Chapter Fifty One – Unpleasant Surprise
It was 4:23am, and Olivia's eyes slowly fluttered open. She really wasn't sure what had woken her up, but there definitely wasn't a reason why she should be having trouble sleeping after the night she and Ben had had. They'd had a great time in bed which had left them both utterly spent but thoroughly satisfied. With that escapade she should have easily slept until morning. Why hadn't she? When she shifted slightly to check the time the answer hit her like a javelin straight through the head. One thrown by an Olympian really. There was no controlling the groan that ripped through her. Her head was imploding. Normally her bad headaches made her head feel like it was exploding, but that wasn't enough for this one. Each wave of pain built on the one that had come before it. All in all, it was the absolute worst headache she'd ever had by far. The pain was so horrific she was having trouble thinking straight. In fact, she didn't think she could put together any way to let Ben know she needed help. Thankfully Olivia's groan had alerted Suvi, and he plodded over to her side to check on her. Olivia had her eyes squeezed closed and her hands clenched tightly on the sheets as she tried to stay perfectly still. Another involuntary groan slipped past her lips.
Suvi didn't need to hear anymore. He knew Olivia was hurting badly. Whining softly, he darted around to the other side of the bed where Ben was sleeping. He could have barked to alert Ben to the problem (it definitely would have been appropriate), but instead he decided to paw at Ben's arm. It was a good decision since Olivia definitely wouldn't have been able to handle barking. Her head could barely handle the light patter of paws racing across carpet.
This was the second time Suvi had woken Ben up instead of Olivia. Ben wasn't any more willing to wake up this time than he had been last time. The only thing that really got him up was the fact that he knew Suvi would only come to him if something was wrong with Olivia. Suvi wasn't a demanding dog, and if he wanted something trivial but Olivia wouldn't give it to him he wouldn't go asking someone else in hopes of getting an answer he liked better.
"Olivia?"
The noise he received from her in response was somewhere between a moan and a squeak. Ben couldn't tell what it was, but there was one thing he was sure of. Something wasn't right. Ben rolled to a sitting position and turned on her bedside lamp. That time her response was more than clear. Her hiss said simply, "Turn it off!" Ben took one look at her and immediately did so without her needing to verbalize it any more than that.
"I'm going to go get your pills," he said with the softest possible volume he could muster.
There was no need to ask if she had a headache. It was more than obvious she did. Without a word or even a sound of confirmation from Olivia, Ben headed out of her bedroom to get what she needed. When he came back in with pills and water he found Olivia in the exact same position he'd left her in. He gently rubbed her arm.
"Hey. I have your pills. Think you can sit up a bit to take them?"
Olivia really didn't think that she could, but it wasn't like she had much of an option. The only chance she had of taming her headache was to take the pills no matter how hard that might be. She opened her eyes and tried to ignore the extra stabbing that caused. Ben slipped an arm around her shoulders to help prop her up. It wasn't much, but those few inches were enough to cause black spots to dance across Olivia's vision. Her breath hitched, and she felt like she was going to throw up. Somehow she managed to fight the sensation down and swallow her pills. As Ben helped her lie back down the pain triggered more nausea than she could handle. Without warning she threw up all over herself and the bed, the violent movements only making the pain spiking though her head worse. Ben held her and rubbed her back as her vomiting turned into dry heaving.
"Shh. It's okay, Liv."
She continued whimpering, and Ben could see tears trickling down her face. When the heaving stopped and she calmed down Ben handed her another set of pills and the glass.
"Just drink a little bit. Go slow," he instructed.
Olivia did as he asked and let him help her slowly settle back onto the pillows after her pulled her stained shirt off. This time she managed to do it without getting sick, though her face was still a sickly grey from the throbbing in her head. Again she closed her eyes in a vain hope of controlling some of the pain. She knew it wouldn't help, but it was the only thing she could do. Vaguely she felt Ben pulling the stained comforter and blankets off of her before replacing them with a fresh blanket.
"I'm going to get you some ice," Ben told her as he stroked her hair.
Olivia didn't respond and barely even realized he had left before he was back at her side with two ice packs.
"Where's it hurt most?"
"Everywhere."
That one word was so pain-filled that it made Ben's heart ache. She shouldn't be suffering from severe headaches any time of day, but definitely not in the middle of the night like this. Hopefully her medication would kick in soon. Until then the ice would have to do. He placed one on her forehead and another behind her head at the base of her skull. With any luck the ice would at least dull some of the pain.
Olivia's eyes remained closed for hours, but Ben seriously doubted she was ever asleep. There was too much tension in her body and her face was too pinched. Ben didn't go back to sleep either. He needed to keep an eye on Olivia. By 7am he began getting dressed, moving as quietly as he could so he wouldn't aggravate her headache. As much as he didn't want to disturb her once he was dressed, he had to talk to her. She didn't really look much better than she had hours ago. He gently touched Olivia's arm, and her eyes fluttered open.
"Hey. How's the head?"
"Better," she mumbled.
"But still bad?"
"Really bad."
"Okay. You just rest and try to sleep if you can."
Olivia mumbled agreement to that and closed her eyes again. Leaving Suvi to keep an eye on Olivia, Ben slipped out of the room to call in to work. There was no way he could go in today. Olivia couldn't be left alone the way she was. Even with Suvi it wouldn't be enough. When he returned to Olivia's side he found her nearly curled into the fetal position with her back to the wall.
"Liv? Liv, what is it?"
"The light. Hurts."
Ben hadn't turned any lights on in her room, but he had left the door open where the light was on in the hallway. Not very much was trickling into the room though. Apparently her headache was still bad enough for her to be light sensitive. Highly light sensitive from the looks of things. She couldn't take another round of pills to try and fight it off for another hour either. It would be a long hour for her.
"What time is it?"
"A little after 7:30."
She said nothing to Ben but slowly tried to push herself up into a sitting position. Her arms were shaking even though she'd only managed to get herself up a few inches. Lifting her head up was enough to leech the remaining color from her face, and she swayed as the edges of her vision turned black.
"What are you doing?" Ben near yelped as he reached out to steady her.
"I need to walk Suvi."
"You need to what?! Liv, you can't even sit up. Can't stand the light from the hallway. There's no way you could take him for a walk."
"Have to."
"No, you don't." He slowly pushed her back down which wasn't hard considering how weak she was. "I can take him."
"Ben…"
"Rest."
He leaned down to kiss her temple and headed into the living room to grab Suvi's leash. With that in hand he returned to Olivia's bedroom and moved her cell from the bedside table to the bed itself, only inches from her hand.
"If anything happens while I'm gone, call me. Got it?"
"Mmhm."
"Good."
Ben clipped the leash to Suvi's collar and told him they were going out. Suvi happily stood but when he realized Olivia wasn't coming with him he stopped dead.
"Come on, Suvi," Ben encouraged as he tugged lightly on the leash.
Instead of following Ben Suvi pulled toward Olivia. He'd been trained not to leave Olivia alone, and he was definitely not going to start now. Not when she really needed it. Olivia dropped her hand over the side of the bed and rubbed his head reassuringly.
"Go, Suvi."
Suvi whined in response but did as she'd asked and went with Ben. He definitely didn't want to, but he did have to go out. His only option was to go fast so he could get back to her quickly.
O . o . O . o . O
Ben didn't need to ask whether the second round of headache medication was working or not. It was plain to see that nothing had really improved. She hadn't left her bed except for one trip to the bathroom, which hadn't gone well at all. Getting up to her feet had caused her to throw up again, and Ben had needed to take almost all of her weight to steady her. Olivia was so weak and dizzy from the headache that Ben had to help her every step of the way into the bathroom. After he'd gotten her cleaned up, back into bed, and tucked in he'd immediately gotten her more ice. It was about the only thing that seemed to be remotely helping, and Ben was starting to get worried. She'd even needed to ask Ben to call Caroline and let the activities director know she wouldn't be able to make it in that day for her volunteering. That told Ben more than enough about how bad she was feeling. She'd talked a lot about her time volunteering with the kids at the hospital, and he knew how much she loved it. If there was one thing she hated it was disappointing the kids. Not coming in would do exactly that, but she didn't have any choice. Olivia had been suffering through her headache for almost six hours. There was no way it would miraculously get better.
"Liv," Ben whispered as he gently rubbed her arm. "Maybe we should get you to the doctor."
Olivia groaned in response. She did not want to go in to the hospital but she understood Ben's concern. They had long since run out of options, and nothing was helping.
"Just think about it, okay?"
She did think about it, but she didn't give in to Ben's request for another two hours. The excruciating pain was only continuing, and it was getting to the point that she was having trouble remaining mentally aware. Once Ben had noticed she was drifting away and barely understood what he was saying he'd mentioned a hospital visit again. That time Olivia had agreed. Getting her to agree to get medical help had been hard, but actually getting her to that help was even harder. Ben was forced to carry her to the car piggyback since she couldn't even walk to the apartment door on her own. The bobbing up and down had been hell on her head despite his best attempts to keep her as still as possible. She wasn't exactly in the right frame of mind to direct Suvi either, so Ben had had to figure that out too. Thankfully Suvi had no intention of being separated from Olivia and came along without a problem.
The wait to see the doctor nearly did Olivia in since the waiting room was so brightly lit. Even with her eyes closed and head bowed the light was still assaulting her and pushing her headache to an even higher level. Luckily for her the doctor she'd been seeing since her initial injury was quick to take her back for testing and her own room where she could keep the lights off. When the tests were complete Olivia was given some stronger painkillers to take the edge off her headache and left to wait for results.
Ben sat patiently at her side and trailed his thumb over the back of her hand. He hated seeing her in a hospital bed, but at least she didn't look like she was in as much pain. Some of the tension had left her body though Ben could still see creases of pain on her forehead and around her eyes. Hopefully the doctors could get the headache under control. A gentle knock on the door pulled Ben's attention away from Olivia. Suvi glanced up too but quickly turned his eyes back to his owner.
"Olivia?" the doctor asked.
Her eyes opened a crack to show she was listening, but Ben suspected she would have rather kept them closed.
"Your test results all came back clear. No swelling. No more damage than before."
Olivia closed her eyes and sighed. She knew exactly what that meant. That sounded like good news to Ben, but Olivia's response made it seem like it wasn't. The doctor's explanation hadn't exactly answered the question of what was causing Olivia's headache either.
"What's causing her headache then?"
"Normal side effects of her injury unfortunately. This time just happens to be particularly bad."
"Is there anything you can do?"
"I can give her more of the stronger pills, but about all we can do is wait it out. I'll bring a bottle with her discharge papers."
Ben nodded his thanks to the doctor and turned back to Olivia. He stroked her hair and tried to reassure her that it would be alright.
"I'll get you home and get you comfortable again. Stay with you until the headache's gone. I promise."
"Thank you," Olivia whispered in a weak voice.
