My Life as a Surgeon

Recurring Nightmare

After a short visit and telling them the news we decide to head home. "I still cannot believe we're getting married." I say as I go to hang up my jacket. "Me either!" He says coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. His hands are really warm. It feels really good on my stomach. "This is nice!" I say dreamily. "Want to go cuddle in bed for a little bit?" I had to think about it for a minute. "I don't feel like going upstairs. How about the couch?" Andrew nods his head and we go relax on the couch. I think I ended up dozing off as Andrew started to speak. "It's very peacefu-" The dogs start barking at the front door. "It's okay! It's just the mailman!" I say trying to calm them down. "I'll check the door!" Andrew says letting go of me. I go and pick up the puppies so they don't run out the door when Andrew opens it. "Come on babies, let's go back into the living room!" I say bringing them in there with some of their toys. After playing for a little bit the dogs start barking again. "Shh, calm down. It's okay!" I say trying to calm them down. Then I start hearing loud footsteps behind me. "You miss me?" It was Andre! He was holding a gun to Andrew's head! "What do you want?" I say standing up. "Do what I say and Andrew doesn't get hurt!" Andre says shoving the gun closer to Andrew's head. "Then tell me!" I yelled at him while I cried. "You don't deserve to know for yelling at me." He said as he shot him. Bang! I shot up from the couch. "Andrew!" He came running in. He scooped me up in his arms and let me cry in his chest. "It's okay, it was just a bad dream!" He said, swaying me back and forth. The puppies jumped up on my lap and started licking my face. "Andre's going to be transferred to a prison in Hawaii right?" "Yes, why?" "Well, I had a dream that he broke into our house and shot you in the head." Andrew went silent for a long time. "That won't happen. He has no idea where we live and he's supposed to arrive in Hawaii tomorrow." I sat up a little bit. "He already left!?" I had no idea he's been gone. That takes a lot of worry off my chest. "Yep. He left last night. All will be okay Cruse. I'm going to make us some dinner." "Okay, that makes me feel better knowing he's going to be gone. Dinner sounds nice. I can make it if you want." "Okay, what are you going to make, because I had no idea what I was going to make." "Well I appreciate the thought, but I'm going to keep that a surprise. I do need to go to the store to get some of the things I need though." "I'll go get the car warmed up." I nod my head and he gets the car ready. As I was about to put my jacket on, the phone started to ring. It was my boss. "Hello?" "Hello Dr. Cruse this is Chief Hermandez. I was wondering when you were going to return back to work?" Are. You. Kidding. Me! I'm just starting to get up 5 steps on our staircase! "Well, I can't really walk up our stairs by myself and I can't stand for more than a half hour. I don't know if it would be a great time to come back." "Oh, well that's a shame. What if we brought a chair into the O.R for you and we could always have elevator one open for you!" She must really want me back! "Alright fine. I'll be back Friday. No earlier! I have to go now. Bye." I just flat out hung up on her. She really expects me to come back. "You ready?" Andrew calls from the foyer. "Coming!" I grab my phone and Andrew's since he always forgets his. "Bye puppies I'll be back!" I head into the car and sit up front. "What took you so long?" I hesitate. I don't think I should tell him I'm going back. He might get mad at me. "Hermandez called again. She wants me to go back to work. I...I um...I agreed." Andrew's eyes went wide. "Are you well enough to go back? I mean you can't even walk up 17 stairs by yourself! You can only stand for half hour intervals!" "She said she'd put a sign on elevator one so that there would always be enough space for me and that I'd have a chair to sit in while I operate." Andrew doesn't sound too happy. "Bullshit! That's straight up bullshit! That special treatment will only work for a week!" "Maybe I could start doing therapy. I mean I should be able to walk up the stairs now. It was my stomach!" Andrew finally starts to pull out of the driveway. "You are weak and may not be able to walk up the stairs until next month, or it could be next week! Who knows. Point is, I don't think you're ready. Your brain might be, but your body is not." I don't want to keep arguing. "How about this. When I go back on Friday, I won't come back for 3 weeks if I can't handle it on Friday. Deal?" I say trying to call truce. "Deal. So, are you going to tell me what you're making for dinner?" I shake my head. "Nope, and just for asking me more than once you have to stay in the car while I get what we need!" Andrew rolled his eyes. "Fine, but can you pick me up some Mentos gum at the check out?" He says as he turns left into the Walmart parking lot. "Okay. Stay here. I'll be back." I say as I got out of the car. I ran into the store and grabbed carrots, potatoes, chicken, chicken broth, egg noodles, seasoning, bread crumbs, lettuce, spinach, cheese, cucumber, milk, cereal, and cookies. The last few were because we needed more at the house and I really wanted cookies. I also remembered to grab Andrew's gum. "That was a quick trip!" Andrew said as I put the 7 bags of groceries in the back of the car. "We can head home now. Oh and here's your gum." I say handing it to him from one of the bags I put in the back. "Thank you! You remembered!" I gave him an annoyed look. "Of course I remembered! You would've gone and gotten it yourself if I hadn't!" We both chuckled. "I didn't need it that bad. I have 4 more pieces left!" I rolled my eyes at him. "Whatever." We drove home and talked about the puppies most of the way. "Do you think they miss us?" I say looking down at my feet. "I'm sure they do. They're probably wondering if you're okay." I turn my head to look at him. "What do you mean?" "Well you've been having bad dreams lately. Every Time you wake up and start crying, the dogs come up on the bed and cuddle with you. They try to comfort you. They are probably scared seeing you like this." "That's true. Maybe we can take them on a long walk tomorrow!" I say as we pull up to our house. "That's a great idea! Do you want help with the groceries?" Andrew says trying to be helpful. "No, I got it. I don't want you peeking!" I say in a joking manner. "Okay. At least let me unlock the front door for you." He says opening it for me. "Careful the puppies don't run out!" I yell at him. "I got them! We're all good!" He says from the house. I walk straight into the house and start making dinner. Tonight I'm making homemade chicken noodle soup with breaded chicken and salad. The puppies keep running into the kitchen to keep checking on me. Lady rested her head on my feet while I peeled potatoes. "Oh hi baby!" I say bending down to pet her, but being careful not to drop a potato peel on her. "Is dinner almost ready?" Andrew calls from the top of the stairs. "No, but I'm allowing you to help if you want." "If it isn't necessary, I want it to be a surprise for me!" He's so sweet. "Okay, then stay upstairs!" "K!" I go back to cooking, but Lady goes and lays on a blanket bed I made for her. About an hour later dinner was made and set out on the table. "Dinner is ready!" Not even a minute after I call him down he's already downstairs. Looks good baby, but I'm going out with my friends for dinner instead. I'm sorry." I can feel my eyes well up. "Um...Yeah that's fine..." I wiped a tear from my eye. "It's your choice." He looks down at me. "If you want to come with that's fine. "No, I'm going to stay and eat this meal for the both of us by myself. Go have f-fun." I couldn't hold my tears back anymore. I started crying. I made this whole dinner for me and him. I even used his mom's special salad recipe since he's picky about salad. "Well, I'm going to leave. Love you bye." I don't even follow him out. I lean against the counter and start crying. I kept crying and crying for what felt like forever, but was really only one minute. Lady and Tramp came over to see if I was okay. They made me feel better. "I was just kidding!" Andrew says coming into the kitchen. He swept me up in his arms and started swaying me back and forth. "It's okay. The guys dared me to record your reaction." He said pointing to a camera hidden in the fruit. He phone dinged. "That's them now. They said sorry. I told them you were crying." I wipe my tears away. "Your friends are straight up bitches! They're so dense!" I just screamed and didn't hold back. "I went through all of this to try and make you happy and you let your friends do this to me!?" I don't even look him in the eye. "Your food is still on the table." I mumbled to him as I walked over to the table and started eating. Andrew disconnected the amera and then sat down to eat with me. "I'm sorry." He says. "It's not your fault." I say as I drop a piece of chicken into each of the puppies' mouths. After we eat, Andrew digs out 2 cartons of ice cream for us. "Thanks." I say a with a little more kindness in my voice. "But this still doesn't change the fact that your friends are jackasses towards me." I say as I grab the ice cream and spoon from his hand. "I totally understand." I hope they aren't coming to the wedding. I tell myself secretly. "What movie are we going to watch tonight?" I ask hoping we will watch something to lighten the mood. "How about Night School?" I love that movie so much "Sure!" I ended up eating the entire carton of ice cream. "How did you not get a brain freeze while you ate that!?" Andrew was shocked at how I just downed a whole carton of ice cream in 30 minutes. "I don't know, I've been through a lot of harsh break-ups so my brain is used to me quickly eating ice cream." He just laughs. "Alrighty then, Cruse!" He says as he puts his arm around me and kisses me on the cheek. "I'm tired. Can we finish the movie tomorrow?" I say because I really am tired and I just want to go to bed and relax. "Sure. I'm tired too!" We shut everything off downstairs and go to bed. "I'm going to brush my teeth real quick. Be right back!" I say to him. "I'm coming too!" He says following me into the bathroom.