Surrogate for My Brother-in-law - Chapter 95: Chapter 95

Someone was holding my hand when I woke up. They were talking, softly, but I couldn't make out the words. They were crying, too.
I didn't like that. I didn't want to make anyone cry. Especially not someone who cared enough about me to sit at my beside.
Why was I in bed, though? I had work to do. There was always work to do and I could tell I'd slept far too late.
I tried to sit up, but someone had gone and replaced all my bones with jelly. I flopped back against a pillow too soft to be the one in my own room. It smelled strange, too. Antiseptic. Was I in a hospital? Why would I be in a hospital?
“Hey, hey it's okay,” a gentle voice said. “Just lie still, you need to rest.”
I couldn't rest, there was work to do. I'd left something unfinished. Something important.
I pried my eyes open. It took a few tries but I managed it. The world was fuzzy, but I could make out a face leaning over me. It was Leo.
I turned my head towards him. I tried to smile, but my face felt rubbery and wrong. Everything was really numb.
“Hush,” Leo said, reaching out his free hand to brush my hair out of my face. “Just rest, Tessa, everything's fine.”
How could everything be fine? Everything was on fire. I distinctly remembered that everything was on fire and Leo was bleeding!
“Shh, shh,” Leo hushed me again, reaching down to tuck the blanket tighter over me. “It's okay, Tessa, you need to rest. Nothing's on fire.”
Had I said that out loud?
I didn't have a chance to try to ask. The blanket and my eyes were both too heavy. I faded back into the darkness.
When I woke back up, Leo was still there but he was slumped over the side of my bed, asleep with his head pillowed in his crossed arms. Dr. Lee was there, too, draping a blanket over his back. She blinked in surprise when she noticed I was looking at her.
“Of course you wake up when he finally takes a nap,” she whispered.
She walked around to the other side of what I recognized as a hospital bed. She took my wrist in one hand, checking my pulse.
“How do you feel, Tess?” she asked, voice still soft.
“Sore,” I croaked.
Lee nodded and turned to a little table next to my bed. She produced a spoon full of ice chips and let me crunch through a few before she had me try to talk again.
“You took a big risk, Tess,” she said. “We almost lost you. Your heart stopped, twice.”
“Sorry,” I said. Then, “Leo?”
“You didn't just stabilize him, you healed him fully and then some. He could have jogged to the hospital beside the ambulance.” She snorted softly, “He practically did.”
“He's okay? What about...” there were so many injured. I hadn't recognized any of them through the smoke and blood. “Everyone else?”
“You didn't lose any patients,” Lee reassured me. “You got everyone critically hurt stable enough for my staff to help. No one else was hiding anything serious enough to be life threatening.”
I slumped back against the pillow, and then remembered. “The children, the archivists! Leo sent me out with them, and the servants and... I had to lead the Rogues off.”
“It, uh, took us a few hours to find them all. Those librarians know how to hide,” Lee admitted. “But we rounded them all up and no one was hurt. The kids thought it was all a game, they're fine.”
“Thank goodness,” I said.
“You get some rest. You're gonna be real familiar with that bed for a while,” Lee informed me. “You nearly drained yourself to death, and it's going to take time to recover.”
“I understand,” I said, already drifting off.
I was in and out for a few days. Lee had not been kidding. I couldn't even hear my wolf for the first two days, and she was lethargic and quiet after that.
I could barely stay awake for more than a minute when I was awake. Sometimes Lee was there, checking on my vitals and spoon feeding me careful dosages of medicine and broth and ice chips. Sometimes Ethan and my mother were there, talking softly and holding my free hand.
Leo was always there. He wasn't always awake, but he never left my side. Well, he apparently left to shower and use the restroom, but he refused to leave for any other reason. Ethan and Lee had to gang up on him to make him shower.
We spoke a little. He reassured me that my mother and Ethan's siblings were taking good care of Sable and that she was fine. He explained that he didn't think I'd want her to see me in the bed like that, so he'd had them keep her away.
I appreciated that. I still woke up with nightmares of my own mother in a coma. I didn't want those memories for Sable.
“Thank you,” I told Leo after my usual round of ice chips and broth.
And then I fell asleep again.
The next time I woke up, I felt strong enough to sit up. With the help of the hospital bed, Lee, Leo, and a lot of pillows. I managed.
“Can I have a few minutes with Tessa?” Leo asked.
“Sure,” Lee said, “I think we're past the worst of it now. You'll feel stronger, be able to stay awake longer. I'm going to start you on solid food tomorrow. Well, toast and jello.”
“I'm looking forward to it,” I said with a smile.
“I'll make sure the cafeteria sends you the blue jello,” Lee promised, closing the door behind her.
I smiled over at Leo as he took my hand in his again. He'd been holding my hand almost the whole time. That was fine. If I had a choice, I never wanted to let go of him again.
“Tessa, I'm so sorry,” he said.
I tilted my head. “Sorry?”
“Your home... the manor. It was a total loss. We couldn't save anything.”
I blinked. It was gone? The manor was gone?
I'd spent my entire life there. My childhood memories all took place in those twisting passages and wide halls. I didn't really believe all that could just be gone.
But I'd barely been able to make myself step over the threshold. All my nightmares were in that manor, too.
“The pack,” I said. “You saved them all, right? Lee said everyone got out.”
“Yes. By some miracle, we didn't lose a single wolf,” Leo informed me. He smiled gently. “I'm pretty sure that miracle is named Tessa.”
I blushed and looked down. “I'm glad,” I said.
“Tessa, there's something I need to ask you, but I have to say something first. And this isn't the way I planned to do it, but I almost lost you and I can't wait any longer.”
“Um, okay?” I said, confused.
“I'm sorry I let your home burn. I know it wasn't much of a home to you, but it was all I had to offer. Only it's not, there are other holdings and we'll rebuild. I'll build you any kind of home you want or I'll move into Ethan's manor or a penthouse over this hospital.”
“Leo?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”
Leo took a deep breath. “Tessa, I almost lost you. First to my own stupidity, and then you almost died, and it almost killed me. You are my fated mate, but more than that, you're my love. You're the woman I want to build a home and a family with. I want to hold your hand forever. Please, please say you'll be my mate and my wife. Please, Tessa, will you marry me?”
I blinked. And then I dove across the space between us to hug him. At some point I think I remembered to say yes.