“Eli,” I interrupt, leaning closer, locking onto his eyes so he can’t drift away again. “The only thing I need from you right now is to stay awake and breathing. Can you do that?”
He gives the tiniest nod.
The doctor clears his throat. “If you’d like, I can explain what we believe happened tonight.”
I squeeze Eli’s hand before looking at him.
“Yes, please,” he sighs. “Explain it to myhusbandso I can go back to sleep.”
The doctor gives a small, amused smile, then turns to me.
“As I’m sure you’re aware, Eli has something called reflex syncope. Basically, his body sometimes… overreacts. His heart rate and blood pressure can drop too fast, and he’ll faint. Most people feel it coming…dizziness, nausea, all that.”
I nod slowly, trying not to look as surprised as I feel.
The doctor goes on, “And if he’s exhausted or stressed or dehydrated, it can happen instantly. Lights out. Just boom. Without a single warning.”
Eli winces. “I most definitely didn’t get a warning this time.”
The doctor keeps talking, calm and matter-of-fact. “Now, the fainting itself? That part usually lasts less than a minute. But after the episode, the body goes into recovery mode. It’s like… well, imagine your system short-circuits. When it comes back online, it takes its sweet time.”
“Postdromal fatigue,” Eli mumbles.
“Exactly,” the doctor says. “People can sleep for hours afterward. Deep, heavy sleep. They can sleep through alarms, screaming, tornadoes. Pretty much anything.”
My stomach drops.
“Is it normal for him to be out for almost a day?” I ask.
“Normal? No,” he answers. “But it isn’t uncommon with this condition. If he was dealing with a few things all at once? Stress. Not eating. Not drinking. Panic. Exhaustion. Any combination of those can keep someone down a long time. It’s the body forcing a reset.”
I look at Eli, and he won’t meet my eyes. He’s not telling me something.
“So he wasn’t unconscious the whole time,” I say quietly.
“No,” the doctor answers. “He fainted, and then his system basically hit the snooze button until it felt safe and restedenough to wake up. So while he wasn’t awake, he also wasn’t unconscious. Simply sleeping very deeply.”
I let out a slow breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.
The doctor softens his voice a little. “Your husband’s okay. He just needs rest, hydration, and probably a conversation with you about why his body decided to take the decision to rest out of his hands.”
My gaze snaps to Eli again.
He suddenly looks very interested in the blanket.
“Sweetheart,” I say, voice low. “Anything you wanna tell me?”
His cheeks flush a little. “Um. Maybe. After a nap?”
“I’ll go and get your discharge papers ready, Mr. Bryant.”
When the doctor leaves, Eli finally looks up at me… and fuck me, he really does look exhausted.
“Mr.Bryant?” he asks. “Husband?”
“Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?” I smirk. “Now, tell me what’s been going on. Why do you look so fucking exhausted, pretty boy?”
“It’s nothing,” he says, deflecting immediately. “How was your night with that woman?”
