Chapter forty-nine

The group hadn’t been in my room for more than five minutes before a senior nurse and Paul showed up, telling them all to leave.

“Miss. Wilson needs her rest. You all know she’s safe now, you can talk when she’s more recovered.” The nurse said, kindly but firmly.

“Everybody out,” Paul said more gruffly. He was clearly there to make sure everyone listened.

“We’ve got shit to do and none of you are helping Sarah by lazing around her room and invading her space. Let’s go!” He said. Everyone quickly stood, said their goodbyes, and shuffled past Paul out of the room. Harry however, didn’t even look at Paul or the nurse, but remained solely focused on me.

“Mr. Styles?” The nurse prompted, forcing him to finally look up.

“You want a personal invitation, Harry?” Paul interjected. Harry looked like he was about to protest, but I spoke first.

“I’d really rather he stayed.” I told them both and I felt Harry squeeze me hand.

“Dear, you need your sleep. Rest will be the only thing to help you get better enough to be discharged tomorrow.” The nurse insisted.

I shook my head firmly.

“I’ll sleep better if he stays.” I told her. Paul smiled at me and cleared his throat.

“Couldn’t the boy just stay?” He asked the nurse. “I’ll leave a bodyguard here, you won’t have to worry about him and I can personally vouch that he’d never do anything detrimental to her. If it was better for him to leave, he’d have been out the door a long time ago.” Paul told her.
The nurse frowned, looked back and forth between Harry and I and Paul a couple of times before sighing and nodding.

“Alright,” she said and began walking to the door. “But make sure you sleep!” She told me, hesitating in the doorway before leaving.

“Thanks, Paul,” I said with a smile.

He winked at me.

“Feel better, kiddo.”

And with the quiet click of the door, they were gone, and once again we were alone. I looked back to Harry’s face and he had his eyes on me. I sighed in contentment. He smiled in response, his right hand caressing my hairline as he held one of my hands tightly in his left.

“You’re not sleeping,” he said after a couple moments. I breathed a laugh. How could I sleep after the last forty-eight hours I’d had? I’d gone from feeling lost, fighting with Harry, to immediately facing a life-threatening disaster, to blissfully happy. To say I was on an emotional roller coaster would be an understatement.

“How do you expect me to sleep?” I retorted.

Harry looked intentionally innocent.

“Doctor’s orders, not mine.” He said.

I laughed.

“Actually, she was a nurse.”

He laughed in response, resuming his previous employment of stroking the contours of my face.

“Doesn’t matter,” he eventually said, serious again, “she’s right.”

“Harry,” I started, “I just woke up. I’m wide awake.” I told him, and he nodded understandingly.

“And,” I added hesitantly, his eyes shooting to mine, “you’re here with me. I don’t want to waste time by sleeping.”

“Babe,” he sighed. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be here as long as you need me.”

I smiled.

“That’s not true, you guys are going to be flying back within a day or so.” I remembered their itinerary from when I was touring with them.

“Regardless,” he said and his eyes danced like shimmering emeralds as he spoke, “I’ll be here as long as you need me.” He repeated.

I smiled at him, squeezing his hand with my limited strength.

“I’ll always need you.” I told him. My eyes began to drift close, despite my previous words. It was as if just knowing that he wasn’t going anywhere had brought me an unprecedented kind of solace.

“So will I, sweetheart, so will I.” I heard him say as he brought our entwined hands close enough to his face so that he could place a gentle kiss on the back of my hand, leaving it there nestled against his face as I drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

--

Somehow, I’d managed to sleep the day and night away, as when I awoke it was already two thirty-one pm the next day. My eyes groggy and my body still tired from its ordeal, I was sore and disoriented.

“Sarah, hi, good morning, love,” Harry’s velvet voice greeted me; his face and wild curls just coming into focus through my blurry, sleep vision.

“Hi,” I responded, but my voice was not my own, sounding creaking to my ears. “What time is it?”
I asked, confused by the light emanating from the window behind him.

“Just passed two thirty,” he informed me.

“Christ, I slept long.” I said, stunned.

Harry just laughed in response.

“I’d say you earned it.” He smiled at me. He looked positively elated, and it pleased me to think that I was the cause of his joy. All at once, the world seemed right again. “Do you feel any better?”

I nodded.

“Much, I mean still sore, but nowhere near what it was like before. I’m definitely healing.” I told him. I could feel where the procedure had taken place but I did not have the courage to peek beneath the gauze. It was sure to be gruesome if it looked anything like how it felt.

“Brilliant,” he said excitedly. “Doctor Blithely said he’s going to check on you at three and then you can check out, go home.”

Home. I smiled at the thought. It had been a while since anything had felt like home to me. Even my flat, so familiar, didn’t seem like home anymore. Home was where Harry was, I’d come to realize, because when you love someone it doesn’t matter where you are so long as they’re with you. It had been a difficult lesson to learn, but learn it I had and I hoped to never repeat the experience.

“I cannot tell you how good that sounds.” I smiled at him widely.

“You’re telling me, no more hospital food.” He joked but then his eyes seemed to drift.

“What is it?” I asked him, perceptive of the change.

“I was just wondering,” he started but the words seemed to fail him. He started again. “I know that you moved some of your stuff out of the house, but I was wondering–” He stopped suddenly but I realized what he was getting at and I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my features. “I mean, I don’t mind if you want to go back to your flat, but the thought of not being near you – of not taking care of you – I just need to know– ”

“Harry,” I stopped him. “Are you asking if you can take me home?” I smiled and just like that his tension dissipated.

“I can’t be away from you.” He said simply.
I looked down at his hand and reached for it.

“Home is wherever you are, Harry.” I said simply. His eyes lit up at my words and, for just the second time in almost over a month, he kissed me. This kissed conveyed the pent up passion of a thousand suns, burst forth like a million fireworks, and pulsed through my veins like contagious magma. The taste of his lips, moving in time with mine, the familiar dance of our tongues, and hands that could never succeed in bringing him close enough. If it hadn’t been for the wires, still attaching me to the gurney, my aching abdomen, and the possible entrance of the Doctor at any given time, I would have ripped his shirt off right then and there. As it was, his naked form was all I could think of as I continued to kiss him greedily. As his hands pulled me closer whilst mine tangled in his hair, our lips synchronising perfectly, only one word came to mind: home.

Notes

Hope you guys enjoy this little update. It's a bit slow right now, but it's in the process of wrapping itself up. I hope you all continue to enjoy it as it begins to fade to a close, the chapters should be getting more interesting again :P I really do love hearing from you so, as usual, please rate/comment/subscribe. Sometimes your comments are all I need to help me power through a bit of writer's block ;p