Through The Ups & Downs
Couple; Harrison X Briana
Rating; Mature
Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD or any songs I might use! In addition, from this point in the story and in future chapters, I do not own the character Ella (Eira) Solveig. She belongs to a good friend, ShadowSpirit020.
50) How To Feel
[Three Weeks Later; 11/7/2017]
The visits to the hospital were daily, a group of four going in at one time to sit with Harrison while he remained in the coma. Briana was one of the people in the room all the time, only taking short breaks to tend to the children or get something to eat, but more often than not, she was at Harrison's side and holding his hand. Briana talked to him every day, telling him how things would be when he woke up, that they could get back to their life with the twins. Briana had Cayden and Colden in daycare five days a week, she did not want them at the hospital because they didn't need to see their father that way. In addition to that, Cayden and Colden were curious two-year-olds and wanted to know what was going on. Harrison was medically but honorably discharged from the Arc Isle Military Forces. Of course, there were still some things that needed to get done before it was official. One of those things was the final evaluation of the soldier and for that; they needed Harrison to be awake.
All of them just wanted Harrison to wake up, but it was starting to look like he'd be out for a while. Dr. Eretson explained that this happened sometimes. It was a traumatic event and it takes time for everything to reset, part of it might be that in Harrison's mind, he was still fighting. It was complicated to understand but at the same time, they just wanted Harrison awake to make sure he was going to be okay. Harrison would have a lot to work through as Aaron, Glenn, and Emmett had explained what could happen after Harrison awoke. It was explained that Harrison could develop PTSD from what occurred, that he would have trouble sleeping, loud sounds would take him back to the grenade. The worse thing to worry about was if Harrison's memory was in tact, Emmett mentioned that it could happen.
Right now in the room was Briana, Addilyn, Andy, and Skye, everyone else was on a food and coffee break. Briana was holding Harrison's hand, stroking her finger over it. "Please wake up, please, babe?" Briana pleaded softly.
"It's going to be okay, Bri. Harrison will wake up soon, I'm sure of it. What happened was…really traumatic for him. Taking on Red Death, fighting that Dominic guy, then the grenade. You heard Dr. Eretson, in Harrison's mind, he's still fighting for his life and he probably won't wake up until he-," Skye was cut short by Briana gasping, then she stood up and leaned over the bed.
"Harrison?!" Briana asked quickly.
"Bri, what are you talking about?" Addilyn said as she moved from her spot by the window.
"I-I felt Harrison move his hand and hold mine!" Briana exclaimed. "Baby? Harrison, baby, it's me. It's Bri. I'm right here. If you can hear me, squeeze my hand again…please? Let me know you're with me?" she asked. At first, there was nothing and then they saw his hand clench a little and tighten on Briana's. The four of them were in shock and watched closely as Harrison's eyes began moving around behind the lids. "Come on, that's it, Harrison. Wake up and open your eyes for me," Briana pleaded.
Harrison's eyes slowly began to open, twitching at the bright lights overhead. Harrison blinked his green eyes a few times to let them adjust. Finally, he looked around, it appeared that he was taking everything in around him.
{Harrison's POV}
My head was throbbing, but I heard a familiar voice calling to me. I felt my hand being held by another soft one, a finger stroked over my knuckles. "Please wake up? Please, babe?" I heard. That was Briana's voice! W-Was I unconscious? Had I been for long? I-I couldn't remember anything. I also couldn't move. What was going on!? I heard beeping, and voices still. Finally, I felt a tingling in my hand, the one that was being held. I willed it to move as and I gave a small squeeze and heard Briana and whoever was with her get worked up. I heard Briana tell me to squeeze again if I could hear her, so I did. Alright, I needed to wake up and find out what was going on. I focused hard and tried to open my eyes, it was so bright. I heard the beeping more clearly now; I recognized the particular tone too. Was I in a hospital?
'Come on, wake up, Harrison. Wake up!' I ordered myself as I got my eyes open and blinked to focus them. When my vision was clear, I looked around to find myself in a hospital. I had a breathing mask on, I was hooked up to a monitor that kept track of my pulse, blood pressure, and heart rate. I could tell there was an IV in my arm too. What the hell happened to me?
"Harrison?" Briana asked as I let my eye focus on her.
"H-Hey, beautiful," I stated while trying to give her a smile.
"Oh, thank you God!" Briana cried lightly, "I was so scared that I'd lost you," I didn't understand, what happened to me? I saw Skye, Addilyn, and Andy in the room.
"What is all the noise in-," a nurse barged in and stopped when she looked at me. Instantly, she rushed out. Okay, now I was utterly confused. In a matter of fifteen minutes, my room was swarmed with my parents, Nate, Briana's family, then all my other friends.
"Oh, my baby! You're awake, thank Odin," my mother cried.
"Okay, have I missed something? Last I checked I was only going into surgery to donate bone marrow for Nate," I said as the all stepped back once, looking shocked and maybe a little concerned. The door opened revealing Dr. Eretson.
"Well now, there he is. How do you feel?" Emmett asked with a smile as he put a hand up to the others who wanted to ask questions.
"Uh, not entirely sure. I feel like I've been sleeping in a box for two weeks," I admitted. "Can you tell me why everyone is looking at me that way?" I motioned to the others.
"That's to be expected, lad. And it's because you've been unconscious for a few weeks, in a coma to be exact," Dr. Eretson said softly. I stopped and my eyes widened a bit after he said that. I'd been in a coma for a few weeks?! "Hey, hey. Relax. It's okay, deep breaths. I don't want to have to put you under again to calm you down, Harrison," Emmett warned. I was panicking, but decided to take breaths before looking at him again, a more serious look in my eyes now. "See, there you go. Alright, now. Since you have just woken up, I need to ask you a few questions to make sure you know who you are and what's going on, okay?"
I forced a nod before he looked to the others. "Why don't you give us a few minutes so I can see where we are at?" he told them as they nodded and left the room. I didn't understand anything. I tried to stay calm as Dr. Eretson asked me a bunch of questions about myself. This took close to fifteen minutes to do, I hoped we were nearing the end because I was tired already. "Now, Harrison. Can you tell me what month and year we're in?" Emmett inquired.
"I-It's Ju-July…19th, 2016?" I replied unsurely. What else could the date have been? It was the day that I donated the bone marrow for Nate, wasn't it? Emmett sighed as he got up and put a hand on my shoulder. I really didn't like this anymore. Emmett smiled as he prepared to leave the room, I brought my hand to head and then noticed the wedding band on my finger. When did I get married? I pulled the band off and looked on the inside of it to read the inscription: BG&HH 10/7/2017. Wait, if this band was dated for 2017 then…was I in the year 2016? I couldn't be if this band was on my finger. I slid the band back on now and I glanced around the room quickly. I saw the board by the door reading the date as November 7, 2019. 2019?! What the hell happened to me! Why…was I thinking it was 2016 when it's really 2019!? I didn't understand. Why wouldn't anyone tell me what happened?
"Harrison? Are you alright?" Emmett asked. I didn't answer, I was confused and upset. I wanted to understand all this! I closed my eyes tightly and started shaking my head, I could hear my monitor beeping wildly now. "Harrison. Harrison! It's okay, calm down my friend. If you don't stop, you're going to reopen your wounds," Emmett said to me quickly. I felt arms on me and began thrashing about, but something felt different. As my legs hit the bed, something on the left was different. I stopped while panting heavily and looked down at my feet, nervously, I moved the covers off my legs and saw that my left leg was…missing. My eyes widened, I began seeing blurred flashes of something that happened to me. I heard gunshots and explosions, screams of terror and fear. I held my head tightly, closing my eyes while I shook violently.
The last thing I heard before everything went black was "Help me hold him down!"
{Normal POV}
[Three Days Later]
When Emmett exited Harrison's room, the group of family and friends were worried since they had heard Emmett yell for help in holding Harrison down. Emmett explained what happened during the questions, that Harrison said it was July 2016, the day he'd given Nate the bone marrow transplant. It worried everyone that Harrison was awake and out of the coma but thought that it was three years prior. Emmett also explained that Harrison noticed his wedding band, looked around the room and likely saw the date on the white board where pertinent information went about the nurse, doctor, so on and so forth. The last thing Emmett informed everyone of is that Harrison went into a confused panic after he saw his leg was missing. Of course, this didn't make anyone feel better. It came out that as Emmett was going to restrain and sedate Harrison, he ended up blacking out and since then, hasn't woken up.
For Harrison, he had woken up a few times in fact, but kept his eyes closed and pretended to still be out so he could think. How had he lost his left leg? How was he married? What the hell had happened to him? It took a bit, but Harrison eventually got the information by listening to his friends and family talk about him taking on Red Death, then Dominic Bludvist, the last thing that triggered Harrison into remembering was them mentioning the grenade. That seemed to be all it took for Harrison to recall the events that transpired three weeks ago. Harrison remembered everything about the fights, the explosion, and he knew if he told them he remembered, he'd have to talk about it and he just wasn't ready to. Harrison was still coming to terms with his leg being gone, basically from the shin down. Correct term would be his food was gone, not leg. Harrison knew they were worried so he might as well just wake up and set them a little at ease.
Harrison made no effort to move his body, he just slowly opened his eyes and coughed a few times getting the attention of anyone who was in the room. By the sights of it; everyone was in there and Harrison wasn't in the same room as before either, this new one seemed bigger and a lot less bright.
"Harrison…Thank the lucky stars," Briana said gently. "We thought for sure you fell into another coma,"
"I've been awake since this morning when you all arrived, just made it look like I was sleeping so I could find out what the hell happened. I heard what Dr. Eretson said about not saying a word and letting me remember on my own, sucks for him because I'm an impatient guy," Harrison admitted.
"S-So you remember what happened then? And…that we're married, with two boys?" Briana asked gently. Harrison nodded to her as the door opened to reveal Emmett there.
"Good to see you're awake again," Emmett smiled.
"Been up, just resting. So, my leg is gone. What happens now?" Harrison boldly asked, although he already had a good feeling about it.
"Well, now I get to tell you all the injuries you sustained and how we're going to heal them up to get you back on your feet," Emmett said confidently. Harrison sighed as he looked out his hospital room window, somehow, that remark just made him feel worse. "Oh, I suppose that was the wrong-," he started.
"I don't care. It happened, it's over with, just tell me what I'm doing next, doc," Harrison cut him off. The others noticed it right away that Harrison seemed a little colder with the news settling in that he lost his leg in that explosion caused by Dominic.
"The good news is that your wrist and cracked rib are healed, so are most of your minor injuries like the bruising, cuts, and small burns. You are still recovering from two broken ribs on the right side, about three to four more weeks for those to heal. Your upper left thigh gunshot wound as well. The one to your shin was…well, where it was is where we took your leg from," Emmett informed.
"I asked for what's next, not something I already know. I figured out my wounds and heal time based on how long I was in a coma for," Harrison remarked.
"Well, you're at a point now where you can start simple leg exercises. When the bullet wound heals in another month or so, you can start physical therapy and artificial limb," Emmett stated. Now the room was quiet as Emmett decided it would be best if he left, that's the notion he got from Harrison. After Emmett left, Aaron approached him.
"I'm just going to go ahead and assume that this no leg deal has me discharged from active duty, doesn't it?" Harrison asked quietly.
"Not just active duty, Haddock. You're…medically and honorably discharged from the Arc Isle Military. All…headquarters needs is your final evaluation," Aaron informed softly. Harrison closed his eyes and turned his head more. "Hey, it's not all bad, we'll still come se-,"
"Let's just…get it over with," Harrison cut him off. Glenn had the others leave the room, telling them to try and not worry, but it would take Harrison some time to cope with everything. The evaluation lasted for two hours, by the time Aaron and Glenn left the room, Harrison was laying back down to go to sleep, keeping his back turned to them. Aaron let them know that they'd be in touch soon to check in on Harrison, also that he passed his evaluation and nothing raises a red flag at the moment. Glenn mentioned that Harrison said he was still tired and going to sleep so asked that everyone stay quiet. For Harrison, he laid there in his hospital room trying to process everything. The worst part about it all is that Harrison had no idea how to feel about it all, so he just went to sleep, not wanting to think about it anymore.