After another syringe of pain relief brought a slight tinge of colour back to Lucia’s face Dr Farris was ready to examine her properly although her eyelids were still drooping.
“Don’t you doze off on me again, young lady.” Dr Farris chuckled as he pulled the blue curtains back and set up his items for the examination.
“No, sir.” Lucia replied with what was a very sweetly honest attempt at chirpiness.
Elijah could tell she was still exhausted though, his respect for her rising even more.
She glanced at him with a nervous look when Dr Farris’ back was turned and his hand shot out reflexively for hers, hesitating right before making contact, allowing her to close the last little gap between their fingers and take his hand. The small smile she flashed him was filled with gratitude.
Sariyah was grinning like a fool from her plastic chair, watching the pair like a soap opera with endless plot twists and turns. She loved a trashy soap opera.
“Let’s start with the tests that don’t require you to get out of that bed.” Said Dr Farris.
Lucia smiled weakly and replied, “It’s like you read my mind.”
Dr Farris spun a thin torch between his fingers before clicking the button on the back and shining it into her eyes.
“Look up for me, now down, straight ahead, straight into the light, and now over my shoulder into your handsome fiancés face.”
She followed every instruction easily until flicking her eyes to Elijah’s with a light blush and suddenly she couldn’t seem to hold her lashes up for more than a second at a time. He gave her hand a squeeze and tried to smile through his own awkwardness. She managed to hold her eyes open long enough for Dr Farris to mumble something that sounded positive and switch the light off.
“How far can you twist your head for me?”
Lucia lifted her head half an inch from the pillow and managed to turn it barely two degrees each way even with her eyes screwed shut and her bottom lip trembling.
“It’ll do for now.” Dr Farris muttered, “Let’s try that again later.”
He tapped his fingers over her face, “Can you feel my fingers on both sides?”
“Yes.”
“Now I hate to do this to you but I will need you to find the strength to pry your hand from your beaux’s.”
Lucia released Elijah’s hand with a sheepish expression.
Dr Farris took both her hands in his and began his next reel of instructions, “Squeeze my left hand, now my right, now both at the same time as hard as you can, now pull both.”
Elijah couldn’t judge how well she was performing in this line of testing and Dr Farris’ face revealed nothing of his thoughts.
“Can you feel me squeezing your hands?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Can you feel me tapping your inner wrists?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Close your eyes, good girl, which hand am I squeezing?”
“Left.”
“Good, which finger am I pinching?”
“Pinkie.”
“On which hand?”
“Right.”
“Fantastic.” He said dully.
He pulled a reflex hammer from his tray and tapped above her elbows, both arms jerked just a little and Dr Farris stepped back.
“Why don’t we sit you up for the rest? Legs dangling over the edge of the bed, please.”
By ‘we’ he very clearly meant ‘Elijah’ as he gave a pointed look and made no indication of moving to help.
Elijah stood up but hovered over Lucia before asking, “Can I? I mean, I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Please.” She said with a sad smile. “I don’t think I could get my head higher than my chest right now.”
“How… um, where should I put my...” He floundered, his hands fluttering from her neck to her shoulders to her waist.
“Go from the pits, son.” Dr Farris advised. “You’re strong enough that you’ll be able to support her if any part needs particular help. The scans showed no broken bones.”
“Be gentle.” Lucia added with a weak smile that made his heart squeeze painfully for a few seconds.
Elijah peeled back the covers all the way to her ankles, revealing again her very unflattering hospital gown. With the gentle touch he would use to carry a butterfly he slid his hands under her arms, cupped her shoulder blades and lifted her top half centimetre by centimetre up from the sheets. She was doing a valiant job of pretending she wasn’t in incredible pain but he could hear the air being sucked in harshly through her nose and the gritting of her teeth. Her eyes were watering and the liquid was clinging to her lashes despite her squinting.
Once she was at a ninety-degree angle he slid one arm all the way around her shoulders to support her and used the other to take her knees and lift and twist her to the very edge of the bed.
“Lean your weight onto me, don’t put any unnecessary strain on your body.” He mumbled into her ear.
“Okay.” She whispered, “Can I still hold your hand?”
“Of course.”
Dr Farris continued testing her reflexes, range of movement and strength from head to toe. She clung to Elijah’s hand the entire time and he would be lying if he said it didn’t spark a strange pride in his chest, she was seeking his comfort and a sense of security in this strange world she had woken up in. He felt a desperate ache inside of him to provide that for her.
There was a layer of self-consciousness that came with Sariyah’s stare, her enjoyment plain on her face. She was eating up every touch and ounce of affection with an enormous imaginary spoon.
“Now I will need to take a peek under the gown to see how those bruises are coming along. Would you like some help taking it off?”
Both Sariyah and Elijah moved toward her automatically to offer their aid, paused, glanced at each other and realised simultaneously that perhaps they should see which of them Lucia would prefer to strip her before reaching for the ties. He had never seen her skin bared like that. He didn’t know if he was ready to. If she asked him to he would but his throat suddenly felt constricted and dry and-
Lucia glanced at Elijah with round eyes that froze his thoughts and wiped his brain clean of any intelligence he may have held before.
“H-have you… have we… seen each other… naked?” She whispered awkwardly, her cheekbones flushing a little.
If he had been human his own skin would have been rose-red as he slowly shook his head from side to side.
“If you want my help I’m happy to do it but it would be my first time seeing you like that.” He said carefully.
“I haven’t either but am absolutely unbothered if you want my help instead.” Sariyah added.
Lucia’s pupils bounced between them but her lips couldn’t seem to form a name. She had the choice of two strangers to undress her, Elijah didn’t blame her for struggling to come to a decision.
“Why don’t I make this easier and invite in Nurse Julie to support you, she and I have already seen you starkers when we undressed you for your scans.”
“Thank you, Dr Farris.”
“We’ll be just outside the curtain if you need us.” Sariyah said with a wink and a thumbs up.
Elijah nodded softly in agreement and Lucia gave them both a sleepy-but-grateful smile.
As they hovered outside they listened to Dr Farris and Nurse Julie tossing questions and answers back and forth with Lucia adding occasional tid-bits of information. They could hear him scrawling notes on his clipboard, very old-fashioned was Dr Farris, probably because he himself is so old.
After barely ten minutes Sariyah broke the silence between them.
“I’ll got get her some PJs and toiletries, it doesn’t look like she’ll be leaving this bed any time tonight.”
Elijah nodded and watched her leave, wishing he had thought of the idea first. Seeing Sariyah so naturally take on this situation and flourish as a carer and friend to Lucia gave him the slightest tinge of jealousy. This was his chance to make a good impression on Lucia and she was so much better than him at being helpful and thoughtful and understanding.
When the examination was over Sariyah had returned with the small pink fluffy bed clothes and a zip-up bag. She passed them through the curtain to Nurse Julie who aided Lucia in changing into them with a symphony of soft gasps and hitched breaths. Each sound made Elijah wince as he pictured her struggling to lift her limbs or wiggle into the clothing.
When the prodding and probing was complete, Lucia was tucked back into bed and Dr Farris whipped the blue curtain open to reveal her propped up against multiple pillows, her eyelids drooping again and her curls hanging limply around her shoulders.
“Physically, things are looking positive. Now let’s run through the last thing you remember before waking up here.”
“I remember being at home… with my family. I said goodnight to them and went to bed.”
“How old were you then?”
“Twenty-one.”
“So not long ago then.” Sariyah added helpfully, “You’re still twenty-one now.”
“That’s good.” Lucia mumbled.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure your head will begin to bubble with memories soon. These things can come back in chunks or all at once. The most important thing is not to allow yourself to become stressed.” Dr Farris explained as he slotted all of his notes into his folder, “In the meantime you will spend the night in here under the observation of Julie and in a few days those deep bruises will have healed enough for you to hobble about.”
He gave a mini salute and strode out, laid-back as usual.
“Thank you, doctor.” Lucia called after him quietly.
“Time for rest, sweetheart,” Sariyah cooed, “we’ll be by your side all night.”
Elijah nodded his agreement and reached for Lucia’s hand again, she clasped her fingers around his and dozed off with a small smile on her pretty pink lips.
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