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Light seemed to fade in and out of a blurry haze, and Leo felt the weight of his body calling him back to earth. He didn't feel any pain, but something about the heaviness of his limbs and chest told him that he was still injured. As his consciousness slowly returned, he became aware of lying in a bed. The more he focused on his surroundings, the more he noticed the light pressure of bandages on his arm, torso, and over his face. He realized fuzzily, that his right eye was completely covered.
In a mild rush, he remembered what had happened. He'd been attacked, beaten, kidnapped, and then…
Leo felt a surge of panic as he remembered crashing the van out of desperation, and he worked to come up entirely into full wakefulness. Leo struggled to lift his left eyelid, which took much more effort than he'd thought it would. Light swam before him, soft and clean. His focus was razor sharp in spite of his mind being in shambles, and the first thing he focused on was…
"Klaus…"
Leo's voice came out weak and raspy, but he had to speak his lover's name the second he saw him hovering overhead. In the same instant, he became aware of the warmth of Klaus' big hand covering his own. He wrapped his fingers gently around it, and attempted a grin. Something pulled at his bottom lip, making the gesture difficult. Leo had sustained enough blows to the face in his time here to know that he must have stitches there. But he wasn't concerned about that, or anything else right now beyond wiping that miserable look off of Klaus' face. The man looked drawn with worry, his features tense to the point of breaking with his agonized expression.
"Leo, sweetheart, how are you feeling?"
Klaus' voice was as strained as his face; quiet, as though he could break Leo if he spoke louder than a whisper. Leo forced another smile, as guilt and regret began to creep in from the corners of his mind. He tried downplaying it, like he always did. With a quiet huff that didn't quite pass for a laugh, he answered,
"Like I've been...hit by a truck."
Klaus' pained expression didn't change, and Leo knew at once that his attempt to be lighthearted had failed.
"Does it hurt terribly?" Klaus asked, a step below frantic. "They told us that you were prescribed very strong pain medication, but if it's not enough I can call the nurse."
"I'm ok," Leo insisted, "just feel really heavy and…worn out. I'm not in pain at all. The meds are doing their job, relax."
The big man seemed to droop in relief, and nodded, mustering up a tiny glimmer of a smile. Leo flexed his fingers, stroking them along Klaus' hand a few times, and the man replied in kind with his own. Leo swallowed, and as though he had tuned in to his every action, Klaus asked,
"Would you like some water? The nurse left us a pitcher; she said your mouth would be very dry after surgery."
"Surgery?" Leo mumbled, confused. "Am I hurt that bad?"
Klaus poured the water from the pitcher into a cup, unwrapping one of the straws. It was clear he was stalling. But he finally answered,
"You had internal bleeding from a broken rib, and your arm was broken as well. Your eyelids were both slightly burned, but the right one was also clipped by debris in the crash."
Leo attempted to raise his unmarred eyebrow at the list of issues Klaus named. Due to whatever drugs they were pumping through his system, and blocking his pain receptors, it didn't seem possible for him to have that many serious injuries.
"Anything else?" Leo asked, parting his lips for the straw that Klaus offered him, and sipping thankfully at the cold water.
"There's a wound on your head, and no account for your bruises or scratches, either from before the crash or during. Your lip was split open too, so be careful drinking."
"Thanks."
After gulping down a few mouthfuls of water, Leo sighed and leaned his head back, trying to take in all he'd just been told. Klaus lingered with the cup for a moment, but when Leo showed no signs of wanting more, he placed it on the tray. When Klaus looked at him again, Leo felt an overwhelming flood of feelings pour over him, rushing back from where they'd been tucked away during his sleep. He felt like he'd been broiling in his own idiocy for days, only to be sucked up into a whirlwind that knocked sense back into him. It hurt, and Leo gave a small grimace as he realized what he had to do. What he'd decided he was going to the moment he woke up in that van.
"It's ok, Klaus…" He softly. "You can say 'I told you so' anytime now…I won't hate you for it."
Klaus looked horrified, his green eyes widening into shock. He instantly shook his head, vehemently, and came in close to huddle over Leo's bed. The young man felt oddly comforted by being closed in like that with the width of his lover's body arching over him. That couldn't stop tears from welling up in his eyes, though Klaus tried his best.
"Oh no, no, no, Leo, I was thinking nothing of the sort! I'm just so glad that you're safe!"
The sincerity in Klaus' voice only made Leo have to fight harder to keep from weeping. He felt an echo of distant pain from where his facial contortions tugged at his stitches. Klaus' big hands lightly touched Leo's cheek and his arm, shaking with the urge to hold tight, stroke firmly, but he wouldn't let himself risk it for fear of hurting him. Instead, his fingers drifted up and down Leo's arms, his shoulders, into his hair, trying to touch as much of him as possible without hurting him. It warmed Leo's heart. He wondered what he'd done to deserve such a dedicated partner.
Klaus kissed Leo's forehead a few times in succession before resting his own forehead there. Warmth from his skin seeped into Leo's, and he gazed down into Leo's one open eye, pleading,
"My sweet, darling boy, I'd never bring up our disagreement because this happened, you have to think better of me than that…"
A miserable, sniffling sound came from Leo, and he choked a bit over his next statement,
"But…you were right…all along, you were right." Klaus shushed him as loudly as he could, but Leo kept talking, voice ragged and filled with tears. "I'm sorry, Klaus, I'm so sorry I put you through this…it's my fault…I should've just said that from the beginning."
Those words seemed to snap something inside of Klaus, and he cupped Leo's head in both of his hands, forcing their gazes to meet.
"What happened today is no one's fault, Leonardo, least of all yours."
"Not just today," Leo grated out, "I mean all of it; the fight, being stubborn, avoiding you…I'm sorry…I'm so sorry."
Leo had been doing a fairly good job keeping his tears contained. Now, however, they began bursting from him along with rough, ugly stutters of sound. The force of them caused the pain of his patched-up ribs to cut through the IV drip, and Leo gasped. Without thinking, he lifted his bandaged hand to rest over his side, wincing and groaning a bit.
"Calm down, Leo," Klaus told him, sounding apologetic but insistent, "Drugs or not, your injuries are severe and fresh. Just breathe, love…try to relax so you don't hurt yourself, alright? Please, Leo…deep breaths…"
Leo gulped and tried very hard to breathe slowly, releasing long streams of audible breaths from his lips. As he began this pattern of breathing, Klaus stroked his face more firmly, along his jawline where there wasn't as much bruising, and planted gentle kisses there too.
"I'm sorry too, Leo." Klaus said, his voice urgent and sincere. "I should never have become angry and distant, not with you. I said some very unkind things that I never should have. I know that I hurt you, and I'm deeply regretful and ashamed. I promise you, that from here on out, I'll do everything I can to make up for it. So please…will you forgive me, Leo?"
Leo made a low, garbled sound when he heard his lover's apology. He squeezed Klaus' hand again.
"Stupid idiot…of course I forgive you! But…can you forgive me? I…I don't even know if I'll be able to forgive myself for making you worry so much…"
"Nonsense." Klaus said at once, stroking his hand over Leo's curls and making Leo close his eye as he relished the touch. "I'll always forgive you, Leo, always, sweetheart."
"B-but…today…"
"Was not your fault." Klaus reiterated firmly. "I saw how they took you; they didn't give you any time to make a decision to fight them, one way or the other."
"You saw?" Leo asked, wiping carefully at his nose and looking confused. "How?"
Klaus slowly re-seated himself in the chair by the bed, pulling it as close as he could and draping one arm above Leo's head on the pillow, fingers finding their way back into the mound of curls there. Leo seemed to be calming down, and Klaus wanted to do everything he could to reassure him and keep him quiet and still. Leo turned his head on the pillow, nudging closer to Klaus' presence and the doting of his large hand.
"When we realized you were missing," Klaus told him softly, "we pulled up the security cameras from around the restaurant. My heart nearly stopped when I saw them attack you."
Leo closed his eye, embarrassed.
"I…I should've been paying more attention." He muttered. "I should've been more careful, like you're always telling me."
"I doubt that would have stopped them. They most likely would've ambushed you when you were leaving if they hadn't caught you before. Besides," Klaus tugged mischievously at a lock of chocolate-brown hair, "from what we gathered, you didn't remain their docile prisoner, now, did you?"
Leo's bright blue eye opened a little wider at the almost teasing question, and he slowly felt a smile turning up the corners of his mouth.
"Well…I wasn't just going to roll over and let them get away with it."
Klaus grinned at Leo's words, and Leo smiled too, despite how Klaus' eyes flickered worriedly to his bottom lip. Disregarding it, Leo sniffed a few times, feeling his mood shift into triumph at the reminder.
"Can you tell me what happened?" Klaus asked. "We've only seen the footage of the crash, but we know nothing else."
Leo licked his dry, wounded lip slightly before answering.
"To be honest, Klaus…I just barely got out of this one. I woke up in that van, and heard them all talking before I started to move. If I hadn't, I don't think I would've made it out. Apparently, whoever hired them to kidnap me ordered them not to give me any chance to use my eyes. I guess some maniac scientist was planning on keeping me unconscious, so she could study me without running the risk of me using my eyes to escape."
There was a small popping sound as Klaus' hand closed into a fist above Leo's head, knuckles protesting. Leo jumped a little at the familiar warning sound. Klaus couldn't hide his sneer as he ground his teeth together and his eyes went unfocused at the mere thought of anyone doing something like that to Leo. He'd left the criminals to Steven, but he might still have the opportunity to...
"Klaus?" Leo reached out his bandaged hand. "Please don't tell me you're wanting to go murder any of them."
Klaus seemed to diffuse at the words, slipping his hand over Leo's once more. His other hand uncurled and flexed, then revisited its task of playing with Leo's hair.
"No, darling. Justice has already been served for them. They're none of our concern any longer."
Leo shuddered.
"Can't say I'm complaining. They were way more competent than what I'm used to dealing with."
"You must've been so frightened." Klaus whispered, stroking his hand down the side of Leo's face and rubbing his thumb softly against the shell of his ear. Leo nodded at Klaus' assumption.
"I was scared out of my mind, but I knew I could take them all. I didn't move when I woke up, which gave me the upper hand since they didn't know I'd come to. So…I blinded them, and then after scrambling their vision, I…well, I crashed the van."
The big man shook his head, and a small huffing laugh came from him.
"You say that so casually."
"It wasn't as easy as all that," Leo amended, "not with two thugs in the back trying to get their hands on me despite their vision being all jumbled. Plus, once I took control of the van it was swerving all over the place and I had trouble staying focused because I hurt so much. I knew I didn't have the stamina to keep controlling everything for very long, that's why I took the quickest way out."
Klaus' palm cupped Leo's face.
"That was incredibly brave of you, Leonardo. Steven was right; you took the most intense route out of the situation because you had to, but did it with bravery and determination."
Leo raised his eyebrow in surprise.
"Steven said that?"
"Well, his terminology was different." Klaus admitted with a grin. "His exact words were 'pretty badass'."
Leo couldn't stop the pride that sprang to his face, and continued growing.
"Oh yeah?"
Klaus nodded.
"He seemed very impressed, and I must admit, so am I; you've shown us before how capable you are, but this was unprecedented considering the circumstances. We were still scrambling to find you by the time you were safely here, in surgery. I wish we had been able to find you sooner, but we were just so happy when we found out you were alive."
"So was I." Leo joked. "But I'm glad you were here when I woke up. I probably would've freaked out a little if I was by myself."
"I don't know how I'm ever going to let you out of my sight again." Klaus said helplessly, leaning forward to kiss Leo's brow. "Despite how you've saved yourself this time."
Leo sighed.
"Well, if it will make you feel any better, I think I'll be using my eyes more often, from here on out." He conceded. "I want to avoid this happening to me ever again. And…well…I hated thinking about you worrying yourself to death trying to find me. I don't want to put you through that, either."
Klaus sat in silence for a few seconds, considering Leo's words.
"A week ago," Klaus said at length, "I would've been thrilled hearing you say that. But now…I don't want you to go entirely against your principles, especially if it will eat away at you. I thought in great detail about your point of view after our fight, and after all of this…I'm surprised that I'm not still begging you to defend yourself with your eyes even more strongly than before, but…I did hear you. I know your heart, and even now, I'm not convinced that you believe what you're saying."
Leo lowered his eye, swallowing a bit.
"I do, Klaus, believe me. I'm not completely at peace with it, but I'd rather use my power to keep you from worrying than to protect myself."
Klaus eyed him doubtfully.
"Leo…you're not just telling me what you think I want to hear, right?" Leo looked a little exasperated, and Klaus patted his hand. "I'm sorry, am I upsetting you?"
"No," Leo answered honestly, "I mean, not really. I'm just feeling a little like…we're back in that stalemate that got us so angry at each other. It's like we need to…to…"
"Compromise?" Klaus offered, very softly.
Leo looked back up at him, studied his face, and found no trace of manipulation or selfishness there. He then relaxed a little more, and nodded his head.
"At this point, Klaus, I'm willing to do anything. When I realized that there was a chance I might die, without apologizing to you...without telling you one more time how much I loved you...I knew I'd never be able to be as flippant with my safety. Because I want to be there for you, keep you happy...I can't do that when I'm beat up all the time..."
Leo sounded so tired suddenly, and Klaus stood up again, once more leaning his entire body over the small form on the bed. Leo's soft moaning sound was one Klaus recognized as a beckon to come nearer; Leo made it when he tried to burrow into Klaus as they cuddled, or when he was settling in on the big man's lap, or rolling over to meet him in the middle of their bed. It was a tiny, whimpering plea for Klaus to get as close to Leo as their bodies would possibly allow.
Klaus did what he could to oblige that request, sitting on the edge of the bed and pressing their foreheads together, while running his hands over Leo's arms and shoulders. They both wanted to embrace, tightly, and never let go, but knew that Leo's condition was too delicate. However, Klaus braved the possible backlash, and laid his mouth to Leo's carefully, trying to concentrate on the upper lip. Leo kissed back, his stitches bristling against Klaus' lip for the short life of the kiss.
"Leo…" Klaus said softly against his cheek. "I love you, so much."
A small sniffle came from above him, and Leo's voice sounded strained when he spoke.
"Love you too, Klaus. You know, you're going to make me want to cry again, stop it!"
Klaus grinned a little, and waited a moment or two before saying,
"I went over and over everything while I was waiting for you to wake up, and I may have an idea to keep our argument from reoccurring."
"Oh?" Leo asked, interested. "What is it?"
"I don't want to upset you if you don't agree." Klaus backpedaled, "I shouldn't keep you from resting."
Leo rolled his visible blue eye and pinned Klaus with a half-lidded, unimpressed stare.
"You don't need to patronize me at this point. Please, tell me your idea, then I'll rest. I don't think I'll be able to now, otherwise."
Klaus traced Leo's jawline before he sighed and nodded.
"Alright; if you had time, would you be willing to train with me?"
Leo looked taken aback, as though he had expected a much different suggestion than that. He didn't hesitate to answer,
"Of course I would, you know I would. But time has always been the problem."
"It wouldn't be, if…if you didn't work your extra job."
Klaus broke the idea as carefully as he could, bracing himself for Leo's reaction. The young man lay silently for a moment, thinking. Finally, he said, quietly,
"I wouldn't be able to send as much home to Michella."
"Leo, darling, please…" Klaus spoke very gently. "I understand the logic; you'd rather the extra money go to your sister than into your own savings, or doing without. It is exceptionally sweet and noble of you to do that for Michella. But, especially considering what you just told me, would it not be prudent to dedicate your time to learning self-defense, rather than a job you do not need? You were content sending Michella a portion of your Libra stipend before; there's no reason that previous amount should not be sufficient."
A small, harsh breath escaped Leo, and he closed his eye, tilting his head even further back into his soft pillow. He winced when he turned his head to rest on the bandaged side, facing away from Klaus.
"God…I don't know, Klaus…that's…that's so much money that I've been so happy sending home."
Klaus didn't respond, just let the silence stretch and give Leo space to think. A few minutes later, and Leo sounded ragged as he spoke,
"It's not like my parents don't both have jobs and money…but…I feel like I owe it to Michella. After…after what she's done…"
Leo swallowed the rest of his sentence as the tears threatened to return. Klaus felt his heart ache. He had suspected, but Leo had never before confirmed it. The significance of the admission was not lost on him, and he knew he had to tread carefully.
"Leo…money can't replace her eyesight." Klaus told him, softly.
The young man twitched a little at the words, and a small whimper slipped out. Klaus gripped Leo's hand as tight as he dared over the bandages.
"It's all I can do."
The helplessness in his voice, in the vain effort he was putting forth to amend a wrong that was not his responsibility, was enough to break Klaus' heart. He had been careless before in not factoring this in to Leo's behavior.
Klaus lifted Leo's wrapped hand to his face and kissed his fingers, above the bandage.
"I'm sorry, Leo...for bringing Michella up during our argument. I know I already apologized, but I feel that particular transgression requires its own apology. I was being selfish, wanting to keep you safe for my own sake more than yours, or even Michella's. I didn't realize your job was important to you in the sense that you were doing it for more than a monthly allowance. It means much more, doesn't it?"
Leo gave a small nod, still not looking at Klaus.
"I understand now, Leo, I do. However, if I were to share my opinion, I would remind you that it was no one's fault. When it comes down to it, Michella made her choice. I doubt she would want you to suffer on her behalf."
Leo grasped Klaus' hand a little tighter too.
"I know that." He said. "In my head, I know...but...it's not that simple for me, in my heart."
Klaus didn't answer. No answer was necessary. He let Leo lay quietly for a while, composing himself. The clock over the bed seemed to tick very loudly as they sat there in the quiet. Finally, Leo let out a cleansing breath and admitted,
"I'll have to think about quitting. I want to do it…I really do, but…"
"I'll give you whatever you need, Leo." Klaus assured him, earnestly. "I don't want you to feel pressured into making up your mind right now."
"No," Leo said, shaking his head, "It's ok. You're more patient and understanding with me than anything I could hope for in a partner. I know you'll help me make a decision, but…I can't think anymore right now, Klaus…I'm so tired…"
The bigger man shifted for a third time to stand over Leo's bed, kissing his curly hair and gently wiping the stray tears from the corner of his eye.
"I'll not ask you to think on it any more now. One last fact to consider, however; if you leave your part-time job, there's no reason it would have to be permanent. You could always find another one, or see if they'll rehire you once you've sufficiently grasped a solid defensive technique."
Leo slowly opened his eye as he considered Klaus' suggestion. Through the increasing drowsiness of his mind, he felt a strange sensation as though something were clicking into place, making sense. That option would work very well as a compromise...
"Huh…that is true…maybe they'd even let me take a leave of abse-"
The rest of Leo's sentence was lost in a yawn that crept up and forced his mouth open wide. Klaus winced in sympathy as he saw the flesh of Leo's lip stretching around his stitches, but Leo seemed too tired or too pumped with pain meds to notice.
"Rest now, sweetheart." Klaus told him softly. "Don't worry about anything else right now, just let it all fall away. I'll be here when you wake up."
Leo closed his eye, sighing, and as though he had been waiting for permission, relaxed entirely into the mattress. Another yawn made him stiffen a few seconds later, but then he settled down for good, whispering,
"Thanks, Klaus…"
Leo heard the rustling of clothing, the creak as Klaus sat back into the chair, and felt those fingers easing through his hair. Despite everything, Leo felt more content at this moment than he had in the past week, when he'd been so stressed about their fight. To think that it came to this, a kidnapping and hospitalization, for them to reconcile. It almost didn't matter right now; Klaus was holding his hand and petting his hair, and he was drifting down into the peacefulness of pure oblivion, where there was only quiet, and rest.
Oddly enough, there was no where else Leo would rather be.
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