233.
The door to her room was slightly ajar, but he hesitated to enter. He had to make sure his emotions were in check before he assessed the damage inflicted upon his fiancé.
Andy stepped through the door frame and peered into the blazing white room. He wondered how any of the patients got any rest with the harsh fluorescent lighting...
He caught his breath, a pattern that had only increased since he arrived at Good Samaritan's. He had seen her under the weather and weak before, but this was an entirely new image.
Sharon's face and arms were pale from dehydration. He noticed the slit on her cheek immediately, and shook his head in utter disbelief. Her collar bone was bandaged in multiple places. He refused to think about how bruised her abdomen was.
It had been four hours. A mere four hours since he had seen her upright and determined.
Andy realized he had been staring at her sleeping form for at least five minutes and moved toward a chair positioned next to her bed. He placed the ziplock bag, containing her ring and glasses, on the bedside table. The nurse had not-so-gently warned him not to disturb her prematurely. She needed to wake up on her own, when her lungs were ready.
For the moment, Sharon was being fed oxygen to keep her heart rate stable. The pain medication and numbing agent caused her heart rate to increase and the doctor wanted to prevent any excessive lung use before the lining had healed.
Andy's exhaustion began to take hold, even though the day had barely reached 7:00 PM. He slipped into a restless sleep cycle, where every fifteen minutes he would check to see is Sharon had woken up.
During one of his sleep increments, about 9:30 PM, he felt a soft hand slide down his arm. His eyes flashed open to Sharon's smile. Though faint, she was smiling, nonetheless. His hand instinctively took hold of her's as they sat in a blistering silence as her face fell, remembering the recent events.
"How many." Her voice was dry and shaky.
"Four. You did all you could."
She clenched her teeth and shut her eyes. How could they have missed the warning signs? The entire funeral could have been avoided.
"Really, Sharon. You shouldn't even have been as close as you were." His attempts to reassure were futile.
"And the team? Julio was next to me." Her voice even wearied than when she awoke.
"Just dusted up. Nobody was hurt."
She paused, returning to her own condition.
"Is it really bad?"
"We can talk about that later." He pushed a piece of matted hair off her face, exposing bruises framing her eyebrow.
She gripped his hand tighter and shook her head, indicating she could take it.
"The doctor glued up the cut on your cheek. He stitched your collar bone and-"
She knew there were bigger injuries, judging by how numb her chest felt.
"-and you have a couple of broken ribs and a punctured lung."
He rubbed her hand, a reminder that she was alive and right in front of him.
"Ok." She swallowed, somehow unable to cry.
She wanted to let it out. The pain, the numbness, the explosion, the death. She was in need of catharsis. She just couldn't let herself inflict the pain that tears would bring on her own body.
"How long before I can go home?"
"I don't know, but, Sharon... I was worried. I was really worried. It was so hard not knowing."
Her cheeks flushed and the flood gates were finally opened. Not because of the pain, but because it had been years since someone cared for her the way Andy does.
"The whole way here, I just kept trying to figure out how I would go on without you. I'd never had to think about before. I can't think about it. What would your kids be without their mother, what would the team be without their captain, what would I be without you?"
Noticing her tears, he reached his fingers to wipe away the exhaustion trickling down her cheeks. Sharon wasn't sure how to respond.
A simple, "I love you too," was all she could manage.
His kiss on her left hand sealed their affection.
"Oh, I almost forgot. The doctor gave me these."
Andy pulled the ring and pair of glasses from the bag.
She reached for the glasses and delicately placed them on her face, where they belonged.
Her gaze lingered on the ring he was holding. That was her engagement ring. Her's. The symbol that their journey, although perilous at times, is worth every second. The only badge she'd ever need was that one ring representing the devotion they shared.
Sharon held out her hand and let Andy slide the ring on her finger.
They were stronger together.