Ariana felt this heaviness against her legs when she tried to move. Opening her eyes to take in her surroundings, she realized she was still in the hospital. Looking down her nose, a relief washed over her as she saw Jon sleeping on her lap.
He looks so peaceful, she mused.
Brushing the hair gently off his face, she continued across his cheek, then ran the pad of her thumb over his lips. At the touch of her skin against his, Jon woke and groggily opened his eyes, smiling when he saw her beautiful green eyes looking down at him.
“Hey.” Came his husky, sleepy voice as he moved just enough to kiss her gently on the lips.
“Hey, yourself.” She said lightly and smiled.
“You really know how to scare someone.”
Jon flicked his wrist, motioning her to move over so he could snuggle next to her. Climbing into bed, he tucked his arm under his head and nuzzled the crook of her neck and sighed.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” She said quietly, locking her fingers in his free hand.
“I know. Do you remember what happened?”
“Yeah. We were talking and when I got up to look in the bowl, I got dizzy. The next thing I remember was waking up here.”
Rubbing his fingers over her bandage, he spoke. “You passed out or knocked yourself out. Did the doctors tell you anything?”
“No. When I woke up, I was a bit crazed. I was worried about the baby, about you. Cara tried to calm me down too. They said they needed to run some tests before they would know definitively. I know my pressure was high, again, and that is when they gave me a little something to calm me down.” She tried to turn on her side and face him, but it caused the bells on the monitors to buzz uncontrollably. “Do you know what all this is for?” She raised her hand with the intravenous line coming from it.
“Yeah. You're dehydrated, so they are giving you fluids, they also have you hooked up to monitor your heart, this one...” he pointed to the belt around her belly, “is for the baby’s heartbeat.”
“The baby... is he alright?" her voiced was full of apprehension.
“As far as I know, but these dipshits won’t tell me a fuckin’ thing, except that Dr. Laurent will be in shortly.”
“C’mon Jon, if there was something really wrong, don’t you think we’d know by now? I’m sure he will be in soon.”
Just then the door creaked open, letting the light spill into the room, and a small red-haired woman dressed in blue scrubs stood in the doorway.
“Ah, Ms. Moretti, glad to see you are awake. How are you feeling?”
The nurse asked as she checked the noisy machines and motioned for Jon to get off the bed. When she turned her back once again, Jon rolled his eyes, puckered his lips, making a face at her. Ari slapped his hand and shook her head.
“My mouth is a little dry and I’m hungry. Can I have anything?” Ari asked politely.
“Will Dr. Laurent be here sometime this year?” Jon asked firmly.
Ignoring Jon, the woman turned to Ariana, “Yes, you can. I’ll see if I can have them send something up. I’m not sure what it will be, is that okay?”
“That’s fine, I’m not picky.”
“Good enough.” She tapped Ariana's foot as she walked towards the door. “And I’ll let Dr. Laurent know you are awake now.”
She pulled the door partially shut on her way out.
“Hello, Nurse Ratched!” Jon mumbled as he pulled the chair nearer to the bed and took a seat.
“Jon. Be nice. She’s just doing her job.”
“Do you know what it was like to get any information out of them? I’m not your next of kin. Cara even tried to explain things to them, but no.”
“Cara? She’s here too?”
“Yeah, she’s around, went to grab a bite to eat, I think.”
A soft knock cut off any comment she might have made as Dr. Laurent entered the room.
“Ariana. Jon.” Dr. Laurent called as he glanced over the chart he was carrying.
“Hello, Dr. Laurent.” They both replied.
“I see you’ve given quite a few people a scare here.” He looked specifically at Ariana when he spoke.
“I did.”
“Was this the first time you’ve fainted?”
“No. I mean yes.” She looked at Jon, then back to the doctor. “I had gotten dizzy just before I went into the bathroom. I just assumed I got up too quickly. Is there something wrong with me, with the baby?” Ari asked worriedly.
“Any abdominal pain that you noticed?”
“None.” Ari reached for Jon’s hand.
“And the spotting, first time you noticed it?”
Jon cleared his throat, “Dr. Laurent is there something you are not telling us?”
“No. Your baby is fine and healthy. I’m more concerned with Ariana's test results. Your blood pressure is higher than I like and your sugar is low. Both would cause dizziness.” He closed the chart and moved to the side of the bed now. “I’d like to keep you here so we can monitor your levels.”
“For how long?” Ariana asked.
“That would depend on your lab results over the next twenty-four hours. I have a few more questions though.”
“Sure.”
“Are you eating? Enough, I mean. You are little dehydrated as well. What about getting enough fluids? All these things are important, not just to you Ariana, but the baby. I’d prefer if you ate healthy, but at this moment I’d just like to see you eating anything.”
“I eat, but lately, with all I have going on, I find that I'm more tired than usual. If I'm not sleeping, I’m on the go.”
“I understand you have a lot going on at the moment...” He turned his attention to Jon now. “But, the stress, it doesn’t help.”
Opening her mouth to answer, Jon placed his hand on her arm and stopped her. “I couldn’t agree more with you, Doc, and I can assure you that some of the stress will be relieved in the coming days.”
“Jon, what are you talking about?” She asked concernedly.
“Something I should have done a long time ago.” He intertwined their hands. “Doc, you just tell us what we need to do, and it will be done.”
“This is the extra stress I’d mentioned.”
“With all due respect Dr. Laurent, our lives will never be stress free. And even under these circumstances, I am not about to go into details of our relationship with you, but you have my word that I will do whatever is needed to minimize some of it. With that being said, tell us what we need to do to get Ari back on track and out of here?”
“Fine. For now, we will keep you here overnight, monitor your labs and your blood pressure. I’d like to take another transvaginal ultrasound, just to be safe. If all looks good, you can go home tomorrow, with restrictions.”
“Restrictions? Like what?”
Ariana questioned. She was not one to sit around doing nothing, and the thought of being told she had to stay in bed for the rest of her pregnancy did not sit well with her. She had things to do. How would that affect her plans to travel with Jon?
“Ariana, your age puts you in the high-risk category off the bat and after this incident, I talked it over with Dr. Barnes and we feel the need to watch you closer.” He finished writing on her chart and looked up at them, “Let me put the orders in for some tests and we can discuss restrictions when we have some more answers.”
“It doesn’t look like I have a choice.”
Jon pushed back his chair and stood. “Thank you, again, Doc.”
“You’re welcome. try to get some rest, oh and eat.” he grinned back just before leaving the room.
Jon sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand in his.
“Jon, what did you mean before?”
“Dr. Laurent said no stress, remember, so let’s not worry about that for now. How about I go get us something good to eat, it doesn’t look like Nurse Ratched is coming back anytime soon.”
“You better be nice to her, if I’m gonna be here a few days.”
“Yeah, she doesn’t scare me.”
“Knock... Knock. Can I come in?” Cara called through the partially opened door.
“Yes.” Ari replied.
Cara crossed the room and took a seat on the opposite corner of the bed. “If it wasn’t for the fact that I like you, I’d knock you out again for doing what you did.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“Damn straight it won’t. So, what did the doctor say?” Cara asked.
Jon took that as the cue to let the two friends talk. He needed to make a few phone calls himself, now that Ari was up and he had more news. Bending down, he placed a kiss on her forehead.
“I’m gonna let you two chat. I have some calls to make and food to get. Cara would you like something?”
“Nah. I’m good.”
“What are you going to get?” Ariana asked.
“Whatever you want?”
“I don’t know, surprise me.”
“Gotcha. If you think of something, just text me. I’ll be back soon. Don’t miss me too much.”
Jon nearly bumped right into the nameless redheaded nurse who waited at the door. She rolled her eyes in disgust at him, but he simply turned up that famous smile at her and said. “That goes for you too, sweetie. See ya in a bit.”
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