"Justin?" Mary whispered.
"Yeah?" he said.
"I love you," she said.
"Mmm..." he responded.
"Mmm?" she questioned. "How come everytime I say that I love you, that's the most intelligent reply you can come up with?"
"Because," he answered. "They aren't easy words to say."
"Sure they are. I. Love-"
"Let me rephrase that," he laughed softly. "They're not words you through around. You don't take them lightly, and you don't use them lightly."
She looked at him, the pale moonlight taking over his features. "I think I understand. Just know that I love you," she said, wrapping her arms around his middle.
"Mmkay," he mumbled, half asleep.
Justin thought he was going to go to pieces. When he had heard that Mary had been shot in a store robbery, he had gone into hysterics. Finally a couple smacks from JC had calmed him down a little, and had kept under control. Now he and JC were at the hospital, the others had to go to practice. He was sitting in one of those uncomfortable hospital chairs, nervously tapping his fingers on his knees, jumping at every little sounds, which was mostly JC turning the pages of the magazine that he was being bored with.
Justin practically had a heart attack when a weary looking doctor cleared her throat to attract their attention. "Are you two here for Mary Bowman?" Justin nodded vigorously. "Well, just to let you know, she's doing fine-" a big sigh of relief was heard. "-- but, as you probably don't know, her right lung was punctured by the bullet, and we have her on a ventilator, and the right lung isn't taking over as well as we would have hoped. If it isn't taking over well in an hour, we're going to take her into surgery." The doctor rubbed her forehead, like she was getting a headache. "She's awake, and very groggy, and probably not very coherent, but if you would like to see her, I think that you could see her for probably about ten minutes," she said. And then she walked out of the waiting room without waiting for questions or anything.
JC looked at Justin. "Did you hear that Curly? She's gonna be alright," he said.
Justin wasn't really paying attention to JC though. He was lost in his own thoughts. "JC, can I have your keys?"
JC couldn't help but wonder what he was going to do with his keys, but without question, he handed them over. "Here ya go. Merry Christmas."
Justin took the keys, and hurried out to the parking lot. He had one hour to get where he needed to go and be back.
He made it back to the hospital with enough time to spare. He fingered the small object in his pocket, and caught up with the doctor that had been treating Mary. "Has she gotten any better?" he asked. He was flushed from the intensity of the five o' clock traffic in downtown Orlando.
"No," she said. "I'm going to prepare the O. R. right now."
Justin nodded. "Can I see Mary real quick?" he asked.
She nodded. "You have about fifteen minutes."
"It won't take long," he said. "Which room?"
The doctor pointed her in the right direction, and he followed her directions. When he got into the room, he looked at her first. She was looking out the window, and she looked very pale. And the oxygen mask and the ventilator made her breathing raspy. "Mary?" he called softly.
She turned to him. "Justin-" she said.
"Shh," he said. "You're not going to talk Mary. That's an order. I have something to tell you." Making sure that the knick knack was still there in his pocket, he continued. "Right after my mother remarried, I had to go to the hospital for appendicitis, and my mother gave me her old wedding ring on a chain for good luck." He pulled the solitaire diamond ring out of his pocket on a thin silver chain. "It worked, and I think that it will work for you," he said, allowing her to lift her hair off her neck so he could clasp the necklace. He then kissed her on the check. "I love you," he whispered.
He saw the look in her eyes, and knew that anything sacrificed or worked out up to that point had been worth it. "Good luck," he said, and left the room, praying that she would make it through the surgery.
The same female doctor, even more tired now, came into the waiting room complete with a waiting Justin and a waiting JC. "She's out of surgery now. You can see her," she said quietly, and made a quick exit. Justin looked at JC. JC nodded, "You go ahead. I'll see her later."
Justin got up, and making a lucky guess that she was in the same room, made his way there. When he saw that he was right, he went and sat by Mary's bed. He took ahold of Mary's hand, waking her from her slight sleep. Making sure that the previous events were not a dream, she put her hand up to her neck, where sure enough she felt the slender chain. Trying the events further, she said, "I love you."
Justin smiled with a response. "I love you too."