Eric's POV
My head aches badly. It feels heavy as if it's been stuffed full of cotton wads. My eyes feel like they're glued to my cheek. When I'm finally able to open my eyes, the first person I see, dozing in a chair in front of my bed is Thor.
He looks so tired with dark shadows around his eyes like he's not been sleeping. Thor is borderline obsessive about eating healthy and looking good. I wonder what happened to him now. Why has he lost so much weight? Why is he looking so tired and unkempt?
My eyes roam around to see the rest of the team standing and sitting everywhere inside the room. My eyes met with Ella's and she cries out in excitement, startling Thor awake...
"He's awake! Oh my god! He's finally awake..." She continues saying, her eyes brimming with unshed tears as she rushes to my side
They all crowd around my bed, looking down at me like I'm something precious that just dropped from the sky. It's childish but I'm kinda enjoying being the center of their attention, especially Thor's who is looking down at my face like a mother who has just been told her son has been pulled back from the brink of death
If I didn't have an oxygen mask over my face, I would have laughed at the way he literally jumped out of his chair, when Ella screamed. I wanted to poke fun at him right then but the oxygen mask was in the way
I notice that my left arm is heavily bandaged while my right hand has an IV line that has some kind of fluid dripping inside attached to it. Slowly, I raise my IV hand and remove the oxygen mask from around my face.
Thor looked panic-stricken. His eyes become wider out of shock like he just witnessed me trying to kill myself.
"Hey, hey– What do you think you're doing? Leave that back on! Anders said..."
"Anders - can - kiss - my ass!" I managed to say with difficulty. My voice sounds hoarse and breathy and my throat burns, feeling constrained as if I ate something that went down the wrong pipe.
Seeing me struggle for breath, he shouts...
"Are you crazy!? What the fuck are you talking about? Look at the way you're breathing!"
"No, I'm not– crazy," I reply, trying to make him see reason. He's right about the way I'm breathing though but how do I make him understand that I'm gasping for air, not because I'm dying but because of my burning throat?
"Relax man! I can't— talk through the mask..." I wheeze.
"Besides, my throat is just burning— I'm not dying. And I can breathe fine now without it. I don't think I need the darn thing anymore." I explain and try to smile but he growls at me instead, wiping the smile off my face.
"Well, why don't you let Anders be the judge of that because that darn thing you fondly called it has been helping you breathe and keeping your ass alive for almost two weeks that you've been unconscious!"
'Huh!?... Two weeks!?... What are you talking about?" I ask in disbelief, looking from Thor's face to all of their faces, maybe I will catch a hint that he's joking with me from them but nothing. They all look serious.
"Yes, two weeks. You gave us all a scare, you know." Ella whose tears is now falling freely say.
No wonder Thor looked so tired
"I've been out for almost two weeks?" I gasped out, causing myself to start coughing profusely.
"Get Anders, now!..." Thor barks out an order to no one in particular before helping me to sit up in bed
"Hey... Calm down, man! Try to breathe through it. Breath man, breathe..." He continually coaches and I try to do as he says till the cough slowly subsides and my breathing returns to normal.
He still looks horrified even after I've stopped coughing. I wanted to tell him again that it didn't feel as if I was dying. I feel fine. I coughed because some saliva went the wrong way when I gasped. I'm not sure he won't bite my head off if I open my mouth to talk again.
"You sure took your sweet time in arriving..." Thor says in annoyance to Anders who doesn't look like he's in a hurry as he strolls into the room with a huge smile on his face.
"Relax, Alpha. I didn't rush because I already knew he was going to be fine. I told you he would wake up today without complications, remember?" Anders says as he hands me the large sippy cup he's holding.
"Hey, man. Welcome back to the land of the living" He says and I nod in reply while gratefully sipping from the strange-tasting water he gave me.
"Oh, the water has some herbs that will help soothe your throat in it. So don't worry about the taste. Drink it all."
I nod again.
'Oh my god, it's been two weeks!' I can't stop thinking about how long I'd been unconscious as I slowly sip my water.
'What about Ash? I promised I would visit. Did Ella remember to check on her? What about her pregnancy? Considering how fast her baby is growing, is she aware she's pregnant yet? Is she already showing signs of pregnancy?' I continually wonder until Thor's voice interrupts my thoughts
"Are you going to spend all day on that cup of water?"
"Are you going to continue hovering over me like a helicopter?" I retort and they all laugh, including Thor himself.
"I can see the rogue's venom didn't dull your sense of humor. Thank god for that" He says
"Yeah..." I reply and return to finish the rest of my water as Anders urges me on with a nod
'Dismiss Anders, we really need to talk.' I tell Thor through our mind link before addressing Anders himself...
"I'm fine now doctor, right?"
"Of course you're fine. The poison is finally out of your system and you're healing properly. Everything is fine. I just need to check your bandage." He says and brings out a pair of gloves from inside his lab coat.
He opens my bandaged arm and my mouth falls open with surprise. The people around me all marvel. I remember how the rogue tore at my flesh almost to the point of cracking through my bones. Seeing my arm right now, no one would believe it almost became a rogue's dinner. It's as if I got a skin graft with no scar to show for it.
"Wao! This is great, doc! I am speechless! Thank you for a job well done. Did I get a skin graft?"
"Oh no. No surgery was done on you. And you shouldn't be thanking me either. That wasn't my doing. No herb or surgery would have been able to fix your arm back to the way it is right now considering the amount of damage done to it by that rogue. You should thank Thor for this. I never knew he had healing powers until now."
My jaw drops with surprise as I turn to Thor. He looks away and turns to Anders, pushing him towards the door as he talks...
"Yeah okay, doc. We thank you for your service. Now that you confirm that he's okay. Please leave us so I can finally kill him without any eyewitnesses."