Painless
(Friday Afternoon, August 2nd)
When they enter the room, Ben sits up, "Chad?"
He tries to smile; however, it soon slips, and they sit in the pair of chairs next to the hospital bed. Charming inquires, "Did you think more about the feeding tube?"
"Why would I need to," Ben points out, "when you and my mother can decide for me?"
Chad asks, "They made you do it?"
"If they did," he points out, "I'd have a bulky ass tube sticking out of my stomach. So, no." Ben murmurs, "And here I thought all I had to do to avoid such excruciating pain was just to not end up in some feeding clinic."
"They said it should be painless," Charming frowns.
"And I've seen enough films to know that's not true," Ben rebuttals. "And they can give me whatever sedative or numbing agent they want. That doesn't mean it will work."
"You grew a tolerance to cold medicine," Charming recognizes, "but that doesn't mean other medicines won't work."
"You don't get it," Ben's eyes widen. "Cold medicine is the only pain medicine that's ever worked on me. I'm not trusting this will, just because some human doctor says so."
"You're starting to sound like Mal," Chad inputs.
"I think I'm sounding like someone who ends up in worse condition once they leave the hospital than when they get there," he argues. "Every stupid time I come here a doctor tries to kill me or I leave with a cold." Ben grins, "In-and-out every frickin' month of every fucking year. I tell the staff I live here, and they laugh."
"Ben." Chad says, "It's okay." and Ben's expression slips.
He awkwardly smiles, "What are you talking about?"
He shrugs, "Well, it's okay to be upset." before he thinks. "Your life's been taken from you. I would be mad too."
Ben whispers, "I'm not mad." before he lowers his head. "And since when do you take philosophy?" Chad fails to answer, and his mouth drops, "Wait. Is that… Did I make you feel like that, that your life was taken?"
Chad frowns at him and carefully answers, "Someone I trusted took advantage of me on a deep, personal level. That kind of thing can change a person."
"I'm sorry," Ben apologizes.
"I don't blame you," Chad informs.
"There's no excuse for what I did."
"Ben," Chad asserts. "This isn't your fault." He eyes off and mutters, "I'm allowed to make mistakes too, you know."
"You couldn't have done anything," Ben rejects.
"Cause and effect." Chad meets his green hazel eyes, "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction." He eyes down, "There's plenty I could have done."
Ben shakes his head, "I don't understand."
"Yes," Charming inputs. "Neither do I."
Chad glances at his father before facing Ben, "I could have said no to you the first time." and then looks past him. "I could have given you space. I could have relied less."
"Since when do you rely on me?" Ben counters.
He shakes his head, "Point is I could have done something."
"You couldn't have known it was going to happen," his father reminds him.
"Excuse me," a nurse interrupts.
"You said I had an hour," Ben complains.
"You do," she reassures, before she looks at him, "King Charming, may you join us, please?"
"What's going on?" Ben's eyes widen.
Charming turns to Chad, "Are you alright being alone with him?"
Chad eyes from Ben to his dad, "He's not biting anyone."
He stands from the chair and meets Ben's eyes, "I will be back."
After they leave, Ben gapes at Chad, "Since when do patients not have the right to know what's wrong with them?"
He shrugs, "Maybe it's not about you."
"Then what?" he irritably replies.
Chad suggests, "Maybe your father doesn't like he's not a contact anymore."
"And Charming is," Ben realizes, before he bites his lip.
"What's this about?" Belle says from the chair, once Charming enters the room.
He sits next to her, as he observes the doctors in front of them, "What happened?"
The blond surgeon questions, "What kind of carnivore is Ben, exactly?"
"Who told you that?" Belle questions.
"I did," Charming comments. "I wanted to know if the feeding tube was actually going to help Ben."
She settles before facing the doctors, "He's whatever his father is. Why?"
"Well, when it comes to major surgery, blood transfusions can be required," the blond explains. "Ben's procedure to take care of his internal bleeding required that."
The other doctor mentions, "If Ben is a carnivore, then he might have genetic markers a human doesn't have."
"Are you saying he could reject the transfusion?" Charming frowns.
"If it's viral related," he answers, "as in the acuti virus, then he should be fine; however, if the base of his genetic makeup is different, we could see a reaction."
Belle straightens, her voice hurt, "What kind of reaction?"
"In most cases," he supplies, "it looks like a bad cold with fever, chills, and dizziness,"
The blond adds, "Possibly dark urine, back pain, or shortness of breath."
"Could he die?" Charming worries.
"The blood type is still the same," she informs. "That kind of risk is very low."
"But he already has hyperthermia." Belle concludes, "He can't get a fever."
She whispers, "I'm sorry."
"It might not even happen," the other surgeon says. "We just need you to know what the signs are so that you can tell us when it happens."
"When," Belle notices.
Charming faces them, "Is there a reason why you couldn't tell Ben this?"
"He doesn't need the stress," she answers.
"And," the male doctor adds, "when people are told they're at risk of certain symptoms, they're more likely to notice them. We want to make sure the symptoms aren't psychosomatic."
Belle takes a deep breath, "So, what's the treatment?"
The doctors look at each other, before he hesitates, "It's been too long since the transfusion to do anything. If his body rejects it, we have to wait for it to completely leave his system. The symptoms occur, because the body is fighting off a foreign agent; however, once it clears, the symptoms should subside too."
"And how long will that take?" Belle's voice strengthens.
She softly speaks, "It could take up to couple weeks." and Belle cries, hunching over with choked breaths. Charming rests a hand on her shoulder, and she hides her face in her hand.
"Has Mal visited you?" Chad asks.
"You want to know if I'm seeing her again," Ben interprets.
"Have you seen her?"
Ben takes a moment, "I think she feels guilty." before looking at him. "She saw the bruise, and she didn't tell anyone. And if not for your father, I might be dead now."
"She should have told someone," Chad opinionates.
Ben raises an eyebrow, "If I told you not to tell anyone, would you have?" Chad fails to answer, and Ben reaches for his phone.
"What are you doing?"
"Sending Mal a text," he answers. "I need to make sure she's not… well, you know."
"No," Chad counters. "I don't."
Ben frowns at him, "I need to make sure she's not going to kill herself." Chad stares, and Ben faces the phone again. "I should just ask Evie how she is. She'll know."
"Evie's Mal's girlfriend," Chad states.
"And?"
"And you two, like, talk and stuff," he assumes.
Ben nods, "Yes. We talk and stuff."
Chad's mouth hangs open, "Why?"
"Why what?" Ben nervously laughs.
"You like Mal," Chad pinpoints.
"Yes, Chad," he frustrates. "I still love Mal."
"And Evie loves Mal?" he checks.
"Yes," he tiredly says.
"So, you two are competition," Chad concludes.
"What? No," Ben denies, before he falters. "I mean… It doesn't really feel like competition."
"Didn't all of those VKs have to fight just to survive?" he speculates. "How do you not think it's a competition?"
"Because," Ben flusters. "We talk. We have things in common."
"You have things in common," he repeats, "and that suddenly makes you friends?"
"We are friends."
Chad shakes his head, "Whatever."
When Charming walks back into the room, Ben sits up, "What happened?"
He sits back in his seat, "They just wanted to explain how withholding important information from them could be dangerous."
"Dangerous?" Ben inquires.
"Like you being a carnivore," he explains. "Knowing that changes things."
"What do you mean?"
He pauses, "That's not important right now."
Ben glances at the door, "Where's Mother?"
"Adam's been calling," he frowns, and Ben eyes down. "She's being escorted back to the castle by the officers."
"Father's not going to like this," Ben opinionates.
"She's going to have police detail," Charming informs. "She's safe." Ben quiets, and he asks, "Why don't you tell the police about this so that they have something to use?"
"There's nothing to tell," Ben reiterates.
Charming frowns, "Ben. I know your father did this, but you need to say it." Ben doesn't speak, and he continues, "All of this can stop, if only you come forward."
Ben stares forward, and Chad comments, "You could do it for your mom."
"She's not going to be mad if you say anything," Charming reassures. "She's far more worried about you."
"Ben?" Chad bends over to examine his blank expression, before he waves a hand in front of his face.
"Chad," his father shouts, and Chad drops his arm, backing against his seat. He sternly eyes him, before he notices Ben's tense composure. "I'm sorry. I just need him to keep your space in mind, given the circumstances.
"It's fine," Ben whispers.
"Ready?" a doctor says, as she enters the room. Ben nods, and she heads over to hang up a bag and clean an area on his arm.
Chad watches her stick the needle into it, "What is that?"
"A pain killer," she answers.
"Morphine?" Chad assumes.
"I thought this was a basic procedure," Charming comments.
"It is." She turns to him, "But Ben didn't respond well to the sedative in his previous surgery. He can be awake for this one, but a mild pain killer won't be enough."
"When I take medicine, I have to take twice as much," Ben inputs, and she looks at him. "Is this going to be enough?"
"Have you ever used morphine before?" she asks.
Ben glances at Chad, before he unsurely says, "I'm not sure, really."
"Well, assuming you haven't," she answers, "you shouldn't have a tolerance to it."
"Hold on." Charming questions, "What happened in his other surgery?"
She faces him, "He started to wake up towards the end of it. We had to give him more, but we don't want to give him that much again so soon—especially for something this simple."
"He uses stimulants to sleep," Chad informs.
Ben's jaw drops, "Chad. The fuck?"
"It could be related," he speculates. "Don't you want to know?"
The doctor looks at him, "What kind of stimulants?"
"Cold medicine," Ben furiously answers. "Just the thing I've been taking my entire shitty life so that I can continue living it."
"Nighttime or daytime?" she calmly asks.
"Nighttime's better," Ben answers, before he widens his eyes at Chad. "Which is meant to make you sleep."
"So, antihistamines are stimulants," she explains, "but oddly enough it's the same ingredient that makes people sleepy."
"So, it's not related?" Charming concludes.
"Not unless he has ADHD," she answers.
"He's OCD," Chad claims.
Ben narrows his eyes at him, "I'm not diagnosed with anything. You can't just say that."
"That doesn't make it any less of a problem," his brows raise.
Ben huffs, "If I was OCD, my room would be cleaner."
"So, you never obsess over people or projects?"
"No," Ben denies. Chad widens his eyes, grins, and shakes his head before standing from his seat. Ben watches him head for the door, "Wait. Where are you going?"
He turns towards him and walks backwards, "If you're not obsessed, I can leave."
"Chad. Stay," he irritably pleads.
"And watch this fucked up forced feeding they call bedside manners?" he sarcastically counters. "Uh, ugh. No way. I'm out."
After he leaves, Charming faces Ben, "I can talk to him."
Ben mutters, "You know what's best."
"I'm staying," he decides, and Ben silently eyes away.
"Alright," the doctor takes a deep breath, and their attention is brought to her. "Before we start the procedure, you will get a numbing agent sprayed in your mouth. This will help me guide the camera through your throat without your gag reflex getting triggered. Once I can see everything I need to, a small incision will be made to place the tube in the stomach."
"Does that mean there's going to be blood?" Ben unsurely asks.
She smiles, "Minimal, but you will be on your back. I suggest that you either keep your eyes closed or on the ceiling. There can be a disconnect in a person's mind when they see their own blood. Even if the procedure is lifesaving, their body can tell them they're in danger; however, if you move, that increases the risks."
"Don't look at the doctor cutting into me," Ben tensely expresses. "Got it."