Well...yeah. That was exactly what was he was asking, except without the groaning and the pauses, and in Aunamee's purr instead of his own shaky half-whisper.

R nodded. "Hope...so..."

The words sounded right on his tongue. Mushy, but right. A part of him remembered Get Well cards and visitation hours. Remembered sitting in the hard plastic lobby chairs but not for who or why. It could've been someone with a bad case of the flu or maybe he'd known someone who turned - didn't realize the signs of infection. Either way, R was glad to say Aunamee was improving instead of spiraling. The man belonged on his feet and not swallowed up by a hospital bed that smelled almost too clean.