Disclaimer: Insert witty disclaimer here… It's not mine. Though I wish.

Previously…

Not being entirely sure what he was watching or waiting for, when something finally happened, Ben didn't recognize it for what it was right away. He had never been present for the first few seconds, after all. Alex had jerked his hand away, and at first, Ben thought it was a step in the right direction.

But it wasn't. It was a step back. A big step back.

Ben's eyes widened as he realized what was happening. It was exactly what Alex didn't need. He fumbled for his voice, waving frantically. "Blake!"

CHAPTER 38: Safe and Sound

Ben paced up and down the hallway. He had been at it for over an hour. It didn't matter that it was the second such hallway that he had paced in the last seven hours. The people weren't telling him anything, and Blake had disappeared into the frenzy hours earlier. At the first hospital.

The seizure had set Alex back considerably. It had been a good thing that the medical team had arrived only minutes after it started. Otherwise… there was no knowing how long the seizure would have lasted. As it was, they had had trouble getting him to respond to the medications and stop seizing.

No one mentioned the number of cuts that had reopened after the seizure, or the fact that the splint hadn't been able to hold up to movements like that. It had definitely been a turn for the worse. It was only by a hairsbreadth that Alex had avoided being intubated in the helicopter. It wasn't a simple procedure, much less in a flying vehicle. The stress on his body had been too much, and he had never regained consciousness…

That was also the turning point for Luke. The stress of the situation seemed to have caught up with him by the time they arrived at the hospital, and had been toeing the line to unconsciousness. Ben had been torn as to who he should stay with, when the groups of nurses and doctors at the hospital converged on the patients coming from the helicopter. That was solved for him, when Luke all but ordered him to stay with Alex—or Alec, as he was still known. They were going to have to correct that eventually.

The doctors and nurses hadn't been too keen on Ben following them with Alex. Blake had followed as well, being the most familiar with Alex's medical history—specifically what medicines could and could not be used. They weren't quite successful at getting Ben out of the room before Alex took a turn for the worse. They pushed him out just moments after his breathing stopped and hadn't allowed him back in.

That had led to two hours of pacing in the small waiting room that Ben had eventually been escorted to. The others were already there, waiting for news on any of the three that had been brought in, and no one quite had it in them to stop Ben's pacing. For a while, Dmitri had joined the pacing, before Sebastian had pulled him down into a chair. No one had touched Ben.

The end of those two hours had been marked by news on Luke and Leif. Out of the three, Leif was the best off, mainly because he had spent so little time in the compound. Bruises and a few cuts, but nothing that would keep him in the hospital for more than a day. Luke's injuries, on the other hand, were rather hidden. A severe concussion had been hiding under the surface, as well as a bad case of dehydration and exhaustion. It seemed that he had used the small amount of water they had to keep Alex's injuries as clean as possible and to get Alex to drink water—in the process, forgetting about himself. Even with all that, it wasn't going to be a long hospital stay for him. Only a few days.

Around the three and a half hour mark, Blake had reappeared with news that Alex was stable enough for transport back to London—but he certainly wasn't any better. Not by a long shot. But MI6 wanted him back under their protection. There was no telling what could happen at an unsecured hospital in Norway. At St. Dominic's they would at least be able to keep the doctor's knowledge under the OSA.

It had been a tense flight back. Luke had been fairly well out of it, but that was mostly due to the painkiller and mild sedative in his system. It didn't have much to do with his physical condition. Alex was a completely different story. From the glimpse of Alex that Ben had gotten, he wasn't doing well. Even now, Ben all too vividly remembered the number of tubes and monitors that had surrounded Alex, and the way that he hadn't even twitched slightly when someone brushed against him…

Ben shook himself out of his musing. They had been in St. Dominic's for what felt like hours now. Surely no news meant that nothing too horrible had happened… Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone else around for Ben to distract himself with. Only he and Blake had flown back to London with Luke and Alex. The others were staying in Norway, investigating the compound with the NSM, as well as completing an interview with Leif.

So, he only had his thoughts for company.

"Ben."

He jerked his head up, staring at Blake. He had no idea how long Blake had been standing there, and couldn't tell from the look on his face whether the news was good or bad. Even though he had just been wishing for news, he wasn't sure he was ready, should it be bad.

"Dr. Sayer wants to talk with you."

Ben swallowed, and followed Blake down the hall. They were silent, because there really wasn't anything either of them could say. The silence pressed in on Ben, and he couldn't help but wonder if there really wasn't any good news after all. If something had happened to Alex, and Blake was just holding it together for his sake…

Even though the walk wasn't very far, it felt like eternity to Ben. They passed other nurses in the hospital, and all but one ignored them completely. The one though… she cast a pitying look in Ben's direction. It really didn't help matters at all.

Dr. Sayer was waiting for them in an office. Ben vaguely recognized it from the first time they had been introduced, so many months earlier. Perhaps they were trying to break the news gently, in a place where Ben wouldn't be afraid to go to pieces…

Dr. Sayer waited until Ben had sat down before saying anything. "Alex's condition is… extremely tentative right now. It's not clear if he'll be able to pull through the night."

Ben felt like his heart had jumped into his throat. That meant that Alex was still alive. For the time being…

"They have him in surgery right now. The infected wound on his shoulder needs to be cleaned out, there's fluid building up around his lungs and heart, and they're putting in a monitor to keep track of the pressure in his brain." He fixed Ben with a steady gaze. "That's not mentioning the surgery he'll most likely need to repair his wrist, the multitude of lacerations across his body, the seizures, and the fact that we have no idea how he received the burns. If it's electrical in origin—like we suspect—then we could be fight a losing battle. We don't know what kind of internal damage he has from that, and… it's going to be touch and go for the next few days."

If he makes it that long… Ben knew the hidden implications behind that statement. There was no way of knowing if Alex was going to take a turn for the worse or not. They could do everything humanly possible, and it still wouldn't be enough.

It took Ben a moment to find his voice again. "There are burns?" No one had mentioned burns while they were in Norway.

Dr. Sayer nodded. "In a couple of places. On his arm and shoulder, close to where his knife wound is. There are fainter marks on his torso and lower back, but they're definitely burns. They likely didn't come across the burns in Norway, because the main worry was stabilizing him. The worst burn is just below his hairline, on the back of his neck. Thankfully, it's not so deep that we think he'll need a skin graft, but it is a possibility if it doesn't heal correctly."

Ben sucked in a sharp breath. If the burn was electrical in origin, it meant that some sort of electrical current had been applied to the base of his skull. No wonder he had had a seizure. Multiple seizures. Though Leif and Luke had only reported one seizure before getting out of the compound, it was entirely possible that something had happened during those missing hours. The only person that would know for sure was Alex, and even then, if it was a seizure, he wasn't likely to remember.

"I've looked over the reports from the hospital in Oslo, and it's not exactly reassuring. It seems that the last seizure pushed his body over the edge and into a coma. There's also the fact that he's lost a lot of blood over the past couple of weeks, and his body hasn't been able to keep up. He's at risk for kidney failure, heart arrhythmias, and more seizures." The doctor shook his head slowly. "It's not looking good at all."

Ben swallowed and nodded. "How much… what kind of chance… does he have right now?"

"If the surgery goes without complications—thirty percent chance that he'll make it through the night. Every hour after that… he'll have to make a marked improvement." He sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, but there just isn't any good news. It's going to be touch and go from here on out."

Ben was thoroughly exhausted by the time Blake ushered him into Luke's room. He had spent the last four and a half hours pacing the length of a private waiting room and drinking copious amounts of tea to try to offset the exhaustion that had been setting in. He had refused to do anything until he knew that Alex had, at the least, pulled through the surgery. Though it wasn't a very complicated surgery, he couldn't help but imagine the variety of ways that something could go wrong. Or that at some point it would be too much for Alex's body and he would just slip away, no matter what the doctors did to stop it.

He had been allowed a short glance in on Alex once the surgery was over, but wasn't allowed in the room. His condition was so delicate that the chance of introducing outside bacteria could mean the difference between life and death for him—only those who had followed sterile precautions were allowed in. As much as Ben wanted to reassure himself that Alex was still alive, he understood the precautions.

Thankfully, the chair in Luke's room was comfortable. He cast a tired glance at his brother, sound asleep from the mixture of painkillers and sedatives. The doctors and nurses were keeping a close eye on him, making sure that nothing new popped up. They were careful at St. Dominic's… and Ben knew that both Luke and Alex couldn't have been in better hands. Besides, Blake had promised immediate notification if anything happened with Alex. He could afford a few minutes to relax…

Ben wasn't entirely sure when he fell asleep in the chair, but he roused again when a nurse came in to take Luke's vitals. He watched her work silently for a while, noting the caution she took to keep from waking Luke. She sent Ben a friendly smile once she realized that he was awake.

"How is he?" Ben asked quietly.

"Not too bad. The dehydration should go away within the next twenty four hours. I imagine we'll see him out of here in a few days."

Ben smiled slightly, and nodded his thanks. A bit of the worry he had had vanished knowing that Luke was going to be okay. There was no telling what kind of mental scarring he was going to have though… For all the teasing about a psychologist, Ben didn't wish the experience on anyone, least of all, Luke. Hopefully he would be able to reintegrate into normal life after this was all over…

The nurse left after finishing her checks, and Ben dozed for a while longer. Some small part of his brain was dreading morning, because it meant both questions from Luke and the knowledge that it was very likely that Alex hadn't made it through the night. That was what he dreaded the most. The questions from Luke—and the acknowledgement that despite everything, it just hadn't been enough.

He roused from his latest nap just a few minutes before Luke showed any signs of waking. He watched his brother, unconsciously checking him over for any signs of injury. The doctor had said that Luke had a bad concussion, but one that was likely to clear up within a matter of weeks.

Luke yawned widely, and Ben scooted his chair closer. The noise caused Luke to turn abruptly, and from his wide eyes, Ben suspected that he hadn't expected anyone else to be in the room. Luke stared at him for a moment, before relaxing back against his pillows. He still had a slightly wild-eyed look.

"Ben…?"

"Yeah."

Luke let out a rush of air, before reaching up with his free hand and scrubbing at his face. "I thought… I was alone…" They both knew that that wasn't what he had really thought, but Ben didn't mention it. Luke had thought that he was still in the compound. "Sorry… details are… fuzzy."

"It's okay." Ben reached out and grabbed onto Luke's hand, squeezing it tightly for a moment. "Happens to the best of us at times. Are you feeling okay?"

Luke shrugged slightly. "Head hurts a little, but… not as much as before." He rolled his head experimentally, but paused when he looked at the other side of the room. He blinked twice, and Ben's stomach flipped at the potential implication. "Where are we?"

"St. Dominic's, in London. We flew in yesterday afternoon… don't you remember?"

"Somewhat… blurry lights, people talking, nothing distinct. I knew we went somewhere… just not where…" He trailed off, glancing around the room. Searching for something. Or someone… His eyes widened slightly after a few moments, and he spun to look at Ben again. "Alec's okay, right? I mean, you wouldn't be here if he weren't. But… he wasn't breathing right when we left… so that can't be good. He's okay. He has to be. He's Alec. Been through everything. Can't give in now that we're finally out of there…"

"Luke." Ben tried to cut off the babbling, with a pleading glance.

Luke's eyes widened. "No, no, no… he can't! He got through all of that. Those bastards can't have killed him after all that. He was fighting, tooth and nail." His jaw clenched, and he started to pull the blankets aside to get out of bed. "He wouldn't give up like that. He knew who those people were, and he wasn't going to give in. It's not right!"

"Luke… lie back down…" Ben pushed a protesting Luke back into the bed, and pulled the blankets up again. "Last I knew, he was still fighting. But it's not looking good for him." Ben swallowed against the lump in his throat. The kid was like a second brother for him, and he hated to think of the condition he was in. "They gave him a thirty percent chance to pull through the night… so I don't know yet. But I do know this—" He fixed Luke with his gaze. "—he's not giving up without a fight. It's not in his personality. If anyone can beat those odds, he can."

Luke stared at him, and Ben could see the tears welling in his eyes. Not good. "But… but… he can't." Luke's hands fisted around the blankets. "How… how do you know… he hasn't…?"

Ben bit his tongue for a moment, forcing his mind to not think in that direction. It wasn't possible. He agreed with Luke, this was Alex. "Blake… said he would tell me if anything happened. He hasn't come by, so… he's still fighting."

He stared at Ben for a few moments, before wiping at the tears that had stubbornly escaped. "It's… it's not fair. He's too stubborn to give in… Alec kept after them, no matter what…" He broke off in a choked sob, covering his face with his hands. "It's not fair…"

"I know…"

The moment Blake stepped into the room, Ben was on high alert. Luke had slept on and off throughout the morning, alternating between sobbing quietly, then furiously wiping at the tears like they had no excuse to exist, and glaring at the ceiling. He didn't make any effort to engage Ben in a conversation, and Ben wasn't sure if this was all a sign of Luke's eventual mental status showing through or not. Both of them, though, focused on Blake when he entered the room.

Ben swallowed quickly, trying to dislodge the lump in his throat. "Is he…?"

Blake shook his head quickly. "There's no change since last night. They're not making any guarantees for the next twelve hours."

Ben leaned back in the chair with a sigh. No worse, but no better either. At least it meant, in some small portion, that Alex was still fighting. Even if he wasn't conscious to recognize the fact.

"Levendis wants you downstairs right now." Blake said. "Said something about visitors for Luke, and that the order came from Jones."

Ben nodded and swallowed again. Of course. Luke was technically a civilian in all of this, and in light of the care he would need over the next few months, it was no surprise that their parents had been brought into the equation. It was only luck that they hadn't already been informed… Though there wasn't much physically wrong with Luke, there was no knowing what all had happened during the captivity. Even trained agents had problems bouncing back from just a few days of imprisonment—much less weeks.

He sent a shaky smile in Luke's direction. "I'll be back soon. See if you can't get some more sleep, okay?"

Luke blinked twice at him, before nodding slightly. Ben patted him on the shoulder before following Blake out the door.

"How's Luke doing?" Blake asked once they were further down the hall.

"So-so. He's pretty distraught over… Alex."

"It's not surprising." Blake gave his good shoulder a squeeze. "He saw Alex in some of his worst moments, when he was delirious from the fever and in pain from whatever they did to him. We've just got to keep hoping for the best. Alex is a fighter. He's too stubborn to give up."

Ben nodded and tried to swallow against the ever present lump in his throat. Alex was stubborn, yes, but it was entirely possible that he had given up before they had ever made it out of the compound. Leif's report that they had gone against Alex's delirious pleas was evidence toward that, but then, it could have been the pain and fever talking… there was no way of knowing for sure.

They were both quiet for the rest of the walk through the hospital. It was only as they reached a far too familiar hallway, that Ben realized where they were going. Back to the waiting room that he had spent most of the evening in waiting for news on Alex. The door was closed, meaning that it was currently occupied. Ben suspected that his parents were there, along with Levendis and whoever else the bank had deemed necessary to send.

The moment the door opened and Ben stepped into the room, he found himself in the midst of a very tight hug from his mum. Though the top of her head barely cleared his shoulder, the ferocity in the gesture didn't go missed by him. He willingly hugged her back, wishing for the days when a simple hug would set everything in the world right.

"Benjamin… why didn't you tell us?" The hurt in her voice very nearly undid him right there, but he pulled himself together. He was not going to break down in front of Blake and who knew who else… he was not.

"I couldn't mum, you know that." Now though… Levendis gave him a knowing nod over his mum's shoulder, and mouthed the word 'everything'. It seemed that they knew more than Luke did, at the moment.

"Yes… well…" She pulled back, searching Ben's face with her eyes. "I wish you could have told us before all… this. Luke's okay?"

Ben nodded. "Yeah… they think he'll be out in a few days."

Mr. Daniels clapped a hand on Ben's shoulder. "So this is all… true? Luke and that… French boy were kidnapped and hostages or something? Luke said you found him a job opportunity, months ago. That's not related to this, is it?"

"Um… yeah, it is. We were in a safe house by that point, and I needed someone that Alex trusted to be with him while I was… out. We had been hoping that things would calm down months ago, but it didn't. Luke was just another person in the house to keep an eye on Alex, and give him someone closer to his age. They caught them both when we were fleeing the second safe house. I got shot again, and… we've been looking for them ever since."

Mr. Daniels nodded slightly. "Yes… that's what Mr. Levendis explained to us. They were in Norway, and lucky to come across someone from the security agency there."

So a slightly edited version of the truth… or maybe they had just misunderstood. Ben tilted his head in question toward Levendis.

Levendis nodded. "Full disclosure. Anything you think might help them or Luke get through this. Jones sends her personal condolences, and is monitoring Rider's progress closely."

Ben cleared his throat, before nodding toward the door. "I imagine Luke would be happy to see some familiar faces. He's exhausted though."

Mrs. Daniels gave him one more tight squeeze, before stepping away and taking her husband's hand. "I can't believe what you two have gotten up to…" She gave him a faint smile. "I'm glad that both of you are relatively unharmed though."

"Daniels." The three of them turn to face Levendis again, but Ben quickly figured out that he was who Levendis wanted. They turned their backs on the other occupants of the room for a moment. "Jones sent over the information that Walker and his crew have been detained in Finland. SUPO caught them when they were trying to leave the country in Helsinki. They're not getting free any time soon and they're being questioned for information on what they did to Alex. It might help, it might not, but at least it's something."

Ben closed his eyes for a moment, before letting out a long breath. "One less person to worry about, then."

Levendis gave him a small smile. "At this rate, he might be able to live a normal life once he's out of here."

Ben shrugged slightly, noticing the optimism the man had. Whatever the case, Ben highly doubted that Alex would be able to lead any sort of normal life. Either physical or psychological trauma would prevent that, in some shape or form. First things first though, he had to get over the current hurdle—living in the first place.

"Optimism, Daniels. It's the only thing we've got left."

Ben couldn't help but agree with him.

The reunion of parents with son could have gone better. Ben had to fight to keep the grimace off his face at the thought of it. Luke had been awake and in another of his staring moods. At first, Ben thought that that was better than outright sobbing, but it had taken only a few moments of being around their mum before he burst into tears in her arms. That had been disconcerting to both Ben and his dad.

It had been a long fifteen minutes where neither Ben nor his dad was quite sure what to do. Luke had ended up crying himself back to sleep, after sobbing out his tears of frustration at the entire situation. Alec's name had come up more than once… and Ben was just waiting for the inquisition that was going to come from their parents.

Sure enough, only a few minutes after they were all positive that Luke was asleep again, Mr. Daniels turned to Ben. "I thought you said he was okay… has he been like that all morning?"

"He is… sort of. And no, he hasn't been like that. I guess it's his way of dealing with the… psychological trauma. He's not going to go back to normal in a couple of days." Especially if something happens with Alex… "It's going to take time."

His mum stroked the hair off of Luke's forehead, before looking up at Ben. "That boy… the one with him… Alec? Is he here? I think it would help Luke if he saw him…" She trailed off at the pained look on Ben's face. "I-I mean… he's okay right?"

Ben slowly shook his head, staring down at his hands. He had thought they knew that at least.

His mum gasped. "You mean… he's…?"

"N-no… but we don't know how long he's going to make it. He's fighting the odds right now." Ben waved his fingers in Luke's direction. "That's why he's so upset. Luke's been keeping him alive for the past few days, and now, there's not much hope. He'll be lucky to make it through the next twelve hours."

There was a sharp intake of breath. "His family must be devastated."

Ben flinched slightly, before shaking his head. "He doesn't have any." He glanced up at his mum again. "I became his legal guardian in March, but he's lived with me since after Christmas."

His mum's eyes widened. "Oh, Ben…" She got up from beside Luke, and pulled Ben into another tight hug. "And you never told us…? Listen, I'm sure they're doing everything possible. He sounds like a fighter if Luke was able to keep him going for a few days."

Ben just nodded, taking a couple of deep breaths. Everyone said that Alex was a fighter, but that could mean absolutely nothing in the long run. It was down to two choices. Either he made it through, and started to get better, or he didn't. It was as simple as that. There was no halfway. Of course, there was the possibility that he would never rouse from the coma, but then it would be as simple as turning off the life-support. He would be gone, and there would have been nothing they could have done.

Mr. Daniels cleared his throat, catching Ben's attention. "How did they get into this situation in the first place? Why was he being targeted?"

"It's complicated… and a long story that I'd really not have to tell twice—for Luke's benefit." He shrugged slightly. "Basically though, he had connections to MI6, and some terrorist groups wanted him dead—they killed his previous guardian last summer. He was relocated to California with a family there, but he ran away in August, and we thought he was killed in the bombing. I found him in December and kept his presence a secret from MI6 because he wouldn't trust me otherwise. Eventually things came to a head and MI6 knew he was alive, more terrorists were after him, and… he was in a safe house until they were kidnapped. Luke was a hostage. He… wasn't."

Ben returned to contemplating his hands, slightly surprised by how much he had given away. Alex had always hated people knowing about his past, but in this situation, knowledge of Alex's past was the only way to explain some of the things that had happened. Without lying.

"He was Luke's roommate in the hospital, wasn't he? The French boy that was Luke's age?" His dad asked.

"Yeah… but he's not French. He's sixteen and used to live in Chelsea. His uncle took him on trips around the world, and he lived in France for a while—that's how he knows the language." Ben ran a tired hand over his face. It had been less than thirty six hours since they had found Luke and Alex, and since then, he had spent more hours pacing than he had sleeping. With the lack of sleep over the past few weeks, he was quickly running himself to exhaustion.

His mum patted his shoulder. "Why don't you get a little sleep? It looks like you need it just as much as Luke does." He let himself be steered toward the small window bench that he hadn't noticed the night before. She pushed him down on it, and gave him a slightly worried kiss on the cheek. "Maybe Luke will be in a state that you can tell us all about your Alec."

Ben shook his head stubbornly, even as his eyes closed against his wishes. He really was exhausted. "His name is Alex. Alex Rider."

"Okay then. You can tell us all about Alex when you wake up."

Ben was asleep almost the moment she finished talking.

"…they removed the monitor this morning. The swelling has gone down significantly, and the increased pressure isn't a concern anymore. We're starting to see an increase in brain activity when they run an EEG test as well. So long as he continues to improve at this rate, we might see him moving out of the immediate danger zone."

Ben sighed heavily. It was the best news they had had since Alex had arrived in the hospital, more than two weeks earlier. His condition had stayed nearly the same for the first week in the hospital, and more than once the doctors had nearly lost him. After that though, there had been small changes. Not much, but just enough to point toward him getting better.

After septic shock and kidney failure, almost anything—including getting through that—was considered a step in the right direction. So, although he was nowhere near ready to wake up, the doctors were giving him a higher chance of surviving. Right around fifty percent. Still low, but better than just a week previous.

"Daniels…" Dr. Sayer roused Ben out of his musing. "Even though he's improving, it's possible that he'll reach a stage where his progress levels out. He might never regain consciousness, even if he manages to get over the infection. We have no idea what kind of damage the electric current could have done to his brain."

"I… I know." He bit his lip slightly. SUPO's interrogation of Walker and his cronies had turned up some useful information. Mainly, that the anti-seizure meds had been removed just a few short days before they had escaped. It had followed the execution of the NSM agent and Alex's subsequent breakdown—what seemed to have pushed Alex's rationality over the edge. It was quite probable that in Alex's fevered state—because Luke had mentioned that the fever had already set in by the time they took Alex away—he had seen the execution of the NSM agent as an execution of Luke instead.

Alex had killed someone after that. Granted, it was the person torturing him, but Ben doubted that he had been in the right frame of mind. Walker had boasted that that was the sign that they had broken Alex. If he hadn't been in the wrong country, Ben would have gladly shot the man himself…

The last helpful piece of information had come not from Walker, but from one of his cronies that had a "weak stomach" according to SUPO. Ben didn't bother to dwell on that. The section of the report that had followed that interrogation had been nearly seven pages in length. Four of those pages had described the last torturing the ex-SCORPIA members had done, before escaping the compound. They hadn't expected Alex to survive, much less attempt to escape. He had suffered through two hours of drawn out electrocution, with a taser-like device. They had regularly kept him from falling unconscious, until Walker made the call to move out. He had instructed this man to apply the taser to the base of Alex's skull for three minutes and then leave him for dead. By some small mercy, the man had stopped after only half a minute, when Alex started seizing. He had left after the three minutes were up, with Alex still seizing, and didn't touch him with the taser again.

After reading the report, Dr. Sayer had commented that the man letting up early was probably the only thing that had saved Alex. The electrical charge could have easily messed up something permanently, then and there. The fact that he had been awake for a number of hours afterward… it put a few points in his favor, but not many.

"He's able to have visitors now." Dr. Sayer said. He seemed to know exactly how long to let Ben get lost in his thoughts, before pulling him back to reality. "A friendly voice or two might nudge him toward waking up eventually. We can never know just what coma patients hear."

"He's not at risk anymore?"

"He is, but standard precautions should keep him from catching anything. Wash your hands before you go in, and don't touch any of the insert sites." The doctor placed the pile of medical forms down on his desk. "I presume you'd like to see him now? I have a few minutes, so I can explain anything you're curious about."

Not for the first time in days, Ben found himself unable to speak. He had spent the past two weeks observing through the glass window, because the risk for adding a new infection had been too high. An impenetrable space had separated him from Alex. It had been immensely hard to watch someone fighting for their life while being separated by just a sheet of glass. And even then, for the majority of the day, the curtains had been drawn.

Dr. Sayer seemed to take some sort of nonverbal cue from Ben, and stood up from his desk, before ushering Ben out of the room. He wasn't entirely sure when he had stood up… but he was quick to follow the doctor down the hall. There was no questioning the fact that he wanted to see Alex, especially if it meant there had been some sort of improvement.

They wound their way through the hospital, swiping through the heavy set of doors that led to the ICU. It was quickly becoming a far too familiar place for Ben. The double set of doors had an extra feeling of security though. Not just anyone could get into the ward.

After washing their hands thoroughly, Dr. Sayer led the way into Alex's room. Ben couldn't stop himself from gnawing on his lip as he surveyed Alex. The most noticeable difference was that, for the first time, Alex was back to his blond hair. It was a bit of a shock, and made his pale features even paler. Just the day before his hair had been black, though the roots were showing through. It seemed that when they removed the monitor, they took the opportunity to wash the dye out as well.

In some ways, it made him look more human. In other ways though, he looked even more fragile.

"Is it… can I…?" Ben took a deep breath, and tried to reorganize his thoughts.

Dr. Sayer gave him a genial smile. "We've found that touch can assist in stimulating a coma patient to wakefulness, along with talking. Talk to him, tell him about what's going on, tell him about Luke, let him know that there's someone nearby. Just because he's not awake doesn't mean his subconscious can't hear you."

"Ye-yeah…" He cast another glance over Alex, taking in the myriad of tubes and wires that snaked under the blankets. He was sure that he didn't want to know what half of them were needed for. All that mattered was that they were keeping Alex alive. "When… when do you think some of these tubes will be removed? They're not… not permanent until he wakes up, are they?"

"No, some will stay, obviously, but you can expect to see most disappearing over the next few days. The monitor for his heart rate will stay until he starts to show signs of waking, the tubes to drain fluid from his lungs will probably be removed in the next few days, as will the tubes from his shoulder once we're positive that the infection has cleared up."

Ben reached out a hand, almost afraid to touch Alex. The back of Alex's uninjured hand was warm to the touch, and Ben frowned slightly. "He still has a fever?"

"Yes, but greatly reduced. We've kept it down, and it has been coming done on its own. It should go away once the last of the antibiotics have run their course."

"How long will that be?"

"A few days, perhaps. It depends on if the infection is gone or not." Dr. Sayer smiled, and nodded toward Alex. "He really has made leaps and bounds over the last few days."

Ben couldn't help the hint of a smile that crossed his face. Perhaps the leaps and bounds would be enough to bring him back into the realm of the living. His gaze was drawn toward Alex's wrist, the broken one. "What about his wrist? Didn't you say something about surgery at one point?" It was a vague memory, from when they first brought Alex in.

"It's casted for now, but it's very likely that he'll need surgery on it to regain full function. The general thought is that he needs to get over the infection before we start introducing other factors into his recovery." Dr. Sayer glanced down at his watch, before studying the clipboard attached to the end of the bed. "I need to go now, but a nurse will be by to check on Alex in about fifteen minutes. If anything seems off, don't be afraid to alert a nurse. He's still not in the clear."

Ben nodded, and watched the doctor leave. After staring at Alex for a moment longer, Ben hooked his ankle around a chair by the bed, and pulled it closer. He didn't once let go of his grip on Alex's uninjured arm. In some ways, the contact was Ben's way of convincing himself that he wasn't in the midst of some dream. Although he would have liked it to all have been a dream, at least now he knew that there was some sort of progress in the right direction.

The room was silent for a long while, before Ben sighed. "So… Dr. Sayer said to talk to you… thought it might convince you to rouse yourself." Ben chuckled lightly to himself, trying to brush off the absurd feeling of talking aloud to himself. There really was an audience… that audience just didn't realize what they were listening to. "I guess… well… I could talk about Luke. I think you'd be happy to know that he's okay. I mean, compared to you… he got off with some bruises and whatnot…"

Ben shrugged slightly. He wasn't exactly sure how to explain the severe concussion to a comatose Alex… "He's staying with our mum right now. The bank helped her find a flat just a couple of blocks away… so she's managing to keep us both from doing anything stupid. Like spending every waking hour here at the hospital and running ourselves dead in the process." He couldn't keep himself from rolling his eyes, knowing that Alex wouldn't see the gesture. "It's not like that's going to help you any… But back to Luke…"

It wasn't exactly easy to come up with nonsensical information to fill the blank spaces in with. He was used to the two way flow of conversation, even if it was with the barest hint of eye contact added in. A brief glance over Alex confirmed the notion that there wasn't even a flicker of activity coming from him.

How many times had such an occurrence happened in his short life…? More than once, if the medical reports were anything to go by, but never for such an extended period of time.

Ben blinked rapidly, catching onto another thread of conversation he could follow. "Luke knows everything now. About you, that is. There were too many unexplained occurrences during your… captivity… and I think the truth helped him some. He has his own shrink now, goes to see them every other day, right now. Mum thinks that'll stop in a couple of weeks. He's going back to university, you know. He still has more than a month before classes start, and he thinks he'll be ready. Don't know if he'll move back in with his friends or not though."

Especially not with the nightmares he had had during the past week. It was in no way, anything to contend with Alex's nightmares, but enough that he had woken up inconsolable. It had taken Ben and his mum half an hour to convince Luke that he wasn't still trapped within the compound. No, with nightmares like that, it wasn't something he would want to subject his friends to. They wouldn't understand.

At least he was working through the nightmares with his psychologist though…

"But that's a hurdle to be jumped when we get there. I think Mum's enjoying mothering over him for the time being as well. Dad had to go back to Liverpool, but Mum just pushed the work in the shop over onto our cousin. Poor guy, he's not going to know what hit him when the tourists come." Ben chuckled humorlessly. "I'll have to take you there sometime—when it's not vacation season. It's different… but it's nice… Don't even get me started on Mum's cooking though. I think I've been spoiled the last few weeks. Trust me, if you like what I made, you'll be in heaven just eating Mum's cooking…"

It was a range of ups and downs for the rest of the week. Ben wanted nothing more than to wake up from the nightmare, but in some ways, he was afraid that reality would be worse. So he stuck with it. Luke progressively got better and better, though he was still falling short of the usual enthusiasm he used to have for life. Not much surprise there, when his companion in captivity was still unconscious.

Like Dr. Sayer had predicted, the leaps and bounds overnight, had pulled Alex all the way to fighting off the infection and removing the tubes that drained the fluid from his chest. But it hadn't brought him any further. He hadn't made any move toward waking up, and even though Dr. Sayer didn't say anything outright, Ben knew that the lengthening period of unconsciousness was affecting Alex's chances. Every hour he spent unconscious added to the likelihood that permanent damage would affect Alex if he woke up.

The only true good news from the week was that Luke was improving considerably. His nightmares had decreased significantly, to the point that it only took their mum a few minutes to calm Luke back to sleep. Even the last night, Ben hadn't known that Luke had had a nightmare until their mum had explained in the morning. Another change in the week was that Blake had rejoined his unit abroad. For the time being, it seemed that they were working for MI6—though Ben didn't know anything more than that…

It was nearing noon by the time Ben reached the hospital again. For the past few days, he had put in a couple of hours at the bank. All in the hopes of rounding up the last of those responsible for the SIMURGH and SCORPIA attacks. It made it so he felt like he was actually accomplishing something while Alex was… languishing.

It had been a process of days before anyone had convinced Ben that he should take a break from his vigil at the hospital. In the end, it had been his mum's steady pressure to do something more, that finally pushed him into action. The façade of things getting better that Ben put on had seemed to help Luke in a way, even though it hadn't served to help Ben at all.

Dr. Sayer joined Ben in the hall, just outside Alex's room. He made a habit of checking in on Alex every day, but left the minute-to-minute care to the doctors and nurses in the ward. It made it so that Dr. Sayer didn't have to be present if something urgent happened with Alex.

"Any news?" It was a routine question by now, and Ben wasn't honestly thinking he'd get a different response.

"Actually, there was a bit of a response this morning."

Ben froze, his breath catching in his throat. "Wha—what?"

Dr. Sayer gave him a light smile. "Yes, my thoughts exactly. I didn't believe it at first either, but… well, you'll have to see for yourself." He tipped his head toward the door, and motioned Ben in through it.

It took a double swallow, before Ben was able to convince himself to take the steps through the door. Though he had gotten used to the daily visits to see Alex, he didn't want to admit to himself how quickly the hope had been draining away. Now though…

The first glance at Alex didn't show any sort of change. He was still as pale as ever, tubes and wires going every which way, and the edge of bandages peeking out from underneath the blankets. Not being skilled enough to read any of the monitors, there was no way he could tell what anything meant. If it did indeed mean anything at all.

"Good afternoon, Alex." Dr. Sayer entered the room, with the exact same greeting as he had used day after day, and Ben wasn't entirely sure how the man managed it. "I brought your friend along. Ben's been visiting every day, and he's been long awaiting something like this."

Ben found himself holding his breath as he watched the doctor interact with his patient. The first batch of tests had absolutely no meaning to Ben, aside from the fact that Dr. Sayer verbally noted that the heart rate had steadied out. After a few more moments, Dr. Sayer did the real test. A pinch on the arm stirred an almost immediate reaction from Alex. His hand pulled away, just slightly, and an entire body jerk followed soon after.

"There we go." Dr. Sayer smiled again, and Ben couldn't help but grin as well. It was the best sign in weeks. "It's a great start for Alex. It means that he's working his way to waking up, even if he's not quite ready yet." He started to move toward Alex's head, but an almost inaudible change in pitch of one of the machines stopped him in his tracks.

Ben paused as well, but for different reasons. It seemed too much to ask for… but something told Ben that something was happening. Alex's hand contracted slightly, before relaxing, and another whole body shudder followed. His eyelids fluttered, before settling back, calm once more.

Ben shared a glance with Dr. Sayer, and stepped forward at the doctor's encouraging nod. He grasped onto Alex's free hand, rubbing at the back of it, unsure of his next move. "Al-alex? Hey, it's okay…" He rubbed at the hand, and was rewarded with a full body twitch and the renewed fluttering of eyelashes. "You can wake up now. You're safe here. Dr. Sayer's been watching after you, helping you get better. So, it's okay now. Everyone's safe. You've just got to wake up, so the rest of us can relax as well."

The minor signs of consciousness stuck around for the nearly five minutes that Ben spent talking to Alex. He just kept talking soothing nonsense to Alex, wondering if it would have any other effects. It did. At the end of the five minutes, much sooner than either person present in the room expected, Alex's eyes fluttered open.

Ben stared into the confused expression for a full five seconds, before breaking into an amazed smile. Alex's eyes darted around as much of the room as he could see, before his expression screwed into one of distress. His hand jerked in Ben's grip, struggling as much as his weakened muscles allowed him to.

"Shh… it's okay, Alex. It's not as bad as all that. You're okay here. You're safe." Ben continued to stroke the back of Alex's hand, and was rewarded with a slight calming. "Just don't worry about it, okay? They're taking care of you here."

Alex's hand tightened around Ben's for a moment, before slacking off again. Ben earned the faintest of smiles from Alex, before his eyelids fluttered shut again, and he slipped asleep. This time it was clear that Alex was in a slightly different state of mind than before. He was sleeping, not unconscious. There was a difference.

Dr. Sayer checked Alex over quickly, before motioning out the door to Ben. "In all honesty, I hadn't expected to see him awake at all. Not for a number of days at least. This is a very good sign, and I suspect that we'll see more and more of it over the next few days…"

Ben shook his head slightly, still not quite believing what had happened. He had been hoping for weeks that there'd be some sign of life from Alex, but he hadn't… hadn't been ready.

"—a friend nearby, to help."

Ben blinked rapidly, trying to tune back into Dr. Sayer's words. He wasn't exactly successful.

Dr. Sayer sent him a knowing smile. "You should probably stick around for a while. If Alex's is in and out of consciousness, having a friend nearby might help him stay calm. If he gets too agitated, we'll have to sedate him, and that would just serve to impair his recovery."

"Yeah… of course." He ran a hand through his hair, trying to reorganize his thoughts. "Can I… I want to tell Luke. I think… it would help him a lot."

"Go ahead." He nodded toward Alex's room. "We need to run some tests right now, but I suspect by the time you finish, we'll be finished. There's a phone at the nurses' station that you can use, if you want."

Ben nodded, took a deep breath, and retreated down the hall to the nurses' station. It only took a moment for him to locate the phone, and a glance from the nurse present gave him permission to use it. Ben dialed the number for the flat, unconsciously holding his breath as it rang. Someone had better be home!

"Hello?"

Ben let out a hasty breath, when he heard his mum's voice on the other end of the line. "Mum, it's me."

"Ben? What's going on? Are you okay? Is… everyone… okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine mum. It's okay." Ben shook his head slightly, unable to keep the slightly hysterical grin off his face. "Listen, is Luke there? I have some news for him."

"Well… yes… but, are you sure? You know how he is…"

"Just get him for me, mum. Trust me."

The line dropped for a moment, but Ben could hear his mum calling for Luke in the background. After a few more seconds of waiting, Luke picked up. "Ben? What's going on?"

"It's okay Luke. Everything's going to be okay."

"What?"

Ben grinned. "Everything's going to be okay now. Alex woke up!"

A/N: Ahhh… happy endings. And it's a long chapter too! I'm not going to tell you how much time I spent on this chapter… just know that I rewrote parts of it three times because I felt like I was getting too technical. Oh well. The point is, we're very, very close to the end of the story. As in, the next chapter is the last chapter/epilogue all rolled into one.

Classes at university start soon *cough*Monday*cough*, so hopefully I'll get the last chapter off sometime next weekend. Perhaps sooner, if classes are kind. Review plenty my dear friends!

S.B.L.