The next few hours passed by very slow. Stella sat in the waiting room and tried to spot April most of the time to get some more information. However, for almost three hours, she sat there without getting any further details on Kelly's condition. Then, Ethan came up to her with April by his side.
"Hey Stella", he greeted her, and April shot her a friendly smile.
"How is he?", Stella asked.
"He is good, I mean, considering the current circumstances. His lungs didn't suffer further damage, luckily, and the bruises on his chest will fade within the next few weeks… if he follows my instructions of course."
The three had to laugh slightly. They all knew that Kelly wasn't exactly the best patient when it came to following doctor's orders.
"Although he will have to skip a few shifts due to his broken and crushed ribs."
Ethan formed a small smile as he saw Stella's excitement fade from her face.
"Hey, he's gonna come back, but he needs to take it slow the next few weeks", April said softly, and rubbed her hand up and down Stella's arm.
"Can I see him?"
"Of course, April will take you to his room, right?"
April nodded and put an arm around Stella's shoulder. She led her to Kelly's room.
He wasn't awake when they entered the room, but he wasn't on the ventilator either.
"Is he breathing on his own?"
"Yeah, right after he came in, we were able to take out the tube and ever since then, his vitals were stable. We gave him some heavy pain meds though, so that Ethan could check him properly. They knocked him out pretty well, but he should wake up within the next few hours."
Stella nodded while watching Kelly the whole time.
"I'll leave you alone now. If you need anything, just call out."
"Thank you, April."
Stella smiled at her and took a seat next to his bed. April went over to the door and stood there for a moment, smiling happily. She was glad that Kelly had found his match and she loved how supportive Stella was. She watched Stella taking a seat and grabbing Kelly's hand. She saw tears falling and a smile on her lips at the same time. Then she left.
"Hey Kelly, it's me, Stella. I don't know if you can hear me, but I wanted to let you know that I'm here and that I won't go anywhere."
Obviously, he didn't respond, but she felt that he could hear her.
"The others went back to 51 to finish shift, but Casey wanted to stop by tomorrow. I told him that I'll keep an eye on you in the meantime", she said and chuckled.
She squeezed his hand and caressed his cheek with her left hand.
"Okay, I'm gonna shut up now and let you rest. But don't worry, I'm here when you wake up. I promise."
After a few minutes, her exhaustion hit her like a tsunami. She tried her best to stay awake, but she lost the battle and fell asleep in her chair.
While Stella was out, April and Ethan came to check on Kelly and smiled at the sight. April grabbed a blanket and covered Stella with it.
Stella didn't know how much time had passed when she woke up, but she realized that it was quite late. It was already dark outside and there was less crowding in the hallway than this morning. She was about to leave the room to get herself a coffee, when Kelly woke up. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes.
"Stella?"
She spun around and looked at him in shock. Then she moved back to the side of his bed and caressed his cheeks.
"Hey, I'm here. Oh my god, how do you feel?"
"Ugh… my chest hurts."
He managed to smile slightly and brought his hand up to her cheek.
"But seeing you makes everything better."
She chuckled but at the same time, the tears started falling down her cheeks again. Kelly wiped them away and took one of her hands in his other, gently squeezing it.
"Don't cry babe, I'm fine. I'm here, everything's gonna be fine."
She sobbed and let herself fall into the chair. They kept holding each other until April came in.
"Hey you. How are you?"
"Good, thanks."
Stella raised her eyebrows at him.
"Playing the tough guy, alright. Listen my friend, it's not going to get you out here faster if you pretend that you're not in pain. I'll go get Ethan."
After a few minutes, they came back, and Ethan smiled at Kelly.
"Hello Kelly. How do you feel?"
Kelly was about to respond that he was fine, but then he looked at Stella and changed his mind.
"My chest hurts. I feel like it's burning here", he said, and circled his finger over the middle part of his chest.
"That's a good sign, it means that it's healing."
Stella smiled at Kelly and he managed to let out a chuckle.
"You have two broken ribs, and some are crushed. We'll continue to give you pain meds until tomorrow morning and we'll do another x-ray tomorrow as well. I'd like you to stay here tonight for surveillance. If the results are good, you'll be discharged tomorrow, but we'll see whether that's possible."
"What about work?"
"As I told Stella before, you'll have to take it easy the next few weeks. That means no shift for at least four weeks. Fractured ribs need four weeks to heal fully, and as a firefighter, the risk of getting a pneumonia is very high."
"How am I supposed to stay at home for four weeks?"
Ethan, April and Stella laughed.
"You'll manage", Stella replied, laughing.
"Haha, very funny", Kelly said and rolled his eyes.
"Anyways I'll come back tomorrow for the tests. Until then, I want you to rest as much as possible. Okay?"
"What about visitors?", Stella asked.
"That's up to you. Kelly knows best how many visitors he wants to see. See you tomorrow."
Ethan waved goodbye and left. April smiled at them, checked his vitals once more, and headed for the door.
"If you need anything, call out. I'll check on you once in a while."
She smiled and left the pair alone.
A/N: Hey guys!
A rather short chapter today, maybe I'll manage to update this weekend again, but no promises!
I hope you still like the story and if you have any ideas or wishes for this story, don't be afraid to write it into a review or send me a PM.
Anyways I wish you all a good day😊. ~ D.