Let the healing begin!...tomorrow...

You didn't know what quite to expect as the door to the hospital room opened and in walked in a beast of a man. He was tall, at least 6'6", easily towering over you at your respectable 6'1", and although he was gray a bit, you could tell the man did not need to even bother sweating before he broke you in half if you crossed him. You seemed to wilt under the man's presence, even though you did absolutely nothing wrong in anyone's eyes.

"There she is!" The man came up and quickly gave your dad a warm hug and kissed her on the cheek. For her part, she played up the slightly embarrassed young woman as she gave him a return hug and kiss on the cheek. "Are you okay? We got here as soon as we could. The doctors say you're ready to go?"

She nodded and the next person to step in was a woman who looked equally scared for her daughter as well as emphatically happy that she was okay.

The two conversed, tears flowed a bit, and hugs were exchanged. All the while, you watched a bit envious, and a bit saddened, but your attention quickly turned as the man approached you. "This is Tim?" he asked, a bit unsure how he would talk with you, the young man who allegedly threw himself into harm's way to protect his daughter.

Your dad nodded. "Yes, this is Timothy Connors...this is the boy who saved me..."

You were about to offer your hand, trying to be as polite as possible, before you saw stars. You never had the pleasure of experiencing a bear hug before but the way that you were being enveloped and gripped, you'd suspect a grizzly couldn't be as dangerous as this man. "Thank you..." he began and, for the second time, the shrill sound of the bedside alarms went off.

"What the...Come on, no hugs means no hugs!" called out the nurse who came in and quickly untangled your contorted body from the grips of Mr. Zawatsky, who was a bit beside himself. The nurse monitored your vitals a bit before she glared at the man. If it weren't for the fact that you were having difficulty sucking down air and seeing spots, the sight of a 5'2" chihuahua causing a bull of a man to back down and cower in submission would've made for a good laugh or three.

"Come on, daddy, he needs to heal," your father chided before she turned her attention and brushed your hair gently. "Take it easy, okay?"

As the two parents were watching you, they whispered amongst themselves, with the mother smiling warmly in your direction and the father, sniffling, nodded his head in agreement apparently to what she had stated. Before long, the nurse came back into the room with your sedative. "I'll be fine," you reassured your father who had her hand lingering on your chest. "I'm just glad that you're able to go home."

"Yeah..."

You smiled for added strength despite the fact you felt your heart being torn by the fact that once she left, your father was permanently gone. "I'll be in school soon, okay? Just make sure to save me a good seat in class? Don't let them give me the crap books, either. I want ones that I can actually read."

She laughed at that, knowing how she had heard you grumble for months last year over the state of your textbooks from the 60s. You were sure that there was no such thing as the Soviet Socialist Republics anymore..."I'll make sure..." Then, to your surprise, she leaned down and gave you a kiss on the cheek before getting back up, blushing majorly from realizing what she did, and then walked out of the room. You blinked in surprise as her mother, beaming even more proudly now, ushered her husband out of the room, leaving you and the nurse alone for a moment.

"Did...?"

"Lucky you, Tim. Looks like your dad wants to share your last name again." Before you could reply, though, the nurse injected your arm. "Get some rest, loverboy, you're going to need it."