Unnoticed

In Laila's head, she was talking to the man from her previous life, that allowed her to have the life she had now and in the scene it appeared that her conversation with the man was ending and that she had been presented with yet another choice. He told her "It is now time for you to wake-up, but you have a choice to make. The next time I show myself, I will need your answer." Before fading away like a distant memory. 

With those final words, Laila finds herself slowly awaking. Her head is still a bit fuzzy and she feels as if she is still half-asleep, but when she moves, her hand feels that there is something underneath her pillow. As she uses her fingers to feel what the object is, she realizes that was she had seen hadn't been a dream but was real. Slowly her memories returned to her and she started remembering the accident she had been in. Then her eyes opened more fully, now realizing she wasn't in her and Noah's room, she figured she must be in the hospital instead. Her hand immediately went to her stomach. Seeing as she was still pregnant, she let out a sigh of relief that she hadn't lost the baby this time around.

Then she looked around and saw Noah sleeping peacefully next to her. She gently brushed her fingers through his hair before gently grazing his face, seeing how tired he looked. Without making a sound, she watched his softly breathe in and out and wondered if he wasn't feeling sore from sleeping in that position or feeling cold for not having a blanket, just a thin dress shirt. But it was sunny and the sun was on his back. When she placed her hand on his back, she felt that he was warm and became a bit more relieved. When she retracted her hand from his back, she touched Noah's cheek with the back of her hand once more as she smiled at the man she loved, before trying to pull her hand back.

But her touches hadn't gone unnoticed. Despite Noah being asleep, he appeared to have registered her touch. He wasn't aware in that moment where he was and the situation he had been in for the past couple of weeks, but had managed to react to Laila's presence in his usual way. In a mumbled voice, words resulting either from his subconscious trying to react in his usual way or perhaps from thinking what he felt was part of the dream he was having, a dream he didn't want to end, Noah said, "No...Keep going. Don't pull away. I have missed your touch so much." Laila was shocked at first by his words spoken in a half-asleep state, clearly still unable to know that she had woken up, but somehow still aware, but then she did as he asked and returned her hand to where it had been before he reacted. Again gently grazing his hair, before lowering it to his cheek. Then, in a soft voice, hoping not to startle him, she responded, "I'll keep going for as long as you want me to...". 

This caused Noah to slowly open his eyes, as his ears registered what his head couldn't quite comprehend. And as he blinked, Laila smiled and lowered herself to meet his eyes, adding the words "and I sure have missed your touch as well." to show Noah it was real, confirming it with an equally soft kiss on his lips.

The moment Noah was able to register what he had just seen and what had just happened, he shot up from his sleeping position and looked at Laila with wide eyes. "Is this real? Are you really awake? I'm not dreaming am I?" Noah asked these questions so rapidly, leaving hardly any room for Laila to actually answer them, before moving on to pinching himself to see if he was really awake. When he felt the sharp pain, he looked at Laila again and this time didn't ask, but said, "It's real. You're back!", before pulling Laila into a hug. Laila chuckled and returned his hug. Gently stroking his back and letting him cradle her from side to side as she repeated the words, "I'm back, it's real". 

How he had missed this feeling. How he had missed her. Her smile, her laugh, her usual scent untainted by the smell that lingered in hospitals, her touch, being able to talk to her and have her actually talk back. He could hardly believe that she was really awake and in his arms again. He would alternate between hugging her and holding her away from him to look and confirm that it was really her, before pulling her back into a hug. Laila just accepted it all with a chuckle and understood that Noah needed time to process this and realized, just how hurt and worried he must have been. His reaction told her that she must have been unconscious for quite some time, not yet knowing for how long. 

After Noah was finally done registering that Laila was back, still alive and seemingly doing well, he released her from his hug and let her lean back in bed again. While still holding on tightly to her hand, he asked her "How are you doing? Are you feeling any pain or discomfort anywhere?" But Laila simply smiled and said, "I am fine. No I am even better. I am great." While this was really what she felt in that moment, having not moved for so long, her body had lost some muscle mass and Laila would need to regain some of her strength before the doctors would be able to agree with her assessment. But she was awake, she was alive, she was feeling good and so was the baby. So, for now they had gotten all they had wished for and more.