SONG(s) FOR CHAPTER: 

♬ This Love by Taylor Swift ♬

♬ The Heart Wants What It Wants by Selena Gomez ♬ 

CHAPTER 3

❀ GRACE WALKER ❀

          THE AIR WAS cool outside, so I threw on a jacket while waiting for Evan to haul us to the hospital. It was getting late that Friday, a little past seven when I heard his car horn outside. I bid goodbye to Audrey, who was getting ready for her night classes, and then head out the door.

        I flipped my hair out of the back of my jacket, opening Evan's passenger door and sliding in. I was surprised when I wasn't greeted with a bright teasing smile about how I never did anything with my hair or how I was dressed so ordinary. Little joking remarks he always made, and yet I was greeted with the radio turned up way too loud instead.

        I frowned as he started driving. "What's-"

        "Shh," he said, turning up the radio a little more. "The fight is starting."

       That's when I shrank in my seat a bit, remembering yesterday the announcers on the television. I tried to block out the voices traveling through the radio but to no avail was I capable of doing so. I was just glad the hospital wasn't too far of a drive.

        "Dang, I'd hate to be on that kid's bad side," Evan remarked as the announcers informed the audience that Harry had done some move called "back control". I had no idea what that was, but it was obvious enough that it was an advantage and he was winning.

        I was thankful when we pulled into the parking lot, opening my door as soon as the car stopped. I couldn't help but to walk quickly to the entrance, as if the voices and his would follow me the entire way. It wasn't long before Evan grabbed my shoulder to slow me down, shaking his head before falling in step beside me.     

        "Ready to give old men sponge baths?" he asked, that teasing smirk finally appearing on his lips.

        I rolled my eyes. "I'll leave the baths up to you. Lindy sends me to the kid's section at night most times," I told him. 

        "Yeah, I know. But only because you read them bed time stories," he said. "Pretty great of you, actually."

        I shrugged. "I like to read, and I somewhat like kids. Why not combine both?"

        He laughed and I smiled and then we were signing in on the intern sheet. As mentioned before, we didn't do much as interns. We were still in school, to say the least, so there wasn't a lot we could do. But we kept busy, assisting patients when they buzzed for minor help, checking in on other patients throughout the night to make sure their heartbeat was still regular if they were very ill, and things like that.

        My favorite was accompanying the doctor in the room when they checked vitals and such. It was better learning for me, watching everything play out. I took better mental notes than I did when my professor gave a lecture. Occasionally, if I helped Doctor Miles, he would let me draw blood and other small hands-on things. It really helped.

        After sitting around behind the front counter with Evan for what seemed like forever, Layla - another intern - came up to us. "Grace," she said, "Lindy wants you in the kid's area. Lights are going out over there soon."

        I nodded, standing from my game of rock-paper-scissors with Evan. He saluted me and I mimicked his actions before trailing the path I'd memorized to the kid's corridor. 

        Seeing kids sick was the worst part. How pitiful they look. They should be out with friends and their family instead of cooped up in hospitals with horrible things like cancer. It hurts to see anyone sick, but kids are the ones that always manage to make you want to cry.

      The first little girl had respiratory problems and had to stay in the hospital because her breathing was severely irregular. I always told myself to stop looking at their charts in the folder on the door, but couldn't help it all the same.

        I hoisted the three children's books I snagged from the waiting room and knocked lightly on the door. A woman's voice allowed me in. It was the little girl's mother, I assumed, and she was sitting by the bed and the little girl was sitting up eating jello.

        "Hi," I said quietly with a soft smile. I glanced at the chart in the door for her name. "Aveline. That's a pretty name."

        Aveline smiled through her oxygen mask - she looked around seven or so. "Thank you," she said, small voice muffled by the mask.

        "I've got a couple of stories here, if you'd like to hear one before the lights go out."

        She nodded, a grin stretching on her lips. "I like stories."

        I sat on the edge of the bed, glancing at her mom whose eyes were glossed over. I forced my gaze off of her and smiled back at the little girl. "Which one would you like to hear? We've got Beauty and the Beast, Rumpelstiltskin, and Goodnight Moon."

        Aveline pointed to Goodnight Moon, and I told her it was my favorite when I was little before flipping to the first page. The small girl had started to doze off halfway through, and went I left, her mother thanked me more than necessary. It was touching enough to bring out emotions and I nearly ran from the room to keep water from falling out my eyes.

        After I stepped out of the sixth child's room, Doctor Miles was hurrying down the hallway. He grabbed my arm before I could say anything, tugging me along with him.

        "Sir, I'm reading-"

        "I know, but how would you like to sit in on a rare case?"

        I frowned. "What kind of rare case?"

     Doctor Miles picked up his pace a little, giving off the impression that it was urgent. "Overexertion," he said. "A severe case in which it caused the poor man to faint."

        "So was he just under-eating for the amount of exercise he was doing?" I inquired as we rounded a hallway, slowing to a quick walk.

        He nodded. "Your body needs nutrients to balance the amount you shed off. If you aren't getting that amount of nutrients or keeping your body hydrated, it shuts down to save the little it has left."

        I learned that a couple of weeks ago in class, but my professor had only lightly touched on the subject. He said overexertion cases to the extent of being admitted to the hospital only happened on average about ten times a year. To the point, like Doctor Miles said, where the body shuts down to conserve energy.

        Doctor Miles led me around another corner, and we passed the counter where Evan sat twirling a pencil between his fingers. He rose his eyebrows curiously at us, so I stopped for a brief moment to hand him the children's books and ask him to take over where I left off. He didn't question it, but I knew he would later. I was just grateful he hurried to the children's corridor.

        A nurse jogged up to Doctor Miles - her name being Daisy, and she happened to not like me very much - ignoring me and keeping up with his pace. "His CK levels hit over one-hundred and seventy-thousand. We've just inserted the artificial hydration and nutrients IV. His trainer said he hasn't been eating like he should."

        I listened intently as she spoke, as did Doctor Miles before we came upon a room they already had the patient in. Doctor Miles flipped through the chart examining what the nurses had already written down before flipping to a blank page for his own notes.

        Daisy cleared her throat, finally narrowing her eyes at me. "Will she be sitting in on this one, too?"

        Doctor Miles laughed. "Jealousy is a bad look on you, Daisy."

        She gaped at him and I nearly snorted, throwing a hand over my mouth to stifle a laugh. I had never seen it as jealousy, only that Daisy didn't care for interns very much. But she groaned to mask her shock, and then I was walking behind them both into the room.

        And froze.

        No. It couldn't be... 

        But it was. The loose brown curls were enough evidence to prove he was in front of me once again after being so far apart. An oxygen mask on his face, eyes closed as if in a peaceful slumber. I remembered how serene he had once looked sleeping beside me, arm lazily draped across my waist before they would flutter open and those lips would press against my cheek...

        I snapped back to reality when Doctor Miles called my name. I tried to push away the fact that Harry Styles was in my presence after almost two years, and tried to focus on the serious case at hand instead. But that's also when it hit me - he was in my presence but he was sick.

        Apparently, quite severely sick. And I felt quite ill just because I realized how much I hated seeing him in a place like this, where people are sent to either barely live or abruptly die. 

        "Grace," Miles called again, shaking his head at me but smirking a little. "Get over the pretty boy's face and help me solve the pretty boy's problem."

        "Sorry," I muttered, but then thought if only he knew.

        "His lungs sound clear," Miles said after listening to Harry's chest for a long moment. "There's not much we can do except let that IV take effect. When he wakes up is when we'll need to keep an eye on him, make sure he isn't one of the suicidal kids who try to tear the IV out."

        I took an actual step back at that, my head hurting and heart clenching just thinking of the possibility. But that wasn't Harry, was it? He wasn't purposely starving himself or trying to do any harm to himself... is he?

        No, I refused to believe it. 

        This was Harry, we were talking about, and I knew he was much stronger than that.

        Miles drew some blood to check his iron levels and such before turning to Daisy, who still stood at the foot of the bed. "Does he have a history we should know about? Eating disorders or anything like that?"

        Daisy shrugged. "Not that I know of, but I can pull his files up for you."

        "No, we have other patients to tend to," he said before turning to me. "Grace, think you'd be able to scavenge some information on this kid?"

        My eyes widened. I had never been asked to look through someone's files before. "Um, me?"

        "Her?" Daisy asked in disgust.

        Miles rolled his eyes. "Yes, you. You're here for practice, are you not? A patient's records are the most valuable thing a doctor could ask for. Gives you insight on the current situation versus the previous ones. But if you don't think you can handle it-"

        "No, um, I can do it." I nodded, almost to myself. 

        He smiled. "Very well. Also, if you wouldn't mind coming back around to his room before you leave - if he hasn't woken up by then - just to check up on things. Get one of the nurses if anything happens and you can't find me."

        By "things", I figured he meant how full the IV bag would be and the heart monitor and such, so I nodded again and tried to keep the knots in my stomach at bay. Doctor Miles informed Daisy that he needed help with a patient in ICU that had just come out of a car wreck, and so they left and I pretended as if I were following but hung back for just a moment.

        I took in his features again, biting my bottom lip. How, of all ways, was this the one we reunited? Him in the hospital gown and me in the uniform... I shook my head at the odds of it, but quietly closed his door behind me. I was almost scared to leave him, but I knew Miles knew what he was doing and wouldn't have left him unattended if it weren't safe.

        But then something clicked, and I almost squealed.

        Jacob.

        If he was Harry's roommate like he told me he was, then he would be here, wouldn't he? I didn't waste time jogging to the waiting room, my eyes scanning every chair until they landed on his figure. His foot was tapping on the floor and there was an elder man beside him holding his head in his hands like he were worried.

        Jacob's eyes met mine and joy and relief flooded them. I could hardly take another step before he about tackled me. I laughed, embracing him tightly and dreading how long we had been away. Talking on the phone could only do so much good.

        "Holy mother of sweet baby Jesus," he breathed into my shoulder, pulling back to grin at me. "Who would've thought someone could miss plain brown eyes?"

        I slapped his shoulder. "You're such a sweet-talker, wow."

        "I work better on the men."

        I laughed before hugging him again. After another separation, both of our eyes fell a bit at the situation we were in. "How long has he not been eating?" I asked quietly, my voice nearly inaudible and I was terrified to hear the answer.

        Jacob chewed the inside of his cheek. "The most I've seen him eat every day is maybe an apple or a banana. Josh and I made him eat a cheeseburger earlier, but... apparently that wasn't enough."

        I swallowed, looking to the floor. 

        "On the bright side," Jacob continued, trying to sound more cheerful than he was, "he won the fight by a landslide."

        I tried to smile. "Way to rhyme."

        "Happens all the time." 

        "You're a poet."

        "And didn't know it."

        "We're awful people," I finally said, shaking my head and Jacob laughed a little.

        "Awful people trying to make a bad situation better," he replied.

        I sighed, tightening my ponytail right when the elder man walked up. His forehead was a bit wrinkled, but he looked to be in his mid-forties. He had a buzz cut with a plain t-shirt and denim jeans on. Concern still filled his gaze.

        "Oh, Grace," said Jacob, "this is Josh. Harry's trainer. Josh, this is Grace. The reason Harry hates the world now."

    My shoulders slumped some, and even though Jacob said he was only kidding, it still hurt. I wasn't the one who finally yelled that it was over. I had been the one trying to convince him that maybe a long distance thing could work, or that he and I would take turns driving to see each other. He had seemed off that day, but I left when he asked me to.

        Josh shook my hand. "Nice to meet you, Grace. I've never seen Harry give a girl the time of day, even when they throw themselves at him, but you look like someone he'd be head-over-heels for."

        Cheeks flushing a little, I tried to laugh it off. "Well, guess all love runs a little dry sometimes, huh?"

        Jacob frowned, but Josh had chuckled and said "you got that right" before asking me if I had heard anything else about him. I said I hadn't, but that I was asked to check on him before I left in a couple of hours. I also mentioned how exhausted they both looked and that they should maybe go and get some rest.

        "Visiting hours will be over in about thirty minutes, anyways," I told them. "Jacob, I can call you if anything happens, but both of you look like you're about to fall over."

        Josh sighed. "Been a long day. Then he wins the fight only to pass out on me." He had shaken his head before clapping Jacob on the shoulder. "She's right though, pal. We should head back."

        Jacob scrunched his nose, but pointed at me. "You call me if anything happens, miss ma'am. That boy is like a brother to me now."

        I smiled, a genuine smile because it made me happy that Harry and Jacob had each other after we all separated for our futures. But I assured him that a call would be sent, and then we hugged again before agreeing to lunch tomorrow and they were out the front door. Looking quite reluctant, but gone nonetheless.

        Puffing my cheeks, I blew out the air and rubbed my temples. Oh, how the tides have turned all of a sudden. And I couldn't stop myself from wondering what I would do if I checked on him and he was awake... What would I say? Or better yet...

        What would he say?