Chapter 6

            It had been more than three since Diana was taken and the strain of her loss was truly evident in Christian.  He shed so many tears that it seemed he had no more.  Sleep wasn't an option for him; he stayed up for days straight until he was finally overcome by exhaustion, waiting for some word on Diana.  He felt powerless; he could do nothing to save his wife.

            The Bohemians were truly concerned for their friend.  After his explosion, they left him alone for a few days, as per Zidler's request.  Only when they could not take it any longer did they approach Christian.

The first time they tried to get to him was about a week after her kidnapping.  Toulouse knocked on Christian's door and when he received no answer, he opened it slowly, thinking that Christian may be resting.  Toulouse peeked in the room and scanned it for Christian.  He looked over the entire room and didn't see him.

"He's got to be in here." Toulouse thought.  He looked again to the far, darkened corner of the room and he saw Christian's form, curled in a ball against the wall.

"Oh Chwistian." Toulouse muttered to himself. 

As he got closer, he could see the tear stains on his face.  He had not let himself go completely, like when Satine died, but Christian was again starting to show the signs of apathy.  Toulouse saw how haggard he looked and wanted to help his friend.  When Toulouse got next to him, he felt Christian's glare, that had been focused on him since he came in, shift over.

"When was the last time you got any sleep, Chwistian?" Toulouse asked in a concerned tone.

"Something around four days ago." Christian mumbled.  "I don't want to wake up to someone knocking on my door telling me Diana's dead." He said as he started to sob again.  "I couldn't bear it if anything happened to her."

Toulouse couldn't bear to see his friend cry.  He wrapped his arms around Christian, allowing him to cry into him, as if Toulouse was going to absorb the pain.  He tried to comfort him but he knew he needed Diana.

"Come up to the attic with me.  We'll get some food into you and take your mind away from this for a little while." Toulouse suggested.  Christian nodded slightly in agreement as he wiped his eyes.  Toulouse backed off as Christian struggled to his feet.  He wondered how long he had been in that corner.

Christian tiredly walked up the stairs with Toulouse, since Diana had patched the hole in the ceiling.  Exhaustion was starting to set in and Toulouse saw it.  Upstairs, the Bohemians were thrilled to see Christian.  It was really the first true time that they had seen him since Diana's abduction.  They were overwhelmed with joy that Toulouse had gotten him out of his room.

Christian essentially inhaled his dinner with them.  He was starving since he hadn't eaten in days either.  When the dishes were being cleared, Christian went to lie down on the couch to relax his tired mind.

Toulouse was the first to come back into the living area.  He looked over to the couch and found Christian asleep.

"He would be more comfortable in his bed instead if here." Toulouse suggested.  Taking Toulouse's hint, the Argentinean scooped up Christian to carry him downstairs to his apartment.  They placed him on the bed and left silently to let him finally get some sleep.

Toulouse tried to do this every few days to keep Christian in the realm of the living.  He would not stand by and let him shut himself off again.  This was also the only way he could look after his friend as the days without Diana grew in number.