Love's Rendition
Part 16
by Tragedy88
E-Mail: Tragedy88@goplay.com
Disclaimers: See
Part 1.
Chapter
Sixteen
“Are
you sure you don’t have any questions?” Daniel asked again. He and the team of doctors were gathered
around the bed. They’d explained
everything till my head was spinning with technical terms.
“Nope, no questions,” I replied.
“Well, if it’s all right with Grace,
I have a few.” Allison turned to me
with a quizzical look.
“Go right ahead,” I said.
“Since Peter pretty much covered the
aspects of the surgery and how long it will take, I’m concerned about the
recovery time afterwards.” She addressed Peter Barker, the youngest doctor on
Daniel’s team. He seemed sure of
himself, though grounded in the work he did.
He nodded. “A good question. Usual
recovery time is two weeks, but that depends on how strong Grace is and her
determination to get on her feet again.”
“You mean I’ll be bedridden for two
weeks?” I asked incredulously.
“Yes. Maybe more or a little less, depending on your body. It’ll take a few months for you to
completely recover and be able to go back to work and do many of the normal
things you’re used to.”
Hot damn, I swore silently. “Two weeks…months,” I murmured.
“Can you give us a few minutes?”
Allison asked as she glanced around the room.
Daniel nodded and they all shuffled out. “Grace?”
When I didn’t look at her she
touched my chin and turned my face up towards her.
“You all right?” she asked.
I shook my head. “I can’t do this.”
“Sure you can.”
“No. I can’t.”
“Yes you can, cause I’m going to be
with you every step of the way.”
What the hell do I say to that?
“It’s okay,” Allison said. “You don’t have to say anything, I know this
is hard for you.”
Why not let Allison help me? Snippets of my conversation with the
Professor floated back to me. I’ll find
some way to make it up to you, I swear it Alli. I'll find something to give you in return.... “Thank you,” I whispered.
•••
“Morning…good.” I grinned widely.
“I’d say so. You ready?”
Allison gently took my hand.
“Drugs...good.” I couldn’t stop smiling. I blinked several times and tried to focus
on the gorgeous woman sitting on the bed next to me. “Wow.”
“What?” She asked with raised
eyebrows.
“Wow.” I propped myself up higher on the pillows, dragging Allison’s
hand and Allison closer. “You
are…beautiful.”
“Uh huh, very good drugs.”
We were close enough that I could
smell the shampoo she’d used that morning, see the glint of gold in her eyes
and I reached out to touch her shining hair.
It was soft and thick. She froze
and I suddenly realized that I was tangling my hand around the back of her head
and pulling her even closer.
“Sorry.” I began to pull away.
She reached out and took my hand as
it brushed by her cheek. Allison held
it there, against her cheek, smiling gently.
“If I didn’t know you better I’d say it’s just the drugs talking.” She hesitated. “But maybe it is the drugs.”
I shook my head. “They’re just giving me courage…to say…the
truth. Alli?”
“Yes?”
“You’ll be here when I wake up?” I
asked.
“Definitely.” She paused.
“Did you think that after all this I’d go away?”
“No. It’s just I fink- think – um think that….“ Bad drugs.
“Tell you later, k?”
“Okay.”
•••
“You’re letting me go?” I
asked increduously.
“Yup, you’ve made good progress.” The doctor shuffled
through some papers as if checking the notes that had been written about me.
He didn’t see a thing.
So, the rumors were true. They were out of beds and kicking me out. I stood.
“Nice seein’ ya, Doc.”
They made me sign a dozen more papers, informed me about
the meds I needed to take and where to go for counseling, then called a taxi
for me. And that was the end of it.
I was back on the streets, no better then when I’d
entered the clinic. But, for two months
I’d had a bed, dry clothes and food in my belly.
•••
Oh
shit, oh shit…. That’s how I fell
asleep, knowing I might never wake up.
The surgery, they told me later, lasted two hours longer then scheduled,
due to the unexpected amount of nerve damage I had suffered.
But I was going to be all right.
When I woke up the room was dark and
the morphine was still kickin'. I tried
to look for Allison but I was face down on a special bed, and too weak to call
out for anyone.
I fell asleep again within seconds.
Morning came and with it the first
tinglings of pain. Nothing to worry
about, right? Except I now felt
trapped, and within minutes I was stabbing at the call button.
“Morning, Grace. Time for meds already?” the nurse asked.
Her shoes, and the bottom of her
white skirt were the only things I could see.
It was really disconcerting. “Is
Allison here?”
“Yup, she was just down getting some
coffee. We didn’t expect you to wake up
so soon.” She fixed the sheet, and
checked the drip on the meds, explaining as she did each thing. “All right, hon, we’re all set here. My name’s Tilly and I’ll be your nurse this
morning. You’ve got the call button if
you need anything.”
“Uh, thanks.”
“Hey, you’re awake.”
“Alli!” Mmm, maybe this wasn’t such a bad position after all. Nice legs.
“Told ya I’d be here, didn’t I? And wipe that grin off your face.”
Oops, that’s when I noticed the
mirror. “What grin?”
•••
I
lay staring at the floor, bored out of my mind. After exhausting all the magazines the nurses could find, angling
the TV so I could see it in the mirror and endlessly flipping channels there
was nothing left to do.
The only thing that would make life
better would be if Allison could get off work early.
“Grace?”
A glance in the mirror told me it
was Pam, the second shift nurse.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“You’ve got a phone call.”
“I do?”
“Yup. Hang on a second and we’ll get you set up.” A black box slid into
view below me. It was a speaker
phone. “Hello?”
“Hey, Grace. How are you?”
“Alli! Great, now that you called anyway.” I heard her chuckle on the other end. There were voices in the background and it sounded like the new
shipment had arrived at the gallery.
“How’s work?”
“Ah, they’re making a mess of things
as usual, but Chris is straightening it out so I can talk to you.”
“Good. I was just thinking about you.”
“Really?” She paused. “Your voice
sounds strange. Do we have a bad
connection?”
“No,” I answered. “Pam put me on speaker phone.”
“Oh. Okay.” There was another
pause, and I could hear shouting in the background. “You’re still set for discharge tomorrow morning. I won’t be able to make it back before
visiting hours are over. Things are
always chaotic after a new shipment.”
“I’ll see you in the morning though,
right?”
“You betcha. Vella already has a room set up for
you.” The sound of something crashing
in the background brought the conversation to a sudden halt. “Damn, I’ve gotta go. Sorry, Grace.”
“No problem,” I said. “Go take care of business.”
“See you in the morning.”
“Yup, morning.” I was just about to punch the disconnect
button.
“Oh, and Grace?”
“Yeah?” My finger hesitated above
the disconnect button.
“I miss you too.”
The dial tone sounded and my finger
was still frozen, as a wide grin split my face.
•••
(c) 2000, Tragedy88