Someone Like Hugh -Draft Complete And EDITING-

Chapter Thirty Three:

Hugh's POV:

I paced in the waiting room. Joanna was already in recovery, the removal of part of her liver already complete. I would forever be grateful to her, the best friend I was almost forced to marry who saved the life of my soul mate.

Panic wracked through my body. What if she didn't make it? What if she didn't want part of Joanna living inside of her? She hadn't been awake to consent to the procedure, but her stepfather had signed as her next of kin.

The double doors to the waiting area burst open and her brothers, her stepfather and I all leapt to our feet.

"The surgery was a success. Please come with me," she smiled flirtatiously at Amelia's brothers. I should be annoyed, but her flirting meant we could all visit her, instead of the standard two visitors per room.

When we entered the little room within the ICU, a curtain was drawn, protecting her from view. "Now this may look a bit worrisome, but I assure you, the extra equipment is to monitor her following her surgery," the nurse spoke. "We also had to put in a new tube for the ventilator, but once she can breathe on her own we will take that out," she explained as she pulled back the curtain.

Amelia laid out on the bed, looking weak. Her eyebrows furrowed, the way they only do when she's in pain. "She's in pain," I spoke worriedly, rushing to her side.

The nurse shook her head. "I assure you, we have been giving her regular pain medication to help with that."

"Look at her, that little scrunch of her eyebrows means shes in pain. I assure you, what ever you're giving her it hasn't been enough. I've seen that little scrunch more times than I'd ever want to."

The nurse quickly scurried out, presumably to go find answers. I pulled up a chair beside her and stroked her hand lovingly, careful not to disturb the IV or the other things attached to her body.

The tube, was much bigger than I thought it would be. Various beeps and hums rang out around me. "Amelia, angel, I'm here," I spoke stroking her hair and squeezing her hand. "Please, rest and get better. Just come back to me please. We have a whole life ahead of us, we can do what we want together, be who we want. Right now we just have to fight for it," I urged softly. "I'll be right here with you."

I stroked circles lazily against the back of her hand, fighting the tears. Her brothers and stepfather simply stared at her, trying to figure out how to interact with her. They seemed so unsure of what to do or say.

Then James stepped s little closer. Reaching out to hold her hand "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are gray," he sang softly.

"You'll never know dear, how much I love you," Jason and Josh stepped forward singing softly.

"Please don't take, my sunshine away," all three boys sang before starting over again. He stepfather stepped closer and set his hand on my shoulder.

"She used to sing that to them until they would fall asleep," he whispered as the boys sang.

She squeezed both of her hands and turned her head, "That's it baby, wake up," I whispered to her as a five of us began to sing together.

She gasped for air, and opened her eyes, panicking and trying to rip out the tubes. I held her hand back down, and James took her other. "Hey, hey baby," I whispered to her, stroking her hair. "You're in the hospital, okay, we need to have a doctor come take the tubes out."

She slowly calmed as jason ran out of the room. "We were so worried about you my love," I whispered stroking her hair. She shied away from me a bit before I remembered, the last time we had seen eachother with her conscious was just before her accident.

"You need to hear him out, big sis, it wasn't what you thought," James said softly. She shook her head and tears slid from the corners of her eyes.

"You're not getting rid of me until we talk," I spoke, starting to pull my hand away. "If you don't want me to touch you, that's okay, but I'm not going anywhere."

Her hand reached up and gripped my wrist before I could pull away completely.