OMG MONDAYS EPISODE (this seems to be how every authors note of mine starts) but SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE must of already rewatched it about 50+ times and I only saw it this morning!
Moving on, thank you to all the reviewers and the continued support of the story alert people, keep reviewing guys!
2 weeks later, and Syed was working at the salon. He had told nobody about his collapse, or anything since it happened. He told Christian not to tell anyone, even though he had the slight suspicion that Roxy and Jane would be informed somewhere across the line. He didn't mind really, it was more that he hated fuss, and he didn't want people flitting around him, watching him as if he was some damaged doll. But it was ok now, the pills were there.
Syed frowned as he looked at the new set of pills. Something wasn't properly right, the pills..of course, sometimes they did work, they made his head feel alot better, but other times, it only extended the constant banging in his head, and made it worse. Not that he told Christian.
He gave Tanya a smile as she looked over at him
"No customers again" she laughed, and Syed rolled his eyes
"Roxy knows the trick of the trade, clearly" he joked back, although he knew ever since Tanya was made day manager, business was better
"Better then going home at the moment" Tanya said, with a mirroring eye roll to his
"Is everything ok?" Syed asked, delicately, just incase she didn't feel the need to talk
"Lauren, shes a right moody little cow lately.." Tanya declared "Sorry, that sounds awful, but its all slamming doors, fighting with Abi, talking about Max.." Tanya moaned, and Syed smiled fondly
"Families drive you mad but you cant live without them" he smiled "well, Christians my family now" he corrected himself, frowning at memories of his parents lately. Everytime they made a little bit of progress, it would be one step forward and two back.
"Aww" Tanya simply remarked, and Syed laughed
"Glass of water for a busy woman?" Syed asked, Tanya nudged him with a laugh and a "pahh, busy!" expression, as Syed set off
"Christian, whatevers on your mind, get it off" Jane said, they were face to face in the cafe again, and Jane was telling a story about Ian
"Nothings wrong" Christian said, painting a cheesy grin, but Jane wasn't buying it
"I told you a whole story about Ian without you yawning or saying you want to threaten him..and on the odd occasion, you smile or laugh Christian!" Jane reminded him, bulging her eyes out a little in a mock expression
"Thats what I was like..all in the clouds.." Jane started, and Christian waved her off
"Its not some silly laboured daydream Jane" Christian admitted, awkwardly playing with his thumbs. He tried not to worry about Syed, but everytime he shut his eyes, he felt him collapse in his arm, he saw him vomiting, a pool of blood running down one side of his nose. Him gripping the wall until his knuckles were white, him pretending he was ok..
"Whats wrong?" Jane asked, again, placing her hands on top of Christians, who had started to shake. Syed told him not to tell anyone, but this was his sister, surely he could have that one person to confide in..
"Its Sy..." Christian started, this sentence accompanied by a sigh..he wouldn't usually of said it so easily, but he felt so beat down and vulnerable. Unbeknown to Syed, he had been watching him sleep every night, checking everything by day, keeping note of any nosebleeds, which seemed to still be regular. He watched his facial expressions, trying to see if the headaches were being cured..
"Christian, he had one nosebleed a couple of weeks ago, he will be fine" Jane said with a laugh
"No Jane, its worse then that" Christian intervened, he wanted her to know the full extent, maybe she could help
"How?" Jane asked, leaning forward and gripping his hand
"2 weeks ago, he came home, he cooked me dinner.." Christian said, ignoring Janes small smile and carrying on, he needed to do this to recognise his own fear "he went to the bathroom, he took ages, so I followed because I needed the bathroom. Then when I saw him, he was gripping at the wall.." Christian continued, trying to be strong and supress a sniff
Jane nodded at him, knowing there must be more to the story
"So I asked him what was wrong, because he had said he was fine. Then, he started vomiting..ive never seen anything like it Jane, it was for about 10, 20 minutes..then, he looked up and started having a major nosebleed..then.." Christians voice started to quaver a little, recounting this story was almost as bad as reliving it..Jane squeezed his hand
"He fainted Jane, he collapsed in my arms" Christian confided, taking a long swig of his coffee while watching Jane process the information
"Is there anything else?" Jane asked, shocked at how lightly she had taken this, how frustrated he must of been..
"The other night he was almost in a trance..that night when I carried him from the salon asleep; he woke up, he started freaking out, he said he had to go out, started rummaging everywhere for his jacket but he was wearing it..then thats when he had the first big nosebleed.." Christian admitted, brushing a hand across his forehead, relieved to be letting this out
"Tell me hes been to a doctor Christian" Jane suddenly said
"Yes, of course" was the muffled reply, as Christian cradled his cup and tried to radiate the warmth of it in his scared expression
"What did the doctor say?" Jane asked, watching her brothers fearful eyes
"He said it was a migrane, a series of migranes..he got pills" Christian said, trying to drum the knowledge into his head
"Well there you go!" Jane smiled, encouragingly
"But Jane, I was looking up migraines on the internet,they don't involve constant nosebleeds, or vomiting" Christian said, plopping a hand lightly down to the table and raising another
"Don't believe everything you read on the internet" Jane smiled sweetly
"Have you heard of a migraine like that?" Christian shot back, quickly
"Well no, but im not a doctor Christian..if hes ok, hes ok" Jane replied
"But im not sure he is..of course he is in front of me, but I see him, clutching his head, squeezing his eyes so tightly, just like everything might stop.." Christian mused
"He'll be getting used to medication, medication takes a while to settle with the illness" Jane reasoned again, and Christian held his shaking fist, making sure he didn't slam it onto the table in frustration
"Its not like that Janey, this has been going on for weeks now, hes had the medication for two.." Christian said, he knew there had to be another story, this couldn't be a migrane
"Do you want me to talk to him?" Jane wistfully asked, watching her brothers expression with a grimace
"No,no its fine..im just gonna go home and sort out the flat" Christian smiled, then offered his arm "wanna come? Sy finishes in 40 minutes, you can help me clean" he grinned
"Only Ian Beales wife would find that offer exciting" Jane said, laughing and taking his arm, she could take his mind off of things
Syed and Tanya had glasses of water, and were looking at the clock with a bored expression
"We need customers" Tanya declared
"I am in full agreement" Syed replied, which was met with a laugh by Tanya, before he started to squeeze his eyes shut again, the headache was taking over his head..but not like this before. He felt like he coud hardly see
"Sy?" Tanya asked..she had obviously finished talking about something, but Syed was trying to ward off his headache, but failing. He had just managed to shakily dry swallow 2 of the migraine pills, he was praying that it was going to work soon, because he could not keep up the pretence of being "absolutely fine" when he was clearly not
"Yeah?" he replied, sounded suppressed, shaky
"Whats wrong?" Tanya asked, gently, the way that she would ask one of her children when they were hiding something
"Its just this stupid headache.." Syed said, in a frustration, gripping his head and sliding onto a chair, looking upto Tanya with tear-filled, big brown eyes
"I think we need to get you checked out, you've been suffering from these for ages.." Tanya said, taking his arm, but Syed looked into the distance, then into Tanyas eyes
"I got it checked out, its a migraine..but I don't know what to do Tan, the medication wont work, Im so confused and lost all the time" Syed spat, feeling a little bit bitter, why was he the one who was ill, why was it that once he had reached a happy place in his life,things started to go wrong
He got up, and gripped at Tanyas arms like a scared little boy
"Sometimes I wake up and I don't even know my own name...I throw up more food then I eat and half my blood is coming out through my nose and sometimes I just feel so angry that I feel violent, but im not violent Tan.." Syed carried on, watching her blue eyes turn wide and grip his arms back, trying to reassure him
"Come on Sy, we just need to get you to a hospital or something, they've obviously given you the wrong stuff babe" Tanya continued, stroking his arm softly, trying to help
Syed squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the heat of the headache getting at his head, almost pulling him down to the ground..then he felt it, the nosebleed was coming, it was like a hurricane to his face
"Syed!" Tanya gasped, watching the blood pouring down his face
"I cant see" mumbled Syed, in some sort of defeat, suddenly screaming out in unwelcome pain and collapsing to the floor, clutching his head, banging it, trying to make it stop, Tanya turned to see if she could phone someone to help, and then she screamed herself as she saw Syed's eyes roll into the back of his head, he collapsed on the floor and began fitting, violently, blood continuing to pour out of his nose
Tanya knelt beside him softly
"Come on Syed, its me, Tanya, ive got you.." Tanya said, in a whispered voice, stroking his arms, terrified of leaving him.
Syeds fitting finally subsided, and he sat up, almost as if it was a new day and he had just been sleeping
"Whats going on?" he asked, his brown eyes returning to the back of his head, and to Tanya..he looked around, he was in the salon..he was meant to be home an hour ago, Christian was going to worry..
"You just had a fit Syed, im gonna call Christian we need to get you to the hospital" Tanya said, as if she was taking charge, and quickly walked over to her bag to get her phone
"Tan" Syed croaked, hopeful that she would listen
"What?" she asked, immediately walking back over
"Don't tell Christian..I don't want him worrying..hes worried enough as it is, I cant hurt him again" Syed said..he knew that he was in a committed relationship and he should be telling Christian, but it didn't feel fair. He wanted Christian to be happy and without worrys, not hurting over whatever virus may of subordinated his head. Her still felt for the time that Christian had got beaten, Christian had lived Syed's lie with him and Syed never forgot that
"Are you mad?" Tanya asked, but then she looked at his expression. It was deadly serious
"At least don't tell him until we know whats wrong..i'll go to the hospital after my shift tomorrow I just..want to sleep" Syed said, feeling weak
"Syed I really don't advise this.." Tanya said, shaking her head slightly, but knowing that it wasn't her place
"Im just going to go home, be with Christian..be me. I want to be normal" Syed said, sounding like a scared little boy again, hugging his knees to his chest briefly before getting up
"Ok" Tanya said, knowing that he would not budge "tell me how everything is going. And go during your shift tomorrow, I'll get Jodie to cover" Tanya said, again taking some element of control
"Ok" Syed agreed, and stood up
"Do you need me to walk you?" Tanya asked, worried
"No, no, Tan its fine..im-im sorry you had to see that" Syed said, referring back to the fitting in his head. He didn't remember it though..
"Its been an hour and a half.." Christian said, looking at the clock
"Christian, relax, this is not like you; you know what him and Tan are like, probably gossiping or something.." Jane said, even though it didn't sound quite right in her head either
Jane suddenly nodded with a smile as she heard the twist of a key in the lock, and Syed appeared with a small tired smile, looking like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders..he looked tired, really tired. He was pale..
"Where have you been?" Christian asked, with a cheeky "im not really worried" fake grin plastered on his face
"Loads of mess today" Syed softly said, his voice sounded a little croaked
"Someone just wants to go to bed don't they" Christian teased slightly, watching Jane, who for the first time, seemed to get what he was saying. Syed looked more frail then usual, thin, pale, tired, exhausted almost. But working at the salon was never that tiring for Tanya..
"Yeah..im sorry for being a bore" Syed apologetically smiled, and Jane nodded at him
"Im tired too..im gonna leave you two to it.." Jane smiled, giving Christian a "I know what you mean now" nod, which he returned, and after hearing the door click, he reached out to Syed
"Come here" He smiled, holding his hand out, which Syed gripped, and immediately became relaxed in Christians strong, soothing embrace. Christian frowned over Syed's shoulder as he almost sniffled agaisn't him, but Christian just carried on stroking his back. Whatever was going on, he was there. He was there when he shuffled Syeds barely-concious lightly sleeping form to the sofa, putting a blanket over them and stroking his soft black hair out of his eyes, as he softly slept, looking peaceful.