(Author's Note: Okay okay, I know a lot of you are probably rolling your eyes and/or wondering wtf I'm smoking after last chapter. I know it's weird as fuck and I'm on the same boat. HOWEVER...I've been getting bugged for (I shit you not) SEVERAL ACTUAL MONTHS by people wanting a Viktuuri baby and I just absolutely hate that whole side of things so much that it makes me physically sick. Someone once, point blank, asked me to do it as specifically as by having Viktor give Mari a sample and let her be a surrogate for Yuri. That whole concept creeps me out so much it's not even funny, and I WILL NOT go there. I won't do surrogates, I won't do adoption, and...I won't do pregnancy. So, spoilers, this is the closest thing to a Viktuuri kid there will ever be in this fic. Minako will have periodic thoughts about it but it won't even really be mentioned again until the very-very-very end of the story (cuz I'm done after the Final so I can do the motion comic finally.) The Final is a 3-day-long event. Nothing insane will happen in 3 days on that front. In either case...If you've made it this far with this story, then I assume you trust me somewhat, so please have a little more faith in me. I won't make it anymore weird than it already is, and I already know how to have it make sense within the character personality narrative. I think I've already done enough to give you guys proof that Minako's not just ERMEHGERDOVERTHEMOON about it. I don't think she's mom-material either. But they say it takes a village, and there's plenty of people back in Hasetsu who are already looking at never having grandkids cuz Yuri's married to a dude and Mari's not even dating anyone at all. So, this is their outlet. This is for them, not for her. This is also my sole and singular peace-offering to the Viktuuri-baby crowd. It's the only thing I can think of to do that doesn't inherently piss me off. So...sorry if you still hate it. I won't be turning this into the MinMikBaby arc though. This is the "I don't like JJ at all so I did something so make him go away so Phichit can skate instead" arc. Thank you. Please don't hate me. I've been planning this accident for like 3 months.)

CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED FOURTY EIGHT

It was well after midnight before things finally started to settle down. It didn't mean anything good, but at least nothing was getting worse.

Viktor stayed by his husband's bedside, arms tangled through the raised plastic gates so he could hold to the man's hand. He's given up long ago trying to figure out how to make the gates go down. The vitals machine beeped quietly on the opposite side. Stitches had already been tied in the two big cuts across the unconscious skater's face, wraps placed around his head, a gauze bandage taped over his chin. His cleaned skates were set next to the Russian's chair, with a wastebasket nearby full of tissues and blood-streaked wet-wipes.

A gentle knock came on the ajar door, and the silver-haired man lifted his head, "Uncle Mimi...?" He saw someone else there; the auburn-haired medic he'd told off earlier in the night, but who'd put him in his place soon thereafter by taking pity and pulling him into the ambulance. He turned his tired eyes to his partner's face, but then nodded, "...You can come in if you want."

The door pushed open a little bit further, and the tap of a shoe and a rubber-covered metal plate sounded, followed by the door closing, and the noise of the rest of the hospital getting a bit more dull than before. She kept her distance, "...Any change?"

Viktor shook his head lightly, "No."

"The CT was normal?"

"...They said they could tell he hit his head, but that it wasn't serious." The Russian answered quietly, rubbing his thumb slowly across the man's limp hand, "I just want him to wake up."

Celeste stepped forward two paces, hesitated, and then stepped another few until she was close enough to set her hand on the skater's shoulder. He jerked up a bit at the unexpected touch, looking at her with those slate eyes, but found her to be just as startled as he'd been. She set her other hand on the gate, "I can lower it. I just near you to let him go for a second and pull your arms out of the slots."

Viktor blinked at her in confusion, but leaned back, reluctantly pulling his hand away so the gate could click down. When it was out of the way, he pulled his chair in closer and retook his partner's hand, lowering his face down to touch his forehead to the man's arm. A few tears came anew after that, but he'd already spent half the night crying as it was, so the new ones were short-lived. He snuffled and lifted his head again, turning slightly towards the medic still standing quietly next to him, "...Sorry I...was rude to you before."

The woman blinked in surprise at the words, but shook her head and held up her hands, "It's...fine, really. I've been told I come off kind of strong when I don't mean to. I was probably having one of those moments." She explained, "I really didn't mean to upset anyone. It was all just...super confusing and weird for me. I didn't know you guys had...well, gotten together. Last I heard from Yuri, he still hadn't had the courage to even talk to you, so this was...out of left field. My mind went down a completely different path than what was true."

"I've been a bit jealous of him lately." Viktor went on, returning his eyes to his partner's face, scanning down to his chest to watch the rise and fall of each slow breath, "I can't stand the idea of someone else trying to be close to him, and he said...well, him and Phichit both...said that you'd once had a thing for him. I guess I got a bit overprotective."

Celeste made a skeptical face, "...I never had a thing for Yuri."

The Russian glanced up at her, "Then...why would they say so...?"

The woman shrugged lightly, "Maybe Yuri just thought I did, and Phichit just took his word for it." She looked around the space for another chair, and started walking towards where she spotted one under a window on the opposite side of the room, "He was always so reserved with most things. If anyone ever tried to get too close, or asked too many questions, he'd shut down. Phichit and I were around the longest cuz neither of us probed too deeply. They just skated and we just did homework, when I wasn't working their cafeteria concession stand anyway. He was a nice kid though."

"...Kid? How old are you...?"

"Older than you." She answered, "I'm 30."

"...You look like you're barely 20."

"Hah...I wish." She laughed, and hoisted the wood-and-fabric chair up and carried it over, setting it down just near the bottom corner of the hospital bed, "I enrolled in school a bit later than I should've, so I was always 5-7 years older than most people who jumped in right away. Took too long to think about what I wanted to do. In the end, I enlisted, and I got out of Yuri's hair in the process."

"You spooked him pretty good." Viktor said warily, "With that hug thing."

"Hmph..." Celeste flopped back into the wide chair and crossed her arms, "People used to give me such grief because they considered me antisocial, never having too many friends or wanting anyone to touch me. I just preferred to keep things a bit closer to the chest, with a small group of people that I knew really well, rather than having so many that I'd have to water down those relationships to the point where I'd have 50 acquaintances but zero actual friends. The hugging thing was never really something I paid attention to until others started saying I was weird for avoiding it. ...Then I finally learn to stop doing that, and I got grief for touching others instead. I couldn't win."

'There was a girl in Detroit who was really pushy and kept talking to me. One time, a rink-mate got into an accident... I was pretty torn-up with worry. I was in the hospital waiting-room with that girl. When she hugged me to comfort me, I shoved her away without thinking about it.'

'Wow...why?'

'I didn't want her to think I was feeling unsettled. I felt like she was intruding on my feelings or something, and I hated it.'

"All I did..." The medic explained, bringing one knee up to wrap her arms around, "...Was try to comfort one of my only friends by giving him a hug because I thought he needed it. I didn't think he'd react as strongly as he did. If I knew how upset he'd get, I wouldn't have done it."

"He was hard to get close to." The Russian agreed, sitting up a bit onto his elbows, resting them on the edge of the mattress, "Even for me...and he was a fan of mine even before then."

"He adored you." Celeste said, "To a point where I think he was also terrified of you. He'd rather have never said a word to you in his whole life if he could just keep on thinking you were the greatest thing since sliced bread."

"I hope I haven't disappointed him then." Viktor stated simply, feeling a bit defensive again, pulling his husband's hand up to kiss the ring there.

"Well, you made it further than anyone else I've ever seen who tried. Plenty of other girls were into him back then, but most of them were flakes anyway, just looking for the human equivalent of a tea-cup poodle that they could put into their purse and show off. He was right to avoid it all." She drew in a breath and looked on at the unconscious figure, "...I think, in a way, he was mostly just scared of what you might think of him if you ever met. He was always really hard on himself. In a way...if he never said hi to you, there'd never be a chance for you to be disappointed or annoyed by him, so nothing would ever change between you. He felt safe in that space." She huffed a sad laugh, "I'm not even entirely sure why he got into performance art, since he tried so hard to be a fly on the wall in everything else."

The Russian thought on those last words. They'd crossed his mind a few times before, but it never really seemed that important, "Skaters can sometimes do the most surprising things. Sometimes...just being one is the surprise." He turned to look at the older woman, "Have you seen him lately? He's amazing."

"He made it to the Final Six. I'd bet he is." She answered, "I read that you were his coach."

"Still am." He nodded, "But in truth, he's taught me more than I could ever have taught him. He already knew everything he needed to about skating..." He could feel his throat starting to hurt again to mention it, so he snuffled and leaned back against his chair, turning to look at the woman properly for the first time since she'd come into the room, "We haven't been properly introduced." The Russian said instead, holding out his right hand, "I'm Viktor."

She set her up-turned knee down and reached back with her own, grasping firmly, "Celeste...you can call me Tess though. Most people do."

The skater nodded, "You...can call me Viktor, too."

"Mmnh...Vik..." A quiet voice grumbled.

Both figures shot their heads back around to the source, seeing the weak struggle where Yuri was trying to open his eyes.

"Yuri!" The Russian was up on his feet immediately, the chair squeaking back a few inches where his calves hit it, "Yuri! You're finally awake!"

Tess rose up as well, instinctively stepping to the other side to check on things. She pulled the pen-light out of her pocket again and moved in to check his eyes like before, finding things normal, "Pupils normoactive. That's better than how I found you."

"...Found...me...?"

Viktor was already crying again, arms going around and under the man to pull him to his shoulder, "Yuri...!"

"Ow...! Ow...ow ow...V-Viktor..."

"Sorry!" The Russian pleaded, gently setting his partner back down again and leaning down to kiss him instead, tears falling from his eyes. He tried to rub them away on the back of a sleeve, but they wouldn't stop. He set his face down on his husband's chest instead, legs all but giving out under him as he collapsed, sobbing almost incoherently for the happiness of it all, holding desperately to the younger figure's right hand.

Yuri just closed his eyes again and opened them slowly a few times, trying to adjust to the light coming in through the blinds between his room and the hall outside. His head throbbed, pounding with each heartbeat, but it wouldn't stop him from lifting his free hand and turning slightly to wrap it over his husband's head, "...What...what happened...? Where am...I?"

"You're at DMC Receiving Hospital," Tess explained on the Russian's behalf, catching a glance from those confused brown eyes, "Leroy jumped right into you, and you bounced your head off the ice when you fell."

Those eyes shot open, and Yuri jerked up to try and sit...though he fell right back down again, pulling Viktor down in the process, "How...how long!?" He cried out, panic flying through him, the beeping on his vitals machine rising as well.

Heads started popping up at the nurse's station outside, and several people started rushing for the door. Tess moved over quickly to open it for them to let them all in unhindered, and Viktor reluctantly pulled up, but stayed right next to the bed. The Attending physician checked the skater's eyes just like the medic had a moment before, looked at the vital signs coming up on the reader next to the bed, and looked at the saline line, as well as the bag it was attached to, "How do you feel?"

"My...my head hurts...how long...how long was I out for!?" He asked more frantically, fingers weakly clenched down on where he clung to his partner.

"A few hours." Viktor answered, rubbing his eyes again on the back of his free wrist, "You haven't missed anything yet. Hopefully you won't."

"Sir, you've experienced quite a knock on the head." The doctor was saying, pulling up his pen-light again but this time just holding it up, "Follow the tip with just your eyes. Don't move your head or neck." He started lifting and moving his arm, taking the stylus in several directions, watching carefully as the anxious skater followed it, "Good. Now..." He pulled a large orange marble from his pocket and held it in the palm of his left hand, "Look at it."

"...O-okay...?"

The marble was concealed in the older man's hand, and he cupped both fists together, turning them over, "Which hand is the marble in?"

"Left...?"

"Also good. What color was it?"

"Re-...no, orange."

"And its shape?"

"A circle? ...A sphere?"

"Both are appropriate."

Viktor watched in nervous, exhausted silence, keeping hold of that hand like the man might vanish if he didn't.

"Do you know what day it is?"

"...I was just told it's only been a few hours." Yuri answered, clenching his eyes shut for a moment as he sat up in the bed, "...What time is it?"

"Just after 1am." The Russian said quietly.

"Then it's...the 12th."

"Excellent." The physician stood upright again, nodding, "What's the last thing you remember before blacking out?" He asked, reaching over for the clip-board at the end of the bed, starting to document the results of his tests.

Yuri looked up at his partner, who took the hint and moved in closer, sitting on the edge of the mattress, sliding an arm over his back, "...I remember...the Skate Club, and getting to the event arena... We saw...we saw Chris, and Otabek I think..." He reached up to his head, feeling the bandages wrapped around it and the wad of gauze taped to his chin, "If JJ jumped into me...what happened to him...?" He turned to the Russian for those answers, "Did you see...?"

Viktor shook his head lightly, "No...I just saw the paramedics rushing by with you two. I thought I saw JJ's ankle bleeding, but I don't know for sure what happened. Chris and I were still coming back down the hall from the player's lounge with your nachos when it all went down." He gave a nervous smile at that, "...I...dropped the nachos. Sorry."

The younger skater was stunned, though not because of the fate of his dinner. He turned back, looking first at the lumps where his feet poked up under the thin blanket that covered his legs, then to Celeste, who'd been standing quietly since before, "...You saw it...?"

She nodded, "The medic's station was set up behind the trophy-window. I was watching you guys practice with my Team Lead when the collision happened. That third skater, Otabek...he was there, too. You introduced us before you got on the ice...do you remember that?"

Yuri closed his eyes and tried to think back, but the memory was gone, "No..."

"You've suffered a concussion." The physician started up again, "You may experience some amnesia about waking up by tomorrow, and feel continued headaches, nausea, easy agitation or other unprovoked mood swings, sensitivity to light and sound, feeling tired, sluggish, or having blurry vision. All of these things are normal. We recommend staying in bed until you've recovered...which can take anywhere from a few hours to several weeks. You should do your best to avoid activities that may cause another injury." He looked up from the clip-board papers to the athlete, "Your paperwork says you're an athlete with the ISU. I can't recommend enough that you don't participate in the competition this weekend. If you hit your head again, being unconscious for a few hours will be the least of your worries."

"...I was just...really tired anyway..." The skater insisted, already feeling the 'easy agitation' that had been mentioned, "...I want to leave."

"We'd really prefer that you stay the rest of the night for observation."

"You can't keep me here." Yuri insisted, reaching down to pull the blanket off his legs, and twisted painfully to hoist them off the edge of the bed, "I know...how this stuff works... I'm of sound mind, and I'm checking out under my own cognizance. Viktor will watch out for me." He looked down at his arm, and the IV taped into it, and waved it weakly towards one of the nearby nurses, "Please take this out."

Tess' eyes widened a little to hear it, but when she heard the sound of another group of people coming up the hall outside, she turned and tilted to see what was going on. Behind her, one of the nurses was given the ok to take the saline line out, and was reaching for some gloves and gauze from the shelf above the bed.

"Yuri, you should really try to take it easy...you got hit hard enough that you were out for 5 hours."

"I'll be...f-fine...I just...want to sleep...in a bed that isn't...in a hospital..."

The medic saw a small herd of silver-haired figures coming up the hallway, looking at room numbers and moving on again. Seeing the one that looked strikingly like an older Viktor, she stepped out of the hall, "...Are you looking for someone?"

"Yuri and Viktor Nikifor-" Mikhail started, though seeing through the blinds into the room where his nephew and in-law were sitting, "Them!"

"Uncle Mimi?"

"Viktor!"

The whole group of four pushed into the room and rushed towards their skaters, the eldest quickly moving in under his nephew's out-stretched arm while the rest held back by the door.

He hugged tightly, then let go and looked to Yuri, putting a hand on his shoulder and looking at all the bandages, "Hey, how do you feel? When did you wake up?"

"Just a min- ow!" The younger figure looked aside, seeing the needle pulled out and a cotton-ball placed over the place it had been, then quickly taped down as the nurse clipped the line and moved off to make room. Yuri grumbled and rubbed the spot gently with his free hand, "Just a m-minute ago... I just want to go. Can you bail us out?"

"Yeah, for sure." The elder Russian looked around, "Someone bring a wheelchair at least. No sense letting him fall again walking out of here."

"Yuri...!" Minako said nervously, coming up to sit on the skater's left now that the nurse was out of the way, "Sorry we weren't here sooner. Mikhail practically ran people off the road trying to drive us here from the airport. ...The accident is all over the web. The Leroys have already made an unofficial statement that JJ won't be skating. You got him good."

"I don't...even know what I did..."

"You severed his Achilles' tendon. He updated his account about two hours ago, saying he was about to go into surgery...he's probably still in there right now." She explained, "I doubt he'll be skating at all for the rest of this season."

The young skater suddenly felt anxious and worried, "...I...I did that...?"

"Not on purpose, so don't go blaming yourself." The ballerina shook her head, "There's already video of what happened. To me, it looked like he was hogging the ice for some reason and you just...kind of drifted into his path while working on a spin. He landed right on top of you, and raked the back of his landing-ankle across your blade where you were holding it out. He wasn't even looking back over his shoulder before he launched."

"That giant idiot..." Viktor growled bitterly, "I told you he'd be trouble."

Yuri just sighed and reached up to hold his head, "Can we just go...? Please...? I don't want to argue about it...I just want to go to bed... I still have a Gold medal to win and I won't get it if I haven't slept in two days..."