Lima Memorial Hospital – Lima, Ohio December 11, 2001
The next two days passed without incident for Artie. He continued practicing with the wheelchair around the hospital and started learning other situations that he would have to deal with now. Learning how to use the bathroom was difficult and embarrassing, and getting his lower half dressed proved to be quite a challenge. He didn't see the boy that he had spoken to in the lobby anywhere in the hospital which disappointed him. He had been hoping for someone to talk to.
The nurses and doctors at the hospital had gotten to know who he was by now; at least by sight. He was "the poor little boy that was in the car accident." At least that's what he overheard one nurse whispering to her friend. He was sick of the pitying looks that he got every time he went out in the halls to practice. Everyone had a sympathetic smile or kind word to say to him. If he weren't in the chair, they would have either ignored him or glanced in irritation at the kid who was running around without any parent watching him. Artie figured that he would almost rather have them ignore him than smile sadly anymore.
The chair itself was becoming a bother to him. He understood its necessity and usefulness, but it was annoying him. The chair was a little bit too big for his lanky frame which made it difficult to maneuver. His hands had become rubbed raw from the wheels and his fingers were constantly hurting from getting caught in between the wheel and the chair itself. However, whenever his mother inquired how the progress was going, he would smile and say that it was fine. He could only imagine the expression on her face if she saw the sorry state that his hands were in.
On the ride to the hospital, Kurt was unusually talkative. And rather loud about it as well, Burt noticed. He was prattling on about something that had happened in gym class and how some of the kids had started throwing food at lunchtime. Kurt would usually discuss his day, but never with quite this much enthusiasm. Or this loudly. His son was sitting in the backseat again, looking as if he had too much caffeine. He was clutching his backpack to his chest and looking around almost nervously as he talked. Burt figured that he was just excited to see his mother and decided not to question it. He was glad that Kurt was finally acting normally again.
When they got to the hospital, he had to have Kurt sit in the waiting room again. The doctors had to talk to him and Karen again, and they had figured it was better if Kurt waited until they were done with the details. Kurt found himself stuck in the same room he was sitting in a couple of days ago. There wasn't anything interesting to look at; the walls were a plain white with only a clock on one of them. The chairs and couches placed around the room were a faded red color, with material that was scratchy against the skin and smelled faintly of dust. Some of the magazines set out on the tables for entertainment were dated to before Kurt had even been born.
Just then, Kurt's stomach rumbled rather loudly. Blushing, he peeked into his backpack to see if there was any of his lunch left. No such luck. Right before he was closing it, his eye landed on an inside pocket. He opened it, and was pleased to see the zip lock bag of emergency money was still in there. His dad had only given a few dollars and some quarters but it was just what he needed. He pulled the bag out and got up, backpack still clutched tightly in his hands. He started to walk down the main hallway in search of a vending machine. He hadn't remembered seeing one in the hospital before, but people needed to eat here right? As he walked, Kurt peered inside each door just in case one of the rooms was specifically for vending machines. Maybe there was a cafeteria here like there was at his mom's work; he got to visit there once and she had let him buy something from one of the machines.
Most of the rooms seemed to just contain patients though; people in beds, some with wires hooked up to them, others with casts, and still others looking just fine. He did a double take as he looked in one room though, and backed up to look in again. The boy in the bed looked kind of familiar. Where had he seen him before? He didn't go to school with him, did he? Just then it clicked. He was the boy that Kurt had met in the lobby a couple of days ago.
Peering his head around the doorframe, Kurt attempted to knock on the door with his elbow, seeing as how his hands were otherwise occupied at the moment. He almost succeeded in dropping his backpack, but he got the other boy's attention. Artie glanced up to see a boy standing in the doorway to his room, dark blue backpack in his hands. He immediately recognized him as the boy he talked to in the lobby the other day.
"Hi!" Artie said cheerfully, startling Kurt.
"Hi," Kurt replied, a little less exuberantly, still trying to get a grasp on the stuff in his hands.
"You can come in if you want to," Artie said.
"Thanks," Kurt replied stumbling into the room. He walked up to the bed and unceremoniously dumped his backpack onto the bed next to Artie.
"What's in there?" Artie asked, trying to peer inside the bag. Kurt looked around nervously before lowering his voice and saying,
"I'll show you but you have to promise to not tell anyone." Artie nodded solemnly at the prospect of being able to be trusted with what seemed to be a rather big secret. Kurt walked over and shut the door to the room before bounding back over to the bed. He clamored up next to Artie and pulled the backpack onto his lap. Almost reverently, he pulled a shoebox out of the backpack.
"Shoes?" Artie asked skeptically.
"No, not shoes," Kurt replied carefully. "I wanted to show this to my mom, but the hospital has really dumb rules so I snuck it in." Just then the box that was still sitting on Kurt's lap moved. Artie's eyes widened as he stared at it, and then looked up at Kurt almost in concern.
"What's in there?" he asked nervously. In reply, Kurt pulled the lid off and Artie found himself looking at –
A small, fluffy rabbit.
"We each get a turn to take care of him for a week and this week was my turn," Kurt explained as Artie stretched out a tentative finger to pet the top of the rabbit's head. "I wanted to show him to my mom, but the hospital said that you can't bring animals in unless they're dogs that help blind people walk, and well he can't, so I had to sneak him in – "
"What's his name?" Artie interrupted Kurt's monologue. Kurt heaved a deep sigh of disgust and replied,
"Whiskers. We voted on a name and most people wanted that one. It's really stupid."
"What did you want to name him?" Artie asked.
"Marc Jacobs," was Kurt's reply. Artie considered it for a moment, then smiled and nodded.
"That's a much cooler name than Whiskers."
"Do you want to hold him?" Kurt asked, already picking the rabbit up out of the box.
"Yeah sure!" Artie replied. "I've always wanted a pet but my older sister is allergic to fur, so we can never get one." He accepted the rabbit carefully from Kurt and cradled it carefully against his chest. At that moment, Artie's mom came back into the room. She had paused outside the door, confused as to how it had gotten closed. She had only left about five minutes ago to run out to the car, and there's no way Artie could have closed it. She opened it slowly, and was surprised at what she saw. Another boy about Artie's age was sitting on the bed with him and – was that a rabbit? She couldn't help but smile at the scene and at Artie's delighted giggle as the rabbit squirmed in his arms.
She then remembered the reason that she had left the room in the first place. She had to run out to the car to get a camera that the doctor had requested that she bring in so they could take pictures of some of Artie's more obvious injuries for legal reasons. Acting on an impulse, she switched the camera on, raised it to her eye and took a quick snap of the boys and the rabbit. The click and flash of light from the camera alerted the boys to her presence in the room. Kurt gasped and immediately looked guilty at being caught while Artie just smiled and called out,
"Mom look I'm holding a rabbit!"
"I see that," Cathy replied wryly as she closed the door behind her. "Where did you get it from?"
"Kurt brought it in," was Artie's enthusiastic reply. "He hid it in his backpack."
"Well that was nice of him to share it with you, but you know the hospital doesn't allow animals."
"I know," Kurt spoke up for the first time. "I'm sorry, but I just wanted to show him to my mom."
"All right, but you might want to put him away because I think the doctor is coming in here soon," she replied with a smile. Artie gently deposited the rabbit into Kurt's arms, who then transferred the rabbit into the box, and the box into his backpack.
"Are you here with someone," Cathy asked Kurt.
"Yes my dad's here with me – oh no!" he suddenly exclaimed. When both Abrams looked at him in confusion, he explained, "I was supposed to wait for him in the lobby!" He quickly jumped off the bed and headed for the door.
"Hey wait," Artie called out. "Are you going to be here tomorrow?" Kurt turned around and paused as he thought about it.
"I think we're coming back tomorrow, but I'm not sure yet."
"If you are, can you come by again? 'Cause I like having someone to talk to." Kurt's face lit up with a smile as he said,
"I'll try to! I like having someone to talk to too." Artie smiled back and Kurt practically ran from the room as fast as he could with his backpack in his arms. He practically skidded into the waiting room where he saw his dad at the receptionist's desk, talking frantically to the lady working there.
"Dad, I'm right here," Kurt called out breathlessly.
"Kurt, thank God," his father said, the relief evident in his voice as he crossed the room to his son. "Where on earth did you go?"
"I was talking to someone," Kurt replied. "I was really bored just sitting here."
"Well, next time you have to ask. I had no idea where you were! Someone could have taken you or –"
"Dad I'm fine," Kurt interrupted his father. "Next time I'll let you know if I'm going somewhere." Just then, Cathy walked up to them.
"Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but your son was just visiting with mine. I'm sorry if there was any confusion." Burt turned to the woman who had approached them.
"Oh, um that's all right, I just panicked a little bit when he wasn't sitting where he was supposed to be."
"I'm Cathy Abrams," she said offering her hand. Burt took it and replied with,
"Burt Hummel. So does Kurt know your son from school?"
"No, actually I think they met a few days ago here and they were just talking." Cathy felt that it would probably be better if Kurt himself told his father that he had snuck a rabbit into the hospital.
"Well that's fine," Burt said, glancing at his son who was attempting to look innocent. He was still carrying his backpack in his arms for some reason, although that wasn't one of the weirder things that Kurt had done. "We'll be back here tomorrow again, so you boys can hang out if you want to. Kurt's face lit up at this and said,
"Yeah!" rather enthusiastically, making both adults laugh.
"Well, I have to actually get going," Cathy said.
"It was nice to meet you," Burt replied honestly. "Take care." Cathy waved goodbye as she walked back towards Artie's room.
"All right buddy, let's go see Mom, okay?" Kurt nodded happily. "Whatcha got there in the bag?"
"Um, just something from school that I wanted to show Mom," Kurt replied nervously.
"Well let's get going then," Burt replied as he led the way to the elevator.
A/N: I love reading your reviews so much you guys! They make writing this so much easier and feedback is always appreciated. I know a couple of you mentioned wanting to see them in present day and there will be something like that later on. As for the next chapter, they will continue bonding.