Elliana X Jason

Twenty Six, Awake Alone

Jason had been in this damn hospital for far too long. After their little group crying session, the four kids had made their way to the waiting room. The parents had come out after a while. Ryan's parents were in her room. Her dad had gone home and gotten lawn chairs, so Ryan's mom and dad had taken the lawn chairs and left the reclining one that had already been in the room, for Cole. Cole had sat with Emily, Jason and Elliana for a few minutes, at the same time as Ryan's dad went home for the chairs. Jason was pretty sure Ryan's mom just wanted some alone time with her. Anyway, after an hour or so, he'd gone to the room. During one of Jason's periodic trips to the bathroom, he'd noticed the three of them asleep when he went to check.

Emily's parents were sitting in the waiting room with the rest of them. They were sitting in a group of three, with Emily in the middle. The parents were both leaning onto Emily, who was leaning onto the wall, and also drooling a little bit. Well, a lot, but what did it matter?

Rebecca had stayed for a few hours. Then, she'd drifted off to sleep. Elliana had woken her up after an hour, reminding her of the one hour without water rule. Rebecca had gone back to the pond, to sleep, but also to check on Alex and Ian. She'd also informed them that Alex, Ian, Rebecca and Jason usually slept with their feet in the water for the sake of that one hour rule.

Elliana, who was sitting two spots away from Emily's mom and next to Jason, had fallen asleep soon after Rebecca had left. Her head had been on Jason's shoulder, which had actually made him feel incredibly comfortable. He'd felt bad when he'd had to get up for his periodic trip, but she'd stayed asleep. Before leaving, he'd asked the front desk for a pillow and tucked it under Elliana's head and against the wall. When he'd come back, she was horizontal and taking up three seats. He'd moved over, giving her an extra seat just in case. Then she was taking up three seats with one free seat on either side of her. Jason had been cold (he still was), but it was okay. As long as she was comfortable.

The hospital was mostly empty at the ungodly hour it was, and the waiting room was big, so the three kids with only one set of parents weren't a concern to anybody.

Jason, unlike everyone else, couldn't sleep. Every thirty minutes, he went to the bathroom to splash cool water on his face. Not only did it help with the one hour without water rule, it also helped him keep calm and was an occasional distraction from his obnoxious thoughts. On the way back from the bathroom, he'd go check on Ryan, Cole and their parents. Mostly Ryan, though. He never entered the room, just looked through the window. Sometimes it was just a glance; sometimes he watched at the window for the entire span of time between two bathroom trips.

No matter what, Jason was tired, bored, and desperately wanted out of the hospital. He was going to wait until Ryan woke up, though. They all would.

Dr. Brun walked in then, distracted Jason from his incredibly boring thoughts of 'I'm bored'.

"Hi. Sorry, you're with Ryan, right?" She asked.

"Yes." Jason said.

"Sorry to bother you. Her parents are asleep, and I didn't want to wake them up. I just wanted to let you know that she's going to be taken off anesthetics. She'll wake up soon, but it'll be slow. I don't know if you want someone to wait with her? I know she's got her family with her, but I'm not sure if she wants to wake up to everyone asleep. Also, based off of the information I've been told about the situation, I don't believe she'd bother them to wake them up."

"Why?" Jason interrupted.

"Well, she told you she was fine, right? She wasn't. She's not superhuman. There's not a doubt that she was in an amount of pain that's unbearable for most people. That was probably unbearable for her. The fact that she didn't tell you this shows how afraid she is to disturb others livelihood for her own needs. I don't think it's the end of the world if she wakes up to her family asleep, but based on the way she puts others before herself... she deserves to have someone there, awake. Don't you think?" Dr. Brun asked.