"This sucks so bad." Kate said, laying on her back in the hospital bed, clutching her stomach, hands to either side of her surgical incision.
"A few two-two-threes to the gut will do that to you." Anton smiled at her, his hand on her thigh, the sheet and blanket between them. "I went through the same thing when I was eighteen, shortly before my nineteenth birthday." Anton said. "An angle grinder wheel exploded and perforated my small intestine and appendix, so it got removed." He leveled with her gaze, looking at her straight in the eye. "It will get a lot worse before it gets better, then every day will feel ten times better than the last." Anton told her sincerely. "I'll be here for you every step of the way." He smiled at her assuredly.
"Thank you." Kate told him honestly. "I'm so thirsty." She swallowed hard, the NG tube through her right nostril and into her stomach was constantly scratching at her throat.
"They won't let you eat or drink for several days. I have no doubt." Anton told her. "I'm gonna go get you some ice to chew so you can wet your mouth." He said, and left her for a moment.
Several days? Could I really go that long? I have the IV keeping me hydrated, but...
She was broken from her daydream by Anton returning with a styrofoam cup of light ice that was more air than frozen liquid. An entire mouthful of the stuff only gave her a thimbleful of water to swallow, which was sucked right out of her stomach by the NG tube. Her back hurt from laying down all the time, and they only turned her NG tube off for one hour every time they fed her a handful of pills, the amount due to her enhanced metabolism taking an extreme dose to have even a mild effect. The hole in her stomach felt as if it was consuming her with every burning moment.
They made her walk. Torture, as her maimed abdominal muscles strained against brand new sutures. The 7 inch incision pulled and added pain to every movement. She didn't realize just how often she used her abs until she was notified every time she did. Her bowel movements were torture as well, the muscles to bear down being either excruciatingly painful to use, or simply absent from her control. Passing gas was a challenge, even. For a time she went two days, unable to do so, and with considerable discomfort.
Anton was right there next to her, tending to her every need, bathing her lovingly, holding her and, and talking to her.
"How bad is it?" Kate asked while Anton watched the nurse change her dressing.
"Not bad, looks better than mine did." He told her honestly. "You're recovering very quickly, this is good."
"I'd recover quicker if they fed me." Kate sighed as one of the nurses stuffed material into the valley of her incision.
"Your guts still need time to heal, you could pop internally if they fed you now." Anton told her. "Once they take that tube out, they'll see if you upchuck the jello they give you then go from there."
"You've done this a time or two, I take it?" The nurse asked him as she worked. Anton simply smiled and nodded.
Even the talk of food made the void in her stomach grow, and the tube that irritated her throat more annoying. The nurse was done, and covered up her work with Kate's gown, leaving the two alone once again.
"You're very strong." Anton told her fondly, sitting at her bedside in the stool. "You're handling this a lot better than I did when I was young." He said, reaching over and squeezing her shoulder.
"Not like I have anything to do but sit here and be uncomfortable." She said, then winced as her stomach rumbled disapprovingly. Later that day, she was made to walk close to a mile around the circuit of the hospital. Instead of taking the full team of nurses it'd require to hold the 6'6'' 235lb woman aloft if she were to fall, Anton, with his 6'8'' frame and 310lb counterweight was by her side. By the time she was done, she felt like she got shot again, and slept for 10 hours afterwards.
"You know, your augmentations could heal you without surgical aid within a month." He said, looking out the window then to her. "But there would be considerable discomfort, and this," He gestured to her. "Is easier and safer."
"Why did you tell me that?" Kate asked him, her eyebrows ruffled together.
"It's important you know the limits of your body ahead of time, rather than learning them on the fly." Anton said to her.
"I take it you speak from personal experience?" She asked him. He nodded silently, and she was reminded of the countless scars across his body.
"Your surgical incision will heal quickly, and once you're discharged you'll need to do some pretty intense exercise to get your strength back." Anton told her. "I wish I did, all that time ago."
"My abs are going to look great after this cut, I have almost no body fat." Kate smiled thinly at him. "What did you have in mind for exercise?"
"Swimming, we'll work up to five miles a day at a minimum." He said, her eyes boggled at the distance, but she understood, and nodded wordlessly. "As soon as your scab falls off, and you're cleared for submersion, I want you in the water, using your muscles." He told her, "I'll be there with you."
Kate suddenly pulled her stupid itchy gown off, and started looking her abdomen over. Her bullet wounds were healing well, just little scabbed pockmarks, except the one that'd tumbled through the air, which looked like a rectangle. The drains, little grenade shaped clear rubber balls, were placed into her, either side of her incision. She'd lost 2 feet of intestines, her appendix, and an ovary. It'd be harder to have children, but not impossible.
"You're still just as pretty." He smiled down at her as she ran her fingers over her bullet wounds. SHe didn't feel very pretty then, but the expressions she saw on his face when she looked up at him told of the truth in his words.
"Thank you." Kate said, and he didn't reply, just leaned down and kissed her. She pushed her tongue into his mouth, as always, and he massaged it with his. They parted, and she sighed, pulled the covers over herself, covering her puffed up inverted nipples and blushing skin.
"Thank me the day you get discharged when I eat you out." He said to her, his expression deadpan and his face so honest that she couldn't help but laugh. Laughter hurt, but she missed it, and he loved hearing it.
"I haven't felt a lick of drive until that kiss just now, and now I feel like princess pent up." Kate said, repositioning her head on her pillow, taking the bite out of her sore back from laying in bed so long.
"I'll tell you what, this catheter feels nothing like a good sounding toy, and I wish it did." She sighed, making such a disappointed face.
"I'll use every one of them once you're out of here." He smiled at her, loving how she didn't sugarcoat anything, spoke so casually, even about such perverse things. It was one of the many things he loved about her, his asexuality let him treat sex as the hobby she was so interested in.
"The purple silicone one with the five bulbs is the best." She said, lamenting.
"Don't worry, you'll be out of here before you know it." He said. "You'll be glad to know that the worst is behind you."
"Can I have some dilaudid?" She asked.
"Of course." Anton said, hitting the nurse call button, and filling out the little pen pad pre-printed form, authorizing differed medication for augmented personnel. The dilaudid would only be as pain numbing as an over the counter pill to her, sadly, but it was better than nothing.
