Love Me Tender (A Kaimelia - Kai Bartley/Amelia Shepherd - fanfiction)

Part 18

KAI'S POV

Amelia is sleeping, finally. It has taken everything in me not to have someone inject her with pain meds while she's out. I know she'd never talk to me again, but it's horrible seeing her in this much pain and not being able to do anything. All I can do is just be here by her side. Doesn't feel like enough.

I sit down on the chair that has become my second home these past two days and take her hand in mine, kissing the back of it gently. I'm exhausted, not being able to sleep partly because of worry but also because I'm trying to keep the research going and working twice as much in her absence. I'd never tell her that though. Knowing Amelia, she'd feel guilty and try to get back to work sooner than is advised.

Her sleep is restless and she turns her head, perhaps too sharply. It's enough to awake her once again, her face showing signs of pain. I sigh and stand up, putting my other hand on her forehead. My hands are pretty cold so hopefully that will soothe some of the pain.

"You know, you don't need to waste time being here," Amelia says in a quiet voice, straining to get even that out. Her voice is still hoarse from being intubated but it's slowly getting better.

"It's not a waste," I argue with a frown. She finally opens her eyes and her gaze finds me so I smile instead.

"I'm fine," Amelia tries to convince me, even though it's obvious that the pain in her head is still constant. She's just too stubborn to admit it. Or brave. Probably both.

"You're in pain," I shake my head, not believing her for a second. "There are non-narcotic painmeds, I could talk to the nurses-" I try for the hundredth time, but she cuts me off, as usual.

"No meds," she says, closing her eyes once again. She's tired, but mostly unable to get any good rest because of the pain.

But I don't push her, instead I kiss her on the forehead, saying that I'll be right back. I leave her hospital room, heading towards the nurses station. I know this hospital like the back of my hand, but it's only now that I've really gotten to know the people who work here as well.

The nurses are probably slightly annoyed with me spending every available minute there, but if so, they don't show it.

"Dr. Bartley, hi," one of my favorite ones, Meghan, says, getting up from her seat. "How is our patient?" she asks, grabbing Amelia's chart.

"The usual, suffering and stubborn," I shrug, earning a chuckle from Meghan. She has been a nurse for 40 years so I guess she has enough experience with patients like Amelia.

"You want another icepack for her?" she offers, already knowing what I came for and I nod eagerly.

The nurse puts the chart down and goes to the fridge and I take a moment to look over her latest numbers. At least everything looks good there.

"Hey, you can look at this after you marry her," Meghan teases, taking the chart from my hands and handing me the icepack instead. Even though I'm a doctor here, I'm not hers, so confidentiality still applies.

"Not happening," I say with a smirk and turn back towards Amelia's room. Not that I wouldn't want to possibly spend the next 50 or so years with her. I just know that she doesn't want marriage.

"Make sure to wrap that-" Meghan calls to me as I walk away.

"-in a towel, yes, got it. Thanks!" I shout back at her with a wave of my hand.

--

I'm laying in the hospital bed next to Amelia, something that quickly became routine for us. I like holding her in my arms, feeling like I'm doing at least something to help her feel better. And I may be imagining it, but it does seem like she sleeps better this way. Or I just want to believe that.

The icepack on her forehead has long warmed up, but it did its job in helping soothe the pain enough for Amelia to sleep some more. I put my book down for a second and take the towel-wrapped gel pack carefully to place it on the nightstand.

I need very little sleep to function so my time here is usually spent by doing some work or some reading and today it's the latter.

I turn the page right when the door to the room opens and expect a nurse to walk in. Instead it's Dr. Grey and.. some other woman who looks familiar, but I can't put my finger on it.

Grey is pretty much as surprised to see me as I am to see the two of them and for a second the room is filled with very awkward silence.

I know that I should probably get up, but I don't want to wake Amelia so I just remain laying there. In the bed. With her head resting on my chest.

"Uhm, Maggie, this is.. Dr. Bartley," Grey finally gets around to introducing us and it hits me now, who I'm looking at. Amelia's sister from another mister as she jokingly calls them both. "Dr. Bartley, dr. Maggie Pierce," Mer continues with the introduction.

Dr. Pierce looks very amused at the situation at hand and Grey looks surprised more than anything.

"Uh, nice to meet you. I've heard a lot of good things," I say with a smile. Not how I imagined meeting the family, but I guess this will have to do.

"Oh yes, so have I," Pierce chuckles, making me wonder what exactly she's heard then. "It appears that your flirting skills aren't as bad as you thought," she adds and I can definitely feel my cheeks turning pink. I guess they are close and do talk about everything then.

"I guess I got lucky," I say with a smile, looking down at Amelia for a second, who's still asleep and unbothered by what's going on in the room.

"I like them already," Pierce says to that, directing it at Grey, but making no effort to keep me from hearing it. I smile involuntarily and look up at the sisters again, feeling a bit lighter now.

"How is she?" Grey asks, her face still remaining serious. She walks closer and looks over the monitors before looking over Amelia herself.

"Recovering well, but still in a lot of pain," I say with a sigh. If I could take all the pain away, I would. But sadly medicine hasn't evolved that far yet.

"At least she's not speaking french this time," Grey laughs, but I don't get it and apparently she can see the confusion on my face because she adds: "The last time she woke up unable to speak. And then started speaking french because she went to a french preschool."

Ah, that kind of makes sense then. "The brain works in weird ways," I nod in understanding. But I'm sure both doctors already know how old memories can resurface at the oddest times.

"I still think you're all pranking me, cause I don't remember a single moment of that," Amelia says to my surprise, opening her eyes and moving away from me to lay properly on the pillows.

"Hey, sis!" Pierce exclaims and comes closer to hug her gently and I take the moment to get up from the bed.

"How about I give you all some time to catch up," I offer, watching Pierce sit down on the chair opposite of mine. "I'm sure you have a lot to talk about," I add with a smirk.

"We sure do," Grey smiles back at me knowingly, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to Amelia now.

I nod and hesitate for a moment, not knowing if it's too much. But they've seen enough so I turn back to Amelia and give her a kiss on the forehead. "I'll see you later."

She smiles gratefully and grabs my hand, squeezing it for a few seconds before letting go and I leave the room with a wide smile on my face.

"Okay, you did not tell us that you two are this close!" Pierce's accusing tone is the last thing I hear as the door closes behind me.