One sick love story

In this Together

Doctors come in and out all day long, but still darcy shows no movement.  I Know she's not supposed to, but i hate seeing her like this.
I need something to distract myself.
Suddenly, my phone starts ringing.
It's Ben's dad.
"Hey marvin, everything alright?."
"Yes, I just thought I'd let you know that ben is awake."
I switch off my phone and immediately run down to the ICU.
Now what am I going to say to him? So much has happened. Where do I start?

I make it down to his room, I open the door and his dad his sitting by his side talking to him.
"Sarah?" Ben tries to shout and jump up.
"Ben you need to lie down, but yes,
I'm here." I reply. I sit next to his dad.
I whisper in his ear "so what have you told him?"
"Not much."
I decide to try and speak to ben.
"Ben, now everything's okay, you just relax."
"What's going on? I can't remember anything, where am I?"
"YOur in the hospital."
"What, why?"
"You were in a motorcycle crash, can you remember anything?"
"No, nothing. When did I crash?"
" just over 24 hours ago. You've not been asleep for long. But what you should know, is that you've had surgery on your stomach so you need to be careful."
"Wait what!" He lifts up the covers and stares at the scar on his abdomen."this is just- I don't-"
"It's okay, we will do more explaining later, you need to calm down first."
"How can I calm down?"
"Just please ben." He lies back down in his bed but still has an agitated look on his face.
I don't blame him, waking up in the hospital is  a scary thing.  The unknown is what scares us the most.
"Where's darcy? I need to see Darcy!"
"Ben wait..." I say but He looks really concerned. I look at marvin and then back to ben and let out a sigh. "Darcy has been with you the whole time, she came here straight after she found out about the accident."
"So where is she now?"
"Well... Now dont freak out. But she fainted whilst she was looking after you. She's got an infection in her thigh, and unfortunately it can be deadly for Cancer patients. But she's okay. She's just recovering in the Cancer ward."
"I need to see her."
"Ben you can't, you've had surgery and been in a really serious crash. One of your lungs has collapsed." He suddenly lies back down in fear.
"My lung... It's er... Its... Your saying its... Collapsed?"
"Yes but it's okay now, you've been on oxygen. And it's on the mend. You can see darcy when your ready, but not yet."
He doesn't say anything else. Instead he just sits there staring into thin air.
I decide to leave and I make my way back up to Darcy's room.

--

(Ben's POV)

I'm supposed to be sleeping. But how can I when I've just found out that I'm in hospital with a collapsed lung, broke ribs, and a broken wrist. This is all joes fault. If he had never kissed her, none of this would have ever happened. She would have never got that cut on her leg. And never got that infection. And I wouldn't have been so angry that I left the house at 4 in the morning. And I wouldn't have had surgery if he didn't kick me ... And.. And..there's no point doing this. I can't keep saying what could have happened, because it has happened. And now it needs to be fixed.
There's no way I'm moving back in with Joe. I have no choice but to move in with my dad.

It's finally morning, I didn't get one minute of sleep last night. But to be honest I didn't really need to, I've been sleeping for almost two days anyway.
I need to see darcy. There's so many things we need to talk about. It's my health, my body, there's no way anyone can tell me what to do.
No ones in my room at the moment as it's still very early in the morning. I decide to try and get up.
It's not as easy as I though it was going to be. I have so many leads and things attatched to me. I'm attached to a bloody pole, I have no idea how darcy does this all the time. I have so much respect for her and how she manages to deal with these situations.
My stomach is in agony and my legs are too shaky. I try and grab the pole so I can bring it round with me but I have a stupid cast on my arm so I can't pick anything up.
I decide it's probably not best to do this by myself. And there's only one person who I know I could trust, and could help me to get out of here unseen.

"Please Bella, you know how much she means to me."
"Ben, I can't just take you out of here without your doctores permission. You've had serious surgery. It's not safe."
"But im okay, honest."
"I'm sorry ben, but you will get to see darcy at some point. She will be okay you know, and plus, if I get caught doing this, I will lose my job. I can't loose it."
"sorry. But is there anyway I could see her. Please Bella I'm desperate"
"Okay fine. I guess I can help you. But you can't let anyone know I done this."
"Of course. Thankyou, this means a lot"
"Alright, Ill help you get up."
She helps sort out all the tubes attached to me, to makes sure that they're all kneat and are leading up to the pole which I have to carry around. She's a pro. But then again this is her job and what she gets paid to do.
She helps me to stand up on my shaky, weak legs. Then wraps her arm around my shoulders.
"You ready to go?" She asks.
"Yes , I think so. Is there any reason why you have to hold me up?"
"Because if I don't you will most likely fall over."
"Will I?"
"After surgery it's really important to have support for the first time when your walking. Shouldn't you know this by now, you've been through everything with darcy."
"I guess."
"Well let's go."
She leads me out into the corridor. I feel like a spy having to sneak around all these corridors.
I also feel like a complete cripple. I'm in a hospital gown, and have tubes coming off of me. And I need a young women to help me walk. I'm also crouched over because of the pain in my stomach.
We go up the lift and onto the pediatric oncology ward where Darcy is staying.
Bella gets us past all the doctors unseen. I guess I don't have to do much blending in, I look like any sick hospital patient.
We enter into her room.
"You ready?" Bella asks.
"I guess."
I walk up towards her and I'm heart broken. I've seen her looking like this too many times. Bella pulls up a seat so I can sit next to her.
"She's alright ben. It's just the machines that are making her look worse."
"But you don't understand bella... This... This is all my fault."
"Don't say that ben, it's not your fault that she got Cancer."
"I know it's not my fault she got Cancer. But it's my fault she's like this now."
"But why? I don't understand."
"Because Bella, I was in a fight with my roommate and I accidentally knocked her over." She goes silent, doesn't know how to reply. "I know, it's awful. And I feel so terrible about it."
"Well... Maybe... But ben, I don't blame you for getting annoyed with Joe, he did kiss your girlfriend."
"How do you know about that?"
"Me and Darcy were having a conversation when you had just been brought into hospital. She didn't tell me that you were the one who knocked her over... But... She was so worried about you, she understands now what it's like to be on the other side of things. She didn't realise how painful it was to watch someone going through it."
"Well now I understand what it's like on her side of things. I have so much more respect for her, she's so brave. How shes does this all the time I don't know? I feel so awful for moaning at her for well.... Moaning."
"It's alright ben. No one ever really understands what it's like to be on both sides of things. But now you have. And I think this was all for the good, you now know how eachother feels in these situations so things should be much easier to deal with now."
"Thanks Bella. You always know the right things to say."
"That's alright, now I'll give you two some alone time. I'll guard the door making sure no one comes in."
"Thanks."
I'm now alone with her. I hold her hands like I always do.
I can't believe this has happened to both of us. And it was all over one stupid kiss. If only Joe could see us both now, and see the mess that he has created. I'm not going to speak to him ever again.
But it's almost like me and darcy are destined to be together. We said we are in this together. And now we literally are. By eachothers side when we're both sick. We couldn't stay away. If darcy didn't get ill, then she would probably be at home right now. And not with me, in the hospital.
I kiss her on the lips and hold it for about 10 seconds. It almost felt like for a minute that she was kissing me back. But as soon as I let go and looked back at her face, my smile dropped and she remained still.
Suddenly, Bella comes rushing back in.
"Ben, it's time to go"
"But why? We've barely been here for 10 minutes."
"Because I've just seen Dr. Kartor coming. If he finds out I've brought you in here, I'll loose my job."
I sit there, feeling really depressed.
"What's wrong?" She asks.
"I don't know, I guess, I guess I just thought she would wake up when I came to see her."
"Well why would you expect that to happen?"
"I guess I thought it was going to be like in the movies. When the boy kisses the girl and she wakes up, and she has a massive smile on her face and kisses the boy back. But I guess I forgot this is real life. Not the movies."
"I'm sorry ben, but she will wake up,it will just take time. We've got to let her body rest. now please can we go."
"Yes, I'm sorry"
Bella helps me get back up, and I continue to watch darcy until the last moment when I can't see her anymore.