Chapter 23:
Cody wakes up a couple of hours later in the warm sanctuary of his mother's arms. He sits up and rubs the sleep out of his eyes.
"Hey sleepyhead." Carey says, smiling. Her smile soon fades away though as she speaks again. "We need to talk." Cody's heart sinks, he'd been hoping she'd forgotten. Obviously, she hadn't.
"About what?" He asks, trying to avoid the issue.
"Why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well?" Cody looks down at his hands.
"I….I didn't think…I didn't think you'd care!" He tumbles over the words. Carey hugs him, and he continues to stare down at his hands. She lifts his chin so that he's looking at her.
"Cody, I care about you more than you'll ever know. I love you and I love Zack. And we're going to get through this," She slowly lets his chin drop again, "together."
Cody sighs guiltily. How could he have thought she wouldn't have cared? He didn't know, but it felt good to hear her say that- that she loved him.
A couple minutes later Dr. Jamison arrives with that creepy smile planted firmly on his face, as if someone had painted it there. Cody shivers.
"Carey, may I talk to you?" Carey gives Cody another quick hug, stands, and walks over. "Zack seems to be doing alright now. We're honestly not certain what went amiss….Has he been sleeping ok?"
"As far as I know." Carey answers him, confused.
"Alright. We're working on getting him to sleep. He really needs it. But you can see him now." Carey nods and he leaves. She turns and extends her hand to Cody. He takes it and they walk, hand in hand, to Zack's room.
Zack lies in the bed while the nurse gathers up some clipboards and papers. He looks as though it's a struggle to keep his eyes open, which are only half-open already.
"He's been drugged." The nurse tells them, half way out the door. Cody gapes at her. "It won't hurt him. It's just to help him sleep." She adds quickly.
And then it's just the three of them.
"Hey Zack…" Carey says, sitting in the chair by the bed and wrapping her arm around Cody's waist.
"Hi Mom…" He mumbles. She takes his hand in her free one. Cody rests his head on hers. There's a silent pause, then…
"Mom…" Zack still mumbles, but his eyes are completely closed.
"What, honey?" She asks. Cody lifts his own sleepy head.
"I wanna go home."
"We all do."
"I wanna go home" Carey continues to rub his hand in comfort as he repeats this phrase until his voice is just a mumbled whisper.
"I wanna go home." And then his breathing grows deep and he falls into an even deeper sleep.
Awwww I love that last part. Review please:)