eternity// 5SOS

36

Michael

"I'm here, I'm here. I can hear you are here,"

Dr George came into the room, sanitising his hands before rolling over to Poppy, who was in tears.

"Your legs are bothering you huh?"

"It hurts,"

"I know, I am sorry. You're doing so well,"

Gently, he propped both legs up on a pillow, then loosened her knee brace and gave me a compression sock to put on her.

He read her charts, and grabbed two ibuprofen from a locker, but she pushed it away and shook her head.

"This will make you feel better,"

"I want the medicine into my hand,"

"You have that, but this is more,"

"Dad,"

"Can we use an alternative? Tablets are a bit of a trigger for Poppy," I said, drying her eyes with a tissue, "You're doing so well,"

"Of course, I am so sorry,"

He gave it to her as liquid instead, then took her temperature and adjusted the air con, sitting down again.

"I want to get your hips moving later today, so we might get you sat in the wheelchair at least for a change,"

"Okay,"

"Do you feel a bit comfier now?"

"A little bit,"

"We can put the tv on for you,"

"I just want to sleep,"

"Okay. Rest is super important right now, so you can sleep when you need,"

"Thank you,"

"Michael, nurses will be in and out frequently so it's okay to go and grab breakfast,"

I nodded and waited until Poppy had fallen asleep to head downstairs. To my delight, Calum was also sat there, so I grabbed a bacon sandwich and joined him.

"You look exhausted,"

"Poppy didn't sleep well,"

"I'm sorry man. I'm gonna try and pop in at some point,"

"She will appreciate that... man it's so hard to be on the other end of things,"

"You will get through this, all of you. Your kids are amazing, Mike, they will help you and Crystal so much. So will all of us,"

"I know. Thank you,"

"Are you going home tonight?"

"Yeah I think Crystal is sleeping,"

"Good. I can stay with her if needs be, or in an on call room. Please look after yourselves,"

"We are,"

He raised his eyebrows, but didn't question me, and just finished eating his breakfast.

When his page went off, we both left, and I went back up to Poppy's room where she was still sleeping.

I looked at her new scans, the tried to busy myself with a book, but it didn't work.

We both needed company.

After going back and forth on the idea, I decided to give Paul a ring; he worked odd hours so it was hit and miss.

"Hello?"

"Hey mate, it's Michael,"

"Oh hey, is everything okay?"

"Yeah... Poppy is asleep right now but she really wants to see Alfie and the boys, and I think it would make her feel better. I was wondering if you wanted to come down and visit at some point?"