The sun shining through the window and hitting Zac in the face caused him to wake up. He grabbed his phone to look at the time. It was almost 10:00. He got up, used the bathroom, washed his hands, and decided to check on Fatima. As he opened his door wider and approached her door, he heard her crying. He pushed her door open and ran in....
"Fatima, what's wrong? Why you crying?"
He went to her side of the bed and he pulled back the cover. He noticed that she was holding her side.
"OMG you're hurting"!
Fatima shook her head yes and grabbed Zac's arm with her other hand. She was trying to speak between her tears.
(crying uncontrollably) "Zzaacc, pplleeaassee". Fatima started pointing towards her purse.
Zac ran over to the table on the other side of the bed looked in her purse and grabbed the medicine bottle. He put the medicine on the bed next to Fatima and ran down the stairs skipping every other stair. As he grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, he heard Fatima scream. He quickly made an ice pack and ran back up the stairs now skipping two at a time. Fatima was then balled up with her knees to her chest. Zac opened the water bottle.
"He opened the medicine bottle. Tima, open your mouth so I can put your medicine in there (opens mouth). Ok, now drink some water".
Fatima drunk the water and swallowed her medicine. Zac slowly helped Fatima straighten out her body. He removed her hand from her side and lightly placed the ice pack. It made her bruised ribs feel better.
"Slow breaths Tima", Zac said as he was rubbing her back.
Fatima's breaths started to slow. He continued rubbing her back. He noticed she was starting to fall asleep, so he figured the medicine must have started kicking in and the ice pack was helping her ribs.
"I'm going to leave and let you rest. I'll be in my room. I'm going to leave both of our doors open".
"No. Can you stay in here with me Zac? I'm scared it may happen again", Fatima said softly.
"Sure Fatima. I will stay in here with you. Whatever you need me to do. I'm here".
Zac came back into Fatima's room and got in the bed with her next to where she was lying. Fatima moved her body closer to him and layed her head in his lap. Zac reached down and put the cover on the bottom half of her body. He lightly rubbed her hair while massaging her scalp until she fell asleep. Once she fell asleep, he got a pillow and lightly placed her head on the pillow. He then went downstairs to fix them some lunch because he knew she would be hungry when she woke up.
"Okie dokie. Let me see what's in here to cook. I know Fatima will be hungry when she wakes up. What's something easy and quick I can cook"? Aha!! I got it"!
Zac started cooking and didn't want to make too much noise. He was almost finished cooking when he heard Fatima's voice.
"OMG Zac! The smell of whatever you cooking woke me up"!
Zac appeared out of the kitchen looking towards the stairs where Fatima's voice was coming from. "Take your time going down those stairs. Is that a good thing or a bad thing"?
"It's a good thing this time because it's a good smell".
"Oh good. You can just sit your beautiful self down at the table and rest. I'll bring your food to you".
"What you cooking"? (while sitting down)
"I am doing us some lunch and fixing chicken and waffles with a side of fruit".
"Okayyyy! That's a good start".
Zac and Fatima continued talking until Zac finished lunch. He put their food on the plates and took the plates to the table where Fatima was sitting. Zac went back to get two bottled waters and sat across the table from Fatima. Fatima had her arms reached out for Zac to place his hands in hers so she could say grace. Fatima finished saying grace and they were starting to eat.
