Page 30 of Theodore

My heart was in my mouth when we reached Nikolas’s room, and Ryan nodded at me to go in first. Pushing open the door, I find Nikolas sitting up with my mother and Zane on either side of his bed. My mother got up, rushing over to me as she held me close.

“He’s a little confused, don’t worry. The doctors said it’s normal,” Mom murmured, kissing my head.

“Nik?” I whispered as his eyes fluttered open, giving me a lazy smile.

“Hey, you,” he said, his voice low.

I leaned forward, kissing his forehead carefully. “Welcome back.”

I smiled as tears of relief fell down my face.

“I feel like I’ve been hit by a car,” Nikolas joked, and we all laughed.

Nikolas didn’t look as bad as he did before; now he was awake, his cheeks even had a bit of color. The bruises were still there, but the swelling on his face had gone down massively. It relieved me to see they had removed the invasive head tube, a large bandage in the place where it had been.

“Oh, Nikolas,” I sighed, holding his hand in mine, as Mom stroked my hair softly.

“You’re blessed,” Mom murmured to Nikolas from behind me as he coughed.

Ryan got up, grabbing a cup of water from the side, and held it to his lips as he sipped it gratefully.

“I like the attention, I’ve gotta say.”

The door opened, and Amy, the nurse, walked in, smiling at us all as she walked over to Nikolas.

“Good afternoon, handsome. Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes? Just going to do your observations, darling, and I’ll be out of your hair.”

She lifted his arm as she wrapped the cuff to his arm.

“Are we dating?” Nikolas asked as she rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

“Not that I’m aware. Unless you count taking your blood at three a.m. as a date?” she teased, observing the monitor.

Nikolas stared at her as we all exchanged a glance.

“You’re beautiful.”

Amy whipped her head back to him, releasing the air from the cuff before removing it. She wrote something down on her clipboard before slipping a little machine onto his finger.

“Let’s check this pulse of yours.”

She then pulled out a thermometer, leaning towards him as she motioned to it.

“Just going to pop this in your ear, Casanova.”

Amy did his temperature, smiling as she wrote it down.

“Am I still alive?” Nikolas joked as she nodded.

“You are. Hopefully, we can get you off this IV soon and get you eating real food again. I bet you’re hankering for a steak.”

Nikolas was still staring at her.

Zane shook his head with disbelief.

“Amy, right? I think he likes you.” Zane chuckled as she smiled in response.

“He’s confused. You wouldn’t believe the number of marriage proposals I’ve had. Not one of them ever came back for me.” Amy laughed.