Survivin' - [B.C.]

Chapter 16: Come Alive

A strand of auburn wraps around my finger. The material is enlightening. I smile. A tear slips from my eye.

I was alive.

========== SURVIVIN' ==========

"It's a miracle," Dr. Alex said. He flipped back and forth between the papers clipped onto his clipboard. A look of pure confusion dawned on his face.

They were all surrounding me as I lied in my bed, in way better condition than the past two months. Sophie sat at my side, holding my newly-corrected hands in her always perfected ones. Ben was standing with his hands on his hips.

"You died, like, four times within a thirty-minute period. Died. Ceased to live. Expired. Passed-"

"Yes, thank you, doctor," Ben interrupted, holding his hand up to stop the doctor's rant. The man in the lab coat gave an apologetic glance towards me.

"Sorry. Anyway, Cal, that shouldn't be possible. I don't know how you made it. But you did. And the last time you resuscitated, you remained unconscious for hours, so we did the procedures. Your hands-" he gestured to the bandages wrapped around those appendages "-and your lungs. We reduced the scarring coverage by forty-three percent. After we finished the operation, we cut the oxygen therapy off for a day or two because of the air pressure and the freshness of the incisions. I think we'll put you back on it tomorrow. You still need it, probably for the rest of your life. Bronchiectasis isn't a disease that goes away. But! Only one more month here of close observation and you'll be able to go home. What d'you think?"

I smiled wide. All of us did. We looked at each other, then back at Dr. Alex. He received our expressions and mirrored them.

Three full months of staying in the hospital. Wow. Something like that had always been such an inconceivable concept to me. I'd stayed for a few days in a hospital before. A week. But never three months.

"Considering it was anxiety that caused this whole state of affairs, I've decided to put you on a prescription for Bupropion - or Wellbutrin, as the umbrella name goes. It's technically an antidepressant, but it works wonderfully for anxiety. Two-for-one deal, how bout that?" The doctor gave a short chuckle. "And we're also gonna give you antibiotics and painkillers while you're here. Part of the close monitoring. After the full month, you should be good for those types of things."

Dr. Alex uttered a few other things about something and left us alone. I don't know, I wasn't paying attention.

When the door closed and left us three in the room, Ben and Sophie sprung onto me. Sophie bowed her head to kiss my bandaged hands, Ben came to sit on my bed next to me like he did that night he sang to me and he rested his head on mine. I relaxed into their touches. They were warm. Soft. Tender. Loving.

Ben released a contented sigh. "I'm so proud of you, darling."

"You're so strong, you know?" Sophie continued.

In the moments of silence that followed, I thought about the ten minutes prior to Dr. Alex coming in. I had woken up from my sleep and saw that Ben was up and reading a magazine on the sofa. I tried not to stir because I wanted to watch him. We hadn't seen each other since he decided to leave the hospital about a month ago. Now he sat in the same room as me - a non-quarantine room - acting like nothing had happened. Just reading with his usual inquisitive expression. His chin beared the shadow of a stubble beginning to grow. It suited him well, though. He's Benedict Cumberbatch, of course anything will suit him...

Only a few seconds after I opened my eyes, Ben looked over to check on me. Once he processed that I was finally awake, a grin broke out onto his face and he leaped off of the sofa. He ran over to me and enveloped me in a gentle but strong hug. Then I heard soft whimpers come from him. I tried to push him into my view, but he remained attached to me. When he finally did release from me and make his entirety visible, I saw that his face was now a blotchy pink and tears were rapidly streaming down his cheeks. He suffered out a smile and stroked my hair. Then he held my head and pressed his lips against my forehead. When he pulled away, he wrapped me in his arms again.