Weathered Love

NOLAN

**Author's Note: this chapter contains some violence. If you're sensitive to violence or may be triggered, please remember to self-care. Thanks**

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"You know you're supposed to take it easy, so what do you do? Injure your back," Ivan lectured. "You're lucky you didn't hurt your kidney in the process. Are you trying to get yourself killed?" he continued to berate me. I just started laughing. They had given me some powerful pain medication. I didn't break anything, but they wanted to keep me at the hospital overnight to make sure there was nothing they missed.

"I love you, Ivan," I responded, holding out my hand so he could take it. He was my emergency contact while we lived in California, so I knew he was extremely concerned when he got a call from the hospital about me. I wanted to assure him that I was alright. He reluctantly took my hand and squeezed it. He wasn't in a drug-induced good mood like I was.

"Hey," Kristoff stated as he poked his head into the room. I noticed Ivan narrow his eyes at Kristoff. Clearly, Ivan blamed him for what happened to me. "Sorry, I didn't think she'd actually jump, or at least, that she wouldn't require hospitalization after," Kristoff apologized. I noticed him cringe under Ivan's gaze.

"Unicorn, it's OK," I tried to assure him.

"Unicorn?" Kristoff looked confused.

"If you weren't lying in a hospital bed, I'd kill you for using that nickname in front of other people right now," Ivan threatened.

I laughed again. "But it's such a great nickname!" I insisted. "Unicorn," I lightly called out in awe.

"I need to get my hands on whatever she's on," Kristoff joked. Ivan sighed and sat in the chair next to my bed. Kristoff pulled a chair up next to Ivan's and did the same. I was still holding Ivan's hand and tried to move so that I could hold Kristoff's with my other hand.

"Ivy, you're not supposed to twist around like that," Ivan groaned. He passed my hand off to Kristoff so I'd stop moving.

"But I wanna hold both of your hands," I whined. Ivan then reached out and held on to a few of my fingers while Kristoff held onto the remainder of my hand. It was a true testament of the patience of both men that they were willing to accommodate my ridiculous request.

"I wonder what Heaven is like," I stated out of nowhere.

"What?" Kristoff asked. He looked confused.

"Yeah, like is it with angels singing and trumpets and clouds everywhere, or is it different for each person, or is it something we've never experienced before?" I continued to wonder aloud. Those drugs were taking me in some unexplored places.

"I'm not sure," Kristoff stated. "Maybe there's no Heaven," he continued.

"Of course there's a Heaven!" I insisted.

"Ivy, remember when we were kids and we were learning how to ride bikes?" Ivan asked me. I imagine he was trying to veer the topic away from something that was about to turn into a fight. I nodded at him. "Remember how exhilarating that feeling was?" he continued to question. I nodded again. "Are the drugs anything like that?" he continued.

"No, because I felt everything when I was riding my bike," I stated. "I only feel floating with these drugs. And purple elephants."

I noticed the confused looks on Ivan's and Kristoff's faces but was too engrossed in the light feeling I was experiencing to bother explaining to them what I meant. Or to figure out what the confusion was about.

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The next day, the doctors determined I hadn't caused any serious or lasting damage to my spine and let me go home, on the condition that I truly take it easy this time. I wasn't allowed to carry anything for at least a week, and only up to ten pounds for another week. I was allowed to slowly work my way up to carrying heavy objects, taking it a week at a time.