“Hi beautiful” You boyfriend’s sweet voice filled your room. Raising your hand, you waved at him entering your room while you smiled as much as you could.

Watching him slip through the door to your room, he dropped his bag next to your plastic one as he immediately went over to your side. Pressing a kiss on the top of your head, his fingers gently ran over your hair as he leaned down so his eyes met with yours.

“I’m scared” You whispered, your eyes filling with tears, the words cutting through your tightened throat, as his thumb slowly brushed over your heated skin.

“I am too, but we will get through this. I’m not going anywhere” He whispered as he pressed another kiss against your skin. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

Hating that you couldn’t talk, you laced your hand with his as he got the gist. Holding onto your hand a little tighter, he smiled and kissed your cheek as he got comfortable on the bedside next to you.

Two knocks echoed from the door as the doctor came in with a train of people following behind him.

“So I hear that you have an abscess behind your tonsils?” The doctor pulled out a tongue depressor as your boyfriend moved from the side of the bed for the doctor to examine you.

Nodding your head, he gestured for you to open your mouth. Opening your mouth as wide as you could, he pressed the tongue depressor down against your tongue and opened your mouth wider. Closing your eyes in pain, your boyfriend took hold of your hand tighter as you took deep breaths knowing that it had to be done. Looking into your mouth for a little while longer, he pulled out the wooden tool and pulled back as the nurse slowly pushed some Morphine into your IV.

“We will need to lance, or poke, the abscess so it can drain. We will keep you here for an hour or two afterwards so that you can observe you then you can go home.” The doctor reassured you that he was comfortable doing this procedure or if you weren’t comfortable with it that he could get a specialist but that would take more time.

Choosing him to do it, you just wanted it done and over with. Nodding his head, he ordered Morphine for you and a few other injections into your IV for the procedure. The nurse began to prep you for the procedure, the doctors and extra nurses exited the room to scrub up. Your boyfriend walked over to you as you wrapped your arms around his waist.

Pulling you against him, you could tell by the way that he held you that you the same emotions running through you that were running through him.

“Everything will be alright, I promise.” He whispered as he rubbed your back as the medicine began to ebb away at the pain and the swelling in your throat.

“I love you” You whispered next to his shoulder.

Holding onto you tighter upon hearing your voice. he kissed the top of your head lovingly.

“I love you too” He whispered softly, pressing a kiss on the top of your head, he heard the door open and moved back to the seat lined against the far side of the room.

Keeping your eyes on his, the doctors and interns moved around you and filled the room. The doctor asked the nurse if everything was all ready, nodding her head, she stepped back as another nurse stood by your right side and the doctor on your left.

“I’m going to spray something in your mouth to numb it and then we are going to poke it a few times and then you will be done okay? You need to stay still and open your mouth as wide as you can” The doctor debriefed you as you nodded, your eyes cut through the people around you back to where your boyfriend sat.

“You may leave if you would like” The doctor turned to your boyfriend as he looked back into your eyes.

“I’m going to stay” He smiled as his hand gently rested on your ankle.

Nodding, the doctor turned back around and pulled on his mask, the others in the room did the same as they positioned the light over you, tilting your head back, you closed your eyes as the spray went into your mouth. Feeling the tingling sensation crawl up your nose, you had to take a moment to breath again. Letting the numbing work, the doctor prepared his twelve-gauge needle, feeling the soothing touch of your boyfriend on your ankle, you calmed your breathing as he brushed his thumb over your ankle to help steady you.

“Ready?” The doctor questioned, nodding your head, he opened your mouth and tilted your head back.

Closing your eyes, you awaited any sensation that you could feel, your hands clasped tightly in your lap and your body tense and on the ready. Grabbing onto the sheets, you felt his hand enter your mouth as you just kept your thoughts wondering, yet when you felt the needle poke into you once, your breathing halted. The doctor continued to poke and prod, the pain began to rise as you tensed your body feeling a thick sensation run down your throat. Whining softly, you kept still while tears dripped off of your cheeks.

Nurses whispered words of encouragement beside you as the doctor finished up his procedure. Slowing your breathing, the nurse wiped away your tears as your jaw slowly closed back to normal. Leaning you and your bed back a little, the doctor patted your shoulder before everyone started to leave the room.

Checking over your vitals, the nurses wiped you up and cleaned up the tools that were used on you as you tried to steady your breath. A few more people left the room as you closed your eyes and felt that thick fluid run down your throat.

“You did great” Your boyfriend kissed your forehead as he came over to you, the nurses all left the room as you just nodded, your head rolled over to his shoulder as he rubbed your arm gently.

Letting your body slowly come out of shock, you closed your eyes and used his breath to model your own breathing. Soft and slow touches from your boyfriend caused you to relax, the medication that they have been giving you caused your body to slip into a sleep.

Your boyfriend noticed your slouching and your slowed breathing, kissing your head slowly, he let you lay back while his hand rested in yours. His other hand brushed back some hairs away from your eyes as his gentle touches slowly lulled you into a light sleep.

The door slowly opened to the head nurse, she had a large syringe in her hands, heading over to your IV and uncapped the entry into your vein.

“This is the steroid that is going to help with the swelling, seems like you are doing well” She says as her eyes glance over the numbered vitals across the monitor that hung over your head. “I’ll be back to check on you in a bit”

“Okay, thank you” Your boyfriend smiled at her as he continued to pet your hair, watching her inject the steroid solution into your veins, his eyes lifted to the monitor as there was some beeping coming from the monitor overhead.

“Do you feel okay?” Your boyfriend questioned, his voice getting tense as your eyes opened a little bit to turn your head and look at his face.

“Yeah just a little tired” You told him with heavy breath

“You sure? Nothing hurts?” He questioned, your face slowly loosing it’s color as you began to feel hot and a tightness around your torso.

“Stop holding me so tight” You whispered, bringing your hands up, you rested your hands on the sides of your ribs about where your diaphragm is.

“I wasn’t holding you, sweetie” He told you as your eyes opened and looked over at him, “Just take deep breaths, okay?”

Holding onto his hand, you closed your eyes and focused on your breathing. In 1… 2… 3… and out 3… 2… 1… He watched your heart rate increase and your oxygen levels slowly dropped. Adjusting slightly, you whined and in pain as you found it was harder and more difficult to breath.

“It hurts” You whimpered, gripping onto his hand tightly

“What hurts?” His eyes widened knowing that this isn’t how things are supposed to go.

“Here” You breathed, your hands moving over the bottom of your ribs and your lungs.

Getting up, he went to the door and called for help, a different nurse came running in as things started to become blurred, closing your eyes you tried to focus on your breathing. He explained what was going on as you watched them move around the room.

“I’m going to get another medicine to help with the side effects” The nurse announced before she went out into the hallway and grabbed what she needed to before she returned to the room.

“Tell me how this feels” The nurse quickly injected the antidote into your IV as your boyfriend held your hand. With your body feeling weak and frail, you trusted in the nurses and in your boy that he would take good care of you.

“How’s that?” Your boyfriend questioned noticing that you were breathing easier now.

“Better” You whispered as he kissed your head softly and thanked the nurse quietly as she slipped out the door to leave you to rest and your body to absorb the medications and try and return to homeostasis.

A little time passed as you felt the tight bands around your lungs loosen slowly, “How was work?”

A soft chuckle slipped from your boyfriend’s lips as he smiled and held your hand a little closer, thinking that it was adorable that you asked about him rather than yourself in a time like this.

“It was good, I missed you like crazy though” He smiled and rested his head against you for a moment.

“I missed you too” You whispered back as he slowly told you about his day from beginning to end.

“I’m going to take a few days off just to make sure that you are back to normal before I go back to work” Your boyfriend told you, his fingers slowly brushing over your skin slowly.

“You don’t have to…” You whispered, your eyes peering up to his, “I know how demanding your job can be…”

“Sweetie… you’re more important, besides I can spare to take a few days off” He says with a smile as his fingertips gently played with the ends of your hair.

“Okay, if you say so” You mumbled, feeling your body slowly relax into a painless state for the moment.

“I do” Your boyfriend whispered softly, closing your eyes, you slowly slipped into a light sleep letting time tick by.

A soft knock woke you from your drowsy state as your boyfriend shifted his weight on your bed.

“Here is your discharge papers, you two are cleared to head home, she can dress and then whenever you two are ready we can give her a ride out to your car” The main nurse handed over the papers to your boyfriend as you started to wake up from the relief that you were finally feeling.

Hearing the door slowly close, your boyfriend gently rubbed your shoulder and kissed your head. “Try and wake up love, then we can spend all night at home”

Humming softly, he worked on the paperwork and headed out of the room to turn it in. Trying to change into your street clothes, you managed to pull your shirt over your head before your boyfriend walked through the door. Closing the door quickly, he had his back facing you.

“Do you need any help?” He questioned as you looked up at him.

“Please” You whispered feeling a little dizzy.

Your boyfriend approached you, sitting on the edge of your bed, he carefully grabbed the bunched fabric around your shoulders before helping you slip your arm through your sleeves. Pulling your shirt down over your sickened form, he pulled your pants from the bag and brought them over to you. Bunching the fabric around your ankles, you guided your feet into the legs of the pants as he helped you pull them up.

Grasping onto his shoulders, you slowly stood up and held onto his shoulders as he remained knelt before you. Pulling your pants up over your hips, he zipped up your front and buckled your belt before slowly letting you sit back down on your bed. Handing you your hat, he helped tie your shoes and got you ready for the wheelchair ride out to the car.

Grabbing the nurse, he grabbed your belongings and the three of you headed out of the hospital for the night. The wheelchair stopped under the awning as your boyfriend walked through the sea of cars to find his.