Mathematicians and Scientists (Saanvi×Ben)

Chapter 17: Visit to the ER

Ben

It's nearly 5:00 when Mick and I finish solving the Calling. She'd invited me over to help her and Zeke, but we'd spent several hours trying to make a connection and staring the answer right in the face. I soon feel defeat and irritation that none of it is making sense. I tell them I have to skip out on chasing down the lead so I can go pick up Saanvi.

"Since when do you guys go to work together?" Mick asks.

Zeke looks away like he knows it's not his conversation to be a part of. I give Mick a smug look and reply:

"Since when do you let random men from the forest crash on your couch?"

She rolls her eyes and walks me to the door.

"You're going to be late to pick up your girlfriend. " She tells me as she shuts the door. 

Girlfriend? Is Saanvi my girlfriend? I really never put an official title to it because we hadn't been on any real dates. Well, nothing normal since we revealed our feelings for each other. Our lives have kind of been insanity. 

So I make up my mind. I am going to take Saanvi on a real date tonight. She deserves it after all the chaos we've been through. I figure that if I have questions about where we stand relationship wise through all this, she must as well.

Well tonight,  we are going to answer the questions. Our relationship should be the one solid thing in this disheveled life we've come back to.

I need a way to make this date special.  I remember there is a floral shop a block from the hospital. A nice bouquet of flowers would be perfect for our first date.

I walk in a am overwhelmed by the options. I look around until I  spot some red velvet roses. It's cliché,  I know, but I figure Saanvi would like them.

I pull up at the hospital and text her. She doesn't answer so I call ahead to make our dinner reservations. When I get off the phone, she still hasn't answered so I head upstairs to see if she needs help wrapping stuff up.

I walk down the hall and see the lights on in her lab. I open the door and walk in.

"How was.." I start but stop midsentence. 

I freeze. Im unable to move. Saanvi is laying on the floor unconscious. My brain starts to panic but I know now isn't the time so I run over to her and check for a pulse. It's faint but there.
I can't leave her so I yell for help.

"Help! " But there's no response. 

"Somebody help!" I yell louder, but nothing.

"HELP," I scream as loud as I can but still nothing. Everyone on this floor has gone home by now.

I remember we're at a hospital so I just need to get her to the ER wing.
She doesn't seem to have broken bones so I figure it's fine to pick her up. I grab her limp body- legs in one arm with her back rested against the other. I grab her and move as quickly and carefully as possible.

I burst through the doors into the er wing. Everyone stares at us. 

"She needs help. " Is all I can get out. One of the nurses leads me to a room and I lay her on the bed. Some doctors rush in to take a look at her and try to shoo me out.

"I'm not leaving." I tell them. The doctors stare at me but don't ask me to leave again so I take a seat in the chair beside the bed.

I can't leave her. Not without answers. My brain finally processes the question it tried to ignore when I saw her laying on the ground.

What if she's dying?

The thought gives me a gut wrenching feeling.  I feel like someone is stabbing me. Tears begin to well up in my eyes. She can't die. I care about her too much.  She keeps me sane.

I remember the first time I felt it. The first time I felt those butterflies. The first time I felt like I wasn't totally insane. I was talking to her outside the hospital and I told her how crazy I felt. 

"I feel like I'm going crazy. " I told her.

"I'm the one person you don't have to say that to." She replied.

She has to live. I can't do any of this without her. The callings,  tracking down the passengers, figuring out the death date.  She makes it possible by keeping me level-headed.

I look over at the doctors. They've given her an IV and I see they are pumping medicine into her arm. One of the doctors finally says something. 

"We are giving her an IV with a saline solution.  It should clear the abnormalities we found in her system. "

"What kind of abnormalities?" I ask.

"It seems she was injected with a negative substance.  We haven't been able to identify it yet. "

They finish up with the IV and leave.

I look at her laying there so lifelessly. She's so calm. So still. Her face looks so peaceful without her usual look of concern.  I reach out and touch her face. A part of me expects a reaction,  but nothing happens.  I reach for her hand and lace her fingers through mine.

"I know I've never told you the fullness of my feelings, but I care about you so much. Please wake up." I say.

The longer she lays there, the more helpless I feel. I've been holding back tears the entire time, but one finally escapes.

"I don't care if you lied. I just want you to be okay. We will find a cure for this all that doesn't involve you getting hurt. You just need to wake up." I plead with her.

I continue rambling nonsense to her between random outbursts of tears. A part of me is glad she can't hear this. It feels so vulnerable. People don't see my vulnerability very often, and it's only a select few.

After a few hours, I fall asleep- still holding her hand. It's around 3 when I wake up to the feeling of her hand move.

"Saanvi?" I ask.

I see her eyes flutter and eventually open. 

"Oh my god. Saanvi." I say.

I kiss her hand and do my best not to cry. She looks confused. 

"Ben?"

I explain the whole thing to her. How I came in to find her passed out and brought her here. I leave out a few details like the thinking she was going to die and the crying.

"I'm so sorry Ben. I lied.  I should've listened to you." She says, but this time she's the one who looks like she's going to cry.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm just glad you're alright. " I tell her. 

I brush a tear off her face and she looks at me with shame. I can't blame her for testing on herself. Of course she wants to solve the death date. We all do.

The doctor comes in and discharges her. He gives some instructions that imply he wants her to take it easy the next few days.

I take her to the car, but the idea that she could've died weighs on me. She needs to be more careful.

When I open the door, I see the flowers. I had forgotten what I had planned for yesterday.  I hand her the roses although they have slightly withered from sitting in the car.

"I was going to give them to you yesterday,  but well, you know." I say.

"They're beautiful. Thank you. " she says as she grabs them.

She looks into my eyes and I stare back. I wonder if she can tell I was crying. I'm grateful she doesn't say anything. 

One of these days, I'll take her on a real date...one of these days. Just not today.