Chapter 37: Slumber My Darling (oh…that brings back such memories…sigh!)
"Slumber my darling, thy mother is near Slumber my darling till morn's blushing ray
Guarding thy dreams from all terror and fear.
Sunlight has past and the twilight has gone,
Slumber my darling, the night's coming on.
Sweet visions attend they sleep
Fondest, dearest to me,
While others their revels keep,
I will watch over thee.
Slumber my darling, the birds are at rest,
Wandering dews by the flowers are caressed,
Slumber my darling, I'll wrap thee up warm,
And pray that the angels will shield thee from harm.
Brings to the world the glad tidings of day.
Fill the dark void with thy dreamy delight –
Slumber, thy mother will guard thee tonight.
Thy pillow shall sacred be
Form all outward alarms;
Thou, thou art the world to me
In thine innocent charms.
Slumber my darling, the birds are at rest,
Wandering dews by the flowers are caressed,
Slumber my darling, I'll wrap thee up warm,
And pray that the angels will shield thee from harm." – Alison Kraus (Slumber My Darling)
Whether is was sheer exhaustion or something else, Sydney didn't know, but whatever it was that allowed Vaughn to sleep the whole night without a nightmare, she was eternally grateful. She woke before he did, and as was her ritual, she watched him sleep for a while. She was reluctant to move for fear of waking him, so she settled back onto his chest and decided to wait until he woke. It wasn't very long before she felt him stir, slowly coming out of sleep. He opened his eyes and yawned and looked down at the form in his arm. She smiled when their eyes met; they exchanged looks of adoring love before Sydney broke the silence and said, "Good Morning."
"Morning," he replied. "What time it is?"
"Hmm…about 9:00." She smiled at him.
"What?"
"You slept the whole night without a nightmare…I think a celebration is in order…" she smiled devilishly at him.
"Oh…a celebration, huh? Exactly what did you have in mind, Ms. Bristow? Another bath? Cause those are nice…"
"No, Tom said we should skip the bath today…he didn't think that moving you around so much was a great idea when you're supposed to be on bed rest…so we've been banned from that for today, you're just supposed to rest today…maybe tomorrow…why don't we start out with a nice breakfast and then we'll decide from there," Sydney said as she kissed him.
"Ok…but I'm not very hungry…"
"You're going to make me worry more about you if you don't eat."
"Maybe it's the medication, I don't know, I'm just not very hungry…"
"Ok…well…how 'bout eggs? Should I scramble you a few eggs?"
"Mmm…did you say you had oatmeal?"
She smiled, "Yeah, Will got some at the store the other day…I think it's the Quaker Oats © kind…I think he got strawberry…you want that?"
He smiled back, "Yeah…"
"Ok, you rest, I'll get the oatmeal and your pills…you wanna watch TV while I'm gone?"
"Sure."
"K, here's the remote…" She handed it to him and then went out of the room. She put food and water in Donovan's dish and then made the oatmeal, grabbed some juice for Vaughn, and got the pills, and came back with the TV tray.
"Whatcha watching?"
"I think it's the Discovery Channel…it's about these frogs…it's actually pretty interesting."
Sydney burst out laughing, causing Vaughn to give her a funny look, "What?" he asked rather defensively.
"No, no…I'm sorry, it's just that Will was watching that yesterday, and I swear he said like exactly the same thing."
Vaughn was beaming at her and for a moment she wondered if the medication had lasted that long and he was "loopy" again, as Tom had put it. "What?" She echoed.
"It was good to hear you laugh…"
She placed the tray on the floor and helped him sit up slightly. She let her hand linger on the side of his head, before she bent down and kissed him languidly. He sighed in contentment and protested when she stopped. She bent down and deposited the tray on his lap.
She smiled again as she took the spoon and mixed the oatmeal, "Later…you need to eat first, then you have to take your medicine, and then we have to change your bandages because I was stupid yesterday and didn't do it when I was supposed to…so if you have any infections, it's my fault…" she trailed off and brought her gaze back to Vaughn.
His face was unreadable but he said seriously, "Sydney…you're doing the best you can here…I know it's not easy for you…in fact, it's really gotta suck some times…and that's ok…listen, I'm fine, there was no way you would have known that unless we went through it. Stop beating yourself up…" he stopped a minute and then added, "that beating up part was supposed to be funny…but it kind of wasn't…"
She smiled at him and gave him a spoonful of oatmeal. "Thank you Vaughn."
"You don't need to thank me…I'm going to spend the rest of my life thanking you…"
She continued to feed him the oatmeal, until he ate the whole bowl. Then she gave him his medication.
"Ok honey, we need to change your bandages. I'll clean up quick and then we'll do it…k?"
"Alright…"
She grabbed the tray and put the dishes in the dishwasher and grabbed all the stuff she needed for the bandage changing. She returned with the armful of supplies and set them on the nightstand. She sat him up a little more and removed the shirt.
"Ok, we're supposed to start practicing deep breathing when you have the rib wrap off. So, let's see…" she referenced the information sheets, "You're supposed to take several deep breaths and then rest, then take a few more and rest…you're supposed to do that for awhile and then hold the breaths…" she studied the sheets for another minute, and then took action. "Ok," she took the rib wrap off and let him settle back into the bed. "Ok, now…take a deep breath and let it out…"
He nodded and she watched as he took the breath in, and winced as he let it out.
"Ooo, did that hurt?" She asked concerned.
"A little…"
"Let's try again…" She watched again as he took the breath in and let it out. There wasn't a wince that time.
"Was that easier, better?"
"Yeah, it feels tight though…when the wrap is on, it keeps it compressed, takes the pressure off. Now, the pressure is back…"
She sat with him, and realized about halfway through that she was breathing with him. She smiled at her realization, "Ok…now we have to hold the breath."
He nodded again and took the breath in and held it for a few seconds and then let it out.
"How'd that feel?" she asked.
He seemed fatigued, "It didn't feel very good, I can tell you that…"
"Try again," she prodded.
He complied and took the breath in, held it a little longer and let it out.
He didn't say anything, so she finally asked, "Well?"
"It hurts when I hold it…and it doesn't really feel too good when I let it out either."
"I'll call Tom…"
"No, it's ok…"
"Vaughn, if it something we're supposed to do and you can't or it hurts you too much, something else could be wrong."
"Sydney, I don't want to go back…"
She softened immediately, "Vaughn, I don't think Tom's going to make you come back because of that…I just want to double check, ok? I won't let you go back that easily…" She picked up the phone and dialed the number. She should just put it on speed dial she decided.
It rang twice, "Dr. Tom here…"
"Hey, it's me."
"Sydney, everything ok?"
"Well…yeah, he's ok this morning, the fever is down, but we were trying the breathing exercises that the sheet has on it, and well, it's really hurting him to hold the breaths and then let them out. The first ones we did were fine, but these second ones where he has to hold the breath, it's not going so well."
"That's ok…it's gonna take a while before he can hold the breaths. As long as he doesn't have any problem just breathing deeply, then it's ok."
"Good…just thought I'd double check…"
"Glad to hear the fever's down, call if you need anything else, as always. And I'll see you in, let's see…five days now?"
"Yep, sounds good, thanks again. Bye."
"Bye Sydney, say hi to Mike for me."
She hung up, "Tom says hi, and he says that it's normal for you not to be able to hold the breaths without pain."
"Good," he said happily.
Sydney noticed that he was getting tired again, and moved back to the bedside. "We should get the bandages changed so you can rest."
"Ok Syd."
He let her remove the surgical bandages and change them with fresh ones. She took great lengths to make sure that there wasn't any sign of infection and was careful not to hurt him. He closed his eyes sleepily as she was finishing with the ones on his face. She hated to make him stay awake, but she needed to change the bandages on his back, "Vaughn? I'm sorry baby, but we have to change these, then you can sleep." She eased herself behind him and struggled somewhat with the bandages on his back, because there was no one to hold him up this time, and it was hard for him to sit up by himself. By the time she was finished, he was exhausted. She tucked him in again and decided to wait with his ankle until later. She brushed a hand through his hair as he floated off into slumber again smiling at her touch.
She took a mental note of the time he fell asleep so she'd know what time she'd have to wake him up for medication and then slid off the bed quietly and let him rest.