F1 Reader Inserts

The Bucket List || CL16

You felt drunk as the anaesthesia still circulated your body and you were sure you slurred the words you had been banned from telling him before. "I love you."

You dozed in and out of consciousness until the pain relief began to wear off and breathing itself hurt. The bandages across your chest irritated your skin and the stitches pulled with every little movement. Charles noticed it all.

"I'll see if they can give you anything for the pain."

You caught his hand before he could leave and winced as the IV line in your hand tugged uncomfortably. "I'm hungry."

Charles chuckled, knowing you would be after eating nothing before the surgery, and cradled your cheek gently. "Maman's on her way with your favourites. I'll be right back, baby."

Charles arrived back with a large bag of hot dishes from your favourite restaurants around the city and the promise that the nurse would bring some medicine around soon.

"We'll have someone come and move you up to the ward shortly," the kind nurse said after she had given you another dose of pain relief. "You'll be able to see your visitors there."

You thanked her since you knew your parents would have been waiting with Pascale, Arthur and Lorenzo too. Charles had been keeping them updated since you woke up and his phone was constantly going off with notifications from your friends.

"How are you feeling?"

You placed your fork down into the empty bowl and Charles whisked it off your lap and tidied up the rubbish with the need to keep himself busy. "I don't know," you admitted as your head began to clear from the anaesthesia. "Two weeks ago we were partying in Baku and now we're here. I still don't know how this even happened. What if they made a mistake? This was all done so quickly."

Charles carefully tucked the sheet back around your body after helping you to lie back down. "Mon amour, this is one of the best hospitals, they wouldn't have done this unless it was the right decision for your health."

"I know, I know. I just don't know how to feel anything right now, except confusion." You took his hand as he sat back into the chair beside your bed and kissed his knuckles. "How do you feel?"

"Me?" His brows pinched together as if he hadn't been thinking for himself, and he really hadn't. All of his thoughts and feelings had been focused on you. "I'm relieved, I suppose. You are here, I get to kiss you and hold your hand. That is good."

You smiled at the hope in his voice. "I don't remember a kiss."

"Ah," he hummed with a nod as he leaned closer until his lips were so close you could feel the heat of them as he whispered, "This one."

—

You were warned that day two would be the hardest. The hard drugs had worn off and what you were supplied with took away the dull throbbing ache when you were stationary but did nothing to prevent the sharp pain of moving.

Charles had just lifted you back into bed after helping you go to the bathroom when the surgeon arrived with a forlorn look on his face. Immediately you felt the air leave the room.

Doctor Hall started with the good news, that the surgery went as planned with minimal bleeding from the tissue removal, but then there was a pause. Your fingers tightened around Charles hand as the doctor flipped the piece of paper on his clipboard over and clicked the end of his pen.

"When we began the removal of the tumour we found that the shape wasn't exactly as we expected from the ultrasound." He drew an oval shape on the paper before adding webs spindling off in all directions and pointing to them. "We removed as many of the tentacles as we could find but they are invasive and so we would like to start chemotherapy as soon as you have recovered from the operation."