Darling//l.s

21

Word count: 3,947

Louis' POV

I reached over and slammed my hand on the call button, taking in shaky breaths as the machine stayed quiet while Harry breathed. "I'm so proud of you baby, so proud," I sobbed as I stroked his curls. 

Not even a minute later, Dr.Blake as well as another nurse came in. "Hey Louis, how can I help you?" He asked while smiling at me. "Although by the lack of noise in the room, I can assume Harry's done sleeping and ready to wake up a little huh?"

I rapidly nodded my head and wiped my face of tears. "Yes, yeah the ventilator's been off for about a minute now, he's breathing without it." 

"Perfect, let me just take a look here, make sure his airway is clear for the most part." Dr.Blake took a small suction tool and got rid of any mucus he saw before backing away. "Alright, we're looking good. This may be hard to see, so if you would like to leave-" 

"No. Not happening." I gripped Harrys hand tightly in mine and moved closer to him. 

Dr.Blake chuckled at that. "I figured that would be your answer. Basically what's going to happen is we're going to lower his sedation by quite a bit since we need him pretty alert for this, he will probably be in a lot of pain and very upset especially since he'll be alert before we get the tube out. We will then deflate this little balloon that's within the tube that's holding it in place, he will then inhale and we'll pull it out when he exhales. Do you have any questions?" 

"No I don't think so," I said then bit my lip and looked down at Harry. Soon I'll see those pretty green eyes again and hear his lovely voice. 

"Alright, we're going to go ahead and get started," Dr.Blake said while sliding on gloves. "Sarah, go ahead and lower the sedation about halfway." I took a deep breath as I watched her adjust the drip. I then looked down at Harry and waited for something, anything to happen. 

It seemed like forever, but he finally started coming to. His eyebrows scrunched up and his shoulders tried to raise off the bed. Soon, his eyes snapped open and he looked panicked, desperately trying to release the grip on my hand to potentially pull at the tube as he sputtered around it. 

"Harry, Harry you need to calm down, okay? We're going to take the tube out now but you need to cooperate, take a deep breath and relax mate," Dr.Blake said while instructing Sarah to hold his other arm down, which wasn't moving much anyways due to the cast. Harrys eyes cleared slightly, like he was coming out of a haze but couldn't completely get out. He continued to try to thrash around. 

"Harry baby, please calm down so the doctor can help," I said quietly. At that Harry froze and tried to turn his head towards me, not getting too far with the brace on, but enough so he could at least see me. I immediately saw in his eyes that he recognized my voice, and I felt my tears gather. "Hi sweetheart, it's so lovely to see your eyes again. This isn't going to feel the greatest, but Dr. Blake's going to take your tube out, okay?" Harry blinked up at me in response and then closed his eyes. 

After a few moments where Harry showed no signs of struggle, Dr.Blake started talking again. "Good, now Harry I want you to take a deep inhale and then when you exhale we're going to pull the tube out. It won't feel good, but it'll be better once it's out. Just try to remain calm." Harry just blinked up at him in response. "Okay Harry, deep inhale."

Harry inhaled, and when he exhaled Dr.Blake quickly pulled the tube out. Harry coughed and gagged around it as it slid out of his throat, and coughed through the after effects of it. "There you go, you're okay sweetheart," I said while he sputtered and coughed. After a minute that had stopped, but he looked like he was incredibly pained.