Sheldon 2
It's more to the "Sheldon" story that I put on here yesterday =]
November 18, 2007. 3:53 PM
Throw it away, forget yesterday we’ll make the…."Hello?" I answered. I knew I sounded awful, I had a cold, and my mom had made me stay in the hospital. I had been in here for almost a week. I wanted to go home!
"Hey, baby. You still sound like you have a cold. You okay? You’ve been out of school for a really long time."
"I know." I smiled at the nurse as she came in.
"I’m just changing your IV, sweetie." she smiled.
I nodded and answered Sheldon’s question. "I’m fine. It’s a really nasty cold. Really bad, I’ll be back by, at the latest, Monday." I explained. It was Wednesday now, and my mom checked me in on Friday. The IV needle was really digging into my arm, you think I’d be used to it by now, but I’m not.
"Monday? Are you sure it’s just a cold? Did you go to the doctor?" he asked. God, why was he so curious? My mom told me I could tell him anytime I wanted to the other day, but was today the right day?
"Yes, I went to the doctor. He said there was nothing else it could be. When I get the cold its worse then when you get it." I explained, trying to ease myself into telling him.
"How?" he asked.
"Man, I wanted your Mom to tell you, but I guess I have to." I sighed.
"Tell me what?" he asked, he was getting impatient and I knew it.
"Sheldon, I have leukemia. I’ve had it since I was 8. I’ve been in remission for a while now, but when I get a cold I could die from it so I have to stay in the hospital. Every time I’m not at school, I’m in the hospital. It sucks. I didn’t want to lie to you this long, I really didn’t. But, my mom made me and your mom swear not to tell you because she did not want you to worry over something that was not yours to carry. Your mom has known about me for a long time. She and my mom are really close. Only my family, you, the nurse and your mom know. You can’t tell anyone, please Sheldon…promise me you won’t."
"Leukemia? Jesus Christ. Fuck, Clair. I don’t know what to say to you right now." Click.
I started to cry and nurses poured into my room.
"Honey, what’s wrong?"
"Tell me where it hurts."
"I told my boyfriend I had leukemia and he hung up on me." I sobbed. Everybody sighed and left, but my mom stayed behind.
"Oh, Clair. I’m so sorry. But, you gotta know, outsiders don’t take big news that well. Give him a couple of hours to think about it. I’m sure that he will call you back." she said in a soft voice, rubbing my stomach.
"Mhmm." I nodded. Then I sat up and puked.
Throw it away, forget….."Hello?" I answered.
"Look outside your window." Sheldon said. I did, and he was standing there with flowers, a huge teddy bear, and a box of Kleenex. "Can I come in?"
I nodded and shut my phone as he opened the door.
He dropped the stuff and hurried over to my side. "Oh, Clair. Oh, god. I can’t believe I cursed at you. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what to think. After I hung up on you, I cried my eyes out at home, and my mom explained everything to me. I can’t believe you could die because of a cold. I’m sorry baby, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me."
"I’ll always forgive you, Sheldon." I smiled.
"Oh, baby. I’ll stay right by your side. I’m not going anywhere. Tomorrow after school, I’ll be here. And this weekend, I will be here. I promise." he smiled.
"Thanks." I said.
"Anytime." he said. "Anytime." My mom came, and was about to open the door, but she saw Sheldon, smiled at me, turned around, and left.
Sheldon laid his head on my chest and smiled up at me.
"I love you, Clair."
* * *
July 8, 2008. 9:58 AM
I woke up, and just as my mom promised me, Sheldon was asleep in the chair next to me. I shook his arm and he opened his eyes.
"Hey." he said, rubbing my arm, up and down. I had goose bumps, and he pulled the covers over my arms. "Better?" he smiled.
"Yeah." I gasped.
"Oh, Clair. I’ve missed you so much, you scared me to death at the carnival. I thought you were a goner."
"T-thanks a lot." I whispered.
"Ssshhh……don’t talk. You need a lot of energy today. They’re moving you out of the ER and upstairs. That’s a big move." he grinned.
I nodded. "So, they took the food tube out, huh? That’s good." he said.
"I guess." I said. "S-Sheldon?"
"Yeah, baby?" he asked.
"Do you remember when---I first told you-----that I had-----leukemia?"
"Of course. Why?"
"I dreamt about---it."
"Oh. I cried for so long that day. I felt so bad for yelling at you. But I didn’t know how else to react."
"Do you-do you remember what I said when you asked me for-for forgiveness?"
"No, what?" he asked, leaning forward to hear me.
"I said, ‘I’ll always forgive you, Sheldon.’"
"I do remember that. But hey, listen, your breakfast’s here. What do you say I stay here and help you eat it? We got jello, pudding, ice chips, yummy. What do you want first?" he asked.
I pointed at the pudding.
"Pudding?" he asked. I nodded. "Okay." he spoon-fed me the pudding.
Moments after I swallowed it, I reached for the pink bucket, but couldn’t reach it.
"Whatcha need, babe?" he asked.
I pointed to the bucket and sat up. "Oh, shit." He grabbed it and hurled it under my mouth right before the pudding came up.
"Ohhhh, Clair. That’s okay. We’ll just do ice chips next time, okay?" he smiled.
"Okay." I said, wiping my face. "Sheldon? Can you get my mom? I feel really dizzy." I started to wave around, since I was still sitting up.
"Yeah, sure. Here." he put his arms behind my back and helped me to lay down. "Do you want me to get your mom or a nurse?" he asked, putting the pink bucket aside to have it cleaned.
"B-both."
"Okay. Clair…I love you, okay? Don’t forget that. I really do." I nodded and he ran out the room to get my mom and a nurse.
* * *
December 15, 2007. 7:56 AM
"Honey? Clair, come on, sweetie. You’re going to be late for school. Sheldon came by, you were still asleep, but I can take you. You gotta hurry, I have to be there at 8:30 for a meeting." my mom called through the door. When I still didn’t answer, she opened it. She gasped at the sight of me, of course, so would I. My eyes were red and puffy from crying, and I was still in my clothes from yesterday.
"Oh, Clair. You really need to go to school today. You’ve already missed quite a lot this year, you know." she said softly, coming toward me.
"You’re right. I’m going to get dressed and brush my teeth, get the car started, I won’t be long." I smiled.
"All right, make sure you eat something." she said before she left, closing the door behind her.
I got up, washed my face, got dressed, pretty much my normal routine. I grabbed my phone and went downstairs.
I got into my mom’s car and she pulled out of my neighborhood. She pulled up at the curb next to the school right as the bell rang for 7 minutes to get to class.
"Better hurry." she said to me as I got out of the car.
I smiled at her, grabbing my backpack. "Bye, Mom. See you after school. I love you."
"You too, have a great day." she said.
I shut the door behind me and ran up the steps and down the hall to my Math classroom.
Haley got moved out of my Math class the day after the "party." To tell the truth, I really had not seen her around school all that much. I kind of hoped that her parents found out what she had done, and had pulled her out of the school.
"Nice of you to join us, Clair. Please have a seat." my teacher greeted me as the bell rang.
I took my seat in the 2nd row, right behind the really smart dork.
"Class, I know that winter break is coming, and you all are very excited, believe me, so am I. But we all know that finals come before break, and we do not need to forget what is most important. Grades are your key to survival in this school, and finals are most of your grade. Please stay focused this class period as you continue to work on the packet that I gave you last class. It has everything on the final, and is your key to an A. You may listen to your iPods or whatever they are called these days. But please, class, do not get unfocused from the task at hand. Thank you, the rest of the class is yours." he sat back down at his desk, opened the morning paper, and took a sip of his coffee.
I picked up my book bag and asked if I could go to the nurse. I had forgotten to take my medicine this morning and I think my mom had given the nurse some. He excused me from class, and I hurried to the nurse’s office, which was right next to the main office.
"Good morning, dear." Ms. Griddle said. "What can I do for ya?"
I handed her my pass. "I forgot to take my medicine this morning because I was in a rush, and I think my mom dropped some off here in case I ever forgot."
"I think you’re right. Let me just check in this cabinet over here." she said, getting up and walking over to a cabinet where they kept prescription medication. "Ah, yes, here we are. She did drop some off, sweetie. How many do you take?"
"Just one." I said, she handed me a Dixie cup to fill up with water and one tiny pill.
"Thanks." I said, walking over to the sink. I filled the cup up and swallowed the pill. She wrote my name down, thanked me, and sent me back to class.
I was halfway back to my room when I saw Sheldon standing at the end of the hallway, next to my locker.
"Clair!" he yelled, coming toward me. He kissed my cheek as soon as I was within his reach. "Oh my god, I’ve been looking for you all morning! Why did you not come out when I honked my horn? Your mom came out and said that you still were not up. Did you not feel good or did you get over-sleep?"
"I didn’t sleep a lot last night. I cried for hours on end and I did not want to go to school at all today."
"Why were you crying? What happened?" he asked, taking my hand.
"Well, my dad didn’t come home last night. He went grocery shopping and he never came home. Mom said that they didn’t have a fight, but I think they did. They almost never fight. I wonder what it was about. Then he called me and said that he was spending the night with his brother, my Uncle Ross."
"Oh. I didn’t know." he said. We started walking, he knew I was in math, so we walked toward the direction of my class.
"It’s okay. I’m sure he’ll come back tonight." I said, trying to think positive.
"Yeah, babe. Sure he will." he kissed me good-bye, watched me walk into math, then he headed back to wherever he came from.
* * *
July 8, 2008. 12:45 PM
"That was quite a scare you gave us, honey." Dr. Hanna said. They had just finished giving me my medicine. We finally figured out that with the excitement of opening my eyes, they had forgotten to give me my medication, so that is why I threw up, and got real dizzy.
"Sorry." I apologized, as the nurses filed out of my room. My mom and dad were standing behind the doctor. They were about to help me out of my bed and into a wheelchair so that I could be moved to the upper level. Level 5, that was were I usually stayed when I came here. It was the Intensive Care Unit.
"Oh, no honey. It’s not your fault. I’m just glad that it was just something as simple as us forgetting to give you your medicine." she smiled.
"Yeah." I whispered.
"Okay, well let’s get you up." she left to get a wheelchair and my parents came over and I sat up.
"Hey. I’m going to take your covers off and then I want you to swing your legs over so that we can lift you up, alrighty?" my dad said.
I nodded, and my dad stripped me of the covers. I shivered. "Don’t worry. You’ll be warm once we get you upstairs. C’mon." My dad helped me to swing my legs around and picked me up. He set me back down in the wheelchair once Dr. Hanna returned.
"Thank you, Mr. Setter. I’ll take it from here." Dr. Hanna placed a blanket over my legs and she wheeled me down to the end of the hallway. She stopped to press the elevator button and my mom, dad, Sheldon’s mom, and Sheldon came up behind me.
"Wow, the gang’s all here." Dr. Hanna said. The elevator beeped, signaling that they had to go. Whenever I was in the upper level, my mom and dad could never come with me. At least not right away. They had to go through testing to make sure that they were not sick. If they were, they had to wear a mask so that none of the cancer patients would get what they had.
"Okay, sweetie. We are going to go get tested. See you up there in about 45 minutes or a hour, okay?" I nodded and my dad kissed my forehead as they left. Sheldon rubbed his hand against my cheek as he went by.
We got to the upper level, and found my room. 506D. There was nobody else in my room, which was good, because then it would be easier for me to fall asleep when I needed to.
The nurse helped me get settled in my new bed, which was fresh with clean sheets that smelled like Snuggle.
"Your parents and boyfriend should be up here in just a little while. Whenever you get hungry just push that little button next to you and we’ll bring you some food." The little sectary said. They always said that to me, so I had pretty much memorized it by now but they had to for safety reasons.
It was 2:00 when Sheldon finally came into my room. My mom was first, then dad, then Sheldon’s mom, and finally Sheldon. None of them had masks on, so I figured that they had all passed the test.
"Hey, babe. How you feeling?" Sheldon asked, sitting in the chair that his mother had pulled up when she visited.
"Better." I said.
"That’s good. Hey, I bought you something in the gift shop." he said, reaching into his pocket.
"You did?" I asked surprised. I didn’t need any more jewelry, and that was all they sold at the gift shop. Plus, he had just given me a necklace for our anniversary.
"Yup. Here." he pulled out a key chain that had a pink heart with my name inscribed below it. Clair.
"Oh, Sheldon. I love it, it’s beautiful." I gasped, taking it from him.
"Your welcome. I thought you might get tired of looking at the same boring room so I thought I would hang it up somewhere. Any idea where you want it?" he asked, taking it from me and standing up.
"Yeah. Right there." I pointed at the little hook on the window.
"That’s a perfect spot." he smiled at me.
"You know, Sheldon----I was thinking-----you shouldn’t stay----here. It’s summer----go play with----your friends." I took big breaths, my oxygen machine wasn’t in here yet and it was kind of hard for me to talk and breathe.
"No, no." he said, hanging the key chain up. He got down from the chair and looked at his handiwork. The key chain glistened in the afternoon sun. "I love being here. I mean, yes, it’s a hospital and I only get to see you some of the time, and the beds aren’t all that comfortable…but, when I do see you I love it, and when I think of your smile it’s like I’m sleeping on a cloud, so I love being here. Besides, I’m always going to be right here, and I want you to know that."
"That’s really sweet----but, please take----a day off-----go home and----have time to---yourself. Please-----do it for me." I gasped.
"If it really worries you that much, I’ll go home tonight and stay there until tomorrow night." he said, sitting back down in the chair.
I nodded. "Yes, thank you."
"Okay. But I’m coming right back here with a million kisses to give you." he promised.
"If you say so."
"I know so. Now, go to sleep. I’m gonna go find out when your oxygen is coming. You sound a little wheezy. Have sweet dreams. I’ll see you tomorrow night."
"Okay. Bye." I closed my eyes, but not once before glancing at the key chain hanging from the window.
Throw it away, forget yesterday we’ll make the…."Hello?" I answered. I knew I sounded awful, I had a cold, and my mom had made me stay in the hospital. I had been in here for almost a week. I wanted to go home!
"Hey, baby. You still sound like you have a cold. You okay? You’ve been out of school for a really long time."
"I know." I smiled at the nurse as she came in.
"I’m just changing your IV, sweetie." she smiled.
I nodded and answered Sheldon’s question. "I’m fine. It’s a really nasty cold. Really bad, I’ll be back by, at the latest, Monday." I explained. It was Wednesday now, and my mom checked me in on Friday. The IV needle was really digging into my arm, you think I’d be used to it by now, but I’m not.
"Monday? Are you sure it’s just a cold? Did you go to the doctor?" he asked. God, why was he so curious? My mom told me I could tell him anytime I wanted to the other day, but was today the right day?
"Yes, I went to the doctor. He said there was nothing else it could be. When I get the cold its worse then when you get it." I explained, trying to ease myself into telling him.
"How?" he asked.
"Man, I wanted your Mom to tell you, but I guess I have to." I sighed.
"Tell me what?" he asked, he was getting impatient and I knew it.
"Sheldon, I have leukemia. I’ve had it since I was 8. I’ve been in remission for a while now, but when I get a cold I could die from it so I have to stay in the hospital. Every time I’m not at school, I’m in the hospital. It sucks. I didn’t want to lie to you this long, I really didn’t. But, my mom made me and your mom swear not to tell you because she did not want you to worry over something that was not yours to carry. Your mom has known about me for a long time. She and my mom are really close. Only my family, you, the nurse and your mom know. You can’t tell anyone, please Sheldon…promise me you won’t."
"Leukemia? Jesus Christ. Fuck, Clair. I don’t know what to say to you right now." Click.
I started to cry and nurses poured into my room.
"Honey, what’s wrong?"
"Tell me where it hurts."
"I told my boyfriend I had leukemia and he hung up on me." I sobbed. Everybody sighed and left, but my mom stayed behind.
"Oh, Clair. I’m so sorry. But, you gotta know, outsiders don’t take big news that well. Give him a couple of hours to think about it. I’m sure that he will call you back." she said in a soft voice, rubbing my stomach.
"Mhmm." I nodded. Then I sat up and puked.
Throw it away, forget….."Hello?" I answered.
"Look outside your window." Sheldon said. I did, and he was standing there with flowers, a huge teddy bear, and a box of Kleenex. "Can I come in?"
I nodded and shut my phone as he opened the door.
He dropped the stuff and hurried over to my side. "Oh, Clair. Oh, god. I can’t believe I cursed at you. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what to think. After I hung up on you, I cried my eyes out at home, and my mom explained everything to me. I can’t believe you could die because of a cold. I’m sorry baby, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me."
"I’ll always forgive you, Sheldon." I smiled.
"Oh, baby. I’ll stay right by your side. I’m not going anywhere. Tomorrow after school, I’ll be here. And this weekend, I will be here. I promise." he smiled.
"Thanks." I said.
"Anytime." he said. "Anytime." My mom came, and was about to open the door, but she saw Sheldon, smiled at me, turned around, and left.
Sheldon laid his head on my chest and smiled up at me.
"I love you, Clair."
* * *
July 8, 2008. 9:58 AM
I woke up, and just as my mom promised me, Sheldon was asleep in the chair next to me. I shook his arm and he opened his eyes.
"Hey." he said, rubbing my arm, up and down. I had goose bumps, and he pulled the covers over my arms. "Better?" he smiled.
"Yeah." I gasped.
"Oh, Clair. I’ve missed you so much, you scared me to death at the carnival. I thought you were a goner."
"T-thanks a lot." I whispered.
"Ssshhh……don’t talk. You need a lot of energy today. They’re moving you out of the ER and upstairs. That’s a big move." he grinned.
I nodded. "So, they took the food tube out, huh? That’s good." he said.
"I guess." I said. "S-Sheldon?"
"Yeah, baby?" he asked.
"Do you remember when---I first told you-----that I had-----leukemia?"
"Of course. Why?"
"I dreamt about---it."
"Oh. I cried for so long that day. I felt so bad for yelling at you. But I didn’t know how else to react."
"Do you-do you remember what I said when you asked me for-for forgiveness?"
"No, what?" he asked, leaning forward to hear me.
"I said, ‘I’ll always forgive you, Sheldon.’"
"I do remember that. But hey, listen, your breakfast’s here. What do you say I stay here and help you eat it? We got jello, pudding, ice chips, yummy. What do you want first?" he asked.
I pointed at the pudding.
"Pudding?" he asked. I nodded. "Okay." he spoon-fed me the pudding.
Moments after I swallowed it, I reached for the pink bucket, but couldn’t reach it.
"Whatcha need, babe?" he asked.
I pointed to the bucket and sat up. "Oh, shit." He grabbed it and hurled it under my mouth right before the pudding came up.
"Ohhhh, Clair. That’s okay. We’ll just do ice chips next time, okay?" he smiled.
"Okay." I said, wiping my face. "Sheldon? Can you get my mom? I feel really dizzy." I started to wave around, since I was still sitting up.
"Yeah, sure. Here." he put his arms behind my back and helped me to lay down. "Do you want me to get your mom or a nurse?" he asked, putting the pink bucket aside to have it cleaned.
"B-both."
"Okay. Clair…I love you, okay? Don’t forget that. I really do." I nodded and he ran out the room to get my mom and a nurse.
* * *
December 15, 2007. 7:56 AM
"Honey? Clair, come on, sweetie. You’re going to be late for school. Sheldon came by, you were still asleep, but I can take you. You gotta hurry, I have to be there at 8:30 for a meeting." my mom called through the door. When I still didn’t answer, she opened it. She gasped at the sight of me, of course, so would I. My eyes were red and puffy from crying, and I was still in my clothes from yesterday.
"Oh, Clair. You really need to go to school today. You’ve already missed quite a lot this year, you know." she said softly, coming toward me.
"You’re right. I’m going to get dressed and brush my teeth, get the car started, I won’t be long." I smiled.
"All right, make sure you eat something." she said before she left, closing the door behind her.
I got up, washed my face, got dressed, pretty much my normal routine. I grabbed my phone and went downstairs.
I got into my mom’s car and she pulled out of my neighborhood. She pulled up at the curb next to the school right as the bell rang for 7 minutes to get to class.
"Better hurry." she said to me as I got out of the car.
I smiled at her, grabbing my backpack. "Bye, Mom. See you after school. I love you."
"You too, have a great day." she said.
I shut the door behind me and ran up the steps and down the hall to my Math classroom.
Haley got moved out of my Math class the day after the "party." To tell the truth, I really had not seen her around school all that much. I kind of hoped that her parents found out what she had done, and had pulled her out of the school.
"Nice of you to join us, Clair. Please have a seat." my teacher greeted me as the bell rang.
I took my seat in the 2nd row, right behind the really smart dork.
"Class, I know that winter break is coming, and you all are very excited, believe me, so am I. But we all know that finals come before break, and we do not need to forget what is most important. Grades are your key to survival in this school, and finals are most of your grade. Please stay focused this class period as you continue to work on the packet that I gave you last class. It has everything on the final, and is your key to an A. You may listen to your iPods or whatever they are called these days. But please, class, do not get unfocused from the task at hand. Thank you, the rest of the class is yours." he sat back down at his desk, opened the morning paper, and took a sip of his coffee.
I picked up my book bag and asked if I could go to the nurse. I had forgotten to take my medicine this morning and I think my mom had given the nurse some. He excused me from class, and I hurried to the nurse’s office, which was right next to the main office.
"Good morning, dear." Ms. Griddle said. "What can I do for ya?"
I handed her my pass. "I forgot to take my medicine this morning because I was in a rush, and I think my mom dropped some off here in case I ever forgot."
"I think you’re right. Let me just check in this cabinet over here." she said, getting up and walking over to a cabinet where they kept prescription medication. "Ah, yes, here we are. She did drop some off, sweetie. How many do you take?"
"Just one." I said, she handed me a Dixie cup to fill up with water and one tiny pill.
"Thanks." I said, walking over to the sink. I filled the cup up and swallowed the pill. She wrote my name down, thanked me, and sent me back to class.
I was halfway back to my room when I saw Sheldon standing at the end of the hallway, next to my locker.
"Clair!" he yelled, coming toward me. He kissed my cheek as soon as I was within his reach. "Oh my god, I’ve been looking for you all morning! Why did you not come out when I honked my horn? Your mom came out and said that you still were not up. Did you not feel good or did you get over-sleep?"
"I didn’t sleep a lot last night. I cried for hours on end and I did not want to go to school at all today."
"Why were you crying? What happened?" he asked, taking my hand.
"Well, my dad didn’t come home last night. He went grocery shopping and he never came home. Mom said that they didn’t have a fight, but I think they did. They almost never fight. I wonder what it was about. Then he called me and said that he was spending the night with his brother, my Uncle Ross."
"Oh. I didn’t know." he said. We started walking, he knew I was in math, so we walked toward the direction of my class.
"It’s okay. I’m sure he’ll come back tonight." I said, trying to think positive.
"Yeah, babe. Sure he will." he kissed me good-bye, watched me walk into math, then he headed back to wherever he came from.
* * *
July 8, 2008. 12:45 PM
"That was quite a scare you gave us, honey." Dr. Hanna said. They had just finished giving me my medicine. We finally figured out that with the excitement of opening my eyes, they had forgotten to give me my medication, so that is why I threw up, and got real dizzy.
"Sorry." I apologized, as the nurses filed out of my room. My mom and dad were standing behind the doctor. They were about to help me out of my bed and into a wheelchair so that I could be moved to the upper level. Level 5, that was were I usually stayed when I came here. It was the Intensive Care Unit.
"Oh, no honey. It’s not your fault. I’m just glad that it was just something as simple as us forgetting to give you your medicine." she smiled.
"Yeah." I whispered.
"Okay, well let’s get you up." she left to get a wheelchair and my parents came over and I sat up.
"Hey. I’m going to take your covers off and then I want you to swing your legs over so that we can lift you up, alrighty?" my dad said.
I nodded, and my dad stripped me of the covers. I shivered. "Don’t worry. You’ll be warm once we get you upstairs. C’mon." My dad helped me to swing my legs around and picked me up. He set me back down in the wheelchair once Dr. Hanna returned.
"Thank you, Mr. Setter. I’ll take it from here." Dr. Hanna placed a blanket over my legs and she wheeled me down to the end of the hallway. She stopped to press the elevator button and my mom, dad, Sheldon’s mom, and Sheldon came up behind me.
"Wow, the gang’s all here." Dr. Hanna said. The elevator beeped, signaling that they had to go. Whenever I was in the upper level, my mom and dad could never come with me. At least not right away. They had to go through testing to make sure that they were not sick. If they were, they had to wear a mask so that none of the cancer patients would get what they had.
"Okay, sweetie. We are going to go get tested. See you up there in about 45 minutes or a hour, okay?" I nodded and my dad kissed my forehead as they left. Sheldon rubbed his hand against my cheek as he went by.
We got to the upper level, and found my room. 506D. There was nobody else in my room, which was good, because then it would be easier for me to fall asleep when I needed to.
The nurse helped me get settled in my new bed, which was fresh with clean sheets that smelled like Snuggle.
"Your parents and boyfriend should be up here in just a little while. Whenever you get hungry just push that little button next to you and we’ll bring you some food." The little sectary said. They always said that to me, so I had pretty much memorized it by now but they had to for safety reasons.
It was 2:00 when Sheldon finally came into my room. My mom was first, then dad, then Sheldon’s mom, and finally Sheldon. None of them had masks on, so I figured that they had all passed the test.
"Hey, babe. How you feeling?" Sheldon asked, sitting in the chair that his mother had pulled up when she visited.
"Better." I said.
"That’s good. Hey, I bought you something in the gift shop." he said, reaching into his pocket.
"You did?" I asked surprised. I didn’t need any more jewelry, and that was all they sold at the gift shop. Plus, he had just given me a necklace for our anniversary.
"Yup. Here." he pulled out a key chain that had a pink heart with my name inscribed below it. Clair.
"Oh, Sheldon. I love it, it’s beautiful." I gasped, taking it from him.
"Your welcome. I thought you might get tired of looking at the same boring room so I thought I would hang it up somewhere. Any idea where you want it?" he asked, taking it from me and standing up.
"Yeah. Right there." I pointed at the little hook on the window.
"That’s a perfect spot." he smiled at me.
"You know, Sheldon----I was thinking-----you shouldn’t stay----here. It’s summer----go play with----your friends." I took big breaths, my oxygen machine wasn’t in here yet and it was kind of hard for me to talk and breathe.
"No, no." he said, hanging the key chain up. He got down from the chair and looked at his handiwork. The key chain glistened in the afternoon sun. "I love being here. I mean, yes, it’s a hospital and I only get to see you some of the time, and the beds aren’t all that comfortable…but, when I do see you I love it, and when I think of your smile it’s like I’m sleeping on a cloud, so I love being here. Besides, I’m always going to be right here, and I want you to know that."
"That’s really sweet----but, please take----a day off-----go home and----have time to---yourself. Please-----do it for me." I gasped.
"If it really worries you that much, I’ll go home tonight and stay there until tomorrow night." he said, sitting back down in the chair.
I nodded. "Yes, thank you."
"Okay. But I’m coming right back here with a million kisses to give you." he promised.
"If you say so."
"I know so. Now, go to sleep. I’m gonna go find out when your oxygen is coming. You sound a little wheezy. Have sweet dreams. I’ll see you tomorrow night."
"Okay. Bye." I closed my eyes, but not once before glancing at the key chain hanging from the window.
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