Once we got to the hospital, it was a whirlwind as always. WWE paid for us to have the best medical care possible, which sometimes meant that we got X-Rays at 10 p.m and our doctors were called in at the same horrible hours.
We bypassed the waiting and triage and went straight back to a room and Bobby was taken back to get X-Rays while he was still updating paperwork. Adam and Roderick met me in the room right after Bobby left. They both had cups of coffee and both took seats in the room, while I leaned against the sink.
"So War Games was awesome." Adam said.
"Yeah, it was." Roddy agreed. "Did you see the pinball thing I did? That was cool."
Adam nodded with a smile. Then turned to me, "Your match was great too."
"I lost." I said with an eye roll.
"Yes, but you also jumped off the side of the cage. That was awesome." Roddy said.
"It was pretty awesome." I relented.
We stopped speaking. It was safe to say the adrenaline was long gone for all of us. We were exhausted. My shoulder was throbbing and my back was hurting. I stifled a yawn. "Where is Kyle?"
"He had to stay at work for a meeting with Creative." Roddy said then yawned himself.
'Hell of a time for a meeting." I said.
"Apparently it was very important." Adam said and chugged his coffee.
We fell into a comfortable silence until the door opened and Bobby walked in with a nurse. He sat down on the bed and finished up his conversation with the nurse which I wasn't bothered to listen to. The nurse left and Bobby looked over all of us. Before any of us could say anything, Bobby sighed. "I had X-Rays taken. The tech didn't seem thrilled about whatever she saw, but we have to wait for the radiologist to read them."
Adam nodded and ran a hand through his long hair. I was surprised that it wasn't in a ponytail. Bobby looked between him and Roddy, "Why don't you two go home? You both have wives that probably want to make sure you're all in one piece."
"Cause you're our best friend." Adam said as though that was all the reason they needed.
"And I appreciate it, but seriously. Go home." Bobby said. "I will let you know whatever the doctor says."
Adam and Roderick shared a look then both turned to me. "Are you staying?" Adam asked.
"Obviously." I said. "I will let you know whatever he tries to hide from you."
The boys laughed. Roderick stood up, "then let's go." He and Adam said their goodbyes and made me promise two more times to text them when we had more news.
Once they were gone, Bobby motioned for me to come sit next to him. I did despite every logical part of me screaming at me to stop. I knew this was a dangerous game, but I was going to keep playing.
"Thank you for coming," he said. I was next to his good arm, which he wrapped around me as though it was out of habit.
"You knew I would."
He nodded, "yeah, I did. Even though you had every right to say no."
"I should have said no." I whispered.
He didn't respond to that. Instead, we sat in silence. I leaned against his shoulder and tried not to yawn. Eventually, it happened. I yawned so big that my cheeks hurt.
Bobby rubbed my back. "I'm sorry, I know it's so late. And you must be so tired."
"I don't mind." I said, but I was tired. My eyes were so heavy that I stood up. Bobby stood with me, wincing as he did. "Don't hurt yourself." I said.
"I'm alright." He said, taking a deep breath. He grabbed my waist and, gently, pulled me into him.
My stomach filled with butterflies. My body reacted even when I knew better. He had been clear, this wasn't going to happen. But damn we were good at pretending. He was hurt so I wasn't going to push him away. I could do that tomorrow.
Bobby kissed the top of my head. I leaned on his shoulder for a long moment, but pulled away before I could lose consciousness. "If you keep holding onto me like that, I'm going to fall asleep."
I walked around the room and he sat back down on the bed. A moment later, the door opened and the doctor walked in. He was the usual doctor that was called in for WWE, but I didn't know his name. I had never needed him before because he was a surgeon. I tried to not read into the fact that he was a surgeon and here in the middle of the night.
"Hey Bobby," the doctor said as if they were friends. "So it's late so I'll just get to it. I read your X-Rays which were very clear. Your tricep is torn. We are going to have to go in and reattach it. It will be a minimally invasive procedure, probably will only take half an hour. You will be out for about 8 weeks."
The doctor said it so fast that it took me a second to process it all. Once I did, my heart raced. He needed surgery. He was going to miss two months of NXT. That was big.
Bobby never missed a beat. "So, when is the surgery."
"Tomorrow. We are going to admit you tonight and have you up in the OR by about 6 in the morning." The doctor said matter of factly.
Bobby ran a hand down his face, "alright. Thank you."
The doctor smiled at me and shook Bobby's hand again before leaving. Bobby looked up to me.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"I'm not thrilled, but I already figured it was going to be not great news." He said.
"I'm sorry." I didn't know what else to say. It was what it was.
"Will you text the guys for me?" he asked.
"Of course," I grabbed my phone and just started a group text with all the UE minus Bobby. I relayed the information. Adam texted back the fastest. "Adam said that this sucks and he'll see you after surgery."
Bobby chuckled, but he didn't seem that amused. Now that I looked at him, he looked tired. He had been through hell too. I tucked my phone in my back pocket and walked over to stand in front of him. He looked up at me.
"We both had great matches tonight."
"Yeah, we did." He agreed.
He leaned forward and rested his head against my stomach. I ran my hand through his hair. This felt too close. Too intimate. But it was a moment that I wished could go on forever.
The door opened yet again and I jumped back, startled by the interruption of our little moment. A nurse walked in with a clipboard. She smiled warmly. "Okay we got you a room ready upstairs." She said, nodding at Bobby. She noticed me and her smile fell. "We can only let family stay because of the pandemic. Are you family?"
"She's my girlfriend. The only family I have here."
The nurse nodded once, "I'll put you down as a spouse. Don't tell anyone any differently."
I nodded slowly at the nurse. Then we were following her down the hall. Bobby was holding my hand as we walked. But I couldn't really feel it. I was numb. He had just called me his girlfriend.
So many questions floated through my mind. Was he serious? Or was this just so that I was allowed to stay at the hospital? If that was it, how would he have known the nurse would lie for me to be able to stay?
**
It took about ten minutes for the nurses to finish getting Bobby settled into the room. He was lucky enough to not have to stay hooked up to all the monitors since he wasn't sick. He even got to stay in his own clothes for now though staying in jeans didn't seem that fun to me. Then again, it's not like I was able to change out of my jeans and into comfy pajamas either.
I sat on the window seat which would double as my bed. It was uncomfortable to sit on so I could only imagine how it was going to feel to lay on it. I pulled out my phone to text Rhea. I was avoiding having to talk to Bobby. My head was still spinning from him calling me his girlfriend. Right when I thought Rhea wasn't going to text back therefore forcing me to talk to Bobby; my phone vibrated.
Rhea: That sucks.
Me: Yeah, it does.
Rhea: Are you okay? I'm surprised you're allowed to stay.
Me: Well....
Rhea: What?
Me: He told the nurse I was his girlfriend and she was nice enough to list me as his spouse so I could stay.
Rhea: What in the actual hell?
Me: Yeah, my thoughts exactly.
Rhea: Savvy, be careful.
Me: I'm trying. Goodnight, Rhea.
Rhea: Goodnight.
I sighed.
"Savannah, are you okay?"
Dammit. I forgot Bobby was in the room. Which was dumb, considering we were here because of him.
"Yeah, I'm..." I didn't want to lie. "I will be okay."
"What's wrong?" He asked.
I looked up finally. His face was full of worry. I laughed a twisted sound and ran a hand through my hair. "Really? Bobby, come on. You thought this," I gestured between us, "was complicated before? We've only made it worse. You just told the hospital staff we're in a relationship to what end? You've made it clear that it won't actually happen, but then again nothing is that clear when you keep holding me and kissing me and holding my hand. And now I'm considered your next of kin at the freaking hospital. This is getting too hard."
All the words spilled out of my mouth well before my brain caught up to what I was actually saying. It was not the time to have this conversation, but I was tired and that ache in my chest was back. The butterflies in my stomach had been choked out by the knots. If this was going to indeed crash and burn then it needs to do it now, so I get to moving on.
Bobby just stared at me for a long moment. "I know." He said and sighed. "But I was hoping that maybe we could uncomplicate it. At least, a little bit."
"What are you talking about?" I asked, stifling another yawn.
"I think I was wrong."
"About?" I would swear he was speaking a different language. I was too tired to handle this. But also, what did he think he was wrong about.
"Us. We could work." He ran a hand down his face. "Even if we don't I care about you too much to not try. At this point, it would kill me to stay away from you."
My eyebrows pulled together. I was thoroughly confused. He had spent months swearing that we couldn't work, not suddenly he thinks we can. Okay, I guess it wasn't very sudden at all. We had spent the past four days acting like we were a couple because it was our own little pre-War Games world.
"Will you please say something? Yes, no, go to hell. Just anything."
"Um, I don't know what to say." I all but whispered. "I want to say yes, but Bobby if you say all this then change your mind tomorrow...I can't deal with that."
"I won't. I want you and I can't run from that anymore. I don't want to. These past few days have been too nice. I don't want to lose that. To lose you."
He was saying everything I wanted to hear. Everything I had been dying to hear for over a year and a half. "Yes."
A smile broke across his face and he sighed in relief. "I swear, I thought you were just going to leave for a minute there."
I chuckled, "I'm too tired to leave."
He patted the bed next to his good side. "Come here."
I did. I sat on the bed, turned to him as much as I could. I felt myself smile, genuinely for the first in a while. "Just to be clear, this makes you my boyfriend. No more being a pain in the ass."
"Mm, doesn't that mean I get to be a pain in your ass forever?"
I shrugged, "Maybe,"
He interlocked our fingers, "We need sleep. We can talk about this all later."
"Like tomorrow when you're high in anesthesia and pain killers?"
He laughed, "Like in a couple of days."
"Fine."
He brushed his hand over my cheek then pulled me, gently, down. He pressed his lips lightly against mine.