Love Like A Tidal Wave

~Vic’s Point Of View

I could hear her voice and I could hear her pain. I could feel her touch my hands and when she would lay down next to me when she thought no one was there. She was right there in front of me but I could do nothing. I wanted so desperately to touch her face again and be able to hold her when she was upset. Her constant proclamations of love were almost unbearable as I could not return them. It was like I was trapped underwater. I was just barely away from the surface and just barely away from the bottom, stuck in the middle with nothing to grasp. It seemed so easy to give up and float to the bottom. But I was going to fight for her, I owed her that.

~Lyla’s Point Of View

Vic’s engagement ring was a heavy reminder in my pocket for the next two days. Two suns came and two suns went, and there was no sign of Vic resurfacing. I had adopted the uncomfortable, plastic chair next to his hospital bed as my new resting place. I could see him healing in front of me but he never woke up. His bruises were almost gone and his eye was no longer swelling. It looked just as if he were sleeping, my own sleeping beauty.

“Mike, what was the point of this?” I had the ring box in my hand as we sat watching the news, both our feet propped up on either side of the bed.

“Because you love him. He’s going to wake up just give it some time.”

“I know I love him. I just want to give it to him now.” I twirled my own ring on my finger. This became something I always did when I didn’t know how to keep my hands still.

“So put it on his finger, it’ll give him a good surprise once he’s awake.” Mike said distantly then turned his attention back to the TV.

I had been making small circles on the back of Vic’s hand with my thumb. I took his hand in mine, as if I was going to propose. Was I supposed to say something? I ran my finger along the inside of his ring where the jeweler had engraved Stay, just like mine, into the delicate gold. I hesitated, then slipped the ring onto his finger and kissed the top of his hand.

I don’t know what I was expecting. Maybe for him to leap from the bed and rip his hospital gown on, only to say this had been a joke. But no, Vic stayed quiet and still. A red light from his heart monitor reflected off the ring.

“Mike! Did you just see that?” I flew to a standing position and my chair tipped over and crashed to the floor.

Vic’s hand had just twitched.

“What are you talking about?”

“His fingers! His fingers just curled up a little bit! Like he was trying to make a fist!” I covered my mouth with my hands hoping this wasn’t a dream.

“Are you serious? Doctor! Doctor, come in here!” Mike called out into the hallway and Vic’s doctor came in.

“Vic, Vic move again. Do something, please! I’m right here. I love you, please wake up. C’mon.” I was kneeling next to the bed now, almost in tears.

The doctor ran a metal instrument along the bottom of his foot. His toes moved. Mike was now on the phone with Tony and Jaime. Within minutes our entire group was in the room. Jaime pulled me into a hug and I forgot about the tension that was between for the last couple days. The doctor continued to poke and prod Vic’s body in various places. Each time he would move the tiniest bit. My heart was leaping out of my chest and I thought I might be in my own hospital if he didn’t open his eyes soon, the eyes I fell in love with. I was in tears now. I held Vic’s hand in mine, occasionally squeezing it. His fingers would lightly tap against my own.

Mike made a yelp from the other side of his bed and was grasping a chair with one hand and pointing to Vic with the other. Olivia gasped and grabbed onto Tony. Everyone backed away from the bed, unable to speak as Vic’s eyes fluttered. They didn’t open completely but you could tell his eyes were moving behind his lids. By the third try he was blinking.

“Vic…” I took a nervous step toward the bed and he turned his head to look at me. My heart felt as if it were on fire inside of my chest. It was like meeting him again for the first time and falling in love a hundred times over. His eyes locked with mine and I wiped away the tears, I wanted nothing more than to look at him and talk to him and feel his warm touch on my skin.

“I love you, Lyla.” His voice croaked in the middle as if is esophagus had the same terrain as the Sierra Desert.

I couldn’t stop the tears then and I was unable to make words. So instead I hugged him, he didn’t hold me as tight as he normally would but I was thankful for anything after all this time. I pulled back and he was almost in tears himself. I lightly touched my lips to his and everyone in the room disappeared. I don’t know how long the kiss the kiss was, it could be for a few seconds or many
moonless months. I felt myself falling for him all over again.

“I love you too, Vic.”

I held his hand as everyone came in turn to greet him once again. He only let go of my hand to embrace a very emotionally unstable Mike, but I couldn’t blame him. I wasn’t doing much better. I had never seen Tony cry before tonight and it was definitely a sight I never wanted to see again. Everyone stayed squished into his tiny room and more chairs were brought in. Vic had been in his coma for sixteen days.

After a few hours of small talk Vic looked down at his hand that was drawing hearts on the back of mine. For the first time he seemed to notice his ring.

“Lyla, what’s this?” He slipped it off his finger to better examine it.

“Oh, I got you an engagement ring for yourself. Mike helped me pick it out. Look on the inside.” I was smiling. I had never been happier in my entire life then at this moment.

“Stay.” Vic said still looking at the ring. “I always will. I’m never going to leave you again. I could hear every word you guys said while I was ‘asleep’. I heard every time one of you said you missed me or you said you loved me. Lyla, hearing you cry hurt my heart in ways I never thought were imaginable. It seemed like you were right there but only centimeters from my grasp. I wanted to give up so badly, I wanted to stop struggling. But right as I started slipping I would feel your touch or hear your voice and it reminded me of all the promises I had made you.” He was looking at me with those eyes of his

and I felt myself getting lost in them. He leaned over and kissed me then.
“Hey, where’s my kiss?” Jaime huffed and crossed his arms pretending to me bad. Everyone laughed. Everyone forgot about our little moment but I couldn’t wait to be alone with him. To talk one on one about everything that had happened. To make up for a thousand ‘I love you’s that weren’t able to be said.

Vic was alive. We were happy. I was in love.