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Chapter 10
Kira sighed as she stared at the Yellow Dino Gem sat in her bracelet, hating herself for the way she spoke to the others. As much as she wanted to help them, she couldn't exactly run into a battle with a drip connected to her arm.
"Hi Kira." A voice said, making her look up and smile at the nurse that walked into the room pushing a trolly in front of them. "Is that bag finished?"
"Hey Andy. Yeah, it finished a couple of minutes ago." She said as the pump that the drip was running through started beeping again, making her sigh as she hit the mute button again.
"Right, let's get it changed." Andy said, stopping the pump and taking the bag down, disconnecting it from the line. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm good. No reactions." She said with a smirk, making him laugh.
"You're here too often." He laughed, double checking the sheet in front of him and the labels on the two bags in front of him. "I see you made sure you had the extra pump ready this time." He said, motioning to the two IV pumps that were connected to the pole next to her chair.
"Been through this enough times." She said with a smirk. "And it makes your job easier." She watched as Andy connected one bag, before setting up the second and connecting it to the pump and the second line on her PICC line.
"Alright, that is the first lot of 24 hour bags on." He said, setting up the pumps and pressing start on them. "You know the drill. You're no longer on half hourly observations and back onto every 4 hours…" He started, only for Kira to interrupt.
"I can go out onto the balcony if I want, but not for too long. Press the call button if I need anything, you'll see me again around 6 for the tablet run before you finish at 7, and I'm not allowed to play my guitar after 9 so the other patients on the ward can sleep." She said with a slight smirk, making him laugh.
"I thought I told you last time to stop being a smart ass?" He laughed, making her smile innocently. "I'll see you later then." She watched him leave and then glanced around the room with a sigh. The hospital room she was in was designed for teenagers and young adults, and was bigger than most hospital rooms. There was a TV on the wall with a playstation connected. The bed was in the middle of the room with a cabinet on the left that her bag was in and a cupboard on the right. A table on wheels was at the bottom of the bed which she could move if she wanted to stay in bed when food arrived. A desk was running along one wall with the window above it, giving her a view of the field at the back of the hospital. There was a door on the opposite wall that led into the en-suite bathroom with a toilet, sink and shower. She was currently sat in one of the two comfy chairs in the room in front of the desk, her laptop open in front of her and her guitar leaning against the side of the desk.
She had been writing some lyrics on her laptop when there was a knock at the door, making her look at the time with a frown. It was too early for dinner, and she wasn't supposed to see another nurse for 2 more hours. "Come in." She called, turning her head to look at the door as it opened, her eyes going wide and her breath catching in her throat as she saw who walked into the room. "Tommy." She breathed, suddenly conscious that she didn't have her wig on and her head was exposed.
Tommy looked around the room in shock, seeing that it was a large and welcoming room before his eyes landed on Kira, his eyes widening slightly. She had an IV pole next to her with two bags attached to a line in her upper arm. She was wearing loose, grey trousers with a yellow tank top and what looked like a black sports bra underneath. He frowned as he noticed that she only had one arm through one of the straps on her top, the other strap tucked into the side of the top. He looked at her face and froze slightly, taking a moment to process the fact that she didn't have any hair, and that there was a wig laying on the desk in front of her.
"Tommy, what are you doing here?" She asked, making him smile slightly as he closed the door and walked towards her.
"I was coming here to lecture you about your Ranger duties, but that would probably make me the biggest dick in the world." He said as he sat in the other chair, turning it slightly so that he was mostly facing her.
"I'm sorry. I wanted to help, but I can't exactly explain to the nurses why I'm running out of the hospital with a drip connected to my arm." She said, looking down at her lap and avoiding eye contact with him.
"Kira, I don't care about that." He said, putting a hand on her knee and making her look up at him. "Is this why you left me?" She nodded and looked away again as she felt tears in her eyes.
"It's called Lymphoma. It's a type of blood Cancer." She said, refusing to look at him. "The doctor told me the day before you went to Angel Grove. I knew you'd worry if I told you, and I didn't want you to drop everything to look after me. I didn't want you to see me as a sick person. I didn't want to be weak in front of you."
"Kira, I don't think of you as a sick person, and I could never think of you as weak." He said, his soft voice making her look up to see that he had tears in his eyes. "I wish you had told me, because then I could tell you that you were being stupid, and that you are still, and will always be the strongest person I know."
"I was scared. I thought you'd either drop everything to look after me, or break up with me." She whispered, making him pull his chair closer to hers and pull her into a hug.
"I would never break up with you, Kira. Especially over something like this." He whispered rubbing her back. "And I would have probably dropped a lot to look after you, but that is what you do for the people you love. I hate that you went through so much of this alone."
"You love me?" She asked, pulling away and looking at him.
"Of course I do." He replied, tears falling down his face as he smiled at her. "I never stopped loving you."
"Even though I have no hair?" She asked, making him laugh slightly and lean forward to kiss her head.
"Yes. I still love you without hair." He replied, making her smile.
"I love you too." She whispered. He leant forward and pressed his lips to hers. He fully expected her to pull away, but smiled when he felt her lips move against his and she returned the kiss. They separated after a moment and he smiled at her, before sitting back in the chair.
"So, do I get to know everything now?" He asked, making her laugh.
"What do you want to know?" She asked, sitting back.
"Why are those lines so far up your arm?" He asked, making her twist her arm slightly so that he could see the two lines that fed into a purple piece of plastic being held against her skin by a clamp and a clear bandage.
"It's called a PICC line. It makes it safe for the chemo and reduces the pressure of needles constantly going in and out of my veins." She replied, putting her arm back down. "It's been in my arm for almost 4 months. It gets cleaned and the dressings changed every week when I have a blood test." Tommy was quiet for a moment, not sure whether he wanted to know the answer to the question he had. "You want to know how bad it is, don't you?" She asked, making him look up and nod.
"You don't have to answer." He said, making her smile.
"It's fine." She said, reaching over and grabbing his hand. "It's not too bad. They caught it early and all of the doctors seem pretty confident that it's curable. I had time to go through fertility treatment, which the doctor said he doesn't normally give women the option of because he doesn't see this type of Lymphoma that early very often."
"Fertility treatment?" He asked, making her blush slightly.
"Yeah. There's a high chance the chemo will make me infertile." She said, trying not to feel awkward. They had never spoken about whether they wanted children or not before, and she wasn't sure how he was going to respond. "I went through some treatment to freeze some eggs in case I want kids later down the line."
"Is that something you want?" He asked, making her blush deepen.
"I don't know. I never really thought about it." She said, with a slight shrug. "I didn't want to regret not doing it when I had the chance. I don't have to use them, but they're there if I decide I want them." He nodded and rubbed her hand with his thumb.
"So, how long are you here for?" He asked, making her wince.
"5 days." She said, making him look at her in shock. "Yeah, I know. I've just finished the first bag which lasts about two hours if they start it at the fast rate. Otherwise they have to up the rate every 30 minutes. This is my first lot of 24 hour bags."
"24 hours?" He asked, making her laugh. "You're connected to those 2 bags for 24 hours?"
"Yep. There are 4 of these." She said, trying not to laugh too much at the shock on his face. "And then a half hour bag at the end."
"So you are constantly connected to a drip for over 96 hours?" He asked, his eyes wide.
"Yes, but I can get disconnected between the bags for a shower. I'm not about to sit in a hospital room for 5 days without a shower." She laughed.
"How long have you got left?" He asked.
"This is my last cycle." She said with a smile. "I'll have a scan at some point after I finish and hopefully I'll be given the all clear."
"So, the passing out…" He said, making her wince slightly.
"Yeah. Turns out my HB was too low. They gave me a blood transfusion and I was alright." She said. "It's weird. When I morph, it's like the power protects me from the side effects of the chemo. It's when I power down that it suddenly hits me."
"So that explains the dizziness." He mumbled, making her laugh. "I'm assuming that Conner knows, then?"
"Yeah. I had to tell him after I fainted." She replied. "Tanya knows too. She spotted my hair falling out before I started wearing the wig. And she got a bit suspicious when I tried to rearrange a load of gigs." Tommy rolled his eyes. He looked at her for a moment and frowned, tilting his head to the side slightly.
"Are your eyebrows drawn on?" He asked, making her laugh.
"Yes. And the eyelashes are fake." She said, giggling slightly. "The Chemo makes every single hair fall out. The only good part of that is that I haven't had to shave my legs in 4 months! I've saved so much money on razors." He laughed at her and was about to say something else when the door opened and a nurse walked in.
"Hi, time for obs." She said, making Kira nod and Tommy move away slightly.
"Hey Ange. I thought you were going to be on nights this week?" Kira said, making Tommy smirk slightly. Now that he knew how long she had been coming here, he wasn't surprised she was friendly with all of the nurses.
"Change of plans." She replied as she connected the blood pressure cuff to Kira's arm. "Besides, I'm perfectly happy for someone else to wake you up during the night."
"She didn't punch you, did she?" Tommy asked, making Kira glare as Ange put the thermometer in her mouth.
"No. But she did throw a cup at me." She replied with a laugh. "It's nice to see someone visiting Kira for once. I'm Angela, but everyone calls me Ange."
"I'm Tommy. Kira's boyfriend." He replied with a smile as Ange jotted down Kira's temp and waited for the blood pressure machine to finish. He saw the look Kira gave him and mentally kicked himself.
"How did you guys meet?" She asked, making Tommy laugh as he ran a hand through his hair.
"Tommy used to be my science teacher." Kira said, making Ange look at her in shock. "He used to teach me and a few guys Martial Arts at the weekend, and something just clicked."
"Aww, that's quite sweet." She said, jotting some things down on the ipad she had with her. "Well, everything looks good. Give me a shout if you start feeling ill."
"Thanks Ange." She said, both waiting for the nurse to leave before looking at each other. "Boyfriend?"
"Yeah, sorry. I should have probably asked you about that first." He laughed, nervously.
"So, does that mean I can be your girlfriend again?" Kira asked with a smile, making him smile back.
"On one condition." He said, making her frown as he sat back down in the chair next to her. "You move back into our house." She smiled brightly at the thought of leaving the run down flat she was in.
"Deal." She said, leaning forward and kissing him.