Bittersweet Dreams (Sequel to Nightmares)

Complications

As I lay in whatever hospital this was, I could faintly hear the sound of the heart meter humming back to life. Faint beeps adorned the room with a tinge of gasps all around. Soon the faint barely-alive-beeps, had turned into surging ones as my breath began to catch in my throat as I was thrust back into reality. I could hear Shizuo's voice yelling and calling out to me, but it felt like I was at the bottom of the ocean. Voices were only garbled sounds, barely even registering to my ears. I knew Shizuo was talking, but I didn't have the faintest clue what he was saying. Soon Shinra's voice and a few other male voices chimed in, making a symphony of voices all droning around the room, like bees through fields in the Summer time.

I tried to force my eyes open, to let them know I was awake, but I just didn't have the strength. After mentally bombarding myself with inspiration on ways I could do this, I felt a warm hand slip into mine. The only one I ever wanted there. I curled my fingers around his, using all my mental capacity to get my muscles to obey me. He gasped and said something or other to someone in the room. I couldn't see, and I couldn't hear, making my inner monologue useless at this point in time.

A pair of lips met my forehead in an adoring kiss, and for the first time today, out of all the garbled mess I was hearing, a certain string of words was heard clearly, as Shizuo whispered it directly into my ear.

"I love you. Please be okay,"

I felt the blood rush through my body, as hearing Shizuo's voice clearly had given me pure adrenaline. I remembered the contents of the so-called 'dream' I had while my heart had stopped, and remembered Shizuo's hoarse screams, and my will to keep on living for him. My one true love. I summoned all of my strength and opened my eyes, being blinded by LED hospital lights, which always seemed to blare the brightest on its patients. I groaned in discomfort, seeing everything as a blur, and having the light summon another unforgiving headache. If this wasn't relapse, I didn't know the meaning of the word.

Shizuo climbed on the bed, hovering over me, his hands on either side of my head, shielding my eyes from the harsh light, and letting my vision adjust to the white room we all occupied. Doctors yelled, encouraging Shizuo to get off, but he just yelled back, saying something about the light bothering me. Half of the human speech floating around the room around me was still very static and unreadable.

As Shizuo's features finally became readable in the harsh hospital light, I enticed my muscles to let me smile, showing him my vision and emotional state was improving. Though, my headache still pounded in my skull, as if my brain was throbbing, beating against the bone that protected it. I turned my head to the side, checking if any Morphine was indeed available to pump into my broken system. To my surprise and absolute horror, I was already on a low dose, which was not effecting this pain in the slightest. Was it psychosomatic then? Was I dreaming this all up, hurting myself all on my own? Or possibly, was this just too low a dose of Morphine?

I looked back over to Shizuo's tear streaked worried face and groaned, signaling I was in some sort of discomfort. Knowing me all too well, he turned to the doctor asking him if he could do anything for my disabling head pain. I lifted my arm, using it to tug Shizuo's shirt and bring him lower, getting his ear centimeters from my lips. In a crackled, nearly pubescent sounding voice, I spoke in his ear, barely above a whisper.

"Head. . . pain. . . cold. . need you,"

Obviously neither my voice box, nor the sentence forming function of my brain was working, as I could not get a full sentence or string of words out. I was cold, yearning for the calidity of Shizuo Heiwajima to soothe my aching head, heart, and body. He was the only medicine that could treat me at this point.

Shinra motioned a doctor over to where he was standing, and through my partially blurred vision, I could make out it was that doctor. The one who knew my history. The one that had done my surgery. I couldn't make out what he was saying, as my impaired eyesight and hearing had not yet recovered, but I could tell it was something of the utmost importance, because Shizuo has left his spot shielding me from the harsh light, to converse with them.

After what seemed like an eternity, Shinra joined me at my side, bringing his face uncomfortably close to mine.

"I know you can barely hear or see, which is why I'm so close, okay? Everything from here on out will get worse. I'm sorry Izaya. There's nothing we can do until we get the blood tests back and the scans back. Your headaches are going to be back, and your overall health is going to be absolute shit for a while. Instead of leaving you at the hospital to go insane without Shizuo, since you both are legally married, he has the right- as family- to take care of you at home. So we will be sending you home with him and a treatment plan. Your results should be back in a week or less. Okay?"

I only nodded my head. I could feel the tinge of tears claw at my eyes, but I wouldn't give in. Why didn't I give up? Would death have been better than these severe fucking headaches ripping through my skull for a week at most? I looked over to Shizuo's sullen face. He knew he would have to watch me suffer, and it was tearing him apart inside. I knew it was. Masking his pain, when he saw my melancholy gaze he smiled, trying to convey to me that everything would be okay. Though, in reality we both knew hell would be unleashed as soon as I would be placed in his care.

Shinra removed the IVs, which had bruised all over my left arm and hand, and unhooked me from all the machines. A man offered me a wheelchair, but I declined. I'd rather let Shizuo carry me. My arms and legs were numb, and would be dysfunctional for the next few hours according to the Shinra, leaving Shizuo to have to do everything for me. I kept apologizing to him, but he kept telling me the same thing as we waited for me to be discharged.

"I'm your husband. If I can't take care of you, what am I good for? I'd love to take care of you. It would overjoy me to be able to do everything for you this week. Just yell if you need me at any point babe,"

He was too good to me, but I was so happy he was mine.

The feeling was sort of returning in my arms, so I lifted them up, signaling for Shizuo to pick up my limp body. He did so with ease, holding me tightly against him, afraid to ever almost lose me again. I would've hugged him back so tightly, but my body was just too frail and weak, and being off the low dosage of Morphine I was on, my headache had intensified to almost critical levels. I pressed my face against Shizuo, hoping the harder I pressed, the most the headache would dull. I groaned, feeling like my head could explode any second.

A nurse walked into the room informing us about my discharge, and let us out. My head ached, and I was as frail as a baby deer.

Even if I was with Shizuo, it really sucked to be Izaya Heiwajima right now.