Heather came in through the kitchen door, and stopped short, staring at the still form huddled on the kitchen floor, in shock.
Boone was lying on his side, facing her, his features slack, his mouth hanging open slightly. She rushed forward, checking all around him, to see if she could determine what had happened to him before crouching down beside him and gently rolling him onto his back. He moved limply, like a rag doll, his head rolling loosely on his neck. His towel had come untucked when he'd fallen, so he now lay sprawled out and completely naked. She heard footsteps on the stairs and turned to see Tom descending.
"What happened?" She asked.
He shook his head at the sight of the unconscious figure, "I thought he might do this." The fact that the man had passed out was obvious, so he explained what had happened that had led to Boone's current state, at least what he had surmised had happened given Boone's less than exact description of the events, plus what he'd been able to glean from Andrew before he'd gotten in the shower.
She turned back to Boone and pulled the towel around him again, securing the ends around his waist, then brushing her fingers through the hair on his forehead, before cupping his cheek. "Poor dear, what a day he's had, it was all just too much for him." While Boone and Andrew had been down at the lake, she'd told Tom what Boone had relayed about what had transpired at school. She looked up at him now, as he stood beside her. "What do we do now? Obviously we can't just leave him lying here on the floor, but if we wake him up, he's not going to feel any better than he did before he passed out. Nothing's changed since then."
Tom thought he could probably carry Boone upstairs, the boy didn't look like he weighed all that much anymore, though it wasn't like he'd ever been a heavy weight, but still thought it best if they brought him around.
Boone came to, with Heather kneeling at his head, holding a rag soaked in some vile smelling cleaning solvent under his nose. He looked a little lost at first, then whimpered slightly before starting to hyperventilate. Staring around wildly, he pushed himself to a seated position, almost immediately starting to heave. Anticipating this reaction, she already had a bucket ready and pushed it in front of him, holding his head while he emptied the, all liquid, contents of his stomach. 'Oh, Boone,' She thought, sadly.
She'd seen him sliding the toast she'd made him into the garbage at breakfast when he thought she wasn't watching, but she'd been sure he'd eaten at noon. He'd disappeared for a time around mid-day, saying he'd make them both some lunch, returning to the office with a sandwich and a napkin in one hand for her and a crumpled napkin in his other. She'd just assumed it was his from his own lunch, and he'd eaten in the kitchen. Open and honest when they'd all first moved in, since he gotten sick, he'd become quite adept at subterfuge, and, certainly not a stupid man, had been able to fool her numerous times into thinking he'd eaten when he hadn't. She loved the boy so much; he was like her own son. He'd changed a lot, obviously, since they'd originally met him, but there was still enough of the original Boone that they'd grown to know and love in him, that they were both fiercely loyal and protective of him.
He pulled back and took a few gasping breaths before starting to cry, remembrances of the events of the day crashing down on him. He dropped his head into his hands as he sobbed.
Heather sent Tom upstairs to distract Andrew and keep him from coming downstairs, knowing that it wouldn't do the boy any good if he saw Boone like this.
She let him indulge himself a while with the crying before she spoke to him sharply, "Boone, pull yourself together."
He gave a few more sobs before he raised his face to her. "I can't do this, I can't." He looked so miserable and broken she just wanted to pull him into her arms and hold him close.
"You can, and you are, and you will." She contradicted.
"He could have died! What was I thinking? Was I even thinking at all?" He bit his lip as he rocked back and forth, his arms wrapped around his knees.
Heather stood, and held her hand down for him. He automatically took it and rose to his feet. She moved over to the kitchen table and sat, he just instinctively followed, pulling the chair to her right out and settling into it.
"What happened, Boone?" She asked.
He recounted the incident at the lake for her, following it up with several ridiculous statements, including some about never letting the boy in the water again, and what a terrible father he was.
"So, what are you going to do? Keep Andrew locked away in his room forever? Accidents happen, Boone. This one doesn't sound any more serious than if he fell off his bike. Are you going to take that away from him too?" She made it all sound a little ridiculous. He was obviously blowing things totally out of proportion, though she had to sympathise with him a bit, she certainly remembered doing the same with her own children from time to time.
"No, yes, no…I don't know. I don't know what to do." He rubbed his hands across his face again, and through his hair, his fingers clenching in the strands before falling to his lap again. He looked lost and dejected, and somehow simultaneously both much younger and much older than his twenty-eight years.
"Well, let's take it one step at a time. Right now, you're going to go upstairs and tell Andrew you're okay. He's probably worried sick and I'm sure he's driving Tom to distraction right about now, wanting to come and check on you. Then you're going to take a shower, and then you're going to come down here and make a salad for us to have with dinner." She'd already made one, but she wanted to be sure that he felt obligated to rejoin them, rather than just withdraw to his room; she could always hide hers and put it in a Ziploc for tomorrows' lunch.
Boone wasn't surprised when Tom tapped on the bedroom door while he was dressing after his shower, wanting to discuss Boone's telepathic communication with him earlier. Boone explained why he thought it was possible, both of them agreeing that it made sense.
Tom turned just before he left the room, "You feel like that all the time?" He recalled the sense of overwhelming panic that he'd gotten from Boone.
Boone looked at him, considering the question for a minute, "Not all the time, no, just most of it."
Tom shook his head in sympathy, "Get better, son." He said quietly.
"I'd like to. Thanks Tom, for everything." He wasn't sure why they were both still here with him; he'd been so much of a burden since Shannon had left him. They'd certainly gotten more than they'd bargained for when they'd agreed to stay on after selling him the house and the business.
After dinner, Boone and Andrew settled in the den to read, Andrew in the centre of the couch and Boone in his favourite wing backed chair. He really just wanted to go to bed, completely drained by the events of the day, but his desire to sit with his son won out without too much difficulty. Andrew excitedly opened the Hardy Boys, and Boone, reluctantly, his own latest read.
After a few minutes Andrew looked up at his dad, "Boone, what's an astromenical unit?"
Boone smiled a little at the mispronunciation, and raised his head from his astronomy book. "It's astronomical, bud. And can you please read your book and not mine; you're supposed to be doing your homework."
"Kay, Boone." He responded by rote, but didn't lower his head again, waiting.
Boone breathed a little laugh; then explained what an astronomical unit was. Andrew nodded after he was done; then went back to reading.
Heather came in with the teapot in one hand, and the phone in the other. "Kate's on the phone for you Boone," she said, giving him the handset and topping up his mug, before leaving the room.
He frowned; he hadn't even heard the phone ring, "Kate?"
"Hey, hon." She greeted, not sounding frazzled at all like most brand new mothers would, Jessica having just been both the month before. He chalked it up to her profession as a paediatrician.
Suddenly it clicked into place, "Heather called you, didn't she?"
Kate confirmed that and then asked about what had happened earlier. Boone apologized for the intrusion and then, rising and going out into the hall, he told her about the incident at the lake.
"Heather said you're thinking about prohibiting Andrew from participation in any aquatic activities for the rest of his life. That's seems a little overblown for two guys who love the water as much as you two do." She went on to reassure him, that no, Andrew wasn't too young to go snorkelling, as long as Boone was with him, and yes, it really was a fairly minor incident. He told her then about what had happened at the school, and discussed his decision with her for a while. She totally supported the conclusion he'd come to, hoping they could all make it work.
"Jack's here, he wants to talk to you." Heather had also told her what had happened in kitchen, and she'd relayed it to Jack, before Heather had taken the phone in to Boone.
"You passed out?" Jack said with no preamble at all, his bedside manner still needing more than a little work.
"Yeah, I did," Boone admitted a little hesitantly.
"Boone," Jack started, sounding exasperated, "Hold on." There was a few seconds of pause. "Kate wants to know if you guys can come for the weekend."
"Jack, I'm slightly mentally unbalanced, I'm not an idiot," Boone rolled his eyes. "You're alone in the room aren't you?"
"Well," Jack laughed at being caught out, "Yeah, kind of, I just thought you might want to talk to someone you can fully open up to."
Tomorrow being Tuesday, he had his weekly session with his therapist, but there was still so much he couldn't say to the guy, that he always somewhat doubted what good it was doing him at all. Heather had come to apprehensively dread Tuesdays, his reactions after his appointment falling into three categories; either he'd be happy and cheerful for the balance of the day, or he'd lock himself in his room, or he immerse himself in a cooking frenzy in an attempt to distract himself from what ever they'd talked about. It was the last reaction that she viewed with the most misgivings.
"Thanks, Jack." Boone said sincerely, he'd actually wanted to ask if they could come, needing to talk, just like Jack had guessed, but, being Boone, he couldn't quite bring himself to ask if he could impose on them.
Just as he was hanging up the land line, his cell rang. He pulled it off his belt clip, and recognizing Claire's number, opened it with a smile on his face. "Hi." He greeted her cheerfully.
"Boone, thank god," she said with relief at hearing his voice.
"What?" He frowned, then "Oh," as realization flooded through him. "Sorry."
"You scared me; I was so worried about you. Andrew's okay though?" The words came out all in a rush. Claire had been fretting about them since early evening, but had to wait till she got the children in bed before calling him. The feeling had come to her as she was getting dinner ready as a vague foreboding that had something to do with the two of them and the lake.
"He's fine, we're both okay." Boone reassured her; then at her request gave her the details on what had happened, reluctantly adding his own reaction on her insistence. She sounded disappointed in him, but not overly surprised. She brightened up though when he told her about Andrew and the school. They talked for a little longer, Boone telling her that they were coming to the city for the weekend to stay at Jack's. Claire immediately said she'd call Kate and arrange for them all to get together, adding that Charlie would even be able to come, as his plane was getting in on Friday.
"Love you," Boone said as he rang off, picturing her in his head, wishing she was there to pull him into a comforting embrace.
"Love you, too," Claire replied. "See you on the weekend."
He headed back into the den to tell Andrew of their planned road trip. He nodded, enthusiastically endorsing the plans, then put his book down and crawled into Boone's lap, wrapping his arms around his neck, as Boone hugged him back.
Andrew pulled away after a minute, "You needed a hug," he explained.
"Yeah, bud, I did." Boone agreed, not surprised that Andrew had picked up on it.
Andrew appeared a little thoughtful; then asked, hesitantly, "You're not going to go away again are you? I know I scared you, and then I couldn't find you in my head. It was lonely. Please don't go away again, Boone."
"I'm not going anywhere Andrew, I promise." Boone assured him.
Andrew looked at him for a minute, almost as if assessing the truth of Boone's statement; he must seen something that satisfied him as he nodded in agreement. "Love you, Boone."
"Love you too." He sure was getting a lot of love tonight; it felt kind of warm and pleasing, brightening his mood considerably. "Finish your home work, okay? Then I'll tuck you in and read you some of the bunny book."
"Kay, Boone." He went back to the couch and picked up his book again.
Sun, Mrs. Reyes, and Nadia all called, wanting the details of Andrews' first day of school. He proudly told them all about the advanced programme they were going to develop for the boy, and that they were going to be spending the coming weekend at Jacks', expecting that most of them would arrange to drop by, or that they'd even plan something a little more organized, what with Claire being involved. By the end of the week she and Kate would probably have a Saturday night barbecue for the group all set up.
After reading Andrew a few pages of Watership Down and kissing him good night, he headed wearily for his own room, wondering, not for the first time, if, when he'd been born, someone had cursed him with that old saying; 'May you live an interesting life'. Boone was pretty sure that all he'd been through was more than pretty much anyone could be expected to withstand, and emerge from unscathed. At least he had good friends to help him though it all, even if his family, with the exception of Andrew, was pretty much a write off.