Luke stepped through the sliding glass door of the ICU room where Jace had been moved after surgery. Rick had tried to tell him how the boy would look after all he'd been through but nothing could have prepared him for the reality of it. Jace was pale, eyes dark and sunken, lips tinged blue and he looked like a small boy in the big stark white bed. The respirator took up a large portion of his face and he had various tubes and wires running everywhere hooked to different machines. His hands trembled as he stroked the matted blond hair before leaning in to kiss him on the forehead. "I love you kid," he choked out before completely breaking down in heaving sobs.
Rick stepped into the room and brought Luke a chair helping him to sit down next to the bed. "We are going to let him come out of the sedation to be sure everything is ok after surgery but don't be alarmed if we have to sedate him again. He will be in a lot of pain."
"Then why let him wake up until he heals a little?"
"We," he paused not wanting to add more to his stress, "he flat lined three times on the table so we need to assure there is no brain damage."
Luke paled even more, "Tell me the truth Rick, is he going to be ok?"
"He has angel blood on his side," he smiled. "He has a better chance then anyone I know."
He nodded, "I know this is ICU but I'm not leaving him."
"I figured as much," he smiled. "I will do the best I can to allow you to stay but if I or any of my staff tells you to step out you have to step out. It would be for Jace's benefit."
"Of course," he nodded though he was focused on Jace.
"Just push the call button if you need anything. I'll be here until he wakes up."
He didn't even pay attention to the fact that Rick had left, he was too busy watching the monitors. Every beep was a sign that he was alive and one step farther toward recovering. He scooped Jace's long thin hand into his, "you have to be ok kid. There is so much I want us to do, to experience together as a family. I want to show you some of the things you've missed out on because of the life you had. There's so much that I want, that I need to tell you but you have to get better first so get better fast, understand?"
Four hours passed and Luke was still sitting at his side holding his hand when suddenly the monitors started beeping more rapidly and Jace was suddenly moving. He jumped to his feet, "Shhh clam down it's alright." He barely caught Jace's hand as he grabbed the ventilator tube and tried to pull it out. "No! You're going to hurt yourself kid, stop." He reached and pushed the nurse's call button on the bed rail.
"May I help you?"
"My son is awake," he said trying to stop Jace from pulling wires and tubes. "Jace look at me," he demanded and pain filled panicked blue eyes found his. "Focus on my voice and try to calm down before you hurt your self more."
"How are you feeling?" Rick asked as he walked up to him. "You are a very lucky young man Jace. Do you remember what happened?"
He nodded his head carefully but the heart monitor began to beep at a rapid pace and his blood pressure skyrocketed. He tried to talk but the tube wouldn't let him so all he could do was squeeze Luke's hand.
"Two milligrams Dilaudid now," Rick instructed the nurse.
"What's going on?" Luke asked.
"He's in a terrible amount of pain and it's causing his blood pressure to go too high." The nurse returned and injected the medicine in the I.V. and with in seconds Jace's eyes slid shut and he stopped struggling and his blood pressure began to even out.
Luke fell back into the chair finally able to take a breath.
A week passed and Luke never left Jace's side. Alec and Simon came to visit a couple of times and brought him some clean clothes he could change into but they were limited to the times they could visit with him in ICU. Things had gone fairly smooth for them only having one major issue during the week. Luke had fallen asleep in the chair when a male nurse came in to give Jace a bath. Needless to say it didn't go over well. Jace panicked and struggled to get away from him waking Luke with a start and the poor nurse nearly had a heart attack when Luke pinned him against the wall with a vicious growl. After that Luke took care of everything that wasn't medical. He was just finishing up brushing Jace's hair when Rick came in. "Morning."
Rick smiled, "I have some good news. We've been able to cut back on the respirator enough that I think we can remove it today." He laughed at Jace's expression and removed the tape from his face. "As I pull the tube I want you to blow out."
He winced and gagged feeling like the tube was all the way down to his toes instead of his lungs. Once it was finally out he coughed hard and grabbed his chest, "Owe!"
"Easy," Rick said as he listened to his chest through his stethoscope. "It may be hard to talk for a while due to the irritation caused by the tube but it will improve in a couple of days. How is your pain today?"
He'd learned not to shrug because it pulled his incision. "I've hurt worse," his voice was horse and raspy.
"That's not an answer," Luke said with his arms crossed over his chest.
"It hurts," he admitted.
"You want something for pain?"
"No, I've been asleep for too long."
"Jace.."
"It's ok," Rick smiled at Luke's protectiveness. "When he's ready for something just let the nurse know." He spoke with them for a bit then left for the night.
Luke sat down and took Jace's hand in his. "We need to talk."
