Chapter Twenty-One #2
The gentlest of touches ghosted over my cheek, brushing away the wetness there. “I know you might not believe me, Otto, but I love you and I need you.”
Inside me, the bear flexed again, and I managed to focus the energy enough to force my eyelids open, regretting it at once when the light stung my eyes and they slammed closed.
“Otto?”
I called on the bear’s strength once more and inched them open a tiny bit, managing to keep them open despite the light and drank in the handsome, tear-stained face staring down at me. I forced my lips to move, but with the tube in my throat no sound came out.
“Oh, God! You are waking up!” Tears began to drip down Dex’s cheeks and land on my chest. He leaned closer and pressed a light kiss to my cheek. “Everything might be okay after all.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Dex
After the doctor finished poking and prodding Otto, watching carefully for any reaction, he nodded at the nurse and the entire room exploded into a flurry of activity.
I slipped back into the corner farthest from the bed as nurses hurried in and out of the room, administering something into the saline bag dripping into Otto’s arm, tracking his heart rate, and doing various other things that I struggled to track.
“He’s ready.” The nurse watching the monitor screen called out, never taking her eyes from the steady pattern of Otto’s heart.
“Perfect.” The nurses on either side of the bed leaned in and began unhooking things. “Otto, I’m going to need you to take a breath and cough for me.”
I couldn’t see him through the wall of people around the bed, but the muffled cough suggested that he’d been able to follow the instructions. Then, the long plastic tube was dropped on the wheeled cart parked next to the bed. “Keep breathing,” she instructed calmly. “Betty?”
“Saturation is steady at ninety-eight percent,” the nurse watching the monitor responded. “Twenty-one breaths per minute, though.”
“Anxiety,” the doctor chimed in from the other side of the bed. “Dexter, would you come over here?”
I slipped out of the corner to stand beside the doctor. He lifted my hand, placing it on Otto’s chest over the light blanket.
“Otto, breathe with your husband. In. Out. In. Out. Good, keep going.” After several minutes, Nurse Betty spoke up. “Down to fifteen and steady.”
“Excellent. Otto, can you speak?”
On the bed, Otto tried to clear his throat, grimacing when he gagged.
“Your throat is going to hurt for a bit,” the nurse opposite me said gently, lifting a small plastic cup and spoon off the cart and holding the spoon to Otto’s lips. “With your shifter genes, it should resolve fairly quickly. In the meantime, we can try some ice chips.”
Otto nodded his head and swallowed the ice, opening his mouth for a second spoonful before trying again.
“What happened?”
His voice was rough and stilted, and I could see his Adam’s apple shifting as he worked to get the words out.
“You’ve been unconscious since you were brought in with alcohol poisoning,” the doctor said directly. “Poison is one of the few medical crises that shifters do not heal from more quickly than humans, so it was touch and go for a while.”
Otto’s confused eyes turned to me. “How?”
I shrugged helplessly. “We, uh, we don’t really know.” I swallowed hard. “You were alone when we found you so there was nobody to tell us what happened.”
The doctor broke in. “It’s probably better to leave that conversation until you’re more alert.”
Otto’s brows knitted together. “Sorry. Baby okay?”
I felt my eyes widen but I nodded. “Yeah. Um, the baby is fine, I think.”
Otto sighed heavily and seemed to melt into the pillows. “Good.”
The nurses began to file out of the room, taking the rolling cart and various other supplies with them, leaving Otto and me alone with the doctor.
“You’re going to be pretty tired,” the doctor said.
“You need to get as much rest as possible to help your body continue to clean out the ethanol.” He turned to me.
“You’re a calming influence, so the more physical contact you can maintain for the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours, the better.
Do you have anywhere to be? I can write a note to excuse you from work. ”
“No. I can stay. Um, no one is expecting me anywhere. Can Otto have other visitors?” I had a hunch my dads were going to want to see him.
“For right now, I rather he didn’t,” the doctor said. “We don’t want to inadvertently tax his system or add stressors while he’s still at risk. Let’s see how he is tomorrow morning.”
“Okay.” I looked down at Otto who was watching me through mostly closed eyes. “Do you want me to stay?”
Otto reached out and weakly caught my arm with his right hand, patting the bed with his left. “Nap?”
Knowing that Otto didn’t remember that he was angry with me, I hesitated until the doctor patted my shoulder.
“That’s a good idea,” he said kindly. “You haven’t been getting enough rest and it will do you both good. Do you want me to have the nurses find you a gown to sleep in?”
“No, thank you. I have a clean shirt and shorts in my bag.”
The doctor nodded and turned toward the door. “Get some rest. If you need anything, press the call button.”
And then we were left alone.
~*~
Otto
“Dex? You okay?” Talking hurt but so did seeing Dex standing in the center of the room staring at me like he was afraid I might bite.
“Yeah. I’ll just..” he made a gesture with his hands and nearly ran through the doorway to the private bathroom, grabbing a small backpack on his way.
When he came back in, he was dressed in a long t-shirt and pair of soft-looking cotton shorts. “You’re sure you want me to sleep with you?”
I snorted, regretting the amusement when it intensified the ache in my throat. “Yeah, baby, I’m sure.” I tried to pull the covers back and had to bite back a huff of annoyance when I could barely lift my hand.
“I’ve got it,” Dex said quietly, lifting the covers and sliding into the bed beside me, the size of the mattress requiring him to cuddle close. Dex’s bare legs tangled with mine and we both sighed at the contact.
“Better?”
“Yeah,” Dex sighed, his hand coming to rest on my chest as we shared the small pillow. “So much better.” His words faded into a snore.
I closed my eyes and focused on the hand on my chest, letting the rhythmic in and out of Dex’s breaths lull me to sleep.
When I woke, Dex was still fast asleep with his face buried in my armpit and his body plastered against mine.
The blanket had been pushed down as we slept and Dex’s t-shirt had crept up, revealing the rounded belly that protected our baby.
Lifting my hand to stroke over his stomach, I was relieved to find that I felt much stronger and more in control of my limbs than before I dozed off.
“Hey, there, little one,” I murmured, stroking my hand over the silky-soft skin of Dex’s baby bump. “You doing okay in there? I love you.”
I continued to caress Dex’s tummy, occasionally straying up to his chest or down onto his back while I carried on a one-sided conversation with the baby inside until I fell asleep again.
The pattern continued for several more hours.
I would sleep for a while, waking up a little stronger each time, and then refamiliarize myself with my Omega’s body while he slept.
Dex was so fast asleep that I would have been concerned if not for the small snores or occasional muttered sentences that made little to no sense.
It was nearly dinnertime when Dex finally began to wake, yawning and stretching so that his entire body rubbed against me before he settled back with a little sigh.
“Sleep well, baby?”
Dex stiffened slightly but nodded. “I did, actually. I guess I didn’t realize how tired I was.”
“That makes sense.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Much stronger,” I assured him with a small smile, rubbing my hand against the spot it was resting on.
“I know the doctor didn’t want us to get into anything too serious, but I can’t keep calling the baby hey you.
” I chuckled, happily realizing my throat was already feeling much less raw.
“Do we have a name picked? Um, do we know if it’s a boy or a girl?
I guess it would be hard to choose a name if not. ”
“Oh, uh..” Dex swallowed nervously. “Um, no. The doctor can’t tell gender yet.” He shrugged, not meeting my eyes. “So, yeah. No name.”
“Oh, okay. Have we narrowed it down to final choices yet?” When he didn’t respond, I gently pinched Dex’s chin between my finger and thumb, turning him to face me. “Baby? What’s wrong? You’re starting to scare me.”
“Oh, it’s, um, nothing,” Dex assured me but the smile on his lips didn’t reach his eyes. “This has just been really stressful and, well, yeah. That.”
He was saved from me asking more questions when a loud knock came on the door.
“You two decent?” a cheerful voice rang out. “Y’all slept through lunch so Doc said you absolutely have to eat dinner.”
“Come in!” Dex called out, pulling the blanket up to cover us. “Oh, wow, that smells great,” Dex said, sliding out of the bed to sit on the chair so the rolling table could slide over the bed for me to eat.
He accepted the tray of lasagna, salad, and warm bread from the orderly and began to eat as if he hadn’t seen food for weeks, leaving me to pick at my food and wonder what my Omega was hiding.