Nicole woke in a bright white hospital room. She tried to sit up, but it hurt so bad that a loud gasp escaped her lips.
"Nicole!" Justin said & jerked from his sleep.
"I'm okay, my leg just hurts is all," she said reaching with her good hand to him. "Can you help me sit up?" she asked.
"Of course," he answered, wary not to hurt her even more. "You hungry?" he asked, since she'd been out for six hours.
"A little," she said. "I don't know what happened, I was going fine - then I wasn't. I couldn't stay on the sled and - - "
"It’s okay, Baby Girl. I've talked to the trainers, they said you're straps came loose," he said smoothing her hair. "They're going to take care of everything, the hospital bill, the rest of our stay here, I can't believe they're taking all of the blame!" He was obviously baffled.
"Oh, wow. Really? But it wasn't..." she tried to finish, but the doctor walked in.
"How are you feeling, Nicole?" he asked.
"Eh, my leg hurts, and I can't use this hand," she said looking at her left arm.
"Yea, I'm sure you'll be sore for a little while, you've strained your hamstring and fractured your wrist. Plus various bumps and bruises you'll discover soon," he finished.
She looked at Justin who was looking down. "Thanks, Doc," she said smiling.
"You can check out anytime," he said, putting her clipboard back and turning to walk out. "Your prescription is with the secretary."
"I'm so sorry, Nic!" Justin blurted out. "I tried to catch you before you started rolling and then you were just laying there," he tried to say, but just put his head in his hands.
"It's okay," she said, touching his hair. "Don't worry about it." And she lifted his head with her only good hand.
"No, no it's no!" he cried, raising his voice. "What would I do if something happened to you?" he exclaimed, going to his feet.
Nicole looked up at him, shock on her face. He never yelled at her. "I'm sorry, Nic," he said. "I - I just don't want to lose you and when I saw y-you just laying there, not moving, it really scared me. I felt so helpless, I couldn't do anything to help."
He sat back down and his head returned to his hands and Nicole could tell he was focusing on his breathing. Nicole reached out and pulled him to sit on the bed beside her.
"I'll be okay," she whispered into his ear. "I've lived through so much worse, I can take so much." She looked into his eyes. "Nothing will happen to me that we can't fix."
He looked up at her. "You sound so confident," he said and produced the slightest grin. He was proud of her because she didn’t show confidence a lot. Now that she did, he liked it.
"I am," she said back.
"It's just.. I don't know what I would do if I couldn't wake up in the mornings and see your smile. If I couldn't look into your angel eyes and say that I love you whenever I wanted to, or wrap my arms around you and you know you are my Baby Girl without me saying a word," he said, and touched her face.
"I-I.. Uh," Nicole tried to say, but words the words were so caught in her throat all she could do was stammer and stumble over them.
"It's okay, we just have to be a bit more careful, don't we?" he said, moving closer to her and pulling her towards his chest.
Nicole nodded and wrapped her good arm around him, smiling the whole time. "I love you, Justin," she said.
"I love you too, Baby Girl," he replied.
Chapter End Notes:
the end
Completed
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