Chapter 6: Three Days, Four Hours, Nine Minutes
It had been three days, four hours, nine minutes since Jennifer had been admitted to hospital.
He watched her face, and then he noticed that her eyelids started to flutter and slowly open.
"Jen," he said, getting up and pressing the call button.
A nurse raced into the room from the nurse's station hearing the buzzer.
"She's awake," Matt said to the nurse.
The nurse came in and removed the breathing tube from down Jennifer's throat then left leaving the couple to have some privacy.
"Matt…" Jennifer said quietly, sitting up slightly. Matt hurried to her side and gently eased her back down saying, "Get some rest, Jen." Matt squeezed her hand gently. She looked at him and then a sad look came over her face. "I never want to lose you."
"You won't." Matt told her firmly, placing a kiss to her lips. "You won't ever." He whispered, stroking her cheek. Jennifer smiled, a smile filled with radiance and ecstasy unparalleled in her life. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. She put her arms around his neck and fell into blissful contentment.
--- ---
"Are you ready to go, Jen?" Matt asked as Jennifer took one last look around the hospital room.
"Yeah." Still a bit unsteady on her feet, she had to sit on the bed when she turned to look at him. "I see you cleaned up a bit for my big escape."
He grinned and sat beside her as they waited for the nurse to return with a wheelchair. "I've been known to clean up when occasion calls for it."
Jennifer reached up and touched his face. "I still like the stubble better." Her fingers slid from his face. "Wolfie told me you never left me."
Matt said nothing.
She leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. "And the next time I start off a day in such a great mood, pour coffee on me or something."
Matt laughed and helped her over to the wheelchair as the nurse rolled it in. "I'll try my best to snap you out of it next time."
Their eyes locked for a passing moment – sharing the fear of how close they had come to losing each other.
"I'll take her," Matt offered to the nurse.
The nurse smiled. "I'm sorry, hospital regulations."
Jennifer reached out and took his hand as he walked beside her and smiled up at him. "You get to drive me home so let her do her job."
Smiling back, he gave her hand a gentle squeeze happy in knowing that not only would he be taking her home; he'd be taking care of her and that meant she was still with him.
--- ---
Matt unlocked the door of his home. "After you."
Jennifer let him usher her into the apartment and made a beeline for his kitchen, dropping her bag on the kitchen table. "Coffee Matt?"
"Yep, top cabinet," Matt said as he hung up his topcoat and put Jennifer's suitcase into his bedroom. Jennifer had been to his apartment often enough to know exactly where to find his food supplies, but she always asked anyway. He theorized that it was her way of pointedly not invading his domain without permission.
Jennifer dug the coffee out of the cabinet and scooped some coffee into a plunger before flicking the switch on the kettle, then hopped up onto the counter and sat a few feet away from it, watching Matt. "Food?"
Matt shrugged as he approached the source of that attractive coffee scent. "Pizza, chinese," he told her leaning one hip against the counter a few inches away from her. "Your choice."
Matt watched her as she unclipped the barrette that had been holding her hair back, slipping it into her pocket, reminded him of just how close he had come to loosing her, quickly turning away to open the fridge, he got out the milk, hiding his eyes from Jennifer the whole time, ashamed of what she would see in them.
"Umm," Jennifer said as she pulled two mugs from another cabinet. "If it's my choice, I'd say pizza, with extra pepperoni." Pouring the coffee into the two mugs, adding a dash of milk into and stirred a spoonful of sugar into one and slid it toward Matt. "Your turn to call."
Not bothering to argue, Matt picked up the phone and dialled, ordering a supreme for him and a bar-b-q with extra pepperoni for Jennifer. Hanging up the phone, he followed Jennifer as she wandered into his living room.
He found Jennifer sitting on the couch, legs curled up under her as she leaned against the arm of the couch. Patting the cushion next to her with one hand, and sat down, slipping his shoes off aswell.
His attention was caught by Jennifer's position. "Why do you do that?"
Startled, she over at him. "Do what?"
"Sit on your feet. You do that any time you're on a couch. Doesn't it cut off the blood supply?"
Jennifer smiled. "It's comfortable. And it doesn't do any damage to your limbs if you do it right."
"What's 'right'?" he asked, drawing one leg up and trying to copy her posture. "Ow."
"It helps if you're not four sizes too big for the couch, first of all. And I'm not actually sitting on my feet. I'm sitting on my butt with my feet under my thighs."
"How can you . . ." Matt began, leaning over to scrutinize her legs.
"Quit it!" she said, pushing at his shoulder. "My butt is not here for your entertainment."
There was a long moment of silence as Matt politely pretended not to catch the dirty implications of her statement and Jennifer tried not to seem aware that she had said anything out of the ordinary. Then she lost control and started snickering. "You know what I mean!"
Matt smirked.
"Mathew!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening, hitting him with a cushion.
Hearing a knock on the door, Matt made his way to it. He reached the door and quickly relieved the man of their dinner and muttered thanks.
As he put the pizza boxes on the coffee table, Jennifer turned towards him and said, "You want me to pay you back or should I get dinner next time?"
"Bar-b-q meat," he shook his head as he continued to speak. "With extra pepperoni."
tbc…
