Rae wasn't a fan of any kind of silence. At night, when she was alone, she had to put her iPod on to be able to sleep. Even in the kitchen, when she was cleaning up, she'd use the stereo system to keep from silence. She hated any and all kinds of quiet, but all of the others, she decided, paled in comparison to the silence when you were waiting for the man you loved to awaken from a three-day coma.
She watched him closely for a few moments, desperately trying to mentally communicate with him. Begging him to wake up without saying anything. Closing her eyes, she tried to blink the moisture back and breathed a slow attempt at a calming sigh.
Pulling her legs up, she sat butterfly style in the chair and turned her head to look at EJ, who was watching her intently, curiously. He always did that when she was upset. Like it was his way of asking her what was wrong, since he couldn't verbalize it. "Mommy just wishes he'd wake up. Maybe if he wakes up, I'll tell him, you know?" Maybe. She wiggled the finger that EJ held and smiled weakly. "If I feel brave," she smirked.
As if the fates were reading her mind, his voice permeated the silence and her attention snapped in his direction so suddenly that she almost fell out of her chair. She gasped and straightened her back up. "Topher?" she called out. Maybe she was just imagining things.
But that worry was debunked when he turned his head. Oh god, he was awake. He was awake and he was looking at her. "You're awake," she whispered arbitrarily. "Thank goodness." This time, she was unable of keeping her eyes from flowing over. "How do you... how are you feeling?" Did it hurt? Was he in pain? All of those would have probably been better questions, but her mind was failing her.
He tried to move and Rae gently pulled her finger from her son's grasp, standing up and holding her hands out to wordlessly suggest that he stay still. "Careful, love, you have to... you have to stay still, okay?" she looked at his face. "You've got a kind of rough situation there."
As he started asking questions, the sound of his voice made Rae instinctively reach out for the bottle of water she'd been keeping nearby in case he woke up. "Here," she twisted the top and offered it out to his useable arm. "Drink some." She sniffled and thought for a second. "Three days." Three days too long. "I need to... I should go get..." she pointed at the door.
But then he beckoned for her to come closer, and she halted in her tracks. "O-okay," she nodded, leaning down and putting her hand on his cheek. She leaned in close and pressed her lips softly to his.
"You scared me," she whispered desperately, once the brief kiss broke. "I thought..." she sniffed. "The medics said you'd be fine, but..." Her history with things like this worried her.