Author's Notes: Thank you for all your reviews - they're greatly appreciated! An extra special thanks to feebee17 for her advice on this chapter.
Jake's eyes blinked against the harsh fluorescent of the hospital lights. He felt the familiar heavy tiredness overtake him, anchoring him to the bed, unable to move. His throat was dry and sore again, and he glared fiercely at the clipboard he saw balancing on the end of his bedposts, pretending it was Dr Lawson. It was her stupid medicines that made his mouth have all these disgusting infections that made eating hurt.
Still, at least he wasn't vomiting his guts out right now.
His eyes grew accustomed to the light. Jake knew he wouldn't be able to sleep again for ages, so he looked around his hospital room. The familiar IV drip was there, and all the lines and tubes he didn't know the uses of (and the really embarrassing one he had to pee into). Jake would've sighed, but it would just have added to the exhaustion he already felt. It must nearly be time for the nurse to give him his painkillers, because he hurt all over pretty bad. He'd probably be able to sleep again when they gave him the morphine.
Glancing to the side he saw that Mum wasn't there, but that wasn't a surprise because it was night-time. But neither was Dad – and that was unusual: Dad hadn't told him he wouldn't be there that night and Dad always told him if he couldn't stay the whole night. It was so much nicer on the nights Dad was there, because he'd always wake up if Jake needed him and he'd read in his low quiet voice until Jake drifted off again.
But Dad had been looking really tired and sad recently. Jake felt bad: it was his fault after all that Dad was sleeping in uncomfortable hospital chairs, and he totally understood he needed to go home and sleep there sometimes. Anyway, his Dad was the best on the ward – not even Jamie Ellis' Dad stayed every night (and Jamie Ellis was always surrounded by family, and presents and people. Jake was sure if that much was happening around him he'd scream and bite someone, but Jamie sure enjoyed the attention. The nurses didn't seem to like him too much – Jake had noticed that they always gave him the dodgy looking meals).
Jake frowned as he suddenly realised that there was a window through the foot of his bed, and he could see clearly through it. He didn't remember that being there before, but no way was he going to complain! It was like watching TV without sound, he thought happily. He couldn't watch his own TV because he'd wake the other children and he couldn't muster the energy to reach for the remote.
Jake frowned as he realised he could see his dad through the window. He was dressed for work, and wearing the vest that made him look like a real policeman. Although it was pretty damn cool his Dad got to wear non-uniform clothes, like an undercover spy, Jake sometimes wished he'd wear his uniform and show Jamie Ellis that even if your dad bought you an iPhone, it didn't mean he was well cool like his dad. He was ordering a bunch of policemen to move into what looked like a big warehouse or something. Pride filled him as he watched DI Manson, his dad, arrest a bunch of bad guys (and Jake knew they were really dreadful because they had tattoos, cigarettes and biker jackets). A movement in the corner of the window, behind his dad, caught his eye and Jake focused his attention there.
Horror welled up in his throat as he realised that the man had a gun and it was pointing straight at his dad. Jake tried to shout, to warn him, but there was an oxygen mask back over his mouth and he still couldn't move to get up. Nobody seemed to have noticed, and Dad was too busy arresting some guy to see. Looking around desperately, he tried to reach the call button to get one of the nurses, but the tiredness weighed him down, making it impossible for Jake to move even an inch, no matter how hard he concentrated. Finally, he managed to move his hand a little, only to be flooded with an unbearable pain, like what had happened when the doctor had done the thing to his back and hadn't been able to get the spinal fluid. He soon realised that there was blood in the oxygen mask – he'd bitten his lip almost all the way through.
A loud bang echoed through his room, and his dad fell to the floor slowly, clutching at his chest in pain. Blood was everywhere, all over the people who bent down to try to help, but just as quickly stood, shaking their heads. Jake struggled to scream, but it seemed the air was weighing his chest down ad he just couldn't get a deep enough breath. The window vanished, leaving a green wall in its place, but the image of his dad lying in a pool of blood was seared vividly onto Jake's mind.
Dr Lawson came in immediately with her brisk walk, looking sad.
"I'm really sorry, Jake, but your dad died," she said in her kind but no-nonsense manner, ticking something in his chart. "Your mum will come to see you when she can, but she lives in Spain now and the volcano's erupted again. She won't be able to come and see you for at least a hundred years because of all the ash."
Dr Lawson walked away, and Jake finally summoned enough strength to scream. Dr Lawson didn't even pause, and the nurses on the ward walked right past him, gossiping. The other kids slept soundly, and nobody could see him, screaming and alone…
"Jake, Jake!" Mum's voice was panicked, and Jake opened his eyes to find his room at Mum's, terror still filling him.
"I want Dad, where's Dad?" he demanded, forcing himself not to cry. Don't be stupid, Jake Alexander, he told himself fiercely, but it did no good as he felt tears running down his face. He wiped them off furiously: he had to be strong for Dad and Mum.
"He left to go home, Jakey, remember?"
And he did remember. When Mum was out of the room, Jake had leaned over with a conspiratorial grin and asked Dad if he was going to see Grace. Dad had actually blushed! And he'd said yes, with a bit of one of those silly grins on his face. Jake was sure that a broken heart (which he'd never had but which everyone in the world seemed to moan about) could not approach the pain he felt now, recalling vividly the blood all over his Dad.
"I want Dad," Jake repeated through tears. He could move, he remembered, he wasn't stuck in hospital, so he made a lunge for his phone. If Jake had looked at his mother, he would have seen the hurt expression on her face, but he was too busy working the keypad with trembling fingers.
"A nerd, hey," Neil's voice rumbled with amusement as he teased her mouth open for a kiss. Their tongues tangled together again in a dance that was becoming familiar but no less breathtaking. Breaking away, Grace playfully pushed at his chest, but as she was the one lying on top, he didn't move very far.
"What were you in high school, then?" she asked, trailing a hand down his chest, revealed by his partially unbuttoned shirt. She couldn't resist a smirk as she heard his breath hitch. Disentangling her other hand from his hair, she rolled slightly towards the back of the couch to set to work on the other buttons.
"Guess," he teased huskily, as one of his hands slipped further under her top, adventurously reaching the back of her bra and lightly caressing the skin just beneath the clasp. His other hand had, quite some time ago, very happily set up residence on the curve of her backside.
"Class clown?" Grace joked, pressing a kiss to his Adam's apple. Neil laughed again, about to respond, when they were interrupted by a mobile ringtone Grace didn't recognise as belonging to either of them.
The mood changed abruptly as Neil sat up, taking Grace with him, as he fumbled for his phone. Mouthing an apology, he hastily flipped it open.
"Jake, what's up?" somehow he kept his voice calm. "Jakey, sweetheart, shh, shh it's okay. What is it?"
Grace untangled her legs from his, sliding a more respectful distance away as Neil put his head in his hands. Even from that distance, she could hear loud, panicked babbling on the other end of the line.
"I'm coming over, okay," Neil said decisively. "I'll be there as soon as I can. Okay? I love you."
Snapping the phone shut he looked at her apologetically, standing quickly.
"I promised him," he said, panic bubbling behind his calm mask. Grace nodded, following him to the door.
"You know where I am," she said, cupping his face in her hands and kissing him quickly on the lips. He nodded gratefully, and then strode away. Grace shut the door, moving back to the lounge.
His jacket and tie lay crumpled on the floor next to the arm of the couch. He'd taken them off soon after dinner, and she supposed they must have gotten knocked off the couch at some point during their…talk. Picking them up, she laid them over the top of one of the armchairs before flopping back on the couch.
She was someone who tended to try to rationalise everything, and the last week or so with Neil had been great because she hadn't felt like she had to – all she knew was that he liked her, she liked him, there was a mutual attraction, and she had fun and felt happy with him. The realities of Neil's obligations were starting to become apparent, and Grace felt it was time to start considering them. She didn't hold Jake against him. If Neil hadn't taken his obligations to Jake seriously, she wouldn't have looked twice at him. But she was starting to wonder if this was the right time for him to start a relationship – Jake obviously needed his dad, and Neil's attention was understandably distracted. Maybe she should take a step back and let Neil get used to having his son around full-time before they took what they had any further?
The beep of her phone distracted Grace from the bright flickering of her TV screen. She snatched it up immediately – Neil had been gone for over two hours.
You awake? It read. Beginning to text a response, she decided partway through just to call him instead.
"I guess that's a yes," his voice sounded small and tired.
"Everything okay?" Grace asked in concern. "Where are you?"
"Outside." Grace hung up on him, dropping her phone carelessly on the coffee table and hurrying straight to the door and yanking it open.