“Oh, one of those are you?” She smiled and rubbed his arm affectionately.
“One of what?” He asked her, curiously and cringed when he moved in the bed and his entire arm felt like it was on fire and being stabbed by a knife. A burning knife.
“A big, strong man, until he’s injured. Then whines because the radio is broken.” Shareena giggled. “It’s silly, I dunno. The idea of you sitting here hurt has me a little freaked out.”
“Well, I’m okay.” He reassured her. “So, what did you do today?”
“I had a few photo shoots for senior proms, and then I went and took some nature photography, and I have a scheduled appointment this afternoon for a lady who wants me to take pictures of her cat.” Shareena grinned. “I do a lot of dogs and babies too.”
“Sounds like a busy day, I’m not keeping you from anything, am I?” Charlie asked, not wanting to slow her down if she had other things she needed to do.
“No, there’s nowhere I’d rather be, than right here with you right now,” she told him and leaned down to kiss his head affectionately. “My appointment isn’t until nearly dinnertime, so I have a few hours.”
“Good,” Charlie said, then watched the nurse slide the glass door open and come in. She was holding a needle and gave him a half-smile.
“Pain meds. It may make you sleepy, but if you rest up, they doctor will let you go home tonight, as long as you have someone to drive you.” She said and walked over to the IV and inserted the medication after verifying his patient information.
“I’ll take him home. Just text me and I’ll be on standby to come get you,” Shareena told him and then sat with him until he fell asleep from the meds knocking him out.
When she came back a few hours later to take him home, she realized that she’d been his only visitor.
She helped him out to the car, by carrying his bag of items, and wouldn’t even defend him when the nurse insisted on using a wheelchair to take him out to the car.
“I was shot in the shoulder; my legs work fine!” He muttered, but the nurse ignored him, reminding him that the medication for pain could make him walk wobbly, and it was a liability and she wasn’t going to lose her job because of his pride.
Shareena tried to bite back a grin, and almost succeeded until he looked up at her and gave her a glare.
“Just you wait, when you’re having that baby, and they make you use wheel chairs and you just want to walk,” he muttered. He climbed into her car and let her drive him back to her house for the night.
“We should probably talk when you’re feeling better, about getting a house together,” he told her once he got inside of her apartment. “My lease is almost up on my apartment anyways, and the market’s not bad for buying a house right now.”
“Let’s talk about it in the morning, when you’re feeling better,” she told him and handed him the prescription she’d stopped at the pharmacy to pick up on the way home.
“I’m not an invalid,” he told her and then laid down on the couch and let her bring him some water to swallow the pills with.
“No, but you got shot, and it is okay to need a break for a few days while you recover.” She told him gently. “Besides, once you are feeling better, you can brag about how tough you were to all your friends.”
“No, I’ll be bragging about how my hot girlfriend fussed over me and took care of me and I let her,” he said and groaned when he moved and bumped his shoulder on the back of the couch.
“Let me grab you a couple of pillows,” she said, frowning, watching him try to get comfortable. “Or, you could come lay on my bed with me.”
“Your cat will lay on my head,” Charlie muttered, already dozing off again.
Shareena went and got him pillows and a blanket, and helped prop him up so he’d be more comfortable and then snorted when her cat jumped up on his chest, curled up and started to purr.
If he’d been worried about the cat, laying out in the open made him a much easier target when she could have locked him out of the bedroom. Shaking her head, she went to go do some editing work on the photos, and keep an eye on him tonight. The nurse had made her promise to watch for fevers and other signs of complications for the first couple of days.
She had been so focused on work and him, she’d almost forgotten about the baby.
Chapter 6
A few weeks later, they were at the ultrasound, eager to find out the gender. They still weren’t entirely living together, and hadn’t found a house they’d both liked, but they’d grown closer together with each afternoon and night they’d spent in each other’s company.