The Billionaire’s Savior

He turned back to the doctor and followed him through the doors that led to the ICU. He stopped outside of Robyn’s room. “She probably won’t be awake for a few more hours.” He left Chris standing outside the door.

Chris took a deep breath and pressed down on the handle, pushing the door open. Robyn was the only patient in the room. Her small frame looked even smaller in the bulky hospital bed. He walked towards her hesitantly.

Her hair framed her face in a halo of messy brown curls, and her glasses were no where in sight. He imagined they hadn’t survive the accident, and made a mental note to get her another pair before she woke up.

There was a chair near the bed, and he moved it until it was sitting close to Robyn’s side. He took a seat, and looked her over in more detail. She looked pale and gray, but besides that, she looked like she was asleep. He’d seen her sleeping before, passed out in bed from exhaustion after working all night. This was different. She was laying on her back, with her arms at her sides. That wasn’t how she normally slept.

Chris reached out a hand, and placed it gently over Robyn’s. She was warm. He let out a deep breath, one he hadn’t known he’d been holding, and brought his head down to rest on the bed next to their joined hands.

*****

Robyn’s eyes fluttered open as she woke. Her mind was hazy, and she couldn’t place where she was.

She could place Chris though.

Even without her glasses, he was unmistakable when only a foot away from her. She gazed down at his sleeping form, where he was resting his head by her arm.

The sight confused her. She didn’t understand where she was, or why Chris was with her. She began to shift on the bed, jolting Chris awake.

“Robyn?” he asked eagerly.

“Chris- Chris, where am I?”

”In the hospital. You were brought here by ambulance after your accident.”

“Accident?” Robyn inquired, the memories faint. “I was driving home…”

“You were hit. They… they had to operate. You were in surgery for almost 8 hours.” His voice was tight, and Robyn was surprised at the emotion she could hear. Chris wasn’t normally emotional. “And you’re here-” she said in wonder.

Chris frowned at her, “Of course I’m here. Where else would I be?”

“Chris! You’re here,” she repeated looking at him eyes wide with significance.

Chris stared at her uncomprehendingly and then it hit him and his eyes widened too, “Oh my God. I didn’t even think about it.”

“Exactly. You left the house and you’re here and you’re not panicking or nothing.”

Chris huffed a laugh, “I guess I was too worried about you to worry about being out of the house.”

“Aww, look at you.”

“Yeah…look at me.”

 “I almost lost you.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, leaning back in the chair.

Robyn stared at him, speechless. He opened his eyes after a few moments, looking at Robyn with graveness.

“I don’t know what I would have done, if I’d lost you, Robyn.”

She reached her hand out to enclose his and squeezed reassuringly.“You didn’t lose me though. I’m fine,” she told him, then became suddenly worried. “I am fine, aren’t I?”

Chris gave her a small, weary smile. “Yes. You had some internal damage and a partially collapsed lung, but the surgery was a success. The doctor said you should be able to go home in a few days.”

“Wow,” she breathed, sinking back into the bed. “I don’t feel like I just had surgery.”

“The doctor said they had you on something for the pain, and you’ve been asleep for a few hours.”

She turned her head to look at him again. “Have you been here the entire time?”

Chris ducked his head. “Yeah. I- I couldn’t leave. I had my mom and George run home to grab me some different clothes.”

“George? Your mom?” Robyn asked, voice squeaking nervously. “They were here?”

Chris grinned at her response. “Cleo told me about the accident at home, and they insisted on coming with me to the hospital.”

Robyn didn’t know how to respond to that.

“I told them to go home a few hours ago. Sarah too. Cleo is still around. I’m sure she’s eager to see you. I think she’s off calling Pam right now.”

“What about my parents?” Robyn wondered.

“I called them. I told them you were fine, and I’d have you call them when you woke up. They wanted to come, but it’s a long way to come. I offered to send a plane to pick them up if they still want to come after talking to you.”

“A plane?” Robyn repeated. “They must be thoroughly confused about how I know you.”

“I kind of told them we were married,” Chris shrugged, nonplussed.

”That’s pretty serious Chris. You know they’re very conservative. They’re not going to like our story.”

“I don’t care,” Chris insisted. Robyn raised an eyebrow. “Okay,” he acquiesced, “I do care, but not as much as I care about you.”

He raised his hand to hover over her cheek, then brought it to rest softly cupping the side of her face. Her breathing halted abruptly, and she couldn’t look away from Chris.

”Life is too short to worry about these things. You and I, we know that real well. If your parents can’t accept us or whatever, that is their choice. This is real for me. I know it’s real for you even though you haven’t said anything. I don’t want to wait anymore to let others know too.”

She exhaled softly, letting her head relax against his palm as her eyes closed.

“I won’t make the mistake of not telling you now.”

She smiled happily at that statement. Her mind was reeling. “Who’d have thought I’d be happy about being in an accident,” she remarked dryly.

“Not funny,” Chris scolded her gently. “No more accidents for you, Mrs. Odom,” he told her, withdrawing his hand and standing.

Robyn opened her eyes immediately, and tried to sit up.

“Where are you going?” she asked, panicked. She cringed as a pain shot through her.

“Hey,” Chris instructed, “stop that. Lay still. I’m just going to get a nurse.” He leaned over her to place a gentle kiss on her head. “I’ll be right back,” he assured her.