LOUIS' POV
"Are you ready?" I heard a soft voice whisper in my ear, pulling me from my sleep. I glanced up to see Harry's face hovering over me, leaving his warm breaths on my lips.
"Ready for what?" I asked, a bit confused and flustered.
Harry sighed and leaned back. I raised an eyebrow at him and he smiled slightly. "You're getting your ICD today. You promised Lou." My heart raced a bit faster when I heard those words.
"What does ICD stand for again?" I questioned.
"Implantable cardioverter defibrillator." The words rolled off his tongue like they were simple. But they were so confusing.
"Don't worry too much, you're going to be asleep when it happens." Harry placed his warm hand on mine, bringing a smile to my lips.
"Okay," I whispered. I was already growing tired from sitting up like this. Harry informed me that my surgery was in a few hours, kissed me sweetly, and left the room.
***
I don't know if it was the constant beeping of my heart monitor, or the little taps of rain on the window, but I was growing restless and worried. My hands were shaking as I looked at the clock on the wall across from my bed. It was 10:00. My surgery as scheduled at 10:15. Ella told me everyone was prepped and ready, except for Harry. He was finishing up his check in with Ally. Part of me didn't want to hear the update on her. She wasn't doing well.
The sound of the door opening pulled me from my thoughts. I looked up and saw Ella walking in with a rolling bed. "This is where you're going to lay during the surgery," She glanced at me while laying a sheet across it.
I nodded nervously, placing my hand over my chest which was already scattered with scars.
"You're going to be fine honey. Just breathe." I gulped as she unplugged some things and reached her hands out to me. I let her help me get out of the bed and onto the rolling one. The sheets crinkled beneath me and I layed down carefully.
She rolled me out of the room as I tried to calm my pounding heart.
***
"Alright Louis, you're going to be sleeping during this surgery, and we're numbing the area, so you won't feel a thing. Okay?" The anesthesiologists sweet voice soothed me a bit as she injected a fluid into my IV. I could see nurses placing tools on a table next to me, and I might've even saw Harry.
"Count backwards from ten honey," She told me.
"10, 9, 8," I murmured as my eyelids drooped.
"6, 5, 4, 3..."
***
HARRY"S POV
Seeing Louis sleeping on the surgery bed with many machines hooked up to him made my heart hurt. I just wanted to get this surgery over with. I had put many ICD's in before, and I knew he would be okay, but I was still a little scared.
First, I put the wires in. I could see his heart on a little monitor, because there was a camera attached to the tube in his mouth. It was beating, but slowly. His sluggish heart beats weren't strong enough to support him. Soon, he would need a new heart or he could die.
Stop thinking about that. Just get through with the surgery.
This was the hard part. Cutting open his skin where his chest was so I could place the defibrillator in. Blood had never made me queasy, but seeing it on Louis made it much worse.
After the box was placed, I had to test to see if it worked. It actually worked perfectly, and all the nurses around me cheered as I sewed up the small incision.
"He'll wake up in a few hours," the anesthesiologist informed me before she left the room. I nodded and instructed the nurses to clean up the room and kindly asked Ella to take Louis back to his hospital room. Giving one last look at Louis, I went to my office.
***
LOUIS' POV
"Ow," I winced right as my eyes opened. I was back in my room. Everything looked the same. My machines hadn't moved, my IV was still in my arm. But I felt different. There was a sharp pain in my chest, but I could feel my heart pulsing. It was beating faster than it had when I first got my pacemaker.
It's very simliar to a pacemaker. Harry words reminded me that all this ICD was doing was helping my heart beat. But I also remember when they told me that it was only for so long. My heart could only take so much.
This only discouraged me a little, as my heart was now beating at a normal rate, not the slow beat it usually goes at.
I lifted up my hospital shirt all the way to my neck. Fortunately, I couldn't see where they cut it. It was covered by a white bandage the size of my palm. I placed my hand gently on the bandage, and squeezed my eye shut at the pain. Obviously, it was still tender.
"Do you feel okay?" I jumped at Harry's raspy voice, and turned my head towards the door. His tall frame barely fit in the doorway, the ceiling not that high about his head full of curls.
"I feel....okay. My chest hurts," I admitted, looking down at my hands.
"Well that is a bit normal," Harry smiled sympathetically and gave me the sad eyes that he knew I hated. But at least he cared. My mum didn't care. She left me to fend for myself when she couldn't afford to pay for the constant stream of bills. She gave me some money and now I'm paying for them with the money I earned during my teenage years.
"I'm scared." I gulped, feeling tears coming. Harry wrapped his long arms around me.
"So scared," I added.
"Don't be," He mumured against my hair, tickling my neck. It sent chills down my spine and made the corners of my mouth turn up. For once, my heart monitor didn't go crazy, and I didn't burst into a coughing fit. My heart beat normally.
"Thank you," I whispered.
"For what?" Harry pulled back slightly, furrowing his brow.
"I would've been dead right now-" I began, but Harry cut me off.
"You're not going to die." His face was determined as he stared into my eyes. It took a lot of self control to not get lost in them and respond to him.
"How do you know that? You don't KNOW that someone is just going to die and give me their freaking heart, DO YOU?!" I raised my voice as tears threatened to slip past.
Harry flinched a bit at my words. I waited for him to say something, but he just sat there, staring at the wall behind me. His eyes were hurt, sad, and defeated. He knew what I said was true. He doesn't know. But I still felt bad.
"I'm sorry," I breathed, shaking my head and closing my eyes. Harry still didn't respond, just gulped and looked away.
"I really am sorry," I repeated, wanting him to speak.
"I know." I started crying as he got up off the bed and straightened his coat.
"Harry, please." i begged, wanting him to come sit back down and hug me and kiss me. This was the first time he didn't tell me I was going to be fine, that he was going to save me like he always does.
I don't think he can this time.
***
HARRY'S POV
"There's gotta be some way you can put him on top of the list. He's going to die for godsake." I growl into the phone.
Calling the American Heart Association was not the first thing that came to mind when I entered my office. But I was desperate for Louis to get a new heart, to live.
"I'm sorry, that's just not fair to the patients who have been waiting longer."
"I'll pay you," I tried.
"That won't be necessary. We'll do the best we can to find him a heart Dr. Styles. But we can't rearrange the list." I sighed.
"We'll try," the woman said quietly. I gulped, giving her a thank you as we hung up.
***
I hope you guys liked that chapter. I can't wait to get further into this story.
COMMENT! Please give feedback. We're trying to dedicate everybody that comments, just be patient my loves.
~Kayla