Gil arrived at the hospital at ten the next morning. Almost immediately he recognized how worn down Jeff looked. "Jeffery, you need to go get some sleep," he said gently to his youngest son. "You look like you've been up for days."

"I'm fine," Jeff insisted.

Randy sighed. "He hasn't eaten or slept since he found out about Matt." He didn't want to rat out his boyfriend but he couldn't help it. Jeff wouldn't listen to anybody else at the moment."

Gil sighed. "Son, you can't help Matt by wearing yourself out. Let Randy take you back to the hotel so you can eat and sleep."

"But I can't leave him," Jeff objected. "What if something happens?"

"We'll call you if anything changes," Mark assured him. "Go and rest. Randy needs a break too."

Randy pulled Jeff up to his feet and dragged him out of the hospital even as he was objecting. "Come on baby," Randy pleaded. "I'm worried sick about you. We'll make everything as quick as possible so we can get back here soon, okay?"

Jeff's shoulders sagged in defeat. "Okay."

"Okay," said Randy, happy that Jeff wasn't going to put up a huge fight. "So where do you want to eat?"

"I don't care."

"You've got to want something in particular."

"I don't want anything! Just pick what you want."

Sighing deeply, Randy decided to just stop at McDonalds. "Do you want to eat in there or do you want to drive-thru and take it back to the hotel?"

"Drive-thru," Jeff mumbled. "I don't want to deal with fans right now."

Randy nodded. "Me neither." He went through the drive-thru and got them each a couple hamburgers and some fries. But when they got back to the hotel, it was a struggle just to get Jeff to eat half his food. Randy literally had to force feed him to make sure he wouldn't starve.

"I don't want anymore," Jeff complained.

"Baby please, just eat a little more," Randy pleaded.

Jeff shook his head and laid down. "No. I want to sleep."

Randy doubted that Jeff actually wanted to do that, but he wasn't going to start an argument right now. He had no energy to do that. "Okay. I'm going to get in the shower."

"Whatever," Jeff muttered.

Randy ignored his tone and gave him a quick kiss before going to the bathroom. He shed his clothes quickly and got into the hottest shower his body could tolerate. Standing there as the water ran over his body made him realize just how exhausted he truly was. Hell, he was tempted to fall asleep right there in the shower. But after a moments consideration, he decided against it. A bed would be a lot more comfortable.

By the time he got out of the shower, Jeff was asleep. He couldn't help but smile. Sometimes Jeff was so adorable when he slept. Randy laid down next to him and closed his eyes. All they needed was a little nap. Just a little nap to make sure they wouldn't collapse from exhaustion.

XXXX

Jeff woke up to the sound of the phone ringing. He groaned and opened his eyes. "Holy shit," he said as he glanced at the clock. They had been asleep for over five hours. He reached over Randy (who was just starting to stir) and answered the phone. "Hello?"

"He's awake," Gil said happily. "Matt woke up."

Jeff let out a huge sigh of relief. It felt like a huge weight had been taken off of his chest. "Oh thank God. We'll be right there."

"What happened?" Randy asked sleepily as Jeff hung up the phone.

"Matt woke up." Words couldn't describe how much better Jeff felt now. He planted a big kiss on Randy's lips and literally jumped out of bed. "Come on. We've got to go back to the hospital."

Randy rolled out of bed and drove them back to the hospital. Jeff was literally bouncing in his seat the entire time. Matt was awake. Matt was going to be okay. Everything was going to be okay.

"Everyone keeps staring at me," Jeff said quietly as he and Randy walked to Matt's room.

Randy smirked. "I think they're afraid of you. I mean, you did have a pretty bad freakout here."

"I know but that doesn't mean people have to look at me funny." Jeff entered Matt's room first, fully intending to give his big brother a big happy greeting. But what he saw standing in the room made him stop in his tracks. All of the euphoria over Matt's awakening disappeared, only to be replaced with a ton of dread. This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not again. It felt like he was being stabbed in the chest. Why was God so cruel to him? What did he do to deserve this?

"Hello Jeff," Russ greeted. "Long time no see."