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Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Around 9:00 that morning Dr. Yesenia stopped by Andrea’s room to check on her. She found Nick curled up in bed with Andrea and both of them were sleeping soundly. She gently awoke Andrea so she could see how she was doing.

“Good morning,” Dr. Yesenia said smiling. “I guess it was a pretty late night last night. How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling great,” responded Andrea as she wiped the sleep out of her eyes. “I remember everything, and I am so ready to get out of this place. We have to be in Chicago by mid morning tomorrow so please tell me that I can leave soon,” Andrea begged. Dr. Yesenia smiled at her again, knowing how she felt.

“Well, then the news I have for you is good,” Dr. Yesenia answered.

“I want to hear good news too,” said Nick groggily.

“Oh, you’re awake. Well, I will tell you both the good news then. The tests that we ran during the night showed us what we expected, so other than the mild concussion and the broken arm, you are ready to go. I will get your discharge papers ready and I’ll send the nurses in to get you unhooked from the IV and help you get dressed.” Andrea was so excited to leave the hospital that she made no attempt to hide it.

“Thank you so much Dr. Yesenia,” she squealed as Nick kissed her on the cheek. “If you see Annie in the hall, can you send her in?”

“Sure. Just sit tight, the nurses will be in shortly.” Dr. Yesenia patted Andrea’s leg and gave her one last smile, and then she walked out the door. Within a few seconds two nurses walked into Andrea’s room, but they were not Stacie and Amanda.

“I’m going to go out and find AJ and Annie and let them know what’s going. I’ll be back in a little while,” Nick said as he kissed her on the forehead. He did not want to invade her privacy and be in there while she got dressed. I want to see her naked, but not in the hospital, he thought as he exited the room.

“Hi there,” one of the nurses said very cheerfully. “Stacie and Amanda’s shifts ended about 3:00 this morning, so we are taking over for them. I’m Katie.”

“And I’m Tammy,” the other nurse jumped in to introduce herself. She walked over to Andrea’s bed and started disconnecting the IV tubes. When the only part left was the needle stuck in Andrea’s hand, she stopped for a minute. “Now, this part might hurt a little bit, but it won’t be as bad as putting it in.” She smiled and grabbed hold of Andrea’s hand and pulled the tape off first. Then she gently and slowly slid the needle out and quickly covered the hole with a Band-Aid.

Andrea had been holding her breath the whole time, trying to not think about the pain. “Okay, honey, breathe,” said Katie as she approached the bed. Andrea let out her breath with one big blow.

“Wow, who would have thought that would hurt so much, I’ve had two kids for crying out loud!” Andrea said laughing.

“Yeah, but that pain is different,” said Katie as she untied Andrea’s hospital down. “Okay chicky, let’s get you out of this gown and into some clothes.” She helped Andrea slide her good arm out of the sleeve, then she unbuttoned the shoulder snaps on the other arm of the gown so that it fell down off Andrea’s body without disturbing her injured arm.

Tammy took of the bandages that were connecting Andrea’s arm to her body so that they could get Andrea’s shirt back on. Once that task was completed, the bandages were replaced with a sling to keep her arm stationary. As they were helping Andrea button her pants, the door to her room opened and Annie walked in.

“Do you need any help or you go it okay?”

“Can you try and do something with my hair?” Andrea asked, catching a look of herself in the mirror. Katie and Tammy left to tell Dr. Yesenia that Andrea was ready to leave and Annie started fixing Andrea’s hair. Five minutes later, she was ready to go. Dr. Yesenia came back into the room to give Andrea her discharge papers and instructions for her arm. Once they had gone through that information, Annie did one final sweep of the room making sure nothing was going to be left behind.

“Well, that looks like everything,” she said smiling. “Unless you’d like to stay here a few more days.”

“Very funny,” Andrea said sarcastically. “I need to get out of here and into some clean and comfortable clothes though,” she said tugging at her jeans that had blood stains on them from when her head was bleeding. She looked at her shirt which also had blood stains on it. She had no makeup on, her hair was still tousled, and the area where she had stitches was bruised. “I look like a serial killer,” she concluded in an unhappy tone.

Annie could not help but laugh at what her cousin said and the pitiful look that was plastered on her face. “Don’t worry Andi, you can take a shower on the bus and clean up. You’ll feel better then.” Annie put her arm around Andrea’s shoulder and escorted out of the hospital room that was no longer hers. As they walked into the hallway many familiar smiling faces greeted them.

“How do you feel sweetie?” Howie asked as he gave Andrea a hug.

“I feel like I was hit by a Mac truck to be honest, but it will only get better,” she said smiling. She winked at Nick, and he knew she meant that he will help make her better.

“You gave us quite a scare,” Brian admitted as he took his turn to hug Andrea.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Andrea replied with a sheepish look on her face. “Where are Baylee and Leighanne?” she asked looking down the hall for them.

“They took my bus and went onto Chicago earlier this morning. They are going to meet us at the hotel. “Baylee really wanted to go swimming.”

“Oh, I see,” Andrea laughed. “Let’s get out of here,” she said vibrantly. Nick wrapped his arm around her and they walked down the hall to the elevator together. Alex and Annie following right behind them, however they were not walking so closely together. Brian, Howie and Kevin walked behind Alex and Annie, and noticed the happy couple did not seem to be so happy anymore.

“I wonder what’s up with them,” Kevin mentioned to Brian and Howie. “They sure don’t seem like the same two people as yesterday.”

Annie and Alex heard what Kevin said, but there was no arguing his point. They definitely were not acting like they had yesterday, but neither one of them really knew why.

“We need to talk,” Alex whispered into Annie’s ear as they stepped onto the elevator. “Will you ride on my bus with me to Cincinnati?”

Annie looked into his deep chocolate eyes and felt her heart skip a beat. She nodded her head up and down, and without thinking slid her hand into his forcing him to hold it. She thought he might pull his hand away, but instead she felt his hand tighten around hers. We definitely need to talk, she thought to herself as the elevator shot down to the ground floor. But I know we are going to be okay. All of us are going to be okay.