My eyes bug out at that word. “Restrain?”
Heidi smothers a laugh. “Yeah, he, umm, really didn’t like it the last time they tried to insert an IV. Wouldn’t let anyone do it, not even me or Max.”
“Needles are scary, angel.” Sawyer pouts, tugging on my hand again. “But I’ll be okay if you hold my hand.”
Max curses under his breath. “You’re telling me all we needed was her? Not two staff members and a dose of benzos?”
Sawyer turns his floppy head to the side and grins at his brother. “Yuuuup.”
Slipping into mom mode, I sit down in the chair that Beckett brings over, and with my free hand, tilt Sawyer’s head to face mine. “Okay, I’m here. I’m right here, and you’re going to let them do their job and put the IV in so you can get the medicine you need, right?”
“Gimme a kiss?” he slurs, and I can’t help the twitch of my lips turning up. Leaning forward, I press a light peck to his mouth. When I settle back, he’s got another dopey grin on his face, and his eyes are closed. “Your kisses are the best. I want all of them. Forever, ’kay?”
Stroking the uninjured side of his face, my own smile grows wider. I might not know if this is how he’ll feel when he’s not drugged up, but for now, I’m going to let myself bask in his goofy affection. “Okay.” Flashing my eyes to Max and the nurse, I give them a sharp nod. Max holds down Sawyer’s other arm, and I turn my focus back to the adorable man I’m madly in love with.
“You’re going to have to let Cooper be the first one to sign your cast,” I say, continuing to gently stroke his cheek. “He’s with my parents this weekend, but I’m sure he’ll want to come and see you when you feel up to it.”
“Yeah, Coopzilla’s my little maaaaaaan. Ouch!”
Sawyer jerks slightly, and I lean in and kiss him more firmly this time, holding my lips to his until I hear the nurse say, “Done.”
“Good boy,” I whisper against his lips before kissing them one more time, then sitting back in the chair. He blinks his eyes open, looks over at his arm, then back to me with a triumphant expression.
“I did it.”
I laugh and hear his siblings laugh as well. “Yeah, you did.”
“Will you call me a good boy again?” He giggles, then his head falls to the side and something that sounds a lot like a snore comes out of him.
I flush bright red because I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean to say that quite as loud as he did, but then again, with Sawyer, who knows. “How long is he going to be this…um…unfiltered?” I ask, turning my head to Max.
“Probably a few more hours,” he replies with a grin. “We’ve got to get back to work, are you good to stay with him?”
I nod just as the door to Sawyer’s room opens and Willow pokes her head in. She takes in Max, Heidi, and Beckett before turning to me. “So everyone in the family is gorgeous. Got it.” She walks in and wraps her arm around my shoulder. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, he’s just a little dopey.” I introduce her to everyone, then Max and Heidi leave.
Beckett lingers, his eyes going from his now definitely snoring brother to me. “It’s none of my business, but then again, he’s my twin. Which is the only reason I’m saying anything.” He pushes his glasses up his nose. “Sawyer might not know how to show it, or even how to say it, but he cares for you. A lot. Whatever you need to work out, I hope you can, because he’s a good man. He’d be a good man for you if you give him a chance.”
He walks to the door, then pauses and looks back at his brother. “For what it’s worth, weallhope you can work it out. You’re a good fit with our crazy family. You and Cooper both.”
He leaves and as the door shuts behind him, Sawyer choses that second to snore extra loud, making both Willow and I giggle quietly.
“Well, it seems his family is Team Sawri.”
“Teamwhat?”I ask, looking over to the window ledge Willow’s perched on.
She lifts her shoulders in a shrug. “Not my fault your names don’t blend easily.” Hopping down from the ledge, she moves to the door. “I’m gonna go find some coffee. Give you two some time.”
Then Willow also leaves, and it’s just me and a sedated Sawyer, snoring away.
I take several long minutes to just watch him, drinking in the rise and fall of his chest, and the steady beat of his pulse. All the reassurances that he’s alive and he’s going to be fine.
It’s sadly ironic how I pushed him away because I was so scared of him leaving us, only to have the biggest threat of losing him come from something completely unexpected. If things hadn’t turned out the way they did, if he hadn’t been so lucky to only break a leg, this all would have ended with him never knowing how I feel.
Suddenly, I can’t bring myself to wait another second. Carefully, I climb onto the hospital bed and lie down on his uninjured side, resting my head on his shoulder.
“Whaa?” he mumbles, rousing slightly.
