"Brian."
Her voice was barely above a whisper but it jolted him awake.
"Hey," he said, scooting to the edge of the chair. "Welcome back."
"Where am I?" she asked, her eyes slowly scanning the room.
"You're in the hospital. Do you remember what happened?"
"No."
His throat felt dry. He didn't want to have to tell her what had happened.
"Do you remember going to get ice?"
"No. My stomach hurts. What happened?"
"You got attacked when you went to get ice. Someone stabbed you."
She looked at him, confusion on her face.
"What? Why would someone do that?"
"I don't know sweetheart. I don't know. Do you want me to get the nurse? She can get you some more morphine for the pain."
She nodded slightly and he stood up. He kissed her gently on the forehead before leaving the room.
He returned a few seconds later closely followed by a nurse. The nurse checked Vivian's blood pressure and took her temperature before injecting morphine into the tube that was attached to her arm.
Brian sat back down and took her hand. He kissed the top it then rested it against his cheek.
"I'm so sorry this happened to you."
"It's not your fault."
"I should have protected you."
"It's not your fault." Her eyes closed and she was once again sleeping.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. It was almost 7:00. He stood up and stretched, rubbing the back of his neck that was stiff, and headed downstairs to get something to drink.
He ended up sitting down there for nearly an hour, staring into nothing. He started to feel overcome with emotion, the thought of nearly losing her swimming through his mind, so he called his mom.
"Hello?"
"Hey ma."
"Oh hey Brian. You're up early. Everything ok?"
"Not really."
"What's wrong?" she asked, concern in her voice.
"Last night...after the show, at the hotel...something happened."
"What? Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm fine ma. It's not me, it's Vivian."
"Vivian? What happened?"
"She was attacked," he said. "Stabbed."
"Oh my gosh, Brian! Is she ok?"
"She's stable. She's in the hospital."
"Who attacked her?"
"I don't know. We don't know. And she doesn't remember it."
"I'm so sorry Bri. And this happened at your hotel?" she asked.
"Yeah. She went to get ice and someone attacked her. One of the other guests found her."
"Is there anything I can do for you? For her? Do you want me to call her family?"
"No. I already called her sister. She's on her way. There's not much to do now but just wait for her to heal."
"You sound tired. I'm guessing you didn't get much sleep?"
"No. A couple hours maybe. I'll be alright. Listen mom, I should get back up there. I want to be there when she wakes up again."
"Ok. You call me if you need anything. And give Vivian my love. She's such a sweet girl. I'm sorry this happened to her."
"I will ma. Love you. Talk to you soon."
"Love you, too, Bri."
When he got back up to her room he found her just as he had left her. He sat beside her bed and watched her. He daydreamed about taking her away someplace warm and tropical, just the two of them, once she was fully healed.
He was brought back to reality when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out to see Jeff was calling.
"Hey Jeff."
"How's she doing?"
"Still sleeping. She woke up for a few minutes a little while ago but went back out once the morphine kicked in."
"Did she tell you who did it?"
"No. She doesn't even remember it."
"Oh man. Well hopefully that's temporary. I mean I'm sure it would be better if she didn't remember, but she's the only one that can identify who did this."
"I know," Brian said.
"So, I've canceled tonight's show. I've booked us another night here but I need to know what you want to do about tomorrow and the rest of the tour. There's only five more shows after tonight."
"I honestly don't know. I don't think I can get up there on stage and crack jokes while my girlfriend is laying in a hospital bed."
"Her sister's on her way, right?"
"Yeah."
"So why don't you let her take care of Vivian. At least until the tour is over. There isn't anything you can do for her right now anyway."
"I don't know. Can we figure this out later?"
"Yeah, sure," Jeff said. "Listen we'll be back over later. I'll shoot you a text when we're on our way."
"Ok. Thanks man."
It was close to 10:30 when Bianca showed up.
"Brian?"
He turned around to see a woman who looked almost identical to Vivian standing there. He stood and walked over to her.
"Hey Bianca," he said, giving her a hug.
"How is she?" Bianca asked, walking towards the bed.
"She seems ok. She woke up for a few minutes a few hours ago. She was in pain so the nurse gave her more morphine. Didn't take long to knock her back out."
"Did she tell you who did this?"
"No. I told her what happened and she said she didn't remember it happening.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I'm sure her mind blocked it since it was a traumatic event."
"How did this happen?" Bianca asked as she ran her fingers over the bump on Vivian's forehead.
"I think that happened when she fell. Must have hit her head on the ice machine or the floor."
Bianca stared a Vivian for a minute before speaking again.
"Who would do this to her?" she asked, turning to look at Brian, her eyes filled with tears.
"I wish I knew," he said, moving close to her.
"Thank you for being here with her."
"You don't need to thank me. I love her. There isn't anywhere else I'd be."
