Her White Wolf

Chapter Thirteen

She shot up out of the chair she'd been intermittently occupying and rested her hands on her lower belly, trying to will the anxiety there, to quiet. "Well?" she asked, voice as hopeful as she could muster.

Shuri gave her a tired smile. "He's in recovery. The surgery went as well as it could have. There was a lot to disconnect and reconnect, but in the end he'll be happier with this arm and hopefully not have any lasting pain."

Cleo stepped forward and embraced her best friend, squeezing her tightly for a few long moments before she released her and took her hands. "Thank you, my brilliant friend," she told her sincerely. "Go rest. You've earned it. Can I go in or should I wait?"

"I cannot rest quite yet. I want to monitor him for a bit first," she answered. "But yes, you can see him. He's still not awake yet, but he's cleaned up and the other stuff has been put away."

Cleo squeezed her friend's hands again before she embraced her one more time. "Thank you," she told her once more before she stepped away to go into the room James occupied.

He looked restful in the recovery bed, she was thankful for that. The new joint was covered for now, carefully wrapped in tight bandages. She walked to his right side to take his hand as she pulled up a chair beside him. "I'm right here, handsome," she whispered, raising his hand to press a soft kiss against it before she settled it back onto the bed.

James didn't wake for close to a half an hour. The higher drug dosage that he required made it harder for him to wake up. His eyes fluttered open, thankful he was in dim lighting as he looked over to see Cleo, leaned over with her head on the bed, asleep. "Baby?" He murmured.

At some point Cleo had drifted off, her fingers resting on the top of his hand. That's where they had been when she'd dozed off. She felt James speak more than she heard him at first and she blinked her eyes open. It took only a moment to orient herself before she raised her head to look up and find James's eyes looking back at her. "Hi baby," she said quietly, her fingers lacing through his. "How do you feel?"

"Fuzzy," he murmured as he blinked his eyes, trying to feel more awake. "But it's nice to see your face."

"That will fade, just give it time," she told him quietly, smoothing her hand over his arm lightly. "The surgery went well, Shuri said. Your new arm should be a lot lighter and feel more natural."

James smiled softly. "That'll be nice," he agreed, still sounding sleepy.

Cleo stood up and reached up to gently smooth her hand over the skin of his jaw. "You can sleep, baby, I promise I'll be here."

"I've hardly seen you today," he murmured.

Her smile softened and the warmth in her eyes intensified. "I know, but that's okay. There's plenty of time to see me when you're rested," she encouraged gently. "I love that you want to see me, though."

He smiled softly, his eyes barely open. "I love you, Cleo."

"I love you too, James," she told him and she leaned in to press a soft kiss against his temple. "I'm not going anywhere." He could rest; there wasn't anywhere else for her to be. She held his hand securely and intermittently pressed gentle kisses against it as she read a book on her phone. She was ready to care for him; they'd taken care to set up his house for recovery and she was prepared to stay there with him.

Though... they were together every night now. They alternated where they stayed because it felt... too soon to talk about living together. Right?

~~~~~~

James got to go home a day later. He was currently sitting on his couch as he watched Eagle chew on a large bone at his feet. He smiled at the thought of Cleo being around all of the time while he healed. It would be nice to have her with him.