My Protector

My Protector Part 5

The next day I have Dean drive me to the hospital first thing in the morning. I walk to my fathers bed and he's awake. He looks so much better without the tube down his throat. More....alive. He turns his head and looks over at me. "Hey Rabbit." he says weakly. "Hey Daddy." I pull up a chair and sit next to his bed. "Hey come up here. There's more than enough room for the both of us." he says. He looks a little better but still frail and thin. I climb up and sit next to him.  He sits up and puts his arm around me.

He sighs and when I look in his eyes I see an emptiness that cannot be filled. "Nicole, I know what the doctors told you. As you can see, I'm not brain dead and I'm breathing on my own." he says. I perk up a little but.  "So that means you're gonna make it right?" I ask. He takes a deep breath. "I don't know about that. The doctors say I may die." I turn away from him and cover my face. "Hey look at me." he says calmly. I face him but don't look him in the eye. "I need you to be strong." When he says that his voice cracks. I turn around and there are tears going down his cheeks. "Please be strong, love. Promise me that no matter what happens, you'll be strong." he says.

"I promise." I say. My vision goes blurry with the tears forming in my eyes.  He takes my hands and kisses them and then kisses the side of my head.  He puts his arms around me to hug me. I spend the entire day with him enjoying every moment. It was 10:00 and I was still with my dad. We were sharing a strawberry shortcake and watching Tom&Jerry. "I remember you used to drive me crazy with this show. I always thought you and your brother would end up like this." he says.

"Well me being Jerry right?" I say. He laughs and nods. I look at the time tell him I have to go. "I enjoyed being with you today. Hospital food isn't as bad as I thought." I say putting on my jacket. My dad chuckles and agrees. "You should come here more often. It's boring here." he says. "Why don't you get a roommate?" I ask leaning on the bed. "I'll just stick to my TV." he says. I shake my head and laugh. "And people wonder where I get the antisocial trait from. I'll see you tomorrow." I say and kiss his cheek. I walk outside and I'm about to call Dean when I see him sitting in his car. I knock on the glass and he unlocks the door.

"Hey. Where you waiting for me?" I ask. "Well I was going to come here around but 2, but something told me to wait until now." he says. "Good choice." On the way back to the hotel he asks me if I'm hungry.  "No, I had hospital food.  Pretty good." Dean scrunches his nose like he smelled something horrid. "Gross dude. We'll I'm starving." He pulls into the parking lot of a diner and takes the keys.  "Are you coming? Unless you can take the cold." I get out the car and slam the door. "Hey watch it. This wasn't cheap." I give him a look and he walks inside the diner.

I order french fries with a vanilla shake and Dean orders a burger with fries and a root beer float. When the food comes I just stare it his plate. "How could you eat that?" I ask. "Eat what?" He gives me a confused look. "That burger. Meat itself." I say. He gives me an evil grin and takes a big bite out of the burger. "Because it tastes great." he says with his mouth full. "Dude. Don't talk with your mouthful. It's not polite." I say. "Who says I'm polite? Lunatic fringe remember?" I nod and eat my fries. "Nicole I'm happy to see you eating. You've gotten really thin." he says.

We finish eating and sit at the diner for a while. When we go back to the hotel the door is unlocked and Ryan is sitting there waiting for me. "Where were you?! You had me worried sick about you!" he says. "Awe, you were worried about me?" I say teasing. His face turns red. "That's not the point! You should've called or messaged me!" he says half yelling. "Alright. No need to shout." I say. I take a shower and put on gray sweatpants and a black shirt. I plop down next to my brother. "You know instead of you guys sleeping on the couch on of you can sleep on the bed in the room." Ryan says. Me and my brother look at each other and I push him and run towards the room.