Morning light crept in through the slanted blinds into my hospital room. My eyes slowly opened to the feeling of soft, warm lips pressing feather lightly against my forehead.

"Eli," I groaned lightly, my groggy eyes fully opening and seeing his green eyes before me.

"Hi, sweetie. How are you feeling?" He murmured, his arms still hugging me tight around the waist.

I reached for his hand. "I feel kind of weird from all these irons and nutrient IVs in me."

He laughed. "I'm not the biggest fan of IVs either. We've all been there once or twice."

I frowned. "Well, I for one hate needles, and I want it out of me!"

"Easy there, sweetheart. The nurse said you can go home as soon as your mom discharges you from the hospital. Those needles will be out in no time." Eli kissed me lightly and I snuggled closer into his shirt.

"Is she even here?"

He nodded. "She came by right after you fell asleep last night. I was kind of awake for a while before I could finally fall asleep." I raised my eyebrows in confusion as to why he couldn't sleep. "I was just worried about you," He said sadly, clutching my hand in his.

"Awww! Eli, I'm fine, don't worry. I love you, and I'm going to get better once I take my medication daily. Plus, didn't you say something about taking care of me?" I smiled, pulling him in for another soft kiss.

He pulled away after about 30 seconds before answering, "Yes, I believe I did. As soon as you get home from the hospital, it's 2 days school-free for you and I,"

I grumbled in fake anger. "I still don't like missing all those classes, but I'm glad Adam can bring me my assignments."

Bringing my hand up to his lips and kissing it, he smirked. "It's only 2 days, honey."

"I know, but I still wish this never happened. Oh, whatever, I want some breakfast."

Just then, the same nurse that took my blood the night before walked in with two breakfast menus.

"Good morning," She greeted us kindly, accompanied by a small girl of about the age of six.

"Good morning," I smiled, holding Eli's hand tightly in mine. "And who's this?" I gestured to the little girl, who hid behind the nurse's legs.

"Oh, this is my daughter, Renee. She's the one I told you was afraid of needles as well." Renee tugged on her mom's scrubs indignantly. "Oh, Renee, say hello!"

"Hi," Renee whispered shyly, her brown eyes flickering with shy kindness. Her light brown hair was in two braids, and she waved to Eli and I.

"Hi there," Eli and I said at the same time. I giggled lightly at the coincidence.

The nurse laughed and stroked her daughter's hair. "Baby, why don't you go see if Nurse Jaclyn will give you some toys to play with?" Renee nodded eagerly and dashed out of the room.

Eli and I laughed. The nurse turned to us. "It's Take Your Child to Work Day at her school, and my husband is on a business trip. She begged me to take her with me, but she's going home with her grandma in an hour or so."

I grinned, snuggling close to Eli. "That's cute," I murmured.

"Anyway, you can take a minute to select your breakfasts, and I'll bring them to you." She handed us the menus before slipping out of the room to the lab next door.

Eli and I chose French toast with maple syrup, and I got orange juice while he got coffee.

The nurse took our orders and returned with our food about 10 minutes later.

After we ate, Eli turned to me. "You know I love you, right?"

I nodded. "Of course I do! I love you too, Eli." He smirked and pressed his lips to my neck. I stiffened for a second. His lips felt so good against my neck, and here we were, laying in a hospital bed.

He began placing feather light kisses all over my neck. I giggled, laying on my side and letting him keep kissing my neck. Eventually, I flipped myself to my other side so I was facing him, leaning in to kiss him. He kissed me back sweetly, caressing my side with his hand. I ran my fingers through his dark brown hair, letting my lips linger on his soft pink ones before parting.

"Well, good morning to you, too…" I laughed while he kissed my cheek and hopped off the bed. I frowned. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go get your mom and see when you can go home, okay?" He kissed my forehead before turning towards the door.

"Okay,"

He left and only minutes later did my mom enter the room, smiling sadly. "How are you feeling, sweetheart? Glen and I are so worried about you! Jake is too, you know." She sat in the chair next to my bed and stroked my hair softly.

I leaned into her comforting touch. "I'm okay. When can I come home?"

She frowned, continuing to stroke my hair. "Honey, the tests came back positive for anemia. You can go home in about an hour, but you need to take it easy for the next few days."

I smiled at the thought of going home; the hospital kind of sucked. "Thank goodness, and I know. I'm going to be staying home with Eli taking care of me for 2 days, and then we're going back to school."

My mom kissed my forehead. "Alright, sweetie. I just wanted to let you know that Glen and I are going on a week trip to Toronto Island, and we want you and Jake to bond more, so we think you two should go up to the cabin with some friends for the weekend we're gone. Would you be okay with that?"

I was shocked. Was my mother seriously going to allow me to spend an entire week at a cabin on a beautiful lake with no adult supervision? Wow, I guess Glen really has changed her. "I'd love to. How many friends are we talking?"

"As many as you want, honey. We feel very bad about the awkward situation we've put both you and Jake in, and we want you to have fun." She twisted a strand of her dark brown hair around her finger, looking distracted in her own thoughts. "If you need anything, call your father, okay?"

I nodded sadly, remembering my father. He hadn't been as involved in my life since he'd met a new woman a few months ago, just after the divorce was finalized. "I will,"

"Okay, sweetie. I've already signed you out of the hospital, so whenever you're ready, we can get going, okay?" My mom stood up and walked out of the door after dropping a kiss on my cheek.

Eli stuck his head back in the room. "Ready to go home?"

"You have no idea." I laughed, gesturing him to sit in the chair my mom was just in. A smile was plastered across my cheek as he sat down.

He smirked cutely, taking my hand in his. "That happy to go home, eh?"

I shook my head of curls. "Eli, my mom and Glen are going to Toronto Island for a whole week starting on Halloween night! She said Jake and I can go to the cabin, and we can bring as many friends as we want!"

His green eyes widened in shock. "Do my ears deceive me or is your mother really allowing you to spend an entire week on a secluded lake in a cabin with a bunch of friends for an entire week with no adults whatsoever?"

I burst out laughing. "That's what I thought, but yeah, she is! Talk about a fun time, huh? Halloween, spookiness, with all of our friends!"

He grinned, kissing me softly. "Absolutely. I'm in."