CHAPTER V

Alexander was napping lazily in his hospital bed, glancing at the window from time to time to look at the light that was slowly fading away, casting crimson rays on the wall of his room. The last two days had been extremely boring, Thomas had had his day off and today he had the night shift, so Alex hadn't really had anyone to talk with – the other nurses were less and less afraid of him, but they weren't enthusiastic about staying in his same room either, and no one ever stopped to exchange some words with him. Alexander had already read every book he had, he'd studied all the books for his next test – twice – and was starting to feel restless again. The only thing that could appeal to his patience was that he would be finally out of that horrible place in two weeks.

He'd just started thinking about all the things he'd do as soon as he got out, when his flow of thoughts was interrupted by his phone – it was Lafayette.

"What's the word, hummingbird?"

"Alexander, comment te sens-tu, mon amour?" Gilbert asked with an enthusiastic voice, "surtout, comment ça se passe avec le charmant infirmier?" [How are you doing? Above all, how are the things going with the charming nurse?]

"Laf, you don't have to talk in French when you want to know about him; first of all, he cannot hear you, but me; secondly, he speaks French as well, so our secret communications are over."

"You can talk Spanish though."

"Yeah, but you can't – it doesn't make any sense!"

"You know, Spanish is a very sexy language, maybe you'll hit on him thanks to that," Gilbert goofed around, "anyway, you're freely talking about him now so I guess he's not around – tell. me. everything."

"All right," Alex cast an anxious look at the door and started whispering to the phone, explaining him everything he and Thomas had said to each other a couple of days before, "you know, I thought he was a jerk but the other day, after having talked with him, he's started being – I don't really know how to describe it – gentle?"

"Since when do you need people to be gentle with you?"

"Yeah I know, that's totally new for me too Gil. He's still telling me that I'm a pain in the ass and everything but, despite his words, he's started acting differently all of a sudden – when he medicated my face the other night it seemed like if he was touching something made of glass," Alex shivered at the thought, "I've never felt more delicate in my life."

"Mon dieu!"

"What?"

"You actually like him!"

"I don't…know."

"What about John? Before the accident, you'd talk non-stop about him for weeks!"

"I know man, I really like John, I do," Alex sighed, "but I don't really know him right? While Thomas – I dunno, I'm feeling something like an understanding between us, and that's strange since we really hated each other until some days ago, and we still don't seem to tolerate one another very much."

"Well, mon ami, I've always said you need someone who is able to stand up to you," Gilbert giggled in a dreamy way, "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you! I'm coming for the summer – I'll be there in mid-June."

"That's great Laf! Oh god, I can't wait to see you again," Alex smiled his first real smile for the first time in weeks, "I really miss you."

"I miss you too," Gilbert sighed happily, "do you have any news on the surgery?"

"I do, actually. The doctor told me this morning that my surgery is scheduled for next week; I should be home within two weeks."

"That's great Alex."

"Yup, and you know I – oh, te llamaré más tarde porque acaba de llegar y no puedo hablar ahora." [in Spanish: I'll call you later cause he's just arrived and I can't talk right now]

"He's there, right? I cannot believe you really used the sexy Spanish move," Gilbert was laughing so hard Alex had to drew the phone away from his ear for some seconds, "I love you, mon ami."

"Sí espero que él no hable español también o de lo contrario estoy jodido." Alexander added quickly and closed the call. [Yes I hope he doesn't speak Spanish too or else I'm screwed]

Alex put his phone away and carefully looked at the tall nurse who elegantly moved around the room to open the windows, grabbing an extra blanket for Alex – how did he know that Alex needed it without even asking?

"G'morning darlin'," Thomas offered him a quick smile and checked his vitals, taking some notes on the med chart, "I've just heard you're leaving us in two weeks – I was thinking about doing something for the occasion."

"Do you mean, like, celebrating my recovery?"

"No darlin', I mean celebrating the fact that you'll be out of here at last – you're not invited anyway, the party will be for nurses only," Thomas shrugged and grinned teasingly.

"How dare you to speak like this to a poor patient," Alexander faked indignance but couldn't stop smiling, "are you aware that I've been in terrible pain and I had to bear it all alone?"

"First of all, I'm pretty sure you've unleashed your anger on anyone around you for the whole time, so – believe me – everyone had to bear your 'pain' as well," Thomas walked towards the door, his teasing smile still on, "also, in the short time you've been here, you've done so much damage I'd never believed one person could do."

"Hey, I thought we were cool on that," Alex cocked his head to the side, confused.

"Of course sweetheart, but that doesn't erase the fact that you're the most annoying person I've ever met," Thomas sent him a kiss and exited the room.

Alex's heart jumped a beat – he knew Thomas was only messing around with him, but looking at that handsome man sending him a kiss with a shadow of mischief in his eyes was enough to make him happy for a while.

Thomas walked into the corridor with a smile still lingering on his lips – what the hell was he doing, flirting with a patient? He definitely had to get a grip on himself, he couldn't really fall for a person like Hamilton. In less than a month he'd scared off everyone around him and had ruined Bernie's chance to get better – Thomas hated him, right?

"Thomas, can I get some help with Philip? He refused to eat the whole day and you know he only listens to you," Alice's voice called him from the nurses' room, "I've tried everything, really."

"Ok, I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks."

He checked Mr Eliot's vitals first – that man was so old Thomas was positively sure he was a vampire – and then knocked at Philip's door, opening it without waiting for an answer.

"Philip, you know you shouldn't keep the door closed," Thomas sighed, looking at the grumpy teenager on the bed – why did he remind him so much of the grown-up man in Room Eighteen? – and walked in.

"I need privacy," Philip crossed his arms in an hostile way and scanned Thomas's whole figure, "I can't stay here a day longer, I just can't take it anymore."

"So your plan is to starve yourself to death?"

"Maybe."

"You know we'll simply put another IV to feed you through a needle, right?" Thomas knew Philip preferred him over the other nurses and doctors in there because he'd never talked to him like a child, nor had he hidden the reality of his situation, "you're only slowing your recovering process by acting like this."

"How so?"

"Well, when you're stressed your body senses it and acts on the physical level to let you know of it – that's why we have stomach ache or lose more hair when we're under pressure; the fact is that your body is already physically recovering, so you won't help it at all by being always nervous and angry all the time," Thomas looked carefully at Philip's reactions while talking, trying to interpret his face until he saw that he'd struck to the right point, "so if you really want to leave this place sooner, do yourself a favour and try to eat something and get plenty of sleep – you wouldn't believe it, but smiling really helps too."

"How can I smile? I have nothing to do and I've been disqualified from my school's chess competition cause I didn't show up to the first match – this was my last chance and I really needed to win!"

"Chess, huh? All right, let's say that you eat something and I'll find you a chess partner in here."

"Really? Cool," Philip's face lit up at once, "but try not to pick some super old dude please."

"Don't worry, I have the perfect person in mind."

"I don't know a thing about chess!" Alexander moaned, "and I hate teenagers."

"You're lucky then, because he also hates everyone and everything, so you two already have something in common!"

"Why are you punishing me? Did I make you believe that I wasn't perfectly happy all alone in my room?"

"Oh I see – you're scared cause you know he will kick your ass, so now you're acting as if you've not being bored as hell these last days," Thomas smiled, this was way too easy, "you've been sleeping half of the time in the last two days, but I'm not allowing it during my shifts, darlin'."

"What do you care if I sleep, shouldn't I be resting?"

"Yeah, but you're too much of a restless person to actually spend your days sleeping – come on, the first week without morphine you slept three hours a night; did you really think I wouldn't notice?"

Alexander was taken aback by Thomas's words – he'd been feeling a little depressed lately and had preferred sleeping over other activities, like reading or writing; but how could Thomas always know what he needed, without even knowing him?

"Stop looking at me like that, I'm a nurse and that means I'm trained to read in between the lines of everything, because you jerks never voice your needs."

"Did you just refer to your patients as 'jerks'?" a smiled cracked Alexander's serious countenance.

"Shut up, Hamilton," Thomas put his fists on his hips and frowned at him, "do I have to tell Philip that you're too scared to play against him?"

"Bring the kid here, I'll google how to play chess," Alexander was already searching the internet for the game rules, "he'll lose so badly that he'll never bother me again."

In the end, they played five matches and Alex miserably lost all of them. On the bright side, Alexander and Philip got along so well that Thomas almost regretted introducing them to each other; they spent the night by listing every single thing they hated about being stuck in that hospital and, occasionally, they spoke ill about the doctors.

"Did you win?" Thomas asked mockingly after Philip returned to his room.

"Fuck off Jefferson, you should've told me that the kid is a freaking champion," Alexander hissed and gave him a surly look.

Thomas hummed happily while closing the curtains and adjusting Hamilton's blankets for the night. He tucked him in, since he was still unable to move most of his body, and suddenly caught the other man looking at him in awe.

"Seeing anything you like, darlin'?" Thomas raised an eyebrow and winked, amused by Alex's reaction.

"Don't fancy yourself too much, Jefferson," he retorted, looking at him straight in the eyes with a daring look, "wanna gave me a goodnight kiss, maybe?"

Thomas laughed at his patient's cockiness and stepped away, raising his hands in surrender. Alexander smiled and stuck his tongue out at him, wondering where the hell did he get the courage to stand up to Jefferson's teasing like that; he followed Thomas's figure as he turned off the lights and withdrew in the nurses' room.

Thomas silently closed the door and put the kettle on for him and Alice – they were both absolutely unable to sleep at work and every time they shared the night shift they would spend their time by drinking tea and chatting. He silently cursed his behaviour with Hamilton – hadn't he just resolved not to flirt with him anymore? – and he couldn't help but smile while thinking about the other man's smug face when he'd asked for a kiss. Alexander was really beautiful when he stood up to others, his dark eyes would burn with pride and passion, and a clever smirk would lit his beautiful face – he was as annoying as charming to Thomas, his strong personality seemed to pull Thomas to him like a magnet.

"Just another two weeks," Thomas hummed to himself, "two weeks and he'll be gone."

Notes:

Wow, so there's some interest then - Alex is clearly attracted by Thomas, but what about his flirt with John? And will Thomas overcome all the Bernie's situation and accept the fact that he likes Alex too? *using the movie trailers' voice* you'll discovered it in the next episode - I mean, chapter ;)