Longest chapter yet! Thank you all for continuing to read and review. :)
That night had been a clean sweep of victory for the Hummel's. Not only did Burt win the congressional seat, but Kurt also won the role of student body president thanks to Rachel's ploy. Apparently a lot of people were reluctant to vote for Brittney after hearing what she did to "the freshmen", so Kurt ended up winning out of default and sympathy. It should have been a joyous occasion, but under the circumstances both wins were bittersweet. None of them really felt in the mood for celebrating; they were all too tired and emotionally drained.
Finn had expected that he wouldn't be able to sleep at all that night out of anxiety over being away from Rory, but the exhaustion is a more powerful force then he had expected. Almost as soon as his head hits the pillow he's out like a light. When he finally does wake up the next morning he immediately checks his phone to see if he missed any calls from his mom and is somewhat disappointed to see none. Part of him wants Rory to need him.
He calls his mom's cell phone anxious for an update.
"Hi Finn, I've been waiting for your call."
"How's Rory? Is he doing okay?" he asks right away, not bothering with pleasantries.
"Everything's fine. Rory had a fairly good night. He's still quite sick and is not feeling great, but is handling it well. Can I just say that he is just the sweetest, sweetest boy and his accent is so charming. I can see why you are both so fond of him."
"He's an easy person to like," Finn agrees. He's so relieved that everything went okay.
"Speaking of which, he just adores you honey. The same goes for Kurt, but with you there's an extra level of almost manic hero worship going on when he talks about you. I'm surprised I haven't met him yet from him following you home one day after school."
Finn immediately feels guilty, knowing that just a few days ago that Rory randomly following him home without an invitation is not something he would have tolerated.
"How would you feel about just the two of you staying with him today? He's being moved to a regular room today, so his parents are okay with it. Since Burt won the election he's going to be busy with press all day and I am beyond exhausted from lack of sleep."
"Didn't you sleep in the hospital room? I thought you said he had a good night?"
"Yes, but Rory is sleeping like a newborn right now. He's on a pattern where he's out for an hour and then wakes up for ten minutes, before falling back asleep. That alone wouldn't be a problem, but a quarter through the night me and the other nurses realized that he doesn't want to disturb us so he won't wake me up or press the call button if he needs anything. So he's left without access to water, the bathroom, pain medicine or anything else he might need. After waking up to the poor boy in extreme pain, but unwilling to wake me for help I decided that it would be better to just stay up."
That sounded just like Rory. They've got to get him to realize that his needs do matter, because his refusal to speak up literally almost killed him. Meanwhile his insistence on being low maintenance is having the opposite effect of making him incredibly high maintenance since it's forcing them to be extra vigilant to compensate.
Finn quickly eats breakfast before dragging Kurt to their shared car so they can get back to Rory as quickly as possible. He can't help but smile at how little effort his step brother put into his outfit today. He's just in a basic tee-shirt and jeans, both designer, but still this break from the norm shows just how much Kurt has come to care about Rory if fashion has taken a backseat.
When they get to the pediatric floor Finn quickens his pace ahead of Kurt so that he can guarantee that he gets into Rory's room first. Kurt might just hate him for this, but to be fair he was friends with Rory first.
When he gets to the room he hovers by the door for a second, taking in the sweet scene in front of him as his mom tries to get Rory's interest in the unappetizing hospital provided breakfast
"Come on honey, just a few bites of oatmeal. It's not going to hurt you."
Rory presses his lips tightly together, silently and stubbornly refusing to comply. His mom sighs and glances up at the door, noticing his arrival.
"Finn's here. I bet you'll eat for Finn."
Rory's eyes immediately brighten and he grins up at him. "Finn Hudson!"
"Rory Flanagan!" he replies, resisting the urge to pounce on him in a massive hug. Instead he pats his shoulder and sits down next to him.
"How are you feeling?"
"Not fantastic, but okay." Finn reaches out to feel his forehead. He's still warm.
"What's this about you not eating? You're almost approaching the four day mark without food."
Rory looks down and mutters something incomprehensible. Reading between the lines Finn is certain that the refusal is coming from nausea or stomach pains, but is hoping he can get Rory to actually say it. Self advocacy is the goal of today.
"What was that?"
When Rory doesn't answer Finn decides to try a different approach.
"You're not going to make me hold you down and feed you like a baby are you? Cause if you can't give me a reason for not eating I will."
Rory looks stricken. "You wouldn't!"
"Do you want to test me?" asks Finn playfully.
Immediately Rory grabs the spoon in front of him and beings shoving large clumps of the stuff into his mouth. There's an urgency to his actions that suggests he doesn't know Finn is kidding.
"Okay, okay Rory I think that's enough. We want it to stay down." Finn grabs the bowl and places it out of reach before Rory makes himself sick. So much for that.
His mom smiles warmly at their antics, under the impression that this is nothing more than teenage horseplay.
"Kurt's over by the window giving me the evil eye, so I'm going to head out now before he tries anything. Promise you'll call me or Burt right away if anything at all comes up, no matter how minor."
Finn agrees and she gives them both a kiss on the cheek. "Rory will you do me a favor and make sure these two keep their word and don't try to handle anything on their own?"
"I will ma'am," says Rory politely, turning his natural charm up a few notches.
As soon as she leaves Kurt comes bounding into the room. "Good morning Rory! Guess what? The nurse just told me you're well enough that they're moving you to a regular room in about five minutes."
"Happy days. I'll be glad to rid of all these monitors. It's uncomfortable and the constant beeping noise is a pain in the rear."
"And you'll be glad to be rid of that hospital gown too, right?"
"Exactly!" Rory grins broadly at them. He seems to be in remarkably good spirits today. Yet instead of putting Finn's mind at ease, this has the opposite effect. It worries Finn that he might just be putting on an act in order to cover up something that's bothering him.
"Hey Kurt, I can grab things now. Look!" Rory reaches out and picks up a cup from his bedside table and drinks from it before setting it back down. His hand is shaking slightly, but he nevertheless looks pleased with himself.
"That's awesome Rory! See, I told you that you would get better with sleep."
"At least you were right that time." Kurt frowns at this, but Finn's not sure why or what Rory is referencing. He hates being out of the loop.
In prep for the move Finn and Kurt began taking down all of the decorations prompting Rory to finally comment on them. Up until now he's been remarkably silent about them even though he's been eyeing the four-leaf clover streamers with suspicion ever since first coming back into his right senses.
"Where did those come from? Did you get them? I hope you don't mind me saying that they're a wee bit odd."
"No actually, uh, Blaine brought them over early yesterday morning. They're a bit over the top, but his heart was in the right place." Kurt's omission of the other two Glee club member's names seems very purposeful, since Blaine happens to be the only one that Rory knows is aware of his hospitalization. Finn understands his logic here, but after the fallout they've already had over the subject of honesty he just can't bring himself to lie to Rory again.
"Hey Rory?" he begins hesitantly. "It wasn't just Blaine; all of the members of Glee club got them for you, as well as a bunch of presents you can unwrap later. Um, our plan to spread different rumors kind of backfired. It created such confusion about what happened that Mr. Schuster felt the need to talk about it with the group during Wednesday's rehearsal."
"Oh, well thanks for telling me." Rory seems to be handling this really well. Too well—it's making him nervous.
"Doing okay Rors?"
"I'm not going to freak out again if that's what you mean," huffs Rory before continuing on more quietly. "I've been thinking about this for awhile now and with the suspension and everyone seeing what happened in the gym, them putting two and two together was inevitable. Did Mr. Schue tell them about my condition?"
"I'm honestly not sure."
"He probably did. He's wanted to tell you guys from day one, but I kept begging him not to."
"Mr. Schue knows you have hemophilia?" That information takes him off guard since Finn has been assuming that Rory's kept it a secret from everyone, not just his friends (aka: him).
"Of course, all the teachers do. That's why I always sit on the bleachers during gym class and why he hasn't been letting me go to booty camp even though I clearly need it. I think my clumsiness while dancing combined with the bleeding disorder kind of scares him. The same goes for the rest of you not knowing about it. He's been saying that if they don't know to 'be careful with me' an incident might arise. I guess he was right." The hurt in his voice when Rory quotes the teachers exact words is palatable.
Finn certainly feels bad for Rory, he can't imagine what it must be like to always be treated as different because of a condition he's born with, but he also finds himself agreeing more with the teacher on this one. They do need to be careful with him and if they had known the dodgeball game would have never happened, at least not with Rory present. Rory was putting himself at risk by keeping this a secret. Rory's been doing a lot of that lately. Finn swears to himself that for the rest of the school year he will do everything possible to minimize these risks.
Once Rory is transferred to a regular hospital room, this time with Donald Duck as the featured character on the wall, Rory begs them to help him change out of the hospital gown and into one of Finn's pajamas that Burt had brought over two days ago. Finn is happy to comply, especially since this is the first time all day that Rory has vocalized his needs. It might not be medically relevant, but he's pleased with any baby steps towards that goal. While Finn helps Rory into a pair of his flannel pajama bottoms and an old Batman tee that Rory seems to have take quite a shine to, Kurt conspicuously chooses that time to step into the bathroom and doesn't emerge until Rory is fully changed.
"Rory, my friend Mercedes keeps texting me asking if you're up for visitors today. I'm not sure what to tell her. She so badly wants to apologize to you for what happened since the guilt is just killing her. Yet I don't want to force her on you or scare you with one of your attacker's presence. What do you think?"
"Why would they scare me? It's not like any of them meant to hurt me. Okay actually, Santana scares me quite a bit, but em, none of the others do. I wouldn't mind visitors."
"She scares us all, don't worry. I'll let Mercedes know you gave the green light, just as long as Santana doesn't come."
"What about Brittney?" asks Rory eagerly. "I'd love for her to visit me. Could you ask if Brittney could come along?"
"I can do that. Considering it's a Friday and she's been suspended from school I'm sure Britt will be free for a visit…Yeah, she just texted me back that they'll be over soon. Finn will you be nice this time?"
"I will." He's still mad at them, but he's certainly not going to give it to them in front of Rory, especially when he seems so happy at the idea of their visit. And in hindsight Finn does feel bad about the way he treated Mercedes, a lot of what he said was true, but he did take it too far in his stress.
"They're still suspended? I thought my parents said they would talk to the school about going easier on them?" asks Rory, looking confused.
"That was before you got so sick and they heard the whole story of what happened, not the Rory fabricated story. According to my dad they were pretty furious about it, however all criminal charges have been dropped so you don't need to worry about that."
"It's just a ten day suspension anyway, so don't worry about it," adds Finn. "They're still allowed to compete in sectionals. Unfortunately."
That at least gets a smile out of Rory, which increases even more when the girls show up. Rory seems to really like his host sister a lot; though whether she deserves it is another story. The same goes for the way Rory wholeheartedly accepts Mercedes profuse apologies without question. Seeing Rory cuddling up to the girls in his hospital bed when they were the ones who put him in this position in the first place really bugs him.
While they are fawning over him Rory actually coughs a few times, which initially causes Finn to worry that he might be coming down with a cold on top of everything else. Then he realizes just how fake it sounds and the way Rory's looking at Brittney as he does so. He's milking it! This is certainly a side of Rory he's never seen before.
"My poor sick Rory leprechaun. We can play doctor and I can make it all better," says Brittney coyly moving into his lap.
Rory's eyes widen. "Yes please." Brittney smiles widely and begins to undo the top buttons of her shirt. Rory is practically salivating with excitement.
"Alright that's enough of that. This is a hospital Brittney, keep your clothes on," says Finn, alarmed by this turn of events.
"It would make me feel better," whispers Rory, appearing very aroused. Oh god! This is the last thing he expected to deal with today. Unsure how to handle this he glances over at Kurt and finds him doubled over with laughter. Not helpful.
"I think it's time for you guys to go. Rory needs to rest and this is getting a little too exciting," announces Finn firmly.
Rory immediately starts to pout, but perks up when Brittney gives him a long hug. He buries his head into her shoulder and appears to be breathing in her scent, grinning dopily. Finn had no idea that he was still so smitten with Brittney. Now he's worried that it might interfere with their plans to take over as Rory's host family.
Kurt's still giggling as they see the girls off. "Well on the plus side we finally got him to self advocate. Even if it was for horny teenage needs," he whispers to him while they're still in the hallway out of Rory's earshot.
Finn is not amused. Granted Rory is only a year younger than he was when he supposedly got Quinn pregnant in the hot tub, but he doesn't want to think of his "little brother" in that way. In his mind he's just sweet, innocent Rory— a kid who cries for his 'Mammy', wears cartoon pajamas and loves Toy Story.
"Rory buddy, you look exhausted," says Finn once the girls have left. "This is the longest you've been awake since you first came down with the infection. I'd like you to take a nap."
"I'm not tired," replies Rory stubbornly, even though it's extremely obvious that couldn't be further from the truth. Right now Rory's picture could be next to the definition of exhaustion in the dictionary. Yet Kurt purposefully avoids arguing with him on this one afraid that it might trigger more memories, if that is what's happening, of when Rory was in critical condition. Some things are better left buried.
Instead they look through the backpack of supplies that Brittney had brought over. Other than a sweet crayon drawing of Brittney, Rory and Lord Tubbington that Rory just about swoons over, all of its contents are surprisingly normal: a pair of Rory's own pajamas, sweatpants, change of underwear and toothbrush. Kurt suspects that someone, most likely Mercedes, must have helped her put it together.
"You've been in the same pair of underwear since we came to the hospital. Am I right in assuming you'd like to change it out?" asks Finn.
"God yes."
"Here, I'll step out of the room while Finn helps you." Kurt realizes that Rory will not be able to do that without a significant amount of help and, despite Rory's politeness, there's no way this sensitive task won't cause discomfort in his presence.
"Why? I don't mean to be rude, but I don't understand your aversion to this type of thing." Rory must be even more tired than he's letting on.
"Isn't it obvious? Because, you know, I'm gay and I don't want to make you uncomfortable."
"You're gay?"
Wow. Kurt is honestly blown away by that one. It never once occurred to him that a member of Glee club, or anyone at their school, wouldn't know.
"Are you serious?" Finn laughs, recovering quicker. "Rory you are too cute! How could you not have noticed all the times he's walked around with Blaine holding hands? Also I love my stepbrother but he's not exactly someone you need a powerful gaydar to detect."
"What's a gaydar? Do I need to buy one? Also is Blaine gay too?" There's no malice behind his questions, just genuine curiosity.
"I sure hope so, since we've been dating and kissing for almost a year now. It would be quite awkward if he wasn't. Also gaydar is a person's ability to tell if someone is gay or not. Apparently yours is non-existent."
At this Rory blushes furiously. It's endearing that in this awkward situation he's the one who's the most embarrassed.
"Okay well now that you know, does it make you uncomfortable?"
"Should it?"
"I really hope not. I'm happily with Blaine and have come to see you as a little brother just like Finn, minus the little part. I don't see you in any romantic or sexual way."
"Oh, okay then. It's not a problem. Can I change out of these four day old briefs now?"
Just like that it became a non-issue. Kurt seriously wants to squeeze Rory in a hug to end all hugs in gratitude. Now its Finn's turn to look embarrassed at how much better Rory is handling it than he had.
Once the underwear issue has been taken care of Finn pauses, appearing deep in thought.
"Rory since that we're on the subject of sexuality, I think you should know that Brittney and Santana are a couple."
Whoa, did Finn seriously just say that? He knows that Finn is still mad at them, but outing a still closeted couple was completely uncalled for.
"Finn, what the hell? You can't just out people like that!"
"It's not fair that Brittney is still stringing him along even though she's taken. I don't want him to get hurt. Plus Rory's crush is the primary reason Santana targeted him. He has the right to know."
He hadn't thought of that. It could actually be argued that Rory's crush is what put him in this position in the first place. Santana probably wouldn't have attacked him the way she did if it weren't for that.
"Brittney's taken?" asks Rory sadly, interrupting their argument.
"I'm afraid so buddy."
"Oh. I've been wondering why Santana hates me so much. That would actually explain a lot."
Poor kid. He really does seem crestfallen by this news. Kurt can certainly understand what it feels like to be in love with someone who is taken and/or plays for the wrong team.
"I think I'll take that nap now." Rory buries his face into the pillow and pulls a blanket over his head, clearly wanting to be alone in his teenage angst.
Rory's jolted back awake with a start and is left breathing heavily, desperately trying to pull away from the clutches of his dream.
"Rory sweetheart, are you okay?" Both Finn and Kurt are instantly at his side, looking at him with worried, compassionate eyes. Just their presence alone is soothing. Though he'd never admit it he secretly wishes one of them would hold him again, just like before.
"I'm fine. I just got startled awake by a noise out in the hallway, probably a crying baby. Could we watch a movie?"
He needs something to distract himself from the random flashes of memories that keep hitting him at totally unexpected times. Every time it does it's absolutely terrifying. Worst of all are the dreams that are half memory and half deranged nightmares. He doesn't want to sleep anymore because of them.
"Are you sure you're alright?" asks Kurt gently "You look really pale."
-Kurt's half hugging him, half restraining him down as he struggles and yells for his parents, that he wants to go home and for the pain to go away. This is all in Gaelic, thank god, so for all they know he could be yelling masculine things.
"I'm fine! Could we watch "Once"? I saw that you guys have it in your collection. I love that movie."
Instead of answering Finn reaches over and feels his forehead, frowning as he does so. "If anything's bothering you, you'll tell us right? This is really important Rory. You can't keep medical problems a secret. I don't want you ending up so sick again because of it."
"Nothing's wrong. I just got startled, I swear. If anything does come up you'll be the first to know. Can we please watch the movie now?"
-He's crying uncontrollably, hysterically, pathetically in Finn's arms as the older boy rocks him and sing's "Fix You" to him in a choked voice. The exact lyrics are hard to make out over his own blubbering, but even in the foggy memory Rory can recognize the song from one of his favorite bands.
He wonders why neither of them has brought these occurrences up to him yet, even though he can see it in their eyes. Its pity, that's what they're feeling when they look at him and that's why they haven't brought it up. Should he be the one to do it? He doesn't want to. He doesn't want to discuss any of the things he's remembering with anyone.
Yet as embarrassing as they are, those memories with Kurt and Finn don't bother him so much. At least with his friends he feels safe. The worst ones are the vivid recollections of agonizing, all over pain that is so severe he can't move or call out for help. Or the ones where he's completely alone as strangers hold him down as doctors do painful and unknown medical procedures on him. Rory generally considers himself to be an old pro when it comes to medical discomfort; for him needles are just a regular part of life and he's always laughed at people who are afraid of them, but what happened in the PICU is completely different. He's alone and in pain and no one is even bothering to explain to him what's happening. Strange hands are just touching him and prodding him in sensitive areas without explanation. That's the part of them that are traumatizing to remember, not the procedures themselves.
Later in the day Burt the America personified politician, comes by to talk to him. Rory makes note to start paying more attention during his U.S. civics class so he can figure out just how powerful this already intimidating guy really is.
"Now that you're on the road to recovery we need to decide what to do with you when you get out of here. I'm going to call your parents and put them on speaker so we can all discuss this."
Talking to his family brings up so many mixed feelings. He misses them dearly, especially now when he doesn't feel good and wants nothing more than to have his parents looking after him. Yet at the same time he so badly wants to stay in America and prove that he's not a little kid anymore. He had spoken to them multiple times last night while he was with Carol, but it was different then because he couldn't remember their earlier conversations. Now he can. He can recall how the previous night over the phone they'd prayed for him, begged him to be strong, told him over and over how much they loved him and all but said their goodbyes. That might just be the scariest memory of all.
Once on the phone his Ma wastes no time in expressing her views, the one he's been afraid of.
"I'd like you to come home Rory-bear. I can't stand the thought of you sick and away from me."
"We do need to keep in mind that Rory isn't going to be in any condition to get on a plane anytime soon and certainly not by himself," say Burt, surprisingly coming to his rescue. "As it is we have three options. You guys can fly over and look after him until he's well enough to fly back with you or return to his host family. Or he could immediately go back to the Pierce's, which I don't recommend, but we've already discussed that in full. The third option would be for Rory to come stay with us. All four of us have grown very attached to him and would love to have him."
Rory's breath hitches in his chest at that final suggestion. Getting to live with Finn and Kurt full time is beyond his wildest dreams. That would just be… incredible! He immediately knows that he'll say or do anything to make that happen.
"Mammy I know your instinct is for me to come home after this, but I really don't want to. I worked so hard to get into this program and going home now would be such a wasted opportunity." He pauses, deciding to play the pity card and purposely hitches his voice up higher. "I would really hate for my hemophilia to take this away from me, it's already taken away so much. I don't want it to win. Going home would feel like giving up."
That seemed to do the trick perfectly. He can practically hear his Ma melting over the phone and the three guys in the room look slightly choked up by his words, Finn in particular. Just to seal the deal he points out how incredibly expensive it would be for his parents to fly to America, stay in a hotel until he's well and then fly back with him. At this his Ma reluctantly agrees to allow him to stay for the time being.
"All right then, now that that's settled we need to decide where you're going to stay. I know I have my own opinion here, but I'd like to know what you think. Where would you like to stay darling?"
Again Rory pauses. What if his Ma's opinion is for him to go back to his first placement? That wouldn't be a bad thing in its own right, but now that it's been suggested he wants to stay with Finn and Kurt so badly. And just how committed are their parents to letting him live with them? He's terrified that they might just be offering to be nice, but don't really mean it. He'll have to frame his response carefully to make it a guarantee.
"Em, I don't know. I definitely want to finish my year in America, but I'm not sure if I'll feel safe at the Pierce house…"
"That settles it then," cuts in Burt. "There's no way I'm allowing you to go to a place where you're not safe after everything you've been through already. You're staying with us. Ciara are you in agreement?"
"Absolutely." Burt then steps out with the phone to further discuss things his mom and start the long paperwork process with the study abroad agency and social workers.
"Rory's coming to stay with us!" Finn practically squeals before pulling him into a tight hug. "Now you practically are our brother. I'm sorry you feel unsafe with the Pierce's, but I'm so glad you told us."
Kurt doesn't say anything. He's just staring at Rory looking thoughtful.
"Hey Finn, could you go get us something to eat? I'm starving. No, it's your turn. After everything you put me through yesterday you owe me."
Finn moans and grumbles at this, but finally agrees. Once the two of them are alone, Kurt sits down at the edge of his bed and addresses him seriously.
"Rory, I've got to call bullshit on what you just said. You love Brittney and know darn well that they're never going to hurt you again, accidentally or otherwise. You just want to stay with us and are using pity to manipulate them into agreeing to it, right?"
Getting caught in the lie feels like a sudden blow to the stomach. He stares up at Kurt petrified of what he might do.
"Sweetie its okay, I'm not going to get you in trouble. I'm delighted that you're going to stay with us. But am I right? Also was this partially motivated by you finding out you don't have a chance with Brittney?"
"Don't tell Finn," he says at last, completely mortified. Finn can't know about this. He can't! It's bad enough that Kurt knows, but with Finn it would be ten times worse. He can't stand the thought of Finn Hudson being disappointed in him.
Kurt grins mischievously and seems to be holding back a laugh. Oh god, is he laughing at him? He must seem so pathetic right now
"I won't tell him. I think he'd love it though. You know the funny thing is Finn and I have been talking all day about ways to get you to stand up for yourself more and tell us when something is wrong. Yet in your own manipulative little way you seem to be quite skilled at getting your needs met."
A few hours later the three of them are laughing and goofing off with each other when Rory feels some unexpected dampness on his chest. He doesn't think much of it until—
"OH MY GOD! Rory, your chest!" Both Finn and Kurt are staring at him in complete horror. He looks down and sees two bright bloodstains on his pajama top from blood that must have oozed through surgical wounds. It's fairly minor and nothing he hasn't dealt with before, but based on his friends reactions this might as well be a catastrophe. Rory's more distressed about staining Finn's awesome Batman shirt than anything else.
Both Kurt and Finn start screaming for help at the same time. Kurt dashes out of the room to find someone while Finn begins slamming on the emergency call button as hard as he can. Rory reaches out and grabs his arm, hoping to calm him.
"Finn it's okay. As far as bleeds go this really isn't that bad. I'm going to be fine."
"You tore your stitches!" Finn looks absolutely hysterical. Lovely. Is this what he's going to have to deal with from his friends every time he gets a bleed from now on?
"No I didn't. Trust me; if I did we'd know it."
He's relieved when Kurt comes bursting back into the room with a doctor in tow, since at least she's able to bring some amount of sanity back to the situation. She examines his stitches that are still very much intact and that all that needs to be done is put pressure on the wounds and give him another injection of factor.
"Is this our fault?" asks Finn anxiously, still not fully calm. "We were cracking jokes and he was laughing. Did that open up the wound or something?"
"No, this isn't your fault, its okay guys," says the doctor kindly to the distraught brothers. "With hemophilia sometimes spontaneous bleeding just happens. You didn't do anything to cause it."
"It does? He can just start bleeding like this for no reason at all? Like everything's fine and then out of nowhere he just starts spurting blood?" Rory doesn't like the way they are both looking at him now. Like he's a ticking time bomb.
"It's rarely that dramatic, but yes that can happen. Except for after surgery those usually only take the form of muscle bleeds, joint bleeds and nosebleeds."
Rory closes his eyes in horror at that final listing. After what happened in the gym the last thing he wants his friends to know is that it could easily happen again and without cause. Rory can't even bring himself to open his eyes and see their reactions. He can already picture the looks of shock and fear on their faces.
Now he's worried that they'll start having second thoughts about having him come live with them. Now that they know that they might not want him.
To be continued…