Hey, I'm going to be ending this soon. I'm just kind of done with it at this point, so i'm posting no matter if it is unedited, or unbeta'd. So don't hate me.
The day Chuck was let out of the med bay caused a lot of unnecessary problems for the nurses working that day. Herc was only glad that Chuck was behaving better than he had the whole week before. The only reason Chuck had even stayed so long was because the doctors wanted to be sure the blue poisoning hadn't affected his brain negatively
Herc though back on that long week he had spent with Chuck
Chuck tried to sit up in bed that morning, forgetting his lack of limbs. Chuck fell back against the bed with an "oompf," alerting Herc to his son. Herc moved closer to the bed to see if Chuck needed anything.
"What are you waiting for, old man?" Chuck said with more bite than he had intended. "Help me sit up." Herc grabbed the remote that controlled the bed to allow Chuck to sit up. Once Chuck was settled, he looked expectantly at his father. Herc grabbed the glass of water and brought it to Chuck's lips for him to drink.
Chuck had continued like this the whole week. He ordered everyone around, yelling at them when they didn't guess what he wanted correctly, but also never wanting to ask for anything. The nurses that came to take care of him quickly got fed up with his behavior, teaching his dad the easier jobs so they wouldn't have to come in as often. Chuck was still rude and disrespectful with his dad, but at least Herc knew how to deal with it after all these years. He figured Chuck was being especially bad because he couldn't leave the med room yet.
The day before the doctors cleared Chuck to leave, Chuck tried walking and standing around the room. He was a little off balance, so Herc never left his side, especially since Chuck couldn't catch himself if he fell. Chuck grumbled about having his father follow his every move, and only got more upset when he lost his balance and had been caught by Herc.
Herc walked behind Chuck's wheelchair, which was being pushed by a nurse (standard procedure for discharge from the infirmary, but that didn't stop Chuck from complaining. Loudly). Fairly soon, they stopped in front of the room Chuck and Herc shared. Herc had had the room prepped when he first found out about Chuck so everything was ready when they entered.
Although Chuck protested the continued bed rest, he was beginning to look pale and was panting, despite not having done much.
The nurse left the second she could, not wanting to spend any more time with Chuck that was absolutely necessary.
Herc let the breath he was holding go. Chuck looked up at him from his place on the bed. He began to open his mouth, but Herc put a hand up to quiet him.
"I'm going to be back in a few minutes, and when I come back I want to sleep." Without another word, Herc left to get some food for when they woke up. The cooks in the mess were more than happy to give him the food, so he came back quickly. He put the food down on their small table, turned off the lights and climbed into bed with Chuck.
Chuck didn't try to fall asleep without his dad in the room. He hadn't told Herc yet, but he had been waking up in the middle of every night from nightmares. It comforted him to wake up and see his dad next to his bed. When Herc came in, Chuck pretended to be asleep. Herc climbed in next to him. When Chuck was pretty sure Herc was asleep, he wiggled over as close as he could to Herc. His arms still hurt some, although the pain meds helped.
Just as Chuck was dropping off, Herc pulled Chuck onto his chest, chuckling silently. Chuck smiled briefly before getting more comfortable, content to be so close to his dad.
Herc found it quite funny that Chuck was trying to pretend to be asleep, so when Chuck snuggled up next to him, he decided to help his son out by pulling him to rest on his chest.
Herc woke up in the middle of the night to violent thrashing on top of him. His first instinct was to shove whoever it was off, but as he woke up, he remembered that Chuck was the person who was with him. This only made him wake up more quickly. During Chuck's stay at the med bay, there had been no sign of nightmares, but that didn't mean much right now.
Herc woke Chuck up as carefully as he could, trying to be careful of Chuck's arms. Chuck gasped awake, finding his dad hovering over him with a concerned look. He calmed down, knowing his dad was there.
"What do you want?" his voice bit into Herc. While Chuck was glad Herc was here, he didn't want him to deal with this. Here he was only causing more problems for Herc to deal with.
"Waking you up before you gave me a back eye," Herc responded; it didn't have any barbs to it, but he did need to know what happened. "You want to talk about it?" He asked, settling down beside Chuck.
"No!" Chuck replied tursly. Why the hell would he want to talk about it, that would only make the dreams more real.
"Okay," Herc said, not wanting to push. He figured at the latest they would find out when they drifted again. So Herc pulled Chuck into a hug again, and started to fall asleep.
Chuck just was glad his dad hadn't pushed. He was worried his dad wouldn't have wanted him back in their room, wouldn't want him back.
Blowing things out of proportion in his mind, coupled with his nightmare, Chuck began crying. He tried to be as silent as possible, not wanting his dad to think he was a baby who cried just because of a nightmare.
Herc, dozing a little, felt something wet against his chest. He lifted his head from his pillow to look down at where Chuck's face was resting against him, to find his son trying his best to keep form crying. He mentally sighed.
"Chuck?" he tried, not wanting another outburst from him. Chuck pretended he couldn't hear; maybe his dad would think he was asleep and not bother him.
Herc sighed. He reached over to turn on the light, and sit up against the head board and pillows, pulling Chuck up with him. Herc took his time arranging Chuck between his legs, his chest to Chuck's back.
Once they were settled, he asked, "What's wrong?"
Chuck shook his head, giving up the pretense of sleep.
Herc guessed he would have to coax the answer out of Chuck, he did always respond well to encouragement. So Herc began kissing Huck's jaw, nuzzling along it until he reached Chuck's mouth. They hadn't done anything since Chuck had gotten into Striker Eureka with all the surgery and the staff coming in and out of Chuck's room
Chuck was still tearing up a little when Herc reached his mouth. He opened it on instinct only to feel his emotions well up in him even more. He let out a faint whimper that was caught between him and his dad's lips.
Herc didn't want to take things too far too quickly, only having just had Chuck discharged hours earlier. He let their kiss linger a few minutes before pulling away. Chuck's cheeks were tear stained but he turned his head to look Herc in the eye. Herc smiled, not having gotten looked at straight in the eye these last few days.
"We can talk about all this later," Herc said, leaning forward so he and Chuck would touch foreheads. Chuck smiled and pecked Herc's lips. They settled in for the night.
Chuck went to sleep happy his father still seemed to want him. Herc went to sleep, content that Chuck seemed to be past his grumpy show he had put on in the infirmary.