Sight Within

Conclusion

by Megan

Praying John was awake, Bruce pounded on the front door. He couldn't sleep after his discussion with Walt, and after watching TV for a few hours at home, started to feel genuine fear gnawing at his gut. He couldn't place what exactly was causing the feeling, but knew it had to do with John Smith.

"John! Open up! I need to speak with you!" he yelled, not caring if he woke the neighbours. "John!"

"Bruce?"

Pausing, he pressed his ear to the door, not certain he'd actually heard something.

"Bruce!" came the muffled but definitely louder voice from inside.

"John? Come let me in, I need to speak with you."

"There's a key...under the planter on the... right."

Was it him or was the voice slightly breathless?

"What about that security system that was just installed?" he called even as he was turning the key in the lock.

"I haven't activated... it yet."

Rushing in, he paused briefly as he saw Johnny sitting at the bottom of the stairs, his back to the bannister. His right leg was bent up at the knee, but his left was stretched out in front of him and his hand was pressed to his side. The pale skin of his face only highlighted the dark smudges under his eyes, and there was a pale sheen of perspiration glistening in the ambient lighting.

"Oh my god, John. What happened?" he asked worriedly as he rushed over and knelt beside him, making it a point not to touch him no matter how hard it was.

"I had a bit of an accident."

"I can see that." Noticing the slightly glazed look in John's normally bright eyes, Bruce made a decision. "'I'm calling you an ambulance."

The reaction was instant.

"No!" At Bruce's shocked face, he stated more calmly, "The last thing I need is an ambulance. Please."

The quiet desperation in his voice spoke volumes.

"You need to go to the hospital, John. You could have a concussion, a broken bone, a muscle tear..." he trailed off.

"I'm fine, Bruce. I just need to get some rest."

Bruce gaped at him. "Then why are you just sitting here? How long have you been sitting here?"

John looked at the floor.

"Jesus Christ, John! You can't get up, can you? You're going to sit there and tell me you're okay when an eighty year old would be more mobile than you at the moment? What the hell is the matter with you?"

"I just don't-"

"Don't what? Want me to touch you? You're going to the hospital, John. Either I call you an ambulance and you let the EMT's manhandle you there, or you let me. It's up to you."

Closing his eyes, John took a shuddering breath to try and slow down his galloping heart. This was Bruce. He'd given him instructions on how to get into the house because on some level he trusted Bruce to help him, not hurt him. If he couldn't trust Bruce to help, then he was on his own.

"John," Bruce calmly stated. "I know what happened to you."

"What? No. I never told you and Walt never would have."

"No one had to tell me, John. I read the signs. The only question now is, do you trust me?"

So, it had all come down to this. Could he get past the visions and allow his best friend to touch him? Help take the pain away? Or did he let his fear reign and quite possibly lose Bruce forever? Come on, John. You can do this. Bruce is your friend. Bruce would never hurt you, John told himself. Suddenly, another louder and more insistent voice over ruled his common sense voice. Wrong! He's using you, John. He only wants to be your friend because you're famous. Your visions are showing you he and Penny are one and the same!

Bruce saw the emotions flashing across John's face. Confusion, hurt, fear, and finally, acceptance. What felt like hours but was actually only moments later, John's posture visibly slumped. Whether it was defeat, or John finally relaxing in his presence, Bruce did not know.

Slowly, a shaking hand was stretched out towards him. Making eye contact, Bruce saw only one thing in those eyes. Trust.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The drive to the hospital was something Bruce never wanted to experience again. In order to get John to the car, Bruce had had to support more than half of John's weight because he couldn't put any pressure on his leg without collapsing in agony. It was like reliving John's recovery from the coma all over again. Not only that, but every bump in the road had his friend gasping.

"Please tell me it hasn't been this bad the whole time, John," Bruce pleaded. He refused to believe he'd allowed his friend to suffer for so long.

"No," John ground out through clenched teeth. "It just got worse since I fell."

"We're almost there," Bruce replied, trying to comfort his friend and himself.

Now, hours later, Bruce sat beside John's hospital bed and waited for him to wake up. An x-ray had revealed a hair line hip fracture. Whether the fall at John's house had caused it, or exacerbated an already existing fracture from the fall at the Connor farm, no one could tell.

An IV dripped much needed fluids into John's forearm. Bruce had been aware John hadn't been eating and drinking as much as he should have been, but had not expected his friend to be so dehydrated. He also couldn't remember if John had eaten anything since the kidnapping, and lord only knew when he had eaten before it.

A small groan from the bed's occupant drew his attention.

"John?" he asked quietly, inching closer.

John's blue eyes slowly opened and stared into his brown ones, searching for answers.

"Hey, welcome back. How are you feeling?"

"Where am I?" John croaked out.

"You're at the hospital. Do you remember what happened, John?"

There was a moment of silence before he answered. "Yeah. How could I have forgotten that?"

"Don't worry. You're on some pretty heavy pain killers. Did you know you had a hip fracture?"

"No kidding?"

Bruce couldn't help but notice the superficial quality to his friend's voice. Obviously, he remembered everything that had happened. Deciding the pain killers might have loosened John up a bit, he pressed on and tried to continue the conversation from the house.

"John... about what happened to you."

John made direct eye contact with him as he answered. "It's all right, Bruce."

Bruce waited, but no further explanation was forth coming. "All right? That's it? Days of wondering whether or not our friendship was going down the crapper and that's all you have to say? John, give me something to work with here."

"Bruce..."

"No. I deserve more of an explanation than that!"

John closed his eyes. Bruce was right. He'd treated him horribly and should have known Bruce would want more of an explanation. Trying to put the experience into words would be tricky, though. He started explaining, trying to not give away more than the basic details. Bruce didn't need to know everything.

"At the farmhouse, Penny's advances sparked a disturbing vision. At the time, I didn't dwell much on it. There was so much going on I didn't have the time to worry about a far off future."

"Did she actually..." Bruce trailed off, not needing or wanting to finish that unpleasant thought.

"Not physically, no. But in the vision, she had succeeded because she was, well, pregnant. I'm not sure what happened, but the night you and Walt found me, I started having these... nightmares. About Penny." As an afterthought, John added, "And about you."

Bruce was silent for a moment. "Me?" He was almost afraid to ask.

"Instead of Penny doing those things to me... it was you."

Horrified, Bruce slumped back in his chair, staring into space. It all was starting to make sense. John's fear of being touched lest it spark another disturbing vision, and especially his fear of him.

"John, you do know I'd never hurt you, right? I mean, god John! Why didn't you say something? You were on the verge of a physical and emotional collapse by the time I found you this morning!" Bruce shuddered as he said this, remembering how Johnny's eyes had slowly started to glaze over in the emergency room from the pain and exhaustion. "And if you didn't want to talk about Penny, you should have said you were hurt! Do you know how scared I was when I saw those bruises, John? I had no idea what had happened to you!"

"I know, Bruce. But the dreams were so real. I couldn't tell if they were just dreams, or if I was actually having a vision."

"Dreams, visions, they're not meant to be taken literally. If anyone should know that, it would be you. The days events, subconscious thoughts and feelings, they're all combined into a series of images as the brain processes their meaning. It's up to you to figure out what that meaning is." Seeing he had John's attention, he continued. "It's possible your encounter with Penny brought to the surface feelings you haven't given yourself a chance to deal with."

"I do trust you, Bruce," John sincerely stated. "If it wasn't for your support, I'm not sure I would have learned to walk again. And I'm not just talking about that. You've never treated me like a freak or tried to take advantage of me." His eyes widened as his mind made the connection between that statement and his dreams.

"You mean like Penny and her friends tried to." Bruce obviously had seen the same connection. "Maybe you're afraid that one day I might try to take advantage of you too."

John was silent for a moment as he thought about it. As his closest friend, Bruce could seriously hurt him. Sure, Bruce joked about things like lottery numbers, but he had never tried anything like the three women had earlier.

"Nah, you wouldn't do that," John started, starting to smile. "Anyways, if you did, I'd know before you would."

Bruce's hearty laugh filled the hospital room.

"Say, is Sara's dinner invitation still standing?" John asked with a grin. "I've been told I need to eat more."

"Man, you're hopeless," Bruce laughed, and went to phone Sara to let her know everything was all right. It would take time, but Bruce suspected the previous days events would only strengthen the bond between him and John.

The End

March 2006

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Well, if you made it this far, congratulations! I hope you enjoyed the story.