it could have been him who had just exited the room. She took a deep breath and told herself that if he had gone out then he would be back soon, but there was no real way of making sure. The door once more open and the hope in her eyes was soon dropped as she saw Emily walk in.
"Don't look so happy" Emily joked, seen Haley's face drop.
"I thought… sorry, I'm happy to see you."
"Thanks" the girl said, once more checking the machines, "but I'm no Nathan, right?"
Haley blushed a little at the mention of his name.
Emily smiled, she was glad to finally see some color in the girl's face. It had only been one day since her surgery, but still, it was nice to see Haley blush.
"Can I ask you something?"
Emily turned her attention from the machine she was currently monitoring and looked at Haley, "shoot"
Haley looked at her hands and turned her attention to the girl standing next to her, who looked eager to find out what Haley had to ask. "Who was it?" Seen the confuse look on the nurse's face she decided to elaborate further. "The donor, who was it?"
"I'm sorry, Hales, I can't tell you that." She truly did feel bad for not being able to tell her. Haley was more than a patient, she was a friend, and a good one too. But it was against the rules for her to say anything about it. The donor wanted to remain anonymous and there was nothing she could do about that.
"I understand" she said, letting her head drop. It wasn't so much as finding out who it was, but why they did it. All she wanted was to see the person, see them and ask why they had done it, and why her.
Emily finished her routine and placed the chart on the small table at the end of the bed, she opened the chart and began to write down all that she had just done to Haley. She looked up and saw Haley looking around absent mindedly.
"You're doing great" Emily informed her, in a formal manner. "I'll be back to check on you later. Now I have to go check on a patient in room 409 who had a kidney transplant." With that, she winked at Haley as she saw the girl smile and walked out of the room. Maybe she couldn't tell Haley who the donor was, but it wasn't her fault if Haley heard her talking about the patient and did some spy work herself.
Haley smiled at the information given to her, "409" she repeated.
"409 what?" Nathan asked, as he walked in the room with a paper bag.
He had gone straight to the hospital after getting the food for her. He hoped that she was still sleeping, but after bumping into Emily outside of her room she had told him that she was up. So now he was taking the things out of the bag as he placed them on the table, just like she use to do for him.
"Nico made you soup."
"Chicken dumpling" she said in a soft whisper.
He slid the table closer to her and smiled, "that's right. She also said to eat it all."
She smiled and began to eat slowly. The soup tasted to so good after being in the bed and eating jell-o. Sure, she had a muffin for breakfast, or a bite of it. But now she was having a meal, and looking out the window there was nothing better to have in the rainy day than chicken dumpling soup.
After finishing her soup they watched a few movies, more like two but it was getting late and Haley needed to see who the person in room 409 was. The fact that the person in that room had saved her life was killing her, and she needed to know who it was, now.
"Can I ask you a favor?"
Nathan looked down at her and nodded as their eyes met.
"Can you go and check who's in room 409?" she asked, hoping for his answer to be yes.
"Why? What's in 409?"
She looked at him and took a deep breath. "my donor" she told him, honestly.
Nathan looked at her with worry in his eyes. He was sure if it was the best thing for her to find out who the person who had given her a kidney was, nonetheless see it. But he didn't have it in him to say no when she looked at him with pleading eyes.
"Yeah, I will. But not today, okay?" he said, hoping that she would let go of the topic for the night. It wasn't that he didn't want to know, but he wanted to make sure Haley was better when she found out who it was.
She nodded gently and set her head back down on his chest as she started to drift off to sleep. It had been a long day, and she was glad she was finally going to sleep for the night, and hoped that she would be able to sleep the whole night. Although, she kind of expected to sleep all night, specially since Nathan was sleeping right next to her.
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A/N- So first of all I want to apologize for taking so long to update. I hope to have the next one up soon. This chapter was actually supposed to be the last one, but I keep getting new ideas that get stretched out to be a whole other chapter.
I hope you like this chapter, and thank you SOOO MUCHHH to those of you who reviewed the last chapter.