Author: Jessie
~*3 Months Later*~
Jessica�s POV
I came out of the bathroom after breakfast and grabbed my purse. I was going to be late to my meeting. I was in the studio all day. In a few days my album would be done�I hope so at least. I had stopped home after the studio to eat and change. I was running late though. I�d been going to these meetings since the beginning and they really helped me a lot. Another reason I enjoyed going was because I got to see Dr. Lachey. As much as I didn�t want to admit it to myself I did like him and he was very handsome. I drove down to the hospital and went up to the floor where the meeting was held. I walked in and everyone else was already there, I was a little late. I took my seat quietly and listened to Dr. Lachey begin the meeting. I found myself looking at him the entire meeting instead of focusing on what I was supposed to be. At the end of the meeting I walked out last, as I did every week.
�Umm�Jessica.� I turned around. He looked nervous, I did scream at him the last time he tried talking to me one on one.
�Yes�?� I walked over to him.
�Can you come with me for a second?� I was a little unsure at first but then I went with him. He walked me down the hall and into a room at the end of the hall. �Leave your purse and sweater on the table please and come stand over here.� He was pointing to the scale in the corner. I immediately got nervous. Slowly I walked over and stood on the scale. I closed my eyes in fear and finally opened them when he spoke. �103 pounds and how tall are you?�
�5�3�why?�
�Jessica, I know I talked to you before but I am getting more concerned about this now. Is there something going on I don�t know about?� I looked at him and down again.
�I�m fine�really. I�m fine.� I whispered and grabbed my things. I walked out the door and that was the last day I ever went to another meeting, it was the last day I ever saw Dr. Lachey�I thought.
~*A year later*~
Jessica�s POV
My album had skyrocketed through the charts and I was at number 1 for the 6th week in a row. I was so happy, everything was great. I was finally starting to move on with my life. There was one part of my life though I kept to myself�my eating habits. In the past year I had gotten myself down to 87 pounds, which is what I was at right now. I didn�t care how I had to lose the weight I just did it. Some weeks I�d throw it up, some weeks I�d starve myself. I just made myself find a way to lose weight, and I did it. I had just wrapped up my mini tour that lasted me a month and a half. I was home for the first time in almost 2 months. I wasn�t feeling well at all, I had a huge headache and I felt extremely lightheaded and queasy. I hadn�t eaten in almost 3 days. I grabbed a piece of bread and when I finished it I walked upstairs and went into the bathroom. When I got out of the bathroom I walked into my bedroom and couldn�t stop the sick feeling in my stomach. I don�t remember anything but the sick feeling I had and then it all went black and I just passed out. 4 hours later I found myself waking up in a hospital room with my mother next to me and my dad on the other side. I looked at them confused and closed my eyes again.
Nick�s POV
I was finishing up paperwork for my patient I�d just discharged when another patient was rushed through the emergency room. I quickly got up to attend to our newest patient and I froze when I saw who it was�it was Jessica. She�d stopped coming to the meetings after the day I brought her in a room to weigh her and I�d thought about her everyday since�now here she was in the ER. Her mom and dad were following her gurney and her mother was in hysterics. I told them to go out to the waiting room and let me help their daughter. It took a while but eventually we had her stabilized and were running nutrients and fluids through her body with a tube. I walked out and talked to her parent�s.
�Mr. and Mrs. Simpson��
�Yeah��
�Your daughter has a severe eating disorder�are you aware of this?� The shocked looks on their faces answered my question.
�Is she going to be okay�?�
�We�ve got nutrients running through her body now and fluids�she�s very dehydrated and needs rest. You can go in and see her now; they�ve brought her up to a room.� They followed me and I brought them up to the room. She was still sleeping. I checked her again and walked out leaving them with her. That was how most of my day was�I checked on Jessica throughout the day. When my shift ended I walked in to check on her one more time and she was awake.
�Hey stranger�decided to wake up for us now?� She nodded and smiled weekly.
�Thank you for helping her�� Mrs. Simpson stood and shook my hand.
�Oh don�t thank me�it�s my job.� I turned over to Jessica.
�Are you okay�?�
�I�m a little weak�� I patted her arm.
�Just wait til the nutrients are running through your body and you�ll gain your strength.� I smiled and stayed with her family and her for a little while before saying goodbye. �I�ll see you in the morning when I get in�� And I walked out and headed home. I drove home thinking about Jessica, I know I probably shouldn�t be but I was�I mean after all she is a patient of mine�strict rule number one is not to get involved with a patient! BIG no-no� I grabbed myself a microwavable meal and cooked that for dinner, sat in the living room and watched TV before heading to bed; that�s a normal night for me�gosh I�m such a bachelor I needed to find someone.
~*Jessica�s POV*~
My mama and daddy stayed with me but went home around 11:30 to sleep; Ashlee had stopped by to see me too. I kept thinking about Dr. Lachey�he�s gorgeous a blind person could see that�well maybe not but I couldn�t stop thinking about him. I couldn�t wait for the morning when he would be back on shift to take care of me. I shook myself back to reality�dummy he wouldn�t want someone as messed up as you are. I thought to myself and closed my eyes trying to sleep with all these dumb tubes hooked up to me. It was uncomfortable but I was finally able to fall asleep�eventually. I woke up the next morning when I heard somebody walking around me. at first I didn�t know where I was but I saw the person who had woken me and I remembered where I was.
�Well good morning�� His voice was so chipper and gentle. I smiled as he checked at the numerous machines around me.
�Good morning Dr. Lachey�� He stopped what he was doing and sat on the edge of my bed. He placed a soft, gentle hand on my knee.
�Please call me Nick�� Why? I thought to myself but smiled and nodded my head. �Anyways, how are you feeling this morning Jessica?� I scrunched my face.
�Like I have no strength or anything in my body.�
�Well that�s normal, it�s going to take time�you did a lot of damage to your body.� I sighed knowing he was right.
�When do I get to leave�?� He stood up and went back to monitoring my chart.
�You�re going to be in here a few more days, you�ve got a long road ahead of you.� I nodded�he small talked with me for a while before having to leave. �I�ve got another patient to get to but I�ll come back and see you after okay? I have a break in about an hour, you must be bored so I�ll keep you busy.� I smiled.
�Thank you�� He patted my knee and smiled before walking out. I watch a little TV but it was only 9am and not much was on. A little after 10 Dr. Lachey�I mean Nick walked in with a deck of cards in his hands. I smiled and turned the Jerry Springer episode off.
�Hey��
�I�m so glad you�re here�!� He sat on my bed in the same spot as before. �Jerry Springer was getting boring.� He laughed.
�Why you don�t wanna hear about the girl that got pregnant from her lesbian lovers ex-lover?� I laughed at him and he pulled the little tray next to my bed over so we were across from each other. �I thought we could play some cards, I�ve got an hour to spare.�
�Okay�what are we gonna play?�
�How about a little slap jack�?�
�I can manage that one�� And so the games began, I was beating him by a little. We�d been playing it for 40 minutes. �No�! Mister, I hit it first�!� We were laughing and I slapped his hand.
�Did not�I did�!� We continued to go back and forth arguing over it but stopped when we heard someone clearing their throat. We both turned to see my parents standing there in the doorway with Ashlee. We pulled our hands away and Nick stood up.
�Hey mama, daddy�Ash��
�Well Jessica, my break is almost up so I should get back to work. I�ll be back during the day to make sure you�re okay.� I nodded, he was uncomfortable; you could hear it in his voice.
�Thanks for keeping me busy Nick.�
�You�re welcome. Mr. and Mrs. Simpson I reviewed your daughter�s chart and she�s doing much better but it�s going to be a long haul. I�ll look over it with you both later if you�d like.�
�Thank you�� My dad spoke up and they walked into the room as Nick walked out. My parents and Ashlee sat around my bed.
�Nick�? What happened to �Dr. Lachey�?� My mama spoke up and I shrugged my shoulders.
�Jessica has a crush...!� Ashlee spoke up.
�I do not. He�s attractive but it doesn�t mean I have a crush. He�s just helping me.�
�Uh huh�� Mama and Ashlee said and I rolled my eyes; my dad just laughed at them. They stayed until 5:30 and I forced them to go home. Nick�s shift ended at 6:00 and when he was done for the night he stopped by my room and stayed with me for an hour. We talked a lot about his family. He was born and raised in Cincinnati Ohio but when he went to med school at UCLA he decided to stay out here and work. He has a younger brother, younger � brother and � sister. I told him about my upbringing in Texas and about my struggle to get my singing career. I blushed when he told me he�d heard about my CD and immediately went and bought a copy and absolutely loved it. He gave me a hug and told me her had tomorrow off but he�d come see me. The next 4 days went that way; he�d see me on the breaks and days off and my parent�s came in for a couple hours every day. Today I was a little nervous though because they�d taken me off the tube that was feeding me nutrients and I was going to try my first meal of real food. Nick came in and helped me. My body was still very weak and my hand eye coordination wasn�t completely in tact yet so he helped me with the cereal and put the spread on my bagel. It took me a long time to eat it but I did and he was proud of me.
�Good Jess, take it slow and it�ll come back.� I smiled and we talked a little until he had to leave, he hugged me and said goodbye. My mama drilled me that day as she did everyday about Nick. She liked him but her number 1 concern was me. My parents were there when I ate lunch. The lunch they gave me was light because it was my first day back on foods. Around dinner Nick came in.
�Hey�come on�� He reached for my hands.
�What�? Where are we going�?� I slowly got out of bed with his help. He laughed at my pajamas.
�Nice pink ducky pajamas.� I stuck my tongue out and he held me while we walked out of my room. This was the first time I�d walked more than 3 feet from my bed.
�Nick, where are we going?� We got in the elevator and he let me lean against him.
�I�m taking you to the cafeteria here, we�re going to get you real food.� I smiled and listened to his heart beat as my head rest against his hest and he held me in his arms�I wasn�t trapped and alone anymore�I had Nick.
End of part 3.