Chapter Text
Rey pov:
When I wake up on my day off, the sun hasn't quite risen yet. The distinct blue light of early morning comes through my window, and a small smile escapes me. I feel a stabbing pain on the right side of my body, making the smile slip off of my face.
My endometriosis has gotten worse in the last couple of months, but I’m terrified to say anything. If it’s one thing I don’t need, it’s a doctors appointment to add to my insanely busy schedule. The selfish part of me also doesn’t want to deal with being poked and prodded and examined any more than I have to. Especially if it comes to the conclusion that I suspect but do not want.
But, as for today, the pain isn’t bad enough to keep me bed-bound, so I crawl out of my too-soft sheets and begin the process of making up my bed. After that, I open my curtains fully and take a deep breath against the pain that continues to seize my core. The pain clocks in at a solid 7, so I continue my gallant attempt to ignore it.
I can hear Finn outside my door, so I decide to put in something of an effort to make myself look like I’m not struggling through yet more endometriosis pain. I start shuffling around my room, making up my bed and putting things away until a spike of pain shooting up to a 9 makes me double over and wheeze a bit. I hear Finn knock on my door, so I quickly straighten up and say, "Come in."
Finn walks in and kisses the crown of my head. "Good morning, darling."
I smile a bit in spite of myself. "Morning, peanut," I say as I turn around and wrap my arms around Finn. "Are you headed in late today or are you off?"
Finn hums and wraps his arms around my shoulders before replying, "I'm off today, Sunshine. Are you okay? You seem off."
I shrug, trying not to shake from the worsening pain. "It's just my endo pain. I'll be fine."
"But you don't have to be," Finn replies. "I'm here. Just let me help."
I sigh, and knowing that Finn won't let it drop, I reply, "The right side of my body feels like it's being stabbed."
"1 to 10?"
"A 9," I reply, leaning on my dresser. "Was an 8."
Finn hums in sympathy and rubs my back. "Do you feel up to eating?"
"Let me take some time," I reply, slowly straightening up. "And get dressed, then I'll meet you in the kitchen."
Finn nods, and then leaves the room, leaving me staring out the window. Once I hear the door close with a click, I sigh in frustration. Endometriosis had taken a lot of my time the last few months. Regardless of how many drugs I put in me on the daily, it still felt like a roller coaster ride that I was stuck on. Of course, like any chronic condition, there are good days and bad days. But the bad days are getting worse.
I move to get clothes from my closet, settling on a shift dress since it's something I can easily slip on. Then, I'm bent over double as the pelvic pain suddenly worsens. It's like nothing I've ever felt, and it almost causes tears to slip out of my eyes. Then, the wave dulls a bit, and I'm able to change my clothes. After I slip the dress on, I walk out of my room and into the kitchen, feeling vaguely sick to my stomach.
I see Finn prowling for something in the pantry, so I sit down at one of the stools in our newly finished kitchen. When Finn turns around, he looks at me with kind eyes and asks, "How do you feel?"
I shrug and reply, "A little crappier than five minutes ago, but okay."
Finn hums, and replies, "Could it be a flare-up?"
"I'm not sure," I reply, fighting the nausea. "I haven't felt anything like it before."
"Is that why you're rocking back and forth?" Finn replies, making me realize that that's exactly what I was doing.
"Mm-hmm," I reply. "Ugh, it hurts."
Finn nods, and then comes over to me and puts the back of his hand to my forehead, then my cheeks. "Well, you are a bit warm. Go ahead and try to lay back down, I'll be right over there."
I nod, and shuffle over to the couch, trying not to double over at the pain. Nausea churns threateningly, further impeding my efforts to remain upright. I whimper a bit, pain hitting me hard as I take another step. I finally surrender the battle and walk hunched over to get to the couch. I curl up, and pull the afghan over the top and wrap it around me, hoping that I'll get the mercy of sleep.
The next time I wake up, Finn is patting a cold washcloth against my forehead and the pain is tenfold worse. A whine drags out of my lips and I want to lean my forehead away from Finn and furrow into the pillow. Tears fill my eyes and I feel like I'm going to vomit. "I don't feel good," I all but cry. "My belly hurts."
Finn shushes me, and dips his cloth back into water, "I know," He replies. "You had a fever when I checked you earlier. All the way up to 100.4 degrees."
I whine again at the cold cloth. "That's too cold," I whine. I feel bad because Finn is taking a day to take care of me, but I'm in too much pain to care.
"Shhh," Finn replies, temporarily stopping his ministrations. "I know, I'm trying to break the fever. I'll give it a few minutes, then I'll check your temp again to see if you've gone down any. How's your pain?"
"Bad," I reply. "This is the worst flare-up I've ever had."
Finn hums and replies, "I bet. Are you sure it's just a flare-up?"
"I'm not sure," I reply. "But I don't wanna go to the ER."
Finn nods, and then asks, "1 to 10?"
"10."
Finn moves to go get something, and I close my eyes against a sudden stabbing pain in my ovaries. Tears leak out of my eyes at this, and I don't stop them. This is awful. I see Finn come back with the thermometer and sees my tears immediately. "Hey, Hey. What's wrong?"
"My ovaries," I grit out, slightly sitting up. "It feels like I'm being stabbed."
Finn nods, and then puts the thermometer under my tongue. "We'll see how this comes back and then I'll try to find something to make you more comfortable." We sit in silence until the thermometer beeps, making Finn hum in sympathy. "We're back up to 100.6 degrees."
I groan, and Finn runs a hand over my head before placing a trash bin at my head. "Stay," I tell him as he stands to leave. "Please."
Finn nods, so I try to make room while he slips into the open space. I put my head on his lap, and he puts his warm hand on my belly and rubs there. I hum in pleasure, and Finn turns on the TV so we can watch Hamilton.
I can hardly pay attention to anyone besides Daveed Diggs, who plays Lafayette and then Jefferson. Then, during the song The Story of Tonight, the nausea becomes too much to handle, leading me to vomit into the bin near my head. Finn holds my hair back all the while, being ever patient with me. "I'm sorry you had to see that," I reply.
Finn shakes his head, "You're fine. You have nothing to be sorry for."
I nod, and then ask, "Can you help me up please? I need to go the the bathroom."
Finn nods, and then offers a strong arm that I use to push myself up and walk, still doubled over, to the bathroom. But, Finn must have enough of this, and walks up behind me to help me stand and walk. "Rey, we need to go to the ER."
I groan, and reply, "You're probably right."
Finn holds me up entirely in this moment, and says, "Go ahead and put shoes on. I'll call and ask someone about giving us a ride."
I nod, quietly dreading it.
I hate hospitals.
So far, Finn, Rose, and I have been in a room for 30 minutes, and things still have yet to happen. The nurse that entered my information into the computer has already dismissed me, saying it's probably, "Just a flare-up or period pain." I curl on my side, trying to ignore the bin near my bed.
"I would sure hate to get someone in here," Rose says aloud. I give a bemused grin in response.
While I love Finn and his support, I needed Rose. Finn has a tendency to be something of a mother hen, and can be somewhat overbearing. Rose looks at my hair and makes a face. "What?" I ask indignantly.
"Nothing," Rose replies, mirth glittering in her eyes.
"Uh huh. What is it?" I reply, latching onto the distraction from the horrific pain.
"Did you comb your hair this morning?" Rose asks.
I have to resist a laugh, "That is not fair. It hurts to laugh!" A grin comes onto my face regardless.
Rose smirks, and we hear a knock on the door. I roll back over, and try to sit up.
"No no," The kind-looking nurse says. "You don't have to do that for me. You're Rey, right?"
I nod, and then she heads over to the computer and pulls up my patient file. "Sorry about the nurse that came in and did your patient intake. Between us, he's a bit of a blow-hard."
I grin, and immediately know that she is definitely a good nurse. "I kind of got that vibe."
She snorts derisively. "You're right. Now, would you mind rating your pain for me?"
"A 10. It's been that way since earlier this morning."
The nurse nods, and then has me list off my symptoms and it all feels like a blur. "Now, I need to draw blood and order an ultrasound. And I'll try to hook up an IV so you can get some nutrients and pain meds."
I nod, trying not to groan. I hate needles. And the last time I got an IV was when I was 8 and dehydrated. (Thanks, Unkar.)
"Now, your veins are really faint because of the lack of food and water, so I might struggle a bit finding a vein." The nurse says, thankfully not being patronizing. She wraps the tourniquet around my arm and presses extremely hard before finding a good vein. I feel a sharp pinch in the crook of my arm, but I still watch. The nurse, whose name tag reads Adi, takes 3 vials of blood before switching needles and inserting the IV. I bite the inside of my cheek, as the IV is far more painful. Adi speaks up, breaking the silence. "I'm gonna try to get you set up with some saline, which should help nutrient replacement and then I'm also giving you 8 milligrams of Morphine."
I can practically see Finn's eyes bug out as Adi says this, so I don't turn around to look. I hear Rose chuckle behind me and I turn to look at this. "What?" I ask.
"I recommend closing your eyes when the room starts spinning," She says, pulling her legs underneath her, with an amused glint in her eyes. The nurse walks out before Rose says something else. "You are gonna be higher than a kite."
I laugh, but then have to close my eyes because the room is spinning, making me feel slightly nauseous.
"I don't like this," Finn says. "You are tiny. Why do you need 8 milligrams of Morphine?"
"Because they want her to feel better," Rose says, amusement coloring her voice.
I can hear Finn rolling his eyes. The room finally stops spinning, so I open my eyes again and roll on my side. "I'm glad I can bend my arm this time," I say, trying to prevent Finn and Rose from biting each other's heads off.
Rose grins and replies, "You're lucky they didn't put one in your wrist. When I passed out at work one time, that was where Jannah placed it."
I cringe, thinking of how much that would suck. "Dang," I say. "That does sound bad."
Rose grins, and says, "Yeah. You got lucky. Unless you're afraid of needles, then it all sucks."
I laugh at this, putting a hand on my forehead. "Well, there is one bit of circumstantial humor here."
"What's that?"
"If it's an issue with my ovaries, I will have legitimate reason to say that Daveed Diggs made my ovaries explode." I reply.
Rose and Finn share a look before they both start laughing. They go on like this and Rose replies, "Rey you just made my day."
I start laughing a bit while Finn rubs his face. "I knew you had a type."
A few hours later, the morphine has lessened its effects slightly, and the doctor narrowed it, but isn't certain. I'm beginning to get frustrated, but I chalk that up to lack of sleep.
"You wanna place bets as to what the doctor'll say?" Rose asks to break up the monotony in the room.
Finn smirks, and replies, "Five bucks says it's an ovarian cyst."
Rose raises a brow and says, "10 bucks says it's too much scar tissue."
"I am right here!" I say to the both of them.
Rose starts laughing, and then I roll my eyes. "You love us," She replies.
"I guess," I reply, a wry look on my face.
Then the doctor knocks on the door, making me roll over and he sits on his stool. A rock drops in my stomach before he even starts talking. "Well, we got your results back. So, what happened is you have an overly large cyst on your ovary. Normally, we could just monitor this closely, but it's a 7 cm cyst. And this caused your ovary to twist in on itself, cutting off blood flow. So, I consulted with the OB team, and we think it's best if you're admitted to have surgery in order to remove the ovary."
This hits me straight in the heart. I'm terrified. I want a child, and now I likely won't be able to have one. But it's either the life of a hypothetical baby, or mine. So, I nod, and the Doctor gives me a kind look before standing up and leaving the room. I turn and look at Finn and Rose. Rose takes my hand, and I almost cry. "I'm scared," I reply.
Rose smiles sadly and replies, "I know love. It'll be okay."
I nod, and lean my head against the pillow. "I wanna sleep," I reply.
"Go ahead," Finn says. "Rose and I will be here when you wake up."
When I wake up next, I'm extremely sore and I can feel the bandaging around my core. I hum a bit, and tears fill my eyes. The pain comes with it, making me whine. Rose shoots awake next to me, and comes to my side immediately. The world is a haze and I can barely register anything but pain and machines and Rose shushing me and running her hand over my hair.
"Where's Finn?" I whine.
"He just went to get some food, he'll be right back," She tells me softly. I whine again, wanting to take the oxygen mask off. "What's your pain at?"
"Like a six," I say. "I wanna go home."
"Shh," Rose whispers. "I know. I know. Just give it time. I think you're upsetting yourself a bit, so let's take a breath and calm down."
I nod, and lean into her touch. Then I see Finn in the door, and relax fully. The soreness persists, but I ignore it as Finn sets the food down and sits on the side of my bed. "How are you feeling?"
"She is super sore," Rose replies. "But the first person she asked for was you."
Finn smiles, and replies, "Well, I'm here now."
Rose smiles kindly. "Well, there is a bit of circumstantial humor here."
Finn gives her a look, and I laugh. "I have reason now to say that Daveed Diggs," I pause and laugh. "Made my ovaries explode."