So Kiss Me Goodbye

It's never a fun thing waking up to a heart rate monitor, or an IV in your arm, or just knowledge you were in the hospital.

I didn’t want to open my eyes and come to the realization I was in the hospital for the second time in two months.

The thick silence, broken by the heartbeat monitor, was interrupted by something else that made me open my eyes.

Will snoring.

I pried my eyes open to see him bent over sitting in a chair with his head on the bed and his head in his arms.

Tiredly I reached over, ignoring the soreness of my body, and brushed the hair from his face and the drool from his chin.

Slowly Will opened his eyes, looking at me through a haze.

"Morning sleepy head." I smiled after a glance at the quickly brightening sky.

The glazed over look in his eyes vanished as his jumped up and threw his arms around me.

"Fuck I was so worried about you and the baby." He breathed, pulling away.

"What happened?" I asked him at the mention of last night. "All I remember is a lot of pain, a lot of voices, and a lot of darkness."

Will looked around awkwardly at the one chair he had slept in for the past few hours, wondering where to start.

I scooted over in the bed to make room for Will and snuggled into his arms as he climbed in.

"The doctor said your blood pressure went down because you were stressed, I can only guess why, and it sent the baby into distress. You almost went into labor but they stopped it." Will explained.

I sighed and buried my face into his chest. "Well did they say if the baby is okay?"

Will began stroking my hair as I looked up into his gorgeous brown eyes, the very same eyes that made me feel like I was the only woman in the entire world.

"Well, you hear that second heartbeat on the monitor?" He asked me softly, motioning to the two heartbeats.

I nodded, seeing one was mine and the other's was my baby's, both of them perfectly normal.

"So when are they gonna set me loose?" I asked, beginning to feel claustrophobic in the white and beige room.

"They said they wanted to keep you for the rest of the day, just so they're sure you're okay." He explained.

The nod I was about to give him got stopped as I remembered what tonight was.

"Wait, we were supposed to have dinner with your parents today!" I exclaimed, sitting up, only recoiling from the pain in my stomach.

Will quickly, but gently, pulled me back down, brushing my hair away from my face soothingly.

"It's alright, I called and told them what happened and they understand completely." He assured me.

I nodded, trying to hold back my yawn, failing miserably.

"You really should get some rest, you and the baby have been through a lot." Will murmured, pulling my head down on to the pillow.

Without protesting I laid down in his arms and closed my eyes.

"Promise you'll be here when I wake up?" I asked sleepily.

"I promise." He replied, kissing my forehead.

With my eyes still closed and Will's warmth blanketing me, it was only a matter of minutes before I fell asleep once more.

~x~

While I slept on Will flipped channels, switching between Spanish soap operas and game shows till the door creaked open.

Instead of the doctor or one of his friends, Will almost had a heart attack seeing his mom and dad tip toe into the room.

"What are you doing here?" He whispered curiously.

His dad laughed and kept his voice down.

"How could we not come here? We were worried about her and the baby, and if Lilly can't come to us then we'll come to her."

His mom looked down at me and smiled.

"You certainly picked a cute one sweetie." She commented, taking the seat next to the bed.

Will moved to turn to her a bit more, still cuddling in the bed.

He didn’t realize he disturbed me till I yawned and cracked my eyes open.

It's a bit intimidating to wake up in bed with your boyfriend with your soon to be in laws hovering right next to the bed.

"Hi." I squeaked, trying to hide as much as possible behind Will.

"It's nice to finally meet you sweetheart! I wish the circumstances were better though." His mom smiled.

I bit my lip and nodded. "I'm sorry, I'd get up to greet you better but well... yeah."

His dad laughed. "Don't worry about it, this is more than enough of an excuse."

"Sorry dinner kind of got canceled... I was hoping to make a better first impression."

"Don't worry about it dear, we're just so glad that you're okay and we finally get to meet the girl William never shuts up about." His mom laughed.

"Gee thanks mom." Will sighed, rolling his eyes.

As they exchanged common mother son banter I couldn’t help but notice that her eyes were Will's eyes.

I began to realize in meeting his parents just how Will had become Will, all the mannerisms, all the smiles, everything that was him.

"So son, wasn’t there something you wanted to tell us at dinner?" Will's dad asked us with an eyebrow raised.

Will glanced at me, making sure I was okay with telling them, to which I replied with a nod.

"Well... we wanted to tell you that we're engaged."

The words hadn't left his mouth for more than a second when his mom let out a squeal.

"Oh I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! Pay up Bill!"

Will's dad Bill grumbled to himself as he pulled out his wallet an handed her some cash.

"Um excuse me, do you mind explaining?" Will asked like he was talking to a five year old he had caught sneaking cookies out of the cookie jar.

Both his parents looked around innocently. "Well, uh, we figured you'd get together eventually so... we kind of... bet on when you'd get engaged."

Will sighed and shook his head.

"What am I going to do with you two?"

His mom let a wry grin slip. "Turn us into grandparents and slap our age in our faces."

I laughed a little more easily, liking my soon to be in laws more and more.

We spent the next two hours doing the same thing we would've been doing had we had dinner.

Over a hospital bed and not a dinner table we talked about the most embarrassing stories about Will as a kid, the most random questions to ask your son's fiance, and of course everything about the baby.

I especially liked Will's mom, now understanding why he loved her so much and how he became such a great guy.

She was everything my mom wasn’t and assured me if I ever needed anything or had any questions I could always count on her, that one promise being the most reassuring thing I had heard in months.