32. They Aliens

       “Wh- A decision? Just tell me what’s going on!” Waverly’s eyes were scanning desperately over her face.

       “Alright. Take a breath, Waverly.” She pulled her hand away from where she was gripping it around the neckline of her hoodie. “We have successfully realigned the bones on her 1st metacarpal with 2 pins. But the shattered knuckle is worse than we thought. I sat there for the past hour picking shards of cartilage out from her hand. I . . . I don’t know if we’re going to be able to save it.”

       “WHAT?!?” She exclaimed, everyone in the room turning to look at her.

       “Waverly,” she said in an attempt to calm her down. “This is where your decision comes in. I can try to put it back together. Or . . .” She pulled a small metal object out of her pocket. “We can replace her joint altogether with an internal prosthetic. We will shave off the remaining joint and drill a hole into either side of the two bones, pushing this is between them.”

       Waverly bit the inside of her bottom lip, taking the prosthetic and bending it carefully. “Ok . . . what are the risks?” She pushed the hood off of her head.

       “There are several things to take into consideration. Her body could reject the pyrocarbon material and that would most likely mean we would have to amputate her finger. We can't just leave it hanging there with no knuckle. She also could lose a good chunk of mobility with it, finger only bending halfway, maybe less. But, the option of putting it back together has many more risks and is almost certain to leave her with limited mobility.”

       The brunette pushed her hand through her hair. “Could she develop full mobility with this?”

       “Up to almost 97%,” she confirmed.

       Waverly handed it back to her. “Ok . . . Ok, yea. Let’s go with this,” she agreed nervously.

       “Yea?” She nodded. “Ok.” Shae stood up, Waverly following in suit. “We should be done in about 45 minutes and then we will move her to her room for the night. We’re going to watch her for one, maybe even two days to make sure her body isn’t rejecting it . . . Go get yourself something to eat, keep yourself busy.”

       “Ok . . . thank you, Shae,” she said with a small smile. She nodded, patting her shoulder. She turned away, pulling the mask back down over her face. Waverly sat back down, letting a puff of air out. She picked up her phone.

Waverly: I just got an update on how it’s going

Gus : What did they say?

Waverly: She said the shattered one is a lot worse than they thought so she gave me the decision for them to either try and reconstruct it or to just put a prosthetic joint in. I chose the joint option.

Gus : Sounds like doing that would be a lot less risky

Waverly: Yea, it is, but she said that her body could reject the material or something and then they would have to chop her finger off. Gus, what happens then?? It’d be my fault!

Gus : Sweetheart, you know Nicole would not blame you if something like that were to happen. And I doubt it will anyway. You don’t have anything to worry about!

Waverly: It's just a lot to take in, ya know?

Gus : I understand. Just take a breather. She’ll be ok.

Gus : It's your sister. Send me a vid off Haught Hands high off her ass, will ya?

Waverly: Yes, Wynonna

Waverly: Thanks, Gus. I’ll let u know how she’s doing when she wakes up

Gus : Thank you, Dear

       Waverly plugged her earbuds back in, pressing play on the song. She had previously paused it within the last 4 seconds of the other song so it quickly switched to the next. Surprise, surprise, it was Irresistible by Fall Out Boy and Demi Lovato; one of the songs she had adopted as a favorite from Nicole’s playlist. She leaned back with a steady breath, feeling a little bit calmer.

.  .  .

       Standing up to throw the banana peel away that she had grabbed from the cafeteria, she saw Dr. Pressman walking down towards her. “Mission successful!” She said with a wide smile.

       Waverly felt a weight lift off of her shoulders. “Is she all done?”

       “Yep. We just got her in her room. Grab your stuff, I’ll take you down there.” Waverly smiled, grabbing her bag and previously refilled coffee. They began a walk down a long hallway. “She’s still out. Should come to in about 20-30 minutes. But all of her vitals are stable. We need to keep an eye on her blood pressure because it kept spiking during surgery, but I think that might have something to do with her body worrying about her chest and her hand at the same time. Other than that, everything was perfect!” They walked into the room and she saw Nicole lying there, wires galore. Her hand was on a flat splint, wrapped in elastic bandages. “We’ve already got her started on a morphine drip so that she won’t be in a whole bunch of pain when she wakes up. And when she does, hit that button for a nurse and they’ll come in, check her vitals again, and call me up to run more stuff over with you. Sound good?”

       “Yep! Thank you so much!”

       “Not a problem!” Waverly gave her a smile as she left the room. She grabbed Nicole’s laptop from her bag, signing in with the hospital wifi, and pulled Netflix up, starting an episode of the documentary series she had been watching recently. She had Nicole’s hand in her right and was subconsciously running her thumb over the top.

       About 25 minutes later, she felt Nicole’s fingers flex. She paused the episode and looked up at her, watching her eyeballs moving under her lids. Pulling her earbuds out, she set the laptop on the desk next to her. She scooted her chair to face her and took her hand in both of hers, pressing a kiss to her palm. Her eyes opened a few seconds later and she stretched them out, staring at the ceiling. “Hey you,” the brunette said quietly.

       Nicole flopped her head over, squishing her eyebrows together at her. Her face slowly softened into an awed smile with big puppy eyes. “You’re beautiful,” she slurred breathlessly.

       Waverly felt herself blush and she gave her hand a squeeze. “Well, thank you,” she smiled.

       “Whatsyur name?” She asked, tipping her head.

       She laughed a little. “My name’s Waverly.”

       Nicole’s eyebrows went up. “Wow,” she breathed. “That’s a really pretty name.” She looked down confusedly when Waverly ran her thumb across her hand. “That my hand?” She wiggled it around a little. “Holy shit, that is my hand!”

       “Shh, Nic, not so loud,” Waverly laughed, reaching over and pressing the nurse button.

       She backed her head away cautiously. “Woah now, you know my name?”

       A nurse walked in and Waverly turned her head, greeting her. “I do know your name,” she confirmed.

       “Does she know my name?” She asked in a not so quiet whisper, looking at the nurse that was writing something down on a chart sheet.

       “Uhh, yea she probably does.” The nurse smiled at her.

       “Dude, you see how drop-dead gorgeous this girl is!?” She asked the nurse.

       “Shh, Nicole, you gotta be quieter,” Waverly said with a smile, placing her hand on her shoulder.

       “Yes, she’s very pretty,” the nurse said with a little laugh.

       “D’you think she’s single?” The redhead asked in another attempt at a whisper. Waverly pulled her lips in, shaking her head at her.

       “I dunno, how about you ask her?” The nurse suggested.

       She turned timidly to the brunette. “Are you single?” She whispered.

       Waverly pat her hand. “I’m your girlfriend, Nic.”

       She gasped loudly. “No, you’re not!”  

       “Shh, yes I am,” Waverly assured.

       She had a dopey smile on her face now. “Really?” She squeaked.

       “Uh-huh,” she smiled.

       Nicole laid her head back on her pillow, taking this bit of information in. She looked back at her teary-eyed after a few seconds. “Really?” She asked again.

       “Really,” Waverly nodded.

       Nicole laid her head back again. “Wow.” The brunette heard her hiccup. “I can’t believe it,” she sniffled.

       “Oh, Baby,” she soothed, putting the side down on the bed and scooting closer to her.

       The nurse handed her a box of tissues. “I am going to get her some water and tell Dr. Presman she’s awake.”

       “Ok, thank you,” Waverly smiled. The nurse walked out. She pulled a tissue out of the box and pat it under Nicole’s eyes. “Shh, don’t cry.”

       Nicole did the opposite, starting to cry a lot harder. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

       Waverly pouted her bottom lip out a bit, moving up to sit on the edge of the bed. She pushed her fingers through her hair. “It’s ok.”

       “I just can’t believe you’re my girlfriend,” she sobbed.

       Waverly wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her in for a hug. “I know, it's unbelievable,” she smiled, pulling the tubes out of her nose.

       “Right!?” She calmed down after a few seconds.

       Waverly handed her a tissue, sitting back in her chair. “Blow your nose, Babe.”

       She grabbed it and went to use two hands, looking at the odd object wrapped around her right. “What is this?” She started flapping her hand around.

       Waverly jumped up, grabbing her hand and gently laying it on her lap. “You just had surgery, Honey, don’t do that,” she informed, looking at her wide-eyed.

       “ Oh ,” she mumbled. She blew her nose with one hand, handing her pile of tissues to the brunette with a goofy smile. She threw them away and got some germ-x on her hand, bringing it over and rubbing her hands around Nicole’s. “I like nachos,” she sighed.

       Waverly pushed her tubes back in her nose.“Yea?”

       Nicole nodded. “Mhm.” Waverly pulled her phone out of her pocket, hitting record. The Officer gasped, tipping her head towards her. “You know whadelse I like?” Waverly raised her eyebrows at her. “Pancakes! Who doesn’t like frickin pancakes?”

       “I don’t know, Nic,” Waverly laughed.

       “I had some real good pancakes the other day.”

       “Yea, Gus made them, remember?”

       Nicole smiled. “I love Gus,” she mumbled. Waverly smiled. “And her pancakes.”

       “Say hi to her and Wynonna.”

       Her face saddened. “They in there?” She asked, pointing to her phone. “Wave, you gotta get em out, they’re gonna suffocate or som’n!”

       Waverly shook her head. “No, they’re home, Sweetie. I’m gonna send this to them.”

       Nicole took a breath, pressing her hand to her chest. “Don’t scare me like that!”

       “Shh,” she laughed. “I’m sorry.”

       Nicole started wiggling her finger around that had the pulse reader on it. “Is this gonna eat me?”

       Waverly reached out, stilling her finger. “Nope, it’s just taking your pulse.”

       The redhead narrowed her eyes at her. “They’re lying to you.”

       Waverly cocked an eyebrow. "Who’s lying to me?” She asked.

       The redhead signaled for her to come closer. “Them doctors,” she somewhat whispered. “Ain’t doctors. They aliens.”

       Waverly stifled a laugh. “Oh yea? How do you know?”

       She held her hand up. “How’s this thingy taking my pulse if my heart is in my chest? Huh? They’re trying to read my mind!”

       “You might be onto something there,” she sighed. “Nic, say something to Wynonna, she wanted a video of you. You remember who that is, right?”

       Nicole threw her a look. “How could I forget . . . Hey, asshole, what’s poppin’? Probably your pussy.” She laughed at herself.

       “Nicole,” Waverly hissed.

       “I’m kiddinggggggg. Love you, bitch.” She shot a finger gun at the phone.

       Waverly shook her head at her, turning the phone towards her. “I’m so sorry, Gus,” she laughed, turning it back to her girlfriend. “Nic, how come you remembered them but not me?”

       Nicole cocked an eyebrow at her. “How could I forget you? You’re my future wifey,” she smirked.

       Waverly's eyebrows went up. “You better stop talking before future Nicole’s face gets any redder than I already know it is,” she laughed. The door came open and Shae and the nurse walked back in. The nurse held a cup with a straw towards Nicole. She took it, chasing the straw around with her mouth. She gave her a little help, holding the straw steady for her.

       “How bad is she?” Shae asked, walking to the end of her bed, Nicole giving her a stink eye.

       “You better be careful, she thinks all of you are aliens,” Waverly warned.

       “Eh, even sober Nicole thinks I’m an alien, it's ok.” She walked to Nicole’s side, picking up her right hand.

       “Say bye, Nic!” Waverly cheered.

       “Peace, doggg!” Waverly snorted, ending the recording and sending it to Gus with the caption Watch at your own risk. She shoved her phone back in her pocket and walked to Shae’s side.

       “Alright, Elle, go ahead and give her another dose of morphine. I’m gonna examine this and I don’t need her moving around. She needs to sleep the rest of this off anyway,” she said, smiling at Waverly, who definitely agreed. The nurse walked around to the other side of the bed and pressed a button, sending a larger dose into her body.

       “Aliens,” Nicole whispered at Waverly.

       She shook her head, taking the cup from her and setting it down. “Doctors,” she corrected.

       Nicole’s eyelids started to droop. “They’re taking me,” she slurred.

       Waverly pushed her fingers through her hair, giving her a kiss on the forehead. “Goodnight, Love,” she smiled.

       “Don’t let em . . . take my pancakes . . .” Her eyes shut for good.

       Waverly sighed a laugh, Shae shaking her head at her. “That was fun.”

       The Doctor let out a laugh. “Sounds like it was.” She began to remove the bandages, revealing some cotton gauze over her sutures. She set it all on the cart she had brought with her, peeling the gauze away. “Looks really good so far. No concerning discoloration or swelling. I do think we are going to let the air hit it while she’s sleeping, though.” Waverly nodded. Shae wrapped the elastic bandage around her wrist and flat splint, leaving the top portion of her hand open. “Go ahead and let us know when she wakes back up, she should be sober then. It’ll be an hour or two, maybe more. Someone’ll be in every hour to check her vitals, though.”

       “Alright, thank you!” The nurse and Shae headed out again. She sighed, smiling at the sound of her breathing.

       After a trip to the bathroom, she grabbed Nicole’s laptop and climbed into the bed next to her, scooting her over to the right side of the bed. She couldn’t sit in those uncomfortable chairs anymore. Shimmying under the blanket, she plugged her earbuds back in and continued her episode, pushing a kiss into the hand that she was holding on her lap. 

.  .  .

       At 6 o’clock, she raised her head from its position on her shoulder when she heard her make a small noise. She shut her phone off, smiling at her barely opened eyes. “I’m alive,” the redhead rasped.

       “Do you remember me this time?” Waverly chuckled, reaching over her to grab her water, holding the straw out for her.

       She cocked an eyebrow, taking a sip. “What d’you mean?”

       Waverly smiled, shaking her head and tapping lightly on her stomach. “I’ll fill you in later.”

       She blinked her eyes, rubbing her temple. “My head hurts,” she mumbled.

       Waverly sighed, pressing the nurse button. “Probably from all the medicine.”

       “How’d it go?” She looked towards her hand, bringing it closer to her face.

       Waverly clenched her jaw. The door came open, Shae and a nurse walking in. “You’re about to find out.”

       “You still think I’m an alien or are we past that?” Shae joked.

       “Did I embarrass myself?” Nicole asked cautiously, looking towards her laughing girlfriend.

       “Most definitely,” she nodded. She groaned, pushing her head back against the bed.

       Shae pulled a chair up next to them. “How are we feeling, any pain or chills?” The nurse asked.

       “My head hurts, that’s about it.” She nodded, jotting it down.

       Shae did another look at her hand as the nurse walked out. “Alright. So, the surgery was . . . successful for the most part.” She turned her tablet towards them, showing an x-ray. Waverly saw the two pins in her first metacarpal and the metal joint in her second. “We had-”

       “What the hell is that?!” Nicole asked wide-eyed, zooming in on the prosthetic. Waverly grabbed and squeezed her hand, Shae glaring at her.

       “I’m gonna tell ya! The x-rays we had previously taken didn’t show us how damaged your knuckle was. Waverly and I discussed it and we decided it would be safer to just replace your whole joint with an artificial one.” Waverly saw the nerves gather on her face, feeling her palm become sweaty in her hand. “Now. Before you start freaking out. You have the possibility to gain almost 100% full mobility with it. And right now, it looks like your body is accepting it. If I would have tried to reconstruct it, there’s no telling how much you would be able to move that finger. Trust me when I tell you that this was by far the better option.”

       Nicole inhaled deeply, letting it out slowly. “So . . . I’m Iron Man now?” She said with a completely straight face, looking at her girlfriend.

       “Oh my God,” she groaned, smacking her arm.

       Nicole smirked, rubbing her thumb in a pattern on her thigh. “What happens now, Doc?” She asked, looking towards the other woman.

       “You’ll be in this splint until your stitches come out, then we’ll maybe put you in a cast again, I’m not sure yet. When it is completely healed, we’re gonna pull the pins out and you are going to start physical therapy.” Nicole nodded. “We are keeping you for the night to monitor your vitals, and hopefully you can go home sometime tomorrow afternoon.”

       Dr. Pressman added some new gauze to her stitches, rewrapping it all the way, answering Nicole and Waverly’s questions before she left again, Nicole’s most prominent one being “Can I eat yet?”, for she hadn’t eaten since the Taco Bell the day before. Waverly set out to pick them up some Chinese food from the place she saw a mile or two away from the hospital.

       “Can you tell me what I was saying now because I am really concerned,” Nicole asked, shoving a piece of chicken in her mouth.

       Waverly smirked. “How about I show you?”

       The Officer almost choked. “No you didn’t.”

       She smirked even wider, pulling her phone out of her pocket. “I didn’t catch on video how you were sobbing tears of joy just before this because you found out that I was your girlfriend.” Nicole blushed. The brunette smiled at her, giving her a chaste kiss as she started the clip. They both laughed as it played through.

       “Hey, asshole, what’s poppin’? Probably your pussy.” Nicole snorted.

       “Nicole!”

       “I’m kiddinggggggg. Love you, bitch.”

       “I’m so sorry, Gus . . . Nic, how come you remembered them but not me?”

       “How could I forget you? You’re my future wifey.” Nicole’s breath hitched.

       “You better stop talking before future Nicole’s face gets any redder than I already know it is.” Waverly paused it, looking up at Nicole, who was wide-eyed and very, very red.

       “Mm, I was right!” She pinched her cheek.

       “Apparently I had no filter,” she mumbled. Waverly smiled bashfully at her, letting the remainder of the video play through. Nicole shook her head at herself when it ended.

       “I don’t know about you, but this was enjoyable for me.” She took a drink of her soda to hide her smile.

       “I’m sure it was,” she sighed.

       Waverly leaned her head on her shoulder. “Really though, if I ever start doubting your feelings for me, I’m just going to remember the look on your face when you first saw me after you woke up. You smiled at me like I had just hung the stars in the sky or something. It . . . It was really something.”

       “You probably got to see how I look at you when you’re not looking cause I feel like that’s how I always am looking at you,” she smiled.

       Waverly felt her heart swell. “That was sweet,” she mumbled. Nicole pulled her in for a kiss, stealing the last crab rangoon as she did so. She had already eaten half of it when the brunette realized. “NICOLE!”

       “What?” She asked with a mouthful. Waverly scoffed, yanking the remaining bit from her hand. The redhead laughed. “Gimme my laptop.” Waverly handed it to her from the end of the bed. “Someone got bored,” she smirked, clicking out of her Netflix.

       “You were asleep for almost 3 hours,” Waverly reminded. Nicole pulled up the MLB TV website, clicking to watch the live Rangers game. “Should I be excited?” She asked when she came back from throwing their trash away.

       Nicole smirked, wrapping her arm around her waist, pulling her closer. “You should be ecstatic.”

.  .  .

       Aside from Nicole angrily digging her fingers into her side when the other team scored a run or the Rangers made a bad play, she enjoyed listening to her teaching her about the game and watching her get adorably excited when they did something good, especially when they ended up winning at the end. She helped her change into her regular clothes as they started to wind down for the night. “Can you grab my pills while you’re over there?” Nicole asked as Waverly grabbed her a shirt out of the bag.

       “Yea, where’d you put them?”

       Nicole turned towards her. “What do you mean where did I put them? Didn’t she give them back to you?”

       Waverly blinked at her. “No . . . I thought she gave them to you.” Nicole stared at her for a long couple of seconds before she walked over to her bag, scouring every inch of it. She looked to her girlfriend with a helpless look on her face. “Ok. Here.” She helped her slip the shirt over her head.

       “Wave, I need my shit,” she said shakily as she gripped her arm. “I’ve never missed a dose and I don’t plan to start now.”

       The brunette moved her other hand to her cheek. “It’s ok. We’re gonna get it,” she assured calmly. “You are gonna go lay down, relax. And I am going to see if I can find Shae, alright?” She nodded, trying to still her shaky hands. “Ok.” Waverly sat her down on the bed and kissed her on the forehead, assuring her she would be right back. She slipped her shoes on and left casually out of the room. Closing the door, she began to walk quickly down the long ass hallway, finally making it to the receptionist desk.

       “Hi, Dear, how can I help you?” The woman behind the counter asked.

       “Do you happen to know if Dr. Pressman is still here?”

       The lady did some typing on her computer. “Why do you need her?”

       “Um . . . I just had a question for her,” she said with a smile. She didn’t think it would be a good idea to tell her she might have accidentally stolen her girlfriend’s medication.

       The nurse tutted. “Nope, I’m sorry, seems she clocked out about 30 minutes ago. I can send her an email if you’d like?”

       Waverly swallowed. Hard. She tapped her fingers on the counter. “No . . . that’s ok, I’ll just . . . ask her tomorrow. Thank you though.” The nurse gave her a smile as she turned away. She rushed back down the hallway, taking a second to calm herself down before she walked back into the room. She went over to Nicole, who was sitting up and facing the wall. “Nic?”

       The redhead looked up at her, face drenched in a cold sweat. “Where is she?” She breathed.

       Waverly grabbed a tissue, wiping her face down a little. “She’s not here. But I’m gonna call her, ok? Give me your phone.” Nicole nodded, shakily digging around in her pocket, unable to get it out. She let out a few whimpers and Waverly gently placed her hand on top of hers, grabbing it for her. “You’re ok,” she soothed, sitting down next to her and rubbing her hand on her thigh. She typed in her name, contact coming up as “Shae Bitchman”. She called her, pressing the phone firmly against her ear. It rang and rang. Voicemail. She hung up and tried again. Voicemail. Her own heartbeat began to thump louder and louder in her ears, and Nicole’s breathing became sharper and sharper. By the 6th attempt, Nicole was full-on hyperventilating. She held the phone to her ear with her shoulder, scooting back onto the bed and pulling the redhead into her lap. She gripped her hoodie tightly, chest heaving in and out uncontrollably. “Shh, you’re ok, Baby. I know you’re scared. We’re gonna get it. Shh.” Voicemail. Voicemail. Voicemail.

       “ Wave- can’t- breathe- hurts.” She gripped the side of the brunette’s face, her own reading full-blown terror. Waverly scooted out from under her, reaching over and pressing the emergency button on the side of the bed. Voicemail. A tear rolled down Waverly’s face as the redhead hugged herself to her chest. Three nurses barrelled into the room, taking in the scene. Waverly choked back a sob with an apology as she peeled Nicole off of her so the nurses could take over. Voicemail. One nurse got a breathing mask over her face, ordering another to get her some Xanax. The third grabbed onto Waverly’s arms, asking her what caused it.

       “Sh- Dr. Pressman forgot to give back her Prozac. Sh-she’s never missed a dose so she started flipping her shit and I’ve called Shae like 100 times, but she won’t pick up. Can you like p-page her or something, I don’t know, just get her to answer her damn phone.” Voicemail.

       “Yep, on it.” She ran out of the room just as the other came back.

       “0.5 Milligrams?” The one trying to calm the redhead down asked.

       “Yep,” she responded as she injected it into her arm.

       “Baby,” Nicole cried out, reaching out her left hand, quickly dropping it, body too weak to hold it up. Voicemail.

       Waverly rushed over to her side, nurse stepping out of the way. She grabbed her hand, pressing a kiss to the back of it. “I’m so sorry,” she sobbed, dropping to her knees beside her bed. She could see she could still barely breathe. Voicemail.

       The third nurse came back into the room. “I just sent out a page,” she informed.

       Waverly gasped, standing to her feet, hearing the phone pick up. “Nicole, what the fuck?!” Shae demanded.

       “It’s Waverly, did you throw your phone away?!”

       “I’m sorry, it was on silent in the other room! What the hell is going on?!”

       “You took her fucking Prozac and the nurses just had to fucking sedate her cause she was having a panic attack! You need to find that shit and haul your ass back up here!”

       She heard her moving around quickly. “Holy shit,” she breathed. “I was too focused on her chest earlier that when I logged it I just shoved it in my coat pocket. Hold on.” She heard her toss the phone down, picking it up a few seconds later. “I’ve got it.” Waverly let out a breath. “I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”

       “Thank you.” She hung up, looking down at Nicole with a smile, wiping her face off. “She’s coming, Love.” One of the nurses switched her to a nasal oxygen tube and, having done everything they could, they left the room. Waverly crawled back onto the bed, pulling the shivering redhead back into her arms, moving the cord of her tube to the other side. “Everything’s gonna be ok.” She kissed her forehead, whispering similar reassurances in her ear every so often as her body slowly calmed down.

       Shae came into the room just as she said, about 15 minutes later. She saw Nicole hugging herself to Waverly, looking so small. “I’m so sorry-”

       Waverly held a hand up. “Don’t . . . You can do that tomorrow or whatever.” Shae handed her the bottle. “Thanks . . . for bringing it.”

       “What’d they give her?” She asked.

       “Xanax.”

       “Don’t let her take one tonight then. They probably gave her enough to outdo 2 of those.” Waverly nodded. “Have a good night,” she said, offering up a small smile.

       “Yea, you too. Can you flip that light off?” She nodded, doing so and walking quietly out of the room. Waverly pressed her face into the top of Nicole’s head, exhaling deeply.

       “Sleep time,” she whispered with a slight slur.

       “Mhm.” Waverly reached over, reclining the bed all the way. “Get comfy.” She unhinged her fingers from Waverly’s arm and laid down, curling up on her when she laid herself down, pulling the blanket to her chin. The pain in her chest had numbed her front at this point so she couldn’t even tell if it hurt or not. “I love you.”

       Nicole kissed the bottom of her cheek. “I love you . . . to infinity and beyond . . . what’s his name? Buzz Lightning?”

       Waverly sighed a laugh. “Close enough.” Nicole mumbled an agreement against her chest, quickly drifting off to sleep with the help of the medicine she had been given.