Untamed

82 (Bonus chapter)

Renee snorted. "That's like telling a pig not to play in mud."

"Fuck you!" Heather flipped her off.

"What did I just say?" Renee asked the doctor sweetly.

The doctor smiled, writing off on the clipboard in her hands. "I'll tell a nurse to bring a cup of ice cubes for you, remember no talking and no provoking her either or I might need to ask you to leave." The doctor pinned Renee with a stare but looked away almost immediately.

"Well if you say so." Renee cocked her head, "I'll behave."

"Now she's flirting." Heather threw her hands up.

"I didn't provoke that." Renee winked at the doctor who blushed and shook her head.

"I'll check on you later Heather, keep that mouth shut till then."

Heather saluted her, finally turning her attention to Shelby. "According to-"

Shelby shushed her gently with her hand. "The doctor advised you to keep your mouth shut."

"You just-"

"Heather." Shelby pinched her wrist. "We can talk about everything later, do as the doctor says."

"But-"

"Heather shut up."

Heather looked her mother who moved her fingers across her mouth in a 'zip it' motion and Renee who was snickering in the corner, Heather didn't have a problem giving her the finger.

Shelby smiled stroking Heather's hand, comforted by the steady strum of her heartbeat underneath her fingertips. Heather was awake and bickering with Renee per usual; there was no greater miracle than that and that was all Shelby would ask for, for now.

Her diagnosis came through and it was not what she was expecting but it wasn't her greatest nightmare; she was already living it. Hard to admit but Renee had been right, Shelby wouldn't be able to support Heather in her recovery.

Their relationship was not going to be the same either, and Shelby didn't know if they would survive the coming months with the demons they were both fighting.

"Shelby." Danica touched her shoulder, grounding her. "What did the doctor say?"

Shelby raised her head, for the first time in months hating that she couldn't see the expression on anyone's face. "My diagnosis was bad."

"But it's treatable right?"

"Is Heather asleep?" Shelby felt the slight change in her pulse and the knew the answer either way.

"No she's not." Renee said. "She's just keeping her mouth shut."

Shelby nodded. "I guess it's better if I say it now."

"No matter how bad the diagnosis is, we'll be here for you no matter what."

"I appreciate that but I don't think it'll be that easy. My situation is not going to be remedied neither will a new treatment excite me in the future. That's because my vision is gone, all of it."

Danica's hand on her shoulder grew firmer, Heather squeezed her hand and another pair of hands landed on her other shoulder.

There was no more vision to protect so Shelby cried freely, wetting her bandages; that would make them more irritable but Shelby no longer cared.

"You guys make a truly iconic couple though." Renee cleared her throat. "A blind bat and a stubborn mute, I'd write a book if I had the talent."

Shelby found herself laughing forgetting her problems for a minute, assaulted with the mental image Renee had painted. They really did make a funny couple.