TITLE: Arms of Slumber
AUTHOR: Erin Giles
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: First Howince fic for me, and first fic on the Haven, so be gentle! I set CB the task of writing me a fic, and she failed miserably (shame on her) so I thought I'd write my own challenge.
CHALLENGE: Someone has to be hospitalised, and while they are in hospital someone else has to realise their true feelings for them.
DEDICATION: This is for me, 'cause me sorely wanted this fic!
"Moon. Get your little hiney into my office, pronto." Fossil's voice barked over the intercom. Vince sighed as he continued to cut up fruit for Bollo. He imagined Howard dropping whatever he was doing to rush to Fossil's office right that minute, a look of panic on his ageing features. Someone should really tell Howard stress does nothing for your complexion.
Several minutes passed as Vince admired himself in the mirror that had distracted him from his task before Fossil's voice came over the speaker system again, "Moon, if you're not in here in less than a minute you're fired." Vince frowned up at the speaker system. That wasn't like Howard; he would never miss the chance to run scurrying to Fossil's office. Vince waited anxiously for a minute to pass before Fossil's voice sounded for a third time, "That's it Moon, you're fired."
Vince left Howard and his hut as Fossil continued to rant about 'Moon being so fired he would be dancing on hot coals for the next month'. Vince approached Naboo's kiosk.
"Alright Naboo." Vince said casually by way of greeting him.
"Alright." Naboo replied even more casually as smoke seemed to swarm round him from his hookah while he sipped at a cup of tea.
"You seen Howard." Vince asked, watching Naboo as he stared into the bottom of his cup of tea.
"Naboo?" Vince said looking at the small south London shaman questioningly.
"Howard's in terrible danger." Naboo said, looking at up at Vince, eyes wide.
"Well where is he you Muppet?" Vince said, spreading his arms wide, "This zoo ain't exactly small you English plum."
Naboo, sighed, "I don't get visuals. There's a code though." Naboo said giving the cup to Vince who took it and looked at it, sighing.
"You've got it upside down you toffee hammer." Vince said turning the cup the right way up so Naboo could see that it said 'He's in the reptile house'.
"Oh yeah," Naboo said smiling widely before taking another draw of his hookah. Vince sighed, putting the cup down and disappeared off in search of Howard.
Vince couldn't get into the reptile house at first. He pushed against the door several times but it was not giving way, nor did it seem locked.
"Mrs. Gideon?" Vince called over to the older woman whom Howard had the hots for, which seemed to annoy Vince for a reason he could not explain.
"Yes Vince?" Mrs. Gideon said, gliding towards Vince.
"Is the reptile house closed?" Vince asked, pointing over his shoulder to the door, "'Cause I can't get in."
"No, it should be open. I sent a new keeper in earlier to clean out the Black Mambas cage. What was his name? Harold, Hubert…" Mrs. Gideon looked thoughtfully for a long moment as did Vince.
"Howard?" Vince asked, looking hopeful.
"No… no… I don't think so, maybe, it could have been." Mrs. Gideon replied, trying the door herself now. "Harold!" Mrs. Gideon called, taping on the door.
"Howard." Vince said from behind her.
"Sorry?" Mrs. Gideon said, turning to Vince, who just shook his head, defeated.
"Here, Joey. You couldn't give us a hand getting into the reptile house could you?" Vince called out to Joey across the zoo.
"Can do mates. What's the problem?" Joey said strutting over, "Door jammed? We'll just give that a bit of a heave, have it open in no time mates." Joey said as he threw his shoulder against the door and it gave way slightly with a low moan.
"Can you fit through there mate, maybe give it a pull from the other side." Joey said gesturing to Vince's slim frame. Vince nodded, slipping through the door, careful of his jacket and boots. When he got inside he turned to the door, ready to pull it open, but was instead met with the sight of Howard slumped next to the door, unconscious and looking deathly pale.
"Ready mate?" Joey called through the gap as Vince continued to stare at Howard as the black mamba slithered contently over Howard's torso, "Mate?" Joey's voice came again. The sound of the black mamba hissing soon drowned out Joey's voice though.
"He tasted of cream." The snake hissed at Vince.
"What did you go and attack Howard for?" Vince asked, annoyed with the snake, and worried about Howard.
"He poked me out the way with a stick; he was very rude about it. I thought I'd poke him back." The snake hissed before it slithered away from Vince.
"Oi, mate?" Joey shouted, continuing to call through the gap, "You alright in there?"
Vince snapped out of it, reaching out to Howard now to check if he was still alive, "Yeah, call an ambulance. Howard's been bitten."
"Not by one of my babies." Mrs. Gideon called out shrilly. Vince wasn't listening. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found Howard's heart to still be beating, and him still to be breathing however shallowly.
"Howard?" Vince questioned anxiously as he shook him slightly by the shoulder. He moaned slightly, his eyes not opening,
"Yes, Mr. Fossil." Howard mumbled before he slipped back into unconsciousness.
"Hang on Howard; I'll get you out of this." Vince said reassuringly.
The fact was though that Vince couldn't really do anything. He wasn't a paramedic, so he stood back when the ambulance came and rode to hospital with Howard in silence. He wasn't a doctor, so he sat in the waiting room while they fought to save Howard's life. He wasn't a poison expert, so he sat quietly, taking nothing in when they told him what was happening to Howard and how the poison was affecting him. He wasn't a nurse, so he sat quietly beside Howard's bed when they came to check his vitals. He wasn't a Shaman, so he listened to Naboo on the end of the phone distantly, not arguing when Naboo said he could do nothing for Howard. He wasn't a Jazz Maverick, so he couldn't play Howard's favourite tunes to give him some sense of familiarity while he slept blissfully unaware of anything.
He was Howard's friend though, but at the moment that didn't seem enough to Vince.
"Howard?" Vince questioned the unconscious form of the Yorkshire man, "You know how we always go off on adventures together all the time, and you always seem to get into trouble, and me and my good looks always seem to step in and rescue you?" Vince asked, looking at Howard as if expecting a reply, although it was obvious he was never going to get one. "And I always get annoyed with you afterwards, 'cause you always insist that you could have got yourself out of it, or it wasn't me that saved you?" Vince sighed, looking at Howard's chest rise and fall before looking away, his jaw setting.
"It ain't half as annoyed as I am now. You're Howard Moon, Monsoon Moon, you're supposed to get up when you fall down, no matter how much you're gonna get beat. You're supposed to bounce back like a wild slinky, not just lie there." Vince continued to glare at Howard for a moment longer before he let the façade fall, "Come on Howard, how about some slap bass funk?" Vince still got no reply. He frowned, taking up Howard's hand and squeezing it slightly, before standing up and moving away from him.
"Fine, be like that." Vince said huffily. He stopped though and turned back to Howard, leaning in close to his ear, whispering in it now, "Please Howard." Vince pleaded before moving back slightly to watch Howard's closed eyelids. He brushed a hand across his sweaty forehead before he kissed it softly. He pulled back, watching him again for a long moment before leaving the room, the click of his heels disappearing down the corridor.
Howard's lips parted momentarily, letting one word slip through his dry lips, "Vince?"
Howard drifted in a sea of comforting dreams where there was gentle jazz playing in the background while he and Vince went through a montage of happier times that soon led to intimate times that had never actually happened. Howard just lay in the arms of Vince on a sun kissed beach in such comfort that he didn't want to wake up. He couldn't remember feeling so blissfully content, and when he started to wake, he pulled himself away, started to crawl back towards his happier state, away from reality and the pain it brought, fresh in his mind. But he could hear Vince now, hear his soft voice, distorted with worry, and annoyance and he wanted to listen, wanted to reach out and be there with him, but at the same time he wanted him to stay away so he could lie in the arms of sleep. He could hear him calling out his name, but he didn't want to talk tonight, didn't want to argue anymore with Vince, but as he heard Vince whisper his name that last time, so close to him, he stirred.
His eyes fluttered open in the white room, the door closed, leaving him alone, with no Vince in sight. His mouth was so dry, and all he wanted to do was tell Vince he was alright. If Vince just stayed away, he'd be alright.
For the next week every time Vince went into the hospital to see Howard the nurse said that he wasn't allowed any visitors. It turned Vince's stomach walking back out the hospital having not seen Howard. Then one day he went in and he found Howard stood by the nurses' station on his ward, fully clothed and looking more alive than when he had last seen him, if a little dishevelled.
"Alright?" said Vince, trying to sound as cheerier as he could, "How you feeling?"
"I'm feeling good little man." Howard said, patting his stomach that was somewhat flatter than before, "Howard Moon doesn't take no nonsense from a mama."
"Mamba." Vince corrected, but Howard ignored him.
"I'm ready to get back on the horse, take on the world, climb the mountain, reach for the stars, and jump to the moon. I am Howard Moon." Howard said, striking a confident pose, before wavering on his feet slightly. Vince put a hand on the small of Howard's back to steady him, feeling him flinch slightly.
"Alright Monsoon Moon, lets get you home." Vince said, guiding him towards the lifts which Howard started to head towards.
By the time they had reached their hut in the zoo Howard was looking pale and tired, and he seemed to give the reptile house a wide birth. He'd already fallen asleep on Vince's shoulder on the bus on the way back, and when he'd awoken he'd looked rather uncomfortable about the whole situation. Vince had as well to be honest though mainly because Vince had been watching Howard sleep with a content smile on his face.
Now Howard sat slumped on the couch his eyes closed as Vince brewed a pot of tea. Vince brought round two cups, sitting down beside Howard, nudging him gently before setting his cup on the armrest beside him. Howard grunted in approval but didn't move.
"You alright now Howard?" Vince asked, concern evident in his voice.
"'m alright." Howard slurred, his voice incredibly sleepy as he seemed to sink further into the couch. Vince watched him for a long moment, not sure it was really the time to ask the question that had been plaguing him all week, but he couldn't bear it anymore.
"Why didn't you want to see me at the hospital?" Vince asked, looking into his cup of tea, before looking back at Howard who's eyes remained shut.
"'m alright." Howard mumbled, "Sleep better with you, if you stay away."
Vince looked at Howard confused, "What do you mean sleep better with me if I stay away?"
Howard's head dropped towards Vince as he continued to slide down the couch, "Arms." Howard whispered, still obviously trying to explain himself but failing miserably as he slipped towards sleep. "Hold me." Howard's unexplained words trailed off as his head slipped down onto Vince's shoulder, asleep now.
Vince sighed, moving Howard's head down onto his lap and pulling the throw from the back of the sofa across Howard.
"Howard?" Vince asked, again getting no reply, "You know how I said I was annoyed with you, 'cause you always say I didn't get you out of trouble or say you could have done it yourself?" Vince looked down at Howard's sleeping form, "It's not that at all, it's cause," Vince broke off, watching Howard for a long moment, "It's 'cause I'm annoyed that you almost could have died and I didn't tell you how I really felt." Vince leaned forward and kissed Howard on the lips softly, before leaning back in the sofa and closing his own eyes.
Howard smiled contently in Vince's lap, he had more than imaginary comfort in his dreams tonight. He relaxed, his head in Vince's lap, resigning himself entirely, leaving it all behind.
"'m alright."