afterthought

waiting room.

It's a miracle that she wakes in the hour he has with her.

Jay has his head lowered on both their intertwined hands when he hears it. A soft grunt or maybe a whisper- he doesn't know which- and then movement underneath his own fingers.

He perks up immediately; much like everytime he feels movement or hears the smallest edge of a sound. Only this time, when he looks at her, her raw, blue eyes look back.

She murmurs something and he stills. It's sudden, but he feels incredibly aware of their intertwined fingers. He snaps back and takes his hands with him.

"Hailey?" He asks expectantly.

She grunts again and fights against his hands to sit up. Her eyes flutter shut in pain.

"Hey hey, no don't sit up. Let me get Will, ok?" He's already halfway out of his seat and she doesn't even attempt to stop him, just blinks calmly with admiration and confusion as he races to the door.

Hailey's eyes close for long periods in between the time he leaves and the time he returns, and she desperately tries to stay awake when he's back. She maps every inch of his face and engraves it in her mind like she's afraid he'll perish or she'll close her eyes again and forget. The pain barreling through her body hurts just a little less when she sees him.

"Hey," She rasps when Jay re-enters the room with Will at his heel.

"Upton, good to see you awake." Will pushes past his brother, already pulling a chart and a stethoscope from seemingly out of nowhere.

"How do you feel?" Jay swallows a lump in his throat and stands beside her. "You scared the crap out of me."

He wants to yell; not at her, never at her, but just a few loud, meaningless words in an attempt to vent his frustrations.

"Sorry," She coughs and smiles weakly.

"No don't- don't apologize." He presses his hand to hers again and ignores the way that for the first time, she reacts.

Will checks her sats and sets the clipboard down beside her. "Think you can sit up now, Hailey?"

Hailey's nods despite the nausea that even thinking about sitting up brings her. She pushes against the bed frame, never once letting go of Jay's hand, and closes her eyes when her vision becomes fuzzy and her ears start to ring.

She's too weak to notice when it's happening, the feeling of bile creeping up her throat, but Will notices, and he's bringing the bedpan in front of her chest just as she launches forward.

She leans back slowly, her entire body aching, and grimaces.

Will looks her over worriedly and turns to Jay.

"Jay you minded grabbing her some ice chips from down the hall?"

Jay's almost too relieved at the prospect, clinging desperately to any means of helping the blonde, and nods immediately.

After Jay's left, Will turns back to her. "Sorry about the pain, but you're maxed out on pain meds for the moment. We can get you another dose in about two hours." He sighs and attempts a smile.

Hailey grimaces again but ultimately nods. "When can I get out of here?"

Will chuckles, "You got in a pretty serious accident Hailey, you'll be here for a while."

"Bummer."

"You're lucky to be alive, Hailey. I don't think a few more days in here will be so bad. Plus- you've always got me here, and something tells me Jay's not leaving your side until we physically remove him."