|19| surgeries and shitty coffees

And little by little,

She found the courage

For it all.

~JH Hard

____________

I've Grown Accustomed to the smell of a hospital, its the type of smell to fill you with worry and leave a pit in your stomach the size of Jupiter, every day people come and go out of the hospital,

with either the feeling of contentment and closure about something...sometimes happiness, and other times leaving numb, in pain and dead inside, people get amazing news in here and tragic, the hospital can be the very place to save your life...or the last place you step foot in.

I sit uncomfortably in the hospital chair in the waiting room fidgeting every few seconds, it has been the longest three hours of my life, and my nose has grown used to the smell of chloroform, sanitizer and metal-like smells that I'm assuming are blood.

As minutes pass and I watch nurses come and go I get hit with memories of me here as a kid, being here for my mom's blood tests, scans, and checkups, but it was also the last place I saw my mom when doctors said she was going into advanced heart failure and since they caught it so late she wouldn't make it...that next night she passed away with my hand in hers,

It was the night a piece of my heart genuinely broke off knowing I lost both of my parents in a hospital...the same place as a child you think is a magical place that fixes your scratches and helps you feel better.

"CODE BLUE, CODE BLUE IN ROOM 4B" the intercom announces muffled by the door, but it's loud enough to bring me out of my sad memories

I watch nurses running and speaking about a woman going into cardiac arrest all of a sudden, I make a silent prayer out to that woman hoping she gets a second chance at life and that these nurses may be able to help her with possible pain.

I fidget once more in my seat hoping everything is going good with henry and Aaron, it has been a very busy week of constant work on the rooftop, doing as many big things we could so that henry could rest after his transplant without work stress, then at the end of the week Aaron had to get blood drawn, he was then explained what would happen in the procedure and what to expect with giving a kidney, then a couple of days ago henry had final scans and blood work done before his surgery,

We won't know for certain if Henry's body will reject the kidney until after the surgery, I just hope everything goes smoothly, even with the doctors telling me not to worry too much it doesn't lessen my anxiety or overthinking, my heart feels like its racing at 100 miles an hour, the nurse ended up having to check my blood pressure and heart rate because she saw me going pale and in a panic state, she told me it was normal for me to have my body going into stress mode with everything happening.

If someone told me...even months ago that I'd be sitting in a hospital chair waiting for my boss and a man I stumbled upon on the street, I'd laugh and say you're insane...but Henry and Aaron have become a family to me.

And I can't lose them.

I take another sip of the shitty hospital coffee trying to stay awake...I barely got any sleep last night from the worry of today, and the coffee sucks so much that it is keeping me awake, so there's that

"Who's here with Aaron Huxley?" A nurse asks an hour-ish later looking down at a clipboard and then back up in the waiting area

I immediately jump out of my seat "I'm his girlfriend" I say not even hesitating

I'm what now?

He hasn't asked me that question, and yet it felt so natural to call him mine.

"He just got out of the procedure, he's been laying for a bit so the anesthesia has mostly worn off, make sure he isn't lifting anything heavy for the first six weeks, he shouldn't go to work for at least six weeks and no Exercising which also includes no sex for at least six weeks, I've had a conversation about all of this with him, but since you're his girlfriend I thought you should know to ensure the best recovery, he's also going to need to schedule checkups so we can see how he's healing" the nurse gives me a kind smile after finishing her talk

"Thank you, how long does he need to stay here, until he can go home?" I ask

She nods and checks her clipboard once again "probably a couple of days, at most a week depending on how the area is healing"

"Okay thank you, and do you have any updates on Henry Huntington and his transplant surgery?" I ask

She looks at a tablet of some sort "looks like they should be done with the transplant in about an hour and a half, you can stay with your boyfriend while you wait" she smiles at me and gestures for me to follow her

"they're you go" she smiles and leaves when she leads me to a room

"Thank you," I tell her before she closes the door

I look at Aaron his black hair is all messy and fluffy and he has a hospital gown on that gives me chills from the memory of my mom wearing one, he looks tired and a little pale, I walk over and sit on the edge of the bed and grab his hand in mine gently

"Hi sunshine" he whispers in a husky scratchy voice

I smile looking at him slowly opening his eyes "how did you know it was me?" I raise a brow

"Kind of impossible to forget how you're hand feels in mine," he smiles gently

"You're so beautiful...I still can't wrap my head around the fact that out of millions of other men you could've ended up with you ended up in my arms" he grins so widely watching me with adoration

"You think I'm beautiful?" I whisper with a small smile

"It scares me sometimes that I get to look at you, get to hug and touch something so beyond anything in this world, you my sunshine are one of a kind, a diamond in a room full of regular boring rocks" his hands lift to my cheeks cupping them gently

"You're so cute when you blush...like a pretty Angel" he grins

"I see the anesthesia they put you under hasn't fully gone away" I chuckle

"How are you feeling?" I ask

"Sore as hell but its mostly numb so I can't feel any pain" he shrugs watching me carefully

I nod gently

"Did you hear everything the nurse told you?" I ask running my hand through his hair and watching his eyes flutter closed

"are you talking about the bullshit of me not being able to work for at least six weeks?" He shakes his head in clear annoyance

I laugh lightly "you can't be serious about being mad about that...you get a vacation from work for six weeks, a chance for you to finally breathe and not have to stress about any work"

"What about all my damn meetings?" he grunts

"Aaron, who are you talking to right now?" I smile

He knits his eyebrows in confusion

"My beautiful girl" he whispers with a sweet smile

I press a gentle kiss to his cheek, as I grin against it

"I'm your assistant, I already took care of everything so stop worrying, everyone knows you won't be available for in-person work for at least six weeks, but I did find out that you can do video call meetings in about two weeks and then slowly start working from home until the six weeks are up, so don't think about work for at least two weeks, got it?" I say sternly making sure he knows I'm serious

He grins beautifully "did anyone ever tell you that you look super sexy when you're bossy"

I shake my head trying to hide my smile "did you not just hear what I said?"

"Yeah yeah, no work for at least two weeks blah blah," he says with a bored tone

"You are still my beautiful girl, right?" He whispers

"Yes I am" I nod running my hand down to his jaw

"Okay good...you should kiss me now" he smirks but it looks goofy and cute

Aaron on anesthesia is just a completely different person,

I smile leaning forward carefully cupping his cheek and connecting my lips with his, he tries pulling my body closer but I disconnect our lips quickly

"What the hell Vanessa" he whines like a child

"You can't put any pressure on your wound and that means having a whole woman on top of your damn stomach," I said pecking his lips

"Whatever, you're not even heavy and it doesn't even hurt" he huffs

"Not yet, wait until the pain meds ware off and the area where the stitches are starts hurting like hell" I smile playfully

He hums and cups my face bringing my lips back to his, I make sure to not touch his stomach in any way, he slightly pulls away and mumbles against my lips "be my girlfriend"

I smile widely against his lips "is that an order Mr. Huxley?"

"Damn right it is" he grins

"Well alright I don't want to disappoint the boss" I smile into the kiss

"No especially when he's in pain" he fake winces

"You big idiot, you said it doesn't hurt" I shake my head with a frown

"Or does it?" He smirks

"do I need to get the nurse?" I ask

"You can be my nurse" he grins widely at his idea

"speaking of that, I think you should stay at my place while you recover, it would be easier for me to make sure you're taking the medication they prescribed you for the pain and make sure you're not secretly crawling to work," I say

"Well, I won't say no to that" he nods agreeing very quickly

"Plus I need to be close to henry as well to check up on him too, so it makes sense for you to temporarily live with me since henry is already next door," I say while I bring his hand to my lap and star gently running my fingers along with his rough ones

He brings my hand to his mouth and places a gentle kiss there "that's fine by me, and speaking of Henry how is he doing?"

"Well last time I asked they said he was still in surgery and should be out in like an hour and a half but by now it should be like an hour" I sigh

He nods

"You should get some rest" I whisper kissing his forehead

"I'd rather look at your beautiful face" he gives me a small smile

I shake my head "you can look at me all you want later after you get well-rested, you just got out of a procedure your body needs rest" I whisper against his lips

He narrows his eyes at me to which I laugh "I will be here when you wake up I promise"

"You're so bossy...maybe we should switch jobs" he scrunches his brows watching me

I smirk "so you're telling me you want me to tell you what to do all day...I guess I wouldn't mind that"

"You already tell me what to do" he mumbles

"Yeah and I'm telling you to go to sleep...I can see your eyes closing every couple of seconds, you're exhausted and you're trying to stay awake for me, but what I want is you to be well-rested"

"Fine" he whispers putting his hand back on my thigh and drawing circles on it

I watch as the circles slowly come to a stop and his breath evens out as he falls asleep

I smile looking down at him, he looks so beautiful and peaceful in his sleep, I grab my phone out of my pocket and take some pictures of his beautiful perfect face

________________

I spend about an hour calling clients and rescheduling the rest of the meetings I needed to reschedule and some other last-minute work stuff,

I look over at Aaron's gown to see some blood seeping out near the area they stitched, my heart gets caught in my throat and I find myself out of his room trying to find a nurse before I even register anything, I'm running on autopilot and shitty coffee

"Excuse me," I ask a nurse who's standing near a cart of gauze and random things

"Hi, can I help you?" He says eyeing me cautiously

"Um yes my boyfriend's stitching has blood seeping out of his gown and I don't know if that's normal or not so I wanted to make sure everything was okay, I've never seen someone have a kidney donation done so I don't know if I should be ignoring it or if I should be busy crying, freaking out right now, so can you please go and check to make sure he's alright?" I begin rambling with nerves worsening

He chuckles a little at my rambling and begins nodding

"You said he was a donor for a kidney transplant?" He asks following me to Aarons's room

"Yes" I nod

"Okay let's check it out," he says lifting Aaron's gown from the side to check the side of his stomach

"Okay so it looks like one of the stitches slightly loosened on the side, it's nothing to worry about I can fix it up in a matter of minutes and the bleeding should stop" he gives me a reassuring smile

I exhale the deep breath that I didn't realize I was holding "thank you"

He nods and grabs some supplies to fix the stitching I'm guessing, as he's finishing up the stitching the same nurse who brought me here comes into the room

"Hey, Henry Huntington is awake if you would like the see him" she smiles

I take a few deep breaths "so is he okay?" I ask

She smiles "yes the transplant went pretty great, he will need to stay here about a week so probably a few more days than your boyfriend, we just need to completely make sure he doesn't reject the kidney, but so far so good" she nods

"Oh thank goodness" I whisper to myself

"Hey if he wakes up and you're still here can you tell him I went to see Henry and I will come back to him soon?" I smile at the nurse continuing to work on the stitches

"sure, you can also take those papers over there and write him a quick note just in case I'm not here by the time he wakes up" he nods over to a small table

"Thank you," I said before walking over to the table and quickly writing a little note

Aaron, I'm going to check on Henry since he just woke up so if I'm not in the room when you get up, just know I'm with Henry and should come back soon.

Your sunshine ~♡︎

I place the note by his bed and follow the nurse to Henry's room

She lets me in and I see Henry give me a sleepy smile, he seems a little loopy from the anesthesia they gave him

"Hi Henry, how are you feeling?" I smile sitting in a chair next to his hospital bed

"Oh, Vanessa! How are you doing?, and I'm doing great." He grins

"I thought I was dead and an angel came into my room for a minute" he laughs to himself

I look at my white sweater and light wash jeans I'm wearing and laugh

"Well I'm not" I smile

"Well you very much are, you and that sweet man changed my life, you better invite me to your wedding! Oh you two would have such beautiful kids" he rambles

I can't help but smile "I'm glad we could help"

"You know if it wasn't for you talking to me that day all this never would have happened and I would be dead somewhere on the street" he shakes his head

I sigh but know he's right...if I never talked to him or told Aaron about him which lead to him getting Henry's doctor appointments...he would've died on the street from kidney failure, all alone.

"Well I'm glad we could prevent that then" I whisper

"Did you know that I want a sandwich right now" he laughs

I smile "you can probably get one soon"

"Yeah maybe" he nods

"I'm tired" he yawns sleepily after we talk for around half an hour more

"you get some rest then, I'll go hang out with Aaron and return when you wake up" I smile

He nods "tell him I owe him my life for what he did for me, he gave me a second chance at life" he whispers with watery eyes

"Will do" I nod whispering

_____________

When I get to Aaron's room after being with henry for about 40 minutes in total I see he's already awake drinking some water and medicine which I'm guessing is for the pain

The nurse then turns to me "oh perfect you're here, can you tell your boyfriend to drink all the water, he needs to stay hydrated especially after taking the pain medication, even with the fluids we're giving him through the iv" she sighs

I laugh "of course"

She smiles and walks out of the room.

"So you're being stubborn now?" I sigh shaking my head

"Drink the water," I tell him putting the cup to his face

"No" he shakes his head

"Drink it, Aaron," I say sternly

He smirks "no"

"Drink it Aaron I'm not kidding" I frown

"What are gonna do Sunshine? Make me?" He smirks big

"I'll leave and spend time with henry instead, drink the damn water you stubborn man" I put the cup to his lips

He huffs in annoyance and drinks all of it, and I smile in victory

"There was that so difficult to do?" I smirk

"whatever" he mumbles as he slightly rolls his eyes

I give him a small smile while moving his thick black messy hair out of his face, I gently move my hand over the stubble by his jaw and chin "how long did you have to wait for me while I was with henry?" I whisper

"Too long if you ask me" he grunts

"I'm sorry" I kiss his lips gently

He hums and deepens the kiss while cupping the side of my face

"How is your side doing? It started bleeding and you scared the shit out of me" I sigh against his mouth

"Don't you worry about me I'm not leaving you anytime soon, and I'm fine the nurse said a stitching came loose or something and they gave me more pain medication so it's mostly numb" he gives me a light kiss

"I don't think it's up to you if you die on this hospital bed or not" I roll my eyes

"Maybe but do I look like I would die from a couple of stitchings coming loose?" He quirks a brow

I rest my forehead against his "maybe not but you also don't look like you would be the kindest man, yet you are, you don't look like you would give a man a kidney just because, yet you did" I whisper

"Well I know Henry's important to you, so why wouldn't I give him a kidney if I'm a good match?" He shrugs

"You did it cus it's important to me?" I whisper in shock

"Well yes mostly" he nods wiping a tear that streams down my face,

The stress of everything that's happened is finally hitting me at this moment.

"stop crying pretty girl" he whispers with a frown

This man has to love me...

Right?

He wouldn't give an organ to someone just because there important to me, especially since he's going to have a scar from the area they took the kidney out of...that's a big thing to do for someone,

Even though scars are kind of hot...but that is not the point,

I kiss him, and I don't stop until we're both out of breath "you are an amazing man Aaron Huxley" I whisper

"And you're an amazing woman Vanessa Adler" he smiles

"Also henry sends his thank you's" I mumble

He nods "how is he by the way?" He asks stroking my hair

"He's pretty good, he's pretty out of it though from the anesthesia" I laugh

He nods

"you still tired?" I ask

"A little, but I'll only sleep if you're here" he smiles

"I'll stay right here...unless Henry needs me" I smile

"Alright my sunshine" he kissed my cheek holding me to the side his stitching isn't on

"Alright my moon" I laugh lightly kissing his forehead

-------notes-----

Sorry if everything is moving fast...but Hope you all enjoyed this chapter anyway

Vote and comment!

Word count: 3572