I Built This Home For Me, For You

Chapter 27

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It's after midnight here for me so it's basically the next day😉 For the one and only LauraHartwell

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"Lauren," Camila breathlessly sobbed, her fingers shaking as she reached out to trail her fingertips along Lauren's prominent cheekbone, before she buried her face in Lauren's shoulder, listening to the shuddering breath that her wife drew in.

            "Camila," Lauren hoarsely replied, coughing slightly as she tried to clear her throat. Sitting back up, Camila wiped at her eyes, sobbing as she looked down at Lauren, who was frowning slightly, her eyes drifting open and closed as she tried to fight off the drugs. "Camila ... the girls- Daisy."

            Choking on a sob of relief, Camila gave her a shaky smile, "She's okay. You're both okay. Hang on a second, let me get a doctor."

            Jumping off the bed, Camila raced over to the door, sliding it open and calling out to the nurses station just outside, getting the attention of a doctor talking to one of the nurses. The doctor gave the order for them to page Lauren's doctor, and quickly rushed over to Camila, following her inside. Lauren's head lolled to the side as she turned to look at her wife, a nagging feeling that she was missing something. She felt like she'd been asleep for a year, and her arms and legs were too heavy for her to lift, and her throat felt so dry and scratchy. Things were coming back to her in bits and pieces, but the overwhelming thought was of her daughter, who she'd last seen unconscious and upside down, strapped into her seat with blood running down her face. Swallowing her questions, she laid still in bed while the doctor checked her vitals, and by the time she was finished, another doctor was there, giving her a kind smile as she explained everything that happened. Lauren felt hollow at the mention of a coma, and she immediately turned to Camila, taking in the dark circles and haunted look in her eyes, looking no different than before. It couldn't have been that long, surely.

            "How long?" Lauren croaked, a tight feeling in her chest.

            "Five days," Camila said, her voice breaking as she gave Lauren a tense smile.

            "Fuck," Lauren exclaimed, eliciting a surprised laugh from Camila and Doctor Clarke, "I missed your birthday."

Camila clapped a hand over her mouth as she laughed, her eyes crinkling at the corners and her breathing hitching as she shook her head. "I love you."

            Closing her eyes, Lauren laughed, "Yeah?"

            "Yeah," Camila shakily told her, her hands skimming over Lauren's cast on her arm, and her scabbed cheekbones and unwashed hair, "So much. I thought- god, Lauren, I've never been so scared." And then Camila was shaking with sobs as she buried her face in Lauren's chest, her hands balled up in the thin fabric of the hospital gown, and Lauren was struggling to sit up and make her arms cooperate so that she could wrap her wife in a hug. It had been fine for her, she couldn't remember a thing, but she knew it would've been days of stress and worry for Camila, who was already dealing with a lot anyway.

            "Lauren, I'm going to need to you keep still, please," Doctor Clarke told her, "You might not be able to feel it with all the medication, but you're very injured and you need to make sure you don't further hurt yourself."

            Letting out a frustrated sigh, Lauren stopped straining herself as she tried to sit up, and she settled for twitching her fingers, rubbing tiny circles onto Camila's waist, on the tiny patch of exposed skin between her shirt and jeans. Her own eyes were prickling with tears, and she couldn't focus on anything except the warmth of her wife curled up on her chest, the sounds of the doctor's words falling on deaf ears as she listened to Camila's quiet sobs. They weren't even afforded any privacy, because there were nurses coming in to check her blood pressure, and doctors ordering tests and interns asking her questions. Camila ended up sitting in a vinyl chair, her phone pressed to her ear as she spoke to their family, Lauren assumed, her worried brown eyes never straying from Lauren's face for even a moment. It was too far though, and too crowded, and Lauren felt suffocated and invaded as her bandages were changed and she was poked and prodded for what felt like hours, just wanting to kiss her wife the whole time.