Part 22

                                    

                                          
"It's okay, slow deep breaths." He said, rubbing her back as she kept coughing violently, shivering in his arms. He flipped on her inhaler and placed the mask on her face as she cuddled deeper into his chest but her coughing didn't stop. "It's okay, try to breathe, you're okay." He said, trying to soothe her a little. 
It took a while until the medication finally started to work and she could breathe a little easier although the medication always had the side effect that she would start shivering uncontrollably. Even with the cozy sweater still on and a long-sleeved shirt beneath, thick sweatpants and wool socks she was trembling terribly so that he grabbed the blanket and laid it around her shoulders. 
The door opened and Maggie came in, walking over to them. Meredith was already half asleep against Andrew, who now leaned back against on the couch he had sat down on since with Meredith in his arms it was hard to adjust the bed. 
"Rough day?" she asked, taking a look at the monitors, writing down Meredith's stats. "This was the fourth asthma attack today. The fourth." He said, lowering his voice to not startle her since she was now finally getting rest for the first time today. 
"The fourth?!" Maggie exclaimed shocked, looking up at him through the shield of her full-protective suit. He just nodded, looking down at his girlfriend curled up in his arms, kissing the top of her head. "Did she respond well to the increase of the dose of her medication?" 
"No, she's had a bad headache the whole day and is still extremely sensitive to loud noises." He said, adjusting Meredith on his lap who unconsciously snuggled deeper into his chest and the blanket around her. 
"I don't know what to do we've been here for a full week now and she's not getting any better." He said helplessly. "I just hope that it won't get any worse because she can't be put on a vent again. She couldn't take that again." He added, tears welling up in his eyes. "She'll be okay Andrew." Maggie said, but he could hear that her voice was a little shaky as well. "I- uhm need to check on some patients." She stammered, quickly leaving the room.
"Mer, you can't get any worse okay? You have to be okay." He said, pressing her tighter against him. "M'promise." She mumbled still trembling slightly, starting to cough again. He continued to rub her back, hoping the fit would only be mild because he felt from how she was leaning into him how weak her body and muscles actually were. But luckily she stopped coughing pretty soon.
"Do you want to lay down and get some sleep?" he asked and she nodded. He carefully removed the mask from her face, switched off the inhaler an picked her up, laying her down on the bed, covering her with all the blankets he could find in the room.
She was too tired to say anything else so he pulled his bed right next to hers and laid down, taking her small hand into his. 
She stayed asleep for the rest of day, not waking up a single time. He sat with her the whole time, checking her stats, making sure her oxygen level wasn't going down or just holding her hand.
He on the other side stayed awake the whole time, too scared that something might happen when he would close his eyes but when it started to get dark outside and the clock showed that it was already passed 10pm he couldn't hold his eyes open any longer and fell asleep. 
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The next morning, he woke up to Meredith being still asleep next to him. He quickly looked up at the monitors to check both her pulse and oxygen levels. Both were okay. Her oxygen level had went down to 93% but since she had asthma it was normal. It would only get alarmingly low at beneath 90%. 
Her pulse was at 76 which was a little high for her being asleep. She had pulled her blanket up until her nose so that only the tip of her cute snub nose and her eyes were visible. He took the moment to just observe her. Her eyelashes were beautiful, all nicely curved and straight in a dark brown colour. She had a few freckles around her nose, not many and they were all just slight but he loved them because somehow without really being visible from far away they still made her even more beautiful. Also, her eyebrows were all in a straight line, just a few single hairs leaving the pattern. She was so breathtakingly beautiful. 
Suddenly she started moving, her hand grabbing the edge of the blanket from the inside, pulling it closer to her. The movement caused a strand of hair to fall into her face that he carefully put behind her ear. She moved her head a little as if to burry it deeper into the pillow. 
She had to be okay. 

// Just a short chapter, hope you like it nevertheless