Chapter 260 of The Signature
Both Jamie and Sam jerked like someone had set off a firecracker under their chairs. Jamie’s hand landed on the bedrail, eyes scanning my face, my drain, literally everywhere at once. “Hey, hey, what’s wrong? Does something hurt?” Sam was halfway out of his chair too, like he was ready to go tackle a nurse if he had to.
“No, no, I’m ok,” I said quickly, forcing my shoulders to unclench. Inside, my heart was still doing that rabbit thing about the stupid drain and how they were going to pull it out of me, but I’d also seen the way Riley’s face had gone tight when Sam backed Jamie up. She needed an out almost as much as I needed this tube gone. “I’m just…really freaking out about them taking the drain out, okay? I’m sorry if I scared you guys.”
Jamie’s already shaking his head. “You do not have to apologize for being scared.” He shifts closer on the mattress, careful of the blankets and tubing, and curls his fingers back around mine. “It’s gonna be okay, I promise. It’s probably gonna sting like hell for a second, but it’ll be fast, and then it’s out and you don’t have to think about it anymore.”
My throat works around another wave of nerves. I stare at our hands instead of the dressing on my side.
He squeezes gently. “You tell me what you need, yeah? You want me right up by your face? You want both of us holding on to you? We’ll do whatever makes it even a tiny bit easier.”
Before I can answer, there’s a knock on the door, and Ethan’s voice comes through. “Hey, Aria? We’re gonna come in, okay?”
“How’s my favorite patient doing?” Will asks as he comes to her right side, already reaching for the bed controls and the monitor leads like this is just another Friday.
“Low‑key terrified,” I say. It comes out thin and a little shaky, like my voice forgot how to be loud while I was busy almost dying.
“That tracks,” Ethan says from my left, stepping in closer to the bed. His eyes crease a little at the corners, gentle but focused. “You’ve had a rough couple of days. This part is about getting you more comfortable, okay? One less thing attached to you.”
He glances past me. “Riley, can you come stand right here and hold her hand?” he asks, and a second later Riley’s fingers slide around mine on the left, warm and solid.
“Jamie, up here by her head,” Will adds, nodding toward the top of the bed. “Let her see you.”
Jamie comes in on my right, leaning over the top half of me so his chest is against my shoulder and upper arm, basically half‑hugging me from above. When I turn my eyes, his face is right there, filling up most of what I can see.
“Hey,” he says softly. “I’m right here. You’re okay.”
My right arm is resting over my stomach, hand curled in the blanket like I’m bracing.
“Before we start,” Ethan says, looking at me, not the machines, “I want you to hit your pain pump a couple of times for me, alright? Give yourself a boost.”
I find the button with my thumb and press it. Once. Twice. Three times. Each little beep sounds way too loud for how tiny the movement is.
“Good,” he says. “We’ll let that help you out while we get everything ready.”
Will raises the head of the bed just a bit. “You’re gonna feel yourself sit up a touch here,” he narrates. “Riley, you good? Jamie, keep talking to her.”
“You’re doing amazing,” Jamie says, eyes never leaving mine. “This is the gross part and then it’s done. You can squeeze my arm as hard as you want, okay?”
I let out a shaky almost‑laugh that dies halfway.
“Alright, Aria,” Ethan says quietly, moving his hands to where the tube is coming out of my side. “I’m going to start by loosening it up. I’ll go slow. If it’s more than just ‘uncomfortable,’ you tell me and I’ll back off. You do not have to pretend this doesn’t hurt.”
The second his fingers put any kind of pressure near the tube, every nerve in my body decides it’s had enough. My right hand jerks up off my stomach, reaching toward him, pure instinct to get him away from it, to make it stop.
“Hey, hey, I’ve got you,” Jamie says, catching my wrist mid‑air and guiding it back down toward my middle, his grip firm but careful. He tightens the half‑hug around my shoulders. “Let them do it, okay? Look at me.”
I lock onto his face, because if I look at Ethan, I’m going to rip someone’s hands off.
“Okay, Aria, this is the part you’re really not gonna like. I’m going to start pulling it out now. I need you to take a deep breath in for me, and then blow it out nice and slow while I go, alright?” Ethan says with so much care and concern, it still doesn’t ease my nerves.
“Alright honey brace yourself. This is the painful part ok sweetie?” Will says from somewhere I can’t see cause Jamie is in front of me.
I pull in as much air as my chest will let me, eyes locked on Jamie’s because if I look anywhere else I’m going to lose it. The second I start to breathe out, Ethan starts to pull.
White‑hot pain explodes through my side, sharp and burning and wrong, and it rips a scream straight out of me before I can stop it. “Ow—!” It comes out high and broken, way louder than I meant, and my eyes flood so fast I can’t even see Jamie’s face anymore, just blur and wet and the sound of my own breathing falling apart.
Ethan’s voice shifts into that calm‑urgent doctor tone. “Okay, Aria, I know, I know, I’ve got you. It’s almost out. I’m going to go a little faster now so this part is over, alright? Deep breath for me, in and then out.”
I drag in air on a sob, tears spilling sideways into my hair. The second I start to blow it out, he commits—one long, fast pull that feels like something is being yanked out from under my ribs and set on fire on the way.
I scream, raw and automatic, my whole body trying to curl around the pain even with Jamie and the bed and all the lines in the way. Riley squeezes my left hand so hard it almost hurts. “You’re okay, you’re okay, squeeze me, it’s almost out, Ari, almost out, I swear,” she rushes, right up by my ear.
“Breathe, breathe, I’ve got you,” Jamie is saying from above me, his arm a vise around my shoulders. “I know, I know, I’m sorry, it sucks, it’s almost done, baby, look at me, look at me—”
And then, all at once, there’s this awful sliding sensation and a final, sick little tug and it’s… gone. The pain doesn’t drop right away, it just throbs and burns and my brain is still in full red‑alert scream, my chest heaving like it’s still happening even though Ethan’s hands have already moved back.
Ethan peels his gloves off just enough to smooth a hand over the fresh dressing, like he’s double‑checking his own work, then looks up at me.
“All done,” he says, voice softer now that the worst is over. “You did really, really good Aria!”
Will is already lowering the head of the bed a little, eyes on the monitor. “She crushed it,” he agrees. “That was the ugliest part of this whole thing and you just powered straight through it.”
My throat still feels shredded from screaming, tears leaking sideways into my hair, everything in my side burning. “That fucking sucked,” I croak, way rougher than I mean to.
Jamie huffs this little half‑laugh against my temple, still breathing hard like he ran a sprint with me. “Yeah, no kidding,” he says. “Ten out of ten, do not recommend.”
Riley squeezes my hand again. “Zero stars on Yelp,” she mutters. “Are you ok Ari? I don’t think I’ve seen you in that much pain since you came in here to begin with.”
“I’m.. here.” I mutter. What else could I say? I’m great, fine, thanks for asking?
Jamie lets out this shaky little laugh, kisses the side of my head, right up in my hairline. “You did so good,” he murmurs, still a little breathless. “I’m so freaking proud of you.”
He gives me one last squeeze and then finally eases himself off me, backing away so Ethan and Will can actually see what they’re doing again.
As Jamie eases off me, there’s suddenly space in my field of view again, and Sam’s just there at the foot of the bed, hands braced on the rail, eyes blown wide.
“Aria,” he says, and his voice is way rougher than usual. “You really okay? That looked… I mean, I know you said it was gonna suck, but that looked brutal.”
My throat burns when I try to swallow. “I’m… better now,” I rasp. “But I’d be very happy to never see Ethan again.”
Ethan freezes mid‑tape, hand flying to his chest. “Rude,” he mutters. “I pull one tiny tube and suddenly I’m the villain.”
It pulls this wrecked little almost‑laugh out of me, which seems to unclench Sam’s shoulders a notch.
Will checks the monitor one more time and steps back. “Alright, that’s the hard part done,” he says. “Your numbers look good. We’re gonna get out of the way and let you breathe for a bit.” They leave my room but not before Ethan gives Riley this longing look.
For a minute it’s just the four of us—me, Jamie tucked right up against my side, Riley still at my hand, and Sam at the foot of the bed—breathing in the quiet after the storm.
Exhaustion hits me in a slow, heavy wave. My eyes keep wanting to slide shut; every time I blink it’s harder to drag them open. My chest aches, my throat is sandpaper, but the panic that had its claws in me is finally loosening.
Jamie’s thumb is moving in these soft little circles against my arm. “Yeah,” he murmurs, like he can see the fight I’m putting up against my own eyelids. “Sleep, darling. You’ve got to be wiped.”
I want to argue, but the words tangle somewhere between my ribs and my raw throat. All that makes it out is a tiny hum and the smallest nod.
Riley squeezes my fingers, gentle and sure. The monitor keeps up its steady, boring beep. Jamie’s warmth is a solid line along my side, anchoring me in place.
I let my eyes fall closed and don’t force them open again. The sounds of the room blur at the edges, then start to fade, and I sink down into the dark, finally letting it take me.