Princess & the Player

thirty one: the hardest thing I ever said

Marco's POV:

Holy shit.

Me cago en Dios.

Full disclosure:  I had never seen anyone this messed up in my life. Yeah, OK, charmed life in that sense. But seeing the body I pretty much worship attached to that much equipment was just mind-blowing. She was bruises and bandages and beeping and clicking. 

And I think her pee was in a bag.

I took a step back. 

Scottie grunted behind me. "Leave now."

"What..."

"Just leave, dude. This is for real."

Hate to be predictable but I took a deep breath and stepped forward again. Belatedly, I noticed the woman in the chair. She stood and introduced herself as a state social worker. I introduced myself as Maggie's boyfriend. 

Yeah, I said it. 

Before I knew it, I was holding Maggie's arm above the IV and kissing the one unbruised spot on her cheek and telling her it was all right. 

This was for real. 

The social worker gave Maggie a card with some emergency numbers on it and left. Scottie was back, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. 

Well, weren't the three of us a club named awkward?

"I..told you..." Maggie looked at me. "Don't...come."

"Maggie, let me look at the brace..." Scottie leaned forward and lifted the blanked to see the plastic lower on her torso. He put a finger under the straps and frowned. "You should be breathing easier by now. The brace is low, not constricting your ribs at all. Can you take 5 deep breaths for me?"

She swallowed nervously and began to take one and immediately started coughing and wincing. 

Scottie shook his head and went to fetch a nurse. They returned and moved Maggie into a more upright position and had her hold a pillow until she'd taken 10 deep breaths. She coughed up a storm trying and began crying. 

The nurse gently explained that she could get pneumonia if she didn't force herself to clear her lungs regularly. Scottie gave her an 'I told you so' shrug. Maggie gave him a look that should have killed him where he stood. 

Eventually they got her sorted and Maggie asked Scottie to leave when the nurse did. It turned out that Maggie could have a 'care partner' in her room 24 hours a day and she got to decide at any given moment who that visitor was. 

She decided on me.

Tough shit, bro.

I dragged the chair back to her side. "OK, so how are you?"

Dirty look.

"OK, Stupid question. Uh, what about Jeb and Laurie. They OK?"

A tear slipped out of her eye but she nodded. 

"Nana Scott won't hurt Laurie, right? Just dress her up like Deep South Barbie?"

She nodded again.

"Jeb's with strangers, though."

She nodded violently. 

"Can you get a visit?"

She nodded, her expression resigned.

"I talked with Queenie - to get custody, you need to get well, get a place to live, get a steady job and then do some paperwork?"

She clawed at my hand and tried to talk. "Go. Back," she rasped. "Too. much."