The First Time Ever chapter fifteen
For the second time in two years, I found myself confined to a hospital bed. I wasn't allowed to go home and it had been two and a half weeks since they had found us stranded in the woods. The doctor side of me understood that having brain surgery meant that the recovery time was longer, and three surgeries in one put extra strain on my body to recover. That didn't stop the confinement from driving me crazy, though- every single second seemed to drag and it felt like I had been in here forever.
My brain was healing nicely. After the swelling had gone down and the bleed had been cleared up there were no signs of a re-bleed or any more problems. All of the internal bleeding in my stomach had been cleared up for weeks and my wrist was healing according to plan. There had been no reason to keep me in more than two weeks- until, that was, the incision site on my abdomen had become slightly infected. The infection was clearing rapidly but Calliope had become a hypochondriac in the last two weeks and had insisted that I stay in for an extra week. She was lucky I loved her- I was dying to get out of here.
Teddy was also recovering well. She was dealing with it a lot better than I was- although she walked with a slight limp because her leg hadn't completely healed yet, she was able to get up and walk around- the furthest I was allowed to go was to the toilet. She came to visit me every day, telling me all about the gossip of the hospital and the reporters who hounded her for information.
I still couldn't sleep at night. Every time I closed my eyes, the chilling winds of the forest washed over me and it was hard to remember that I wasn't stranded in the middle of nowhere, but in a familiar place surrounded by the familiar faces of the people I loved.
During the day it was better. There were things I could focus my attention on, like patient charts and reading, and most importantly, my proposal to Callie. I didn't want to randomly get down on one knee- no, I had to make it special. Teddy and I planned go ring shopping as soon as I was released from this place, and in the mean time I was planning out how it would all look.
The realisation that I was going to marry Callie had come to me long ago, on the same night as I had first told her I loved her. A quiet moment as we lay huddled up on the couch together, my mind soaring millions of miles away from the movie that was playing. I realised in that moment that I never wanted to experience life without Calliope in it- and in that moment, I knew I was going to marry her one day. And as Teddy and I sat in the woods, not-so patiently awaiting our rescue, the fact that I had waited so long to propose made me slap myself internally.
The thought of a life with Callie made me smile like an idiot- I felt like a teenager all over again, with butterflies in my stomach.
"I'm entering!" The familiar voice of Cristina Yang snapped me out of my thoughts she entered the room with her eyes closed. A few days ago, she had walked in on Callie and I in a rather passionate make-out session. We'd sprung apart immediately, but I believe Cristina's comment on the situation was something along the lines of 'better discharge you soon…'.
"You don't have to announce yourself every time. Callie isn't even here. She went to the cafeteria." I explained, adjusting my position on the bed to allow her to check my abdominal incision, as was part of the daily routine.
"I'm not taking any chances." She said adamantly, shaking her head as if to dispel a bad memory from her mind. I chuckled softly at her sarcasm.
"How's it looking?"
She nodded in approval as she looked over the incision. "Looks pretty much healed to me. If it was up to me you would have been discharged days ago. But I'll have to check with Bailey first- if I don't update her hourly she goes nutso on me."
I smiled. Although all the fuss was completely unnecessary, it was nice to know people cared so much. "I have something to show you." I told her, reaching for my laptop as she discarded her plastic gloves.
"Um, no thank you. I don't swing that way." She said, shaking her head vehemently and holding her hands out.
I swatted her shoulder. "Shut up. Not that. This." I said with a smirk as the image of the ring I had been looking at loaded quickly on the page. Cristina's eyebrows flew up in two perfect arches and her mouth hung open. "What do you think?" I asked.
"Damn, Robbins." She said with a smile.
"Don't say a word to Callie." I warned her, and as if on cue, Callie came strolling through the door with two coffees and a box full of donuts. I made a not-so-subtle effort to slam the laptop shut before she could see it while Cristina did a crappy job at shielding it all from view.
"Hey!" Callie greeted, apparently unfazed. "What about me?" She asked as she set the coffees down and came over to greet me.
"Just talking about how much I love you." I said with a cheesy grin, and I heard Cristina fake gag in the background.
"And that's my cue to leave. I'll go talk to Bailey." She said, shaking her head as the stalked out of the room, mumbling about PDA.
"Why's she going to talk to Bailey?" Callie asked, greeting me with a soft kiss before plopping down on the chair beside me. She was still clad in scrubs after her overnight shift and she was visibly exhausted.
"To see if I can finally be discharged." I revealed with a massive smile. The thought of getting out of here made me want to dance. I was used to being in the hospital, but not being in the hospital. When I was a doctor, I was the one in control. I got to decide if a life could be saved and ow. I followed families through the best and worst moments of their lives. On a daily basis I literally held children's lives in my hands- which although terrifying, was a real rush. So, I suppose it was the doctor side of me that hated not having any control. People were right when they said that doctors make the worst patients.
I looked around the familiar white walls of the hospital room to which I had been confined for two weeks. I was glad I wouldn't reach three. Today I was being released and I was ready to run for the hills, far away from here. I had been given a further week and a half off of work, although I had seen most of my long term patients already. They all signed a highly decorated card, courtesy of Alex Karev. None of them actually knew the details of what had happened to me- although the older kids had a less vague idea- but they knew I was injured.
"Are you ready to go?" Callie asked with a smile as she practically danced into the room, carrying a box to fit all of my stuff in. I laughed.
"I'm not sure who's happier about this. Me or you." I said as I tugged at the lapels of her leather jacket to pull her in for a kiss. The ring I had chosen for her had been put on hold at the nearest jewellery store- Teddy and I were going to pick it up on Sunday while Callie worked. And then, on Monday night a week after, the day I returned to work, I had a proposal planned- in the hospital, since we both worked on Monday nights. The hospital was where we met, where I first realised that I loved her, and where we had made so many good memories. Spending two weeks in hospital had given me a lot of planning time, so essentially anyone who wasn't Callie knew about my plans to propose.
"I have a lot of plans for us tonight…" She murmured into my ear, gently nipping the bottom of my earlobe with her teeth. I leaned in closer to her and breathed in the smell of cocoa butter that was so uniquely her.
"Hmm, what sort of plans?" I whispered huskily. I was about to lean in for another, more passionate kiss when Bailey came storming in, covering her eyes and cringing.
"Didn't I release you? Get outta here!" She exclaimed, storming back out and closing the door with a purposeful slam as she went. I spun around to Callie, kissing her softly before slinging my rucksack onto my bag. This made her frown.
"Um, you're not carrying that." She said defiantly, making me roll my eyes as she took it from me gently.
"I'm fine. My incision is healed and my brain isn't messed up any more." I insisted, holding my hand out for the bag hopefully.
"Um, no. You know as well as I do, no heavy objects for another week." She said with a hum at the end of her sentence as if to prove a point. Rolling my eyes again, I reluctantly handed her the bag and followed her out of the room. I had held an intervention when she mentioned wheeling me out of this place in a wheelchair, and so for the first time, I managed to persuade them to do things my way. I was perfectly comfortable exiting on foot, thank you very much.
Getting home at last was the biggest relief I'd had in two weeks. Our home was a warm and comfortable place- far better than a hospital bed. Being in the hospital constantly reminded me that I had been in a plane crash. Here, however, I could snuggle up on the couch with Callie and forget the world.
Once we got home we unpacked everything that I'd had at the hospital with me- books, clothes, laptop and laptop charger, phone… the list went on and on. The excitement today had eventually taken its toll on me and I was tired beyond belief. I just wanted to take pain meds, lie on the couch with Callie and sleep for four years straight.
"I'm so happy that I came home to you." I told Callie with a soft smile as we lay bundled up on the couch. It was the most comfortable I had been in weeks and everything was a complete contrast to how I was in the woods which was exactly what I needed right now. It was warm and bright with the TV mumbling away in the background and I felt completely safe in Callie's arms. No visions of vultures eating the dead pilot or winds that chilled me to the bone.
"I'm glad too. I love you." She said, placing a soft kiss on the top of my head before refocusing her attention on the television.
"I love you too." I said softly, meaning it wholeheartedly. She was my safe place and I couldn't wait to put a ring on her finger.