Waking Up
Peter met Elizabeth at the hospital and they grabbed their dinner from the cafeteria. Settling into Bryce's room, they ate while catching up with the others.
"He hasn't woken up yet, but his stats say he could at any time. It's just his choice when he is willing to wake up… and he is rather stubborn for sleeping in when he can." Chuck teased before elaborating on various stories where Bryce had slept as late as possible on the days where he didn't have classes or anything demanding on his schedule. "I guess he considered those days as his chance to recharge before landing back into his busy schedule."
Reaching over as he finished eating, Peter ran his hands through Bryce's hair again. It had become a habit for him to provide the physical comfort for his friend along with the reassurance that he was there for him. "I don't mind him getting some sleep, he has been busy for the last several years, but how much sleep does he need?"
"Apparently I've had enough… either that or you eat too loudly," was softly said, but the entire room heard it.
"Bryce?" Peter questioned. He kept his hand on the kid's head but paused in his motion. The voice had startled him and he wanted to hear him talk again.
"Never heard you call me that before," Bryce's voice was getting stronger, but he was indeed awake.
Smiling happily, Peter enjoyed the teasing banter. "I didn't know it was your name before, although I wondered a few times. Your undercover role is over, and we all know the truth now."
Moving to stand next to Peter, Elizabeth took one of Bryce's hands in hers. "We're so glad to see you awake again. You gave us quite a scare between dying, getting revived, and then dropping into a coma for so long." The tears were welling up in her eyes, even as the smile spread across her face. She was emotional after everything they had gone through.
"Three rounds are enough, Bryce. If you ever die on us again, we will find a way to build you a bulletproof suit and never let you out of it." Chuck promised with a concerned smile. He was a nerdy engineer and he could devote his creative side to trying to invent such a protective device.
"I'm not going to become Iron Man or any other such comic book hero," Bryce answered before breaking into a cough.
Getting him some water, Peter held the straw up for him to drink. Although he was generally hydrated, he still needed to swish a few sips through his mouth before he swallowed them. With his throat feeling better, he was up to a few minutes of conversation.
Interrupting their conversation on designs, Peter figured they could get lost in the discussion at another time. "You can talk comic books and video games later, right now; we only just got the first chance to talk to you since everything happened at the courthouse."
Seeing the shift in everyone's expressions, Bryce knew he had scared them all. "I'm sorry. The teams and I took precautions. Everything from having a sniper in the gallery, to agents all over the premises, to a bulletproof vest, and it wasn't enough was it?" He knew something had gone wrong, but didn't seem to remember it all immediately.
Choked up for words, Peter didn't want to talk about it yet again. The images still haunted his dreams at times and he didn't want to go another round with them if he didn't have to. Hughes had ordered him to seek help, but as it goes with such traumas, it was going to take time before he had overcome the worst of the effects.
June chose it as her chance to enter into the conversation, "It was enough that you came back to us." She reached up to squeeze the hand that Elizabeth was holding. "You didn't stay dead, and you woke up to see us again. We just want you to get better so things can find a new normal."
Realizing that no one had accusing expressions for him, Bryce knew things had changed since he had last been awake. "What all has happened? How long have I been out?" He figured he might as well ask some questions in order to find out what to expect.
Sarah answered. "You have been in a coma for over a week. At the courthouse, you were shot twice in the back and once to the heart, and although the vest took the impact, you still reacted. When you hit the floor, you hit your head which stunned you while you swelled up from the bullets… you suffocated to death in your protective gear." She tried to keep it short and to the point. It had been hard for her to see him dead again, but she had handled it better than Peter who had witnessed it.
Seeing the shudders run through Peter, Bryce knew that he was still affected by the experience. Gently pulling his hand from Elizabeth, he reached out to Peter. "Hey, I didn't stay dead." After Peter took his hand and held it, he turned to see how the others had handled it. Chuck and Sarah seemed to be the next most affected, as they had been witness to him lying on the floor. Extending his other hand out towards them, Bryce was glad when they both grasped it between theirs. "I'm sorry you had to see that again. At least this time you got to know I survived instead of me randomly popping back up later."
"There is that," Sarah said through her tears. "But, don't forget that you still have some explaining to do on the last round. We haven't gotten to talk about that yet."
Looking a little uncomfortable, Bryce knew it wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation. He had hurt them a great deal, and they wanted answers. "As soon as the doctor clears me," the promise might as well be made, as they would guarantee that he gave them answers.
There wasn't time for more conversation before the nurse requested the visitors take a break while Bryce was checked over since he was finally out of the coma.
Using the time, the others contacted whoever was on their list to inform them that Bryce was awake.
Although visiting hours were up by the time the staff was done with Bryce, the doctor gave them a basic update and allowed them a little extra time to say goodnight.
Seeing Bryce looking sleepy, they knew they would have to keep it short and simple so they took brief turns to talk him alone.
Taking her turn while Peter and Elizabeth took a walk through the halls, June wanted to say her goodnight, and then she was heading home. "I'm sorry about everything that happened, Bryce. You were right in assuming my maid was involved, but it was her boyfriend that forged the vase. Although I agreed you could be guilty and hoped you would be innocent, there wasn't a good direction for the case to go, either my friend who had been with me for a short time had betrayed me or the staff that I've had for decades had. It wasn't a good situation, and I allowed myself to suspect you enough to evict you." Patting his hand, she hoped that he would allow her to try to rectify the wrong. "If you still want them, the loft and suits will be waiting for you when you recover."
Understanding her pain, Bryce turned his hand to hold hers. He couldn't get up and give her a hug yet, so holding hands with people would have to do. "I don't blame you, not for any of it. My job was to perform the role and draw out the killers. Really, I was glad when you evicted me because it gave me an excuse to leave the loft and it provided a distance between you and the danger. There isn't anything I wouldn't do to keep you safe."
Crying softly, she moved forward to hug him. "Thank you. You are a good man, Bryce, and a better friend." Having generally made her peace, she told him goodnight and left.
Getting their few moments alone with Bryce, Peter and Elizabeth briefly shared some of what they wanted to say.
"The team has your name cleared of all charges," Peter hung his head as he thought of how badly they had treated Bryce as they accused him of so many crimes that he turned out to be completely innocent of. "Now that you're awake… we have a lot to talk about when we get the chance." There was too much to say in a limited amount of time, so Peter opted to wait until they could wade into it fully. Giving Bryce a look though, he tried to convey how sorry he was. As long as Bryce didn't outright reject him, there was still hope of repairing their friendship.
"I'm sure I have a lot of explaining to do with a lot of people," Bryce sighed. There were the people going through his room, his family would want to know something, Jonathon wasn't present, the team, and so on. The friends were a longer list than they used to be, and they would all have things to talk to him about.
"Not just explaining," Peter tried to show that he didn't just want to have his questions answered, but that he had some things to say too.
Flinching, Bryce understood part of it. "You did promise to let me have it if I pulled any such stunts again, now I'll probably get to find out what that means."
Reaching out to place his hand on Bryce's head as he had been doing through the coma, Peter wanted to be comforting, to remind Bryce that he was his friend too. "Although something of that will come up, don't underestimate when I say that we have a lot to talk through."
Relaxing under the friendly gesture, Bryce calmed down at the sign that their friendship wasn't lost. Peter was also looking to rebuild their foundation before building it back up again. So much of what it had been before had been built off of lies, but now Peter could learn an element of the truth. "That is a lot," he agreed.
Holding his hand, Elizabeth pointed out that Peter wasn't the only one with things to talk about. "I'm sorry to admit that I believed you were guilty too. When everything fell apart, I wasn't a good friend to you either, as I didn't even let you tell your side of the story. Once you get better, I promise to make your favorite dinner, if you'll promise to show up to eat it." She wanted the chance to thoroughly apologize, and some of that would take a while to talk through. Besides, the promise of an entire evening would be a great start towards her and Peter rebuilding their friendships with the young agent.
"Deal," Bryce promised, "and Peter had better not be taking the choice snacks before I get there either," he added in the extra tease.
"Then you had better be on time," Peter returned the favor.
Bidding Bryce good night, they hadn't fully apologized, but they had started and had his promise for future opportunities.
Left to themselves, Chuck and Sarah didn't have a lot to say either, because there was too much to say for the time.
"You really do have a lot of explaining to do. We watched you die and didn't know anything about you again until I was called in here. Then we haven't had the chance to talk because I was playing civilian and you were in prison again. Still, I'm glad to see that you're alive after all," Chuck informed Bryce.
Looking relieved, Bryce was glad to know Chuck wasn't angry with him, he just wanted some answers to resolve what he had seen. "Ask Beckman, she can get you the security feed which will show you," he directed. Maybe they would get the worst of their questions answered through that?
Sarah wasn't having it though. "You aren't getting off of the hook that easily. We might watch the feed, but we are still going to have questions for you."
Seeing that Bryce was yawning and his eyes were drooping, Chuck chose to take pity on him. "You're going to have a lot of visitors in the morning, so you might as well get some real sleep and rest up. Take it easy and let us know if you need anything, we'll be right outside of your door standing guard."
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