The next day, I was moved out of ICU. My vitals and temperature had remained stable for 24 hours and they determined I no longer needed to be there. It was one step closer to going home, and I would take anything at this point.

Later in the afternoon, the nurse came in with consent papers for the procedure the doctor had spoken of the previous day. I glanced over at Liam, who was dozing in the chair, his head hanging back and his mouth open a bit. I didn't want to bother him.

"What exactly is this procedure?" I asked, thumbing through the papers.

"It's called an Endoscopy," She stated. "Basically, it's a camera attached to a hollow tube. The doctor will insert it down your throat and pass it through your esophagus, stomach, and into your small intestines. The camera allows him to visualize your intestines and check for any damage."

I involuntarily rubbed at my throat. "It sounds awful."

The nurse put her hand on my shoulder. "You will be numbed, and they will also give you some mild anesthesia. You should not remember a thing."

"Is that all they will do? Just look?" I questioned.

"If an ulcer is detected, he is likely remove a small piece for biopsy so we can determine if there is any dangerous bacteria in your stomach lining."

"Oh," I picked up the pen, tapping it on the paper.

"Do you need to think about it?" The nurse took a step back. "I can leave the papers with you to look over."

I shook my head. "No, no… I'll do it."

With my signature in all the proper places, the nurse collected the papers and left the room. I let out a sigh, settling back against the pillows and closing my eyes.

The procedure was set up for early the next morning. I was to maintain a "nothing-by-mouth" diet until then. Luckily for me, I hadn't been able to eat anything in days, receiving all my nutrition through the damn needle in my arm, so it was no big deal. I didn't think I would be able to stomach anything anyway. Just thinking about food made me nauseous.

I saw Liam stir out of the corner of my eye, and I turned to look at him. He was stretching out his arms, causing his shirt to come up a little bit. I blushed and he caught me. He flashed me that classic Stewart smile and leaned his elbows on the bed.

"How are you feeling, darlin'?"

I shrugged. "I'm okay."

When he did not seem satisfied, I glanced away and sighed.

"Okay, I'm just really tired and my stomach kind of hurts. And I'm nervous."

"Why are you nervous?" He pried.

"Well," I picked at the blanket, avoiding his gaze. "While you were sleeping, I signed papers to let them do that procedure."

When he looked confused, I explained further.

"The one the doctor talked about yesterday, the Endoscopy. Where they will look at my stomach."

"Oh, that one," He said, finally remembering. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "Yes. My stomach hurts, Liam. I should be dying to eat real food and I'm not. Just the thought…" Involuntarily, I gagged, and Liam jumped up, putting a hand on my back.

"Hey, hey, are you okay?" He stammered.

I quickly recovered, nodding my head in response. "I'm fine."

"You're sure you're not going to throw up?" His words were laced with worry, and I grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

"I'm sure."

If only I had remained so sure. It was as if my body was taunting me. As soon as one thing got better, another got worse. My fever was down to 99.7. The antibiotics were working against whatever had been in my blood. I was down to 2L of oxygen too, slowly weaning myself off of it.

That's when the stomach pains got worse. It wasn't just nausea now. It was like someone was stabbing a burning knife repeatedly into my abdomen. It would dull into a dull, nauseous ache, then return full force. At its worst, it left me in tears.

"Shhh, Ruby, I'm here…" Liam was rubbing my back, up and down with firm strokes. I was doubled over on the bed, my head on my knees, sucking in air as I sobbed over the pain.

"…hurts…" Was all I was able to say, gritting my teeth. I could feel sweat dripping off my forehead and nose.

Liam glanced toward the door, clearly irritated. He had called two nurses in already, and they were trying their best to contact the doctor. They had explained multiple times there was nothing they could do without the proper orders, but the Gastrointestinal Physician was currently out. They had paged him, but had not gotten any response. Their hands were tied.

"What can I do?" Liam asked, continuing to rub my back with one hand and pulling my hair off my neck with the other.

I just shook my head, holding onto my stomach with two hands. Then, the sharp pain hit full force with a mix of intense nausea and I knew what was coming a second too late.

Liam jumped back just as a thick wave of dark red blood erupted from my mouth right into my lap and the bed. It wasn't just one wave either. It kept coming, and it was not making the pain any better.

"We need help, NOW!" Liam screamed. Snapping out of his shock, he grabbed a gray basin from the sink and held it under my chin just as another wave of sludge came out. It looked a bit like coffee grounds, dark and definitely not like anything I had seen anyone throw up before.

In less than a minute, the same two nurses from before and one more entered the room.

"Oh, God," I heard one of them mutter while the other one was immediately paging the on-call doctor to come immediately.

"Sweetheart, hey, look at me," The first nurse said, kneeling in front of me. My hands were shaking and were both covered in the bloody vomit, but she took hold of one (wearing gloves, of course) and gave it a firm squeeze. "Do you know where you are?"

"…hospital," I mumbled, feeling my stomach contract as it attempted to expel even more of its contents. But when I heaved, nothing came out except a thin string of saliva. My eyes were getting droopy and any energy I had was sapped out of me. I slumped forward, but Liam and the nurse caught me and leaned me back against the bed. My vision was starting to blur.

"What happened?" I heard a loud, deep voice, but my eyes were closed and I could not see who it was. I assumed it was the doctor.

"She has been having stomach pains all evening, but we couldn't get through to Dr. Wilson. She is scheduled for an Endoscopy in the morning to check for ulcers."

"Well, I see we do not really require the procedure now, do we?" The voice boomed. It did not sound demeaning, but very frustrated. Things were not supposed to get this out of control. "We need to prep her for surgery. What are her most recent blood draws?"

I heard some vigorous typing, but then a pause. Silence.

"Rebecca?" The doctor asked.

"Um," There was a couple more clicking sounds. "Her labs were drawn a couple hours ago and we had not had time to review them yet."

"Rebecca, what were her labs?" He demanded.

"Her hemoglobin was 6."

I could hear the sharp inhale. "Okay Rebecca. Go and start an infusion of O- STAT! Ashley and Maggie, get her prepped for surgery and bring her to OR 3 in 30 minutes!"

There was a lot of fumbling. Rebecca left the room as quickly as possible, and I felt one of the nurses remove my hospital gown that was now saturated in blood.

"Sir, we have to ask you to go to the wai—"

Liam cut her off. "What the hell is going on? Surgery?!"

"Sir…"

"No, I am not going anywhere until you tell me what is happening to her!"

"Y-you can t-tell him," I rasped, giving a slight nod even though my eyes were still closed.

There was a pause, like she was trying to determine if she should say anything or not. "Well…"

"Ashley, she said it was okay. Hurry up, we have to go!" The other nurse, Maggie, snapped.

"Okay, so her hemoglobin is low. That means she has been losing a lot of blood, and since she threw up so much blood, it means she is bleeding in her stomach. She is severely anemic, which means we need to give her more blood or else her body won't have enough for the surgery. She needs to surgery because the doctor has to repair the ulcers, or she will just keep bleeding."

Right when she finished, I heard Rebecca return with the blood.

"Sir, you really need to go to the waiting room," She stated. "I'm sorry, but we need to get her prepped for surgery."

There was silence again. Liam gave my hand a squeeze then bent down to kiss my forehead. "Be strong, darlin'. I'll see you when you're all patched up."

I nodded. It was all I had the strength to do. I could feel myself slowly wearing down more and more. There was more fumbling, more talking between the nurse. One of them left to walk with Liam and the other two continued with the pre-surgery prep. Soon, I could not understand them anymore as every buzzed out and I lost consciousness.