Ready When You Are

"Oh, Cheyenne, honey." Diane smiled and hugged Cheyenne as best as she could with the flowers in her hands.

"Hi Diane." She smiled weakly and handed over the flowers. "These are for all of you."

"Thank you honey." Diane looked tired and worn out. "Come in." She said and pushed the door open more, closing it behind them.

When Cheyenne walked in, she saw Jake lying there in the bed. He had an oxygen mask on and an IV in his hand to match. He had cuts all over his face, little ones, and a black eye to accompany it. He had the same cuts and bruises down his arms. His leg was broken from the looks of it. It was elevated and wrapped up really good. He was asleep.

Cheyenne bit her lip and looked over at Adam, his dad. He also stood for a hug and asked how she had been.

"Oh my, you're engaged?" Diane asked, looking at Cheyenne's ring.

"Yeah." She nodded and held out her hand.

Diane and Adam studied the ring and congratulated her. Diane seemed disappointed but she kept it to herself.

"Has he been up?" She asked, sitting beside the bed.

"He was a little while ago. He has been here and there. The nurse he should be up and ready to try something to eat in a little bit."

The three of them talked for over an hour and caught up. Diane explained what happened again in person. The car was totaled and they had to use the jaws of life to remove him from the chaos. Two people in the car behind him also hit the truck and were in the hospital too. They however, didn't require attentions from the ICU. The truck driver wasn't injured, but he was being charged for what happened. Diane nor Adam knew what the charges were.

"Why don't you guys go home and get something to eat, shower...Stuff like that." Cheyenne suggested politely. "I could stay with him for a little while and let you know if anything changes."

"Are you sure, honey?" Diane asked, an unsure look upon her face.

"I insist, you guys have been here forever. Go get rested up, I'll be fine here."

"Thank you very much." Adam said and hugged her once more.

"If anything happens, please let us know." Diane followed.

"I will." She smiled and watched them go.

When they left, Cheyenne got up and looked around the room. There was a white board that stated that Jake's nurse was Stacey, his doctor was Joe, and the technician was Mike. She looked at the other flowers that were in the room. Flowers from his little sister, from his Aunt and Uncle, and a few friends it looked like. Everything took up the space on the windowsill and covered up some of the sunlight. The light bounced off the petals and reflected what color it could here and there.

It was another half hour later when the nurse came into the room. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met." She said.

Cheyenne stood up and shook her hand. "I'm Cheyenne, a friend."

"I'm Stacey, Jake's nurse." She smiled.

"How is he doing?" She whispered.

"Everything looks OK." She looked at the machine controlling his IV and also over a clipboard. "He should be waking up any minute to eat. When he does, can you just press the nurse's button?" She asked.

"Sure." Chey nodded.

The nurse looked over everything once more, removed Jake's oxygen mask, and excused herself from the room. She had graying blonde hair and glasses, she seemed to maybe be in her 40's if not a little younger or older.

A few minutes passed and Jake began to stir. He opened his eyes a few time as he was trying to process where he was. He already knew he was in the hospital, but he was trying to remember as he woke up.

"Cheyenne?" He murmured.

"Shhh.." She cooed soothingly and sat beside him gently on the bed.

"You're here." He sighed and reached his un-IVed arm up to touch her. Cheyenne leaned down and shuttered when Jake's cold hand cupped her cheek. "You're really here." He murmured.

"Are you OK?" She whispered.

"I've been better." He looked at the window and scoffed at all of the flowers.

Jake's hand dropped and Cheyenne heard his stomach cry out for food. She pressed the nurse button on the arm of the bed and looked down at him.

"Hungry?" She asked.

He nodded to the best of his ability and reached up to touch his head. There was a bandage wrapped around his forhead and he sighed. "This is the last situation I want to be in."

"I know, I was in it once too." She followed and looked up at the nurse re-entered the room.

This time she had with her a tray of warm, but soft food items that Jake would be able to swallow easily: Jello, mashed potatoes, soft chicken that was already cut up, a little bit of pudding, and cups of juice and water. There was also a small cup containing pills that Stacey had helped him with.

She asked him a series of questions, then took his blood pressure, temerature, and then his charts again. She told him she lowered his morphine dose and they were slowly going to trasition him to pain killers in the form of pills.

When she was finished, she excused herself from the room once more and said she'd be back in a half hour to see how he was handling the food.