Knocking On Death's Door (J. Ortiz) (au)

Chapter Twenty Three

     It wasn't until the next morning, that Persephone woke up in the hospital. She was confused at first, but then the pain from the accident began to get noticeable. She had realized that she had gotten into an accident and had been rushed to the hospital. She slightly examined some of her injuries, but it hurt to really look too much.

     It didn't take long for Fran to enter the room and see that she was awake. Fran was quick to rush to Percy's side to see how she was feeling. The first thing the girl asked for was water, and Fran was happy to oblige. After getting the water, Fran excused herself to call Alek to let him know that Percy was awake, and she'd be moved to a regular room within an hour, so the kids would be able to visit her.

     Once Fran was back in the room, Percy had asked about the extent of her injuries. Fran was able to explain everything in a bit more detail than she did to Percy's family, considering Percy understood more medical terminology than Alek and Juan Carlos would.

"Fuck," Percy murmured,"I was supposed to pick Juan Carlos up from work. I bet he was so mad at me."

"No, actually he was just as worried about you as Alek, maybe a little more." Fran replied, and Percy looked at her skeptically.

     Percy was soon moved to a regular room, where she would stay for two days before she'd be allowed to go home. She couldn't wait to go home, but she knew she'd have to be careful at home. Her boss had come by and told her that she had to take a mandatory vacation for at least two weeks to recover, otherwise she'd be written up.

"Mommy!" Leo and Maisie yelled, as they entered the hospital room.

"Hey, my babies." Percy greeted, giving them a smile.

"When will you be home?" Leo asked, as he approached her bed and climbed up to sit near her feet.

"Fran said two days, then I'll get to go home." She replied, and Leo sighed.

"I've got them, Perce," Alek said,"you don't have to worry about them."

"Juan Carlos, will you pick up Maisie?" Percy asked, and he did as she asked,"I want to give my baby a kiss." She added, as she carefully leaned forward and placed a kiss on the little girl's cheek.

     Leo carefully crawled up to his mom for his own kiss, before Alek offered to take the kids down to the cafeteria to get food. He'd also grab her some food, since he knew she'd refuse to eat the bland hospital food. Fran was the one keeping up with her eating, so Alek would simply give her a list of the food Percy ate when they went to leave.

"You'll stay in here with her, right?" Alek asked, and Juan Carlos nodded immediately.

     Juan Carlos sat down in the seat near Percy's bed and pulled it a little closer so she could see him better.

"I was so worried," He admitted,"Don't do that shit again."

"I don't plan to get into another accident anytime soon, I promise." She replied, chuckling to herself.

"Jesus," He ran his hand over his face with a sigh,"I'm going to screw this up."

"What?" She asked,"Is something wrong?"

"I'm just gonna say it, like Chibs told me to," He said,"Percy, I like you. I've liked you since the day I woke up and you were my doctor."

"I like you, too."

"No, I don't think you understand," He shook his head,"I have feelings for you, Percy. I-I think I'm in love with you, but it's okay if you don't feel the same. I just had to get it off my chest. I couldn't hide it anymore, not after your accident. That shit scared me, and I promised myself I'd tell you the moment you were awake and could understand what I was saying."

"Juan Carlos," She grabbed his hand,"I feel the same way. At first, I was mad at myself for feeling that way. You were my patient, and it was against the rules. Fran was the one who helped me realize that it didn't matter that you had been my patient before, 'cause you aren't now. I was worried about having feelings for you, because I knew very little about you. I still don't, but I do like you."

"I'm so relieved to hear that," He admitted,"and I promise, the moment you get out of here, we'll sit down and talk about everything. I'll tell you all there is to know about me, and we can talk more about what this might be."

     Percy felt her stomach fill with butterflies at his words. She really wanted to know about him. She really wanted to talk more about a relationship, but now was definitely not the time. She was in the hospital, and her children would be back at any moment with food. She didn't want to confuse them, not when she wasn't sure what was going on in the first place.

"We've got food!" Alek announced, as he opened the door.

     Leo quickly brought the bag over to Percy with a cup that already had the straw in it. In the bag was fried rice and general tso's chicken, which was some of Percy's favorite food. Alek handed food to Juan Carlos, and Percy raised her eyebrow. She was a little curious about their friendship, considering before she went into the hospital, the two seemed to avoid each other and not really do anything for each other at all.

"Since you can't go upstairs for a bit, Leo and I are going to set up the guestroom downstairs for you." Alek said, and Percy thanked him.

        She was definitely going to miss her bed, but any bed at home was better than a hospital bed. She just couldn't wait until she could go home, she was tired of the four, sterile, white walls that she was stuck in. She liked being a doctor, but she absolutely hated being a patient...