Of course it also meant they didn’t heal. And any poison in their bodies would still be there when they heated back up. Their organs would still be failing. And there was a very narrow window for this effect. 41 degrees could kill them. Their heart would stop, or their brain would get starved of oxygen. The doctors might not even notice there was a problem until they tried to wake them up again. 50 degrees and it might not be enough. The patient might be unconscious, but their body might still be damaging itself. They had to be monitored closely, because some Balin could take more than others.
Ro didn’t need surgery. The problem was that every time they tried to wake him up again, the drug started affecting him again, and they had to stop. They tried three times. By the fourth day, they thought it would be more dangerous to keep him cold than to wake him up. They had been giving him nutrients through an IV, but they were hardly being absorbed at all. He might well starve or dehydrate if they didn’t warm him up soon.
So it was with a nurse stationed in the room doing paperwork that they started to turn the air-conditioning down, two degrees an hour.
“You can hold his hand now if you’d like,” she told Maggie.
Maggie had been good, but she hadn’t been perfect. She had stroked the back of her hand over Ro’s, or the pad of her thumb over his cheekbone. A brief, light touch that surely couldn’t make a difference to him but made her feel so much better. It made him feel real, solid, present. Four days of watching him barely breathe, watching his heart barely beat, had not been fun for her. Even when she squeezed his leg hard, he hadn’t reacted.
But she had stayed with him every hour she had been allowed. She had only taken breaks to get food or coffee when the cold in the room became too much for her. She started wearing a scarf and gloves, but she didn’t have much in the way of winter clothes.
Kez came and went often, but he could never stay long. She suggested he message or call her instead of making the trip, and it seemed their feud was on hold while they both worried about Ro. She asked him about taking the keys to Ro’s apartment and after thinking about it, he agreed. He seemed to appreciate that someone was with Ro when he couldn’t be.
Now Maggie tentatively took Ro’s hand, cold as stone. She leant forward in her chair as she waited for a flicker of life, though she had been told it might take hours. The doctors expected him to wake up between 57 and 61 degrees, but the earlier he woke up, the more sluggish he would be. Maggie was keeping Kez informed. She had told him Ro was being woken up today, and promised to message him again when he was conscious.
It felt like it took forever. After the first hour and a half, the rhythm of his vital signs started to get a few blips, and once or twice the nurse would get up and press some buttons, but she never did anything to Ro. She assured Maggie that he was within expected parameters, and there was no cause for alarm just yet.
Finally, Maggie felt a twitch against her hand, and gasped, almost leaping out of her seat. It was so strange, to think a person moving about by themselves could be taken for granted, but she promised never to do it again. Just feeling him animated felt strange after four days of him being as still as a block.
The nurse came over, checking the monitors again. Maggie squeezed his hand and Ro squeezed her back, his claws curling around her hand. His eyes cracked open just a little to peer at her, but he didn’t move. Maggie put her hand over his chest. She could just see tiny fragments of his brink pink irises. Their colour took her by surprise every time.
“Ro?” she said nervously.
He didn’t reply, just looked at her.
“He’ll be sluggish until he gets a little warmer,” the nurse told her. “Don’t worry if he doesn’t speak for a while.”
His eyes never left her face, and when she tried to move her hand he held on, making her smile. She shifted her chair closer and leant over him, stroking his face gently. “Hey, you,” she murmured. “Wakey, wakey… I am so mad at you,” she said happily. “I’m really going to kill you when you’re well, you know that? So just get better soon, and we can go home.”
The nurse checked the monitors. “His heart’s a little fast. Could be the drugs, or maybe you’re scaring him,” she teased.
“Oh, really?” Maggie said, embarrassed. She pulled away from him, sitting back, and Ro moaned faintly like he was trying to talk, moving just a little as if he was trying to sit up.
The nurse laughed. “Or maybe he liked you where you were.”
Maggie smiled and put her hand back on Ro’s chest, rubbing back and forth over the thin gown. She raised his hand to her cheek and his claws twitched like he was trying to touch her.
“I’ll go and tell the doctors he’s awake,” the nurse said, leaving them alone.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be stronger soon,” Maggie told him. “All that medicine you took is still in your system so we have to go slowly. That stuff almost killed you, Ro. Do you remember collapsing in that maintenance closet with me? I thought you were going to die, you scared the pants off me. I can’t believe you did that to yourself, and we are going to have a long talk about it when you’re well again.”
He sighed and let his eyes drift closed. Maggie didn’t know if he was tired or trying to avoid the conversation, but she stopped talking and let him. It would be too easy to say too much before he could reply, and she wanted answers from him. She didn’t want to browbeat him when he was barely conscious.
The doctor came in and checked Ro over, looking at his readings. She asked Maggie if he had said anything or responded to her, and she said no and the doctor went away again, leaving the nurse behind at her makeshift desk to keep an eye on things.
Maggie thought Ro had fallen asleep because he didn’t open his eyes again until twenty minutes later. She used the time to message Kez, then held Ro’s hand again. His hand was warmed by hers, no longer stone cold. He blinked and looked at her, his eyes fully open. He pushed his other hand and his elbow into the mattress, trying to sit up. He must have been feeling more awake. The monitor on the wall started to beep faster, and the nurse came over again to check it.
“The drug’s kicking back in again,” she said. She went to Ro’s side and tried looking in his eyes but he swatted her away.
Maggie took his other hand, restraining him gently. “Go ahead,” she told the nurse. Ro gave her a betrayed glare. “I’m not doing you any favours, buddy,” she said. “You got yourself into this.”
He seemed to give up and sat still for the nurse, who checked his pupils with a torch that shone a light that must have been one-hundredth of the strength normally used on a human. The light was barely visible to Maggie. She felt Ro’s neck, tilting his head back, then flipped up the end of the blanket to test the reflexes in his feet and legs.
“How are you feeling, Ro?” the nurse asked him. “Angry? Light-headed? Hungry? Need the toilet?”
Ro huffed indignantly and jerked his foot, dislodging her hands and almost catching her with his claws. He frowned at her and narrowed his eyes. She slipped her tools back into her breast pocket, but she obviously wasn’t deterred.
“That look doesn’t work on me,” she told him. “I get worse than that every day.”
“I’m sorry,” Maggie said, laying a hand on Ro’s thigh as if to keep him still. “It’s the stimulant he took, he’s normally very sweet.”
Ro gave her a look like she was giving him away.
The nurse raised her eyebrow at Maggie. “Don’t count on it,” she said. “I’ll be back in a minute with the doctor.”
Once they were alone again, Ro made another go of sitting up, his arms shaking under his own weight. He must have been stiff and uncoordinated from his induced coma, and probably a little atrophied too.
He cleared his throat a couple of times. “Maggie,” he rasped, his voice sounding like he’d drunk a glass of sand, rougher than she’d ever heard it. It still sent a thrill through her. For a while she hadn’t known if she’d ever hear it again. It was another piece of him back, an
other step he took back to her.
She hummed inquisitively, desperate to hear more.
“What…” he started, obviously struggling. “Why… here?” He looked at her.
“Has your English gone?” Maggie asked, a little alarmed. Ro nodded and squeezed her hand. It seemed he could still understand her, so she guessed it was just part of his disorientation and hopefully temporary. “The stimulant you were taking damaged your organs, and pushed your blood pressure up so high your finer blood vessels ruptured and you fainted. You were bleeding from your face, all over me. At work,” she told him.
He groaned, dropping his face into his hand and scrubbing his palm over his face, his claws scratching at his head. “Sorry,” he rasped. “Sorry I am.”
Maggie guessed that was the Balin structure and didn’t point it out. She just rubbed her hand vigorously over his arm, his scales quickly creating a lot of heat friction. “Don’t worry,” she sang, so pleased to have him back, and actually finding his broken English quite cute. “I’ll yell at you for it later.”
He looked at her, and she grinned to show him she meant it.
“Mad?” he mumbled, dropping his gaze to their joined hands.
“Ro, I’m fucking incensed,” she replied, still smiling, her tone pleasant. “I’m going to turn your pretty ass into a handbag for this. I’ve never been so scared or cried so many times in one day in my life.” She stood up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “But you’ve woken up, so that’s paid off the majority. And you can spend the rest of your life making the remainder up to me, okay?”
“Maggie leave?” he asked, turning his eyes up to her, and there it was, that sedative feeling his voice-and-eyes combo had on her, like there was nothing to be afraid of and all was right in the world. She knew he could do that to her, but damn, feeling it again after everything would have made her cry if not for the warm softness spreading though her. She’d missed it. She’d almost lost it.
What was she saying?
“You want me to leave?” she breathed, trying not to just fall into the galaxies he called eyes.
His hand tightened on hers. “No! Maggie… break…” He shook his head and growled, rubbing his temple in frustration. “I no have Maggie? Maggie go? I alone?”
“Are you asking if I’m leaving you? If we’re breaking up?”
He pointed excitedly when she got it right, then remembered what they were talking about and lost his excitement, his mouth turning down again.
She didn’t know the answer. They had to talk about whether or not they could stay together. They couldn’t if he was going to do this again. “We’ll talk about it when you’re better,” she said.
He flinched and his other hand wrapped around her wrist, his claws closing over her skin carefully. He looked determined.
Maggie laughed. “You’re going to keep me here by force?” she asked.
He nodded, his eyes sad.
She kissed the side of his head. “I’m not going to leave you while you’re here. It’s been four days, you know? I’m not going to quit now.”
“Four days?” he said, not quite having the energy to react with as much surprise as he seemed to feel.
“Mm-hmm,” Maggie agreed.
His eyes went wide and he started stroking her arm, pushing up the sleeve of her hoody to get at her skin.
“Kez in trouble?”
Maggie blew out a breath. That was a bit more complicated. “The stuff you took isn’t a controlled substance on Earth, which is lucky. They’re looking at reckless endangerment, but you took it all voluntarily, against his advice. I assume you’re not going to press charges, and the Balin don’t need licenses to distribute among their own people. It was a home remedy, in keeping with Balin tradition, so… I don’t think he’ll be punished.
“Derek wasn’t thrilled when he found out Kez had been dealing drugs in the office, whether they were medicinal or not, but being hospitalised has got you off the hook for your own shitty behaviour. I think everyone’s just waiting to hear what you have to say about it before they do anything. Kez could lose his job, but you could probably talk Derek into keeping him on. Humans don’t know what that stuff is after all, and your medical records will be confidential. You could say you just had an allergic reaction and it was all totally innocent. You could say it wasn’t related.”
Ro took a moment to absorb what she had said.
“You nice,” he muttered after it had all sunk in.
Maggie chuckled. “Thank you.”
“I stay sick.”
“What?” she said, looking at him with a frown.
“I stay sick. Maggie not break up.”
She cupped his jaw and turned his face to look at her, bending over him. “Don’t even think it,” she said, and she wasn’t kidding. He could do it, but she couldn’t take it. She needed him to get well, properly. Her heart couldn’t take any more uncertainty, any more worrying.
“We see,” he argued.
She noticed a familiar glint in his eye. “Are you messing with me?” she growled.
Just then the door opened and Dr Wen and the nurse came back in, so she let go of him.
“Maggie, hello,” the doctor greeted her. She had come to know the woman well. She was a Balin specialist, an emerging field as far as humans were concerned. “Is Ro up for a little chat?”
“His English is a bit broken,” Maggie told them. “And I’m not sure he’s back to his old self yet,” she grumbled, shooting him a glare.
Dr. Wen asked her to leave while they examined Ro, so she shook his hands free and skipped out of reach when he made a grab for her.
“Maggie!” he croaked as loud as he could.
She stuck out her tongue before pushing the door open and stepping into the corridor, gratified to hear his heart monitor ratchet up. Served him right.
While the professionals were with Ro and Maggie was outside, Kez came down the hall towards her.
“Is he alright?” he asked, worried.
Maggie still held a grudge for the things he had said to her, but every time she saw how worried he was about Ro, she forgave him a little more. But only a little. They would have to slug it out too one day.
“He’s awake, he’s talking, though he can’t remember all his English. He’s not up to room temperature yet, the doctor’s just checking him over, I guess to see if it’s safe to continue this time,” Maggie filled him in.
He grunted in acknowledgment. He couldn’t enter the room without the code so he had to wait until the doctor was done too. He crossed his arms and took up a station leaning against the wall next to Maggie. She almost thought he would say something, but he didn’t. He evidently hadn’t forgiven her either.
After a few more minutes, the doctor came out. She said they were going to keep Ro where he was for now, hoping his body was at the right temperature to only release a little of the drug at a time and process it through his damaged organs while giving them time to slowly heal. They would keep an eye on him, and should be able to bring him up to a higher temperature the next day, which would wake him up more and hopefully give him his English back.
Maggie and Kez thanked Dr Wen and the nurse, and then went back into the room. Ro jumped when he saw Maggie again, but he restrained himself when he saw Kez. Maggie took her seat at Ro’s side, holding his hand and getting comfortable. Ro pointed at her and said something in Balin. Kez scoffed but Ro insisted.
Kez rolled his eyes and turned to her. “He wants me to tell you not to leave him ‘in pretty English’, he says.”
Maggie swallowed her first reaction. Her heart pulsed with love and sympathy for Ro – she knew she was making him feel bad – but she had to stay strong. What he did was serious, and she couldn’t promise him they were okay. They needed to get to the bottom of it first. She didn’t want to break up, but it depended on him.
“I’m not going to leave him while he’s in hospital. When he gets out, we’re going to talk. I’ve already told him that,” she said
, her eyes flicking to Ro.
He groaned, shifting towards her like he was going to press the issue, but Kez broke in in Balin, and proceeded to give him a carefully restrained chewing out. Maggie didn’t bother trying to understand, she was happy to be a spectator.
She could tell Kez wanted to yell at Ro just as much as she did, but he was controlling himself. He stood at the foot of Ro’s bed with his claws gripping the base board and growled out one measured sentence at a time. Ro started off trying to argue back, but by the end of it he had given up and let himself be told off. Maggie thought Kez was probably saying a lot of what she wanted to say, about how stupid he was for doing that to himself and how much he had scared them.
By the end of it, Kez was rubbing his head, and it sounded like he was losing his words too, so he finished with “It’s too cold. I’ll be back tomorrow,” and left.
Maggie looked at Ro. He looked pretty dejected. He was still holding her hand, but with his other one he was just scratching his thigh and tracing the thread of the blanket.
“Sorry,” he said again, his voice hollow.
“I can’t say it’s okay yet,” Maggie replied.
“I only wanted to be good.”
“I love you the way you are naturally,” she told him. “You should have discussed it with me. You risked your life, your job, your home. And you were a total asshole on top of it all. But I don’t want to talk about it now. Focus on getting better,” she said, patting his leg.
“You are… worth the risk… to me,” he told her, his brow furrowed in concentration as he struggled to put the right words together.
For a suspended moment, they just looked at each other, but Maggie couldn’t give in. He had hurt her too much. She brought his hand to her lips and kissed it. “I love you,” she said. That much at least was true.
He smiled weakly, as if he knew it was no guarantee. “I love you too.”
“Do you want anything? I don’t mind getting it for you,” she said, getting to her feet. She thought they should take a moment, break the tension and get back onto a more even keel.
The New Guy (Office Aliens Book 2) Page 26