#smpllive

God it hurt. 

It hurt to breathe. It hurt to sit up. It hurt to listen to his voice echoing through the vents in the shared home. 

y/n wasn’t sure when it had started hurting. She knew that a few weeks ago she had adored hearing his voice when she woke up and when she walked around the house and when she went to sleep. But at some point she had started to feel as though her chest was restricted every time he was near, like there were coils of something wrapped around her lungs and heart that throbbed whenever she thought about him or heard him or was near him. 

Which sucked, because Charlie was two rooms down the hall. 

Because of whatever was happening, y/n’s morning routine had changed a bit. Every morning she would get up and get into the shower in the bathroom directly across from her room, run the shower, and cough up blood into a tissue where hopefully no body could hear her. And, after what felt like a few minutes, she would get into the already running water and rinse whatever sickness she could off her skin. 

Today, after struggling to sit up without wincing and cough without being in noticeable pain, she stood in the warm water, letting it run over their face and down to the floor. She felt a bit guilty, wasting water this early in the morning, but she knew she’d rather pay a higher water bill than worry her housemates. 

After getting out of the shower, she got dressed into the comfy clothes she had brought into the bathroom with her and peeked out of the doorway. She could hear someone coming down the wooden floors, but didn’t see who it was yet, so y/n hurriedly went back into her room and shut the door. She let out a heavy sigh, feeling her chest restrict more as Charlie’s laugh echoed through the open house. The footsteps got louder, and y/n moved away from the door. She could hear the footsteps pass her door and go into the room next to hers, meaning it was probably Ted. 

y/n moved lightly over towards her dirty laundry and tossed in the old pajamas. She went and opened the blinds, letting in the natural San Diego sunlight flood the room. She moved over to her streaming set up; a few monitors, her her pc, a comfy baby blue chair and a tacky keyboard. She ran her hand over the keys as the computer warmed up. y/n was only a part time streamer, but she didn’t have a shift at her in-person job for a few more days, so she would have time to edit and/or stream today. But even then, with whatever was making her sick getting worse, she doubted she would feel good enough to go in. 

She was startled from her thoughts by someone knocking on the door. She whipped her head around to look at the door. “Come in.” She tried to speak loudly, but the words scratched at her throat and she did her best to suppress a cough that wanted to come up. 

Ted opened the door and closed it slightly behind himself. “A couple of us were going to go to the store but I don’t know if I should invite you now.”

“Why not?” Talking tore at her throat, like something sharp was stuck in the flesh and working its way up. 

“I know you won’t say it but you’ve sounded sick for a week now. I heard you coughing this morning.” y/n felt her face grow warm and she looked away from Ted. He walked towards her slowly and placed the back of his hand gently against her forehead. 

“Ted what are you doing.”

“Something parental. I’d like to think I’m the dad of us.”

“You grill something one fucking time.”

“And I’m good at it.” He took his hand away and frowned. “You don’t seem feverish.”

“Cause I’m not sick.” She swallowed another cough as she felt her throat grow hot and scratchy. She really hoped she wouldn’t bleed out of her mouth in front of Ted. She’d been fine not telling anyone so far. 

“y/n, I hate to ask you this, but as your father-“

“Not my father-“

“Shut up young lady. I feel required to ask you if this is morning sickness-?“

She grabbed the box of tissues off her desk and started hitting Ted with it. He laughed, jokingly blocking them, and she laughed too, until the laughs turned into a coughing fit. She turned away from Ted, hunching over so he couldn’t see her, but he still tried to help. 

“y/n you can’t breathe like that sit up. Please sit up.” Ted handed y/n the tissues and she took a few to cover her mouth. She began coughing more as she sat up straight. Even worse, she felt something dislodge from her throat and more blood came with out. Ted stepped away from her for a minute to grab something, then came back and gently rubbed a hand against her back. 

y/n slowly stopped coughing, and looked down into her fist of bloodied tissues to see several petals and thorns nestled into the paper, which somehow wasn’t unusual now. She clutched her hands shut before Ted could see. He got up and handed her both a water bottle and the small trash can from next her bed that was chalk full of more bloodied tissue paper. He looked between her and the trash can. 

“y/n?”

“Y-yeah Ted?” Her voice was horse as she tried to swallow the water. 

“Why are you coughing up flower petals?”

She froze, water still at her lips. She wasn’t sure how to explain, and thankfully she didn’t have to as Ted’s girlfriend, Maddi, appeared at the door. 

“Is everything okay? It’s been a minute since you came up.” Ted looked down at y/n again, then walked over to Maddi. The couple began whispering about something and y/n heard Maddi gasp. She came over and draped a loose hug over y/n’s shoulders. “I’ll get you some cough medicine okay? And we can take you to a doctor later.”

y/n didn’t have the energy to object, especially not to Maddi. She simply nodded and let Maddi walk back over to Ted. They both whispered amongst themselves, before Maddi kissed Ted on the cheek and walked out the open door. He looked over at y/n again and she stared at the tall man. 

“I’ll get you something for your throat. And I’ll make that rice thing you like for dinner tonight. Okay?” y/n nodded. “It’s me Maddi, Noah, Cooper, and Traves, so Charlie is gonna stay here.”

At the mention of his name, y/n fell into another violent coughing fit, this time blood coming from their mouth before they had the ability to reach for a tissue. Ted ran over to their side with the tissues in hand, watching them cough flowers and thorns covered in dark red liquid into their open hands. y/n gasped before erupting into more coughs. 

“Jesus fucking Christ.” Ted shoved tissues into one of their hands so they could cover their mouth while doing his best to clean off the other hand. He gently picked up the bloodied petals and stared at them in confusion. They were large white petals accompanied by small, black, razor-sharp thorns. He carefully dropped them into a tissue and put them in the trash can. “Isn’t your throat cut up?”

y/n nodded with their eyes closed, trying to not cry. Ted rubbed their shoulder for a minute, trying to find some way to soothe them. y/n swallowed the lump she could feel in her throat. “You should go to the store. I’ll be fine here.”

He contemplated for a moment, before nodding. “Alright. It’ll probably be an hour or so, we’re just going to Vons. Just text us if you need anything.”

y/n nodded as he walked away. Ted gently closed the door behind himself and walked down the hallway, past his room, to the room next door. He knocked on the door, and Charlie answered promptly with a smile. Ted could hear sound coming faintly from his headphones, meaning he was probably too involved in a stream to have heard the recent commotion. 

“Hey Ted what’s up?”

“We’re going to head to the store, until I’m back could you keep an eye out for y/n?”

Charlie felt as though his chest could burst at the mere mention of her name, but simply nodded as he tried to swallow a blush. “Y-yeah. She okay?”

Ted pursed his lips and shook his head, unsure of what to tell Charlie. Charlie wasn’t sure what to say either. He wanted nothing more than to rush to her side and comfort her, but if she had fought Ted so much on his help, she surely wouldn’t him to mention anything to anyone else, and Charlie was in the middle of working, and no one was even sure what was wrong. Or if she knew, she wasn’t talking about. 

Charlie nodded. “I’ll keep an ear out for her. Should I do anything?”

“I’m not sure. She’s just been coughing a lot. Maybe water I guess.” Ted breathed in, trying to stand taller and not act so stressed. “But we’ll be back soon. It’s just that you’re the only one here with her.”

Charlie genuinely felt flushed, knowing full well his face was bright red. Of course the thought of him and y/n being alone together would normally make him much more giddy than he wanted to admit, but now didn’t seem the time. 

Ted waved as he walked off and Charlie shut the door gently. He went back to sit on his chair, watching the twitch chat fly by as he put on his headphones, making sure one ear was left uncovered. He unmuted himself in the discord call he had been in and continued on his game, trying to give off that nothing had happened. 

In the other room y/n sat listening to Charlie laugh. She had moved from sitting on her chair to laying on the floor, finding that the stretching of her back helped her breathe easier. Charlie’s voice was always comforting, it was bright and joyous and always full of laughter. She really wished that right now it brought that same comfort, but every laugh wound her lungs tighter. She closed her eyes and sighed. She felt light headed, and soon she felt herself drift off into unconsciousness.

Roughly 45 minutes later, Charlie set down his headphones and put his computer to sleep. His game had ended on a high note, which he was thankful for, but now he felt he had to prepare himself. He took a deep breath, then walked towards y/n’s door. He wanted to knock, but took quick notice of the fact that the only sound in the house was himself. He paused, then went and turned the door handle. 

He gasped seeing y/n laying on the floor. She looked almost peaceful, but Charlie could just barely hear the raspy breathing. “y/n?” He walked closer to her, panic beginning to set in. Her lips were slightly blue, and why was she on the floor in the first place? Charlie knelt down by her and picked up her hand, trying his best to find a pulse, but quickly realized he didn’t know how. But he studied her hands; they were small compared to his, and her nails were more well-taken care of, but he could see a faint red trace of something in the lines of her skin and the edge of her nails. He gently dropped her hand and reached for his phone in his back pocket. He went through all his contacts until he found Ted, and quickly dialed the number, putting the phone up to his ear so y/n wouldn’t be awoken by another voice. Luckily, Ted picked up after the first few rings. 

“Charlie?” His voice crackled through the line and Charlie figured they must still be in the store. 

“Hey Ted, so I went to check on her and she’s asleep but on the floor.”

“Okay. Does she have a fever? How’s her breathing?”

“Uh. She’s breathing?”

“Alright. Well They’re at the checkout so we should be back soon.”

It was at this point y/n began to stir, slowly realizing that there was someone else in the room. Sleepily, she reached up and patted her hand against his chest.  “Ted?”

“Oh Ted she’s awake!” Charlie moved the phone to speaker so that Ted could hear y/n speak. “Hey Ted’s on the phone.”

She still seemed dazed. “Then who-“

“Charlie.” He took her hand in his and rested it against his own chest. He watched y/n’s eyes widen in recognition, then watched as she turned on her side and started coughing violently. “Oh SHIT.”

“Charlie? Charlie!?” Ted was slightly forgotten as Charlie hurriedly tried to get y/n to sit up and stop coughing blood on to the hardwood floor. He pulled her into his chest to try and help sturdy her, and watched in horror as she choked up blood and flower pieces into both her hands and onto Charlie’s shirt. The coughing didn’t seem to slow at all, so Charlie stepped away for possibly one second to try and grab both water and the plastic trash bin. 

He watched as y/n sat hunched over it, not looking towards him. The coughing began to slow, and he remembered that he had been on the phone with Ted. He reached back towards the call. “Ted they started coughing up blood-“

“I know we’ll be there soon. Noah, GUN IT.” 

The call disconnected and he turned back to the girl. She was shivering, but still hunched over the trash can. Charlie looked down at his shirt, then towards the ground where he had been sitting. “Holy fuck. Dude that’s a whole flower what the fuck.”

“Charlie-“ she choked again at his name and began coughing again, spitting out more and more large clumps of petals, and eventually whole flowers. He held his hands around her shoulders, not sure of how to help her. The second she stopped coughing, he leaned her backwards and handed her the water. 

“Listen when Ted gets here we’re taking you to a doctor. You’re gonna be just fine Alright?”

she nodded, trying to lean away from him. He wasn’t sure why. Maybe she didn’t want help, or his help specifically. Nevertheless Charlie sat nearby, waiting to see if she needed anything. The poor boy was worried sick, but he didn’t know how to tell her. He wanted nothing more than to hold her close make her smile, even covered in her blood. But still Charlie gazed at the girl, unsure of what to do or how to help. 

y/n took a loud, shaky breath and it startled Charlie. He scooted across the floor closer to her and draped an arm behind her to support her. Her eyes seemed tired and her lips were turning a purplish color. Charlie could hear car doors slam outside and he prayed it was Ted. 

“Charlie?”

He could hear the front door open and foot steps head clumsily up the stairs. “Yeah y/n?”

“I can’t breathe.” They coughed more, blood pooling in their mouth and splattering across more of Charlie’s clothes, accompanied by clumps of flowers. 

“Hey y/n wait-“ they fully collapsed on top of Charlie as Ted burst through the door. The two boys stared at each other for a moment, before scrambling to get her into the car downstairs. 

y/n woke up in a sterile white room with a tube down her throat and unfamiliar clothing on her person. She could hear the heart monitor next to her speed up as she clawed at the plastic tube. She felt like crying, but couldn’t make any sound. y/n could hear someone rush into the room but couldn’t see them. Her arms thrashed for a minute before she felt a familiar hand pull her down. A nurse ( she presumed ) took the tube out of her throat and helped her sit up. She could see now, even through the bleary tears, and could see Traves standing next to her while Maddi sat nearby. Traves smiled wide and nearly tackled the poor girl. 

“y/n! You’re okay!”

She nodded and Traves released her. She looked over to Maddi, who gave her a gentle smile. “W-Where’s-“

“The boys are out in the hall. Noah was doing paper work, Cooper went to get coffee, and the other two are fighting.”

“Yeah.” She looked back to Traves. “Ted kept telling Charlie to go home but he didn’t-“

y/n sat up forcefully, trying to not cough the blood onto Traves, but unfortunately they couldn’t avoid the hospital blankets. The deep red liquid seeped into the thin linens and Traves hurried around the room to find some sort of bowl. Thankfully Maddi pulled put a plastic container from under the bed and she was able to get y/n to lean over it enough. Traves ran out of the room to find some sort of medical professional, and two boys came storming in from the outside. Charlie watched in horror as y/n coughed up more and more flowers and thorns. It felt uncomfortable to watch, seeing as he was still wearing the same blood. 

A doctor pushed past him and came to y/n’s side. They fiddled with the monitors and machines until she stopped coughing. The nurses handed her water and napkins and took away the bowl of blood and plants. The doctor looked at her, then up at her housemates. “If you’d mind giving us a moment?”

Ted nodded and pulled Charlie out of the room. They all stood in the hallway, watching through the window as y/n and the doctor talked. She seemed to shake her head a lot and didn’t give a lot of vocal responses. 

Ted pulled Maddi close, an arm draped over her shoulders, and looked over to Charlie. He was staring at his hands as he tried to scratch the blood off of his nails and skin. Ted sighed, “Charlie, you should go home and change. I doubt anything else will get better. And you’re still wearing blood.”

Charlie grabbed the fabric and examined it. The blood was starting to dry and slightly crust over. A deep crimson color had stained both the cotton and his skin. He didn’t seem to react. Noah walked up to him, keys in hand, and patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll take you home.” Noah looked up at Ted. “We’ll be back soon.”

The two walked away and the other Cooper stared into the window. They could see the doctor talking but y/n didn’t seem to respond to them. The doctor walked out and turned to the waiting group. They walked up to them, holding a clipboard. 

“y/n is experiencing something called Hanahaki disease. It’s extremely rare, but curable.”

“Well what’s causing it?” Cooper sounded almost angry. 

“Typically, unrequited love. I know it doesn’t make sense, but this is a serious case. If she continues to refuse treatment, she will die.”

“Wait she’s refusing?”

The doctor nodded and Cooper pushed past to run into the room. Traves shouted after him, but they all followed him in anyways. Cooper was standing on the side of her bed as she stared wide eyed at him. 

“What the fuck do you mean refusing?”

“I don’t want the surgery.” Her voice was scratchy and she flinched as she talked. 

“You are out of your fucking mind if you think you’re dying on us.”

“I’m not trying to. I’d rather die than the other option.”

“What other option? There is no other option y/n. You’re getting that surgery!”

“No I’m not! Did they tell you what’ll happen if I get it?”

“You breathe normally? You stop coughing up fucking plants?”

“I’ll forget him. I’ll forget all about him and it’ll be like he never existed to me.”

“And is that really so bad? Is forgetting one person the worst thing in the fucking world? y/n you’re dying.”

“Cooper please I can’t forget him.”

“It’s just a guy-“

“No it’s not!”

“It’s not like it’s one of us!” y/n froze and the room went quiet. In a state of embarrassment and frustration, she began to stare down at her hands, almost avoiding everyone’s eyes. Cooper’s face fell and he glanced back to the group in the room with them. “Who is it?”

“Cooper it doesn’t-“

“Is it someone in the house? Or Schlatt? Jawsh? Please just tell us-“

“Cooper I don’t-“

“Ted?”

“Coop-“

“Traves?”

“Cooper-“

“Fucking Noah? Me? Who is it!”

“Is it Charlie?” Traves voice cut through the arguing and everyone froze. They stared at y/n, waiting for an answer, but instead she leaned over the side of the bed and began to spit out more and more blood and flowers. 

“Oh holy fuck HEY HELP.” Cooper ran out the door and began shouting for a doctor. A group of nurses and young looking doctors ran through the room and ushered everyone out. They watched as they messed with the tubes and machines in panicked disarray. Traves had to look completely away from the window to avoid crying. 

Ted’s face was stoic. “How did we not notice. She was sick and we didn’t notice. I sleep in the room next to hers. We all work together. We live together. “

“Charlie didn’t notice either.”

The group turned to look at Maddie in confusion. “Why would Charlie notice?”

“Ted, he’s been head over heels for her the whole time I’ve known you all. I’m surprised you didn’t notice that piece of it.”

Traves smiled and lightly shook Cooper’s arm. “This means she’s gonna be okay! Right? Charlie can tell her that he loves her and then she’ll be okay and she won’t forget him and we’ll all be fine. Right?”

No one responded as they watched the doctors walk out of y/n’s room. A nurse was still inside, checking things off on a clipboard, and they watched him as one of the doctors came up to them. 

“y/n’s condition is worsening. She’s lost a lot of blood that her body doesn’t have the ability to naturally regenerate. I’m sorry, but I don’t have high hopes for her.”

“But we know the guy.” Traves almost sounded desperate. “We know the guy so he can come here and wake her up and true love it up and all of that. She has to be okay.”

The doctor looked down at the papers in their hands. “If he can get here soon. Otherwise we will have to get her into emergency surgery. Maybe an hour. But we’re going to start her on some antibiotics for now. And make sure she keeps the oxygen mask on.”

The doctor walked away and Cooper rummaged through his pockets, muttering something about going to call Noah, and then walked towards the nearest stairwell. He sighed and dialed the number. Noah picked up slowly, almost to the last ring. 

“Coop?”

“Yeah hey. Uh they figured out what’s wrong.”

“Oh good! Charlie took a shower but I think he’s out. Do you need us-“

“Yeah.” Cooper swallowed whatever feeling was coming up. “Like literally as soon as you can.”

“Oh jeez okay.” Noah stood up and looked around for his keys. “Should we get anything-?”

“Okay this is gonna sound weird, but I need you to hype Charlie up.”

“To do what?”

“He needs to tell y/n he’s in love with her.”

“That’s- why?”

“I’ll explain it when you get here just get here. Like, now.”

Noah saw Charlie standing in the hallway and nodded at him to get to the door. “Okay we’re going.”

Cooper hung up the phone and the two boys lept from the house. Noah locked the front door as quickly  as possible and peeled off in the suburban car. He did his best to follow traffic laws, but the anxiousness ran up and down his skin. Charlie sat next to him in the passenger seat, fiddling with anything. He couldn’t think a clear thought. 

Noah cleared his voice and Charlie looked over at him. “So, can I ask.” Noah paused as he checked the mirrors for the millionth time. “Are you in love with her?”

Charlie’s face flushed bright red and he stared at the windshield. It had been a while since he forced himself to reckon with his feelings towards her, but of course he loved her. There was no denying it. He woke up every morning excited just to say hello to her and to make her laugh and to hear her talk. He’d been caught staring and gazing at her frequently, whether it was by the live stream chats or in pictures his friends took.  And after a long time of trying to come to a consensus, he decided to not tell her. Of course it hurt, knowing he could never tell her, but it kept peace in the house and her in his life. “That’s kind of subjective.”

“No it’s not. It’s a question. Charlie, are you in love with y/n?”

“I- why are you even asking this?”

Charlie watched as every road sign pointing to the hospital passed. “Because Cooper called me and I think you should tell her.”

“Oh god.” Charlie’s voice was barely above a whisper. He pressed his palms against his eyes and leaned forward. “Oh god.”

The two of them didn’t talk. They didn’t turn on the radio. They just waited for the drive to be over. 

Everyone in the hospital was waiting too. Ted stood pacing the wall of the room while Traves and Cooper sat by the window. Cooper kept checking his phone; a couple of their other friends had been informed of the situation and kept asking questions, but really he was just waiting for anything from Noah. 

A nurse came through the room and everyone watched as she took notes of several things on a clipboard at the edge of y/n’s bed. She turned towards Ted. “We’ll have to take her down in ten minutes. It might be good to wish her luck now.”

The nurse left and Ted sighed, resting his head between his hands. “This is terrible. This is fucking terrible.”

“Noah hasn’t texted yet.” Cooper sounded grim as he stared blankly at his phone. “They were supposed to be here by now.”

“They’ll be here.” Traves’s voice was like a whisper and anyone could tell he was trying to not cry. “Noah wouldn’t let us down. Charlie wouldn’t.”

y/n gasped and all the boys looked up at her. She coughed lightly, and Ted ran to pull the oxygen mask off her face so she didn’t breathe any blood back in. Her eyes were still closed. “I-It hu-urts, Ted.”

“I know, it’ll be over soon.” Ted glanced at the clock on the wall across from him. “It’ll be all fine.”

Coopers phone rang and everyone froze. The blonde boy stared at it. 

“It’s Noah.”

“Pick it up then!!”

He almost dropped it, but still was able to pick it up and put it on speaker. “Noah-?”

“Yeah we’re in here. We’re in the elevator they got mad at us for running but give it two minutes. Is she-?”

“She’s okay. She’s kind of awake.” Cooper looked over to see y/n turned towards him, doing her best to listen. He walked over to her. “y/n, Noah and Charlie are almost here okay?”

“C-char-“ she didn’t get to finish, instead choking up more flowers and vines and blood into the floor with a big splat sound. Ted tried to help hold back her hair, and as nurses came in they could hear running. Charlie came to a skidded halt in the doorway and watched in horror as they poked at the IV’s and and tubes in her arms. 

“We need to take her now.” Someone in a lab coat was arguing with Ted, who refused to let them move y/n’s gurney. 

“No. He will be here any second he-“ Ted looked at the doorway and sighed in relief. “Charles. Finally get over here.” He turned back to the group of doctors. “Five minutes alone. Give them five. Okay?”

A doctor (with some sort of seniority, Ted would guess) ushered out most of the medical staff, leaving just two younger doctors by the door. Charlie walked over to y/n’s side, gently taking her hand in his. He ran his thumb over the back of her hand and took a deep shaky breath. 

“Hey, we’ll be right outside okay?” Charlie nodded at Ted’s words as everyone else left the room 

Charlie did his best to act like he hadn’t been crying, but he knew it was difficult to hide. “Hey.” He cleared his throat and stared at y/n’s hand, glancing up to her face. She stared straight at him. “Please don’t say anything. I don’t want you to hurt yourself and I don’t want this to go bad. And I really wish that you weren’t sick somehow. I don’t even know what’s making you sick, I just wish I could fix it. Cause if I could, I’d fix it and take you out to this restaurant I found that looks out at the beach, and I’d tell you to order what ever you want and tell you how pretty you look. And I’d pay for us and then we’d go on a walk down a walking only street because I know you love those and I’d find this secret looking corner to sit in and I’d sit there and tell you how much I love you. And if you let me I’d hold your hand just like this.” He gave a half-hearted laugh as a few tears fell from his eyes. He laced their fingers together, pulling them upwards to press a soft kiss to her knuckles. He held her hand close to himself now, studying every feature of her face. She had been crying to, but was yet to say anything back per Charlie’s request. “Every where we went I would hold your hand and do little chivalrous things for you like kissing your hand, because that’s what you do when you love someone, and I love you so fucking much. I have loved you for so long it is brutal. And I’m sorry if this isn’t what you need but I need you to stick around so I can take you to that little restaurant and the brick street okay? Please?”

Charlie took his hands back, wiping away the tears from his cheeks and glasses. He opened his eyes to see that y/n had set aside the breathing mask and was now reaching their arms upwards. “Charlie.” Their voice came out soft and smooth, as if they hadn’t been vomiting plants. Charlie’s shoulders shook as he tried not to cry, but he still leaned down and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her up into his chest as much as the bed would allow. 

“Please, please don’t die on me.”

“Charlie I love you so much.” Her voice was almost like a whisper, but it was the best thing Charlie had heard all day. 

He sat up slightly, enough to look at her smiling at him. “Are- wait- really?”

She nodded at him and moved to press a small kiss to his cheek but Charlie shifted and she landed on his lips. Charlie took one hand to pull her closer, relishing in the feeling. At some point they broke apart, smiling as they leaned their foreheads against each other. 

They heard hurried footsteps and Charlie stood up straighter to watch Ted, Cooper, and Noah trip over themselves and nearly fall. He felt y/n squeeze his hand, and he ran his thumb over her knuckles again. 

Ted pointed between the two. “How is- is she- is it-“

“Take a breath Ted.” Charlie smiled softly at y/n then looked back to Ted. “I told her. You can take her now I guess.”

One of the doctors from the doorway spoke up; “well we will have to take a few scans of her chest to be sure there’s no further damage, but if she’s all clear she’ll be good to go home in a few days. 

y/n nodded at the doctor and they left the room. Charlie looked around at the group, confused. 

“I thought she needed surgery. You wanted me to tell her that I loved her because she was going into surgery.” He looked at y/n, then directly to Cooper. “Did I just get boofed.”

“Did we forget to tell him?” Ted looked over at Noah, who only shrugged. He looked back to Charlie. “Her being sick, okay this is gonna sound dumb, but she was so in love with you it physically made her sick. Like plants in her lungs.”

“But I loved her! Shouldn’t that have cancelled it out?”

“She didn’t know that.”

Realization washed over Charlie’s face, and he turned to y/n again. He pulled her into a tight hug. “I am so sorry. I literally could have prevented my this I am so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” She giggled for what felt like the first time in forever. “Let’s wait I til we get home for this conversation.”

“Yeah.” He released her slightly and moved to whisper just in her ear. “Just for the record, I am so happy that you love me, and I’m even happier you’re okay.”