Chapter 14:
Hailey slowly woke up opening her eyes little by little until they were fully open. She looked around and didn't recognize where she was. She attempted to sit up but the pain in her side prevented her from doing so. Then she remembered what happened at the apartment, about Jacob, and Nick. Nick, she thought. She leaned up as far as she could without the pain hurting to much, when she felt her arm weighed down. She looked over and saw that Nick was asleep in the chair next to her leaning over and resting his head on her bed, holding her hand. She smiled down at him "I'm sorry Nicky, I'm sorry you had to be involved." She was running her hand through his hair when he started to stir.
His head popped up startled and he looked around until he met eyes with Hailey. He then smiled knowing she was alright. "Hey you." He said stretching out.
"Hey." She smiled back at him.
"How you feelin'?" He asked taking hold of her hand again.
"A little groggy." She looked down and saw that his left arm was in a sling. "Oh my God, did I do that?" She asked remembering when she shot him.
"Yeah, but it's just a little bruising. The sling is so I don't move the muscle around to much." He lifted his hand and tucked a stray curl behind her ear. "Can I get you anything?"
"I could use some water." Then she looked at her wrists. "And maybe a hair tie?"
He reached around his wrist and pulled off the hair band. "I figured you might ask for one. As for the water I would have to go get some." He handed the tie to her and kissed her on the head. "Ok?"
"Yeah. Thanks." He left to get the water and she attempted to put her hair up but her wound kept her from doing so. "Crying out loud." She humphed and threw her arms down.
Nick walked back into the room with a pitcher and a glass. He set the glass down and poured her some water. "Here ya go." he saw the wrinkled look on her face. He loved that look, she was angry but not to cause a mood, but frustrated with something. "What's a matter?"
"I can't do it." She said holding up the hair band.
He sat the glass down and took the tie. "Let me."
"What about your arm?"
"Just because I'm not allowed to move it, doesn't mean I can't." He helped her sit up, and surprisingly to her when she had help it didn't hurt as much. "I do this for my niece's all the time." He lifted his arms and in no time Hailey had a perfect french braid. He moved the bed so that she could lean back but still be sitting up and then helped her back down. "Here," he said handing her a glass and a little cup with two pills. "The doctor said that you should take these when you woke up."
Hailey swallowed the pills with the water and handed her glass back to Nick. She looked around her room as he sat back down in the chair. Her whole entire room was covered wall to wall with flowers and balloons. "Who are all these from?"
"Everyone at the lab. And these ones are from me." he said referring to the flowers that were in a vase by her bed. "I put fresh ones in each morning. Although the guy downstairs at the flower stand knows me by name now." he laughed.
She laughed with him but stopped when it hurt her. "This bites my ass." She said wrinkling her face again. "I hate being helpless."
"Well you slept through most of your recovery, the doctor said you could go home in two days but no work for a week." He said.
"Most of? How long was I out?"
"About three days. You were really starting to scare us."
She looked at him and smirked. "You mean I scared you."
"You scared everyone." He said, her smirk still not leaving. "Ok mostly me."
"You love me, you want to kiss me." She teased.
"Yeah, I do." He leaned in and gave her a kiss. From that moment on it was understood that they would be together.
Fin
