Trouble

The new work day came along a little too quickly for my likening, I slid ever so hesitantly from Nathan’s grasp and quietly went to the bathroom, washing my face and tying up my hair before grabbing my uniform and changing.
I smiled as I walked back out and noticed him still sleeping, walking over to the bed I sat beside him and leant down, my lips inches from his ear “Nate” I said softly, he groaned, alerting me that he was awake, or close enough to awake.
“I’m going” I said.
Nathan groaned again, only this time he moved his head and his lips found mine, he kissed me lightly before pulling away and flickering his eyes open “Have fun” He breathed out croakily, he usually had a gravelly voice when he woke up, today tough, it was more so than usual.
“You don’t sound too good” I commented.
“I’m fine” Nathan croaked, shaking his head, he winched in pain.
“Are you sure you’re ok?” I asked, my eyes meeting his which were a little dull looking, off colour and not their usual vibrant green.
Nathan nodded.
“Ok, well, I’ll see you later” I said slowly.
Nathan nodded, smiling a small smile at me as I slid away and went to grab some breakfast.
I left shortly after, making the short drive to the hospital.
I usually walked, but today I wanted to come home at lunch time to check on Nathan, so driving was a good idea.
I keyed in for my shift and spent the morning on admin, which some day’s I did like to do as it got me off the floor for a morning.
As lunch time approached, I was growing antsy, for some reason worry was etched in my mind as I thought about Nathan’s voice, I had noticed little things the day before, some hitches in his words, a cough, nothing major, but this morning something triggered in my mind that made me concerned.

I reached the apartment in a matter of five minutes, the drive wasn’t far.
When I pushed open the door, I looked around, he wasn’t in the lounge or kitchen, so I went to the bedroom, the bed was unmade, which made it clear he had been sleeping, but he wasn’t in it.
I was about to check his room, when I heard coughing from the bathroom, frowning I followed the sound, pushing open the door.
“Hey, are you ok?” I breathed, I approached him and gasped as I spotted blood in the sink.
“Nathan” I mumbled, placing a hand on his shoulder.
He was quiet as he turned on the tap.
“What’s going on, you’re too calm” I breathed out after what felt like minutes of silence.
“It’s nothing” Nathan croaked, clearing his throat and crindging as he did “I’m ok” he said, his voice sounding a little more normal now “Why are you home?” He asked.
“I’m on my lunch break” I breathed “How can you say you’re fine? You’re voice sounds really bad, and that, isn’t normal” I pointed out, my eyes flickering to the now empty sink.
“It’s just a throat infection” Nathan breathed, his eyes flickering away.
“You’ve been to the doctor?” I asked.
Nathan nodded.
“Come with me now to the hospital” I breathed.
“I’ve stopped coughing now, why bother them, it’ll sort itself out” Nathan breathed “I know how I feel and I feel ok, come on, let’s go have lunch” he said.
I frowned again, he was so stubborn, he just didn’t want to accept any help.
“Has this happened before?” I asked.
“No” Nathan breathed, I could tell he was lying, I could tell he was just trying to get off the subject, so I let it go, we went into the kitchen and had some lunch quickly, before I had to make my way back to work.
I spent the afternoon on the floor, working the rooms and tending to patients, this was the part of the job that was tough, but I loved it.
I got sent to the emergency department later in my shift, working as the triage nurse.
An hour into the shift there, an ambulance pulled up to the gates, usually we needed to check the patients out first, they pulled the patient in and called me over.
As soon as I saw him, my heart dropped.
“He called because he was coughing blood, it was constant, he could barley talk on the phone, when we got to the apartment he was ok, he blacked out on the way in and we sedated him” The paramedic explained.
I was frozen, he looked so helpless, so lifeless, I buzzed a doctor, snapping into action and began pushing the bed along, I was trying hard not to break down, this was my job, and the best thing for Nathan was for me to do it, as soon as we got to a room he was connected to a machine to monitor him, I brushed back his hair and let out a shaky breath, feeling sick, James was the doctor in charge, he slid into the room and instantly his eyes widened, he knew Nathan from some nights out.
“You shouldn’t be taking this job” He said, his eyes flickering to mine.
“I’m the only nurse available” I breathed out.
“How’s he doing?” James asked.
“He’s stable, they said he called because he was coughing blood” My voice hitched in my throat and James looked at me.
“What?” He asked.
“I went home for lunch and he was coughing up blood, he stopped, he said he was fine, I should have got him to come in” I said, shaking.
“You didn’t know, besides, it could just be something mild, we’ll check him out and he’ll be f….” James began, but as he was about to finish talking, the machine began to buzz, Nathan’s body grew rigged and began to shake on the bed as the machine began to flat line.