I've Got You

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I was in an unfamiliar place. Confused, scared, and oddly parched. The lights were too bright for me to see what was around me until my eyes adjusted. Which they hadn't. Ugh.

Everything was quiet, so I wasn't majorly concerned that something was going to go wrong. But I was still nervous. I closed my eyes as they stung from the light, and opened them again. It was a little better.

A hospital? I was in a hospital. With an IV. Good lord - not needles. My stomach dropped, and I felt like I was going to throw up. What the hell had happened, and why was I in the hospital? Where was Andy?

I decided that first thing's first: get Andy. I looked around for a cell phone. Mine was on the nightstand next to me. Inching to the side of the bed, I stuck my free arm through the handle on the bed and grabbed it. Whew. Half of my battle. I wrestled it back under the handle and double-tapped the screen. 3 text messages.

Andy Cell: Hey, please let me know when you're awake. I'm very worried. You were out, but then you kept waking up and passing out again. Doc says you're dehydrated.

Jake Cell: We're worried about you lil man!! Give me a ring-a-ding when you're up for it!!

I didn't even check to see who the last one was from. I had to reach the boys. Exiting the messages, I hit the shortcut to calling Andy, and heard it dialing. It rang four times, and then went to voicemail. Odd.

Andy came barrelling through the door with a nurse.

"JAY!" he yelled. "You're up!"

I went to clear my voice to answer, but my throat was dried out and stung. The nurse knew exactly what was going on, and left - only to return with a styrofoam cup of water. It burned going down as it was fixing my problem.

I took a breath after gulping almost the entire cup. Andy smiled. He was beaming that I was awake. I deduced that he had been pretty worried.

"So," began the nurse. She spoke with a soft tone and caring eyes. "As soon as you're feeling a little better, and we have you down the rest of the IV fluids, you should be good to go!" she chirped. "The doctor would like to speak with you real quick though." With another smile, she turned on her heel and gave a small wave before leaving the room. Andy sighed.

"This place is the pits, man," he said. "They ask too many god damned questions, they make you feel unimportant, AND it smells like death. Plus the food in the caf isn't fit to feed mice, so..." he trailed off. "Let's get you out of here!"

20 minutes later, an average-height man walked through the doorway. He had salt-and-pepper hair, glasses perched on the end of his nose, and a busy air about him. He reminded me of Doctor Oz.

"So, Jada...you know what you're in here for?" he asked. I panicked. Should I tell him I don't go by Jada anymore? What if he asks questions or tells me to stay longer because he wants to be ignorant? My heart rate picked up. The monitor I was attached to via a clip on my finger began beeping rapidly. What if he knew my parents somehow? They were far away now, but that was a can of worms that I didn't want to open.

Andy spoke up after clearing his throat. "Jay, sir, Jada hasn't been used in years." There was a look of surprise in the doctor's eyes, followed by understanding.

"Ah," he said, clearing his throat. The beeping on the heart monitor hadn't slowed, and the doctor glanced at it.

"Well, you can calm down." he said. "My son was born female. I understand - and it doesn't bother me in the slightest." I released a breath I had unknowingly been holding in. We were on a good page.

"However, the issue at hand is severe dehydration. Normally, in a case like this, I would keep you overnight just to make sure you were getting enough fluids with an intravenus. However," the doctor took a breath and shot a look at Andy.

"Someone has been extremely persistent in attempting to convince me to discharge you into his care. And it worked." Andy smirked and looked at the ground, resting his hand on top of mine on the bed. My chest felt warm with comfort.

"However, we do just have to check you over and make sure everything is alright with you." I nodded the best I could, and flipped my hand over to squeeze Andy's before letting go and propping myself up for the exam. Typical blood pressure, check of the lungs, pupils, throat, ears, and joints.

"You seem good to go," he said. "but I need you to promise to drink at least 70 ounces a day to keep yourself well enough, especially with it being hot out. Sound good?" I smiled and nodded.

"I promise." I said.

And with that, he shook our hands, and left to sign the discharge papers.