Chapter 12

I start to laugh at the mental image that statement created.

"What?"

"Nothing-" knock knock knock. We both look up to see a nurse slowly opening the door.

"Sorry to interrupt." the nurse said.

Zak got up, "I'll be right outside." then walked out the door.

"Hello Ms. Michaels! How are you feeling?" the nurse asked as she checked the monitors and drip bags.

"Good. A little hungry, but good."

"Good, good. We'll have them bring you some food after we're done here. You gave us quite a scare. Can you tell me what happened?"

"I...I don't know. I mean I used to get anxiety attacks when I was in school, but it's been a good three, four years since then and it's never been this extreme. Could you tell me something?"

"Sure. What's on your mind sweetie?"

"How long have I been out for?"

"Including today, four days. Lucky for you, you're fiancé was there when it happened. He hasn't left your side since you got here."

I was shocked, but tried to keep my composure in front of the nurse.

"Um, when can I go home?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Well, I think the doctor will want to keep you one night for observation, but once I'm done here I'll page him and let him know you're awake and then you can talk to him when he gets here okay?"

I nodded, "sounds good."

"Okay. Let me get you a menu so you can order some food."

"Thank-You."

"You're welcome. You be good alright?"

"I'll try." I smiled.

The nurse smiled back before exiting the room. A few seconds later Zak came back with something in his hands.

"So… I have a question for ya," I smiled questioningly, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"When the hell did we get engaged?" I started laughing.

"It was the only way they would let me stay."

"Okay," I laughed as a blush swept across my cheeks, "'cause I was like 'what the fuck' when the nurse said you were my fiancé."

"Oh, the nurse gave me this." he said handing me a menu for the cafeteria before sitting down.

"Yay! Cafeteria food," I replied sarcastically as I looked over the menu. Blah, blah, sugar free, made for diabetics. "Whatever happened to a good ol' fashioned steak and potatoes?" I mumbled.

"Huh?"

"I said you look like Hell and I want some real food." I answered, tossing the menu down to the foot of the bed.

"Couldn't sleep."

"So I've heard. Why didn't you go home?"

"I didn't know when you were going to wake up and didn't want you to be alone when you did."

"You could've went home and got some rest while Nick or Aaron or even Billy watched over me."

He gave a disapproving look to that suggestion, "Speaking of which, I called them and let them know you were awake. They'll be here in a little bit. That is—if you're up to visitors."

"Will you be here?" I asked.

"Do you want me to be here?"

"Yes," I replied giving my impression of a child's pleading face.

"Then I'll be here."

"Okay," I smiled.

"What else did the nurse tell you?" Zak asked.

"Well, we gotta wait on the doctor to get here and talk to him for bit and see if he wants to keep me another night or not. I'm hoping that they'll release me. Poor Angel, she's probably worried sick."

"She's fine. She and Gracie are at the house with the guys."

I looked at him incredulously.

"Is that okay?"

"Yeah. No, that's fine. I just didn't think y'all would go get her from the house."

"Sweetheart, you brought her with you to the office when you passed out."

"Oh. God, I'm so out of it," I said rubbing my eyes.

"I would be surprised if you weren't."

Knock. Knock. Knock. "Hello!" an unfamiliar voice said as they walked into the room. It was the doctor. "How are you feeling Ms. Michaels?"

"Hungry."

The doctor laughed, "Well that's to be expected. The nurse tells you have no recollection of what happened."

"Well I remember working out then going home to shower then went to the office to meet the guys for dinner, but then it's all a blank after that."

"In certain cases of head trauma temporary amnesia is common."

I nodded in agreement.

"But other than that, your vitals and everything seem good. I would like to keep you here for one more night just to double check and make sure you're one hundred percent."

"Do I have to?" I pouted.

"I would recommend it, but if you feel like you're okay then you don't have to."

"I love you Doc and the stay has been great, but I would really rather be in my own bed."

"Okay, but you have to promise me one thing."

"What's that?"

"You have to come back within the next couple weeks and do a follow up report so that way we know for sure there's no delayed symptoms okay?"

"I can do that," I nodded.

"I'll make sure she gets here," Zak chimed in.

"Okay, mother." I chastised.

"All right, well, let me go turn these into the nurse and she'll bring you your discharge papers." The doctor said.

"Okay," I smiled.

"You take care, all right?"

"Yes sir." I replied as the doctor walked out the door. Once the door shut I clapped my hands together rapidly in excitement.

"Someone's happy."

"Who wouldn't be?"

"Good point." I stuck my tongue out at him playfully then another knock came at the door.

"Yeah?" I answered at the same time Zak said, "Come in."

All I see is legs and a ginormous Panda bear followed by Billy, Nick, and Veronique.

"PANDA!" I squealed as I reached my arms out for it, then immediately put my arms back down because of the sudden tug on the IV in my arm, "Ow," I pouted.

Zak just shook his head with a smile on his face.

"Awake five minutes and you're already hurting yourself," Nick joked.

"Hey! I've been up longer than five minutes. It's been about thirty," I retorted.

"Doesn't help your case any."

"Mmmahh," I said as I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Am I good to put the bear down now?" Aaron asked, his voice being muffled behind the big ball of fluff.

"Here," Zak said standing up to take the bear from Aaron and sitting it beside him.

"But, but—" I tried to speak before Zak interrupted.

"You can have the bear when they take the needle out of your arm."

I glared at him for a minute before giving in, "Fine."

"So how are you feeling?" Veronique asked.

"Ah. I would kill for some Santa Fe right about now, but other than that I'm good. Doc's letting me go home."

"That's good."

"So what happened?" Billy asked.

"Well," I sat there trying to think of how to explain everything when Zak answered curtly, "Her ex-boyfriend paid her a visit."

"What?" the guys asked.

"Who?" Veronique and Billy asked at the same time.

I took a deep breath and exhaled before answering, "I'll explain everything later, but as far as they know I came to see you guys at the office and randomly had a panic attack and passed out."

"Why didn't you tell us any of this before?" Nick asked, being big brother.

"I didn't want you guys to worry."

"Why are we lying to the hospital?" Aaron asked.

"Because I don't want the police involved. That'll only make things worse. Besides, he technically didn't break any law besides breaking and entering which I can't prove so there's no point."

"You mean he was at your house?" Veronique asked, horrified.

"Not while I was there, but yeah."

"Which is why she's going to stay with me," Zak replied.

I looked at him, "What?"

He looked me square in the eye and—with a tone that left no room for argument—said, "You and Angel are staying with me and Gracie."

I opened my mouth to begin to protest, but then shut it again a few moments later. I had no argument to stand on for why we shouldn't stay with them and he knew it.

In an effort to the change the subject I asked Nick and Veronique, "Where's Annie?"

"She is at school right now," Veronique replied.

"Oh. I hungry," I pouted, "They don't have anything good."

"Patience is a virtue," Nick said.

"Which I do not possess," I added.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Come in," I answered.

"Hi," a nurse called as she walked into the room.

"Hey," I replied.

"How are you?"

"Good. A little hungry, but good."

"That's good. Well, my name is Madeline, but you can call me Mimi."

"Okay."

"I have some paperwork for you to sign." The nurse said handing me a stack of papers. She explained what each sheet of paper was for as I signed them. Twenty signatures later, the nurse said, "Alright I'll go get your nurse so she can unhook you from the machines and then you'll be free to go, okay?"

"Okay," I smiled, "Thank-you."

"You are welcome. You have a good day."

"You too," everyone answered as she walked out of the room.

"So what are you going to do once you get discharged?" Aaron asked.

"A) Food B) Clothes, in no particular order. Anything beyond that I have no clue."

"Well how about you get clothes first," Veronique said, "I don't think you want to go out in public in a hospital gown."

"But I has regular clothes here." I turned to Zak, "Don't I?"

"You has cheeseburger…" Aaron said with a bit of humor.

"The nurses had to remove them when you arrive to check for vitals. They should be with your personal effects in that random bag in the corner." Zak replied with a laugh, "however, most of them are dirty/sweaty and you kind of showed up at the door in a sports bra thing and really short shorts. As much as you might want to wear them, it's cold out."

"I can live with that."

"Um…I wouldn't try it with this weather. It's blowing like crazy outside." Nick jumped in.

"You mean kinda like what you were doing to Billy last night in closet?" I said trying to keep a straight face. And failing. I started cracking up laughing at the look on their faces, which caused everyone else to start laughing. "I'm sorry," I laughed, wiping the tears out of my eyes, "I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist. It was too perfect. But in all seriousness—what am I going to do if I don't have any clothes?" I asked.

"Do you want us to go get you some?" Veronique asked.

"Would you? I mean if it's not too much trouble?"

"Don't be silly. What would you like?"

"I don't really care. Anything is better than this stupid hospital gown."

"Alright. Is there anything besides clothes that you want?"

"Not that I can think of. I can go and more stuff later. I'm not that worried about it."

"You sure?" she asked.

"Yeah. Just clothes will be alright for now."

"Okay, let us know when you get out of here." She said as she leaned over and hugged me goodbye.

"I will," I said hugging her in return. I gave Nick, Aaron, and Billy hugs as well before they all walked out of the room.

A few seconds after the door shut there came a knock.

"Come in" I answered. I saw that it was my nurse who had come in through the door.

"Okay, well are you ready to get out of here?"

"Yes ma'am." I replied and held out my arm for her to take the needle out.

"I can't say I blame you," she said as she pressed down on the gauze and taped it to my arm. She went through and explained the blah blah blah about monitoring my stress levels and keeping the bandage on for about an hour and not overexerting myself while I recover before walking out of the room in search of a wheelchair.

"Okay. I get that its cold outside, but can I at least put my shorts on? If Imma be stuck going out of this place in a hospital gown I don't wanna moon the entire staff on my way out."

"Do you need help getting up?" Zak asked, as he started to stand up.

I looked around the room, "Uuuuuuuuuhhhhhh…yeah, prolly." Zak came over to the side of the bed and waited for me to scoot over to the side before taking my hand in his and helping me stand up. It took a few tries before I finally stayed standing. Once stable, Zak guided me in front of him before releasing my hand and placing his hands on my sides. I jumped reflexively—out of fear—and sucked in a quick breath. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. Good." I replied trying to breathe normally.

"Sorry."

"Not your fault." As we reached the end of the bed, Zak stopped and grabbed my bag of clothes before walking me to the bathroom. He helped me sit down on the bathroom stool before handing me the bag of clothes, "Just knock when you're ready." I nodded as he walked out and shut the door. I dug through and put on my workout clothes slowly while still sitting down. My body felt weird moving around after 4 days of stillness. I heard the nurse come back in the room as I was tying the hospital gown back around my neck. After I finished getting dressed I gripped the handrail next to the toilet to lift myself up and walk to the door. I knocked on the door. It opened immediately and Zak took my hands again and guided me to the wheelchair that the nurse had brought in. Once seated, Zak asked, "You ready?" I wordlessly pointed over to the couch where the giant panda was sitting. Zak's eyes followed where I was pointing to then walked over to the couch and grabbed the panda and handed it to me. I held on to the panda for dear life as I adjusted so I could lay my head on top of it. "Better?" he asked once I stopped moving. I just nodded my headed.