Behind the hospital curtains the moon shone softly as if it knew better than to shine upon such a dreary place. The hallways were lit with light bulbs so bright that it was nearly blinding. Behind all the commotion of fussy nurses and doctors, the quiet sounds of machines could be heard. The low beeping noise was the first thing Vinnie heard when he started to regain consciousness. The second thing he heard was an unfamiliar voice.

"Mr. Terrio, good to see you waking up. I'm Dr. Twombly and I shall be taking care of you."

The voice belonged to a woman who was dress all in purple scrubs. She smiled down at him happily, clearly glad that he was coming to.

"Whrre em eh?" Vinnie tried to speak but his mouth wouldn't work so the words came out as muddled sounds.

"I guess the anesthesia hasn't completely worn off yet. You started waking up in the middle of the operation so we gave you a good dosey-doe of it. Don't worry; you'll be able to talk soon."

'Operation?' Vinnie thought to himself. His mouth wasn't working but his brain was slowly coming back. He darted his eyes around and realized that he was in a hospital. But why? Why was he here? Something happened…something after dance class, and then there was a boy, and then…then Sunil came.

That thought brought the memories back: The argument, the beating, being driven to the hospital by Sunil; all these things rushed back to him. His mind filled with new questions: How long had he been here? What happened in the operation room? Why were hospitals always so white? Dr. Twombly didn't give him much time to think about these matters before speaking up again.

"You had a mighty bad bit of damage done to ya', I can tell you that. Five broken ribs, a dislodged hip and knee cap, slight concussion, and a nearly ruptured lung. But don't you worry, I fixed you up. In a few months you'll be right as rain." She finished with another smile.

"Mernths?!" Vinnie tried his best at shouting out in shock. Dr. Twombly nodded her head.

"Sadly it will take a long time but that's only about a hop, skip, and jump away. You'll be fine Mr. Terrio. You're just lucky your friend had brought you in when he did. Any longer and you might have popped a lung if you got here any later. That nice man also said that he'd pay for the hospital bills. You two must be closer than kernels on corn."

"Boryfrnd." Vinnie managed to mutter with his loose jaw.

"What was that sweetie?"

"Su-Suniilll 's ma boryfrnd." Vinnie said once more, trying to get his jaw to function.

"Boyfriend you say? Well no wonder! He seemed very protective of you when he brought you in. Mr. Sunil Nevla is his name right?"

Vinnie weakly nodded his head in response.

"Okie dokie then. You should get some more shut eye; the anesthesia should wear off by morning. I'll get some nurses to stand by if you need anything. See you in the morning Mr. Terrio." Dr. Twombly gave one more smile before leaving the room.

Vinnie's head was still spinning from the conversation. He didn't want to go to sleep after he had just woken up but he knew Dr. Twombly was right. He pressed his head firmly into the hospital pillow which sent a small quiver of pain down his spin. After a few minutes of shaking, Vinnie went to sleep.

Russell met Sunil and Pepper at the hospital bright and early. He was not as spick and span as he normally was due to the hour he woke up. His spiky orange-ish hair was even spikier than usual and his outfit was wrinkled in places. But he managed a smile when he saw that Sunil was looking a little bit better than he was last night. Pepper gave Russell a quick peck on the cheek before Sunil started to drag them into the medical facility.

"Hello, we are here to visit Vinnie Terrio." Sunil said quickly while bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Visiting hours haven't start yet." The receptionist said without lifting her head from her Cosmo magazine.

"I don't care about visiting hours; I just want to see Vinnie!" Sunil snapped at the receptionist, his tone very dangerous.

The receptionist looked like she was about to call security over when a woman walked up to the desk.

"Oh, hello there. I remember you from last night. You're that nice man who brought Mr. Terrio here. Mr…um…Mr…"

"Nevla." All three friends said.

"Yes, Mr. Nevla. I'm Dr. Twombly; I worked on Mr. Terrio's surgery."

"How is he?" Sunil was anxious to hear about how his boyfriend was doing.

"Well why don't I take you back to see him? It would be such a nice surprise for him!" Dr. Twombly started to walk in the direction of Vinnie's room.

"But Dr. Twombly, visiting hours haven't started!" The receptionist called out.

"Don't get your skirts in a twist dearie. Mr. Nevla is paying for Mr. Terrio's stay here and he's the one who brought the poor dear in. If he and his friends want to break the rules a little I say we should let them!"

Dr. Twombly walked away, leaving the receptionist to glumly go back to her reading. Sunil walked at her heel, leaving Pepper and Russell running to catch up. A few turns and an elevator ride were all it took. Soon all four of them were standing in front of Vinnie's hospital room. Dr. Twombly respectfully left to give the remaining three some privacy.

"Aren't you going in?" Russell asked Sunil.

"I'm scared."

"That's not new." Pepper joked, earning herself a soft jab in the ribs from Russell.

They stood in the hallway for a dozen moments before Sunil grasped to door handle and turned it, leaving his friends to wait outside. He walked into the room and shivered. It was freezing, not to mention dark. The curtains covered the window, blocking out any natural light. The walls were white, the chairs were white, the tile was white; there was so much white.

And lying in the middle of all the white was Vinnie with his bright, green dyed hair. Sunil walked up to the bed where Vinnie was still sleeping. Angry marks covered his face. Sunil could see needles stuck to Vinnie's arm. Waves of guilt washed over the Indian man. He felt tears forming in his eyes and squeezed them shut.

"Hey Sunil."

Sunil opened his eyes to see his tired looking boyfriend grinning at him. He carefully wrapped his arms around Vinnie and gave him a light kiss.

"I'm sorry I woke you. Are you ok? I'll come back later if you want-"

"Nah, it's cool. I got enough sleep. What about you? How 're you feeling?"

That's when Sunil started to cry. His Vinnie nearly died last night yet he still worried about how Sunil was doing; because that was Vinnie. Not bright but always caring. It was awful to see such a naturally caring person in such horrible shape; a shape that he got in because he was standing up for his boyfriend who wasn't even there. Simply because he was Vinnie, Sunil's heart of gold Vinnie.

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