Lauren chuckled. "Oh baby I love you, but you haven't the strength-" I whipped around to face her with an offended expression.
"Take it back."
"I can't, it's true," she snickered, shaking her head at me. I rolled my eyes playfully,
"Whatever, I could do it- but today, we'll call Hunter," I said, snapping my finger, then went to retrieve my phone from the kitchen island.
"But we won't have Hunter everytime I need to go up or down the stairs Sade."
"Baby shh, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," I said, putting the phone to my ear just as Hunter answered.
"What up."
"Hey, you at home?"
"Ye, I'm trying to figure out how to get this chef to make a three tier cake within twelve hours."
I chuckled. "Client give you late notice?"
"M, a pain in the ass- anyways, what's up? Y'all okay?"
"Yeah," I said, glancing back at Lauren who was simply eyeing me with a subtle grin. I turned away from her, smiling to myself. "We uh, we need your help."
"Uhhhh- hold on, give me five minutes, I'm coming."
Sure enough, Hunter let herself in five minutes later, and the two of us figured out a way to carry Lauren up the stairs without hurting her. She stayed up there for a few days after that. And after a while, whenever she did need to come back down, her ribs weren't as sensitive, so I was able to assist her on my own.
~~~~~~~~
We'd come back from physical therapy after stopping for Italian food on the way home. The two of us changed into some sweats, then ate on the couch while watching reruns of 'Sister Sister.'
Like I'd told her, the session went better than she expected, putting Lauren in a good mood for the rest of the day. The doctor said that at this rate, she'd probably heal sooner than anticipated, which was great news to hear. I knew she'd been aggravated with needing so much help and being incapable of doing the smallest of tasks, but at least progress was being made.
It's around two o'clock now, and it was looking like she might be going to sleep soon. Charlie would be here around six or seven, and I had two designs to complete for the Emmys to give to her by tomorrow. While Lauren rested, I'd clean a little, then probably do that.
Lauren's head rested on my lap, on top of a throw pillow, as she laid down and I sat upright on the couch, running my fingers through her hair. The leg with the brace on it rested on top of two pillows and the arm with the sling rested atop her stomach. My TV hung high up on the wall, so this position was rather comfortable for her, as she'd told me. When we first came back from the hospital, I was too afraid to leave her by herself. So I'd spent that first week on the shorter couch, which was hardly even that short.
"You tired?" Lauren asked, pulling me from my thoughts.
A toothless grin tugged my lips as I looked down at her, finding her eyes already on me.
"I should be asking you that," I said, softly brushing my thumb back on her hairline. Drawing a breath, I straightened my posture and glanced around the room. "Are you comfortable? Do you need anything? I can-"
"Sade..."
"Yeah?" Feeling her hand on my cheek, I glanced down at her again. A moment passed as her eyes wandered my face again the way they did this morning, but I wasn't really sure why.
"Will you help me sit up, please?"
"Yeah, of course," I said, instantly doing so. I watched in confusion as she then struggled a bit to scoot herself down to the other end of the sofa. Once there, she looked at me as I began to speak. "Why'd you-"
"Come here," she said calmly, extending a hand out to me. More confusion wrote across my face as I did so. Lauren grabbed a pillow and sat it on her lap while propping her braced leg up on the ottoman. She simply looked at me, as I'd sat next to her, and patted her lap. "Come on."
I shook my head, chuckling a little. "Lauren, I'm fine, I don't-"
"Lay down Sade," she said, grabbing my hand to pull me in. "I wasn't asking."
With my head now resting in my girlfriend's lap, she looked down at me, then leaned in to kiss my forehead twice as her free hand grabbed a hold of mine. When she pulled back, I gazed at her warily.
"I'm not hurting you, am I?" Lauren shook her head, her thumb caressing the back of my hand. "You sure?"
She then pulled our hands to her lips to kiss mine, making me blush.
"I'm positive Emerald." Her eyes gazed into mine again. "It's okay... I've got you, okay?"
After a moment, I'd given up on resisting with a simple nod, then turned slightly on my right side to watch the TV.
A little less than five minutes later, I was out.
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Chapter 71
Start from the beginning
