It had been nineteenhours.Benny had been unconscious for nineteen goddamn hours.And the hospital staff were just carrying on as if that was normal.News flash—it’s not normal.
Zach, who was sheltered side by side with Benny when they found them, was fine.Freaking dandy.He hadn’t passed out.And with a couple of fluid IVs, he’d been discharged.It wasn’t that Bethany wasn’t relieved that Zach was okay, she was, she was just so damn worried about her man.
My man?
Damnit.Hewasher man, and she’d never told him.Not when there wasn’t an orgasm on the line, anyway.The whole time, they’d been doing what they’d been doing, he had been the one to show his cards.Declare his love.Tell her she wasitfor him.And what had she done?Nodded along.She may have agreed to the direction he was taking things, but she’d never given him the words.The truth.
I need to tell him.
That was going to be really fricking hard considering he was still unconscious.
You need to wake up, Benny.Please, wake up.I love you.So much it hurts.
Swatting the tears before they fell, she straightened.She needed to keep it together.No falling apart until she got more information.
She’d been hovering outside the glass door of Benny’s room in the ICU for a few minutes.Her eyes scanning the main floor.So over being told he was ‘stable’, she was determined to get more answers.Results.Anything that would help her piece this puzzle together.Ideally, before Benny’s mom and dad returned from their coffee run.
Gotcha.
The ICU attending finally made an appearance.Wasting no time, she was striding toward the silver-haired middle-aged man a moment later.She almost felt guilty as she reached for his arm just before he could get to the staff room door, he looked tired.
Yeah.Well.I’m tired, too.
“Dr.Win?I hope you don’t mind...but I just had a couple more questions about Benjamin Tucker...the firefighter in room twelve,” she choked out.Trying her hardest not to sound as desperate as she felt.
The man’s crinkled eyes gentled as he turned to her.Giving a calm yet assertive nod before encouraging her to continue.
“His EEG?”
An EEG was a test that measures electrical activity in the brain, a test they’d done on Benny earlier to check for seizure activity and to help evaluate his brain function.No one had updated them on the outcome, so she was assuming everything was okay.No news is good news and all that.But knowledge was power.
Because knowledge is going to go real well with your current crippling anxiety?
Now really wasn’t the time to troll herself.
Shut up and listen to the doctor!
“We’ve got neuro monitoring.No seizure activity.But...brain functions are sluggish.We’re giving it time.Sedation was minimal.”
Damn.
“The CT?”
“Clean.No swelling, no bleeding.No obvious hypoxic injury.”
That was good at least, although it didn’t sound like they were out of the woods yet.
“Why isn’t he waking up?”Her voice was thick, her tears threatening to spill again any minute.
Dr.Win’s sympathetic brown eyes held her in place.“His body went through hell.It needs time.Heneeds time.”
“How much more time?”Nineteen freaking hours seemed like a lot of time to her.
“Ms.Mayer, right?”She nodded, resisting the urge to make him call her doctor.Mostly because she didn’t feel like one right now.She felt like the overly emotional girlfriend she was.“Your boyfriend is a fighter.He’s doing better than most would.Just trust him.Trust us.”
She nodded again.Trying her best to hold it together.Just for a bit longer.
When Bethany returned to Benny’s room, she didn’t find his parents inside like she expected.Instead, sitting next to his bedside was Luke.
