What Happened in Paris--A Nomanda Story

Painkillers+Visits=OTP

OMG I cannot thank you all enough for reading and commenting on my tedious writing ahhhhhhh!!! ^-^ Let's be honest, the last chapter was filler. I admit it. This is decidedly not filler *yayyyy*

Noah stared at the door. It really was an interesting door. An interesting, plain, wooden door. 

With Amanda on the other side. 

But yes, the door. Quite an original design. Rectangles apparently making a comeback. 

He didn't really know what to expect when he saw Amanda again. Would she be happy to see him? Most likely not. What would he say? What would he do? What would she say? 

Such a very interesting door. 

He knocked. 

"Mmm," a muffled sound drifted through the door.

Noah cocked his head in surprise. "Hello? Amanda? It's Noah. Can I, uh, come in?"

"Mmm," the voice came again. 

Noah shrugged and took it as a yes, turning the door handle. 

"Heyyyyy Amandaaaa," he stretched out the words and took in the room. Amanda was propped up in a sitting position, with her leg suspended from the ceiling in a plaster cast. Her eyes were closed, her head was tilted back, and an IV drip led into her arm.

She was smiling.

"Hi Noah," she said, eyes still closed. She gave a little wave in his general direction, then let her arm fall by her side. She was pale, paler than Noah had ever seen.

He couldn't speak. He thought he would be ready for this but he was so, so wrong.

In his head, all he could see was her fallen figure, sprawled out on the pavement, and his hands covered in her blood. 

He let out a small strangled sound and walked towards her. She opened one eye halfway for a moment and peeked at him. "Hey, are you okay?"

He laughed softly. "You shouldn't be the one asking me if I'm okay! I mean, you were almost dead!" He reached her side and gently let his hand cover hers. "Amanda, you almost died. And you're asking me if I'm okay!"

Noah felt her hand move under his. He hurriedly realized his mistake and tried to move it, but to his surprise, she grabbed his fingers and held on. 

"Shhhh," she mock-whispered. "There's so much morphine in me right now, I could be hallucinating. You're probably not even Noah. You're Hallucination-Noah and I'm holding your hand because you're not really here and I can do whatever I want because it's my hallucination. So I'm going to hold your hand because  I want to."

Noah was silent for so long that Amanda opened one eye again to make sure her vision hadn't stopped. Even though she could still feel his hand. He was definitely still there, and his face was bright red.

Despite herself, Amanda laughed a little. Then she winced. "Owww. Look, Fake-Noah. If you're going to be here you have to not make me laugh because...um, pain."

 Noah still didn't say anything, but tentatively, he threaded his fingers through hers and squeezed. 

"That's better. You know, Fake-Noah, this dream is a hell of a lot better than the last one. There were a lot of cats in the last one. Cats. Everywhere. Like, literally, everywhere. There might have even been a cat Noah in that one, I don't remember. I don't even really like cats! So that was pretty weird. But you like cats. You have a cat," Amanda gradually fell silent. 

Finally, Noah took a deep breath and spoke up. "Amanda...when you uh, get out of the hospital, do you maybe...want to... to go and see a movie? Um, with me. Like, together. At the same time. With me."

Somewhere in the back of Amanda's foggy, morphine-addled mind she sensed that there would be something wrong with her going to see a movie with Noah. Specifically two somethings. Two someones? But for the life of her, she couldn't figure out what they were. 

And there was also pretty much a 70% chance that this Noah wasn't real, so there was really no reason that she should say no. 

"I'd love to."