Jeff didn't think about visiting hours or gas or the fact that he was half asleep and probably shouldn't drive. All he knew was Nick needed him and he would do anything it took to get to him.

He was in his car, barefoot, keys in hand, before he realized what he was doing. His bleary brain registered stoplights, the freeway, and the hospital doors, and then Nick's room.

What really brought him back to awareness was Nick. He was mostly lying down, leaned halfway up on his elbows like he was trying to get up. One of the nurses had his hands under Nick's chin, holding his mouth loosely closed from behind. None of the others seemed to pay him much mind as he stepped closer.

Jeff stepped into the light and Nick caught sight of him, pushing to sit up. A nurse grabbed his shoulder to keep him still, seeming to reprimand him quietly, and Jeff bristled. He took two long steps to Nick, reaching for his hand.

Nick dropped down to his back from his elbows to hold Jeff's hand, trying to speak, humming loudly from the back of his throat. Jeff stroked his hair.

"Shh, honey, shh. I'm here, it's okay."

"No, no, no, no, not okay, I'm not I'm not I'm not—" he was signing frantically, but the nurse pulled his wrist against the bed. "Lie still," he said absently.

Jeff looked up in anger. "Don't do that," he snapped. "He's trying to talk to me."

"Which is interfering with my job, and I need him to stay still," he dropped a hand firmly to Nick's shoulder as if to prove a point.

A doctor swept in, coming close to Nick. "What have we got?"

The nurse looked up to report. "Dislocated jaw, we're not sure how it happened. Been out of socket for thirty minutes, maybe forty five. Patient is deaf."

The doctor felt down Nick's jaw, turning his head to reach. Nick twisted away from his grip, eyes screwed shut and the one functional side of his jaw stretching wider in pain. The nurse swore and grabbed for his chin, but everyone in the room could hear the crack as the other joint was wrenched from its socket. Nick clamped down harder on Jeff's hand.

The doctor swore this time and looked to Jeff. "You're the interpreter?"

Jeff held Nick's hand tighter. "Boyfriend."

The doctor shot him a look; Jeff gritted his teeth. "Yes, I'm the interpreter."

"I'm Dr. Floyd. Tell him to hold still or this is going to get much worse."

Jeff felt a lump beginning to rise in his throat as he tapped the back of Nick's hand and interpreted what he had said. Something in Nick's neck twitched like he was trying to speak or maybe swallow, and he started to cry, fat drops staining the starched hospital pillowcase.

Dr. Floyd pursed his lips. "We need to move him to a treatment room to reduce the dislocation and treat any issues resulting from it. Normally we don't allow anyone other than the patient, but because you're an interpreter, you'll be allowed."

Jeff thought it best to probably not tell him that interpreting for someone and being an interpreter are two very different things. He turned back to Nick, and the nurses already had him packed up to move.

He stepped out of their way and followed them out and down the hall, catching up to grab Nick's hand and soothe him. Nick was biting hard on his lower lip to keep from crying, and his eyes were huge and full of tears.

The room wasn't far, which Jeff was grateful for. Almost immediately after they'd locked Nick's wheels, one of the nurses shot something into his IV, and his crying subsided to violent shivering, his eyes clouding over. Nick stroked his arm, trying to soothe him.

Slowly, the shivering subsided and all that was left was his shallow breathing and half-lidded eyes as the nurses worked over him, his bare shoulders prickled with goosebumps.

Dr. Floyd came up, his thumbs wrapped in gauze, and tucked them in Nick's mouth. Jeff squeezed his eyes shut and tried not to listen to the horrible popping as Dr. Floyd forced Nick's jaw back into its sockets. Nick let out a shuddering breath and sagged back against the flat mattress.

One of the nice nurses murmured something soft and sweet as Dr. Floyd prepared two syringes. Jeff didn't even want to think about what they were for, but as Dr. Floyd turned to come back over, Nick's heavy eyes started to open.

NIck signed something Jeff didn't recognize at first, but he quickly understood.

"Am I at the dentist?"

He kept repeating it until Jeff took his hand. "No, baby, no. You're okay." Jeff looked up to see Dr. Floyd watching and bit his lip. "Go back to sleep, you're okay."

Nick's eyes drifted back to their half-closed position. Jeff allowed one of the nurses to take Nick's hand and brace it against the mattress, not wanting to have that responsibility but at the same time feeling horribly guilty he couldn't handle it. The nurse gave him a sympathetic look. "It's okay, it's hard."

Again, Jeff watched from the corners of his eyes as Dr. Floyd turned a barely aware Nick's head and swabbed the soft skin in front of his ear with a rough alcohol pad. Nick whimpered and started to tremble again, but was still too disoriented to fight.

The nurse holding Nick's hand leaned back to take Jeff's as well, squeezing both reassuringly. Jeff swallowed hard.

He did look away as Dr. Floyd gave the injection, sinking impossibly deep into the joint of Nick's jaw. Nick's eyes blew wide and his free hand stiffened and clawed at the sheets. A nurse was holding his mouth closed, but a strangled cry still escaped through his teeth, twisting Jeff's heart in his chest again.

The nurse holding Jeff's hand let go and took a pad of gauze from the tray beside Dr. Floyd to wipe away the drop of blood welling up, then smoothed a small, round bandaid over top.

Jeff dug his teeth into his lower lip. He wished he could take Nick's place, himself on the bed with needles in the side of his face and IVs in every available vein. Nick was tough, sure, but he'd been through enough. He didn't deserve this.

Nick hyperventilated as Dr. Floyd turned his head to the other side. The nurse took Jeff's hand again. Jeff closed his eyes and tried to refrain from crying when Nick made that awful pained cry again, taking steady breaths through his nose and swallowing back the bile that rose.

Finally, the nurse squeezed Jeff's hand and let go. "All done,"

Jeff cracked his eyes open to see Nick dragging breaths in and out, and the kind nurse patting his shoulder. Jeff grabbed his hand. Everyone but Jeff and the nurse left, and the nurse wheeled Nick back to his room, Jeff in tow.

When they were back in Nick's room, the nurse did her routine check and made sure Nick was okay, then dismissed herself.

It wasn't until she was gone that Jeff finally let himself cry.

Notes:

Hello my friends! It has been a long time, I know, it was mean of me to leave you on a cliffhanger like that, I'm sorry. We'll just say shit hit the fan, but it's here now, so hopefully that's good enough.

Poor baby Nick, I feel so bad for him. But at the same time I love torturing him. It's evil, I have issues, I know.

I'm currently working on a couple of Klaine oneshots so if all goes according to plan those will be up eventually, but as a disclaimer we all know how slowly I write, this chapter being a poster child. BUT I really wanna have more works for you guys, so I'll keep working on them. Don't forget to review, it doesn't take very long and it makes a world of difference!