When they got back Aaron, had some how moved his leg on its side and on top of his other so he could lie on his side with his back to everyone else, ever the people person. The nurses had gotten Aaron's leg into a leg splint, until surgery but even that didn't help stop his leg from feeling every little jolt of movement, so how he'd managed to get into the position he was in now, was beyond Jackson. He just hoped he hadn't caused himself much pain. They approached Aaron's bed quietly and sat down on the seats by his bed. They took it he was asleep, he made no indication that he knew they were there and his breathing had evened out, they couldn't tell for certain with his back to them.
"Only five hours to go." Chas sighed as she looked at her pink watch on her wrist.
"It will be here sooner than you think." Jackson said as he took looked at his watch. Good job he'd taken the whole day off to take Aaron to hospital, or Declan would be wondering where he was.
"True." She said before they lulled into a comfortable silence while they waited for Aaron to wake up. He needed as much rest he could get if he was going to get better soon.
An hour before Aaron was scheduled to have his operation; Doctor Jenner came over to check things were still okay to go ahead with it. They'd had to wake Aaron up when Doctor Jenner came over, he'd slept right through the afternoon, whether it was because he was tired or because he wanted to ignore both his mother and boyfriend, they didn't know. He hadn't been too pleased when they'd woken him up. He'd forgotten about his leg, turning onto his back and jostling his broken bones causing a new fire of pain to radiate up his leg.
"Okay, we're still alright to ahead." Doctor Jenner said as he checked over Aaron's notes once more. "A nurse will be over in half an hour to get you prepared for surgery."
Aaron nodded his head in understanding, not bothering to answer him with a verbal response.
"You understand what the operation consists of? The complications and risks that it could hold." Doctor Jenner questioned for routine.
Aaron nodded his head again. "Yes." He sighed, Doctor Jenner had already been through the procedure once more and the recovery process afterwards.
"Okay then, see you later." Doctor Jenner said before he walked off to see to another patient.
"Months!" Chas exclaimed when the doctor was far enough away not to here. "Months Aaron!"
"It's not gonna heal magically over night is it!" Aaron snapped at her. He was fully aware of how long it was gonna take before he was back on his feet again. The prospect scared him. He hated to think that he was going to have to depend on others for a while.
"Yes, but still love. It's an awfully long time!" Chas continued, not knowing when to shut up. "My little baby's going to be limping around." She added sadly.
Aaron huffed under his breath and rolled his eyes. He wasn't a little baby.
"How on earth did it happen though? How did your bones. . . you know. . shift?" Chas asked curious to know why her son needed the operation. She knew the doctors needed to line his broken bones back up again but from there she was lost. From what she knew of yesterday, he was doing okay, gotten away lightly by the sounds of things.
Aaron could tell Jackson was enjoying things now, he had a little knowing smile on his face that screamed "Haha I told you so!" at him.
"I fell over." Aaron told her.
"Should have guessed." Chas sighed with a roll of her eyes.
"I took a shower when I shouldn't have." Aaron admitted, he owed Jackson to tell his mother the truth, admit that it was his fault and not just his bad luck.
"What do you mean you shouldn't have?" Chas asked, confused.
"I wasn't supposed to take a shower until I have the second cast on." Aaron told her, he could see her starting to work herself up now. She wasn't the only one annoyed with himself.
"The second cast is more sturdier and he'd have been give a protective covering for when he showers-." Jackson began.
"-Yes, thank you Jackson!" Chas snapped. "So you're telling me you're in hospital again due to your own stupidity!" Chas fumed at her son.
Aaron nodded his head, he knew he deserved it. He'd been waiting for Jackson to blow up at him about it all but he hadn't. He knew he could rely on his mother to.
"You prat!" Chas scolded her son. "You should never have taken Clyde out in the first place. What possessed you to take Clyde with you!" Chas started, she was on a roll now.
"Chas. . ." Jackson began. It was best she didn't bring that up now. He knew what Clyde meant to Aaron. He wasn't just a beloved pet or friend for Aaron, he was seen as some sort of comfort and a little protection for the teen. Since the attacks from Darrel they'd all seen the pair become glued to one and another.
"No, Jackson. I no longer want to keep tip toeing around the fact that Aaron is stupidly attached to that dog now!" She shot at him before turning back to Aaron. "Why the hell do you take him with you to work? He's only landed you hospital when we told you not to take him to work with you! Why the hell did you insist on taking him?"
"Mum. . ." Aaron said quietly, he didn't want this now.
"No, Aaron I want to know. . . Come on, I'm waiting!" She shot back at him. She was just like her son when her temper got started. "Aaron-."
"Fine! I'll tell you shall I?" Aaron snapped turning on his mother.
"Aaron you don't have to." Jackson said to him.
"No, she wants to know." Aaron argued. "It's because I don't feel safe anymore." Aaron almost shouted at his mum. "That's why Clyde is with me all the time, because I don't feel safe when he's not around."
"But Aaron, you've got us. . ." Chas said, shocked at her son's secret. She didn't know what to say.
Aaron shook his head. "It doesn't matter if you're there or not. I don't feel safe when he's not there next to me."
Jackson didn't know that. Yes, he'd known Aaron and Clyde had grown inseparable lately because the teen felt safer with his protection as a newly tamed wild Alsatian. What he didn't know was that even when they were with him he still didn't feel safe without Clyde by his side.
" Aaron-." Jackson started.
"Don't." Aaron cut him off. He was too tired to talk about it now, his mind was else where. In less than hour he was going for an operation.
"I'll leave it for now, but we'll talk about it later." Jackson promised him as he rubbed his hand along the younger mans forearm. "I had no idea you felt like that."
"You weren't to know." Aaron shrugged.
"Anyway, you'll be off for your operation soon, love." Chas said, seeming to have calmed down a little.
"Don't remind me." Aaron groaned.
"Hey, it's not that bad." Jackson laughed. "I can start telling people my boyfriends like Wolverine now to people."
"Eh? How'd you work that out?" Aaron asked a little confused. If anything he was nothing like the character from X-Men.
"Well, you're getting metal put inside of you. . ." Jackson said as if it were obvious.
"Oh right." Aaron laughed.
Jackson smiled; satisfied with the little laugh he'd gotten from his boyfriend.
"Ooh!" He exclaimed as he dived his hand into his jacket pocket.
"Who is it?" Chas asked Jackson when he began to reply to a text he'd gotten.
"Just Paddy, he can't make it in before Aaron goes for his operation but he's promised to be here when he comes back." Jackson explained. "Something about an emergency up at Green water Pond Farm."
"Make sure you tell him he better be here when he comes round after!" Chas threatened Jackson.
Aaron didn't seem too bothered by it. In his mind he hadn't really gotten his head round the seriousness of the whole ordeal. Doctor Jenner had explained it all carefully to him but it was still a lot to digest. He'd said something about inserting a metal rod through the two parts of the broken bone in his leg to hold it in place while it healed using metal plates and screws as well. He'd then gone on to tell him the recovery afterwards was going to be tough but he'd then began to tune out what he was telling him, bored with the medical rumble.
"Alright, I'll be here when you come round afterwards okay?" Chas said as he leant down to kiss Aaron on the forehead. The nurse and another member of the medical team had just given him something to send him off to sleep while they took him down to the operating room. It had began to work instantly, making him quickly feely drowsy. "Be good, love."
"Whatever." Aaron sighed tiredly.
"Just behave yourself." Jackson said with a smirk. He didn't want to make a too big of a deal for Aaron, he already knew he was hating it.
"See ya." Aaron mumbled as the nurse and the porters began to push down the corridor. It wasn't long before Aaron was under.
Jackson and Chas were joined by Paddy and Hazel around eight a clock, halfway through Aaron's surgery. They were waiting in the family room nearby to the ward that Aaron would be joining after the operation had been successful. Near enough all of them were anxious for the next hour to hurry up and pass so they could see him.
"Did the police call back when you went home?" Chas asked Paddy, as they all sat around.
"Urmm, yeah, y-yeah they did." Paddy stumbled out. "Sorry we didn't tell you earlier."
Chas waved him off. "There was too much going on for you to tell me." Chas assured him. "So what did they say?"
"Nothing much really, they just told us that it Aaron's solicitor would be getting in contact pretty soon." Paddy said trying to think back over the brief conversation he held with them. "I mainly explained to them what was happening with Aaron at the moment."
"Did they see when the court date is?" Chas questioned once more. She wanted to know as much as possible.
"I wrote it down, can't remember exactly when, some date in late October." Paddy answered.
"Sorry Paddy, but did they say why they were bringing it forward?" Jackson asked Paddy. He hated it that he was adding to the questions being thrown towards the older man.
"I-I think there's been a new development, they wouldn't go into details." Paddy told him. "I'm sure we'll find out later on."
"Maybe. . ." Jackson said before he went back to checking the time on his phone.
Exactly, one whole hour and forty nine minutes later a nurse knocked on the door to family waiting room they were all gathered in, to inform them that Aaron was back from surgery and was just coming round from the drugs they had supplied him with. Jackson knew the exact time they'd been waiting for Aaron's operation to be over with because he'd been counting every minute that ticked by. He hated knowing that Aaron was being cut open and metal objects being attached to him to help heal and recover.
"He's just coming round, so he won't be great company." A nurse said to them before she disappeared back to the nurse's station. They were on a different ward, but it all looked the same to them.
Hazel had opted to go to the café to get something to drink while they all went to see Aaron. She didn't want to over crowd the teen, especially when he was coming round from incredibly strong drugs. Jackson had taken a seat beside Aaron's beside again along with Paddy, whilst Chas took a seat on left side of the bed, balancing on the edge careful not to make too much movement.
"How you doing love?" Chas smiled subtly as Aaron began to stir.
She didn't receive an answer from Aaron, he just rubbed his eyes with his balled hands and groaned causing all three of them to laugh.
"Never a morning person." Jackson laughed.
"But it's not the morning?" Chas commented puzzled. She didn't exactly get Jackson's humor.
"No, but he's just waking up. . ." Paddy added, hoping Chas would catch on.
"Oooh." Chas said quietly, she didn't want to disturb him too much. It was obvious he had no intention of waking up fully to involve himself in a proper conversation with them. None of them were expecting him to either, it was nearly nine at night and he'd had one hell of day.
They weren't able to stay along, due to visiting hours being finished with for the day, so he grudgingly departed from Aaron and promised they'd come back again in the morning to see him. Whether he heard them or not, they still felt the need to reassure him. Jackson couldn't help but worry about Aaron all the time back to Smithy Cottage and throughout the night. The younger man was on his own, without none of his close family around him nor his dog, who he'd grown attached to. He knew it wasn't permitted to have dogs in hospitals, but he wished it were allowed in some cases. He knew as soon as Aaron was aware of what was happening once those drugs wore off he would start to scare himself sick by himself.
"He'll be alright, you know." Paddy told him when they unlocked the front door and flicked on the hallway light.
"Sure about that?" Jackson doubted.
A/N – Ah! Another update. What is happening today! I haven't a clue, obviously I have been on a role today, probably because I've been at home all day stuck with what to fill my time with. But hey ho! Enjoy it while you can, because I cannot promise it lasting! ( I've recently noticed I have the odd habit of ending too many sentences with '!' – thankfully not in fanfics just in general other use!) I don't want to rush this fanfic at all, so I'm taking things slowly, but not too slowly I hope. A nice steady pace? I hope so! Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this update and I'd love to hear what you think, it make me want to write! I think it's because of the great feedback I've been receiving lately that's spurred me on to write so much the past couple of days. Any way, I must shh! Thank you.