Seasons (Ari AU)

Chapter 18

Holland POV

  My eyes flutter open, noticing the darkness in the room and for a half a moment I think I'm home in my own bed, the warmth coming from next to me belonging to Jeremy and that the last two months have been nothing but a long drawn out nightmare.

  Upon hearing the soft beeps, and the sting coming from the back of my hand, I know that all my wishes were false. 

  Jeremy was in fact dead. He had also left me semi-penniless for my future, but yet also given me something to remember him by. I try to lift my right hand to rest upon my belly but it's incredibly heavy which leaves me confused. I roll my head to the right and see a head full of wavy hair laid out on my bed, ultimately the weight of the head keeping my hand in place.  I wiggle my fingers thinking that would make Ari stir, but it doesn't. Instead I lift my left hand, IV attached, wincing as I gently touch the top of his head, feeling the soft hair on the tips of my fingers. 

  Still nothing.

  How do they wake him up at the station for a midnight call? I wonder to myself. 

  I lift my fingers and literally tap his head, semi gently at first, still getting no reaction. With a roll of my eyes I hit him harder, finally making him rustle and lift his head.  His sweet blue eyes search through the night, much like my own, until he notices my hand wiggling underneath him.  

  A huge wave of relief crosses his features, "Hi, beautiful," he says, instantly standing up to kiss my forehead before passing me over a cup with a straw. I take a sip of water, cringing as it slides down my throat, another reminder that the day before had truly  happened. "Wanna tell me what happened?"

  My right hand can finally go to rest against my stomach.  "I sort of stood up for my patient and it landed me here."

  "You care too much sometimes, Holland," he tells me, caressing my hair off of my forehead. 

  "Someone has to," I give him a small smile, my eyes feeling heavy again. 

  "Go back to sleep, sweetheart. I'll be right here," he assures me, pulling his hand back from my hair. 

  My head dips a little further into the pillow. "Hey, Ari?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Can you maybe not fall asleep on my hand this time?" I ask, weakly smiling back at him. His pearly whites shine back at me as he takes his place back in the chair, sinking down lower this time and tossing his dirty boots up on the edge of my bed. He looks at me expectantly, waiting for a complaint. "That's better."

  "Rise and shine," Shauna calls out, pulling back the curtain around nine in the morning. She looks on, surprised to see me sitting up with a deck of cards between myself and Ari. 'What in the world? When did you get here?"

  Ari chuckles, "I never left."

  "But you're not family. Did you say you were her husband? I thought," she stammers through her words. 

  "You're right, I'm not. But you forgot that I dated that one girl, Darlene, a couple times. She let me stay."

  I turn my attention over to him. "What did you have to promise to her?"

  His eyes drop and his cheeks begin to blush. "Ari! You did not!"

  "I didn't do anything!" he calls out, tossing the cards in his hand down. "Yet."

  "Ari Levinson!" his sister wails. "I thought you were dating Felicity? What are you trying to do? Whore yourself out to the highest bidder?"

  I sit back and watch the tennis match, hiding my grin as Ari rolls his eyes. "When last did you speak to Darlene, Shaun? She's married, ya lunatic. Her brother has his eye on one of the girls at the station."