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When Lucy woke up from the anesthesia she saw three faces looking at her.
“Erza! Natsu! H-h-happy?” she asked dazedly.
“Yeah, it’s me,” he said. “Who else did you expect?”
“Happy, why do you have most of a blue cat face painted on you?” Lucy was pretty sure her friend usually wasn’t a cat, especially not a blue one.
“It was going to be a whole cat face with a fish hanging out of my mouth,” Happy explained, “but someone, and I’m not naming any names, decided that she just had to have her appendix burst before the painter finished.”
“Oh,” Lucy said, “Sorry about that.”
“It‘s not a problem,” Happy said with a shrug, “I’ll go back tomorrow and see if she’ll finish it.”
“How are you feeling?” Erza asked.
“Sleepy,” Lucy answered with a yawn.
“Yeah, the nurse said you would be coming in and out of sleep for awhile,” Natsu informed her.
“Just know,” Erza said, “that the surgery went well.”
“We’ll let you rest,” Happy said when Lucy yawned again.
“Okay,” Lucy said and smiled.
“We’ll be back tomorrow,” Erza promised, then turned to leave.
“Be good,” Natsu said as he squeezed her hand then headed for the door.
“If you have any cute nurses, be sure to get their number for me,” Happy said with an impish grin.
“You might have more luck if the cat face is finished,” Lucy said, her eyes already closing.
When Lucy opened her eyes this time the sky outside the window had darkened and a lone figure sat in the room’s only chair. He was in shadow but the glow from his phone illuminated his face.
“Gray?” she asked incredulously. “What are you doing here?”
He gave a sigh and stood nearer her bed. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“Well, okay, yeah I know why you’re in this room, but why are YOU here?”
“Again, I’d think that was obvious.”
There was a beat of silence.
“Gray, you do not like to go to the hospital, you hate the very idea of needles,” she saw him give a small shudder, “and you practically fainted when I asked you to take me to the blood drive.”
She was glaring at him and he couldn’t meet her eyes with his own. “So why on earth are you in this room, in the hospital, where there are needles everywhere, including in me?”
There was silence for another moment.
Gray looked up.
Seeing the confusion, and even the hurt, in Lucy’s eyes gave him the courage to speak.
“I had to see you.”
More silence.
“Why?”
“I had to see that you were alright.”
“Oh,” she reached for Gray’s hand, “that’s really sweet of you.”
“It’s just that,” he paused to look at her, “we saw what happened to you.”
“That must have been…” she reached for a word, “scary,” she said quietly.
“It was the most awful experience I’ve ever been through,” he admitted. “Wendy and I were at the top of the ferris wheel and she had just spotted you. I saw you clutch Natsu’s arm and collapse in pain. I tried to get to you but the guy wouldn’t stop the wheel to let us off!” Lucy could hear the frustration in Gray’s voice. “By the time we got off of the ride, you all were gone.” He looked out the window for a moment. “I had to take Wendy home. She was really shaken up. We tried to come see you first, but the hospital said she was too young. Her mom says she’s doing ok now.” He looked back into Lucy’s eyes. “It scared me Lucy. From the time when all we knew was that you were hurt somehow and taken to the hospital, till now.” He gave Lucy’s hand a gentle squeeze.
“And Flame-for-brains thinks that texting “She’s in surgery” is enough information,” he growled. “Thank goodness Erza could tell me more of what had been happening, because I was imagining all sorts of terrible things. It didn’t help that my facebook feed was blowing up with videos of you writhing on the ground, and friends asking if that was you.”
“There are videos of it?” Lucy asked incredulously.
Gray had a mirthless smile on his face. “Luce, there are phones everywhere that can take videos and livestream it to the world. Yeah, there are plenty of videos to watch.”
“Oh Gray, I’m so sorry!”
“Don’t apologize,” he drew as close to the bed as he could without actually crawling into it. “It’s not like you planned this. It’s my own fault for watching them and imagining the worst.”
His free hand reached out and brushed the hair from her face then cradled her cheek. He used his thumb to gently caress her face.
“And the worst thing to me was that I might lose you.”
He planted a gentle kiss on her forehead.
Stunned, Lucy just looked into his eyes surprised to see such tender emotion there when he was usually so good at masking his feelings.
“I will gladly face my fears to see that you are alive and well,” he reaffirmed.
Lucy’s smile was breathtaking. “I think you have too active an imagination,” she said as she shook her head. Then she grabbed the front of his T-shirt and gently pulled till he bent close to the bed. She kissed the center of his forehead then put their faces close together.
“You won’t get rid of me that easily,” she promised.
“I just need to see that you are okay,” he whispered.
She smiled again, “I am so much better than okay,” she kissed him softly, “when you’re here with me.”