Hiding Place || Tori Kelly

John 10:10

continued

Tori and André sat in the waiting room of the local hospital waiting for Tori's name to be called. The night was starting to wear on the artist forcing her to lay her head on her aspiring youth pastors shoulder. André looked down to his wife and could see that Tori was exhausted. "You feeling better?" André asked. Tori shook her head with her eyes shut.

"My headache is getting worse," Tori whispered. André placed his arms around Tori's shoulder and pulled her in tightly. He hated seeing her in pain or upset, so he was definitely hurting.

12 AM

Tori was finally admitted into the hospital and lying in the bed hooked up to monitors for her blood pressure and child. "Alright, Tori," Doctor Robbins said, coming in with Tori's chart. She shut the sliding door behind herself and sat on the stool next to Tori's bed. "I ran a culture on your urine and blood. Sadly, you have Pyelonephritis. It's a kidney infection and because you have no pre-existing condition that would explain it, we are going to keep you overnight and tomorrow to be on the safe side. Hopefully, you won't need surgery, but at this point, it's too early to tell," Arizona sighed. "Our head of urology will be up here soon, to give a more in-depth answer. And if it comes to surgery, I will be in the OR watching the babies heart rate the entire time," she assured.

"You won't have to deliver the baby right? She'll be okay?" Tori protectively asked. Arizona sighed with a forced smile.

"Hopefully it won't have to come to that. I checked Bean again and she, for the sake of not knowing, is okay. Bean is moving around and perfectly fine," The fetal surgeon replied. The room went quiet as the doctor left the couple alone. André took Tori's hand into his and gave it a firm squeeze.

"Don't worry, babe. It's in God's hands. Now get some rest before this other doctor comes in," André smiled. Tori accepted his positivity and slowly shut her eyes to the sound of his low humming.

flashback

Tori and André stood at odds. They were supposed to be having a nice dinner before Tori went to Dallas to record her first Gospel album. "Why can't I stay in your room and we just have two beds?" André fought. Tori rolled her eyes with a groan.

"I told you why! If you can't stay in my house where I have two beds, why would I let you stay in my room where the beds are closer?" Tori asked as if it was obvious. André folded his arms. He looked like a child about to throw a tantrum.

"Tori, we aren't going to do anything, just because we are in the same room. We have self control," André argued. Tori rose an eyebrow in disbelief.

"So, that wasn't you on my back the other night at that party?" She sarcastically asked. André stayed silent. "Exactly. Who knows what's going to happen in Dallas? I want our relationship to be different from the last. And we can't do that by repeating the same steps from the last," Tori said as calmly as possible. She was frustrated that he couldn't see how important this was. "We've made it this far. We are almost there! Don't let this stain what we've created!" Tori pleaded. André saw a shift from annoyance to desperation in his fiancé's eyes. "You are studying. You are learning. You want to become the youth pastor! Act like one!" Tori gathered the rest of the dishes for dinner and headed into the dining room. André leaned against the wall, disappointed in himself. What was he doing? He knew better and he knew Tori was right. Why was he allowing his temptations to come in between his relationship with the love of his life?

fin

Tori's hand fidgeted as it looked for its missing counterpart. With a start, Tori woke up afraid that she was alone. And to her distaste, the lights were off and André was nowhere to be found. "Dré," Tori groggily asked, grimacing at the sound of her voice. Tori cleared her throat as her husband came into the dark room with a cup and a small blanket draped over his arm. She watched and it seemed like he couldn't even see her.