Sweet Child O' Mine - Eddie Munson & Y/N

9 - Second Chances

I felt myself stirring in bed, but I was unable to open my eyes. They felt tired and heavy and my body was drained of every molecule of energy. With my eyes shut, I moved my weighty arms up to my face to rub my eyes but paused when I felt something on my face, just below my nose. Finally opening my burning eyes, I took in the dim white ceiling tiles overhead, glancing down to find myself in a pristine room decorated in pale blue tiles and paint, white curtains hung around the bed I lay in. The quiet beeping of machines beside me, the quiet whooshing from a plastic tubing draping across my upper lip and the tubing connecting my left arm to one of the steel poles beside me confirmed the worst. I felt my heart ache as I realised... I was alive.

My heart tore into pieces as I thought about my family waking up on Christmas morning to yet another selfish act on my part, a heartbreak I'd hoped to have avoided by passing. I could hear chatter outside my room, the unmistakable voices if my parents talking to what I assumed was a doctor, discussing my condition and giving them reassurance that I would make a full recovery... not particularly reassuring to me. I sighed with deep angst and defeat at the prospect of having to face them all after what I'd done, further lacing their minds with disappointment and distain for me. Wanting to prolong the agony of facing them, I turned over in the lumpy bed to face away from the direction of the doorway, finding Steve sleeping quietly in the chair beside the bed, his hand still resting on the edge of the bed. I reached out to take his hand, causing him to stir as he slept, his eyes eventually fluttering open and seeing my face, very much awake.
"Hey, sleepy head... you're awake." he whispered as he sat forward, grazing his thumb across my hand. I has happy it was Steve here and not my parents, Steve would at least fain sympathy and care instead of immediately informing me of his disappointment in me.
"I'm sorry, Stevie. So, so sorry-" I felt my eyes begin to burn with fresh tears as I spoke, my throat felt as thought it was laced with a thousand shards of glass as my words pushed through it. Steve got up from his chair, taking a seat on the bed, moving me into his chest and holding my sobbing body tightly,
"Hey, hey... no... none of this. I'm just glad you're okay." he soothed as he peppered my head with soft kisses. I felt my body begin to crumble in his grasp, my breath burning my lungs as I sobbed into his warm chest. The one person throughout my entire life who I loved dearly, as much as I loved my Juno, was hurting again because of me, because of my stupidity and cowardice.
"I love you, Stevie" I yawned as I felt my body begin to weaken and tire, my eyes growing heavier as each second passes,
"I love you too, Y/N. Get some rest." he cooed as my eyes fluttered shut.

Eddies POV
I couldn't believe what Harrington had told me when he called, an overdose? Y/N? No. No way. No fucking way. I've never hurried out of the trailer so fast in my life, speeding my van as fast as she'd fly to Harrington place. The door was unlocked when I got there so I walked right in, big mistake as Juno was sitting in the living room, the fear in her eyes as she saw my face - the same face that made her mother weep on the same floor only a couple of nights ago. "Hey, monkey. It's okay. This is Eddie, he's mommy and uncle Steve's friend, okay? He's a great guy!" Steve told her as she clung on to him as though her life depended on it. I coyly waved at her, wriggling my fingers playful in hopes she'd take it as a surrender and not totally hate me forever. Peaking from beside Steve's legs, she looked me up and down, staring right into my eyes before smiling shyly at me. Thank god. Steve had Robin and Nancy watch Juno, along with his grandparents and I drove us both over to the hospital. I had to know what was going on, I needed to know she was okay and when we got there, her parents told us she was. They told us she was going to need to stay here for a couple of days, see a shrink before she could go home, she was gonna love that, I'm sure. Steve and I went in to see her while she was sleeping, it was fucking gut wrenching to see her like that, oxygen tubes and IVs keeping her fixed in the bed as she slept, wired connected to monitors giving us comfort that she was alive. Harrington soon fell asleep holding her hand, I guess it's been a hell of a morning for him so far. I sat and watched her sleep, watched as her chest moved with her breathing, keeping my eyes fixed on it like it couldn't function without that little bit of confirmation she was definitely alive. The nurse came in to replace her IV while she slept so I stepped out for a second to grab some coffee from the canteen down the hall. It was the worst coffee I've ever tasted, but it was like the only thing that would get Harrington and I through the day.