The cold light of day finally decided to extend its blinding tendrils of morning into the hospital window and even the warm expanse of Emmett's body underneath mine couldn't keep the sleep from being stolen out form under me.
I wanted to brush my teeth before Emmett could smell my morning breath but thankfully a nurse entered at that very moment and I was saved from having to extract myself from him.
"It's time to take out your catheter and make sure that you can get up on your own and do some things for yourself."
"Okay," I said and Emmett just pulled his arms out from where they'd been wrapped around my body, gave me a kiss on my forehead and told me that he'd be waiting outside. I tried to hide the furious blush that stained my cheeks pink but he didn't miss the effect that he had on me.
He threw me a blinding smirk as the door shut behind him and I was left alone with the nurse who helped me to the shower after taking out my catheter, something that was not a very comfortable action whatsoever, and she left me alone to do my business in the shower with my hygiene routine.
Once I was properly scrubbed and cleaned, I threw my hair up into a wet bun and stared at my appearance in the mirror.
I wasn't as dark as I had remembered, my skin a few shades paler but that could have been because of my lack of food but the influx of fluids I'd been given through the IV had kept me sufficiently hydrated and my skin was looking better than it had been before I'd been in the hospital, and it seemed like I'd lost a few more pounds that I really didn't need to lose considering I'd already been skipping out on some meals.
The bags under my eyes were gone and there was a glow to me, although that probably had more to do with the fact that I was finally happy and with Emmett than with anything else.
Sighing, I finished brushing my teeth with the things my family had brought over for me from my apartment and splashed my face with some cold water to try and calm my frenzied mind.
I had been steady on my feet the entire bathroom trip and save for a few moments where my heart raced, I hadn't felt any different than my normal self.
I was ushered back into my normal room where Emmett was waiting on me and he sat at the foot of my bed while I pushed the pillows up against the headboard to sit up and eat my breakfast which was already laid out for me, and upon seeing food my stomach rumbled in appreciation.
"Miss Montgomery, you have a visitor."
"Okay, thank you."
I was expecting my mother or Amalia, but definitely not Malcolm.
"So, you don't know Emmett Scott huh?"
I blushed when he brought up my lie, but I was glad to see that he had loads of files and paperwork in his hands, most likely the work I'd missed while being out in the hospital.
"Yeah...sorry about that," I said as Emmett scanned the interaction between the two of us with keen interest.
"Professor Walsh said she understands the situation and hopes you can make it back in time to catch up, otherwise you won't qualify for the internship, but I brought everything you need to catch up. I've been assigned lead counsel for our next case she's working and it's the same deal as last time- we act as the prosecution to try and see if we can make a case against her defendant stick but since she's in criminal law, this one isn't just an assault, it's a murder, and there's way more paperwork to go through with this one since the guy is facing the death penalty. The trial is in three weeks and if we do the best job out of everyone else we get to go to the trial."
"Wow. Okay, I'll get started on it as soon as I can, and since I'm pretty much bed ridden for the next week, I'll have plenty of time to work on it."
"Nice. I'll just leave these here then," he said, placing the files on the rolling end table awkwardly.
"I'm really glad you're okay."
"Thanks, Malcolm. And thanks for not writing off yet, I will make sure we're the ones in that courtroom with Walsh."
He cracked a smile at my enthusiasm.
"Well considering I wouldn't be getting my internship this summer if not for you, I actually believe that. Okay, well I'll let you guys be, that was all I really had to drop off."
I didn't miss the surprised look in his eyes as Emmett stood up to shake his hand, which he gladly shook with excitement.
"Thanks for helping Lydia."
"No problem man. And congrats on getting Super Bowl MVP, that's great man!"
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.
"You got MVP? You didn't tell me that?"
"Yeah, uh, my coach called me this morning when we woke up."
"I'm gonna head out. Nice to see you again man, and get better soon Lydia!"
Once Malcolm was gone, a smile splayed across my lips.
"First rookie quarterback in NFL history to not only take his team to the Super Bowl and win, but also to win MVP of the entire game. And you're not celebrating this why?"
I could have sworn that I saw him blush, but maybe it was just the lighting. He sat back down on the bed and gathered my hand in his, tracing the veins in my skin with his fingertips that made me shiver in response.
"I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, I want to focus on you right now, and to make sure that you get better..."
"Emmett. You just played the biggest game of your entire life and everything went exactly how you would have wanted it. Don't tell me you didn't dream about that moment since you were a kid, because if you say that I'll know it was a lie. I don't want you to make everything about me, because looking back you'll realize that you didn't celebrate enough or soak in the moment and glory long enough and you'll resent me for it."
His face was suddenly inches from mine and I couldn't breathe.
"I could never resent you, Lydia. You're going through a health crisis, and you're the woman that I love. What kind of person would I be if I didn't put you first in this moment?"
"And you are the man that I love, so what kind of person would I be if I didn't tell you to bask in the fame and excitement that comes with what you just accomplished? Aren't there tons of interviewers wanting to talk to you, tons of brands that want to partner with you? How many people want you in their commercials right now, how many famous people trying to call with congratulations, and you're ignoring it all to be with me?"
He broke eye contact with me and that was when I knew everything that I was saying was true. He never stopped drawing circles on my skin, a raw, animal magnetism pulling us closer and closer together, like it was impossible for us to part.
"I'm ignoring it all because it's just not who I am. I didn't choose this career for the fame, I did it to prove to my dad that I-" he cut himself off.
"To prove to him what?" I gently asked, realizing that this was one of the first times that he willingly spoke of his past. He knew so much about mine but I knew so little of his.
"To prove to him that I'm not as worthless as he was."
Oof. I wasn't expecting that, but I knew he didn't have a good relationship with his family considering the fact that he never spoke of them and they were never around.
I ran my other free hand across his face as he kept my other fully ensnared within his grip.
"You proved him wrong the day you were born. You aren't worthless, Emmett. Far from it."
His lips captured mine in a greedy and emotional kiss, one that I gladly let him take control of because I knew he needed it, and I just let him take what he needed from me- comfort, want, connection.
We only pulled apart, breathless and flushed, when the doctor cleared his throat at the door.
"I just need to go over a few things with Miss Montgomery before I discharge her into your care, and her family is here to help with the transition as well.
"Great," I muttered under my breath but then I looked to Emmett. It could have been worse- at least my family was here and trying, his weren't in the picture and were god knows where.
Maybe it was time to stop pushing my mother and my brother away and actually sit down and listen to what they had to say. Maybe it was finally time to stop holding onto this grudge and all of this hate within me, if not for me then I'd do it for Emmett, who didn't have a family to be there for him.
A slice of pain shot through me as I realized that he probably didn't have anyone there for him at his game, no one to hug besides his coaches and teammates when they finally won.
Not anymore, I'd be there for every single one of his games that I could, even if it killed me. He was there for me, so I was going to be there for him.
He was mine and I was his, and we were two halves of the same flame that only burned for each other, and I refused for it to ever be extinguished.