Take Me Home {Completed}

Chapter Sixty-One

Unedited

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"As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others." - Audrey Hepburn

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Chapter Sixty-One:

Parker walked out to the waiting room to find that everyone was sleeping soundly. He was tempted to go back to Nola's room, without waking up a soul and allow everyone to continue to get some sleep. He was seconds from making a decision when he saw someone move.

As if Mrs. Sims sensed her son's presence, she lifted her head from her husband's shoulder and blinked, pushing back the sleep that lured her. "Parks?" Mrs. Sims tiredly asked, sitting up straight. "Has she woken up yet?" Hopefulness leaked in her voice.

Parker nodded, "yes, she has."

Mrs. Sims nudged her husband with her elbow, waking him up. "Todd, Nola has woken up."

Shoving his hands in his front pocket, Parker spoke, "She said she is down to see a few people now. However, Nurse Heather said she is only allowed two people in the room at a time. They don't want to overload her and overcrowd the room."

"That sounds reasonable," Mrs. Sims muttered. "Nola's parents should go in first," Mrs. Sims glanced around the room for the couple. "I swore they were here earlier," Jen noticed that Nola's parents were no longer occupying the room.

Not caught up with where Nola's parents were or caring, Parker decided that it would be best for Hannah to go in first. "Hannah has school in the morning. I think we should let her go in for a few minutes," He stated, motioning to the woman curled up in a lounge chair, placed in the corner of the room.

"Yes, she should. That girl deserves to go home and get some real rest before class." Mrs. Sims agreed. "After that, if Nola's parents aren't found let Claudine, Caesar, and Remus go in since they have work. Of course, you will have to split them up because two can only go in at once."

Parker nodded, "Then you two should go in. Y'all deserve to go home, too . . . I'm going to go get Hannah up," he murmured quickly before walking over to her.

Once he had reached Hannah, Parker leaned over and gently shook her shoulder in an attempt to wake her up. "Hannah?"

Hannah jolted up, frightened by the sudden wake-up. She calmed down when she came face to face with Parker. "Oh, sorry." Hannah rubbed her eyes and grabbed her phone that was beside her. She clicked on the home screen. "It's two in the morning." Hannah looked up at Parker, who was allowing Hannah a moment to get fully awake. "Has anything changed?"

Parker gave a small smile, "I don't find pleasure in waking people up from their beauty sleep."

Hannah raised an eyebrow in confusion, "So . . . Something has changed?"

Rolling his eyes, Parker responded, "Yes, Nola woke up about a half hour ago. She can see people now. You're first up, Kiddo."

"I'm pretty sure we are the same age," Hannah stated as she stood up and collected her things.

"We might be but you are so much shorter than me. You remind me of a kid."

Hannah couldn't help but glare at Parker for making a comment on her height. "Shove it," Hannah remarked as she went around Parker and began her journey to Nola's room.

A certain sense of nervousness washed over Hannah as she began to go to Nola's room. She knew that her nerves came from the fact that she hated the hospitals, especially the closed in rooms. However, Hannah couldn't help but to also be nervous about Nola and if she liked the decorations, finding them not too over the top. The last thing Hannah wanted to do was to upset Nola, in fact, her main goal was to befriend Nola.

Stepping into Nola's room, Hannah saw that Nola's bed was no longer in an almost flat, lying down position. Instead, part of Nola's bed was adjusted, putting Nola in a sitting up position.

Hannah noticed that Nola's eyes were closed and for a second she wondered if Nola had really woken up.

However, once Hannah reached the end of Nola's bed, Nola opened her eyes. "Hannah? Parker told me yo where here," Suddenly Nola found herself losing her voice. She reached over with shaky hands and grabbed her styrofoam cup. Her hand continuously trembled as she tried to bring it up to her lips.

"Here, let me help you," Hannah stated as she walked over and grabbed the cup from Nola's hands. Looking down at the contents of the cup, Hannah noticed that it was ice chips. She gave a smile that didn't reach her eyes as memories flooded her mind. "My mother used to be so pissed off that the doctors would only let her eat ice chips after a surgery," Hannah commented as she raised the cup to Nola's lips and tilted it, just enough for Nola to not get too many chips.

Once Nola was done, Hannah placed the cup back down on the table beside Nola.

"Thank you, my hands are weak for the moment."

"Understandable, you haven't moved in weeks."

Nola embraced the silence that fell over the both of them, just for a second, before she decided to ask a question. "Your mother, why was she. . ." Nola's question went unfinished as she realized it was not her place to ask why her mother was in the hospital and had surgery. 

"My mother case was different from yours," Hannah spoke without realizing she had. After a moment passed, Hannah released a silent sigh, feeling as if she could open up a little bit more, "She had to have a lot of operations. . ." The topic of her mother was at the tip of her tongue but Hannah chose not to expand on the conversation just then. "Ummm, the only reason I mentioned the ice chips was because I know they recommend it to hydrate your mouth, not to hydrate you per say . . . The medicine they have given you, or even probably the mere fact that you have been in a coma for three weeks, is probably why they don't want to give you anything else, for right now. Your stomach just might not be able to handle it."

Nola nodded, "y-yeah, they said something like that . . . It helps though with my dry mouth and apparently moments when I lose my voice too," Nola gave a weak smile. Her eyes shifted around the room before landing back on Hannah. "I really appreciate what you have done, with the room and the flowers."

Hannah gave a grin in happiness that Nola approved, "Oh, it was no big deal."

Nola looked down at her blanket, "No it was. This was a lot of work, I really am so very thankful . . . and curious," Nola boldly added as she looked up. "Why? Why did you do all this?"

"I . . . Well, you see I was hoping we . . . could be friends. At least, I would like us too."

Nola's eyebrows furrowed, "Why? We have never truly talked in the past, at school. What's changed?"

Hannah tried to swallow the lump that was in her throat. She knew that in order for Nola to understand why she wanted to be her friend, Hannah would have to explain her story - her story involving her mother. "Well, you see, when I was little. . ." 

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