Room with a View - [Jopper] ✓

Watch Me Fall, Watch Me Rise

Two weeks. Two weeks since Joyce was moved to isolation. She had been making small milestones even though she was still sedated and intubated. The cloud in her lungs was reducing each day, she continued to fight the ventilator; proving that her lung function was still somewhat there, she was no longer extremely contagious, and the color had returned to her skin.

Not a day went by that Hop didn't visit her in her room, having to be nearly dragged out at the end of each day. Today? Today was gonna be a little different though. 

--

"Hi, sweetheart," Hopper whispered as he walked into Joyce's isolation unit. A scrappy yellow scrub gown wrapped around his body tightly as his guitar was strung over his back. She didn't look any different than the last few visits he made, but she looked better than she did on day one. The same tubes still hung from her lips, ventilating each breath for her.

Before he sat down, Hop leaned over and kissed her forehead, maneuvering the tubes and wires. Saying it was hard to see her like this would be an understatement. He missed the Joyce that had rosy pink cheeks and sparkling brown eyes. She was in there, somewhere.

Hopper removed the guitar from his back and laid it gently in his lap, positioning it to play.

"I remember, trying not to stare, the night that I first met you
You had me mesmerized
And three weeks later, in the front porch light
Taking forty-five minutes to kiss goodnight
I hadn't told you yet
But I thought I loved you then"

He sang quietly as his fingers plucked at the strings. It was hard to hold back his own tears as he played the song to her.

"And now you're my whole life
Now you're my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you, girl
Like a river meets the sea,
Stronger than it's ever been.
We've come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then"

The sound of the air-locked door opening alerted Hopper that they were no longer alone together. His fingers continued to strum as he realized Jenny was leaning against the wall, listening to the music.

"She loves country music. I hate it but she just adores it." Hop laughed quietly. Jenny smiled and pulled another chair up to the side of Joyce's bed. Surprisingly to Hopper, the nurse started singing the next verse.

"And I remember, taking you back to right where I first met you,
You were so surprised
There were people around, but I didn't care
I got down on one knee right there and once again,
I thought I loved you then"

They sang together as Hopper played, both of them keeping their eyes on Joyce as the small melody hummed through the air. The two swayed in their seats to the music, praying that Joyce could hear it too.

"And I can just see you, with a baby on the way
And I can just see you, when your hair is turning gray
What I can't see is how I'm ever gonna love you more
But I've said that before"

Hop and Jenny hummed the harmony in unison, letting their vocals strum against the walls. She could see the tears begin to well in Hopper's eyes as he continued playing, he looked as if it was taking every ounce of him not to break down.

--

Two weeks and three days. Joyce's temperature was officially out of the 100's. Her white cell count was coming out of the dangerously high zone, and Hopper had a special surprise planned. 

"CDC and Owens will have my ass over the mantle if I let you put a Christmas tree in an ISO room, Hop." Jenny chuckled as she finished drawing Joyce's labs. 

"C'mon, Jennifer. Don't you think she'd love it? What if they bring her out of the sedation before Christmas! She'll get to see a tree!" Hopper grinned like a child in a candy store as he pleaded.

"How about we compromise? I'll let you put one outside her window since we don't have any other patients up here to worry about. Deal?" the nurse gave him a smile with her brows raised.

"Deal!" Jim smiled back, already planning on making it the most spectacular tree he could possibly produce. 

And that he did. Gold and red bulb ornaments hung around the 4-foot tree in her window. Hopper had given Jenny a $100 dollar bill and told her to find the best ornaments she could so they could put some much needed color to the stark hallway. Even Owens had helped hang a couple bulbs on the tree.

--

Three weeks. Three weeks from November 22nd, the last day he had heard her beautiful voice. Every single moment he could, Hopper spent holding her hand and talking to her. He didn't have much to say on this day though. It was more or less just memories at this point, thinking back to all those beautiful smiles and laughs that made his world spin off its axis.

His hands gently gripped her waist as she leaned against him, swaying along to the music that echoed off of Jim's phone. Joyce had told him she always wanted to dance in the moonlight, which provoked him to take her up to the roof and dance with her. Neither of them could wipe the smiles off their faces as they leaned against each other under the night sky. 

-

"Right there, that string. Put your ring finger over it and strum with your right hand. There you go!" Hopper laughed as Joyce played a note on his guitar. Her pearly white smile of accomplishment made his heart flip. Her nose crinkled and her smile grew bigger when he pressed a small kiss to her cheek. 

-

"I think that's Orion's belt." Hopper squinted as he pointed to the sky. He and Joyce were lying back on the couch on the roof, her body tightly nestled into his arms. "Hop, that's the Big Dipper." she laughed, nearly collapsing her head against his chest in hysterics. 

-

"Have faith, Hop." "Keep faith!" "Have a little faith" all the time, those words left Joyce's lips like a constant mantra. He never understood it, not until now. Not until having faith that she would get better was his only lifeline.

"I kept my faith, Joycie." he whispered, his thumb stroking the top of her hand as he smiled. 

--

Three weeks and five days, he painted her nails. 

Three weeks and six days, he hung lights up in her room.

Four weeks, he told her all the things he couldn't wait to see with her.

Four weeks and one day, he played all her favorite songs on his guitar.

Four weeks and two days, he prayed with her.

Four weeks and three days. That was the day that everything changed.

--

December 23rd, officially four weeks and three days since he had last heard her voice, seen her smile, and laughed with her. All he had done that day was sit in her room with her hand in his, just staring at the little black eyelashes that rested against her cheeks.

Owens had tapped on the window, smiling bigger than Hopper had ever seen him. Jim kissed Joyce's forehead, promising he would be back before going to see Sam.

"I have an early Christmas gift for you." the doctor grinned as Hopper came out of the airlock entry.

"Please tell me you're gonna wake her up!" Jim pleaded, tears threatening to fall harder than ever before.

"Even better. We're prepping her for surgery, Hop. A healthy set of lungs just came in and she's a match." Owens said with a prideful grin as he patting Hopper's shoulder.

The tears welling in Hopper's eyes crashed down his cheeks as he launched into Sam, hugging the doctor as tightly as possible. 

"Wait a second," Jim said as pulled back. "If you have lungs, that means–" 

"Congratulations." Owens smiled.