“Dr. Prince!” Dylan shouts. “It worked.”
“Kaden,” I say, grinning. “And yeah, it did. Rose is awake.”
I move closer to her, smiling down at her. “And how is she feeling?”
“Good,” she says. “I keep feeling scared that I will fall right back to sleep, though.”
I nod. “The device we implanted in your hypothalamus,” I say, “runs on the electricity from your own nervous system. It should continue working, and you should be able to stay awake.
“But as soon as I fall asleep,” Rose says, “it might be years before I even know it happened. It can happen at any time.”
“It won’t,” I say, moving closer.
She grabs my forearm with one hand and squeezes. Her anxious big green eyes lock on mine, and she twirls her hair around a finger of her other hand. I’ve known this woman for five years, and I’ve never seen her nervous habits. I’ve still never seen her smile.
She’s touching me, holding onto my arm, as if I’m her only anchor in the real world. As if holding tight to me can keep her from falling back to sleep.
“It’s okay, Rose,” Dylan says. “You won’t fall back asleep.”
“Your brother is right,” I say. “At least...not until tonight.”
“No!” she says, squeezing my arm even tighter. “I can’t sleep, not even at night.”
“I wish I could tell you that sleeping for seven years means you don’t need nightly sleep for a decade, but I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that,” I say, smiling at her and putting a hand over hers.
“I’ll stay with you,” I say. “When it’s time for you to sleep again. I’ll make sure it’s natural sleep, and that you’ll be awake again in the morning.”
She smiles at me. It’s a bright and wide smile that reaches all the way to her eyes. “You’d do that, Dr. Prince?”
I nod. “You can also call me Kaden.”
“Kaden,” she says, trying the name out. “Can you tell me why you’re in trouble? No one will tell me anything.”
She lets go of my arm and inches herself up so she’s sitting up straight. She has a nervous expression on her face.
Dylan steps in before I have to speak. “Mom and Dad left all their money to keeping you cared for...but it ran out. The hospital was going to pull the plug on you...I couldn’t afford to save you, Rose.”
Rose’s lip quivers, and she bites down on it. “God, I can’t believe you felt like that was your fault, Dylan, it’s not...it’s my fault for being like this.”
“It’s no one’s fault,” I say. “No one but this heartless place we call a hospital. I did what I had to do. You’re my patient, and I saw a way to save you. I had to take the chance.”
I skip telling her that Dylan and I considered laundering my own money through him to keep her alive. We decided against it when we realized we had a better shot at actually waking her up through pursuing the experimental surgery with Dr. Meiner. Given enough time, I could have gotten around those laws, but Dr. Meiner’s device was too tempting. And it paid off.
She smiles up at me again, her eyes tearing up. “Thank you, Kaden, I...I know you made a huge sacrifice, and I don’t think I can ever repay you.”
My mind shifts itself to dirty thoughts straight away—it tends to do that—and I can think of dozens of ways I’d like for her to repay me. I shake my head, dislodging the unprofessional thoughts, but when we make eye contact with each other, I can tell she remembers our kiss.
The fucking kiss. Why did I do it? Did I really start to believe the fairytale bullshit? Sleeping Beauty? Fuck no, it was the quantum circuits fusing into her nervous system, jump starting—rebooting—her brain. If I hadn’t kissed her, she’d have woken up anyway. At least I think so. Right?
She licks her lips as I continue staring at her.
“I’d do the same thing for any patient that I did for you,” I lie.
4
Rose
I’m already feeling tired when Dr. Prince—Kaden—comes into my room.
“My shift is over,” he says, stretching. “Finally.”
“You’re going to stay here with me even though your shift is over?” I ask, clutching the blanket up to my neck.
“Yeah,” he says. “Don’t worry about it. I want to.”
His sleeves are rolled up, and I notice the ink he has tattooed all over his forearms. His hands look amazing—strong, powerful, gentle – I guess I didn’t lose my appreciation for a good pair of hands even after being asleep for so long. Surgeon’s hands. He looks almost too rugged to be a doctor, with his seemingly permanent stubble, wide shoulders and broad chest, and big, bulging arms.
“Okay,” I say, nodding. “Thank you.”
I’m clutching the blanket against my body because of my breasts. The last night I remember, I was trying desperately to make my inadequate chest look big for Ryan, and seemingly overnight I’ve woken up with “big naturals.” A seven-year night. They’re what I always wanted, but it feels odd, like it’s not even my body. It sometimes feels like I woke up wearing another woman’s skin...a woman who also just happens to be a 25-year-old virgin.
Kaden has seen my body more than I have, and having big boobs should be nothing new to him—it’s not like I’ve seen him leering at them or anything. Still, it makes me feel nervous. I also would love to know how the hell it happened—how is it that my body matured so much while I was sleeping? I’d die of embarrassment asking him that question, so instead I go for another.
“Dr. Pri—”
“Kaden,” he says, smiling.
“Kaden,” I say. “How is it I don’t feel like, weak? I haven’t used my muscles in seven years, and even though they won’t let me try to walk yet, I’m pretty sure I could.”
“Your body was basically in stasis,” he says. “The feeding tube provided the small amount of nutrients you needed, and nurses moved you around every day to keep your muscles from atrophying.”
Nurses were moving me around? The mental image of that makes me feel a bit uneasy. People were tending to me and touching me every day for years, and I have no recollection of it.
“We’ll let you walk soon,” he says. “As soon as possible. We just want to run a few more tests first.”
“Is it weird?” I ask. “Seeing me awake? You probably got to know me as this really quiet girl—”
I stumble for words. I’m not really a “girl” anymore, am I?
“And,” I continue, “now I just can’t shut up.”
“It’s good you’re asking questions,” he says. “You want to keep it up, feel free to ask me anything you’re wondering about.”
“Do we have flying cars yet?” I ask. “I haven’t been outside.”
He laughs. “Flying cars? No, not yet.”
“I used to love watching Back to the Future 2,” I say. “I thought it would be so cool to travel through time into the future...I never thought I’d actually do it.”