Sunflowers and Lillies

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Nick sat up bolt right as I entered. "Liz, what the fuck?"

It had been five days since Nick had woken up. He was getting noticeably better as each day passed and the doctor had finally unattached him from most of the scary machines. I visited him every day. Well, if you could call them visits, it was more like I stayed over at the hospital.

Visiting hours (which were complete bullshit) started at ten AM and ended at eight PM. I didn't like those times. The morning nurse stationed liked me apparently and so she would let me sneak in at 6 am. From there I would stay till twelve am, but at eight PM I would have to pretend to leave before sneaking in again. It was fun.

Nick was never awake when I came in the morning. He woke up at twelve, the sleepyhead. But I didn't care. I just wanted to be next to him—it eased my mind and maybe a little of my heart. When I'd arrive Isabella would already be there, she slept over at the hospital, taking the couch as a makeshift bed. I would spend my mornings with her as we both waited for Nick to wake up. We had become a lot closer and I found myself looking forward to talking to her—she was such a warm motherly figure it both hurt my heart and soothed it.

Of course, I did make sure to ask Nick multiple times if he was ok with my long stays. And every time he had responded that he wanted me to stay longer if I could. He never did let me stay longer than twelve. He'd practically push me out of the door and order me to go back home and sleep.

He didn't know how early I'd been coming into the hospital though, I would tell him that I arrived at ten... I suspect if he did know he would probably push me out the door earlier. I had made Isabella promise not to tell him.

Lilah and Alex visited every day as well, except they followed the rules and would come during visiting hours.

Right now it was nine and I was shutting the door of Nick's room behind me, a hand holding the plastic bowl tucked under my shirt up. I looked like a pregnant teenager. I looked down at my seemingly pregnant stomach and rubbed over the shirt, grinning at Nick.

"You can't have surpassed the stages of pregnancy that fast?" He raised a brow. "You left thirty minutes ago."

"I told you I'd bring you Mcdonalds," I said, untucking the bowl from my shirt and revealing the takeout bag inside.

He snorted. "Liz, you didn't think to bring it in a shopping bag instead? A gift box?"

"... I didn't think of that," I frowned. "But no matter, I still snuck the food in. And now you can have a break from disgusting vegetables and sketchy chicken."

"What'd you get?" He asked, peering over the bag as I sat down and placed it on the bed next to him.

"Fries, twenty nuggets, and a cheeseburger," I pulled out the small feast. "You always order cheeseburgers right? I asked your mom. If you don't want it I can go back and—"

He plucked the fries out of my hand and shook his head, "thanks, Liz. But I don't really feel like cheeseburgers right now ... I'll pay you back, k?"

I rolled my eyes, "don't even try. If you're not gonna eat it then I am."

I popped open the lid for the chicken nuggets and picked one up, grabbing a bite and sighing at the taste. God, I love junk food.

"How'd you get past the guard?" Nick asked, munching on a bunch of fries.

I shrugged, "I told him I was in labor and I was just walking around to get the baby warmed up."

Nick looked incredulously at me, "and he believed you?"

"He looked very uncomfortable."

Nick laughed and the sound had me grinning. What was it that people said? That they sometimes described someone's laughter as music to their ears? I had started to like his laugh more, I realized. But isn't that how it always goes? You don't realize how much you took for granted until it's gone?