Over the last couple of days Waverly's mood had definitely improved. Each day since Nicole's machines started making different sounds, the setting had been changed. And changed for the better. Yesterday the doctors had decided that Nicole had made sufficient progress for them to remove the ventilator altogether. They were going to monitor her, just to make sure she was breathing well enough on her own, but so far it was looking good.
As Waverley was getting ready for her daily trip to the hospital, she came into the kitchen to find Doc talking excitedly to Wynonna. She stood in the doorway and watched as he stood by the table and gesticulated wildly, while her sister leaned her hand at the table and rolled her eyes at Waverly.
"Good morning" Waverly interrupted
"Why good morning Waverly" Doc said doffing his hat "I assume you are on your way to see Ms Haught in the hospital?" he asked
Waverly nodded while filling her thermos mug up with coffee
"Well may I offer you a ride in my new automobile?" Doc asked politely
To be honest Waverly didn't really want to, she liked having the freedom of driving herself around, then she could leave when she wanted and didn't have to rely on anyone else, but the look Wynonna was giving her and the excitement in Doc's face made her agree
"Wonderful!" Doc exclaimed
As he made his way to the door Waverly looked at her sister "What's all that about?" she asked pointing in Doc's direction
Wynonna shook her head "His new car, he's over excited" she shrugged
Waverly laughed as she made her way to the front door, grabbing her bags as she went.
When she got outside Doc was waiting on the porch and dramatically motioned towards the bright red car sitting in a the snow.
"Ain't she a beauty?" Doc asked as he walked Waverly to the passenger side door.
"Well, she's….er….very red" Waverly finished smiling
He beamed "She is that"
He stood and admired the car for a moment longer than Waverly was comfortable with, then he leaned forward and opened the door for her, she thought she'd got away quite lightly with him fawning over the car until he leaned in and said "Let me show you the inside too" just before he closed the door. While Waverly waited for Doc to walk around the car and get in she looked around to see what exactly he would be showing her, but there was nothing that looked all that interesting, the car must have been at least twenty years old.
Doc got in and took his hat off putting it on what passed as a back seat, but looked more like a parcel shelf, and he smiled happily at her before beginning her 'tour' of the car's interior.
—
"Oh god, i'm so sorry i'm late baby…" Waverly began as she walked into Nicole's room, she had rushed so much trying to get out of Doc's car without him trying to show her what the inside of the boot looked like that she had all of her bags and scarf caught up together, and slowly tightening around her neck. "You wouldn't believe…" She walked in trying desperately to untangle herself and looking down at all her mess "…I got stuck with Doc, he's got a new car, a BRIGHT red car, and he's so excited that it has a cassette player he wouldn't let me leave…" She stood in front of her normal chair and gave up trying to untangle herself, she just let go of everything and let it fall on the chair, then began unwinding her scarf from around her neck "oof..there you go.." she whisper to herself as she got it off and threw it with the other stuff "…I mean a cassette player!" she scoffed "Like it's nineteen eighty something" she laughed to herself "Well, anyway sorry…"
"That's okay baby"
Waverly frowned, she recognised that voice. Even if it did sound a bit croaky.
She span around towards Nicole, and there she was sitting up in bed just smiling at her, dimples and all.
Waverly's heart started racing, what was going on?
She stood there looking at Nicole, her brain not quite figuring out what she was seeing "Wha….?" she vaguely managed to whisper
Nicole just watched her and laughed a little, just waiting for it to sink in for Waverly
A smile slowly spread across Waverly's face and she started to move closer to Nicole
"Oh my god" she said covering her mouth with her hands in surprise "OH MY GOD" she said again getting to the head of the bed. She lifted herself quickly onto the side of the bed taking Nicole's face in both hands and just staring at her smile for a moment before kissing her softly, she pulled away for a moment to look at her girlfriend again, just to make sure she wasn't dreaming, then kissed her again. "oh my god"
Nicole carefully moved her arms so that she was touching Waverly's back, well her bandage covered hands were touching her back at least.
Again Waverly pulled away but held on to Nicole's cheeks, softly stroking her cheek with her thumb
Nicole hadn't stopped smiling "Hey cutie" she said quietly
"Hi sweetie pie" Waverly smiled back. She ran her eyes over Nicole's face slowly taking her in. It was strange, she'd been looking at her everyday for weeks, but seeing her now felt like she hadn't seen her at all for all those weeks, she felt like she had to take her in again. While she did she noticed that there were still tubes coming out of Nicole's nose taped to her cheek, they had been there all the rest of the time, but seeing them now seemed a little jarring.
Waverly let her hands softly fall down Nicole's cheeks and chest and end up in her lap. Nicole carefully and a little awkwardly moved her hands to cover Waverly's.
"Oh, be careful" Waverly said concerned suddenly seeing the bandages
"It's okay" Nicole reassured softly
"Do they hurt?"
"A little"
Waverly winced a little looking at Nicole's hand and remembering how they looked under the dressings, but before she could say anything more she saw a white flash out of the corner of her eye.
"Oh" Nicole said with surprise before she could take in the fact that her cat had jumped onto the bed and was currently standing in her lap with her front feet on her chest rubbing her cheeks on Nicole's face.
"Oh, hey Teetoo" Nicole managed to say as she tried to move her face out of the cats way "Hey…" She tried unsuccessfully to grab hold of the cat to stop it, she was a little worried about the tubes on her cheek "…ow" The pain of moving her hands and arms this much stopped her from getting the cat "Waves, could you…" she said still trying to move her face away
"Oh goodness, sure" Waverly said quickly grabbing the cat and holding her to her chest "That's enough Teetoo, come here.…Baby are you okay?" She asked Nicole
Nicole smiled a little weakly "Yeah, my arms are just…." she shook her head not wanting to complain "Hey Teetoo, it's good to see you too…" she leaned forward and said to the feline as she struggled excitedly in Waverly's arms to get back to Nicole "What is she doing here?" Nicole asked sitting back in the bed and resting her head back on the pillow looking a little exhausted suddenly
"Oh, I couldn't stop her" Waverly laughed "And believe me I tried! I went to your place to feed her and get some of your clothes and she hid herself in your bag, I didn't know until we were in the car and by that time it was too late" Waverly smiled.
Nicole sat wearily watching Waverly and smiled
"I couldn't leave her in my car all day, so I had to bring her in here, so every day…here we are!" Waverly smiled down at the cat
"The nurse said you've been in here every day…" Nicole said sounding a little sleepy
Waverly smiled "Of course"
"How long…how long have I been in here?" Nicole yawned
"Just over three weeks" Waverly smiled sympathetically
"Three..?" Nicole said softly. Her breathing seemed to be slowing and her eyes seemed to be drifting shut.
"Hey, if you're tired baby, that's okay, you can sleep, okay?" Waverly said leaning forward and stroking Nicole's cheek
Nicole's eyes were shut already, but she just about nodded "Okay…." she practically whispered. She'd been awake for only an hour or so, but was already feeling exhausted, a little nap would help though
—
Nicole was suddenly aware of a warm feeling on her arm and chest and as she regained more consciousness, she could hear the rhythmic purring of her cat Thunderbolt. She slowly opened her eyes and looked down to see Thunderbolt laying, as best she could, curled up at the top of her arm and a little on her chest. She smiled at the cat that was always happy to comfort her in some way. She looked up from the cat to see Waverly sitting in a big comfy looking chair with her laptop and a pile of books on a little table in front of her. This must be what she'd been up to everyday for the last three weeks, Nicole thought.
She watched her girlfriend sitting with her phone squashed between her ear and shoulder as she talked on the phone and apparently looked something up on her laptop.
"I KNOW…" Waverly said happily smiling "I know….no, I wouldn't yet, she's asleep at the minute…yeah I think she's still exhausted…from what she did….no Wynonna, I told you it's up to her to say….okay….yeah, I will when she wakes up…okay…yeah… bye" Waverly let the phone drop from her ear skilfully into her hand and placed it on top of the books. Just before she went back to typing she flicked her hair over her shoulder and Nicole got a quick glimpse of red skin on her jaw and neck and remembered what had happened.
"Waverly?" she said with a sleep filled voice
Waverly turned to her quickly and smiled "Hey baby" she said getting up and heading to Nicole and again sitting on the side of the bed next to her
"How are you feeling?" Waverly asked moving a strand of hair out of Nicole's eyes
"Tired" Nicole answered simply "Sorry I fell asleep"
Waverly shook her head "You go to sleep whenever you need to, okay?" she smiled
Nicole looked at Waverley for a moment "Waverly, are you alright?" she asked quietly
"Me? yeah i'm fine" she smiled slightly confused
Nicole moved her cat free hand slowly up to Waverly's neck "You were hurt…I hurt you…" Nicole remembered "…when I touched your face, that's why my hands are…." she looked at her bandaged arm
"It's alright, i'm alright" Waverly smiled "It worked, whatever it was you did worked, that thing… it's gone" she said leaning in and resting her forehead against Nicole's and kissing her lightly. "It's gone, i'm me" But Nicole still looked worried
"But… I hurt you, I burned you, I remember seeing your face start to burn before…" She said, again looking at Waverly's neck
"You saved me, baby" Waverly said stroking Nicole's cheek "And you could have died doing it" she said softly
"I know" Nicole leaned into Waverly's hand with her cheek
Waverly sat back a little in surprise "You knew? you knew you could have died doing what you did?"
Nicole nodded
"And you still did it?" Waverly said softly, a little stunned
"Why wouldn't I?" she smiled
"Because… you could have died, in fact you did! You stopped breathing, Dolls had to do CPR, your heart stopped, Nicole" Waverly shook her head, her eyes filling with tears at the thought of it all
Nicole lifted a bandaged hand and placed it softly on Waverly's cheek "Hey, it's okay, it's okay…"
"No,… you could have…" Waverly shook her head not wanting to say it again
"But I didn't, i'm here, you're here…"
"But you're hurt…" Waverly was now fully crying
"and so are you" Nicole said lifting Waverly's head so she could look into her eyes. She smiled at the situation, they'd gone full circle on the conversation "Hey come on…" she pulled Waverly into a hug as best she could with her bandaged arms and a cat in between them.
"I was so scared…" Waverly said through sobs "I was scared you wouldn't wake up…you had tubes….and it was…it took so long"
Nicole held her tighter, in some ways it was alright for her, she hadn't been aware of any of this, but Waverly had been there every day, for three weeks, worrying about her "Hey come on…" she said rocking them both a little "We are both here and we are both fine, well mainly fine" she smiled "…and if you carry on crying, you know i'll start too…"
Waverly pulled away and wiped the tears from her cheeks and laughed slightly. She looked at Nicole "I missed you so much" she said sniffing, looking away with a little embarrassment at the admission
"Well, i'm here now and i'm not going anywhere" Nicole smiled "how…how badly did I hurt you?" she asked after a moment
Waverly looked up and pulled her hair away from her neck "It was pretty bad, I mean not like really bad, but yeah it was bad, it looked like a really bad burn" she smiled as Nicole grimaced
"I'm sorry" she said looking at her girlfriends slowly healing neck
"You have nothing to be sorry for, this was all my fault…"
"How was it your fault" Nicole said resting her head back on her pillow
Waverly thought she looked tired again and wasn't sure telling her about everything that had happened was the best idea. She shook her head and was about to say as much when Nurse Bessie came into the room
"I'm sorry to interrupt ladies…" She said not noticing Teetoo jumping under the bed "…But we have to run a few tests and check a few things…" she smiled at them both
—
A few hours later Nicole had just woken up from another nap to find Waverly packing all of the books and her computer away "Waves?"
"Hey sweetie" Waverly said attempting to get her laptop in her bag and succeeding after a couple of tries
"Are you leaving?"
"I am…" Waverly said sadly as she made her way closer to Nicole, and placing her hand on her arm "…visiting hours are up, but i'll be back in the morning" She smiled sweetly
"Oh, okay" Nicole sounded disappointed "I seem to have slept through most of today" she said
"Sleep will help you get better…" Waverly said
"Yeah…food would be better…." Nicole said. Even though she was being fed through a tube still, she knew she really needed more energy and the sort of energy bad food could give her
"Bessie said they were going to take the tube out tomorrow, so you should get some then…" Waverly tried to reassure
Nicole nodded and smiled at her girlfriend who had turned back around to make sure she had all of her things and, of course, the cat
"Sorry I have to go, they get a bit snippy if I stay too long" she smiled apologetically "Especially Bessie" she whispered "Do you want me to bring you anything tomorrow?" she asked
"No, just yourself" She smiled
Waverly had really missed that smile
"or…. maybe yourself and a burger?" Nicole smiled widely "or a couple of pizza's? some ice cream? aah ice cream" she smiled at the thought "…or a milkshake? or some chocolate?" Nicole smiled cheekily at Waverly, she was sort of joking, but she felt like she needed far more calories to get better than the hospital were giving her.
"Now how am I supposed to smuggle any of those past the nurses?" Waverly asked jokingly, but also semi seriously
"You can do anything" Nicole said smiling "I believe in you"
"Gee, i've missed you" Waverly said smiling and moving in to kiss Nicole "I'll see you in the morning"