Sorry for the delay guys. Wasn't entirely happy with the way this chapter was coming out so re-wrote it a few times before realizing I will probably never be happy with it so I decided to just post it so I could move on with the rest. Hope you all still enjoy it!
It took a few hours, but right around lunch time, Kim looked up and noticed a pained look on Adam's face. It was the first time since being in an induced coma that he didn't have that relaxed look on his face. Her brain started going a mile a minute as she realized he was starting to wake up. "Adam! Adam, hey! Can you hear me?" She stood up, still holding his hand and rubbing his cheek.
Adam scrunched his face a little tighter as he started to come around more and the pain intensified. Every breath he took hurt more than the last so he tried taking quick, shallow breaths. Each time he tried to exhale, he was met with resistance which cause him to slightly panic. He had no idea what was happening to him.
Kim kept trying to get through to Adam, but his breathing became worse. As she began to worry more, Jay left to go find Will. Something was clearly wrong.
"Adam come on, slow deep breaths. It's okay, baby. You're in the hospital" Kim kept repeating.
Jay returned with Will and Robyn, the respiratory therapist.
"What's going on Will?" Kim asked panicked.
"He's starting to wake up, but he's fighting the vent. The continuous air pressure makes each exhale a little tougher than normal. We need to get him to breathe with the machine instead of against it." Will explained as Robyn went to Adam's side.
After a few minutes, Adam's eyes flew open. He felt like he couldn't breathe and was starting to panic. He heard a bunch of different muffled voices all telling him to stay calm and not to move but he couldn't figure out how to do so. All he was trying to do was catch his breath.
"Kim, talk to him!" Will yelled in desperation. Adam wasn't listening to any of them, but he hoped Kim would be able to get through to him.
Kim, who had stood frozen off to the side, practically crying at the site in front of her, snapped out of her head and traded places with Will. She knew Adam couldn't turn his head with the neck brace on so she leaned over and got right in his face so he could see her clearly. She put her hands on both sides of his cheeks, making sure she had Adam's attention. "Look at me baby." She said calmly, hoping if she was calm, Adam would calm down. Seeing the fear and pain in his eyes though, broke her heart. "You're gonna be okay, Adam, just breathe with the machine not against it."
Adam had tears in his eyes at this point which broke Kim's heart even more. She wasn't sure if anything she was saying was even getting through to Adam, but she wasn't ready to give up yet. She just kept repeating herself, making sure she sounded calm even though she was anything but.
Finally, after what felt like forever, but in reality was only a couple minutes, Adam seemed to calm down enough to start breathing with the vent. At this point, Robyn took Kim's place in Adam's line of site, explaining that he was on a non-invasive vent for the time being while his lungs healed.
Adam just looked at her, almost lost, before closing his eyes again.
"What's going on?" Kim asked after seeing Adam closed his eyes again.
"It's okay, Kim. We have to remember that Adam is still extremely weak so although he was only up for a few minutes, those few minutes were extremely exhausting for him." Robyn explained.
"He'll wake up again soon though, right?" Kevin jumped in to ask.
"He should, but when that is, will be up to him." Will replied.
"Will he panic like that again?" Trudy asked.
"There's a chance he will, but it's not as likely as the first time." Robyn stated before asking if there were any more questions.
Kim had a ton of questions but she couldn't bring herself to ask them at the moment. She just wanted to be close to Adam and for him to wake up again.
Will and Robyn left the room, leaving the team to have time with Adam. Kim was trying her hardest to rap her head around everything that just happened. She was so excited for Adam to wake up, but she wasn't expecting it to be so quick. She wanted to talk to him, see how bad the pain was, but most importantly see if he could move his toes.
Jay went over to assure her everything would be ok, even though no one really fully believed that yet, but he was trying to stay positive. He knew Kim was going through all the worst-case scenarios in his head so he had to remind her good things can still happen.
A little later around dinner time, it was only Kim, Kevin and Trudy left at the hospital. Kim knew she would have to go home to see Makayla soon, but she couldn't bring herself to leave Adam until he was awake and talking to her. She knew Makayla was missing them both and that she was dying to talk to Adam, which broke Kim's heart. Every time the two talked, she would always ask to talk to Adam and Kim would always have to tell her he was still sleeping.
Kim was getting lost in her head again as Kevin and Trudy carried on a conversation that she had stopped paying attention to when she felt a slight squeeze of her hand. "Adam? Adam can you hear me?" She stood up, trying to get in his line of sight again in case he opened his eyes.
Kevin and Trudy stopped their conversation when they heard Kim saying Adam's name.
"He just squeezed my hand" She told the other two, before focusing her attention back on Adam.
Adam squeezed her hand again, this time a little tighter. He almost started to panic again when he couldn't exhale, but he managed to synchronize his breathing a lot faster than the first time. He opened his eyes at the sound of Kim calling his name. He was confused, had no idea where he was, what happened, or why he was in so much pain. There was something strapped to his face which didn't help with his claustrophobia, but that was the least of his concerns right now. As soon as he locked eyes with Kim, he let a tear fall from his eye.
Kim was so relieved to see Adam awake and doing much better than the first time he woke up. The simple fact that he was breathing better this time seemed like a big deal to her, even if it really wasn't that big of a deal. She could see the pain and confusion all over Adam's face and wiped a tear from his cheek. She smiled as a tear escaped from her own eyes. "Hey baby. I've missed you so much."
As he looked around, he noticed he was in the hospital but had no idea why. He tried to slowly move a hand up to his face to try to get the mask off in hopes he would be able to ask questions but Trudy gently grabbed his hand that was headed straight for the mask. "Leave it Adam, you still need it."
Adam tried to turn his head to get a better look at her when he realized he couldn't turn his head.
"It's okay, Adam. It's only a precaution." Kim seemed to know exactly where Adam's head was. "You were shot 3 times." She didn't want to go into too much detail because she wasn't sure how much of this conversation he would even remember, but she could also tell he had no idea what was going on.
In Adams mind, he had no idea what was going on. He now understood he was in the hospital because he was shot, be he didn't know why he had been in so much pain. It was literally everywhere. His head was pounding, his throat was sore and dry, he felt like someone had grabbed all of his insides and was twisting them around, and he felt like he was suffocating with the bulky mask that was strapped to his face.
He tried again to raise a hand to try to get the mask off and was once again stopped. "You have to leave it for now. Kevin went to get Will. He'll let you know if it can come off." Kim stated. She had no idea if Adam was even understanding anything he was being told, but explaining things made her feel better.
When Will and Kevin returned, Will was relieved to see Adam awake. "Hey man. Good to see you awake." Will smiled as he approached Adam.
"He keeps trying to take the mask off." Kim told him.
Will nodded as he focused his attention back to Adam. "Okay, we'll see what we can do about that." He checked Adam's pupils and then grabbed his hand, asking him to squeeze it. At first he felt nothing, which made his stomach drop, fearing the worst that Adam could potentially have brain damage, but after a few more seconds, he felt a slight squeeze. Will felt a weight lifted off his chest. He knew Adam still wasn't out of the woods yet, but him responding to verbal requests was a great sign.
"Everything okay?" Trudy asked as she watched Will closely.
"So far, things look good." Will answered honestly. "There is definitely some weakness, but that is to be expected. As far as the mask, I think it's safe to remove it and switch back to a regular face mask."
Kim was so relieved. She knew Adam still wouldn't be happy about it, but it was a step in the right direction.
Will went about changing the masks out and as expected, Adam did relax a little more. It still stressed him out a bit having something strapped to his face but it was nowhere near as bad as the other one.
Once Will left the room, Trudy, Kevin and Kim attempted to hold a conversation with Adam, but it only lasted a few minutes before Adam passed out on them again.