"Hey." Spencer whispered when she poked her head through the door.
"Hey." Paige whispered back, not wanting to wake the exhausted girl in her arms.
"That is the first time she has slept since you were brought here." Spencer said, coming to the side of the bed and holding Paige's hand. "It's good to see you awake."
"It's good to be awake." Paige said as she looked down at the sleeping girl. "She didn't do well, did she?"
"That is a bit of an understatement. You know, I knew it was going to be bad, when they loaded you into the ambulance. So I called her parents. It is the first time that I have seen, that her dad couldn't get through to her. She always talks to him. But this time, she just sat there, watching you. It was difficult to watch her giving up. So, no more of this, ok?" Spencer said the last sentence with tears in her eyes. It broke all the girls hearts to watch what had happened to Emily the past ten days.
"I promise, I'm not going anywhere." Paige said, kissing the top of Emily's head, causing the girl to stir, but not wake. Later that afternoon Wayne and Pam both walked in to see Emily sitting in her chair watching Paige sleep. But this time Emily turned to acknowledge them. She got up out of her chair and ran to hug her parents.
"I'm so sorry for the last few days." Emily whispered into her fathers chest.
"It's ok, Emmy. She is awake now." Wayne said.
"Well now I am." Paige mumbled from her spot on the bed, looking over towards the Fields family with a small smile. Pam made her way to the bed first.
"Hello, Paige. I am Pam." She extended her hand for the girl to shake. Wayne stepped over to the bed as well and shook Paige's hand with a introduction.
"It is nice to see you awake." Wayne said.
"It's nice to finally meet you. Emily has told me a lot about you. Both of you." Paige said. Emily's parents stayed for an hour and just chatted with the girls. Before walking out of the hospital room, Wayne bent over and whispered something into Paige's ear before turning and leaving.
"Do I want to know what he just said to you?" Emily asked as she walked over to the chair by Paige.
"I am supposed to tell you to go home with them." Paige said.
"No chance." Emily said.
"Em, I'm fine. And I am just going to fall asleep anyway. Please go with them. Eat and shower. I will be here in the morning when you get back. Their waiting outside for you, so please." Paige begged.
"And what if your not here in the morning?" Emily said quietly.
"What?" Paige asked.
"What if I come back and something happened to you? What if I'm not here and something happens?" Emily cried.
"Nothing is going to happen. Hey, I'm not going anywhere Em." Paige said as she lifted Emily's chin up so that the girl was looking at her. "Now. Please go shower, stinky. And eat. I know you didn't take care of yourself, Spencer told me. I need you to be healthy for when I get out of here." After a few more minutes of convincing, Emily finally let her parent take her back to her beach house, with the promise that Paige would call if she woke in the middle of the night.
Paige slept through the entire night and woke to see Emily at her post early the next morning. A nurse came in to clean her stitches and put a new bandage on. She asked Emily if she wanted to see how it was done so that she could do it for Paige until the girl was able to do it herself and get a shower. The skin around the stitches was angry and puckered up. Dried blood outlined the black string. The discomfort of having it cleaned was written all over Paige's face as the nurse applied light pressure to get the blood wiped off.
"Still don't want any pain medicine?" The nurse asked with a smile on her face.
"No, I'm good. And I really don't feel like sleeping the rest of the day." Paige said, although as she said it she was wiggling trying to get away from the pressure.
"Oh for Gods sake Paige, take the pain medicine. It's ok to admit when something hurts." Emily said as she turned to the nurse to tell her to give it to Paige. The nurse took a syringe and injected something into Paige's IV that made her instantly get groggy.
"Just a small dose to help you through this cleaning." The nurse said. She continued to show Emily how to clean and change the bandages as Paige fell into a light sleep.
On day fourteen Paige was finally released from the hospital into Emily's care. Not wanting Paige to feel overwhelmed, Spencer volunteered to bring Emily and Paige back to the beach house. After signing her paperwork Paige was helped out of her bed and into a wheelchair, being pushed out of the hospital by a nurse and helped into Spencers SUV. Emily stood back and watched with worry as Paige tried to relax into the passenger seat.
"It will be ok Em." Spencer said from her spot beside the girl.
"I'm a nervous wreck Spencer. I mean, more than anything I want her to be back home with me. But I am so worried that something will happen." Emily said.
"You will have me and the girls for a little while longer. And we can always call an ambulance if something happens. But the doctor said that Paige was doing extremely well. That is why he felt she could go home." Spencer said before she opened the back door for Emily, making her way to the driver door and heading to Emily's house. The entire ride, Paige tried to stay awake, fighting off sleep and trying to make conversation with Spencer, the other girl laughing when she would fall asleep mid-sentence.
"Can I at least sit in the chair in the living room?" Paige asked once Emily got in the house with her, Paige's arm draped over her shoulder.
"Why don't you go lay down for a little while?" Emily said.
"Em, the doctor said it would be good for me to start trying to sit up for a few hours a day. I've been in a bed for fourteen days straight, I want to sit." Paige said. "Please?"
"Ok, but we are going to bed early tonight." Emily said, leading Paige to the living room. "And Paige." Emily said, holding both sides of the girls face, making sure she was looking into her eyes.
"Yes Em?" Paige asked, smiling at the girl.
"Welcome home." Emily said, kissing the girl once on the lips and once on the forehead.
