Stay With Me - A KathNiel Story

Chapter 17

Kath slowly woke up, stretching the best she could without it hurting her side but she opened her eyes when she felt someone holding her hand. She couldn't help but smile when she saw it was DJ. "You... you really did stay." She breathed. She had no idea how much time had passed since as they kept the curtains closed, even though they were on the second floor of the dorm building. They didn't want to risk anything happening that would get Kath thrown out onto the streets again - that was all Miles cared about. She didn't care whether she got herself kicked out of the University for breaking the rules, all she cared about was that Kath had a place to stay as she got better.

"I said I would, didn't I?" DJ reminded her, his voice soft as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "How are you feeling?"

"My joints ache a little... and without the morphine, I know my side would be throbbing." Kath said. DJ could tell she was still tired and she would be for a while - her body was exhausted from trying to fight the sepsis, he'd been assured by both Amanda and Richard that it was completely normal for her to be in pain and exhausted, that they were good signs instead of bad. It meant she was in remission.

"You're still on bedrest for at least another couple of days." DJ said and Kath's eyebrows creased together as she realized something.

"How... how long have I been here like this?" She asked, nervous for the answer and DJ sighed, giving her hand another gentle squeeze.

"Twelve days." DJ said honestly and Kath's eyes widened, filling with tears.

"I-It can't have been that long... y-you can't have looked after me for that long..." Kath trailed off, seeing the honesty in DJ's eyes and it was enough to make her tears fall. "Where did you get enough medical supplies to look after me for twelve days and beyond that? I-I doubt any of this is what you can buy in a drugstore." Kath said and DJ cracked a smile.

"The perks of being at University for computer stuff, your classmates are sometimes smarter than you... some girl taught me how to get onto the dark web in my first year at University, so I already knew how... and you can buy whatever you want from there, guaranteed next day delivery. We had enough to help you through the night when we found you and the rest of the supplies came the next day - Richard just told me what we needed and wrote it down since as I can't spell any of the stuff they've been treating you with." DJ said with a light chuckle and he gave her a soft smile when he saw how shocked she was.

"I-Isn't that dangerous?"

"No... corruption is everywhere, even in hospitals and the medical industry. Nobody can trace it back to us anyway, since as I also know how to make any IP address untraceable thanks to the same girl." DJ said and Kath locked her eyes with his.

"Your girlfriend?"

"I'm not really the boyfriend type." He admitted and Kath nodded, understanding what he meant - he was a player, instead of a man who wanted a true relationship.

"Can... can you read to me again?" Kath asked after a moment of silence and DJ's smile grew.

"Sure, why?"

"I... I like the sound of your voice, it's calming." Kath breathed and DJ fought off a grin as he slowly let go of Kath's hand so that he could stand up - it felt wrong to not be holding her hand, though, and it was in that moment that he realized how good it felt to be connected to her in such a simple way.

"Any requests? Miles has practically an entire library here." DJ said, kneeling down by the cardboard box that Miles kept all of her books in since as there wasn't enough storage place to put them anywhere else, so she kept her large book collection in a cardboard box underneath her desk that she never used.

"If she has 'Before I Die' by Jenny Downham, she's a legend... if not, anything with a murder in it is good - I like murder mysteries." Kath said and DJ burst out laughing, but he pulled out a book and Kath smiled when she saw the cover - 'Before I Die'.

"Miles's always raving about this book, telling me to read it... I guess now is the perfect chance." He said. "She's not into murder mysteries, but I'll go to the University library and get as many Agatha Christie books as I can carry and we'll work our way through them -  how's that?" DJ asked and Kath couldn't help but smile wider, nodding her head and she curled her fingers around DJ's as he held her hand again. Kath closed her eyes as DJ started to read her favorite book to her, soothing her.

Miles was about to go into the bedroom to ask if Kath felt up to trying to eat, but she froze when she heard DJ reading aloud to her. She couldn't help but smile.

"What is it?" Amanda asked.

"DJ's falling in love," Miles whispered.

"That boy has never been in love."

"He is now - I'm sure of it." Miles beamed.

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