Nothing Will Ever Be the Same

Chapter 5

Everything was dark. Then you heard movement. Turning around, you saw.... You don't know what it was, but it looked like a cross between a lion, a snake, and a spider. Everything that you were afraid of. And it was huge! Like, elephant huge.

Instincts taking over, you turned around and started to run away. Looking back over your shoulder, it wasn't coming after you, so you stopped and started to walk back towards it. When you were about 5 feet away from it, you ran into something. You put your hands out to search for what you ran into, and it was a glass wall. Almost like what was at a zoo; an animal enclosure.

Looking around the animal, you saw your parents standing about 10 feet to the left of it. You tried to run to them, but you ran into another wall. Feeling around, you were in a glass box. You tried to yell to them, but they couldn't hear you. Just then, the animal turned towards them. And charged.

You screamed to the top of your lungs, and you felt a pair of strong hands grip you at the shoulders and jerk you out of the nightmare. You open your eyes and sat up so fast, you startled the man who woke you. Bones. Then you lost it. You brought your knees up to your chest, buried your face, and sobbed. You don't know why though. You felt him climb onto the bed, a pair of strong arms wrap around you, and you were pulled into his lap. You sobbed even harder then.

He started rocking you back and forth, smoothing your hair down and mumbling in your ear. You heard and somewhat saw a doctor and two nurses run into the room. Bones simply waved them away and resumed comforting you. One nurse stayed to check your vitals and left after checking everything and refilling what you were pretty sure was fluid. Since when were you dehydrated?

After 10 minutes you calmed down enough to say "I'm sorry. About everything." He stopped for a moment to pull away from you, and you pulled away to look at his face. A smile played on the edge of his lips, and you were beyond confused. Then a laugh escaped him and he pulled you close again. "What?" you asked. He chuckled again, and you felt the vibrations of his laughter in his chest. "I'm gonna go get some donuts and coffee. You want anything?" he asked. You smiled and said "I would like a hot chocolate and a sprinkled donut please." Pulling away, you sat back down on the bed and let him get up. Looking around you asked him "Where's my bag?" He found the chair at the other side of the room, walked over to it and pulled your bag out from behind it. Handing it to you, he walked out of the room.

You pulled you PADD out of you bag. Nothing new; a few emails, an alert. Being bored, you got up and immediately felt dizzy and lightheaded. You sat back down again and pressed the nurse call button. A couple of seconds later, a nice looking woman in her late 20's came to help you. "Can I get up and move around?" you asked. "I tried to but I felt dizzy." "Well then, I'll go get a wheelchair and then you can go. OK?" she said. "Ok. Thank you." you said as she walked out of the room.

She came back with a wheelchair and another nurse. They helped you into the chair and moved the bag of fluid to a pole attached to the wheelchair. You were then pushed out of the room where the nurse told you where to find help if you need it. You thanked her and you wheeled down the hall. Pulling to the side, you took out your PADD and typed a message to Bones saying "Going to the outside cafeteria area. See you there." Putting the PADD away, you found your way outside and found a table where you both could sit.

You waited about 5 minutes before Bones came back with a bag and two cups. He sat down and said "I'm glad to see you up." "Yeah, well. I'm not really up. I'm stuck in this thing." you said, gesturing to the wheelchair. "At least you're out of that room. I hate it in there." he responded, a look coming across his face and disappearing as you looked at the bag.

When he wasn't looking you reached for the bag with the donuts in it. He snatched it before you could get to it. You sat back and waited for him to give it to you. "Hungry?" he asked, holding the bag just out of your reach. "What do you think?" you retorted, reaching for the bag again. You still couldn't reach it. "Someone's feisty when their hungry." he said, surrendering the bag.

After the donuts and drinks were finished and everything was in the garbage, Bones got behind the wheelchair and started to push you towards the doors to go back inside. "What are you doing?" you asked, confused. "I'm taking you back inside." he said. "Nooooo," you whined. "I want to stay outside for a bit." "No. The sooner we get back inside, the sooner we can fill out your discharge papers." he said. "OK." you sighed. "About earlier, why were you laughing when I said I was sorry?" He laughed that deep laugh that drove you crazy. "You didn't have to say you were sorry. That was the best date of my life." he said. You were flustered by his response. "Date?" you asked. You could tell he was smiling from ear to ear. "Well, not really date. But it was fun." he said. Then it was you who were smiling ear to ear.

After you were out of the Medbay, it was about 6:30 and you and Bones sat down on a bench in the courtyard of the campus. "How long was I out?" you asked him, looking at the clouds roll by. "About twelve hours." he responded. "You know, I never got an answer." Looking at him, he had his head turned towards the sky, watching a shuttle go by. "Yes, I would love to." you said. And you got up and started to walk towards your dorm building.

You felt a hand grab your wrist, spin you around, and the last thing you saw was Bones press his lips to yours. You close your eyes and melted into the kiss. You wrapped your arms around his neck and he wrapped his arms around your waist. He was warm and strong, and tasted of chocolate and coffee. He smelled fresh and like soap. It was over all too soon. You both pulled away at the same time, looking into each other's eyes. And you both broke into hysterical laughing fits.

Catching your breath, you planted a kiss on his cheek and walked back to your dorm. When you got back, you closed the door, turned and leaned on it, and slid down to the floor. You were smiling and had a warm fuzzy feeling in your whole body. Seeing it was 7:00, you got into the shower, put your PJs on,  jumped into bed, and turned on the TV. Flipping through the channels and finding something to watch, you fell asleep to an old 2000's movie.