When Catherine was allowed back in the room, Steve was sleeping. She leaned and kissed him tenderly and then sitting down, she took his hand into hers and sobbed as the emotions of the last two weeks sunk in. The relief was overwhelming, the man she loved was alive and she would never let him go again. If he wanted her to leave the Navy, she would. Catherine now realized that nothing mattered to her more in life than being with this man. She held his hand against her cheek dampening it with her tears of joy and her soft butterfly kisses.
Steve slept until they brought his lunch in to him. The unappealing meal of chicken broth, tea and cherry jello brought nothing but a turned up nose from the weary patient.
Once the Nurse left, Steve pulled his attention from the tray and smiled at the beautiful lady at his side.
"Thanks for being here Cath. Danny tells me you've been here all along, I appreciate that very much"
"I was so afraid I'd lose you Steve. Oh God I'm so, so sorry for everything. I love you so much" Tears again slipped from her eyes as Steve raised his hand to her cheek to wipe them away.
"Hey no tears baby. I'm going to be fine, I promise. I love you too Catherine..."
"Ssshhhh Steve, I need you to listen and let me finish... I'll leave the Navy if you still want me, I'll leave the Navy. I want to be with you Steve, I need to be with you...nothing else matters to me"
"Cath, no...I was wrong to ask you to leave your career. It was very selfish of me to ask you to do that and I'm so sorry. We'll make this work Cath,
I love you sweetheart and I'm so sorry I hurt you"
Catherine stood and leaning over they shared a passionate kiss.
After about a minute Steve chuckled, "I think we better stop now baby... I'm sure glad they removed the catheter"
Catherine then pulled the dinner tray over, "Let's turn your mind to your food what do you say?"
"Yes ma'am" And there it was, that lovely boyish grin that Catherine loved so much. Steve ate, or actually drank a small amount, "This is horrible Cath"
"Steven, you must eat. They need to make sure your kidneys are functioning"
"Oh God, you're going to be as bad as Danny aren't you?"
"If you mean are we going to be tough on you and make you follow the Doctors orders, yes...I'll probably be even worse than Danny...that's what partners' are for, right?"
"Okay, okay... Thank you Cath" He drank a bit more of the broth, "Honey, I'm pretty tired"
Catherine moved the tray away and helped Steve settle back on to his pillows, "There you go, are you comfy?"
"Yes, sorry...just need to close my eyes for a few minutes"
Catherine kissed him again, "Don't be silly, I'll be right here with you my dear" Within minutes Steve had drifted off to sleep.
About an hour later Steve began to moan softly and suddenly without notice his eyes jolted open and he turned his body sideways towards Catherine and began vomiting violently. Catherine stood, cradling his head over the side of the bed until he was finished. Reaching to the nearby tray she grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth before helping turn him back over onto his back. His body was shaking as pain shot through his body. She held his head and whispered softly to him, "Relax sweetheart, I've got you" Catherine hit the nurses call button and continued to try to soothe Steve, "Breathe slowly baby, you'll be alright" The nurse arrived quickly and calling two orderlies they helped Steve move to a nearby chair so they could put fresh linens on the bed and clean the floor.
Catherine knelt beside him, placing a hand on his knee. "Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah, yeah babe... I told you it was horrible" Steve's voice was soft and shaky.
Two Nurses came to Steve's side and with Catherine's help they guided him slowly into the bathroom. He was able to urinate and they helped him change his gown and cleaned him up before taking him back to his bed.
A nurse then asked him to rate his pain level. "About a seven, eight...I feel nauseated...my head's...spinning"
The nurse gave him another dose of pain meds and in minutes he was again under and resting comfortably.
Danny woke about four o'clock finally feeling rested. He called Catherine's cell and she moved to the side of the room so not to wake Steve.
"Hey Catherine, how's our boy?"
"He's hurting Danny. He wasn't able to hold his lunch down and the retching hurt him quite a bit. We had to get him out of bed to clean him and change the bedding and he was able to urinate when he was up, so that's good. Once we got him back into bed the nurse gave him a higher dose of pain meds and he's sleeping comfortably now"
"Are you okay? Do you need me up there right away?"
"No, don't rush. He's sleeping, I'm just fine"
"I'm going to shower and then stop and take Gracie out to dinner, I haven't seen much of her the last couple of weeks and now that Steve's awake I can tell her what's happening. She's going to want to see him soon"
"I'm sure he'll love it. Take your time hun, he'll be fine"