I own none of the characters of October Road
"Well my dream began with Dr. Turner coming into my hospital room telling me that I had brain cancer." Eddie began.
"Thank God it was just a dream." Janet mumbled. Over the past week, she envisioned the worst, Eddie with cancer; Eddie dying.
"Before I go on, can we take this to my bed? My head is feeling a little too heavy to hold up."
"Sure." Janet quickly stood and helped Eddie to his bed. Once settled she pulled up the chair next to his bed but before she could sit, he stopped her.
"I said can we take this to the bed. We as in you and me. Come up here with me sweetheart. There is plenty of room for both of us." To prove his point, he scooted over to the side, making room for her. He held out his hand and she found it impossible to resist so she climbed into the bed next to him. Eddie rested his head against the bed and Janet rested her head on his shoulder.
"Now, remember what I'm going to tell you was all a dream okay?" She nodded. "Okay. So Dr. Turner came in told me that I had brain cancer. This cancer was inoperable and it was going to kill me in nine months max if I took chemo. The chemo would make me sick, bald and miserable so I decided not to take it. That dropped me to six months to live but at least for some of those six months, I wouldn't be sick. I would be able to enjoy what time I had left." Eddie glanced down and saw that Janet was visibly upset. "Hey sweetheart, it's just a dream, remember that."
"I know. I just hate thinking about you…about you dying."
"I am cancer free and I have no plans to die any time soon." He kissed the top of her head and continued his story.
"You were at your grandparents when all of this shit went down. When I came home from the hospital you were pulling an extra shift at Sully's because someone called off and because you are you, you worked. When you came home, we made love for the very first time and baby, it was amazing. It was everything that I thought that it would be. I mean, I have had good sex before but I never had amazing sex until that night with you." Janet giggled. "Think about it babe, if the sex was amazing in a dream, imagine what it's going to be like when we really do it." He raised his eyebrows suggestively and Janet burst out laughing.
"Oh my God. You are recovering from brain surgery and thinking about sex. What is wrong with you? Maybe they need to go back in and check out that brain of yours."
"I can't help it. When I'm with you all I can think about is sex."
"You're crazy, you know that, right?"
"Only for you Janet. Okay, so after we had that amazing sex, I totally ruined the mood and told you that I was dying."
"Jerk." She mumbled. "How did I take it?"
"You were pissed off at first because I didn't tell you before we made love. You thought it was selfish and tacky."
"It was. Did I kick your ass?"
"You probably wanted to but you didn't. Instead, you supported me. I came up with a list, you know a bucket list."
"A bucket list?"
"Yeah. It's a list of things to do before you die. I made my own list while I was in the hospital and I asked you to be with me and help me complete my list and you agreed."
"What kind of things were on your list?"
"Let's see, go to Vegas, go to D.C., white water rafting, have sex in an airplane, learn to surf, run the bases a Fenway park, get a tattoo, bungee jumped off a bridge and fly a plane."
"So in this dream of yours I helped you complete this bucket list of yours?"
"Every last thing."
"I am not a fan of heights so I know I wouldn't have jumped off no damn bridge. As for the tattoo, I have no desire to get a tattoo and lastly but most importantly I would never and I repeat, never ever have sex in a plane."
"You did all of those things and I gotta tell you, you enjoyed joining the mile high club babe."
"Obviously it was just a dream because I can't stress this enough, I wouldn't have sex in a plane."
"I think you did it because I was dying and you did it because you wanted to make me happy."
"That sounds like me." Janet agreed softly. "So what kind of tattoo did I get?"
"We both got the Chinese symbol of love on our wrists." At this point he was choosing to omit that their wedding date was also tattooed on their wrists. He didn't want to get too far ahead of himself.
"Now that sounds like me."
"It was your idea." Eddie paused in his story so he could kiss his sweet Janet. "I love you."
"I love you too." She mumbled, snuggling closer to him. "So was that your dream, you and I completing your list?"
"There is so much more baby."
"Then get talking."
"Yes ma'am." He answered with a grin. "The first thing we did was go to Las Vegas after having amazing sex of course was gamble and then we saw Wayne Newton. My parents met at a Wayne Newton concert so I grew up listening to him. You seemed to enjoy it but not as much as me." Janet smiled at that comment because it sounded so true. "After the concert we went for a walk and saw that water fountain show. You know what I'm talking about?"
"Yeah, I've heard of it."
"It was amazing but it could be the fact that I was with you that made it amazing."
"You are so sweet."
"After the show you then gave me the surprise of my life."
"What did I do?"
"You proposed to me."
"Excuse me? I did what?"
"You heard me babe. You asked me to marry you."
"Wow. What did you say?"
"I said no." He felt Janet stiffen next to him.
"Oh."
"Just remember Janet honey, this was just a dream. "
"I know but I guess it just stings a little to hear you say that you didn't want to marry me."
"In my dream, I did want to marry you, so damn much. What I didn't want to do was make you a widow. You convinced me that married or not when I died it was going to hurt you just the same. You also said that since you were helping me do the things that I wanted to do before I died so the least I could do was give you the only thing you had asked of me, which was to marry you."
"So did you?"
"Did I marry you? Yes sweetheart, I did marry you. Our friends and my family, even Phyz all came to our quaint little Vegas wedding."
"Please tell me that we didn't get married by some weirdo."
"Elvis married us." Eddie told her with a straight face. As a look of horror over her beautiful face and he started laughing. "I'm kidding sweetheart. We had a small, normal wedding in a chapel. It was perfect."
"Thank God." Janet said with a laugh. "So, where did we go on our honeymoon?"
"What makes you think that we actually went on a honeymoon?"
"Oh please Latekka, the way that you have been talking about sex, I know we must have had a honeymoon. And besides, as far as I can tell there are still some things on that list of yours that still haven't been completed yet."
"You are so smart which is one of the many reasons that I love you." He couldn't resist. he leaned forward and kissed her again, shocks of desire shooting through his body when she moaned into his mouth. "Janet." He groaned when they pulled apart.
"What's wrong baby?"
"You. You are so damn desirable and I want you so damn bad right now but I can't have you."
"Why can't you?" She purred, as she ran her fingernails over his chest, turning him on.
"Hospital…"Janet attached her lips to his neck and she began to kiss, nibble and suck softly. "Tumor…removed…ah…skull cut open…oh…Janet…headache…have take…easy." He sifted his position slightly and he slipped a hand under her top and cupped her breasts over her bra, rubbing his thumb over her pearled nipple.
"Eddie." Janet mumbled, arching into his hands.
"I can't." He reluctantly removed his hand from under her shirt. "We can't. Not here in the damn hospital."
"I'm sorry." Janet pulled her lips away from his neck and settled her head back on his chest. "So anyway, you were about to tell me about our honeymoon."
"Right, our dream honeymoon. We flew to West Virginia and went white water rafting and that's also where we bungee jumped."
"I still don't believe it." Eddie laughed.
"We ended our honeymoon in D.C. We spent a couple of days going through The Smithsonian museums. If they are half as good as they were in my dream then they must be freaking amazing. Have you ever been?" He asked, knowing good and well that she hadn't been. She quickly shook her head. "Well we should really go sometime."
"Yeah sure." He knew that she was thinking about her mother and he would tell her the role she played in his dream but not right now.
"From D.C. we flew back home into Boston. We were met at the airport by Nick, Owen, Phyz and Ikey. They kidnapped me to a water park for the day so I could learn to surf."
"You learned to surf at a water park?"
"I did. They have this surfing simulation thingy that I surfed on. I rocked it out."
"I'm sure you did baby."
"Actually, I kept falling on my ass but eventually I got it."
"Now that sounds more like it."
"I think that I should be insulted."
"Nah. We both know the truth and the truth is never insulting."
"The following day, Sully pulled a few strings and called in some favors and I got to fly a plane and run the bases at Fenway Park. It was freaking awesome. Remind me to talk to Sully when my life returns to normal."
"I will." Even though Eddie was not dying, she wanted him to complete everything on his dream list. He deserved to be happy and completing his list would make him happy.
"Before we actually headed home I had an appointment with Dr. Turner. During our trip to Vegas I got a really bad headache and ended up in the hospital. I had another MRI and it showed more tumors and the original ones were growing so I needed a follow up. During that appointment Dr. Turner told me about a new chemo pill that had great success with my type of cancer. It wouldn't cure it but it would temporarily stop the growing of the tumors and give me four to six more months but I refused to take them."
"Why on earth would you do that?"
"Because one side effect was erectile dysfunction."
"Are you serious? That is stupid."
"Yep. That's pretty much what you said in my dream. My reasoning was I enjoyed making love to you so much that I wasn't willing to give it up. Eventually you convinced me that I needed to take the medication so I could be around longer and it all worked out cause there was a medicine that I took that allowed junior to make an appearance."
"I'm glad you made the right choice."
"This next part of my dream is bittersweet so just bear with me okay?"
"Of course. I can't wait to hear what happens next." Eddie took a deep breath. "When we got home from the doctor's appointment you told me something, a life-changing something and I reacted really bad."
"What did I tell you?" Eddie linked his hand with hers.
"You told me that you were pregnant." He heard her gasp. "My god, when you told me I was so damn happy but at the same time I was furious and I let the fury take over and I reacted badly. I said really, really horrible things to you and you slapped the hell out of me before I stormed out."
"What did you say?" Janet whispered.
"I don't ever want you to know so I'm not going to tell you."
"Why were you so pissed off?"
"Because of the cancer. The only thing that I could think of was the fact that I wasn't going to be around to see my own child and that infuriated me. It wasn't fair and it scared the hell out of me."
"I'm so sorry."
"Don't be sweetheart. It was all a dream and it worked out. I pulled my head out of my ass, begged for your forgiveness, which you gave to me after giving me quite a bit of hell, which I totally deserved, and it all worked out."
"So you were happy about the baby?"
"I was very happy about our child, our son."
"We had a son?"
"Jacob Edward." Janet felt tears fill her eyes.
"Were you…did you…did you meet our son?"
"I did. That pill they gave me was awesome but it wasn't all easy. The first couple of weeks that I took it, I got some of those shitty chemo side effects, the weakness and the vomiting. You tried to take care of me when I was puking my guts out but because of your pregnancy, you ended up puking right along with me so my mom had to come and take care of me, like she did when I was a kid. It did get pretty bad at one point, I was puking so much I ended up in the hospital because I was so dehydrated but after the first two weeks the puking stopped and I was pretty normal."
"So for a short time you were cured?"
"Yeah for a short time but when baby Jacob was six weeks old, things really started to go down hill. I started showing symptoms. At first my fingers started going numb which progressed to uncontrollable shaking in my hands. Seizures started showing up and I would have them over and over until my medication was changed and then I had one or two a day. Eventually, I started to have trouble walking and to the point where I couldn't walk at all. My brain couldn't tell my legs how to walk. Another thing my brain stopped doing was helping me talk. I would mix up words or I would now exactly what I wanted to say but I couldn't." He felt Janet's body shaking with silent cry. "Shhh baby. It was just a dream."
"Was I…was I there for you?" She asked as she tried to calm herself down.
"Until the very end. At the end I was in so much pain that I went into Hospice Care. They did what they could to keep me comfortable but it wasn't enough. I was miserable and you knew it. In this dream Janet, I saw an amazingly brave and selfless woman. As much as you wanted me to stay with you and Jacob, you let me go or gave me your blessing to die so, I wouldn't be in anymore pain. In my dream I was hanging on and waiting for your blessing because I couldn't leave you without it and once you gave it you sat by my side and held my hand as I died. Your voice was the last sound that I heard." Janet's cries were almost under control until he told her about his dream death and she started crying again. The thought of Eddie dying, was just too hard to think about. "Oh honey." Eddie gently crooned. He held her tightly and let her cry. Even a few tears fell from his eyes as well.
"I'm sorry Eddie." Janet sniffed. "I guess it was really hard to hear and picture you dying. I am so glad that it was all a dream."
"God Janet, you have no idea how true that and as bad as that dream was, it helped me realize something very important."
"What was that?"
"I realized that life is too damn short and can be taken away from us in an instant. Well, I guess I knew it but it never meant as much to me then as it does now. This tumor has given me a second chance at life Janet and I plan on not wasting one damn second of it, starting right now." Eddie reluctantly pulled his arm away from around Janet and reached into the drawer next to his bed and pulled out the ring his mom had brought to him. "Baby will you please sit up and look at me?"
"Eddie what is going on?" She asked as she sat up and turned her body to face him. Her eyes traveled down to the ring. "Eddie?" She whispered when he took her hand.
"I love you so much Janet. Our friendship over the years have meant so much to me but these past months that we have been dating have blown my mind. I never thought that I would feel for any woman what I feel for you. I want to spend the rest of my life, whether it's a day, a week, a month, a year or fifty years loving you." He pulled the ring out of the box and slid it onto her left ring finger, where it fit perfectly. "Janet Meadows, will you please marry me?" Janet finally took her eyes away from her hand and looked into his brown eyes and saw tears shinning in them.
"Eddie I don't know what to say."
"Say yes." He begged.
"We have only been dating for four months."
"We've been friends for years sweetheart. You know me better than anyone. I knew after our first date that I wanted to spend the rest of our life together."
"We need to really think about this Eddie. For all we know this is just a knee jerk reaction from having a major surgery during which you could have died."
"I have thought about this Janet. It's all I have thought about since I woke up from my damn coma. It's not a knee jerk reaction. I want to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you. Please Janet, marry me." A tear slipped from him eye.
"Are you sure that this…that I am what you want?" She was terrified that he was rushing into this proposal and he would change his mind after a few days.
"Yes Janet I am sure. I have never been more sure of anything. Being married to you, loving you everyday for the rest of my life is what I want." Another tear fell. "So what do you say honey? Will you become my wife?" As she looked into his eyes she knew that he wasn't going to change his mind.
"Yes Eddie. I will marry you."
"Thank you Janet. Thank you so much." His tears were freely falling at this point. "You have no idea how damn happy you have just made me." He slipped his arm around her neck, pulled her face close to his and he kissed her, pouring all of his love he felt for her into that kiss.
"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt." Eddie's nurse, Chrissy said and they newly engaged couple reluctantly pulled apart. "It's time for your medication."
"It's okay. I'm sure that there will be a lot more of that in the future." Eddie quipped.
"So I take it that she said yes?" Chrissy walked over and began to take Eddie's blood pressure.
"You told her?" A slightly embarrassed Janet gasped.
"Sweetheart, he told the whole floor." Chrissy answered and Janet glared at him.
"I was excited and yes she did say yes." He said proudly.
"Congratulations. Now hush a minute so I can check your blood pressure."
"Yes ma'am." While Chrissy did her job, Eddie and Janet looked into each other's eyes.
"Your heart rate is elevated Mr. Latekka."
"Does that surprise you? I'm very happy and excited right now."
"Can you sit up so I can check your wound?" Eddie did as she asked.
"Oww. Son of a bitch." He mumbled.
"I'm sorry Eddie." Chrissy said. "The area around the staples is red. I'm going to page your doctor."
"What's wrong?" Janet asked.
"I'm concerned that his incision may be infected. It's red, tender and warm to the touch. Open wide so I can check your temperature." Like a child, he opened his mouth and the thermometer was stuck in. Thirty seconds later Chrissy pulled it out. "You have a slight temp. 100.2"
"Is that bad?"
"If we caught it early enough it will be fine."
"Do you think you caught it early enough?" Janet whispered.
"I do." Chrissy handed Eddie his cup of pills. "Take your medicine and I will call Dr. Turner." He nodded and swallowed his pills. "Page me if you need anything before Dr. Turner gets here."
"Thanks." Eddie called to her as he settled back onto the bed, bringing Janet with him and seeing the worry in her eyes. "Hey don't worry babe. It's probably just a little infection. It's no big deal."
"It's an infection Eddie. It is a big deal."
"Nah. The doctor will probably give me some antibiotics and I'll be good as new. Now, tell me, do you like your ring?" Janet lifted her hand to her face and examined her engagement ring, the ring that she would be wearing for the rest of her life.
"I love it Eddie. It's beautiful. How on earth did you know my ring size?" He knew she was worried about him but she was trying not to be and he loved her for that.
"I don't know what your ring size is. This ring belonged to my grandparents who were married for fifty three years and when they died they passed their rings down to me. After my grandma died and I got her ring my grandpa told me that this ring can only go on the finger of the woman that I plan to spend the rest of my life with and I did just that."
"I just can't get over the fact that this ring fits me."
"I knew it would."
"Is this the same ring you gave me in your dream?" He nodded. "And it fit me in the dream too right?"
"You got it babe." At that moment Dr, Turner walked in.
"So Eddie, I hear you decided to get an infection."
"Yeah, nothing better to do."
"Let's have a look." Eddie pulled himself up and Dr. Turner removed the bandage that covered his stitches as gently as he could but Eddie still winced in pain. "All right young man, the infection doesn't look too bad and in normal circumstances I would give you oral antibiotics but because the infection is so close to your brain I don't want to take any chances of a microorganism sneaking in so I'm prescribing IV antibiotics. Any questions?"
"Nah. I'm good."
"All right then. Your nurse will be in shortly to set you up. I'll be back first thing in the morning to check on you."
"Thanks doc."
"Oh by the way, congrats on the engagement."
Ten minutes later Eddie's IV was up and the antibiotics were running through his veins. "So do you have any ideas on when you want to get married?" Janet asked him.
"Dr. Turner says I'll be released back to my normal life in six weeks." Janet bolted straight up.
"Six weeks? You want to get married in six weeks?" He grinned and nodded. "Sorry honey. It will be impossible to plan a wedding in six weeks. Why so soon?"
"I told you that I don't want to waste another minute of my life without being your husband."
"I get that but I don't know if I can put together a wedding with such short notice. If I'm lucky enough to find a church and reception hall that isn't booked it's going to cost an arm and a leg and I honestly don't have that kind of money Eddie."
"Janet, you are not paying for our wedding by yourself."
"I'm the bride and the bride is responsible for the wedding."
"Not in today's world honey. It's my wedding too so I'm helping with the costs."
"Eddie.."
"Don't even think about arguing with me because if you do it will be a waste of time because you won't win. Janet, we are in this relationship, engagement, marriage and eventually parenting together so you don't have to do it all on your own anymore okay?" She smiled at him and he knew he won that battle. "Do you want a big giant wedding?"
"No. I don't need that."
"I've been thinking and my parent's have a huge back yard. I know that they would let us have our wedding there. We would just have to rent some tables and chairs and maybe some tents if it rains. Kate can take the pictures and we would just have pay for what we develop. You have the connections babe when it comes to the alcohol. Sully thinks you walk on water and I know he would hook us up and as far as the food goes I'm sure we can find a good deal on a buffet thing. What do you think?"
"I love it." She answered tearfully. "But is it what you want?"
"You know me baby. I am not a hoity-toity kind of guy. I don't need all of that fancy stuff so a casual backyard wedding is my idea of a perfect wedding." Janet couldn't resist. She leaned over and kissed him until they were both breathless.
"I have so much work to do but I'm not ready to leave your side."
"Then don't." He whispered huskily as he lowered his face and kissed her again. "I love you." He moaned when they broke apart to catch their breath before capturing her lips again.
After a decent make out session they finally came up for air and settled back into each other's arms, breathing heavily. "Now would probably be the perfect time to bring up another decision that I have made."
"Oh really?"
"Yep. I have decided that I am not having sex with you for six weeks, not until our wedding night."
"What? You have got to be kidding me."
"I'm not. Think of this unique situation that we are in right now Janet. Not many people wait anymore to have sex until they are married. We've only got six weeks which isn't that long. Hell, we've already waited four months what's another six weeks?" Janet just rolled her eyes. "Since that logic isn't working for you then here is some more. Once I am released from this joint I'm going to be staying at my parents so mom can do the mom thing and take care of me so sex at the parental homestead is out. Dr. Turner said that my head is going to be hurting for at least another month until the staples come out and having a sore head isn't exactly conducive to sex. By the time the staples come out we'll only have two weeks so what do you say? Can you wait until our wedding night to make love?"
"What if…what happens if…"
"I know what's running through your mind and don't think it. I have proof via my dream that we will have amazing sex."
"It was just a dream Eddie. You can't possibly know that."
"I know that I am in love with you and sex with someone you love cannot be bad."
"But what if…you haven't seen me naked."
"Believe me, I know that and it's killing me that I haven't. Don't fear my sweet girl. When our wedding night comes around and I see you naked it will only make you more beautiful in my eyes." He kissed her head. He knew that she had a poor self body image but with him, she had nothing to worry about. To him, she was the most beautiful woman he has ever laid eyes on and nothing would ever change that.
"Any way I can talk you into a pre wedding tumble?" Janet had never felt more secure in her relationship with Eddie as she did right now. His words and the way his eyes were filled with love and adoration every time he looked at her gave her that confidence.
"Nope."
"We'll see about that." She began to trace circles on his upper thigh.
"You are a cruel, cruel woman." He removed her hand and linked it with his.
"I'll let it rest for now. Besides, we have something else to talk about."
"What would that be?"
"Our living situation. We both own our own houses so what do we do about that?" Eddie had thought this one out as well.
"If it's okay with you, I would like to move in with you."
"It's more than okay but what about your house and Phil?"
"Well Katie is moving back home so I was thinking that she could take over my room. Pizza Girl has practically moved in there with Phil so she will have female companionship and they all can pay me rent until either Phil can move out or he decides to buy the house."
"It looks like you have thought of everything my love."
"I try."
Eddie and Janet spent the rest of the night planning their wedding and making phone calls. Everyone they talked to was so excited for them. Eddie's parents were totally agreeable to having the wedding in their backyard. Katie was thrilled to be taking the pictures and Phil even told Eddie that he was going to try to make it out of the house for the wedding and Eddie was touched. Everything was working out perfectly for the happy couple.
"Are you tired babe?" Janet asked when she saw Eddie tried to hide a yawn.
"I'm fine."
"Liar." Janet pulled herself out of Eddie's loving embrace. "I'll go home so you can get some sleep."
"No." He groaned pulling back down onto the bed. "Stay."
"You need to sleep baby."
"I will, with you in my arms. Stay the night with me."
"I cannot stay here Eddie."
"Yes you can. I already asked." Janet sighed and shook her head.
"You are unbelievable."
"I know. Now come on, get comfy." Janet lay back down on her side with her head on his chest. Eddie settled back on his bed and wrapped his arm around his fiancé. "Can I talk to about something, rather sensitive?"
"Depends on what it is." Janet responded.
"Your mother."
"Nope. There is nothing to talk about."
"Then just hear me out okay?" When she didn't respond Eddie took that as permission to continue. "Your mom was in my dream. You guys finally talked things out and ended up having a relationship. Your mother was there for you, helped you with the baby and me when I was dying."
"It was just a dream Eddie." Janet snapped.
"And so far everything in my dream is coming true. All I'm suggesting is that you give her a call and talk."
"I've got nothing to say to her."
"Yes you do Janet. You have a lot to say to her. God Janet, look how close I came to dying. What if something happens to your mom and you never make amends? How will you feel then honey?"
"You don't know what you are talking about."
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. I just want you to be happy and I think having a relationship with her again will make you happy even if you don't." She didn't respond. "I'm sorry that I pissed you off honey. I'm not going to say anything else about your mom unless you bring it up. All I'm asking is that you think about it and if you come to a decision, whatever it is you will have my support."
"You should sleep Eddie."
"Don't be mad honey."
"I'm not. I'm thinking because you have given me a lot to think about." Janet quickly kissed him. "Now sleep. I love you."
"I love you too sweetheart."
Janet had no idea how long that she had been sleeping on Eddie's chest before she woke up. The first thing she noticed was the dampness on her cheek. Laying her hand on his chest she found that his hospital gown was soaked through with sweat. She quickly removed her hand from his chest and placed it on his forehead. He was on fire. "Eddie." Janet gently shook his shoulder but all he did was groan. She climbed out of bed and pushed his call button. While she waited for the nurse Janet went into the bathroom and wet down a washcloth with cold water to place on his head.
"Janet what's going on?" Eddie's night nurse, Tara asked.
"He's got a fever. It's so high that he is sweating." Janet explained. Tara hit the intercom and asked another nurse to have Dr. Turner paged and then she got to work while Janet stood helplessly off to the side while Tara checked his temperature, blood pressure, and his incision. Five minutes later the phone in Eddie's room rang and Tara grabbed it.
"Hi Dr. Turner. I am with Eddie Latekka. He has a fever of 103.2. BP is 142/90, Pulse 98 and his incision is draining yellow pus. Okay. Yes sir I understand. Thank you" Tara hung up and rushed out of the room so Janet returned to Eddie's side.
"Eddie, sweetheart, are you awake?" His eyes fluttered opened and he groaned.
"What's wrong? I feel like shit."
"I think your infection is getting worse. You are running a really high fever but you are going to be fine." Just then Tara and two orderlies walked into the room. "What's going on?" She asked.
"The first antibiotic isn't working so Dr. Turner wants him moved to ICU so he can be closely monitored. We're changing the antibiotic, giving him a really strong one."
"Can't you monitor him here? Why does he have to be in ICU?"
"Dr. Turner has concern about the infection traveling to his brain so he needs to be watched very closely. It's just a precaution."
"Can I go with him? I promised him I wouldn't leave." She didn't mention that she made the promise a week ago. It didn't matter. She had to be there for him.
"Yes, that will be fine."
"Janet what's happening?" Eddie asked when the orderlies began to move his bed.
"They are moving you to another room."
"Don't leave me." He begged tearfully.
"I'm not. I'll be right behind you."
Eddie was quickly taken to the ICU with Janet following every step of the way. While they set him up she used the phone at the nurses' station to call Jack and Laura and update them. Laura spoke with a nurse who assured her that everything was being done for Eddie and he would most likely recover.
As soon as she was able Janet went into his room, pulled a chair up next to his, grabbed his hand and began her vigil at Eddie's bedside. Six hours later as the sun rose in the sky Eddie opened his eyes and smiled at his beautiful fiancé who looked exhausted. "Hey gorgeous." He mumbles weakly. That fever took a hell of a lot out of him.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like I have just got my ass kicked."
"You scared the hell out of me but you are doing much better. They just checked your temperature twenty minutes ago and your fever is 99. You're going to be fine."
"Thanks for not leaving me."
"I wouldn't be anywhere else."