Unexpected

Part 12: Stop

Stop talking.

That's the first thing he says when he wakes up.

It crushes her from the inside out.

She slowly lets go of his hand and it drops to the bed. Glancing between his eyes, she isn't sure she heard him correctly.

He closes his eyes for a second and she backs up and away from his bed. Nearly too weak and too upset to stand up properly. When he opens his eyes, he finds her across the room, staring at her hand on the handle- her back to him.

"I'll jus...just go..." She says heartbroken.

"No...pl...please...stay..." He tiredly speaks- his voice scratchy from two weeks without talking. It takes her a while to leave the door and come back over towards the bed- her mind racing with painful thoughts. He weakly raises his fingers off the bed- as if trying to reach for her. "Co... come...h...here..."

Going to him, she stands beside the bed- glassy eyes and sniffling- she tries to calm herself down, but she is so overwhelmed from two weeks of worrying about him.

"He...re..." He taps the right side of the bed and she goes to it. "He... here..."

"I am."

"L...lay...d..." He says out of breath before he can finish the word. Shakily doing as he says, she lays down in bed next to him like earlier and her painfully turns onto his right side to face her. His tired eyes lull open and close for a few minutes. "Cl...close..."

Scooting closer to him, she leaves only an inch or two between them, but he's not satisfied.

"Clo...ser..." His weak hand manages to get up and placed on her waist. Closing his eyes again, he sighs heavily a few times- the small movements draining him of his energy. When he opens his eyes again, a small weak smile comes to his lips for just a second or two before he takes a long blink. "Hi..."

"Haha...hi." She quietly laughs through her tears.

"Tired..." She shakes her head no and that same small smile flashes across his face before another heavy breath. "Me...t...tired..."

"I bet..."

"Shh..." He closes his eyes and then opens them again. "I...lo...love...you..."

Her tears become bigger and her lips quiver on her face.

"I lo..." She begins to tell him.

"Shhh..." He shushes her again and smiles.

"Max, I lov..."

"Shhh..."

"Stop shushing..." He shushes her again.

"Shhh...I love..."

"Shh!" She shushes him and he laughs painfully through his nose at her and closes his eyes again.

"You." He finishes and grins for as long as possible until he feels extremely fatigued and has to stop.

"I should go tell Reynolds your up." She says quietly and he shakes his head. "I have too."

"N...not...yet..." Nodding a few times, she shakily pushes her finger through his beard and over his ear  and back in his hair. "I'm...sorry..."

"You don't need to..."

"Shh...I should...ha...have told...you a lon..long time ago...I l...love...you."

"Me too. Max, you mean so much to me. I love you more than anything else."

"C...cass...ian..."

"We broke up weeks ago. I never really loved him." She says and he grins slightly- which causes her to giggle. "Enjoy that do you?"