It had been almost a week since Denise had been admitted to the hospital and even though she was still pretty sick, she was getting stronger every day. Her friends had come to visit her daily to help lift her spirits, but as much as Denise loved having them around her, the only one she truly wanted or needed, was Frank. Still, even though her husband had been at her side nonstop since her admittance, she wanted nothing more than to be released from the hospital. She was getting tired of lying in the hospital bed while Frank slept cramped in a hospital chair. She wanted to be in her own bed with her husband lying beside her, their arms around each other, that was all she worked toward now. She knew Frank had to be exhausted, when he'd said he wasn't leaving the hospital until she was with him he meant it. No matter what anyone said or did, he absolutely refused to be more than a few feet from Denise at any given time.
It was probably the sweetest gift she'd received since she'd been at the hospital and she had received a ton of presents. There were so many vases of flowers and balloons that she'd run out of places to put them. Her favorite by far was a big white teddy bear holding a heart bearing the words "I LOVE YOU" with balloons tired around its wrist declared she was to "Get Well Soon", and nestled in-between the bear's arms was a vase containing a dozen red roses she had received from Frank. Every time she looked at it she couldn't help but smile. She was sitting in up in bed watching TV when someone knocked on the door.
"Come in," she said, just as Roxy and Pamela poked their heads in and smiled.
"Hey girl," Roxy said giving her a hug. Pamela followed suit and presented Denise with yet another set of Get Well cards from Katie, Lucas, TJ, and Finn. Denise accepted the gifts fondly the watched Pamela's gaze shift to the right side of her bed to where Frank was "keeping watch" over the herd of sheep he was counting in his dreams.
"Poor Frank," Pamela laughed lightly in sympathy. "He is completely exhausted."
Denise looked at her sleeping husband and laughed along with her friends. "It is so sweet, it really is. If I even move he bolts up like a bullet. Watch." Denise shifted in the bed a little bit away from where Frank was sitting. He had his hand on her leg so she'd be able to wake him if she needed something. She hadn't moved her leg a fraction of an inch before Frank jolted awake sitting straight as an arrow in the bedside chair. His face was the perfect mix of shock and bewilderment which made Denise love him even more.
When he noticed Denise was sitting up instead of lying back like she was before he dozed off he immediately grew concerned. "Are you okay, Dee?" he asked. He still hadn't noticed the other women in the room.
Denise smiled at her friends, "Yes, hon. I am fine I was just telling Pamela and Roxy how jumpy you get every time I try to put a hair in place," she explained.
Frank blushed slightly finally noticing they weren't alone. "Oh hello, ladies," he said in greeting before shifting his thoughts back to Denise. "Yes, honey I am a little hyperaware right now but it's only because I want to make sure you are okay and that you get well. I hate seeing you like this, baby."
Denise smiled sweetly at him "Well that's very sweet,, honey but you are completely wiped out. You need to go home and rest. You have been her for almost a week straight."
He had heard this speech a million times this week but his mind was made up, he wasn't leaving that hospital until Denise was able to walk out with him.
"No, Denise I am not leaving you. I almost lost you once and I refuse to let that happen again" he said forcefully forgetting there were others in the room.
Denise reached out and took Frank's hand into her. "I'm feeling okay for right now. Pamela and Roxy are here, they won't let anything happen to me. The best thing you can do to take care of me is to take care of my husband. You're worrying me, Frank, you look terrible, please go home for two hours, one hour, and get some rest in a real bed."
Frank is still uneasy about leaving her but he knows she isn't giving up on this so he agrees "Okay, you win for now but I will be back here in one hour, and if you need me do not hesitate to call me and I mean it," he said.
Frank left the hospital and drove home. As he pulled his old truck into the driveway, he saw his son Jeremy sitting on the porch looking anxious. He got out and walked up the driveway "Jeremy, what are you doing here?" he asked walking up the step where Jeremy stood.
"I am home for the week remember?" Jeremy replied. "So is mom working a double shift again?" he asked and noticed Frank looked like he had been up for days. Frank stood quietly not knowing whether or not to tell him because he knew Denise didn't really want him to know, she didn't want to add her son's worry to her husband's.
"Dad, with respect, you looked better after five days under fire in a war zone than you do right now," Jeremy observed. "Are you sick?"
Frank smiled at his son's bluntness and said, "No son I am not sick." Again he paused but decided to just get it over with and tell Jeremy the truth. "Jeremy, there is something I have to tell you......You mother is in the hospital."
"She works in the hospital, Dad," Jeremy replied, his face the classic teenage "duh" expression Frank had despised when he was in high school.
"No, son, that's not what I meant. She is in the hospital as a patient," Frank told him. Jeremy immediately became worried "What do you mean as a patient? What's wrong with her? Is she going to be okay? Why didn't someone call me?" he asked now pacing the front porch.
"Let's go inside and sit and talk about this," Frank suggested. "I promised your mom I'd leave for an hour so let's get you something to eat okay?"
"Okay, fine, but I want an explanation to why I wasn't called as soon as she was hospitalized," he said walking into the house getting agitated at the fact his father wasn't telling him what was wrong with his mother.
"Okay, son. Listen, your mother developed pneumonia and had to be taken to the hospital. She got very sick very fast. I left for work and she was fine, I came home and she was clearly sick, only a few hours later she was burning up with fever so I took her to the hospital myself." he said and seeing Jeremy's face he continued. "She is doing much better, she has been getting fluids and meds through an IV, the reason we didn't call you is your mother didn't want you to worry about her."
"Well, I'm worried about her, Dad. You wouldn't sit by her side like that for pneumonia, what's really going on?" Jeremy pressed.
"Son, that's all it is I promise. She is still very weak and I didn't want her to be alone," Frank replied trying to calm his son.
"Okay, I guess I believe you. Well, anyway I am going back to the hospital with you," he declared.
"I don't think that's a good idea, Jeremy," Frank said as he assembled a peanut butter sandwich. It was the only food in their house that was safe to eat; most of the other stuff was past the expiration date.
"No, dad I am going to the hospital. I want to see mom," Jeremy said getting angry that his dad didn't want him to see his mother when she was obviously sick and weak.
"Jeremy, stand down and listen to me," Frank said with a tone that was part officer, part father, but definitely more officer. "She's been through a lot. This thing attacked her without...any...warning..." Frank's voice was starting catch as he remembered the days of sitting beside Denise's bed listening to her breath crackle in her chest when she tried to move air in or out. He remembered the little moans of pain when she exhaled and the wheezing whistling sounds that came through her lip when she inhaled. It was hard for him to relive those memories.
"Okay, dad. This isn't like you; if you're this upset it must be bad. Please I have to see her," he pleaded trying to reason with his dad. The truth was he was scared to death of seeing his mom but he needed to see that she was okay.
Frank swallowed the lump in his throat and sat down beside his son. "I thought we might lose her, Son. I really thought that we might lose her," Frank confessed. "And aside from her fear that you wouldn't be focused out there in the field was me, I...I didn't want you to remember her like that."
When Jeremy heard this he became really worried "Okay, Dad listen. She isn't going anywhere. Mom is strong and she wouldn't leave us without fighting," he looked at Frank and continued. "But, Dad I want to see her, she is sick and I want to help," he said also becoming emotional.
Frank embraced his son and patted his back firmly. "You've hurt her, Son. You know that? And I'm not talking about the marks you put on the outside. She...relived some of those moments when her fevers were high. I didn't realize how badly she was hurt until then, by both of us."
"Dad I didn't realize I hurt her so bad. I'm sorry I never meant to hurt either of you. I would never intentionally hurt you or her again. I promise," he said tears now streaming down his face freely. Frank knew he was sorry for what he had done and still regretted it to this day.
"I wouldn't either, but I did. I hurt you and I hurt her, you didn't need a drill master, you needed a father," Frank sighed. "She knew it and I never let her say it. You ready to go see her, she'll be glad to see you even though she didn't want you to worry, she asked about you a couple times in her sleep. I think it'll make her smile," Frank sighed. "Go get changed, we'll leave in 20 minutes."