After the Sun Sets (18+)

CHAPTER 3 - Resistance

The sound of the door opening shook Lora out of her deep sleep. Her hand rose to her neck, massaging it to soothe her aching muscles.

"Good morning, Ness," she croaked, recognising the red-haired nurse tip-toeing towards her.

She turned on the dimmer so that she could see the monitor and charted down Jona's pulse, blood pressure and saturations. "Love what you've done with the place," she said pointedly. She crouched down by Lora's feet to check the level of reddish fluid in the bag attached to the bed.

"Thanks," Lora answered sheepishly as she stretched her limbs and stood up from the armchair which she had moved to sit under the window and covered with a woollen beige throw. She also moved the bedside cupboard to the other side of the bed, on which she placed a frame with a family picture and Jonathan's favourite ornament, an antique hourglass with the words Lost Time Is Never Found engraved on the rim. "Still at three twenty?"

"Yup, just about," Nessy confirmed as she heaved herself back up and wrote the figures on his fluid balance chart. She rested the file on the over-bed table, which was now at the foot of the bed. "Don't tell me you've been checking it all night."

Lora tried to stifle a yawn. "No, actually, I slept really well."

The nurse raised a sceptical brow at her. "Jonathan should start sipping some water. Shall I wake him or do you want to do it?" 

"It's ok, Ness. Leave it to me."

Lora opened the blinds and peered out the window as Vanessa shuffled out of the room, obviously taking her sweet time examining Aiden's drawings stuck to the walls with stationery tape. When Lora finally heard the soft close of the door, she fished out Jona's favourite mug from the bedside cabinet and filled it with water.

"Jonathan?" she called, pushing her husband's matted blond hair off his forehead. The man hummed softly as he opened his eyes a sliver and Lora gave him a smile. "Hey," she whispered. "How are you feeling?"

Jonathan cleared his throat and tried to adjust his upper body. He winced. "Dry. Sore."

Lora let out a soft sigh. "Nessy just put some painkillers in your IV. And I brought you some water."

Jonathan opened his eyes fully and looked up at his wife. He took in her shoulder-length, brown hair that had come loose from her ponytail. Her doe, brown eyes were round and expressive, so unlike her late sister's almond ones.

"So, this is what your patients woke up to. Fucking hell! I died and reached Saint Peter's gates. You look like a God damn angel!"

Lora shook her head disapprovingly as she took Jonathan's outstretched hand. "With that foul mouth of yours, Jonathan, you won't get to see Saint Peter's gates. Now, drink! Slowly Jona, or it will make you sick."

Jonathan chuckled as he sucked gently from the paper straw that Lora put to his lips. Little by little he drank the whole thing.

When Lora was satisfied that he was neither coughing nor nauseated, she went out to the kitchenette to make him some tea. They had turned on the lights in the corridor. The nurses were at the desk taking handover from the night staff. Nessy would soon be going home.

Lora reached the small visitor's kitchen and filled up the kettle from the dispenser. She knew where the tea was, where the teaspoons were, the milk. She knew the small kitchen like the back of her hand and yet, she longed to be making tea in her own home.

Be patient, Lora. The Lord is great, she reminded herself.

She heard the ward door open and her head raised automatically towards it. The teaspoon slipped from between her fingers as he walked in, landing with a clank on the floor. Dr Shaw turned towards the sound and his eyes locked with hers. The piercing green of his irises flashed with something Lora could not fathom and it startled her. She quickly dived for the teaspoon and remained crouched down by the cupboards until she heard his footsteps fade away.