Temporary {Camren}

Chapter 43

Lauren woke up in an unfamiliar hospital, although she had no idea why she was there. The last thing she could remember was falling asleep in her bed with Camila. Now she was in another uncomfortable hospital bed with bright light shining in her eyes, hooked up to more monitors than she could bother to count. "C-" Lauren coughed to try and clear her dry throat. "Camila?" Lauren croaked, wow, even her voice was more hoarse than she remembered. "Lolo! You're awake!" Camila jolted up from her seat. It was only then Lauren finally noticed her head pounding. "My head hurts." She mumbled, bringing her hand up to shield her eyes from the light. "I'll just go get the doctor." Before Lauren could ask Camila what happened, she was out the door. "Ah, Mrs Jauregui-" if Lauren didn't feel old before, she certainly did now. "I see you're awake." "Evidently so." Lauren grumbled. "You gave us quite a scare." "Can someone tell me what the fuck happened to me?" Lauren groaned in frustration. "You passed out, you got really hot, and you said that you had a headache before you properly went out for the count." Camila explained as she stroked Lauren's hair. "You've been out for about 6 hours Lauren." "Oh, oops." Lauren mumbled and Camila laughed breathlessly. "I'm just glad you're okay." "Well honey I wouldn't say that." The doctor interrupted and Lauren's eyes bolted to meet hers. "What do you mean?" "Well I would like to introduce radiotherapy to your treatment plan." "Instead of the chemotherapy?" Camila asked, tilting her head to the side in question. "No, as well as." She clarified. "It's worse?" Lauren croaked. The doctor shook her head. "No Lauren, but I'd definitely like to prevent it from worsening." "Thank you?" Lauren said questioningly. "Has anyone ever talked to either of you girls about radiotherapy in addition to the current chemotherapy?" Camila shook her head. "No, never." The doctor frowned and shook her head. "Well they should have done, I'll be having a word about that. Anyway, here's a few leaflets for you to flip through." "When can I go home?" Lauren asked. "Just to be on the safe side, I'd like to keep you in for few days to keep an eye on you." Lauren groaned loudly, resulting in her wife covering her mouth with her hand. "Thank you doctor, and we'll look into the radiotherapy." The doctor smiled at nodded. "Call me if you need anything girls, if you can't find me, just ask at the front desk for Doctor Harris, she'll page me for you, please don't be shy Lauren, I'm here for anything you might need." The woman said kindly before she left the girls alone. "She seems really nice." Camila smiled and Lauren pointed to her mouth, which Camila still had her hand over. "Oh! I'm sorry Lo." Camila said, quickly removing her hand. "How do you feel?" "Well I could definitely go for some pain relief." Lauren said, her voice quiet. "I'll go and ask for some, wait here." Camila said, kissing the top of her head before she left the room. "It's not like there's anywhere I could go." Lauren sighed, squinting at the light as she looked up at the ceiling. Camila came back and a nurse appeared shortly with a small cup with two pills in it. "You should feel better soon." The nurse smiled after Lauren took them and Camila gave her a bottle of water. "Thank you." Lauren weakly smiled back and closed her eyes, she shouldn't be this tired, surely.. "Where are the girls?" Lauren asked, her eyes still shut. "Dinah's at work, Mani's out teaching a new dance class and Ally's babysitting her cousin." Camila said. "I rang around for them earlier, and they all texted me when they could." "Dang it." Lauren pouted. "I know Lo, I miss them too." "They did say they'll come in as soon as they can." Camila added as she sat on the bed next to Lauren. "You can get in, you know. I'm not going to break Camz." Lauren pointed out and Camila gave a small yawn and laid next to her. "I really hate these stupid beds." Lauren sighed. "I know, I'm sick of the sight of them." Camila said and Lauren froze with a frown, removing her arm from around Camila. "Go home then." "What? Why?" Camila asked, opening her eyes. "If you're so sick of being in hospitals because of me, by all means, leave." Lauren spat. "Don't get pissed Lauren, look I know you've been trying to focus on my life lately, and take the attention away from the cancer, but Lo you really have to focus on the bigger problem. I want to stay and look after you, please let me." Lauren sighed and shook her head. "I don't want to focus on it, I want to forget about it, all of it." Lauren said, promptly throwing all the leaflets across the room. Camila's eyes widened as they flew through the air before she went to pick them up. "Well I want you to get better, so even if you won't look at these, I will." As soon as her wife wasn't looking, Lauren ripped out her IV and her wires and sped out the room. But where the hell was she meant to go to escape the chaos? The roof. Lauren looked behind her for any sign of her wife, a nurse or her doctor but there were none of the above even paying attention to her. She looked for a fire exit and pushed the door open full force, darting up the stairs. Fuck these stairs, fuck her cancer, fuck the chemotherapy, the motherfucking radiotherapy, fuck the nurses, fuck Doctor fucking Harris, and even fuck Camila. Lauren didn't want to know anymore, there she stood, the warm breeze surrounding her as she stood in the middle of the roof. Her and Naomi used to come up here all the time, but after her death it was a surprise to see Naomi's friend up there, Effy Stonem. "Effy?" Lauren said as she cautiously approached her, the girl turned around, wiping her eyes in a hurry. "Lauren, what are you doing up here?" "I could ask you the same thing, you're not sick." Effy sat down and Lauren followed suit. "I miss her." She said simply. "I do too." Lauren sighed. "We've been friends since college, she stuck by me when I went crazy!" Effy said, getting up and moving to the rails. "I don't know what to do without her." She said with her cracking even more with every word. Lauren walked over to her and put a hand over hers and Effy looked at Lauren before hesitantly squeezing it. "It'll get easier Effy, I was really scared when I was going through the chemo, but Naomi made it easier, she distracted me from the bad things." "She was good like that." Effy said with a small laugh as the tears rolled down her cheeks. Lauren watched sadly, she knew Effy didn't do hugs, but Lauren wasn't sure how else to comfort her. "I know you don't do hugs but-" Before Lauren could say anything else, Effy was crying into her chest, and Lauren ended up crying into her shoulder. The shouting of a furious nurse broke them apart. "You're bed bound?" Effy gasped quickly moving away from her. "Uhm" Lauren tried to excuse her behaviour but that wasn't an option. "For God's sake Lauren, go back inside!" Lauren sighed and crossed her arms. "Are you gonna be okay?" "I will be." Effy said, a reassuring nod following up her words. "Give me your phone." Lauren said and put her number in. "You can text me if you need anything." Effy smiled gently and looked up at Lauren. "Thank you." Lauren nodded before she cast a look back to the still displeased, but looking to be less angry, nurse. "See you later." Lauren offered a wave before the nurse literally dragged her down the stairs. Camila was at the bottom looking more worried than angry. Shit. "Hey Camz." Lauren mumbled nervously but Camila pulled her into a bone crushing hug. "Never run off like that again babe, you scared the hell out of me Laur." Camila breathed into her hair, Lauren wrapped her arms around her and nuzzled her face into her neck. "I'm sorry Camzi." "Why did you run off?" She asked as the nurse wandered off, satisfied that Lauren wouldn't leave again. Lauren trained her eyes on the floor. "I-I just wanted to escape it." Lauren crumbled. "I'm so sorry Lauren," Camila started, making Lauren look up miserably. "you can't." The Cuban finished. "You've got a good one there." A voice made the couple turn around to find the source. "Who are you?" Camila asked. "Effy. I was a friend of Naomi's. Lauren and I have seen each other a few times." "I'm Camila." Camila said and Effy shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, but like I said Camila," Effy started, shaking her head before her next words. "don't let her go." Camila pulled Lauren into her side and kissed her temple. "No chance of that happening at all." Effy squeezed Lauren's shoulder. "Hey chin up there kid, she wouldn't want you crying." Lauren gave a minuscule smile and let it fall as soon as she disappeared. "She seems nice." Camila smiled. "Yeah." Lauren mumbled. "Can we go home? Is there any way that we can maybe make that happen?" "Well," Camila sighed. "You are an adult. Technically, but against medical advice, you can discharge yourself.." Camila trailed. "But-" "I'm doing that." Lauren said and tugged on her wife's arm to hurry her up. "Lauren you're sick, you really should be in the hospital for a few days. This isn't light, it's not a cold babe-" "Camz I just, I just really, really want to go home. I don't like it here, I want to be in my own bed with my wife, please." Lauren croaked as she stopped before the fire exit door that would lead them both back into the hospital. Camila stroked her hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead with a sigh. "If it's what you want." Lauren nodded enthusiastically. "Okay, but promise me you'll tell me if you feel bad." "I will." "And there'll be no arguments, we'll come back and you won't avoid a short stay." "Okay okay yes I promise you Camz, just take me home." Lauren pleaded. "Okay, I'll go and ask for the papers." Camila said. Lauren kissed her cheek in gratitude. "Thank you baby." On the drive home, Lauren let Camila rest while she drove. As she looked over at the traffic lights, she saw Camila was fast asleep. An adoring smile crossed her lips before the light turned green and they got home, rather than waking her wife up she opened the door first and carried her inside. Camila was blissfully unaware as her head rested against Lauren's shoulder. "You're so adorable Camzi." Lauren whispered. Camila smiled in her sleep and Lauren laid her down in the bed. "Sleep tight mi princesa." Lauren decided to go to Ally's to hang out for while. "Hey Ally." Lauren smiled. "Lauren!" Ally smiled and hugged her friend. "Can I come in? Are you busy?" "Uhm," Ally turned her head and looked behind her. "Sorta.." She said awkwardly. "Oh, okay." "Come back tomorrow?" Ally offered when she saw Lauren's sad eyes. "See you later." She mumbled and trudged down the street. "Lauren, babe!" Ally called out, moving outside to look for her friend but Lauren was walking away with her head down. Ally sighed and went back inside. Lauren decided to go to her old family home but everyone was out, so she was by herself again. She knew that Dinah and Normani were off on a little holiday together to relax so Lauren was stuck. "Fuck this." Lauren huffed as she kicked a small stone on the sidewalk almost angrily. Eventually, she decided to go to the beach, she didn't go there enough. She sat for a while on the top of a cliff, watching the sun set into the orangey pink abyss. "Amazing." She mumbled. "Can I sit?" A voice asked from behind her. "Taylor, sure." Lauren agreed for her sister to sit with her. "Be careful, it's rocky around here." Taylor sat down next to her comfortably and smiled at her sister. "What're you doing here?" The older girl asked. "I figured you'd be here because of the sunset. I knew you'd been home because I could smell your perfume." "Creep." Lauren smirked and nudged her shoulder, but not so hard she would be unbalanced at all. "Did you need something?" Lauren asked as her sister leant her head on her shoulder. "Yeah, my big sister." She said with a small smile. "Is something wrong?" Lauren asked worriedly. "No, no Lauren it's all good, I just miss you." Lauren turned her head and kissed her younger sister's head. "I miss you too babe." "How's Camila?" Taylor asked as they stared into the sky. "She's good, I left her sleeping. She wore herself out." Lauren chuckled. "And you?" Taylor asked more seriously. "I'm fine kiddo, don't you worry about me." Lauren pouted, her little sister was so sweet. Taylor intertwined their hands and gently let them rest on Lauren's knee. "This is nice." "It's perfect." Lauren smiled as she rested her head on her sister's. "I love you Lo." Taylor sighed contently. "I love you too Tay."

Aw, what a cute sister moment.