Chapter Text
I— god. God. I don't understand how this could happen. Laura's chest rose and fell in time to the beating of my heart- slowly. Every time she took a breath I felt my heart jump up towards her, lying on the hospital bed. She looked worse for wear, but she still looked so beautiful. The fluorescent lighting didn't flatter her (did it flatter anyone?) so I had turned the light off hours ago and opened the blinds.
I wore her coat, and wrapped it tightly around my body. It had started smelling less and less like her. It smelled more like me every time I put it on, which I hate. It was heavy on my shoulders. I hate that that, too. Everything was heavy on my shoulders, though. Every doctor that walked into the room. Every friend that tried to get me to talk. Every piece of news that was delivered to me on her condition. The only person I wanted was Laura. I only wanted her.
She had been in a coma for the past two weeks. Every day I was getting more and more tired, more and more angry, more and more depressed. Less and less hungry, with less and less concern for myself.
LaFontaine had been here several times alone. Perry came with them once, maybe twice. I think LaFontaine asked her to stop coming. She always tried to get me to say something. To eat something. I listened to her, I did. Well, I tried to. I said a quiet "hi," every time someone walked into the room. I tried to eat small portions of food, but every time I do I get sick.
I hate being in this stupid hospital, too. I know I shouldn't say that, honestly. This is a place where people come to feel better. I'm just complaining about it because it hasn't made Laura better. I just- I need someone to make Laura better. I need her. I hate needing anyone, but I need her. I need her. She makes me feel complete when all I want to do is feel broken. Even right now, while I sit here in this stupid hard chair staring at her glowing face with occasional reassuring glances towards the heart monitor, while I'm broken in a million pieces, with my heart shattered across the floor of this stupid room, even right now as she's hardly breathing, she's the glue that's pulling everything that I am back together again.
The door creaked open slowly, and Will walked in.
"Hey, Kitty," he said.
"Hi," I said, quietly from where I sat. I was still looking at Laura. I didn't even glance at Will.
"Would you look at that? You just said hi. That calls for celebration, huh, Kitty?" he asked. I didn't have to look up to know his eyes had dark bags under them and his hands were shaking. I didn't have to look up to know his eyes were glossy from unshed tears. I didn't have to look up to know that he was holding his breath, waiting for a reply.
I didn't answer.
"Carmilla?" he asked. I finally looked up at him. I was right. He looked worse for wear, just like I probably did.
"You look awful," he said, his eyebrows scrunching up, his voice wavering slightly.
Normally, I would've replied sarcastically, or at least snorted, but not now. Not like this. Not in this room. Not in this building. Not in this universe.
"Carmilla, please, say something. You won't answer my texts. You haven't answered your phone. Your clothes are probably a week old, at least. Please, Carmilla, just say something," he said.
I saw the tears gather up in his eyes again, just like they did after I told him what happened when I got that phone call two weeks ago. Just like they did when he fell off his bike when he was still learning to ride it. Just like they did when he found out why I hated our Mother. Just like they did at my wedding.
"I'm sorry," I said, so quietly I wasn't even sure I said it.
"No, no, god, Carmilla, I'm sorry. I'm sorry this happened. You don't deserve to go through this," he said.
"No," I said, less forcefully than I intended.
"What?" he asked.
"I said no. She doesn't deserve to feel this way. She doesn't deserve to be in a coma right now. She doesn't deserve this. I do. I deserve to feel horrible. It's my fault, Will. It's all my fault," I said, tears dripping from my eyes with out permission.
"No, it isn't. This isn't your fault. This isn't anyone's fault except the drunk driver. He's the only one that can be blamed for this, Kitty," Will said.
"Yeah, well, if I hadn't left she wouldn't have been on the road, would she, Will? If it wasn't for me, she'd be awake right now," I said.
"No, Kitty. You can't blame yourself for this. You can't do that to yourself," he said.
"Whatever," I said.
He glanced to my left, and then looked back at me, sighing deeply and running a hand through his hair.
"How about you tell me everything you love about her?" he asked.
"What?" I asked, confused.
"Tell me why you married her," he said.
"Because I proposed. Honestly, Will, you think you'd learn something by now," I said.
He smiled.
"No, c'mon, tell me why you proposed, Kitty. Tell me why you love her," he said.
"How can you even ask me that?" I asked.
He looked like he was about to backtrack, so I said, "Have you even met her? Have you even met her, Will? I love her for so many reasons."
"Yeah? Name one," he said.
"I love the way she wakes me up in the morning," I said.
"And?" he asked.
"I love the care and compassion she has for other people," I said, looking at her happily. She was still glowing, even now.
"Yeah?" he said.
"I love that she doesn't think any less of me when I make a mistake. Sometimes, I think she thinks more of me," I said.
I was so busy looking at her, I didn't notice the heart monitor pick up slightly.
"I love the way she looks at me when she thinks I don't see her," I said.
It picked up a little more, and I saw Will smile out of the corner of my eye, but I still hadn't noticed.
"I love that every time I go grocery shopping, she thinks I'll forget her favourite cookies, and writes little reminders on my hand, even though I'd remember without them," I said.
"Did someone say... Cookies?" the groggy voice replied quietly.
"Laura!" I yelled, jumping out of the chair.
Which, bad idea. I had hardly moved, except when necessary, out of the chair for two weeks. On a scale from one to "invading Russia in the winter," I'd say this was somewhere around “Henry VIII might not have got along with his first four wives, but I think I can change him.” Can I just say: Ouch.
I stumbled forward a step, tripped, and crashed straight into the bed where my has-been-in-a-coma-for-the-past-two-weeks wife was laying. I fell forwards, and caught myself before I crashed into her.
"Hey," she said, smiling slightly even though her eyes were closed.
"Hey, sweetheart, how ya feeling?" I asked, and I could feel my eyes water up.
She opened her eyes slightly and smiled at me.
"You're my wife," she said, "right?"
I laughed, nodding, "Yes, I'm your wife."
Her eyes looked around the room.
She lowered her voice to a whisper, "Where are we?"
"In the hospital," I said.
"Oh, good, I thought we were at home. This room is boring. It needs to be brightened up," she said.
"With you in here, I'm not sure it could get any brighter," I said.
"Whoa, I married you?" she asked.
"Yeah, you did," I said laughing.
"I'm glad," she said.
From behind us, Will coughed. Laura looked up at him.
"Is that your brother? He looks like you," she whispered.
"Yeah, Laur, that's Will. Remember him?" I asked.
"Hello, brother Will," Laura said groggily.
"Hello, sister-in-law Laura," Will said, smiling.
"Your sister is very pretty," Laura said.
"She likes to think so," Will said.
"I like to think so, too," Laura said, smiling at him.
"Laura, Laura, Sweetheart, do you need anything? Like, water or something?" I asked her, when her eyes fell back on my face.
"Yes, water, please," she said, smiling at me.
"Will, can you hand me that cup? I think it has water in it," I said.
"Yep," he said, handing me the cup.
"Thanks, Will," I said.
"Thank you, brother Will," Laura said, and giggled.
"Uh, I'm going to go down to the caf, give you ladies some privacy or whatever," Will said, smiling at us before heading out.
Laura drank a few sips of the drink before handing the cup to me to put on the table. She rubbed her eyes, and then smiled at me.
"Cupcake... Do you remember what happened?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Do you know why you're in the hospital right now?" I asked.
"Uhm," she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before opening them back up, "I was on the road, right?"
"Right," I said.
"And I was driving along, and then I started crying again, and then- Uh, I'm still kind of unsure about that last part? The last thing I remember is a really loud noise," she said.
"Yeah, uh," I coughed, clearing my throat, "That's right, um, a drunk driver crashed into you. Uh, I got the call from the hospital because you had your ID and I was an emergency contact for something or whatever? Anyway, Will and I got here, and you were already set up here."
"Oh. I hope I wasn't asleep for too long, at least?" she said.
"Cupcake, the doctors weren't sure you were going to wake up. It's been two weeks," I said.
"Oh," she said.
"Laura, I'm so sorry," I said.
She looked up at me, "For what?"
"For saying it was fine, and dismissing your issue. I mean, after our fight. Do you remember the argument we had?" I asked.
Laura looked downwards before glancing back up towards me, her face bunching up.
"Oh, golly. Carmilla, I'm so sorry, god I didn't mean anything I said, I swear. I was just sad and angry, and-" she began.
"No, Creampuff, that's what I was going to say. I shouldn't have left you, I'm so sorr-" I tried to say.
"Wait, wait. You what?" she asked.
"I-I drove to Will's. Do you remember? I thought you needed some space," I said.
"Oh, yeah. That I remember, I thought you left left me. Like, divorce or something. I was really scared," she said.
"I'd never do that to you," I said.
The door opened (again) and a doctor walked in.
"Sorry, ladies. Just wanted to check up on you. Your brother said she woke up?" the doctor said. He hadn't even looked at Laura yet.
"Yeah, she's right here. She's awake," I said.
"Alright, well, she's going to experience some-" Dr. Louis started.
"Excuse me, Mr. Dr. Dude... Sir... Whatever. I am right here. You can talk to both of us," she said.
"Sorry, I... Mrs. Karnstein-Hollis?" he said.
"Yeah?" Laura and I both said, and then smiled at each other.
"Sorry, it seems someone listed you two as married," he pulled out a pen, "You're... Sisters, is that right?"
"What? No. We're married," I said, confused.
"Sorry, is this a joke? You're both women," he said.
"Yeah, we are both women. No, this isn't a joke," I said.
"Yeah, uh, do you have a marriage license?" he asked.
"Yes. At my house. Where I live. With my wife. Because we are married. Do I need to break it up any more for you, doctor?" Laura said.
At this point, I wasn't shocked. Laura survived a car wreck, she's a badass.
"No, uh, that won't be necessary. Mrs. Karnstein-Hollis, you'll experience some short-term memory loss, as well as difficulty moving and walking as well as before, but other than that, you should be fine. Your injuries, overall, weren't as bad as they could've been— other than, you know, the obvious— and you should make a full recovery," he said.
"Great, thank you, doctor," Laura said.
"We should be able to release you by tomorrow, but we want to keep you overnight for observation, just to make sure nothing will go wrong for some reason within the next 24 hours," he said.
"Alright, cool, thank you," I said.
He nodded at us, before exiting the room.
"Great," I said, "Another night here."
"I'm sorry," Laura said.
"Don't be, it's not your fault," I said.
"If you want, you can go home. I'll be okay here," she said.
"Laur, I'm not going to leave you. I mean it," I said.
"Okay," she said, and grabbed my hand to hold in hers.
She held it all night.
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2 YEARS LATER (Laura's POV)
It was Christmas eve. Henry, our son, sat in Carmilla’s lap, while she read Plato to him. I used to tease her about it, until Henry said that the Plato books were actually his favourites. I teased Carmilla about that, too.
We adopted him in the spring, when the flowers were blooming and the birds were singing. He was eight then, but he turned nine in August. Carmilla and I loved him more than anything we could imagine. He wore bows in his hair ‘to impress people with his tying skills’ as he put it. He had dark brown hair and was on the short side for his age. His eyes were bright green, and he was missing 3 teeth. He used to jump every time the doorbell rang, or when we turned the lights out at bedtime. But, he soon grew to realize that we love him as much as he loves us.
Carmilla wiped a bit of chocolate off his face, and gave him a kiss on the forehead before closing the book and carrying him upstairs to his bedroom. I started picking up around the living room when Carmilla came back down and wrapped her arms around my waist, and pressed a kiss to my shoulder.
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you, too,” I said, smiling and covering her hands with mine.
She looked around the room, at Henry’s hung Christmas stocking, and the presents around the tree.
“We did a good job,” she said, proudly.
“Yeah,” I said. “We did.”
Our ugly Christmas sweaters were proudly worn, and we went to bed early that night. Henry would wake us up early in the morning, anyways.
We fell asleep before we knew it, happy with what we’d accomplished.