Original Prompted Dialogue: "We're finally alone"
"We're finally alone."
The words leave your lips of their own accord, your mind still too jumbled to act as a filter. You can't remember how you got here, why you're lying in a hospital bed with oxygen steadily puffing it's way into your nose, but there's a foreign tightness in your chest and half of 51 has already been in to wish you well.
When Shay fails to move you find yourself speaking again.
"It's what you wanted, isn't it?"
She looks at you then, eyes wide, confused.
"You've been waiting in the corner for an hour. You gonna say something or not?"
She rises from the chair and cautiously makes her way to your side, hands finding purchase on the railing of your bed. When you look up at her face you can tell she's been crying. You extend your fingers and reach up for hers, thankful that she's on the side opposite your IV.
She lets the tips of her fingers brush yours, feeling you out for just a moment before taking your hand completely. She cradles it in both of hers, playing with your fingers and watching carefully as she lets herself accept that you're really there and not just an apparition.
You don't speak for awhile, knowing both that she needs the silence and that your lungs are most definitely not in the mood for a conversation.
Instead, you watch her. Watch her, watching you. You haven't seen her this close to broken since you met and a part of you is terrified of what that means. The rest of you, though, knows that she's been your rock for months. She's fought for you and defended you and refused to let you drown in your own pain and sorrow. She's kept you alive. And to suddenly see you on what you can only assume was the brink of death, that would break anyone.
She breaks the silence eventually, eyes still fixed on where your fingers dance with her own.
"I was scared for you today."
Her voice is soft and shaky, as unsure as you've ever heard her. She's scared now too.
"Afraid you'd get stuck with a shitty new PIC with me out of commission?"
Her lips twitch with the briefest of smiles.
"No."
It's all she offers.
You manage to wrap your fingers around a couple of hers and give a gentle tug, her eyes finally drifting up to meet yours.
"I'm here."
She lowers her eyes and let's out a single breathy laugh, tilting her head to the side.
"I know."
You barely have your other arm raised, the offer of a hug left unspoken, before she's in your arms. She's careful enough to keep from hurting you but her face is pressed into your neck and the way her breath feels on your skin you're pretty sure you couldn't feel pain right now if you tried. You hold her as tightly as you can and let your hands trace soothing patterns onto her back and sides, but you don't say a word when you feel her tears trailing down your shoulder.
A nurse pops her head in not long after that, insisting visiting hours are over, but your hands stay firm on Shay's back and hold her to you as you meet the nurses eyes, "She stays."