Dawn was peeking into Vin's hospital room when he opened his eyes. With the door to the hallway shut, the room was gray and silent. He reached up and tugged the bit of wood tied to the overbed light chain, squinting as the brightness hit his eyes. He needed to use the bathroom and was in no humor to ring and wait for a nurse to come help him. Instead, he wrangled the side rail down, got himself up and over to the bathroom. He accomplished his mission without mishap and walked back to the bed, wheeling his IV pole with him.
Instead of getting back into bed, he stopped to look out the window. In the increasing daylight, he made out a lone, but familiar vehicle in the overflow parking lot across the street. And a lone but familiar figure sitting on the hood.
Two days before, Nathan had unequivocally banned Chris from the hospital outside of normal visiting hours. He said it was for Chris' own good; he needed to sleep, he needed to eat, he needed to have a life again.
Well, so much for that.
Vin got the hospital phone and pulled it over to the window, stretching the cord over the chair. He laid the phone on its back in the palm of one hand, and dialed Chris' cell phone by pushing the numbers up into the forefinger of his other hand.
"Larabee." came a tired, resigned voice after two rings.
"So - what's going on?" Vin asked.
"Just sitting." Vin could almost see him shrugging over the phone.
"Well, if you come inside you could buy me some Jell-O."
"What?" Chris asked. He obviously didn't know Vin could see him.
"Look up." Vin told him, and when he saw the head lift, he pressed his hand against the glass. Chris returned the gesture. "C'mon, I'll meet you in the lobby Chris. We can go to the cafeteria and sit awhile."
"Okay."
Vin got his moccasins on, got his robe over one arm and wheeled his IV out to the hallway.
"Goin' for a walk." he told the nurse at the med cart behind the counter. She nodded, filling tiny paper cups with medicine for morning rounds.
Ten rooms past the nurses' station, Vin turned left down the hallway that led to the back elevator. Three minutes later, he walked down the hallway that led to the lobby. A soft whistle made him turn; Chris was coming from the other direction.
"Came in through the ER, less hassle that way." His eyes were ringed dark with exhaustion. "Is the cafeteria open now? If not, I got plenty of change for the vending machines. You okay walking? I'll get you a wheelchair if you want. How'd you get off the unit?"
"No, I'm good." It hurt Vin as much as it pleased him how obviously happy Chris was to be with him - he didn't usually talk that much. "I just took the back won't know I'm gone for another hour. C'mon, I can use some Jell-O."
The cafeteria was just humming to life for the morning shift. "You call that breakfast?" Vin asked of Chris' choice of black coffee and nothing else.
"What about you?" pointing to the Jell-O.
"I get breakfast at 7:45, this is just an appetizer."
"More like mainlining sugar." Chris said, but took a breakfast bagel sandwich and a container of orange juice as well. He carried the tray to the table, pulled a chair out for Vin and made sure he was situated okay before sitting down himself. "So, how they been treating you while I've been away?"
"Okay, just wish I could be rid of this IV." Vin shrugged. "Guess you haven't been getting anymore sleep like you were supposed to be doing?"
That fire, and that boy's death, was on every news show, and that couldn't be doing Chris any good, reminding him of Adam. Worse, Sarah's birthday was November, just before Thanksgiving. Chris hesitated briefly before taking the first bite of his sandwich.
"This time of year always sucks."
"Yeah, I know." Vin agreed quietly. "Holiday season shouldn't hurt that bad, always does though.didn't mean to add to it."
"Yeah, next time you're abducted, could you schedule it for August, when nothing is going on?" Chris gave Vin an amused look that told him he had nothing to be sorry for.
"Naah, August isn't any good. We'd be into Labor Day by now." Vin ate some Jell-O, awkwardly keeping hold of the spoon in nerveless fingers. "I'd be spoiling the picnic."
"True.how about right after the Fourth of July?"
"That'd be OK as long as I don't get pneumonia again. Otherwise we're right back at Labor Day."
"Hmm." Chris considered it as he ate his breakfast. "Right after Memorial Day would be okay if it didn't cut into the Fourth."
"Nope, wouldn't work. Can't miss Father's Day." Vin pointed out, sounding as serious as if he was planning a business trip. "And if Easter came too late, it'd run over Mother's Day."
Chris appeared to be giving it his utmost consideration.
"Yeah, Mom wouldn't like anything cutting into Mother's Day. Lent would be okay I suppose, but I never know when that's going to be year to year. Anything earlier than that gets us on the tail end of the holidays and we've already decided that's no good." Chris sighed and shrugged as though he'd come to an unpleasant decision. "Well, that's it then. You can't be abducted again, it has impossible scheduling conflicts."
Then he grinned, and for a moment the emotional pain and physical exhaustion left his face, and Vin was grateful more than he could say that he'd been able to lift Chris' gloom. He grinned too.
"Darn. Oh well. If I can't, I can't. I'll have to live with it I guess." He took another shaky spoonful of Jell-O. "Umm.Chris.I was wondering.?"
"What?" Chris was instantly worried.
"Well.I know I'm safe here and everything. I know nobody should be able to get in, but -." The morning crowd had begun to filter in to the cafeteria and Vin watched them go by. "I mean – you came in through the ER with no problem. And whoever did this to start with has got a lot of time and money and – and – would you start staying with me at night again? You don't have to you know." He hastened to add. "Just – it gets dark and it gets quiet and that was always when the worst things happened to me at that house. I just – need you to stay with me."
He was lying, he'd slept fine without Chris these two past nights, and if Chris had been getting just as much sleep, Vin never would've introduced the deception. But Chris wasn't sleeping, he was hurting, and he'd never think to ask for help.
"I'll stay with you." Chris said, immediately and firmly.
Vin nodded.
"I appreciate it Chris." Vin felt genuine tears and gratitude filling him. Chris'd been his wall of safety and comfort for a month now, and Vin was determined to offer that back. 'Preciate you looking out for me."
M7*M7*M7
Buck took a deep breath before going into the private hospital room. This wasn't going to be easy. He pushed open the door and found Chris in his customary place - the chair next to the bed. Only right now, the bed was empty, and Chris' head hung down on his chest. He was most definitely dozing, if not outright sleeping. Buck walked around the bed.
"Hey, Chris?" He softly shook him. Larabee's head came up immediately, his eyes shot to the bed.
"What? Where's Vin? What happened?" he tried to get to his feet.
"Calm down, stay where y'are." Buck said. "I hear the sink - my guess is Tiny is in the bathroom."
"Oh - oh -" As the information sunk in, Chris relaxed. "What's going on?" He unsuccessfully tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes.
"What's going on Pard is that you're going down to the cafeteria for a real dinner - now hear me out." He had to insist, as Chris automatically refused. "You hardly been out of this room for five days. Hell, Tiny's been outta the room more'n you have."
"I can eat in here." Chris looked around the chair for the newspaper that had been in his hand a few minutes before. "I'm not leaving."
"Chris -" Buck set himself heavily onto the bed. "You're exhausted. Your eyes are blacker than Vin's. You can't survive on no sleep and fast food."
"I'm not leaving." Chris finally snagged the elusive newspaper. "I can sleep in the chair and it's not all fast food. You give me a real reason I should leave."
"Because Pard -" Buck's voice got low and softer. "It's Thanksgiving."
Chris stared up at him in utter disbelief. Buck went on.
"Jim and Sera are down there. All the guys rearranged their schedules. We all left our homes and dinners and girlfriends to come here. We each brought something from our own spread to share. To share with you Chris, and with Tiny if he's up to it. Otherwise, I'll stay with him while you go down for an hour and eat a real dinner for the first time in two weeks."
"Oh Lord - I didn't even realize." Chris said. More information seeped into his brain. "All of you? You're all downstairs? You're all here?" His eyes suddenly filled with tears. "I completely forgot about it."
"Well, you've had a lot on your mind." Buck gently reminded him. "So, we did your rememberin' for you." He patted Chris' shoulder and stood up to look out the window, giving his friend a chance to calm down and wake up.
After another minute, the bathroom door opened and Vin came out. The black eyes and battered face still looked horrendous. But he was ambulatory, and down to one IV. Buck saw the look he gave though - first to Chris to verify he was still there, to Buck to register friend or foe, and to the door to the hallway behind himself, gauging how close or far escape was. All within few seconds, then he relaxed.
"Hey Buck. Didn't hear you out here." His voice had hardly begun to come back from the strained croak of three weeks before. He looked from one man to the other again. "What's wrong?"
"I was just trying to send Chris to the cafeteria for dinner." Buck told him. "It's Thanksgiving, gang's all here. If you're feeling up to it, I'm on special orders to bring you too. if we can sneak you past the sentry nurses."
The fear that was too familiar an expression came over Vin. But for only a moment. Then his blue eyes flashed in his mottled face. "I'm s'posed to walk around you know. C'mon with me, I'll show you where the secret elevator is."
To be continued