As the days began to get longer, Arthur slowly began to regain his strength. He had a terrible bruise that had faded from a deep black-purple color to a more tan and yellow color on his pale skin.

His eyes hadn't been able to regain the light they once held. He seemed more depressed than anything. Of course he hadn't been allowed back into school for the past week due to the lack of activity. They feared that he would get worse with the break in his upper leg. Fearful for his health, Francis visited often. Every day after school he brought a picnic of food and tried to force Arthur to eat.

The only problem being, Arthur hadn't spoke in a week. Not a single word, he simply sat there staring off or curling as much as he could into a ball with his broken limbs.

He didn't have too much to say. Now that his brother was facing domestic violence charges, he was afraid.

The police of course had come in and investigated this crime against Arthur and without much prodding. They saw his drunken demeanor and his bloodied knuckles and it was pretty obvious who had done this.

When the police came, Arthur was silent. He refused to incriminate his brother and cursed Francis with his eyes for doing so. He hadn't wanted the story to go public, he hadn't wanted to send his brother to prison, it wasn't his fault, it was Arthur's!

Though Arthur refused to talk he was still somehow able to keep up his appearance at school, he sent orders to the student government through emails and text messages, he didn't have to speak to continue to run his empire at school. His face was usually a blank slate as he typed away on his laptop shuddering in pain every so often.

It was hard to stay coherent while he was put up on so many medications.

This specific day was full of nothingness, Arthur had finished some make up work that had been assigned during the day and had found his leg in particular in an extreme amount of pain. He pressed his morphine button so many times it was hard to focus after three. He was pretty sure that they had cut him off after so many pumps but it still hurt. He set his laptop on the end table and slowly began to curl back into himself though his leg was forced to stay stiff.

He heard the door open and let out a small whimper.

"Arthur?" He heard Francis's voice and felt a bit of unsure of how to feel. He let out a sharp cry of pain. He felt a hand on his forehead, "You are running a fever… We must call the nurse there must be an infection." He whispered softly leaning down and placing a soft kiss on Arthur's cheek.

"Francis...wait…" He whispered through the tears, a week of silence broke to a crying Brit. "It hurts me please...do not leave me… It hurts…" He whined as Francis seemed to think for a moment and then rested on the side of the bed pressing a button a couple of times. "Can… You sing me something Francis…" He whispered suddenly feeling weak as he felt the pain begin to become dull and he felt more tired.

"Arthur…" He heard nurses come in behind him and things began to beep, "Please…" He whispered meekly as the nurses began to file in. "Call the doctor!"

"Frère Jacques…."

Arthur began to fade out and focus only on the other's voice.

"Frère Jacques…"

Arthur smiled softly and began to fall asleep.

"Dormez vous?"

Arthur's lips slowly fell from their smile as he began to exhale softly.

"Oui…"

Francis didn't take himself for a weak person, but he had more pain than he could have wished for. He felt as if all of his tears had been spent and sat there in silence outside of the room. How had he become so attached to a little man with fire energy?

How had he been so foolish to let himself love again?

French were known for their love of life, and for their caring of the others. Francis was not sure how much he could love life with two lovers dead. He looked at the door waiting for a doctor to come out and tell him the news.

It took over an hour of Francis sitting there staring at the floor. He stood up soon as he had heard the door open. "Doctor, please tell me some good news!" He said trying to sound stronger than he actually had felt.

"Well, we found some sort of infection in his leg causing him extreme pain and have set him on antibiotics, we sedated him for now, but he should wake within a few hours. You should head home kid… it is a friday night, you should be getting some sleep." Francis smiled sadly, "When my love is out of here, I will be able to celebrate on Friday nights, until then, I must simply wait." He said softly before shaking the doctor's hand as a way of thanking him, then heading back into the room to watch Arthur sleep.

xxxx

Arthur woke and his mouth tasted like gravel. Every time he attempted to push air back into his lungs it felt like rocks were lining his throat, it made it hard to breathe. "Francis…" He choked out his throat was raw and his eyes were heavy.

He felt soft hands quickly come to his own. "My dove, I was fearful for your waking… Oh my love, do not scare me like that…" He felt a thousand and one kisses placed on his hand. He felt unable to open his eyes.

"I'm sorry…" Arthur felt his eyes tear up, "I am so sorry for how I treated you… I was scared…" He whispered sniffling softly. A kiss was placed firmly on his forehead, "It is alright, I understand, change is hard, the psychologist told me to give you time, I know that he and the police bothered you plenty. You are going to move in with me, and when we graduate school, I will be sent to harvard for business within the company and you…" He could almost hear the smile within his words, "You will be there for medicine, no?"

Arthur chuckled and smiled. "I forgot I even applied to all of these schools," He coughed and shivered, "Acceptance letters should be at my home by now, I should text my brother…" Francis laughed softly, "Not for a few weeks dove, do not worry about that now, we can worry about that when we get you out of the hospital…" Arthur shivered, "Francis… Do you think that they will make me testify…" He said seeming to looked more panicked with each breath exiting his lungs.

"Shhh…" He felt his hair stroked and Francis's arms immediately around his body. He sniffled and sighed resting his face in the crook of his lover's neck. "We will be there together, you needn't worry about anything, my dove, you must just calm and focus on resting, there is nothing to be afraid of anymore."

Arthur would never admit to it, but he wasn't afraid. As long as a sweet smelling Frenchman was by his side. He didn't have to worry anymore.

I hope you all enjoyed this short chapter. I have been so lazy lately, and I don't know what I am doing with my life, haha, regardless I would like you all to go to my profile page and vote on a new pairing I am willing to do. I am going to make an Alpha/Beta/Omega fanfiction with a pair of characters and need some advice as to what pairing I am going to focus upon. Now I would love to hear your feedback!

Love you all,

-J