"NEAL!" Peter yelled frantically. He had dozed off for a few minutes and next thing he knew, Neal was screaming, thrashing around as alarms went off on almost all of his machines.

"Neal, you've got to calm down, buddy! Neal! It's me! Peter!" Peter tried everything to calm him down, but the young man continued to cry out in pain.

Within minutes, nurses flooded the room and bustled him out. He almost refused to go, but just as he opened his mouth to protest, Neal let out a cry that almost broke his heart. Peter let himself be led from the room and placed in a chair just outside the room. Head in his hands he waited for news, trying to block out the cries from within the room. Suddenly, everything went quiet.

The door opened, making Peter jump, and a young, tired looking nurse walked out. Peter was on his feet immediately, asking her what had happened.

"Your friend was moving a lot earlier and he must have accidently done something to his morphine drip." She said gently, as if trying to calm Peter down. "He's fine now, but he was getting little to no pain medication for the last few hours. We upped the dose and sedated him for now. He should be alright, but holler if anything changes." She smiled at him and walked away, a few nurses from the room following her out.

Little to no pain medication, Peter cringed, Jesus, Neal! The poor guy had to have been in excruciating pain and unable to let anyone know.

Peter walked carefully back into the room and sat back down beside Neal.

"I'm here, Neal. I'll always be here for you."

X X X

"P-Peter…"

Peter woke up with a jolt, groaning at the knot in his neck from sleeping in the hospital chair. Rubbing his neck, he glanced at his watch wondering what had woken him.

"…Peter?"

Peter jumped up and hovered by Neal's side. He stared intently at the young man as his eyes flickered. Finally, Neal's eyes opened and he looked around, as if he was searching for something. His gaze settled on Peter and a small smile came to his lips. Although in his condition, it looked more like a grimace.

"Hey, Neal. How are you feeling?" Peter said quietly, not trusting his voice.

"Like I've been hit by a bus…" Neal's raspy voice croaked.

"Do you remember what happened?" Peter asked gently, trying to gauge if there was any short term memory loss from him crashing. When Neal frowned and didn't respond, Peter panicked. "Neal? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just…." Neal paused, as if struggling to remember. "Was I-did I get shot?" Neal looked up at Peter, confusion written across his face.

"Yeah, do you remember anything else?"

"Umm…..something to do with Degas? That can't be right…" Panic flickered across his eyes. "I didn't…. Peter, what happened?"

Peter smiled gently down at him and took the seat beside him.

"Degas was your safe word, not that you used it." Peter frowned at the man, unable, however, to be angry at him. "Tell me the last thing you remember."

"I was…I was in my room, trying to get ready…I was late, I think….." Neal paused and Peter sat silently, waiting for him to continue. "We were on a case and I was going undercover to….to buy stolen art, right?" Peter nodded, but said nothing, wanting Neal to remember on his own. "Something went wrong…Veraz…there was something off about him….and then….nothing, I'm sorry but that's all I remember."

"That's okay, Neal. You did great, kid." Peter patted his good shoulder. "You did great."

Neal turned his head and squinted at Peter, smirking.

"Was that a complement? I must have been in pretty bad shape for you to say that!" Neal laughed lightly, then winced. "Owwww…..okay, that hurt." Peter jumped to his feet again, immediately looking around for a nurse.

"Hold on, Neal, let me go find a nurse. You're going to be okay!" Peter looked on the verge of panic.

"Peter! Calm down! I'm fine, it was just karma for making fun of you!" Neal gestured at the seat next to him. "Come on, sit down and tell me what happened."

Peter stood for a moment before returning to Neal's side. Neal finally got a chance to really look at Peter and was shocked by what he saw. The man looked like he hadn't had a good night sleep in days and seemed tense and stressed. He had dark circles under his eyes and his face was paler than normal.

"Peter?" Neal said quietly. "Peter, are you okay?" When he didn't respond, Neal reached out and placed his hand on top of Peter's. "Hey, talk to me."

"We almost lost you, Neal." Peter said quietly, staring intently at the floor. "You almost died…technically, you did die…twice."

Neal looked shocked, then glanced down at his body and the machines around him. He couldn't really feel much, but he could tell it was bad.

"Peter…what happened to me?" Neal said quietly. Peter looked up, tears starting to form in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Neal." Startled, Neal looked at Peter who had resumed staring at the floor.

"Wha—"

"You got shot and I almost lost you…" Now it was Peter who was struggling for words. "I just—"

"It's okay, Peter." Peter looked up sharply, Neal was smiling gently at him as he held his hand. "I'm okay and I'm not going anywhere."

The tension drained out of Peter as his shoulders started to shake. He hid is face with his free hand, not wanting to cry but dammit if he didn't start crying anyway. Great! This is just perfect! Having a breakdown while your best friend just woke up after being out for days!

"Peter!" He looked back at Neal, his sight blurry. "It's going to be okay. I promise."

"I promise everything's going to be okay."


Okay so this was my first fanfiction I've ever published, so what did you guys think? I would absolutely love any kind of feedback! Please tell me what you think! Thank you for reading!