The alarm still went off far too early for Grantaire's liking but he didn't complain, simply sighing as he rolled over and hit the clock, almost knocking it off the beside table as he did so. It took several minutes before he'd worked up the will to drag himself out of bed and into the shower but the hot water did the trick, knocking him fully into the land of consciousness. He dressed quickly as he glanced over at the time again. Six thirty am. Going through the jobs he needed to get done, Grantaire tried to work out if he could get them all done in the hour he had before Alana woke up.
He wasn't sure how but Alana woke at almost exactly the same time every day. Grantaire's theory was that it was due to years of Enjolras working and having to drop Alana off with his neighbour or nursery at the same time every day.
Making his way through to the kitchen, Grantaire stuck a pot of coffee on to brew as he pushed his hair off his face and started the washing up he'd ignored from the night before. After half a week in Enjolras's flat he knew his way round pretty well and so the job was over a lot quicker than the first time he'd attempted it, when he'd spent over an hour just trying to find the right cupboards to put the plates, cups and pans away in.
Grantaire poured himself a strong coffee the second the washing up was completed, gratefully dropping into a chair as he took the first sip. He'd barely managed to relax when he heard the noises from down the hall. He sighed, placing the cup down before heading into Alana's room.
"Morning Uncle R," Alana smiled, bouncing over and hugging him tightly as he entered.
"Morning kiddo," he replied, ruffling her hair lightly. "Sleep well?" He smiled when she nodded. "Oh good. Come on, let's get you some clothes sorted, then I'll make breakfast while you dress."
"Pancakes?" she asked instantly, remembering her manners just after. "Please?"
"I'll think about it," he said, laughing quietly when she perked up at his words.
"Can I see daddy today?" she said as he started opening drawers, and Grantaire hesitated.
"Not today," he said finally. "Soon."
"You look exhausted," Eponine said quietly, studying Grantaire's face as he sat at their kitchen table.
"It's been a long few days," he murmured in reply, rubbing at his eyes with one hand in an attempt to focus fully, a half-empty mug of coffee clutched firmly in the other. "I have no idea how Enjolras manages it all, with work as well. Looking after children just takes up so much time. She keeps asking after him as well."
"Well, at least you'll be able to tell her something after today." Eponine gave his face another once over. "'Taire, you looking after Alana should in no way be making you this tired, not after only a few days. How's the quitting going?"
Grantaire sighed. "Could be better, could be worse." He shrugged. "In the overall scheme of things it's not that important right now."
"Better or worse than last time?" she continued, learning more from his second shrug than she could have from his words.
"Depends."
"We need to go," she announced suddenly, surprising him as he'd been expecting a lot more questions. "I've errands to run before heading to the hospital."
"Okay then, let's go," Grantaire replied, downing the rest of his coffee in one and standing. "And thank you again for this. I know you probably have better things to be doing than playing taxi for me."
"'Taire, shut up and get in the damn car," Eponine sighed. "You're a good friend, as is Enjolras, and while either of you needs help, I will be here. Understood?" Grantaire nodded silently. "Good. Now why aren't you in the car yet?" She raised one eyebrow expectantly, snorting with laughter in a very unladylike way when he saluted her.
"Ma'am, yes ma'am!"
"I do not need to see Joly!" Grantaire protested when he realised where they were.
"Oh really?" Eponine raised one eyebrow at him. "You are going to fall apart Grantaire, you need help with this."
"I can cope."
"And if you can't? What happens to Alana then?"
Grantaire paused for a moment before sighing and climbing out of the car. "Fine. Let's get this over with."
Joly took one look at them when he opened the door and stood to one side. "Come in," he said as a greeting. "What do you need?"
"She thinks I'm struggling," Grantaire said without interest, flopping down onto Joly's sofa as soon as they were inside his flat. Eponine hung back, letting Joly ask the questions as the doctor sat next to his friend.
"You are," Joly told him bluntly. "I only have to look at how much your hands are shaking to know that. How are you sleeping?"
"Take a guess."
"Okay, you're not.
"No shit." He sighed when Joly gave him A Look. "I'm sleeping a bit, but I'm lucky if I manage to get two hours a night."
"Keep talking. I can't help if I don't know how bad it is."
"I'm fine!" Grantaire tried insisting, but Joly's expression told him that it wasn't working. "Fine. Remember how bad it was last time? Well, it's worse, both the way I feel and the craving to drink. He waved a hand up at his head. "This hurts almost constantly, and I've yet to survive an entire day without being sick. I'm used to all those from last time though."
"And how's the depression?"
"What are you, my shrink? It's completely hidden from Alana, along with the rest of the symptoms." He tilted his head to one side slightly. "You know, you guys really do know too much about me."
Joly laughed quietly. "Too true. So what's new? Because last time you had all these problems but managed, and you were completely alone then. No Enjolras, no Alana, no anyone."
"I keep seeing snakes," he admitted finally in a whisper, after glancing round the room. "Everywhere. I fucking hate snakes. And having nightmares. The nightmares are never ending, when I actually manage to fall asleep that is."
"What kind of nightmares?"
Grantaire shook his head firmly. "No. No way. It's all I can do to forget the bloody things, I'm not gonna start remembering them now for you. Look, what else do you actually need to know?"
"I think I have enough." Standing, Joly made his way over to some drawers and started searching through the top one. "I'm prescribing you some tablets. You can take half a tablet thee times a day for a few days. The next few days are going to be the most serious. You've already have hallucinations, the last thing we need is for the symptoms to become delirium tremens." He quickly explained when he saw the blank expression on his friends' faces. "The symptoms for delirium tremens can include confusion, disorientation, hallucinations, hyperactivity, and maybe even heart attacks and strokes. Look, once DT starts, there is no medical treatment that can stop them and there's a large chance you could die. So you are going to take these tablets and keep me updated, but the second you start to sick or dependent on them you stop immediately, understood?"
"Joly, what the hell are you giving me?" Grantaire asked nervously, hesitating before accepting the box Joly held out.
"Valium."
"What the fuck? I am not taking drugs!" Grantaire yelled, jumping to his feet as Eponine's eyebrows shot up.
"This is something doctors prescribe to those with severe symptoms, like yours. Don't exceed the dosage I said and you'll be fine. Trust me. Now you guys need to leave or visiting time will be over before you reach the hospital."
"Thanks," Grantaire said, reluctantly putting the tablets in his pocket. "I mean it. Thanks. If I think I need more... help, I'll get in touch."
"No you won't," Joly said simply, knowing Grantaire well enough to know that if he needed more help, he would have to be dragged over to a doctor.
"Yeah, I won't," Grantaire agreed. "See you later Joly."
When they finally reached the ward, Eponine hung back, telling Grantaire to go on without her.
"I have a friend works in here, haven't seen her in weeks," she said as an explanation. "I might pop by later." In reality she just wanted to give him some time alone with Enjolras.
Grantaire almost didn't enter the room. He hovered by the door, telling himself Enjolras wouldn't look as bad as he had the day of the accident.
He was right. Enjolras looked worse.
Many of the open wounds had started to heal and so were now unbandaged, drawing Grantaire's eyes instantly. Enjolras's blankets were only drawn up to his waist, revealing the numerous red gashes scattered across his chest and arms, only a few hidden by the only bandage remaining on his side. His face was also littered with small cuts, his hair shaved away to give doctors access to his head.
"Why are there so many wounds?" Grantaire murmured to himself, perching in the chair placed next to the bed and taking Enjolras's hand in his own.
"He hit the van and ground hard," a calm voice said from behind, and he turned his head to face the nurse standing there. "Some of the injuries on his chest are from broken ribs which broke the skin, other are purely from hitting the ground, some are from the window of the van. When he was hit the van was travelling so fast that he must have flown up into the air slightly then come down on the window first, breaking it before rolling off to hit the ground, because there were shards of glass in some of the cuts." She spoke gently, understanding somehow that Enjolras was important to Grantaire.
"I don't remember what happened," Grantaire said softly, turning back to his boyfriend. "Not properly, not at first."
"I'll leave you two to it," she decided after a moment. "I can perform the checks later."
"Wait," he called after her. "Is he okay? I mean, other than the whole coma thing. I just... need to know he's okay."
"His body is healing. Slowly, but he is healing. I cannot say for sure how his mind will be until he's awake though, and we don't know when that will be."
"Thank you," Grantaire said with a small smile. He waited until they were alone again before talking. "Hey Enj. You know, I don't think I've ever seen you move so little. You'd hate it if you knew what were happening. Allie's doing okay. She misses you, asks about you every day, but otherwise she's okay. It's hard though, looking after her. I'm scared I won't be able to do what's right, that I'll mess things up in some way. I'm glad I didn't let her come today though. Maybe when some of these wounds have healed. She told me she was scared of you dying. Have you any idea how hard it is to persuade her that's not going to happen when I spend almost every second terrified of that myself? Oh yeah, and I should tell you. I kinda moved into your flat. Don't get mad, it's just to look after Alana. Figured that was simpler than bringing her into our house. Less stress on her." He laughed quietly. "God I feel stupid. You probably can't even hear me. 'Ferre and Courf had a huge debate on this the other day, on whether you can hear us or not. I'm not sure who won, or who was even arguing which side, I was sort of out of it at the time, but I'm just gonna hope you can hear me. I feel less crazy that way." Taking a deep breath, Grantaire squeezed Enjolras's hand lightly. "Please wake up. I miss you. I love you."
"'Taire?"
Grantaire glanced over at the door as Eponine interrupted the silence that had fallen when he stopped speaking.
"Visiting time ended ten minutes okay," she told him, walking over and resting her hand on his shoulder. "How is he?"
"Same as before. Sleeping. Healing." He looked up at Eponine and gave her a tired smile. "Let's go home."
Walking into the flat, Eponine wrapped her arms round Combeferre's waist.
"Well?" he asked softly.
"They're running tests," she told him quietly, resting her head on his chest and letting him stroke her hair back. "I've to go back in a week."
"Then I'm coming with you." He put a finger against her lips. "No arguments."
"Okay," she whispered as he kissed her.