Take Care of Her

Stay With Me

I've thought I had killer migraines before, but nothing has been as bad as this.

I hear soft beeping, and it's almost enough to lull me to sleep again. But the pounding in my head is telling me I need to get up and get it taken care of.

I open my eyes and squint against the light, which is exacerbating the pain in my head. I huff and go to sit up, only to be stopped by something holding my hand. I look down, annoyed, but freeze when I realize I'm not in my bed and the thing holding me back is Noah.

He's holding my hand tightly, asleep against the bed while sitting in a chair. That does not look comfortable. I frown, trying to remember what happened.

The throbbing in my head makes me grind my teeth, and I decide I have to take care of that first. I pull myself to a seated position, trying not to wake Noah. I press the button next to my bed so that someone will give me pain meds. Not sure why I'm in the hospital and not in my room, but at this moment, I don't care. I have to figure out how to get my head to stop hurting.

The door quickly opens, and a nurse steps through, without looking at me, her eyes on the clipboard in her hands. She continues to the end of my bed.

"I already told you, we can't tell you when she'll wake up." The nurse says, sounding bored. I glance at Noah to see that he's not awake, and then turn my attention to the nurse who is looking through the papers.

"I-" I pause, trying to clear my throat. It's dry and painful, "I need medicine," I get out, my voice sounding rough.

The nurse snaps her attention to me and then to Noah, and then back to me.

"You're awake!" She says, seeming surprised.

"My head hurts," I tell her. Her eyes widen, and she nods. She pulls out a syringe with medication and pushes it through my IV.

"This should help with that. Now that you're awake, we can manage your pain better. You're awake sooner than expected!" She says cheerfully. I feel my hand being squeezed and look down to find Noah sitting up and rubbing his eyes with his other hand. He sighs, but when he looks at me, he stops, eyes widening.

"Jenn?" He whispers, and I only nod at him. He breaks into a smile and jumps up, pulling me into a hug. I blink in surprise, but allow him to hold me gently.

"What happened?" I ask, looking to the nurse. She just shakes her head and leaves the room. Okay rude. Guess I'll have to ask someone else.

Noah finally releases me and sits back down in the chair. He frowns at me.

"You don't remember?" I shake my head before realizing that was a bad idea. My head throbs, and I bring my hand up to hold it, stopping when I notice I have something sticking to my cheek. My eyes widen, and I try to rip it off, getting my nails under the gauze.

Noah grabs my hand gently and brings it back down to my lap. But doesn't let go of my hand.

"You were attacked a few nights ago. Aiden broke into your house," he stared at me silently, allowing me to take in what he just said.

My eyes widen even further as I remember parts of the night, hiding in the closet. Being dragged out. I reach up to touch my throat, noticing the skin is tender. Noah flinches, but lets me touch it.

"You have a fractured skull and a shattered cheekbone. The gauze you felt is from the surgery; they said it won't leave a scar as they only had to make two small incisions, but they wanted to keep it covered." Noah explains softly, "Your throat is going to be tender and may hurt to talk for a bit. The doctor said it'll get better quickly." I continue to stare at him, trying to process everything. He fractured my skull and shattered my cheekbone. So much for never hurting me.

I frown and squint my eyes. I reach over and lightly touch his cheek; it's purple.

"Did you fight Aiden?" I ask, I don't remember Noah even coming in, and I certainly don't remember him fighting Noah.

"No, Justin and I got in a fight." My eyes widen, and I put my hand back in my lap. "Don't worry about it," is all he says, and I know he's not willing to go into more detail.

Just as I go to say something, the doctor comes in.

"Hey Jenn, I see you're awake. I'm just gonna check on a few things and see if we can discharge you today." I nod, and he comes closer and starts to unwrap my head, looking at the back of it. He makes small noises as he looks around. Then he takes off the gauze on my cheek, nodding slightly. He pulls on my eyelids, looking into my eyes with a flashlight. He has me open my mouth, and he looks down my throat.

"So?" Noah prompts, he's sitting in the chair, leaning back with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Everything is looking superb. I'll have the nurse do a bandage change, show you how to do it so you can help her," he mentions to Noah. Noah just nods, and I look at him, shocked. Why would he help me or even want to help me?

"She'll have one hell of a migraine, so we'll prescribe medication for that. Make sure she's not sleeping too much and look out for signs of a concussion. She needs lots of rest, no heavy lifting, no bending over, and certainly no work. I'll write everything up in the discharge paperwork. But you'll be good to leave this afternoon!"

Noah gets up and shakes the doctor's hand, "Thanks, doctor." The doctor nods and then takes his leave.

"Jan and Tyler should be here soon," Noah mentions, looking at me again. I nod laying back in the bed. Humming as I start thinking about everything.

"Justin?" I ask, I see the dark look cross Noah's face, and regret asking.

"I'll text him; he's been avoiding coming to see you because it makes him angry. He already has a large hospital bill with all the things he threw the first night." I nod, looking away from Noah. My chest gets tight with worry. I definitely want to see Justin. I know if I see him, everything will be okay.

"Hey," he starts softly, grabbing my hand, "Are you really okay?" I turn and look at him, smiling at him.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. My face and head hurt, but I'm sure that'll heal up." I shrug my shoulders. He nods at me but gets up and goes over to the window. I watched him stare out of the window for a moment before Jan and Tyler walked right in.

She smiles when she sees me awake and rushes to my side, grabbing my hand.

"How do you feel?" She asks timidly, and I sigh and glance towards Noah, but he's expertly ignoring us by looking out the window.

"Fine, I'm good. Ready to go home." Jan shakes her head at me, and I raise an eyebrow.

"I packed all your things. You'll stay with us. I can't let you go back to living alone." I frown at her. I'm not a child.

"Jan, I can't. You have a baby on the way and Addie to take care of. What if Aiden comes to your house? I'd never forgive myself. I am fine on my own. I'm sure the police are looking for him." Jan frowns but knows there's truth to my words.

"The doctor said she needs to be monitored, and she'll need help with bandage changes." Noah brings up, still not looking away from the window. I huff, not happy that I have to be babysat.

I open my mouth to retort when the nurse comes in with clean bandages.

"Hey Jenn, let's get you wrapped up. Dr. Said we don't have to cover your cheek anymore, so that's great!" She comes to my bed and lays down the bandages.

Having me sit forward so she could see the back of my head, she gets started.

"We didn't have to shave too much hair to get the sutures in, so that's nice. Remember, you have to keep them nice and dry until we see you to take them out." I nod. I listen patiently as she explains what she's doing.

"You'll want to put this gauze pad on first; it's non-adhesive, so it won't stick or pull on her hair. Then you'll take this wrap, and you'll want to wrap it at least twice around her head, go over the forehead," she explains as she wraps my head. I keep my eyes closed throughout. I couldn't help but feel exhausted.

"When you tape it, make sure it's on the side here, or it may be uncomfortable when she's lying down, and it'll put uneven pressure on the wound." She finished, giving me a pat on the shoulder.

"And done! It's not too bad, the main thing is to make sure it stays covered and dry until we see you again to remove the sutures." I nod and smile at her. Thanking her. She nods and leaves us alone again.

"You have to come and stay with us. Tyler will help keep an eye out for Aiden." Jan says, I go to disagree and she starts crying. "I can't see you getting hurt again." She whispers, grabbing my hand. I sigh heavily.

"She'll stay with me," I look over at Noah, shocked.

"What?" I ask, not quite sure if I heard him right.

"You'll stay with me. You won't have to be alone, and your family will be safe from Aiden. And trust me, I wish he'd come to my place." Noah explains, as though it's the simplest thing in the world.

"I can't, I mean, Justin would lose his mind," Jan laughs loudly, and Tyler smirks at me.

"Like he hasn't already. He knows that Noah is going to keep you safe. I think it's a great idea!" Jan mentions smiling at me, wiping her tears. "It's not like you can stay with Justin; no one wants to be around that." I make a face just thinking about it.

I love my brother, but I know how much of a hoe he is, and he would not stop with me being there.

"So it's settled. You'll come and stay with me." Noah determines, saying it in a way that leaves no room for questions.

"Okay, if you're sure. I really don't mind just going home." I say, looking over to Noah. I see his jaw muscles moving as he looks out of the window.

"I said, 'you'll come stay with me,' and I meant it." He still hasn't looked at me this entire time, instead keeping his gaze out of the window.

"Thank you," I say before I yawn, settling back into the bed. I'm absolutely beat.

"You should try to sleep before they discharge you. We'll let you be, but please text me when you get to Noah's safe." I nod, and Jan leans forward to kiss my forehead. I smile softly at her.

I watch as she and Tyler leave, Tyler giving me a pointed look and a thumbs up. I shake my head at him and look over to Noah. He continues to stand there, looking out the window. I wonder if there's something up there.

"Get some sleep." He says softly, and I find myself closing my eyes and letting sleep settle in.

I could have sworn I felt him grab my hand, but it could have been a dream.