It was mid morning when Chas stood up to stretch her legs, having spent the early hours of the morning bent over in her chair by Aaron's bed. Jackson and she had both nodded off in their very uncomfortable chairs whilst watching Aaron for any change. While sleeping Chas's head had fallen forward, leaving her now with a very sore neck. she rolled her head from side to side as she saw Jackson resting his head on his folded forearms by Aaron's knees, his face looking up her son as they slept. She was proud to see Jackson cared so much for her son. Stifliny a big yawn, Chas decided to head to the café downstairs for a coffee. She could still remember where it was from her last visit to the hospital after Aaron's suicide attempt. Knowing Aaron was in safe hands with Jackson, she began to head towards the café in need of a decent coffee and some thing inside of her. Not before waking Jackson first though. He'd been sat there all night with her and she was sure the growing lad needed some kind of refreshment.

" I'm just going to the café for a drink, do you want anything?" She asked Jackson, tapping him on the shoulder to wake. After a slight shake of the head from a very tried Jackson, she went after her much needed fuel booster.

On her way to the café she slipped into the family room were she'd left Paddy to wait. He'd popped in a few times since Jackson's arrival but other than that he'd been quite happy to wait in the family room. He was curled up on the small sofa, snoring his head off. Good job it was only him in the room. On her way over to him she picked up a gossip magazine and slapped him on the head to wake him. A starteld Paddy, jolted awake and shot up into a sitting position instantly, adjusting his glasses on his face.

"I'm just off to get a coffee, want anything?" Chas asked him, giggling from the sight in front of her. She owed more than coffee to this man. He was the one who had raised her son, been there for him and her. He had called her when he first got the news from the hospital about Aaron being admitted and driven her to the hospital. Paddy was still here now, seven hours after arriving in the early hours of the night.

"A coffee would be fantastic!" Paddy admitted. "I'll come with you, now that I'm awake." He added chucking the magazine onto the coffee table with a smirk.

"You should have gone home Paddy." Chas told him as they walked.

"No, no! I want to be here." Paddy honestly told her. He loved her son like he was his own son. He wasn't going to sit at home and fret about the young man. He needed to be there with him, just like needed to be. "Caught a few hours sleep on that sofa once the police finished talking to those two girls."

"Poor girls." Chas mused before they lapsed into silence thinking about them. ". . . Where are they now?"

"The dark haired girl- Lacey I think her name was. Her boyfriend took them home." Paddy told her. "I'm sure they'll be fine. He seemed like a nice enough lad."

"Shame those two animals weren't 'nice enough'!" Chas fumed rekindling her earlier rant. "Who would be so sick to do that. . . to my Aaron!" Her voice broke at the end as she began to start crying again. When she'd first arrived at the hospital and seen Aaron she'd broken down in tears. He was in worse state than his suicide attempt and even that had been bad. No mother should have to worry about losing their son. But she was experiencing it for the second time. Once was more than enough for her.

"Chas, don't. . ." Paddy soothed, placing a hand on her arm.

"Don't what Paddy? My son is lying beat up and broken in a hospital bed because he tried to help two girls." Chas sobbed. "Why couldn't he have just walked past, walk away even!"

"Don't fret about that now. He was doing a good thing helping those girls." Paddy told her bringing her into a hug. "He wouldn't have known what those men were capable of. For now let's just be there for him and concentrate on getting him better."

The shift of the bed was enough to wake Jackson again. It wasn't Chas this time to ask him if he wanted a coffee. It was Aaron. Aaron was awake, or seemed to be as he shifted around in his bed. Then his hand came up to his other hand and began ripping at the wires and IV lines that were hooked into the back of his hands. He knew he was awake then. Quickly, Jackson got to his feet and grabbed Aaron's wrists careful not to cause any pain for him to prevent him from doing any damage to himself.

"No, don't do that Aaron." Jackson hushed, trying to calm him as Aaron began to fight against him. It seemed his boyfriend couldn't hear him as he began to push harder against him. He was surprised by the strength he still had for such a fragile looking state. Fearing Aaron was going to hurt himself, Jackson called for a nurse or a doctor over his shoulder.

No sooner had he called out did a nurse and doctor entre the room in a quick breeze. They swiftly got to Aaron's side, the nurse taking control of holding Aaron from Jackson whilst the Doctor shone a pen light into his eyes and checked his ob's. They were calm and professional as they saw to Aaron, re-attaching his IV lines and wires. Jackson just stood at the side, keeping out of the way and on the edge of panicking. The doctor soon inserted an injection into Aaron's IV line which seemed to have the desired affect on Aaron almost instantly he was calm and appeared to be sleeping.

"Nurse Lauren will just finishing sorting out his IV line, make sure he won't be able to pull it out again." The doctor told Jackson when he noticed him standing at the side. "He just woke up and was a little dazed. A bit panicked as well. So I gave him a weak sedative, the earlier one had worn off. The next time he wakes he'll be a lot calmer just don't expect him to be great company. He'll be a bit groggy."

Jackson laughed at the doctors comment. "Don't worry, he wasn't that great a company before." He was eager for Aaron to wake now, he just wanted to hear him again. "When do you think that will be- when he next wakes?"

"Again, anytime today." The doctor answered simply. "There's still a few tests I need to run when he wakes, so I'll be back later to check on him."

"Thank you." Jackson told him as he went back to watching Nurse Lauren Fussing round Aaron. He took a seat beside Aaron's bed again when the doctor left.

"You should get some rest." Nurse Lauren said as she eyed Jackson over Aaron's notes she was scribbling in. "He won't be awake for a while as yes. Go home, eat and rest."

"Nah, I can't leave him I'll be fine." Jackson told her. "He needs someone to make sure he behaves himself." He joked as he remembered the doctor Chas had told him about.

"Quite a little fighter." Nurse Lauren smiled as she finished off. "And a hero I hear!"

That made Jackson laugh to hear Aaron being referred to as a 'hero'. If Aaron could hear the Nurse praising him he would cringe. He hated any sort of attention aimed at him, good or bed. He'd grown used to being ignored or forgotten about, so wasn't used to any body focusing their attention on him. Sometimes Jackson saw behind Aaron's eyes that he'd relished in the attention that Paddy aimed his way most of the time but he'd also seen the many times Aaron had reacted badly to certain attention. He knew how far he could push Aaron now, having learnt from the pub incident, so he knew how he could have a lot of fun winding Aaron up later about his heroic actions; but for now he was focused on getting him better. Teasing and joking could come later on.

Chas and Paddy returned just as Nurse Lauren had left. Now that it was daytime hours at the hospital more than two visitors were permitted to visit Aaron at any one time, which was good news for Paddy. He wasn't pushed into the family room any more as Jackson and Chas hogged the vigil seats by Aaron. Chas was soon to jump down Jackson's throat, asking why the Nurse had been to see Aaron. He quickly explained to her Aaron's rather scary episode just a few minutes before.

When Jackson had finished talking to Chas about what the doctor had said, Paddy handed Jackson a steaming paper cup of rich dark liquid. "I brought you a coffee, you look like you could do with one."

"Thanks." Jackson said, grateful for the caffeine. He wanted to be alert for when Aaron woke again.

"No problem. . . It's good news, eh? What the doctor said." Paddy chirped to them as Chas was back to watching Aaron again. "He'll be waking up soon."

"Yeah." Jackson sighed. "Just want to get him home though."

"We all do." Paddy agreed.