A/N: New chapter :D. Going to try and round this up in a few chapters, don't want it getting away from me. Reviews/comments/random ramblings all good by me.

Chapter Nine

Syed just sat there in complete silence staring blankly at the wall as the doctor completed his examination. It worried Christian to see him like this. He hadn't spoken since Christian had taken him to the hospital. Instead he just sat there, not saying a word and looking as if he was on the verge of tears.

"Sy," Christian said gently, trying to get him to respond. "The police want to talk to you about what happened, are you okay to do that?"

Syed nodded slightly but he didn't speak. Christian was quickly replaced at his side by a young male police officer. Syed didn't even acknowledge his presence.

Christian wanted to stay with Syed whilst the police officer was there but he didn't want to hear what Syed had to say. He quietly slipped out of the room and leaned against the wall. He closed his eyes and tried his hardest not to allow the tears forming in his eyes to slip down his cheeks. Syed's voice was quiet but Christian could still hear every hitch in his voice as he recounted his story. Christian felt sick. He wanted to hunt down the son of a bitch who had hurt his lover like this and he wanted to kill him.

The police officer left the room eventually and nodded sympathetically to Christian as he went. Christian breathed deeply, trying to calm himself down before he faced Syed. He turned slowly and walked back into the room.

"Did you hear?" Syed said quietly, his voice full of sadness and Christian felt his heart break. He couldn't find his voice so all he could do was nod dumbly at Syed's question. "It was David, my ex."

Christian felt another course of anger rush through him. He had never met David but he had never imagined he would do something like this.

Syed pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his head down on them. He didn't know what to do or how to react. He just felt numb, like it hadn't really registered with him what had happened. He just wanted to get out of the hospital room, he felt like he couldn't breathe properly. "I want to go home," he said quietly.

"I'll go and see the doctor for you," Christian replied and stepped away from Syed. He didn't want to hurry out of the room so it looked like he was trying to get away from Syed. Once out of the room he did hurry to find the doctor.

"You can take him home when you're ready," the doctor told Christian. "I can get the discharge papers in order for you and I am going to refer Mr. Masood to a counsellor."

"Will he be all right?" Christian asked anxiously.

"Physically he will recover but mentally he may have some problems. He has been through a very traumatic experience and there is no way to know just how he is going to react to it."

Christian felt like he had just been punched in the gut. He knew it was going to be hard but he hadn't realised just how hard. Syed wasn't the best communicator when he was upset about something so Christian knew he wouldn't want to talk about what had happened in any great detail. He didn't know how to help.

"The doctor said I can take you home," Christian said to Syed as he re-entered his room. Syed didn't speak for a moment, he simply closed his eyes and swallowed heavily. "He said that it might be a good idea for you to speak to someone, a professional."

"I don't need to speak to anyone," Syed responded, his voice so quiet that Christian barely heard what he had said. "I'm fine."

"You're not fine, Syed," Christian told him.

"I don't want to talk about it," Syed's voice cracked but he refused to let himself break down. He couldn't allow that to happen. "I just want to go home."

"Come on then," Christian said softly, his voice full of warmth and sympathy. "Let's go home."

"Hi there," Syed heard a man greet him. He looked up from his newspaper he had been staring blankly at for the last half an hour.

The man was attractive, tall and handsome. Syed couldn't understand why he was talking to him, he was a mess. He hadn't slept since he had seen Christian in the street a few days before and his hair was more wayward than it had ever been.

"Uh… hi," Syed greeted back, his voice quiet and very unsure.

"I'm David."

"Syed."

"Do you mind if I join you?"

"Uh… okay."

David sat down in the seat opposite him. "I've seen you around a few times and I've always wanted to talk to you."

"Why?"

"You seem interesting."

"I'm not really," Syed replied shyly.

"I think you are. I don't want to sound too forward or anything but I would like to ask you out."

"That's nice of you and all but I'm nothing special."

"Why don't you let me decide that? Go out with me."

"I don't know, I'm not really great with dating people."

"Bad break up?"

"Very bad. So bad, I swore off men completely."

"Then let me try to change your mind."

"Can I think about it? I need to go to Mosque."

"Here's my number," David said as he wrote his number down on a napkin. "Give me a call if you want to go out," he smiled and handed it over to Syed.

"Thanks."

"He always seemed so nice," Syed's voice came out of the blue. They had arrived back at the flat a couple of hours ago and Syed hadn't spoken a word since they had left the hospital. He had just sat down on the sofa and stared blankly into space. Christian didn't know what to do, he felt completely helpless.

Christian glanced up at Syed. He was still staring blankly, unshed tears filling his eyes. "David," Syed clarified. "I never thought he'd hurt me. He said he loved me but he did this to me."

Christian moved closer to Syed and sat down, close but not touching; he didn't want to upset Syed any further.

"I don't know what to say," Christian admitted truthfully. He had no experience of this, he had no idea what Syed was going through and he had no idea how he could make this better for him.

"You don't need to say anything, I just need you to be here."

"I can do that," Christian said softly, desperately wanting to touch Syed, to hold him and protect him from all the bad things in the world. He didn't though, he just contented himself with sitting next to him, to let him know that he was there for him.

"I know that you need time so when you're ready and you need to talk I'll be here for you. I'm not going anywhere," Christian reassured his love.

"I think I want to lie down for a while," Syed replied, avoiding what Christian had said. He slowly and gingerly stood up and limped over to the bed, keeping his back to Christian the entire time.

Although he hadn't acknowledged what Christian had said, he appreciated it greatly. It was comforting to know that he had someone there for him.

At least he wasn't completely alone even if it felt like it now.