Chapter 11: Awake
Days passed. Jim was still asleep but Dr. Paulsen was reassuring. It was normal. Jim's body just needed time to eliminate the drugs and then he would wake up. The latest analyses of his liver and stomach were excellent as the ones of his heart.
"He's coming back, Miss Alonso. You can be proud. He would not be where he is now if you have not been here. You're like his guardian angel. "
She blushed. She really didn't deserve this title, to be called like this when she was the reason he was here. But anyway, she nodded the head and smiled slightly at Dr. Paulsen. He had been open-minded enough to listen to her madness, her insanity when she told she felt something weird, that something was wrong. But couldn't explain it rationally.
Tabitha, Andy and the other nurses came often to check on Street's vitals, taking attention to every detail. Still in awe in front of this little miracle.
"His health has really improved in the past three days." Tabitha confirmed Chris who remained here nights and days, waiting for his best friend to wake up. Hondo and Hicks had agreed to give her days off till Jim was awake. She had fought so hard when no one was still believing that she deserved to be there when he woke up.
Chris looked at her, grinning. "You should be proud to have fought for your friend, the way you did. Only a few people do this, Chris… He must be really important for you… I mean maybe more than a simple best friend."
Tabitha felt Chris's dark eyes upon her and quickly changed of subject. "Have you met Julie? She's our new nurse in the ICU. Told her about you. If you need anything and neither Andy, not I are there, she's the woman you need."
"Haven't seen her yet, I guess."
"Easy to recognize she's a tiny, blond-haired woman, always on the rush. And super joyful."
"Ok. Will remember that." She paused for a short while. "And thanks… For listening to me and to have talked to Dr. Paulsen… Means a lot…"
Chris stumbled on her own apologies. She was so bad at this. She was more the discreet kind, almost at the back, listening but not talking.
"It's OK, Chris. Happy to have helped. Seeing you smiling is my best reward at the moment. Because the most beautiful one will be to see you reunited with Jim. Matter of time now… Have to let you now, work to do but I'll be back tonight."
Chris remained a few more hours in Jim's room. No sign of him waking up. "Need to take a walk. My legs are way too numb. Wait for me to wake up…" She checked around her, like a kid about to steal something from a store, and dropped a kiss on Jim's forehead. A furtive and stolen kiss. She blushed. She loved the contact of her lips against his skin. Maybe way too much. But right now she didn't care, she just needed to let him know she was here.
She grabbed her jacket and walked to the park. She walked for like a whole hour, bought an ice cream, sat on a bench to eat it, thought about Karlsson who was hiding somewhere and how she dreamed to crush his head and face so badly that it might be not so healthy. But he almost destroyed her world by killing his best friend. No way that he remained unpunished. And she was sure the rest of 20-David Squad thought the same. Wherever was this man, he was done.
She came back at the hospital, Molly was there in the room with Jim. She preferred to remain outside. "Hey Andy, I was wondering if I could take a shower in the locker room…"
"Of course Chris! You know the place, do like you're at home!"
She gave her a faint smile. "Thanks." And rushed to the locker room. She opened her locker, took new clothes and entered the bathroom. She took off her old clothes. She really needed to wash them. As soon as Jim was awake, she would go to her apartment to do her laundry.
She turned on the water and remained a long moment under it, enjoying the feeling of hot water upon her skin. She was feeling, free, light, happy. She let out tears of joy. No one could see her here. Street was about to wake up! She couldn't help herself. She grinned. She was happy. It was so long since she had felt this way. She got out of the shower, grabbed a towel and dried her body and hair. And she unconsciously dreamed that Molly had left the place.
When she came out of the locker room, she saw Molly in the corridor. She was talking with this tiny blond-haired nurse Tabitha had talked about this morning. They seemed to interact pretty intensively. She got out of the ICU, using the emergency exit and walked to her car to get some stuff. Did she really need them? Not really. But it was better than confronting Molly at the moment.
When she came back, the place was empty. She preferred this. She waved at the nurses and entered Jim's room. He was still sleeping. She sat in her chair, opened the book she took from her car and read it till she was interrupted by Julie.
"Hey I'm Julie, the new nurse! You must be Chris! Tabitha talked to me about you a lot! So glad to finally meet you!"
"Nice to meet you too." Chris was stunned at how Julie was speaking fast. She was really in a rush as Tabitha had said.
"I met Molly earlier, think it was you. And then I understood my mistake when I talked about Jim's girlfriend sleeping here and she didn't understand because she was his girlfriend and she has never slept here. Oh gosh, I'm sorry. I thought you were his girlfriend and then Andy told me you were Jim's best friend…"
Julie kept talking fast, giving a lot of details and apologizing for her mistakes. Chris, on her side, tried to process the amount of information she was receiving. Molly knew she had slept here… And all of a sudden, she was feeling dizzy. She remained silent. She didn't know what to do. It was for the best if she avoided Molly for a while. Once Jim would be awake, she would focus on him and forget about her. Sounded like a perfect plan.
Julie finally left the room and Chris enjoyed the silence while eating her dinner. She kept reading. Her mind wandering from time to time, thinking about the Molly situation. Until her eyes were attracted by an usual move. Jim was moving his fingers. She froze for a few seconds. Surprised. Overjoyed.
"Street? Street? Are you there? It's Chris. You're hearing me?"
She ran to the nurses's station to tell them about what was happening. Julie and Andy rushed to the room to check on the vitals.
"He's waking up, Chris. " Andy told her, all smiley. "But it can take some more hours for him to be completely awake. Just remain with him and call us when he opens his eyes."
Chris nodded. She was smiling, giggling, crying. She didn't know how to react, what to do. All her emotions were bursting now. Her mind was becoming crazy between madness and euphoria. Her euphoria was quickly stopped when she remembered having read the letter, his letter. She knew what he had written in it and it felt like she had invaded his privacy. She needed to erase, all his words from her head, to keep quiet the things she had read in this piece of paper and just acted like the friend she had always been to him. She just sat, took his hand in hers and waited for him to wake up.
He woke up hours later, completely foggy. She jumped as soon as she saw his large hazel eyes. "Street, you're awake? Are you hearing me? No don't speak, I need to call the nurses. Remain calm." She caught the emergency button and pushed on it.
He was still in the dizzy. But seeing her face, even a little deformed through his eyes re-accustoming slowly to the light was the best thing he could have dreamed to wake up. He smiled at her and noticed she was holding his hand tightly in hers. Brushing the top of his hand with her thin fingers. He could have believed he had reached heaven.
But then, he saw the nurses coming and asking Chris to stay away and he knew he was at the hospital. All the painful memories came back in mind. Chasing Karlsson, the explosion, the hit and run, Chris on the ground and then the blackout. He tried to move but his body was so heavy, so sore, so aching.
"Don't try to move, Mr. Street. Dr. Paulsen needs to talk to you first. You've been in a big car accident. You have been suffering from commotion, your legs were broken, like some of your ribs. You had some troubles with one of the drugs we gave to you, causing you to remain in the coma a little bit longer. You need to remain cautious. Your body is still weak."
He nodded as he could and turned his head. Chris was at the bottom of the room, looking at him, smiling. He smiled back as he could. His cheeks were so numb, frozen. Like immobilized. He didn't know which face he did but he saw Chris burst into laughing. And for him it was enough.
came back after, talking to him about all the steps of his recovery but first he wanted to explain all the stages he had been through. "The first days had been rough. To be honest, we were not sure you were gonna make it. But you did. And then you got better. The trace of the commotion vanished. Your legs healed. But you remained in a coma. And then you had a heart attack and we all thought we lost you forever. Except this person."
He pointed at Chris, who immediately blushed. "She never stopped believing you were not dying, that something was wrong. And she was right." He told him about the side effects of one of his medication. "We stopped it as soon as we knew about it and here you are."
He turned to her, she blushed. He just smiled at her and asked to Dr. Paulsen about his recovery. He told him about the rehabilitation. "But I'm confident, you're young, you're strong and above all, you're well surrounded. And this is the most important part. Now, if you excuse me, I need to make some calls."
He got out of the room. Chris remained in the corner she seemed to hide into. She was shared between her overjoy and her fear to confront Jim now she had read the letter.
"Maybe I should go…"
"No please, stay." Street replied quickly. He didn't want her to go. Not after all he had heard about her fighting. "Maybe… Instead… You could remain with me… I mean… Sleep here... I don't feel like remaining alone tonight… And…"
"OK." He looked at her surprised. She had answered so quickly. He could see at her face that she was surprised by her rapidity too. She tried to hide her anxiety of having been so direct.
"Maybe we should tell the others about you waking up… I mean this is super important and they would be so happy to know about you and…"
Jim listened to her. She spoke so fast, which was unsual coming from her. Probably to fill up the blanks they were both so afraid of.
"Chris." He interrupted her as she was listing all the reasons they had to call their friends and teammates to tell them about the good news. To call Molly, his girlfriend. "Chris, please stop." This time, he spoke firmer. She froze within the second that followed.
"Chris, I don't want to call anyone. I just want to spend the rest of the day with you. The only person who had believed in my recovery, the only one who fought for me when all the others had given up. I heard what Dr. Paulsen said. You fought for me like anyone else. If you have not…" He swallowed hard. "If you haven't, I'd be six feet under…"
Chris lowered her head. She couldn't handle compliments. Even less when they were coming from him. "And if I haven't been here, you'd not be here… " She mumbled.
"My bones may be broken, Chris but my ears are not. I'm here because of my job, because of this bastard of Karlsson, not because of you!"
"But you pushed me on the side, when Karlsson wanted to hit me and he hit you instead!"
"And I'll do it again and again, if it means to save you! And don't even think to argue with me about this."
She raised slowly her head and addressed him a faint smile. "Now come and tell all about I've missed while I was sleeping!"
She came closer and sat on this so familiar chair. "Where to begin…"