And here we have chapter two of the fic. Thank you to everyone so far to everyone who has read/reviewed/favorited/put this story on alert/etc. Special thanks to the Sartie Sircle for being the bestest. 3
The first thing he notices is the fact that he's awake. That sudden realization is obliterated by the searing pain in his abdomen. He can't move and can't concentrate on anything other than the pain. Slowly other things begin to filter in. His lungs burn so he forces them to work. With that pain eased, he can return to cataloging the rest of his body.
He unclenches his fists and does his best to relax as many muscles as possible. His first attempt at sitting up ends with him curled in a ball on his side, so he resolves not to move until the pain has abated. A jolt of panic shoots through him as he realizes that Sam has gotten out of bed already. Since there is no sunlight coming through the windows, he hopes that Sam is just off to the bathroom. He doesn't want to be alone, but he doesn't want to yell and wake everyone up.
Soft footsteps indicate that Sam is coming back. Well, it's either Sam or a serial murderer and Artie is about to die curled up in a ball on his boyfriend's bed. This really wasn't the way he had wanted to go. It was supposed to be something cool and badass if he had to be so young and-
His frantic thought process is cut off by Sam's appearance. His relief is short lived as another wave of pain shoots through him, making him wince.
It doesn't even occur to him to scream because he senses that that would just make everything hurt even more.
At first Sam doesn't notice that anything is wrong. He pads over to the bed and sits on the edge. When he realizes that Artie is taking up part of his half, he chuckles quietly to himself. Gently, he starts to move Artie back to his side of the bed. This sends a shooting pain through Artie's body so grabs Sam to make him stop.
Sam gasps and Artie forces himself to loosen his grip because he realizes that he's gripping Sam so tight he could leave bruises. He lets himself be set back as he was and he curls back in on himself.
Forcing his voice to stay level so as not to alarm his boyfriend he whispers, "Sam, something is wrong. I think... Can you take me to the hospital? Please?"
He can't see Sam from the position he's in, but he hears the panic in his voice when he says, "Okay, just – okay, let me get my parents."
Artie nods. Up until now, Artie hasn't realized how much he's sweating and how hard it is for him to breathe. When Sam walks out of the room he can just barely hear the murmurs of Sam waking his parents up and explaining what's happening over the sound his own ragged breathing.
It isn't long before Sam comes back and lifts him up. Artie doesn't even bother to wrap his arms around Sam's neck. He just burrows in as close to his side as possible. Sam starts to walk out of the room, but Artie protests because he realizes he doesn't have his glasses yet. Sam walks them back to the nightstand. Artie reaches over to grab his glasses and puts them on his face. Sam's arms are still wrapped around him, and he can't help but wince every time Sam jostles him as they head out to the car.
Sam places him in the backseat of the car, but to Artie's dismay he realizes that Sam is staying in the backseat with him and that one of Sam's parents is getting in the front seat. The last thing he wants is to impinge on Sam's family's hospitality. But as Sam starts muttering soothing words to him he decides that he doesn't mind impinging. As it turns out, Sam's brought along a cold cloth and it feels so good on his forehead. Artie tries to find Sam's other hand. When he finds it, he wraps Sam's arm around him.
They sit like that together for the rest of the car ride: Sam muttering soft words to Artie while caressing his brow and Artie curled on his side, whimpering whenever the car hits a bump.
Sam doesn't even know what he's saying as he wipes his boyfriend's brow with the cold cloth. He just wants to get Artie to the hospital as fast as possible. Artie is feverish and shaking uncontrollably. As she drives, Sam's mom keeps looking back at them. Apparently what she sees concerns her since she speeds up. The streetlights occasionally hit Artie's face and he looks so pale that if it wasn't for the twitching and whimpering Sam would think he was dead.
"Mom, how far away is it?" Sam asks.
He's startled by how much he sounds like a scared little boy again.
"Not too far now, honey. It's going to be okay," she says.
There's nothing else Sam can say because he just wants to get there now because he really doesn't know if it's going to be okay.
When they finally arrive at the hospital, Sam's mom parks at the first spot she can find and runs inside ahead of him. Sam opens the door and gently gets out from under Artie.
"I'm so sorry, Artie, but I think that this is going to hurt," Sam says.
Artie nods and inhales sharply.
"Just do it. I'll be fine," Artie says weakly.
Sam pulls him as gently possible into a sitting position so he can slip one arm behind Artie's back and the other under his legs. Artie screws his eyes shut and leans his head against Sam's shoulder as Sam stands up. He kicks the door shut. Resisting the urge to run to the door, he walks across the hospital parking lot towards the emergency room entrance. Paramedics rush out to him with a gurney.
"Sam Evans?" one asks.
He just nods. Without being asked, he sets Artie on the gurney. They rush Artie inside and Sam just has to watch him go. One stays behind to ask him questions about what happened. Unfortunately, he doesn't have much to say.
The paramedic starts to walk away when, remembering something, he grabs her arm.
"Yesterday we were on a trip together. He accidentally drank some experimental drug. But I mean the woman said that it was for infertile women. Could that be what's causing this?" Sam asks.
"Do you know what it's called?" she asks.
He shakes his head.
"Come inside and talk to a pharmacist. Maybe you'll be able to narrow it down," she says.
Sam follows her inside. Everything feels like a dream and really all Sam wants to do is wake up to find himself curled around Artie.
When they get Artie inside, they hook him up to machines and an IV. As whatever is pumped into him, the pain starts to recede but everything blurs. He fades in and out a bit. Carts are brought in, and Artie is poked and prodded. A doctor presses down on various parts of his abdomen and it hurts and he tells the doctor but the doctor keeps doing and he just wants him to stop. He just wants everything to stop because this is way too familiar.
He loses consciousness.
This time when he wakes up, the pain doesn't hit him immediately. It's distant. They must be medicating him, he thinks. He grabs his glasses off the nightstand and puts them on. Hospital rooms are pretty much all the same, Artie has come to discover. Well, at the very least they're all the same in the respect that he just wants to be free of them.
A nurse comes in to check on him. She looks at him wide-eyed, but refuses to answer any of his questions. All she'll say is that a doctor will be in soon to talk to him.
Artie tries to control his panic as the nurse leaves. Usually nurses give some indication of how serious a patient's condition is. After his car accident, the nurses all looked at him with the pitying eyes and false smiles he soon grew used to. The couple other times he had been in the hospital, the nurses all gave him friendly smiles and even made jokes since his condition was never that serious. This nurse however, she looked almost afraid of him. Or at the very least confused.
There's not much for him to look at, so to distract himself he thinks about possible plans for Sam's birthday. It isn't coming up for a while, but Artie wants to make Sam's 18th birthday special. The plans keep the panic at bay until the doctor comes in.
Artie pushes himself upwards, grimacing at the pain in his abdomen. His eyes widen in shock as the doctor reads out the diagnosis. The doctor starts talking about treatments and options and Artie just stops him and asks for Sam over and over until the doctor nods and leaves.
He stares at the wall, trying to figure out what the fuck he's going to tell his boyfriend.
After telling the pharmacist everything he can remember, Sam is sent out to the waiting room. He isn't a particularly great waiter. Despite the fact that there are more magazines than he's ever seen together in one place, it doesn't take long before he's thumbed through them all, so he takes to pacing around the waiting room. His mom tries to get him to sit down, but Sam knows he won't be able to until he knows that Artie is okay.
It's been over an hour when his mom tells him that she needs to go get the kids ready for school. She doesn't even bother asking whether or not Sam wants to come home.
"You have my cell phone number. Call if you need anything," she says.
She hugs her tightly before she leaves and then he returns to pacing.
"Sam Evans?" a voice calls out.
He comes to instant attention and has to restrain himself from leaping over chairs to get to the nurse.
"Yes, that's me," Sam says.
"Come with me, please," she says.
Of course, he follows her through the twists and turns of the hospital.
"Is Artie okay?" he asks.
"I think you should wait to talk to him yourself," she says.
Sam is more than a little worried about what exactly that means, but he takes it as a positive sign because at the very least Artie is conscious and able to talk. The nurse brings him to the door and nods him in.
Artie is lying in bed, hooked up to tubes and wires. The machines around him beep out a steady rhythm. His skin is still so pale that Sam is worried, especially since Artie's eyes are closed, too.
As Sam approaches Artie, he opens his eyes. It's fairly obvious that Artie is on some pain killers, but he still looks alert. When he reaches Artie, Sam cups his cheek with one hand and looks down at him.
"Are you okay?" Sam says.
Artie wraps his hand around Sam's and kisses his palm. Then, Artie carefully places Sam's hand down on the bed.
"I think you should pull up a chair," Artie says.
Sam does so and sits. He reaches for Artie's hand again, but Artie pulls away. It kind of hurts, but Sam puts it down to how sick Artie is feeling.
"Just please tell me you're going to be okay," Sam says.
Artie doesn't look at him. He bites his lip and calms his breathing. Sam feels a pit open up in his stomach. What if Artie is about to tell him he's dying of cancer or some other incurable terminal illness?
"Sam, I'm pregnant," Artie says.
The silent stretches out. Sam's mind races because what? It doesn't compute for him. This has to be some kind of joke or mistake or something.
"Please say something," Artie pleads, finally turning to look at him.
Looking in Artie's eyes, he realizes that this is real, or at the very least that Artie thinks it's real.
"But you're going to be okay, right?" Sam asks.
Artie shrugs. This time when Sam reaches for Artie's hand, Artie doesn't pull away.
"What happened, though? I mean isn't this a little impossible? And by a little, I mean a lot impossible?" Sam asks, sounding a little hysterical by the end of his sentence.
"The doctor said it had to do with the drug I accidentally took. I guess it works by stimulating cells to grow into uterus cells? I was kind of confused. But basically when we had sex last night your sperm combined with the drug and it all went super-fast and now apparently there's a baby growing inside me oh my gosh Sam there's a baby inside me," Artie says, definitely growing hysterical by the end of his sentence.
Sam sits on the edge of Artie's bed, taking both of his hands in his own.
"As long as you're not in immediate danger, we can figure out what this is and how to deal with it," Sam says. "Okay, now breathe in and out slowly."
Artie does so, and as his breathing slows he looks a little calmer. He even manages a shaky smile, which Sam returns.
"Okay, now what about the pain?" Sam asks.
"The doctor said that the pain was from my body trying to catch up with where a woman's body would be. Apparently, I'm a couple weeks pregnant," Artie says, his voice getting hysterical again.
Sam squeezes Artie's hands and tells him to breathe again.
"Can you come over here?" Artie asks.
"Yeah, of course," Sam says.
He crawls up onto the bed and carefully maneuvers around the wires. Sam gathers Artie up so he's situated between Sam's legs. Artie leans his head on Sam's shoulder and sighs.
"I was worried that this wouldn't happen again," he says.
"Yeah, me too," Sam says, holding Artie closer.
Artie twists to look him in the eyes.
"I meant that I was worried..." Artie bites his lip. "Never mind."
"You don't have to do that. You can tell me anything," Sam says.
"Sam, I'm a freak. Well, I mean, I was before, but now I'm pregnant. People are going to find out. My parents are going to find out. I don't even know how they're going to react, but it won't be good. Probably most people's reactions won't be good. So I was worried..." Artie trails off.
"You were worried that my reaction wouldn't be good," Sam whispers.
His stomach drops as he pulls Artie closer. Sam kisses Artie's cheek. He just wants Artie to know that he'll be there for him.
"I promise you, no matter what you decide to do about this, my reaction will be good," Sam says.
Artie leans back against him.
"The doctors say I can leave later today, if I want. I probably should because I'm not sure how much the insurance covers," Artie says.
Sam sighs at the change of subject and presses his cheek against the top of Artie's head.
Artie waits for the doctors to bring him the final papers so he could check out. Sam is getting his mom's car and bringing it around front. Apparently, his mom had had to leave for a little while, but then arranged it with Sam's father so her car could stay at the hospital. Artie is relieved because he isn't really ready to be in front of others yet. He's used to stares by now, but he knows this will bring about a whole new level of staring once everything is out in the open. Even in the hospital, the doctors and nurses who knew stare at him. He closes his eyes and doesn't feel anything.
He hears Sam enter his room. While Artie isn't the best at recognizing footsteps, patients, doctors, nurses, and visitors walk differently (there are subsets, but that's beside the point), and Sam Evans walks with the slightly hesitant yet ultimately healthy steps of a visitor. Happily, Sam is Artie's only visitor, but this time he's brought Artie's wheelchair along.
When Sam is standing next to the bed, Artie opens his eyes and looks up at him before he can say anything.
"Are you ready to go?" Sam asks.
Artie nods. His stomach hurts, but it's really no big deal at this point. It's nothing more than a reminder.
"Just put the chair near the bed and we can get out of here," Artie says.
He can tell that Sam wants to pick him up, but Artie glares at him until he moves the chair into place and locks the brakes. Artie transfers himself into the chair and starts wheeling out the door. Sam follows behind. A couple of minutes later, they're in the car.
There's awkward silence. Artie looks over at Sam, waiting for him to start the car, but Sam doesn't even touch he ignition.
"Are we leaving?" Artie asks.
"Yeah, sure, in a minute. We're going to need to talk, you know," Sam says.
And Artie knows. He hates it, but he knows.
"Can we find somewhere to eat? We can talk there. I need some real food in me. Technically, I'm eating for two now," Artie says, looking over at Sam.
Apparently, Sam sees something in his face that prompts him to put the key in the ignition and drive. While they ride, the wall separating him from reality starts to fall down. He lets the feelings wash over him for once. Artie is panicked, of course, but he also feels the beginnings of excitement. Even when he was little, he had wanted children. The doctors had said that he would probably be able to carry to term. Maybe he could. Maybe he would.
As they drive by a Denny's, Artie points it out and Sam drives in. When Sam has parked, Artie gets into his chair and follows Sam inside. They are seated in the back of the restaurant. A waiter takes their drink orders and leaves them alone.
Artie peruses the menu. He really is hungry. When the waiter comes with their drinks to take their orders, he orders chocolate chip pancakes with raspberry sauce. Sam ends up ordering a veggie skillet. The waiter takes their menus and leaves them alone.
Sam and Artie stare at each other for a little bit. Artie grabs one of Sam's hands in both of his.
"You wanted to talk," Artie says.
"Yeah... How are you, really?" Sam asks.
All Artie can really do is shake his head and laugh. He is pleased that he doesn't sound too hysterical.
"Well, pretty good under the circumstances," Artie says. "You?"
"Me?"
"Yeah, I mean you kinda knocked your boyfriend up. Way to go," Artie replies.
Sam laughs right back at him.
"Yeah. Oops. I mean when I wasn't sure how my parents would react when I came out I so led with 'at least I'll never knock anyone up.' But I mean, at first I was mostly scared for you. Now though..." Sam trails off.
"Now what?" Artie prompts.
"I don't want to pressure you or anything, but I want to know if you're considering keeping it," Sam says.
Artie bites his lip and looks around, pushing down more panic. He doesn't want to upset Sam, but he reminds himself that the most important thing is that he be honest. Sam loves him after all.
"At first, I really wasn't, but I don't know now. I've always wanted to be a father. And, I mean Sam, this is us. This is you and me," Artie says. "I guess what I'm saying is-"
He's cut off by the waiter bringing them their food. Artie takes a bite while he waits for the waiter to retreat. When Sam nods at him, he continues.
"What I'm saying is that I want to keep the baby. I know it's stupid and crazy, but I do. If something happens and there end up being serious complications, though, I'm not going through with it. I don't know if that was the answer you were hoping for or if you even had an answer you were hoping for, but-"
Sam cuts him off, almost knocking over Artie's drink in his excitement.
"No, that's what I was hoping you'd say. I just didn't want to put any pressure on you because it's your body so your business more than mine, but Artie..." Sam trails off.
Artie's smile grows as he looks up at Sam. He knows that it isn't going to be easy, but he's starting to get excited for what's to come.
"We're going to have to tell people, you know. And they're not all going to respond to us... to me," Artie says, softly.
This is one of his biggest worries. Particularly where his parents are concerned.
"We'll do it together. I'll be there if you want me to be when you tell someone whose reaction you're worried about. If anyone gives you trouble at school, I promise that I'll protect you, and-" Artie cuts Sam off.
"I know you will. Thank you. We should probably start with your parents, tonight," Artie says.
Sam bites his lip and nods.
"We should. You know, if they react okayish, we should probably wait until they move back to Lima to tell anyone there. I mean, with your parents..." Sam says.
Artie heaves a deep sigh.
"You're right. They probably will not react well. At this point, it's just, whatever," Artie says, looking away.
Sam reaches across the table to stroke Artie's face. Artie leans into his hand. He loves how Sam's hand fits his cheek so well.
"We're going to be okay, Artie. We are," Sam says.
Artie nods back.
"Yeah, all three of us."
