The Dress - an Iain de Caestecker Fanfiction

Chapter 11: Fog

Your first conscious thought is about that horrible bird that won't stop chirping. You try to open your eyes but the room is just too bright, and your limbs feel like lead. You groan, trying to remember what day it was so you could decide if it was time to get up or not. 

"Y/N?" 

"Iain?" You croak, Why was he here? Why was your throat so dry?

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I could go back to sleep for a week." You slur. You finally open your eye just a crack, squinting into the white room. Wait, white? You look around, "Where am I?" White walls, sheer curtains over the windows, white floors, scratchy sheets, the bird... Not a bird but a heart rate monitor,

"You're in the hospital." Your eyes dart back to him. "What's the last thing you remember?"

You try to concentrate, but your head starts to throb, 

"Ouch, no remembering. Remembering: bad." You rub your head and find a bandage wrapped all the way around.

"You have five stitches in the back of your head." Iain takes your hand so you stop trying to mess with the bandage. "We were on set, you hit the wall during a stunt." He prompts, trying to help your memory. Somewhere through the dull but consuming pain, you think of something, a hazy image of Iain holding your hand.

"So I was knocked out?"

"You had a seizure, actually." He takes a breath. "Sweetheart, your heart stopped for a little over a minute." You look at him wide eyed.

"I died?" 

"Technically. And that was two days ago." You lost two days? More really, you can't remember the stunt he's talking about. But he looks like he's fighting back tears at the memory. You tug on his hand until he comes closer, then you draw his head down to yours and kiss him on the forehead,

"I'm alright now. Right?" He nods, sighing, resting his forehead on yours,

"You should be released in the next day or so, but you need someone around to keep an eye on you. Get ready to have no time to yourself." You chuckle as he sits back down, but you never let go of his hand.

.

.

.

Two days later you are deemed well enough to leave. This past year, when you had come back to L.A. For filming, you decided it would be easier on you to lease a small apartment in town so you wouldn't be living out of a hotel room. When you make it back to your place, you're greeted with some familiar faces. The cast is there to briefly welcome you home, bringing you cards and flowers and a lot of hugs. As folks start trickling out, each heading home to get ready for the week of filming, you notice someone you don't know. At least you think you don't. There was a young woman there, about your age, whose face was vaguely familiar, 

"Y/N, this is Nicky, my sister, you've met once or twice before, do you remember?" Iain reintroduces you,

"I think... Maybe..." 

"It's alright," she says easily, "we'll have plenty of time to get to know each other." 

"We will?" You look to Iain, who looks a little sheepish, 

"Yeah, Nicky came out here to help us keep an eye on you..."

"Iain, I'm not helpless, I'll be fine."

"I know, but the doctor said it would be a good idea to have someone around until we know for sure that you're healing up right, and with work, most of us won't be able to be here some of the time."

"It's just in case." Nicky offers. Knowing you aren't going to win this fight you sigh and shrug in defeat. She and Iain smile, you think you've seen that before and it makes you feel a little more at ease. 

That night you three discuss the sleeping situation over dinner, cooked by Nicky. You could get used to having her around. Iain would come by as often as he could, Nicky would stay overnight, insisting the couch would work just fine, and they - teamed up with Ming, Clark, Chloe and Brett, and occasionally B.J. - would make sure you were taking care of yourself. 

As suffocating as you originally felt by the realization that alone time would be hard to come by for awhile, you have to fight back tears when it occurs to you how many people truly care about your wellbeing, beyond just meeting up with you after coming home from the hospital, but actually taking extra time out of their days to help you recuperate. You hadn't felt so cared for, so loved, before, and it made your heart swell. You are sitting on your couch, snuggled up to Iain, next to his sister, who you barely knew, but already seem to be best friends with. You're all three watching a movie, and you choke back your tears. You feel safe.