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

Part 19

I'm sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for Kai to get here. Arguing with them about spending too much time here has been pointless so far so I've learned to accept their need to take care of me. Actually feels nice to be the one who's being looked after. Although the impatient doctor in me can't wait to get back to work.

But first, I need to get used to walking again. That is what we've been practising these past few days. I'm slowly getting the hang of it and once I do, I'll be released. It's been four days since the surgery, but it feels like I've been stuck here for weeks.

The door to my hospital room slides open and I'm greeted by the lovely sight of Kai. They're wearing a white coat which means they've sneaked some time away from work to come here, which in turn makes me feel even guiltier.

"You know, I can do this with one of the nurses helping me," I try to persaude them once more, biting my lower lip.

"Hello to you too," Kai chuckles and walks over to me, giving me a quick kiss on the lips.

"Sorry, hi," I say with a smile involuntarily forming on my lips. They make me happy and I'm choosing to accept that instead of questioning it. For now.

"I like our little walks. It's a nice break from work," they add and help me up, moving behind me and holding out both hands by my sides for me to grab. I'm still sometimes unstable when walking and get dizzy easily so this feels like the safest way to go about it.

Plus it's like being in their arms the whole time which I don't mind one bit.

"Speaking of, how is work?" I try to poke at the forbidden topic, but Kai doesn't give in that easily.

"You need to focus on getting better. I'll catch you up with everything once you're back in the lab," they say their usual stubborn response and I have no other option than to let the topic go.

We slowly make our way out of my room, turning into the hallway. "Plant or break room?" Kai asks and I can hear the amusement in their voice.

There isn't much excitement to be found in a hospital so we've created our own. One being a plant on one end of the corridor that is starting to bloom and so we sometimes go in that direction to see if there are any blossoms on it yet. The other being the nurses' break room on the opposite end where we'll sometimes hear the latest gossip if we're quiet enough.

"Break room. I'm pretty sure I heard one of the nurses talk about a date they went on. So maybe we'll hear something about that," the decision is easy and Kai leads us in the right direction.

We walk in unison, stopping or slowing down every once in a while when I get dizzy or start stumbling over my own feet. Feels ridiculous to be bad at something as simple as walking, but I do have to be grateful for easier recovery this time around. Last time sucked way more. Then again, my tumor was bigger the last time.

"I talked to Koracick earlier today. He came by the lab," Kai says after we've conquered about ten feet of the hallway.

"Did he come by to annoy you or did he actually have something to say?" I ask with a smirk, earning a chuckle from Kai.

"Bit of both, you know how he is. He did say that you'll probably be released tomorrow, if everything looks good," Kai says and I stop for a moment, looking over my shoulder at them.

"Oh," I am a bit taken back. I mean, yes, I want to get out of here. But I don't really know what my plan is next. I'm not allowed on a plane to Seattle for another week due to the air pressure changes so.. "I guess I should check back into my hotel then," I finally say. I obviously checked out when I got admitted here, would've been pointless to keep the charges piling up while I wasn't even using it.

I start walking again, Kai quickly following my steps. "Yeaah, no. Not gonna let you do that," they say, making me stop again. This time I turn around to really look at them, confusion apparent on my face.

"What do you mean?" I ask, blinking a few times as the hallway starts spinning a little. Another dizzy spell, I guess.

Kai puts their arms around me, steadying me as they watch me carefully. "I'm not leaving you alone in a hotel room," they say, shaking their head.

I want to argue that there's room service and I won't even have to get out of bed unless it's to use the bathroom and that I can already do that on my own. But the dizziness isn't passing as quickly as I'd like for it to, so my main focus is on that at the moment.

I close my eyes and feel the exhaustion overtake my body. To be fair, I did take a shower this morning with the help of one of the nurses, so I'm more tired than usual. But I didn't even make it to the break room, which is disappointing.

All of a sudden the ground disappears from under me and I open my eyes, trying to get my bearings. It takes me a moment to realize that Kai has lifted me up in their arms and is now walking back towards my room.

"Uh, I.." I stumble on my words, not knowing what to say. They make it seem like I'm light as a feather which is a funny feeling. The dizziness is also passing now that I don't have to focus on staying upright.

"Is this what it feels like to be tall," I say eventually as we reach my room. I am seeing everything from much higher than usual.

Kai laughs and places me gently down on my bed. "I guess it is quite a different point of view, yes," they agree. Kai pulls the light blanket over my legs and sits down next to me on the bed.

"Feeling better?" they ask, taking my hand in theirs and drawing little circles on it with their fingers.

"What did you mean? You're gonna make me stay here for a week?" I ask, remembering what we were talking about before I started feeling faint.

"No, of course not. You're coming to stay with me," Kai says with a big smile.

Wait, what?