Hey all. So yeah, you probably noticed I've been gone for quite a while, right? Well, if you're confused about that, you obviously haven't read my profile in some time, have you now? Yeah, I thought not.
So anyhow, I stole my mom's computer because I miss this story and I've finally started writing it again, plus, I have spare time between work, my meetings in the Delayed Entry Program (yes, I am now, officially, part of the United States Armed Forces… yay =] ) and working out occasionally. Other than having no computer T.T and therefore no way to write, I've also been very sick for a whole freakin' month! Yeah. That sucked. Not gonna lie. Had some infection, thought I got better, then got pharygitis about a week later, and I had to get an antibiotic shot in my a$$ cheek, which hurt like hell, and have been on strong antibiotics for close to two weeks, which weren't as bad obviously, but I had to take them four times a day. 500mg Penicillin. Yup, when I get sick, I get sick to the point of, "Hey mom, I should probably see a doctor… why? Oh no reason, but I'm pretty sure I'm slowly dying and it hurts like HELL!" That's how I do it.
So that's my wonderific story. Have I mentioned how much I love you guys? Cuz I missed yous all a lots!
Anyhow, look! A Chapter!
And I was seriously considering ending the story and starting the PART 2 as a semi-separate story. This IS gonna be like a totally different story after all, for SO SO SO many reasons, so I will name off the few that come to my mind at this moment:
-new setting, and new people it's a totally new world for 2D and Noodle
-a new set of challenges they will face, now that they are an established couple
-they will still have old challenges they will have to deal with, so this part is still very much attached to the first half
-but, everything will be looked at differently for the both of them
-blah blah blah, if you have any more ideas, let me know. I had more, but I couldn't remember them long enough to write them down. (I sometimes wish I had an eidetic memory -.-)
I don't remember anything I had promised for that last chapter (damn you Chris (-;) Oh well, he has lots o'work to do. He's too old for this crap. Haha
Anyhow, I ramble… all the time. Every day, every way, but you guys know you love it… maybe o.O
So, for the story, I had written a HELL OF A LOT, so I decided to split it into two separate chapters. I will post the next chapter in a couple of days, depending on how alive you guys still are after I post this one. OH, and I know it seems exciting and all that I have two new chapters I'll be posting for sure, but please don't get too excited. Not having a computer at my disposal means I hardly ever get the chance to write, and I'm a lot busier than I used to be. I actually have a real, ADULT life with responsibilities and all that jazz, so yeah. But I don't ever want to abandon this story. It's too close to my heart and I'm too invested in it.
Part II, I have affectionately nicknamed New Ways to Fall Apart, as you can see below. So, had I actually made this into a separate story, it would have most likely been called that.
Random ~ Funny. I have like 80 people with this story on their alerts list, and not even ten percent of you review. Yes, I pay attention to that crap ^.^ I like to know how I'm doing you know… for the record, I'm ashamed of the first twenty chapter of this story. I read it and I'm like, "God, I sucked at writing." At least writing THIS has improved my writing skills. Hopefully they're much better…. Hopefully. And by the by, I did NOT take the time to correct mistakes, so I you could POINT EACH AND EVERY ONE OUT FOR ME it IS greatly appreciated :)
Anyhow, as always, I LOVE hearing from you guys. Reviews are like a good song… they make you want to do anything to get more and more!
Or, they are like Cr4(K… please help me support my addiction O_O`
me gusta X)
EMPIRE ANTS – PART II
"NEW WAYS TO FALL APART"
CHAPTER 1:
INSOMNIA
From the moment they'd left the waters of Plastic Beach, time seemed to be moving too quickly for the sleep-deprived girl. Aboard the descending plane, she could see a team of medics from her window, quite a distance ahead of them on the ground below. She could tell the tiny figures were medics simply because of the ostentatious white plus sign on the tail of a bright red and white helicopter they stood in front of, and it was quickly growing larger as they neared, but she turned her head away, looking down at the man on the gurney. He was cold to the touch, but she tried to stay positive, though the days of little sleep were taking their toll. Her eyes had been drooping as they plane made its decent to the runway below, but jolted wide awake once the wheels of the vehicle hit the ground, the craft both water and land capable. The violent jerking as the plane leveled on the ground beneath its wheels began an array of disastrous events.
The singer's fever had already spiked not an hour before, his sickness driving him over the edge, pushing his body to its limits and it seemed now he couldn't fight any longer. His breathing was reduced to wheezes in and out from his mouth. Sensing the unfolding chaos, the pilot, Henry, did his best to stop as quickly as possible. The plane skidded to a dangerous halt, driving off to the side of the runway to clear the space for any planes that may need to land as well. One more bump coursed through the craft, and another drop of sweat slid from the hot skin of the singer's face. He seemed to start to choke, and not a second later, all that could be heard was the sound of a flatline, followed by numerous voices yelling as the hatch was thrown open abruptly. The girl was now pressing down on his chest, trying to get the singer to breathe once again, and to keep his heart beating; anguish was painted in a thick mask over her face as well as everyone around her. The man who'd rescued them pulled her back by her shoulders, wrapping his arms around her from behind to restrain her, and she wailed when he removed her from the craft to make room for the medics. Her eyes could only register one person, her vision tunneled, and she was beginning to go blind as she was torn away from his dwindling light. As she was forcibly pulled away, kicking and screaming, she could barely make out what they were doing to the dying singer through her tears and her yelling. She heard a man warn for everyone to clear away, and her bloodcurdling scream filled the air as the body on the gurney was shocked with a defibrillator, not once, but twice until his exhausted heart was once again feebly pumping blood to the deteriorated body it lived within.
Not a second had passed that they brought him back to life, they were now stealing him from the plane and moving him to their helicopter, and the screaming only continued as the girl was continually held back to allow them to do their job. Immediately after the gurney was settled within it and locked down, the 'copter took flight, hovering above the ground and moving ever higher as it rushed its victim into the waiting arms of its destination a ways away. As the helicopter made its escape, the girl was unable to register the world around her as she watched after them, her heart heavy and her mind fogged. Once the craft became but a spec in her vision, and then disappeared into the afternoon blue, her worn out body grew limp, and she crumpled into the arms of the man who held her.
Dim lights came into focus… but faded quickly, filling in with darkness once more. Fingers and limbs, numb and tingling. Lightheadedness, but too heavy to lift… only rocking from side to side, trying to awaken. Fingers twitch, trying to be found; controlled once more. Limbs listless and toes on fire. No, the entire body was debilitated and a fire had erupted beneath the skin as the morphine ran its course. Green irises meet and greet the bright room, unable to register awareness, so they drift shut once more. Time passes and they open again; they see a dark figure hovering above them, but still, the mind the eyes belong to were unconscious, and now their body drifted into a deeper sleep, eyes closing once again. Fingers twitch again, and a familiar, but very distant ache in the abdomen was now awake and making itself known once more. It was all a dream… please let it be a dream. Just a dream…
A fever… His heart failing –she could hear the flatline. He had died…was gone…
Noodle sprang to life, jolting upright in an unfamiliar room with a startled gasp, her heart racing -pounding in her ear drums. Where is he? The only words her mind could process. She looked to her left and met a window, the city on the other side very familiar, but she couldn't place it. It was twilight now. More to the right, and she saw a man who made her heart skip a beat, whether out of fear or relief she couldn't decide. It was Connor. He had held her back the last she remembered, taking 2D away from her. Why?... How could he take her away? Where had they gone?
Connor was asleep; his tall body slumped haphazardly into the chair he sat in, his head resting in an odd angle on his shoulder with his hair twisted up around his cranium, and his legs were stretched out, crossed over one another. His shirt was untucked and wrinkled around his stomach, his suit coat thrown over the armrest of the chair. He looked a sight, but he wasn't Noodle's concern for now. She focused on herself. She was on a hospital bed. She removed the blankets from her body, partly relieved that she was still in her regular clothes. She looked around the room with dread. They were the only ones occupying it. Where were they? Nothing seemed to click until she saw a nurse drift past window of the door into their room. A hospital –of course. That should have been obvious the moment she realised she was in a hospital bed, but it seemed her mind wasn't processing information as efficiently as per her normal. It may have been the lack of sleep, but…
All thoughts aside, Noodle quickly checked herself over. She had a clip on her finger measuring her heart rate, quite erratic at the moment, and there was an IV in her arm. She grimaced, quickly removing the tape that held it to her arm, then slipped the needle out. She wasn't the one in need of attention. Next, Noodle took care to turn off the machine measuring her heart rate before she removed the offending device attached to her finger. Free from her metaphorical chains, she slipped from the bed, scurrying out the room and turning to face the door as she closed it carefully. She gasped when she ran into a moving table as she turned, and a nurse gave her a condescending eye as Noodle quickly apologised and fled the scene.
She jumped and flinched at any given chance, hugging the walls as she paced along, trying to find her way, unsure of exactly where she was going, but only one thing on her mind. Where is he? It was like a bad dream. Waking up in a strange, white place with no idea where she was going, all alone, with strange folk dressed in white coats trying to stop her as per their normal for anyone who looked as lost and confused as a young woman roaming the halls without any sense of direction in her muddled, worried mind.
Noodle passed a nurse's station, thoroughly ignoring it and any person she happened upon, including many speculative glances she received. She couldn't figure out why anyone was looking at her the way they did now. She passed a restroom without a second glance, but suddenly felt the urge to turn tail and head to it, locking the door securely behind her once she was inside. She went straight for the toilet, emptying her bladder and flushing before she went to wash her hands in scalding hot water. She felt dirty, and looking up, she saw the possible culprit for people giving her odd looks. She was covered in a sticky sheen of sweat, leaving her looking haggard, and the bruising under her eyes was much darker than usual. She sighed, adjusting the water, and once it was lukewarm she rinsed her face off and dried her skin gently with the flimsy paper towels. Once done, she ran her fingers through her hair, trying to flatten it against her skull, but it was determined to stick up every which way, so she opted for making it look as non-frizzy as she could. She looked better –normal for her at least.
With a silent exit, Noodle began to snake through the hallways again, following signs on the walls, trying to determine for herself where her heart's keeper may be. Her eyelids felt heavy and hot, ready for slumber, and she felt no less lost than before, but she kept egging on through the seemingly endless hallways. She came across a couple of elevators, quickly scanning over the list of floors and what each one was labeled to hold. None of them seemed to lure her, but a sign at the opposite end of where she was standing did. There was an arrow; below it the letters: ICU. She knew what that meant, and despite her absolute denial of the singer being in such critical condition, she felt compelled to follow a doctor as he exited the opened door of an elevator and immediately turned for the Intensive Care Unit. She left a large gap between the two of them as she followed behind him, with the doctor unawares as he led her to the hallway of rooms that were occupied by patients.
When Noodle took quick glances into each of the rooms, most patients seemed to be recovering, but they were still hooked up to machines. They all were certainly conscious as well. In her curious autonomy, coupled with her endless searching, she lost track of the doctor she had been following, but decided it wasn't a shame. He had done what she intended for him to do –lead her directly to the rooms occupied by patients. There was a little girl sitting on a bench outside one of the rooms. A child most would consider utterly adorable with her curly blonde hair and amber eyes, but in Noodle's state of mind, all she could see was another human who was catching her focus with the bandages on her head and around one of her arms. She would normally ponder what had done this, maybe admired the girl, but right now, Noodle regarded the bruises on the girl -sitting with who Noodle assumed to be her grandfather -with disconnect. Nothing could hold her attention for more than a few mere seconds when her mind was already overloaded. She froze in her tracks when she saw a gurney rushing towards her, and slammed herself against the wall, flattening against it as a doctor and nurses pushed the occupied stretcher along to the O.R. Noodle could only watch with wide eyes as they ran on, exhaustion in each and every eye she observed. She hated hospitals. She saw no hope in a place like a hospital. Filled with loss and a home to the broken and weak.
She moved on, her hope depleting and growing simultaneously with every step she took closer to the end of the rows of rooms. Depleting for fear of not finding the man she sought, and hope that he may not be in the ICU, but in a regular hospital room in much better shape than when he'd been taken from her. She glanced up through a glass window into another room, confused when she saw plastic curtains hanging from the ceiling, hiding its occupant from view. Compelled, she entered the closed room, cautious of anyone that may see her. She could feel her heart in her throat, a cold tension in her anxious body as she moved close to the curtain that divided the room from prying eyes. She could tell before moving the blockage aside that the room was expansive, maybe the largest in the ICU. Steadily, she took a breath before she curled her fingers around the edge of one divider, and then slowly slid it open, closing her eyes while praying silently. She stepped just inside, sliding the curtain closed behind her and took another steadying breath before she opened her eyes. She choked back a sob, clutching her chest with a fisted hand and her heart missed a beat at the sight of the broken man on the gurney.
He was hooked up to everything, in every possible way. It was like one of those overdramatized movie scenes with a man in an accident of sorts, only this was real –was happening. An intravenous line for blood –he had lost a lot –she could see the rather large bag of the crimson liquid hanging by the bed. There was another IV line hooked up to an intravenous pump. One line was in his right shoulder, the other in his right arm, held straight with a plastic board fixed to his arm to keep it from bending. And she could see as well he had a catheter. He wouldn't be happy about that when he woke up. Then again, he'd go bat crap crazy when he saw everything else she was looking at. He wouldn't be able to talk, either, not that he needed it being unconscious. He had a gastric tube going down his throat to feed him, and Noodle suspected that he would have had it going down his nasal cavities, had they not been occupied by the respiratory tubes connected to the ventilator standing at the corner of the head of the bed. It read his breaths per minutes, which were quite slow, but better than before. More wires around him connected to a large monitor, the electrocardiograph machine, at the opposite side of the ventilator, but it was spaced away from the bed, the wires trailing on the floor. They connected to a clip on his finger, a pulse oximetry, a couple EEG pads on his cranium to monitor his brain activity, and EKG pads that were hidden under his hospital gown and stuck to his chest in various places to more precisely keep track of his heart activity. There was an arterial line in his left arm; the needle placed so he could bend his arm should he awaken… his blood pressure was still dangerously low: 47 over 28. He should be dead… but he was alive for now. There was a crash cart parked haphazardly in an open space, and a defibrillator sitting atop it. His heart must have stopped again when he had gotten here. Must have caused a panic when he arrived.
She couldn't stop looking at the machines, rather than the body they were keeping alive. It was daunting, as if this room was taking the very day away from her and leaving her in an eternal night. She was left in the darkness, alone and afraid –losing all she had left in the world. He was it –all that she had, and she may lose him. She felt herself moving before she made the conscious decision to approach him. When she was close enough, she ran her bare fingertips along the exposed skin of his arm and felt a chill go up her spine. He was still very cold, but warmer than he had been. Her fingers followed his arm, up to his shoulder, neck, and then cupped his cheek in her hand. She was stoic, too many thoughts and feelings coursing through her blood for her mind to concentrate on any single one, but the tears flowed freely now, feeling his lifeless body in her hands again. He seemed fragile and far too pale. How much longer could his body keep up this fight? She hadn't an idea.
Pulling a chair from the wall, Noodle pushed it up against the left side of the hospital bed, then climbed into it, with no room for her legs to hang down so she could be as close to 2D as possible. She rested her head against his arm, brushing through his hair tenderly as she closed her eyes and counted the number of breaths he took. It was all she had to do, other than deduce that he really needed his hair to be cut. His blue locks really had gotten long. She did her best to ignore the hated smell of his body mixed with the harsh scents of the hospital and medications. It was a while before she was disturbed.
"How're you doin', sweetheart?" Noodle gasped, flinching back when a voice called her attention. Wide-eyed, she scrutinized the elderly nurse. Brown and silver hairs on her head; she looked as though she were dainty and sensitive, but her posture told the story of a strong and authorative woman. Aged and wrinkled, she had a gentle smile on her face, the last thing Noodle had noticed, and it relieved some of her anxiousness. But Noodle didn't smile back. "He's been through the ringer, huh?" She asked, already fully aware of everything they'd done to keep him alive since he'd arrived at the hospital. Noodle nodded slowly as the woman approached, pulling a cart with her. She had a tub with sponges and cloths. She lifted 2D's gown, since it hadn't been attached around his back, and began to soak one of the sponges, rinsing it thoroughly before she ran it over his body. Noodle could see that 2D had recently gotten his bandages replaced, his wound cleaned, but it still appeared to be very inflamed. "So," she spoke again, looking up to Noodle with deep blue eyes, "How are you, sweetheart?"
Noodle swallowed, trying to clear her throat and find her voice. "I… I'm…" She looked down to 2D. "I don't know…" she mumbled quietly.
"Well, er…"
"Noodle," she answered.
"Well, Noodle –I'm Maggie, by the way –I understand how you're feelin'. My husband had a heart attack two years ago," she eyed Noodle, who was staring back blankly, but the guitarist quickly looked away after a moment, so Maggie continued. "Scared the hell out of me... He's fine now, but when he was in the hospital… I was a broken woman. Didn't want nothin' to do with nobody. I just wanted to know he was right," she went on, glancing up at Noodle every now and then as she cleaned 2D. "I was worried and angry… and I was confused and anxious, worried, and scared. Very scared, and I felt so lonely." Noodle looked up to meet the woman's eyes at this admission. "So honey, I know how it feels. An' I didn' like feelin' alone much, so if ya want to talk it out, I got an ear," she offered with a smile. Noodle forced a halfhearted grin with a small nod.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"Nah. It's nothin', darlin'," she shrugged it off, offering up a dampened cloth to her. "You wanna clean his face off?" Noodle nodded and took the cloth, running along the skin of 2D's face carefully. "We all need a little help, sometimes," she continued from earlier. "Ain't any shame in askin' for it. It doesn't make you weak... Just makes you human…"
It was silent for a short while as the two ladies tended to the broken singer, until another nurse entered. She was younger, but maybe in her thirties. She seemed to ignore the two of them, checking the machines hooked up to the singer, writing things down meticulously on his chart, eyeing the IV lines objectively. In this process, Maggie finished up, putting her things away. Noodle had placed her hand on 2D's chest, covered by his gown once again, and was looking down at him with a thoughtful expression. She jumped slightly when Maggie's hand covered hers. "Don't worry, sweetheart. Look," she pointed to the ECG monitor, "50 over 35. Still bad, but he's gettin' better," she smiled gently. Noodle nodded with a half grin. "Take care honey," she told her as she got up and left.
As Maggie left, the other nurse, now ready to leave as well, took the time to study the company of this oddly blue-haired man. She did a double-take when she saw Noodle's face, though the guitarist didn't notice. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a card, handing it to Noodle, who eyed the nurse curiously before taking the small, flat rectangle. "The doctor will be in soon… You take care, sweetie," the nurse told her before leaving without another word. Now alone again, Noodle flipped the card, reading it with scrutinising eyes.
THE HOTLINE
N.D.V.H.
National Domestic Violence Hotline
(800) 799 – Safe
With a deep breath, Noodle crumpled the sturdy paper in her hand and dropped it onto the floor. Apparently, it looked as though she was a lost girl clinging to a man who was abusing her. It shouldn't have surprised her really. They probably saw domestic abuse all the time. It did sadden her that all they saw were the scars and bruising that marked her and automatically assumed that was the case, however. She couldn't blame them though. She looked a mess still, especially sleep deprived and having just lost a baby. Another hot tear fell from her eye and she wiped it away. What sort of freedom was this, they had found? Yes, they were free, but had lost everything, hadn't they? She supposed it was for the best. They could start new; had nowhere to go but up, all the while pushing themselves forward.
Alone, Noodle kept a constant look at 2D's vitals, unable to keep her head rested against his arm for more than a couple of minutes at a time. She wondered why Maggie had come to clean 2D. Sure he needed it, but she wondered if maybe they were trying to get him as clean as possible for anything more they may need to do for him, but what that may have been, Noodle's mind was too wired to stop and concentrate on any one possibility at a time. She looked up again, her eyes wandering without the aid of her head turning to provide more to view. She spotted the bag of blood hanging from its stand; the blood was getting to a low level now. She deduced he would most likely need more from the ever pallid look of his skin, but Noodle couldn't figure for the life of her how or when he had lost so much blood, and why it was only affecting him now. Sure, when he had gotten shot, initially he had lost quite a bit, but not enough to cause cardiac arrest, and if he had lost enough for that, it would have happened days ago, not now.
She raised her hand to his face once more, tracing her fingers over his pale cheeks and over his eyelids, wondering if he was dreaming at all. If he could hear her, but simply couldn't find the way out of his own damaged mind. She knew it was a long shot, but she couldn't help singing in a small voice, quiet as she could manage. "Windmill, windmill for the land, turn forever hand in hand. Take it all in on your stride. It is sticking, falling down…" She took a breath, waiting, wishing. "Love forever, love is free. Let's turn forever, you and me… Windmill, windmill for the land, is everybody in?" The music did not produce the miracle she had hoped for. He was still lifeless, other than the breathing the machines were doing for him, and contrary to what the monitor's read, he seemed so far away.
"Hello there, sweetheart," a bright voice called from behind her. She wondered if the people around here had an affinity for that endearment. Kind of like 2D calling her Love whilst Connor called her Lass. Thoughts aside, this time, the intrusion of an unfamiliar voice seemed to not faze her at all as she slowly lifted her head, tired eyes meeting those of another man. "Rough day, huh?" He asked, not really looking for an answer as he looked down at his charts, then pulled up a chair, sitting on it and facing Noodle, the chart in his lap with a pen in his hand. Another nurse had followed him, the one who'd given Noodle that card; she was replacing the blood bag with a new one, much to Noodle's relief. "I'm Doctor Cooper," he told her, a slight grin on his lips. He seemed warm and welcoming, a rare sight in Noodle's life. Bright, sky-blue eyes, and there were wrinkles around his eyes when he smiled. He was wearing a rather overly casual t-shirt with a Superman 'S' on the front, with brown slacks. She could only tell though, because he wore his white coat opened, instead of how the other doctors did. He seemed to be in his late twenties, with short, dirty-blonde hair and an unassuming, though surprisingly deep voice that didn't seem to fit his tall, lean frame. Strangest doctor she had ever laid eyes upon. He looked as tired as she did, but he still had a smile in his eyes.
"Noodle," she spoke quietly after a moment, watching him as he wrote things down, concentrating on his work.
"So, this is Stuart, and your friend –Connor, is it?" Noodle nodded slightly. "Yes, Mr. Marston explained everything… And I do mean everything," he spoke with a chuckle. Noodle felt herself become more aware with his words, perking up with interest. "Now he said you shot your friend here when you two were playing Russian Roulette," he spoke with a serious face, cracking a grin when Noodle's eyes grew impossibly wide and her mouth popped open. He laughed, "Nah, Noodle. He said it happened while the three of you were out target practicing. Said your friend didn't like hospitals, so you two did the best you could before he passed out and you brought him here," he explained, not at all concerned. Noodle eyed him cautiously, neither giving nor denying. He met her gaze, and then stopped writing for a moment. "I see it a lot more often then you might think. I can't for the life of me figure out why people avoid helping themselves until they're almost dead… And... normally I criticize people for playing doctor," he gave her a look, raising his eyebrow a fraction, and she would have blushed had she not been exhausted. "But you seem to have done a wonderful job. If there wasn't any internal bleeding or infection, which I'm assuming is from a dirty bullet, I'm confident he would have been fine. Buuut I'd still prefer it if people came to doctors when they get themselves hurt," he finished.
"Yeah," she agreed quietly. Noodle nodded to herself, now knowing why 2D had needed the blood –how he had mysteriously lost so much.
When the nurse left the room, it had gone unnoticed by Noodle, but Dr. Cooper seemed to have been waiting for her exit as he began speaking again. "Mr. Marston also spoke of you, Noodle," he told her, earning another confused stare. "The nurses wanted to get you in a gown too, I assure you." Noodle grimaced at that admission. "But Connor was insistent that you were fine. That your bruise there," he pointed to her face, "Was a Mongolian spot that just never seemed to go away when you got older." Noodle's eyes widened at that. Connor was such a card. She'd have to keep him around, she thought with a small smirk. How he came up with that, she would never know. Doctor Cooper smiled in return. "I'm assuming he's right?" Noodle nodded placatingly with a quiet 'yes'. "Well, the nurses threw a fit over you, especially that one," he pointed behind him at nothing, but Noodle knew his gesture was meant for the nurse who had vacated the room just previously. "She's one of the nurses that deals with the patients who come in here abused by their partners often. Sorry if she gave you a rough time. She wasn't there for Connor's explanation when you got here." She nodded in understanding.
"So." His change in tone startled her, but he still had a grin on his lips, so she watched quietly. "Now we're ready to talk… or rather, I'll do it, so you know what to expect while you're here." He began, placing the chart at the edge of 2D's bed and folding his hands together in his lap as he sat back in his chair. "We've got him all hooked up –I'm sure you've already seen." Noodle let out a sigh, but his words were still pouring out. "Blood, antibiotics, morphine, fluids, oxygen, liquid food –the works. Now, if his vitals continue to improve at this slow and steady rate, around one in the morning we'll be stopping the feeding, though it looks like he hasn't eaten in days, and wait for his body to absorb it. Once that's done, the tube, or a new one, will stay in there to get any excess bile or vomit that may build up, out. And once he's cleared, his stomach's good and empty, and he's strong again, we'll be prepping him for surgery." He told her.
Noodle took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "What? …for... what?" she asked slowly, not in defiance, but just not being able to find any other words to question why.
Doctor Cooper took the chart again, flipping a page and reading it. "Well, for the internal bleeding –gotta fix that. He's not bleeding out too fast, but it is enough to cause concern, and why he's went into shock days after being shot," he explained. "Also, to remove that nasty bullet, any infected tissue, then sew him up," he finished confidently.
"And after?" she pressed.
"After," he started thoughtfully. "After, he should be expected to stay in the hospital for a week or two to clear out his infection, restore his blood levels, and of course rest and recuperation. He'll probably be recovering for a few months afterward," he told her, "And on pain medication for a few weeks, but, Connor mentioned he has been on pain medications for chronic headaches…" Noodle nodded, and Dr. Cooper nodded in return. "Right, well I suppose that means he won't need anything prescribed unless his own drugs don't work. And we can get that looked at after his recovery period in, say, four months, if you like?"
"You think you could fix that?" Noodle wondered.
Dr. Cooper smiled, "We'll get him right as rain, sweetheart…" He looked over at 2D, his eyebrow quirked. "He really doesn't like hospitals, does he?"
She shook her head with a grin, looking down at 2D's face. "His mother is a nurse," she recalled. The doctor chuckled.
A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes
I screamed aloud, as it tore through them, and now it's left me blind
The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart
And in the dark, I can hear your heartbeat
I tried to find the sound
But then it stopped, and I was in the darkness,
So darkness I became
The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart
I took the stars from my eyes, and then I made a map
I knew that somehow I could find my way back
Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too
So I stayed in the darkness with you
The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart
The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart
Florence and The Machine – Cosmic Love
Anyhow about the song. Just discovered it, and I LOVE IT WITH A PASSION. FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE ARE F-ING AMA-ZA-ZING! When I heard the song, and level with me here, pay attention to the lyrics -It fits with this story just as perfectly as Empire Ants (the song, duh). OH MAI GAWD LISTEN TO IT ON YOUTUBE!
www. youtube. com/ watch?v=2EIeUlvHAiM (remember to remove those spaces!)
So yeah, there's the part where I cut off and such. I hope you haven't abandoned me, all you T.T
I guess I kind deserved it though, yeah? Still adore you guys!
GIANT BEAR HUGS FOR EVERYONE! ESPECIALLY YOU, MANDIE! LIBER-T.E.A THAT MEANS YOU TOO! I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE AN ASEXUAL, HOMO-NOVUS FRUITCAKE! DON'T DENY ME MY LOVE ;o;
… I apologise for that outburst… I might be a little hyped up on caffeine coupled with my insomnia… but I still want my hugs, damn it!
~Carrie