"Sean, I need to see," Christian said to him as soon as his friend entered the room. He'd slept pretty soundly throughout the night and when he'd woke, Liz was gone and sunlight was streaming through the windows. He'd had a bit of time to himself to think about his situation and how he wanted to move forward. He knew the first thing he needed to do was to assess the damage himself.
"Good morning to you too," Sean said as he walked over to him. He looked tired - like he'd had a much longer night than Christian had. "How'd you sleep?"
"Best sleep I've had in over a year and a half," Christian admitted to him honestly. He felt safe and at home at the practice. He always had. With the guards surrounding his room, he hadn't had to worry about anyone coming after him and the bed was so comfortable. Really, it should have been. He'd been the one to pick out the mattresses and he'd chosen the sheets as well. He only chose the best for their practice.
"That's good," Sean said to him, glad to hear at least one of them had gotten some sleep. "How are you feeling this morning? Any pain?" He asked.
"Sean," Christian insisted, grabbing his hand with his one that wasn't handcuffed to the bed rail. "Please, I need to see what we're working with," He insisted to him.
Sean sighed. "I don't know if that's a good idea," He said to him, but he saw the pleading way he was looking at him. "I know you, Christian." He knew it would destroy him to see himself like that.
"Yeah, you know me. You know me well enough to think I could have carved you," Christian said to him. Despite their reconciliation, Christian hadn't forgotten that his friend had doubted him.
"Christian, c'mon. I-"
"No, no. I get it," Christian said to him. "Is that why you didn't tell me about selling the practice?" He asked him.
Sean looked a little defeated. "Who told you?"
"I had to find out from Quentin. Quentin, Sean. I felt like an asshole having no idea what he was talking about. We built this place from the ground up. I know I sold my shares to Quentin out of necessity, but I would have at least liked to have found out from you if you were selling out," Christian said to him.
"What do you want me to say?" Sean asked him. "The Landaus came to us with an offer. The business wasn't bouncing back even after we changed the name and your appeal wasn't going to pay for itself," Sean snapped at him and Christian didn't know what to say.
"You sold the practice to pay for my legal fees?" He finally asked him.
"Why the hell else would I have sold it?" Sean asked him. "I told you, we're going to get you out of there," He said to him. "Besides, I still own part of the business, but I don't have to worry about the business part of it anymore," He admitted. "I still own more shares than Quentin. Look, I would have told you, but I figured you already had enough to deal with. I thought I would tell you once we got you home and cleared your name."
Christian was quiet for a few moments. He knew deep down that Sean wouldn't have sold the business under any other circumstance. Really, how could he fault him for trying to help him? "Thank you," He finally said to him. "Is there anything else I need to know about?" He asked him.
"Julia and Gina-"
"De La Whatever? Yeah, Quentin mentioned that too. I still don't understand how that happened," He admitted.
"To be honest, neither do I, but they've really made it work. They've got some deal with Joan Rivers for this facial cream they invented," Sean told him.
"No shit?" Christian asked, surprised at that.
"They're doing pretty well for themselves," He said. "When was the last time you've eaten? If it's been long enough, we can get you in for surgery this morning before Merrill comes in this afternoon," He mentioned.
"You're bringing in Merrill?" Christian looked a little panicked at that.
"Yeah, you asked me to do his surgery, remember?" He asked him.
"That was before, Sean. Do you really think it's a good idea to have Merrill here when he works for Gallardo? What if this is part of their plan?"
"What plan?"
"I don't know, but Gallardo kept saying how he needed us both," Christian told Sean quietly. He still felt like there was more to this than just getting the two of them out of the prison. He just hadn't figured out why Gallardo needed him too.
"Look, would you rather I cancel Merrill's surgery?" Sean offered. He knew that wasn't really an option, but he thought he'd present it to him anyway.
"No..." He said softly. He knew he had to that they had to uphold their end of the deal with Merrill. "Do his surgery as scheduled," He said to him.
"You never answered my other question," Sean mentioned to him.
"I haven't eaten since lunch yesterday," Christian admitted. He'd fallen asleep before the chinese food had gotten there and he'd slept through the night.
"Good, then we can get you prepped and ready for surgery," Sean said to him, but Christian reached out to stop him again.
"Like I said before, I need to see how bad it is," He told his friend.
Sean was still reluctant, but he knew how stubborn his best friend could be. "I'll get you a mirror," Sean said to him, but he still didn't agree that it was a good idea. He went over and pulled a hand held mirror from a drawer and walked it over to his bedside. "I still don't think you should do this. You've not been into surgery yet. You've got bruising and swelling that will go down," He listed off.
"I know, Sean. Just because they pulled my license, it doesn't mean I forgot how to practice medicine," He said to him dryly.
"I just want you to keep all of that in mind," Sean said to him, handing him the mirror.
Christian was nervous, but he knew he had to know what had been done to him. He wanted to be realistic with his expectations as to what Sean could do to fix things and he wouldn't know until he saw the damage with his own eyes. He lifted the mirror and focused on his reflection. He could hardly recognize the man staring back at him.
Just as Sean had said, there was a lot of bruising and swelling that would inevitably go down without incident. His nose was so crooked he worried it wouldn't be the same even with rhinoplasty. His fractured cheekbone would need to be reset and he hoped that it wasn't bad enough to require the insertion of titanium plates and screws. The two harsh gashes along his cheeks were the worst of it. He turned his head from side to side, carefully eying the wounds. The doctor at the prison's stitches were crude at best - going more for function rather than form. The scarring would be horrific without any intervention. He had always prided himself on his appearance - boasting he'd never even had so much as a pimple during his teenage years. Now he could barely register that the person reflected back at him was himself.
"Am I really this ugly?" He asked softly, echoing what Kimber had asked him on their very first date.
"Christian, you'll be okay. You'll be better than okay," Sean promised him. "Look at me," He insisted, not wanting him to focus on his reflection any longer. When Christian finally met his gaze, Sean put his hands over his. "I'm going to fix this," He told him. "Let me take you into surgery right now to fix this."
Christian hesitated. Even after seeing himself, he still wasn't sure about how speedy he wanted his recovery to be. "No, Sean. Not today," He told him.
"We can't put this off," Sean insisted. "You and I both know that. With these injuries-"
"Does it matter?" Christian asked him. "The sooner you fix me, the sooner I go back to prison so that some asshole can just re-break my nose and do god knows what else," He told him.
"What are you saying? That you don't want the surgery?" Sean asked him, hardly able to believe what he was hearing.
"I don't know. I don't know what I'm saying," He said to him with a sigh. "I'm just so fed up, Sean. I'm so goddamn fed up with all of this. I just want my life back. It feels like I've been trapped in a nightmare for the past year and a half and it's just getting worse. I just wanna wake up from this," He said to his friend desperately.
Sean put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We're going to make this right, but we've got to start somewhere," He told him. "Let me do the surgery. It's the first step," He encouraged.
Christian still looked scared. "They'll send me back. I can't go back," He said softly.
"We'll figure it out. We'll have time while you heal," He promised him. If he had to lie or embellish about his condition to the prison, he would as much as he could to keep him out. He just didn't want him to have to live scarred for life. "Trust me," He urged him.
Christian knew if there was one person in his life he could trust, it was Sean. He lifted the mirror again to take another look at himself. It still didn't feel real. He knew what he was supposed to look like and this wasn't that. "Fix me," He finally agreed and Sean gently took the mirror from him.
"We'll get you prepped and ready to go. I've already got Liz and Quentin on standby. I'll get Linda in here to help prep you," He said. The whole team would do their best to stitch the fractured pieces of him back together again.