"Look what darkness and death dragged out of the bag." Renee's chest constricted painfully in relief, "Didn't you miss me?"
"Unfortunately I kind of did." Heather croaked, her throat felt raw and dry. "Can I have some water please?"
"Let me call a nurse for that, I don't know if water might be a good idea."
"Are you worried?" Heather smiled. "I thought you'd pour a jug of water down my throat."
"Maybe I'm waiting for you to recover so I can hurt your feelings." Renee squeezed her hand, "God! I missed you."
"Is that tears?" Heather squeezed back, "I thought you could only produce ice at this point."
Renee wiped beneath her eyes, "There's something in the air I'm allergic to, I was fine either way if you didn't wake up, it makes my life easier."
"I'm happy I don't need to listen to your obnoxious voice everyday."
"I'm flattered."
"Where's Shelby?" Heather looked at the closed door and tried sitting up.
"Hey!" Renee pushed her back down. "The nurses said that's a bad idea, Shelby will be brought to you unharmed, you've been sleeping for a while, a little more patience won't kill you."
"It's not the same thing, when I was under I didn't feel worried or- can you just find out if she's coming?"
"Gee, is this what love feels like?" Renee rolled her eyes. "Danica went to personally fetch the woman of your dreams, calm down soldier."
"I'm calm, just restless."
Danica walked in with Shelby on her arm. "Here she is."
Heather's smile dimmed, Shelby's eyes were covered with a bandage, her mother was basically leading her. "What the hell happened?"
"It's a long story and we don't need to get into it now, enjoy her presence and later we'll talk about it."
"What the fuck does that mean?" Heather held her throat with one hand, swallowing to ease the pain.
"Now I recall how annoying you can be." Renee glared at Heather. "For once in your life listen to me, you don't need to hear about everything that has happened in the past few months."
"Months? I've been out for months?" Heather sounded shocked. "What the hell happened?!"
Renee opened and shut her mouth, looking to Danica. Danica helped Shelby to a chair beside Heather's bed and squeezed her daughters leg.
"You were shot by your father."
"I know that! Everything hurts because I remember that." Heather grinded her teeth. "My throat hurts, can you get a nurse?"
"On it." Renee promptly went in search for a nurse.
"It was a miracle that you survived, and we almost believed you didn't and that's why Shelby has those bandages; it's to protect her eyes because she overstressed them."
"And Gibb? How's Gibb?" Heather groaned, the pain in her throat getting worse.
Danica shook her head, "He didn't make it unfortunately, you were the lucky one."
"Oh God!"
Renee returned with a doctor, "Hello, how are you feeling?" She asked Heather.
"My throat hurts." Heather complained, massaging it with her hand.
"I need to check it, please move your hand." The doctor poked around Heather's throat, stopping at the parts where she winced. "Okay. Your throat isn't healed, the bullet missed your voice box by an inch or we'd be having a different conversation today, I'd advice you to take a few ice cubes to ease the pain and if you can do not talk at all."
Renee snorted. "That's like telling a pig not to play in mud."
"Fuck you!" Heather flipped her off.
"What did I just say?" Renee asked the doctor sweetly.
The doctor smiled, writing off on the clipboard in her hands. "I'll tell a nurse to bring a cup of ice cubes for you, remember no talking and no provoking her either or I might need to ask you to leave." The doctor pinned Renee with a stare but looked away almost immediately.
"Well if you say so." Renee cocked her head, "I'll behave."
"Now she's flirting." Heather threw her hands up.
"I didn't provoke that." Renee winked at the doctor who blushed and shook her head.
"I'll check on you later Heather, keep that mouth shut till then."
Heather saluted her, finally turning her attention to Shelby. "According to-"
Shelby shushed her gently with her hand. "The doctor advised you to keep your mouth shut."
"You just-"
"Heather." Shelby pinched her wrist. "We can talk about everything later, do as the doctor says."
"But-"
"Heather shut up."
Heather looked her mother who moved her fingers across her mouth in a 'zip it' motion and Renee who was snickering in the corner, Heather didn't have a problem giving her the finger.
Shelby smiled stroking Heather's hand, comforted by the steady strum of her heartbeat underneath her fingertips. Heather was awake and bickering with Renee per usual; there was no greater miracle than that and that was all Shelby would ask for, for now.
Her diagnosis came through and it was not what she was expecting but it wasn't her greatest nightmare; she was already living it. Hard to admit but Renee had been right, Shelby wouldn't be able to support Heather in her recovery.
Their relationship was not going to be the same either, and Shelby didn't know if they would survive the coming months with the demons they were both fighting.
"Shelby." Danica touched her shoulder, grounding her. "What did the doctor say?"
Shelby raised her head, for the first time in months hating that she couldn't see the expression on anyone's face. "My diagnosis was bad."
"But it's treatable right?"
"Is Heather asleep?" Shelby felt the slight change in her pulse and the knew the answer either way.
"No she's not." Renee said. "She's just keeping her mouth shut."
Shelby nodded. "I guess it's better if I say it now."
"No matter how bad the diagnosis is, we'll be here for you no matter what."
"I appreciate that but I don't think it'll be that easy. My situation is not going to be remedied neither will a new treatment excite me in the future. That's because my vision is gone, all of it."
Danica's hand on her shoulder grew firmer, Heather squeezed her hand and another pair of hands landed on her other shoulder.
There was no more vision to protect so Shelby cried freely, wetting her bandages; that would make them more irritable but Shelby no longer cared.
"You guys make a truly iconic couple though." Renee cleared her throat. "A blind bat and a stubborn mute, I'd write a book if I had the talent."
Shelby found herself laughing forgetting her problems for a minute, assaulted with the mental image Renee had painted. They really did make a funny couple.
•
"Your throat looks fine." The doctor said, poking different areas. "It doesn't feel tight anymore, your muscles have relaxed-"
"Can I talk now?" Heather asked impatiently
"Yes you can talk now but not to much, do not stress your voice or yell, it'll bring us back to the beginning and you'll have to deal with not talking for a week or more."
"That sounds like a dream." Renee commented. "Where can I sign?"
"Can I throw my fists instead?" Heather glared at Renee
"You can but you might open the stitches in your chest and cause blood to flow to your healing throat, any which way you want to choose violence, you'll lose."
"I like this doctor." Renee smiled brilliantly. "On the other hand can I hit her?"
"Don't mind these two please." Danica stepped in. "They bicker like children."
"I would have penned them as sisters but there are no similarities whatsoever so best friends."
Heather scoffed. "I'd rather lose a hand."
"And me a leg." Renee pitched in.
"So I'll be ruling it out as best friends." The doctor chuckled. "You can take water but in small sips or if you prefer the ice cubes, you can also take that if your throat feels dry."
"Thank you." Heather nodded at the doctor
"Thank you too." Renee held the door for the doctor on her way out, smirking at the pink hue covering her cheeks.
"Turn off the charm for a miserable minute and spare us from watching you do whatever that was."
"It's called flirting." Renee said. "I can teach you a thing or two since you've been stuck in the land of the unknown for months, might have lost your edge."
"Fuck you!"
"I don't think the doctor permitted you to say curse words." Renee taunted Heather, "Try screaming, let's see how much damage you can cause."
"Mom why is she still here?" Heather turned to Danica who was massaging the side of her head.
"Classic baby move, you can't win your battles so you run to mommy."
"Renee." Danica groaned. "That's enough, the both of you bicker like you were stuck in a cage. Thank God I didn't have anymore children after you darling or I'd have ended my misery years ago."
"Same thing I thought."
"Renee." Danica warned.
Renee lifted her hands in false innocence. "I didn't start it but I promise to behave, maybe I should go ask the kind doctor how best to deal with Heather's temperament."
"Try not to eat her out while you're at it." Heather said.
"You wish you could." Renee's mocking laughter followed her out of the room.
"Care to talk about what's bugging you now?" Danica asked, staring at her daughter with keen eyes.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Renee is a healthy distraction but I think it's best if you address the real reason why you're cranky."
Heather swallowed a few times before she said. "I hate myself. It sounds ridiculous but I do, I didn't know dad would shoot me but I knew he wasn't going to take my allegiance with Shelby lightly. I stared at the phone everyday while I was away, fighting the urge to call her, to hear her voice. I told myself I needed to wrap everything up before we met again." Heather sipped from the water bottle beside her bed before she continued. "The day before Gibb came to the office, I should have just called her, it didn't matter if I was still trying to save her, all she needed was to hear my voice."
"That's the thing sweetie, Shelby wasn't looking for a savior, all she wanted was a partner who had her back and she knew you did but you treated her like you'd treat a best friend. You should have called her because you could have died."
Heather touched the scar on her chest through her clothes. "I know how lucky I am but I took everything from her mom, how do I make it up?"
"Be there." Danica kissed her daughter's head. "Don't try to save the day or be everywhere at once. Hold her hand, tell her how much you love her; her demons are way more than you can imagine so be there with her fighting them."
"How will she forgive me mom? I was the reason her eyesight got bad in the first place, now it's gone." Heather choked on a broken sob. "How can I fuck up the one thing I love more than anything? Is this karma?"
"Karma only goes after people who have done a horrible wrong and you my dear only made the mistakes anyone in love would make, that doesn't make you a terrible person."
"I don't know what to do." Heather cried into her hands.
"Think less on what you need to do and more about what your partner needs. Has it crossed your mind that Shelby might feel that you don't want her anymore? Or that she might be a burden to you?"
"Never." Heather swore. "She'd never be a burden to me and she's the only woman I want."
"Then you'll need to find new ways to love her not because she's blind but because the dynamics of your relationship has changed and you have to change with it positively."
"What do I do?" Heather asked once more, feeling totally lost and confused.
"That's a question I can't answer my love." Danica replied