Disclaimer: Not owned by me, only the plot is!

Chapter 4

Yugi waited for the footsteps to reach his bed and looked at the group of doctors. They were all carrying clipboards and looked serious. The one closest to him looked down and spoke,

"What is your name?"

Yugi looked taken aback. Didn't they know his name?

"Yugi, Yugi Motou." He said, surprise clear in his voice.

The doctors murmured among themselves and the one who had spoken before turned to the small form on the bed.

"It is good that you remember who you are young man, it was feared you would suffer memory loss from your coma."

"Coma?" Yugi inquired, his amethyst eyes widening in shock. The doctor smiled down at him.

"Don't worry you haven't missed much."

"How long have I been asleep?" Yugi wanted to know thinking that a few weeks out of his life was quite scary.

The doctor paused before replying "Three years."

Yami sat in his small rented bedsit and stared at the wall. It had been a month since he had won his parole and been released. He was still forbidden from going anywhere near Yugi and had hardly left the building apart from to go to the part-time job he had managed to get from someone who specifically employed ex-prisoners.

He recalled the lengthy counselling sessions he had undergone while in prison and in a way he was glad that the wardens had made him go. It had helped him come to terms with what he had done but still the memories haunted him. They would never go away and without Yugi, he felt he had nothing left to live for.

He was disturbed by a hesitant knock on his door and wondered whether to pretend he wasn't there. The knock came again and a voice he remembered from years ago came to him through the wooden barrier.

"Yami open up it's me Joey, I have to talk to you."

Slowly Yami got up from his bed and made his way to the door. Opening it a crack he peered out at his one time friend.

"Yami let me in please." Joey all but begged and Yami shrugged thinking that if Joey was going to lay into him because of what he'd done to Yugi, he should take it after all wasn't it all that he deserved?

He opened the door wide and stepped back to let Joey in.

Walking into the room, Joey took in the dreary surroundings before seating himself on the only place in the room to sit which was the bed.

Yami shut the door and turned to face him.

"Don't hold back if you want to hit me Joey." He said his voice sounding small and nothing like the vicious alcoholic he once had been.

"Yugi came out of hospital last week." Joey said studying Yami for his reactions. None came and Yami just stood where he was unable to show any emotion as he knew there was nothing he could do.

"Yami did you hear me? I said Yugi is out of hospital."

"Why did you come?" Yami whispered. He would have preferred a beating for what he had done but this was mental torture.

"Yugi contacted me shortly after he came out of his coma. I went to see him only when I knew you weren't around. You nearly destroyed him Yami and yet he's desperate to see you. He believes in you in a way I can't understand. Seto didn't want me to come but I had to. Don't think by this I forgive you, because I don't, I can't."

Yami hung his head.

"I'm so sorry." He said his voice still barely above a whisper, "I'm forbidden from seeing him. If I contact him, I will have to go back to prison."

Joey shuffled his feet wondering what to do next. If Yami was forbidden from seeing Yugi and Yugi was expecting him to come back with him what was he going to do? He stood and straightened his jacket.

"I'd better go Yami, Yugi is going to be devastated. Gods know why he still loves you but he does. This is going to break his heart I hope you realise. Oh and one more thing," he said now standing in front of Yami and he balled his fist and punched Yami as hard as he could in the face.

Yami stumbled back from the force of the punch and fell to the floor with a crash. Joey leaned over him and spat on him before leaving through the door and slamming it behind him.

The pain in Yami's face was nothing compared to what he was feeling in his heart. Yugi still wanted him after everything he'd done to him and he couldn't bear it. Burying his rapidly bruising face in his hands, he wept bitterly.

Joey parked his car in the allotted space near his apartment and walked up to the front door with a heavy heart. How could he tell Yugi that no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't see or speak to Yami at least for as long as the restraining order was valid and that was usually a very long time if not forever.

Yugi was pacing the room waiting for Joey's return. It had taken a lot to persuade the blonde to visit him in hospital but when he had, they had talked for hours. He knew Joey could never understand why he still loved Yami and loved him so deeply but he didn't care, all he cared about was seeing Yami, sober and with his arms outstretched to welcome him into them.

He heard the key in the lock and turned to face the door his eagerness at seeing his love again so strong it was almost tangable. His face fell however, when Joey entered on his own and closed the door behind him.

"Where's Yami?" Yugi demanded and Joey's shoulders slumped.

"I'm sorry Yugi, he refused to come."

"No he wouldn't do that." Yugi gasped "you did go didn't you?"

"Yes of course I did!" Joey snapped "It's not my fault he wouldn't come."

Yugi sat down slowly on the couch.

"I think I would like to be on my own now." He whispered and Joey left the room almost glad that he had lied. He knew Yugi would be heartbroken but maybe now he could forget about that low-life and move on. Maybe even meet someone new. He made his way upstairs and lay on his bed.

He didn't hear his front door open and a small form slip out and close it quietly behind him. Yugi sighed as the door clicked behind him.

"I'm sorry Joey but I have to be sure." And he made his way out to the near deserted streets.

Having no money for a taxi, he was obliged to walk. It was a good twenty blocks to where he had found out Yami was living but he was determined.

Eventually he arrived at the address and as luck would have it someone else in the apartment block was just going in and allowed him through the door. Thanking the couple, who really were too wrapped up in each other to question why he wanted to gain entry with no key or pay him much attention at all.

Yugi climbed the stairs and made his way along the dingy hallway until he came to the right room. He put his ear to the door and thought he could hear sobs coming from the other side. If what Joey had told him was true and Yami just didn't want to see him then why was he crying? Something wasn't right here. Yugi turned the handle and pushed the door.

To his surprise it opened easily. He pushed it open further and stepped into the room closing it behind him. He took in the surroundings until a sob drew his eyes to the floor.

Yami was curled into a ball crying as if his heart would break. Yugi's own heart went out to him. Seeing him lying on the floor like that so vulnerable and helpless made him want to cry too but he didn't instead, he crouched down by the sobbing form.

"Yami." He said quietly and rested a small hand on a shaking shoulder.

The response he got was for Yami to stare at him in fear through red eyes one of which was turning a nasty shade of purple before scooting away as far as he could against the wall and hugging his knees to his chest.

"Yugi! You shouldn't be here, you're not…I'm not allowed to go near you."

Yugi stayed where he was his mouth opening in shock. When he had recovered he took a deep breath to stem the tide of sadness that was rushing through him bringing with it the threatened tears.

"Why?" was all he could manage.

"If I go near you they will lock me up again and I couldn't bear the thought of not being able to see you even from a distance."

This was all Yugi needed to hear to know that Joey had lied to him and he felt anger at what his old friend had done.

"What happened to your eye Yami?" he said knowing full well what had happened even before his love uttered the words "Joey hit me."

"He came back and told me you'd refused to go with him." Yugi whispered and thumped the floor with his fist.

"I knew it! I knew he wasn't telling the truth."

"Don't hate him Yugi, he was protecting you and I fully deserved this." Yami said indicating his swollen and bruised eye.

"But I need you Yami, how can I go on if we can never be together?" Yugi said pain and anguish in his voice.

"I need you too and I'm so, so sorry for what I did. I was a monster and don't deserve you. Can you ever forgive me?"

"I already have Yami, I could never blame you for all that happened. It was the alcohol I know. All I ever wanted was for things to go back to the way they were and it's what kept me going all those years. I knew somewhere behind the drunken exterior the real you was in there and would return to me someday."

"But the court order prevents us being together." Yami said filled with love for his Yugi when his little speech had ended.

"Then let's go away, right away to where no one knows us. I can't exist without you, what's past is past and now we must look forwards to the future and forget it all."

"How? I haven't any money."

By this time Yugi had crawled his way over to where Yami was and now he took his koi into his arms and held him close.

For a long time they sat holding each other and all they could hear was their hearts beating with steady thumps inside their chests.

"I've missed you Yami, you have no idea how much I've missed you. We'll find a way out of this I promise."

Tenderly Yugi began to kiss away Yami's tears and in doing so the past years seemed to melt away for both of them. They were back where they both wanted to be. In each other's arms and nothing would come between them again.

Hours later, Yugi walked back to Joey's apartment determined to find a way that he and Yami could be together away from everything. He arrived and let himself in with the key that Joey had given him.

He was met with a very worried Joey who stood facing him with his arms folded over his chest and his eyes slightly puffy, which Yugi knew meant that Joey hadn't been to sleep yet.

"Where have you been?"

TBC…