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Two days later Dr. Greene told Wendy that they would remove the tube later that day, because she no longer needed it. Howie was right there with her when Dr. Greene told her how they’d do it. “We need you to take some really deep breaths and when I tell you, you need to breathe out as hard as you can. Then we’ll pull out the tube.”
Howie looked worried. “Is there any risk involved?”
“There are always risks involved, there’s a slight possibility that we will damage her vocal cords, but that has never happened under my supervision.” Wendy didn’t like what she was hearing and Howie could tell just by looking at her. After Dr. Greene had left the room, he took her hand into his. “Everything will be just fine, Wendy. Just fine.” He didn’t convince himself or her for that matter.
After a few minutes of silence, Wendy let go of his hand and reached for the paper, which she now used to write down small sentences. She had regained some strength, so there was no need to only communicate through squeezing hands. They still did that though, when she was tired. She scribbled something down and then let Howie read it. “Please get Kevin for me.”
“For the removal of the tube, you mean?”
Wendy nodded.
“Why? I could also stay here with you.”
Wendy scribbled down a message again and when Howie read it, he couldn’t help but burst into laughter. But he knew she was serious about asking Kevin to come over, so he told her he would call him. Still snickering he walked out of Wendy’s room to call Kevin, there he almost bumped into Brian. “Hey D., tell me, what’s so funny?” Howie could only say “Nothing, Rok, nothing..” before he bursted into laughter again. Brian shrugged and went into room 246. “What did you do to D., girl?” he asked. Wendy scribbled it down and handed the paper to Brian. When he had finished reading, he was laughing so hard he was crying. “Well, you still got your sense of humor. Now that’s one of the reasons you’re my best friend. The two of us are a pretty good team when it comes to making fun of the rest.”

Later that day, Kevin came over as she had asked him too. “Howie told me you wanted me to come over, because they are going to remove the tube, but I have a question, girl.. All the time he was trying to tell me this, he couldn’t stop laughing. I can’t quite figure out what’s so funny about all of this. Then Brian called and he was also laughing about me coming over here. Can you tell me what is going on? Both of them didn’t want to tell me, or in fact, couldn’t because of all of the laughing they did.”

Now Wendy smiled too and waved for him to come and sit next to her. She gave him the same piece of paper she gave Brian earlier and Kevin began reading the message written down on it.

W: Please get Kevin for me
H: For removal of tube?
W: yes
H: I could stay also
W: I think K would do a better job
H: Huh?
W: much taller and stronger than you
H: HUH?
W: At least if Dr.G hurts me, he’ll be able to hurt him back. :oP

Kevin chuckled big time, and it took him some minutes to recover.
“But seriously, may I ask you why you wanted me here?” Kevin softly said.
Wendy pointed at the piece of paper and on another one she wrote “I’m dead serious. You will hurt him when he hurts me, right?” Kevin chuckled and nodded his head, and decided not to ask any more questions. But by the look in her eyes, Kevin could tell there was some serious reason that she wanted him and not anyone else there.

The reason was that she felt safe whenever he was around. Maybe it was because he was there the night that she had that terrible dream. Maybe it was just his soothing voice. She didn’t know why she felt safe when he was around, she just wanted him to be there when Dr. Greene would remove the tube. She’d never tell him or the others any of this though, afraid that they’d all think she had a crush on him, which was definitely not the case. How could she have a crush on him when she doesn’t know anything about him, or about herself for that matter?

Shortly after, Dr. Greene and nurse Debra walked in . “Wendy, are you ready? Kevin, I need you to wait outside while we remove the tube.”
Kevin shook his head. “She asked me to be here and here I am. I won’t leave until she wants me to.”
“Kevin, I think it’s for the best if you wait outside. Let us do our jobs.”
Kevin looked at Wendy and her expression told him everything he needed to know.
“I’ll stay.” He simply stated.
“Dr. Greene, let him stay. As long as he isn’t in the way and Wendy wants him here, it wouldn’t matter, now would it?” Debra said in the nicest way.
Dr. Greene didn’t reply. Kevin mouthed “Thank you” to Debra, who smiled at him. One point for me, she thought to herself.

“Okay Wendy, I need you to take some deep breaths, and when I say so, first hold your breath and when I tell ‘go’ just breathe out as strong as you can, but try to stay as still as possible so I can remove the tube. You may experience some trouble with breathing at first, but that’s just because you’re not used to breathing on your own anymore. Don’t panic and don’t try to talk at first, okay? Your throat needs some rest. Ok, take a couple of deep breaths.”

Wendy did as she was asked and when Dr. Greene told her to breathe out, she did it as hard as she could, squeezing Kevin’s hand. Dr. Greene quickly pulled out the tube, causing Wendy to cough terribly and even though she tried not to, she panicked because she felt dizzy from of the sudden lack of oxygen.
“It’s okay, Wendy, just breathe. In... and out... In... and out..” Kevin softly said to her while he was still holding her hand and stroking her forehead with his other hand. Wendy listened to his soothing voice and quickly recovered. Her breathing now was strong and in rhythm. “Well, looks like it was for the better that we let you stay.” Dr.Greene stated. “Now Wendy, remember no talking for about two more days!” He and Debra left the room. Debra was jealous because Kevin treated Wendy like she was made of china. He didn’t even look at her anymore. But that was about to change, she was sure of that.

“Thank you.” Wendy whispered so softly that Kevin could barely hear her.
“No need to thank me, and don’t talk anymore, allright. Doctor’s orders.”
“I’ll try,” Wendy replied with a smile. “Can’t promise anything though.”
“You women are all the same. You just cannot stop talking.” Kevin chuckled. “Now try and get some rest.
I’ll be right here.”
“Okay.. I’m a bit tired.” She replied while smiling.
“Owh just shut up already..” Kevin winked at her. Even though she couldn’t speak out loud, he was sure happy to hear her voice again. Like A.J. always said, it was like magic.