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Chapter Nineteen - Awakenings

Chapter Nineteen - Awakenings

It was almost a mercy a few hours later when the Nurse entered to check Arin's vitals and give her the medication House had prescribed. The Nurse had frowned at Robyn and suggested that perhaps hospitals had visiting times for good reason and it was time both of them got some rest.

Robyn smiled prettily at him which Arin had to admit was certainly a skill given the unflattering nature of the hospital gown and robe her ebony haired friend wore and when that hadn't elicited the response she had wanted begged for another fifteen minutes.

The Nurse frowned again and crossed his arms giving Robyn a had no nonsense look. Only then, reluctantly, had she sighed dramatically and gone back to her own room. 

Carefully Arin started a breathing exercise while the nurse clicked his tongue and fussed over the bedsheets and half eaten trays of dinner from them both. Whether it was a mixture of the relentless heat or the quality of the food itself it seemed neither Arin nor Robyn had been very hungry. She lay staring at the Black King chess piece as the man worked.

"You sure there isn't someone we can call for you?" The nurse asked kindly as he rolled the blood pressure cuff startling Arin out of her reprieve. She turned to look at him and blinked stupidly.

"Uhh sorry. I wasn't paying attention. Can you repeat that?" She asked

He gave her a kind smile, a genuine smile, the sort that crinkles at the eyes.

There is a knack to smiling, Arin considered as she watched him. The pulled back baring of teeth or the polite turn at the corners of the mouth are easy enough to fake but the eyes, everyone always forgets that part.

"I was wondering if perhaps there was someone we can call for you. Your friend's parents wanted to stop in earlier when I came on shift but Doctor House had said you weren't to be disturbed while he was in here." His eyes flickered to the abandoned chess set as if he wanted to say something further but he did not comment on it, nearly continued "Visiting hours are over but I thought maybe there was someone you could talk to? The phones there of course but if it's... difficult I'd be happy to call them for you first?"

She searched his features again, he said it in such a way that seemed to indicate he had experienced difficulties telling his parents or guardians about being somewhere they wouldn't expect, maybe the hospital or some small brush with the law in his younger days. He smiled reassuringly at her.

With a slight sigh Arin collected herself as best she could and gave a small shake of her head "Uhh...no. No thank you." She said evenly.

He looked even more concerned and opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off with a shrug and  tried to explain concisely "I appreciate your concern. My Grandfather is my only relative and he's out of the country just now. I left a message for him but my phone got broken in the accident so I had to call his private cell because it's the only number I remembered. He doesn't check it very often. Anyone else I called would just result in a panicked reaction that wouldn't change my situation or help it in anyway." She raised her eyebrows as if asking if this information was enough to put his concerns to bed.

"I see." He said carefully as if he didn't exactly but recognised the line of questioning was not going to go anywhere. He busied himself making a note of her vitals on her chart. Finished he clicked his pen and pocketed it "Well if you do decide you need anything I'm Nurse Kimura but you can call me David. I'll be on duty tonight so just give a buzz any time and if you do decide to make a call the phone is right there." He smiled again and replaced the chart on the foot of the bed before leaving the room.

Arin watched him go and when the door slid shut released the breath she had been holding. She flopped back into her pillows and stared at the ceiling tiles. She was beginning to know the holes in them by heart. Minutes passed, the silence punctured only by the now familiar sounds of the equipment and the hospital backdrop.