Here Comes Your Man

Pyper opened her eyes slowly to be immediately blinded with relentless white light.

“What the…?” She mumbled as she lifted her arm to block the intrusive light and looked around the room, the smell of ammonia and cleanliness instantly filling her senses. Her eyes were drawn to movement in the corner of the room where a woman in scrubs was pressing buttons on an IV machine.

Upon hearing the rustle of sheets the woman looked over with a smile.

“Well hello there, sweetie. I thought it was about time for you to wake up”

Pyper grunted in response as the woman came over to where she was, checking the needle that was hooked up to her arm and giving her a once over.

“How are you feeling?”

Pyper took a minute to comprehend the question and take notice of her body as she lay motionless.

“I hurt everywhere”

The nurse chuckled, “With good reason; that was quite an accident you were in”

Pyper stared at her blankly until memories of the previous night hit her at full force.

“Oh god…” She groaned, feeling tears start to form in her eyes “What happened?”

Seeing her distress the nurse quickly grabbed a tissue and gently wiped it across Pyper’s cheek.

“Now, now, there’s nothing to cry about. You’re okay” She said in soothing tones as she rubbed Pyper’s arm , accustomed to the emotional shock that patients normally went into after suffering from something like this.

Sensing that Pyper would be able to handle the account of events as she had come to know them, she continued to speak. “Apparently, a drunk driver had been driving down the opposite side of the road that you and your boyfriend were on. He swerved into you, causing your car to be pushed up against the guardrail. When the paramedics got to you, you were unconscious from hitting your head on the window. They said that nothing was out of the ordinary besides the fact that they had to pull a blindfold off to identify you.” She chuckled and gave Pyper a sly smile, surely thinking that they had been up to something a lot less innocent than what they were. When Pyper didn’t respond, she continued. “Anyways, that’s how you ended up with that...”

Pyper followed the nurse’s gaze to her own leg, where a cast had been placed on her calf to her ankle.

“Oh my…” Pyper gasped just now noticing the damage that her own body had suffered.

Aside from her right leg being in a cast, she had bruises covering her right arm and two finger splints on her ring & middle finger.

Noticing her look of distress, the nurse tried to calm her.

“Don’t worry you should be back to tip-top shape in no time. The cast will probably be off within a month” She smiled “You got the better side of the car”

When Pyper heard that she immediately began to panic and hated herself for being so selfish.

“I’m sorry, was that supposed to make me feel better?” She asked sarcastically. She didn’t like sounding like a bitch, but she was amazed at the nurse’s lack of tact. Wasn’t she supposed to try and ease her fears instead of telling her that she should feel lucky that the man she loves was hurt worse…

Hold up. Man she loves? Where the hell did that come from? Did she love Shaun and if so, then when the hell did that happen? Was it just pity love since he’s hurt or could it be?...

Pyper tried to control her incessant mental rambling before she could process it too much.

“Where’s Shaun?” She asked, an edge of urgency in her voice.

“He’s in another room just down…”

“Is he ok?” Pyper interrupted, needing to know.

“Well…” Pyper saw the look of uncertainty in the nurse’s face and her innards began to turn.
“He broke his arm and he’s scratched up pretty good. He got a gash right above his eye that needed about six stitches but…” She looked away.

“But what?!” Pyper almost yelled.

“But, he suffered from some internal bleeding. The doctors had to operate and they won’t know if it’s stopped completely until they take some more x-rays…at which point it might be too late”

Upon hearing this, Pyper’s heart started to ache as she tried to comprehend this information.

“I want to see him.”

The nurse looked at her sympathetically, “Oh but sweetie, you’re in no condition…”

Pyper cut her off, trying not to sound rude but also leaving no room for negotiation.

“I’m fine.”

The nurse looked at her sharply, wanting to argue but seemed to think better of it, as she left the room with a quick mumble. She returned a minute later with a pair of crutches and brought them over to the bed where she helped Pyper sit up.

She handed Pyper a terry cloth robe.

“Here, this should cover you up and keep you warm”

Pyper looked up at her, “Thank you” She said, meaning it in more ways then one.
The nurse seemed to understand, giving her a brief smile as she handed Pyper the crutches.

A sharp pain seared through Pyper’s body causing her face to automatically flinch but she remained composed as she took the crutches from the nurse and placed them under her arms. Pushing her weight on them, she was pleased to find it to be easier then she had expected and she hobbled over to the door, pulling it open and immediately being exposed to the hustle & bustle of a busy hospital floor.

“Room 2711, straight down the hall to the left” The nurse said, coming up behind her.

Pyper nodded and started the trek. Her leg was unusually heavy from the cast and she sighed, knowing that it was going to take some getting used to.

She couldn’t help trying to pick up her pace as the door came in sight. Her stomach started doing flips and an increasing palpation of her heart was the only sound in her ears. As she finally reached the door, she was hit with an sudden urge to run…err, hobble straight out of the hospital and hide under the covers of her bed to try pretend this was all a dream. As this feeling hit, another image popped into her brain; it was an image of Shaun and that was all she needed to clasp the cool metal door handle and give it a twist.

When Pyper stepped into the room, she was met with a sight that she could never have prepared herself to see.

Shaun was lying on the bed, sleeping, as what seemed to be hundreds of wires were hooked up to him in various places, with the beating of the heart monitor machine matching the slow rise & fall of his chest.

His whole left side was bruised and battered. He had a thick, white plaster cast covering his arm from elbow to fingers and a large gauze strip covered his upper thigh where you could see the light pink tint of blood slowly seeping through.

Pyper leaned back against the door suddenly overcome with emotions. She didn’t know whether to sigh in relief that he was alive or burst out crying at the sight of his helpless form.

She must have made some sound though because before she was ready for it, his eyes opened and his gaze quickly focused on her.

“Pyper…” He said in a low, scratchy voice, looking to her as if he wasn’t quite sure if she was real or not. “Pyper” He said again, desperation lacing his tone this time.

She let out a heavy breath that she didn’t realize she’d been holding as she quickly grabbed her crutches and hurried over to him as fast as she could.

When she reached him she grabbed his unharmed right hand, squeezing it as though if she let go, he would disappear. “Oh Shaun” She breathed and she went to hug him but stopped,
her hands frozen in mid-air.

She wanted so desperately to hug him, hold him, but she didn’t know how to without hurting him.

Sensing her despair he scooted over in the bed, the wince of pain in his face not going unnoticed by Pyper. He motioned for her to sit next to him and she slowly obeyed being very careful as to where she placed her limbs.

Shaun, caring a lot less about the physical pain he caused himself, grabbed her in his right arm and pulled her close against his body, kissing the top of her head as he breathed her in.

They laid there in silence for a few minutes, relishing in the feeling of being together.

Shaun had never experienced the level of desperation and terror that he had the previous night when he woke up to find that Pyper was still unconscious. He had rung the bell for the nurse every 15 minutes to ask for an update on her condition. It scared Shaun shitless to realize how much his sanity rested on the fact that Pyper was okay and his.

“I love you”

He was as surprised as she was to her these words leave his lips and he felt her body tense against his. Before he lost his will he decided to continue.

“I love you so much Pyper, it’s insane. You’re constantly on my mind and I want to be with you every second of every day. I know I sound crazy and I should probably be locked up in a psyche ward for it, but you have to know. I want to make you happy all the time ‘cause I can only be happy when you are. And I love when you’re happy. I love you’re laugh, how it’s a true deep belly laugh and when you watch a scary movie you watch it through your hair as if it hides you and…”

Pyper placed her hand gentle on his chest, silencing him.

Uh-oh, here it comes… He thought She’s gonna reject me and it’s gonna be weird cause she can’t even run out of the room. She’s gonna hobble out of my life…

“I love you too, Shaun”

Excuse me, what did she just say? His mind tried to process this information as he looked down at her with a blank stare.

She giggled and his heart almost burst from joy at the sound.

As if reading his thoughts, she repeated herself. “I love you too, so much that it hurts me sometimes. I get crazy jealous if a girl even looks at you and I want to be in your arms cause it’s the one place I truly fit” She felt her cheeks burn at this confession and would never in a million years believed that she would ever being saying this to someone. Especially to someone as amazing as Shaun, who for some crazy reason loved her back.

He was looking at her, a newfound intensity in his eyes. She was about to question him but before she could his lips were over hers in a kiss that made her heart melt. His tongue glided along her lips, begging for entrance that she quickly granted. His kiss was hard but deliciously sweet at the same time and Pyper couldn’t help but moan as his lips danced with hers. Their breathing was ragged as they pressed up against each other, Pyper’s hand gliding over Shaun’s perfectly toned abdomen earning a low groan from Shaun as he fought for control.

He pulled away, giving her lip one last peck. “Now is not the time or the place for the things that that would lead to.”

She laughed and gave his gown covered chest a quick kiss.

There was a quick knock on the door and an older looking man stepped in, carrying a chart board with a stethoscope draped casually around his neck.

“Mr. White, good news. It seems that your bleeding has stopped and you’ll be good to leave by tomorrow. Just make sure to change the gauze on your leg regularly every 6 hours for the next three days and take the pain medication. Same goes for you Ms. Grant” He said, flashing them both a smile. “I better be off, take care”

They watched him leave the room.

“Shaun, that’s such great news!” Pyper exclaimed “We can go home tomorrow!”

When Shaun didn’t reply she glanced up at him, an unreadable expression on his face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well…” He started, but trailed off. He didn’t want to tell her something that she wouldn’t want to hear but it had to be done. “Bud called me the other day and said it’s time that I go back to L.A. We got to start training again.”

Pyper absorbed this information in silence. Of course he had to go back; she always knew that he would, she just hadn’t thought of it happening this soon.

Shaun continued.

“But I want you to come with me. I could show you where I’m from. You can stay at my place and meet my dog and my friends, they’re gonna be so jealous. It’ll be great!” He laughed.

“Ok, I’ll come”

Shaun looked down at her, surprise clearly evident in his expression.

“Really? You’re serious?”

Pyper looked up at him suddenly becoming weary of his incredulousness.

“Well, I was. Should I not have been? Oh, were you joking?” She asked feeling her cheeks blush crimson.

Here she was so quick to answer him and he had been joking! She must’ve looked so desperate! How embarrassing…

As if reading her mind Shaun quickly spoke to remove any embarrassment from her.
“No, no, of course I wanted you to say yes! I was just surprised by your decisiveness, that’s all. I thought you were gonna put up a fight so I had this whole, long persuasive speech planned out of all the reasons you should come. I’m almost disappointed I didn’t get to use it”

Pyper laughed while relief spread through her and she was taken by surprise as Shaun caught her lips in a dizzying kiss that continued until his heart rate machine started to beep at an uncommonly fast pace.

Pyper broke away laughing as Shaun’s cheeks flushed.

“Hmm, it looks like a have a dangerous effect on you, Mr. White” She teased, enjoying being on the other side of the embarrassment for once.

“Oh, if you only knew…” He mumbled as he claimed her lips once again.