Breathing deeply here, praying to god you'll like it :S Ok guys, I know loads of you have sorta, mixed feelings for how this is gonna play out. Hopefully, in this and future chapters, you'll like what I've decided to do ;)
Disclaimer: Wow, I haven't done one of these for ages. Don't own!.....I missed this :)
He heaved a tremendous breath and his eyes opened.
Slowly, they blinked open. Blurrily, he gazed upwards, looking into bright light, which could be either sunlight or an electrical light. All he could really see was this light, which was getting slightly dimmer as his eyes got used to it. He tried to open his eyes more widely, sure that at the moment they were just small slits, afraid of seeing where he was.
"Vince? Can… can you hear me?" His ears had gone fuzzy, hearing someone talk, but was unsure of who it was. Gene or Howard? He opened his mouth to answer, feeling like it hadn't been opened in years. Whispering croakily, his throat scratching all the time,
"Yeah" Damn. Was that his voice? He was sure he'd only been out a couple of minute's tops. What happened? At hearing him mumble gingerly, another person in the gasped, standing up and coming closer to him, carefully putting their hand on his. He squinted, trying to see the person's face, but the light was still in his eyes. He tried to tell them to move, but they suddenly knew what he wanted, moving that little bit closer to him, blocking out the light.
The face became clear. Brown eyes locked in with blue as both men just stared.
"You've no idea how long I've wanted to see your eyes again" Howard whispered softly, the light from behind shining round him, curling slightly as though he was part of the light itself. Vince's blue eyes filled with tears. Every emotion he'd ever felt seemed to have circled themselves around Howard, personified into one, glorious human being. He let out a choked sob and started to cry. Silently, with just the drops of happiness/sadness making their way down his face.
"Howard" He mumbled, voice still croaky as he went to try and sit up, putting all his yearning into getting straight. He tried to throw his arms around Howard's neck, to give him a hug that he never wanted to end, but his body wouldn't co-operate. More tears fell from his eyes, furious, utterly unsatisfied.
"Don't try and strain yourself Mr Noir" Vince's head jerked round at a new voice, which seemed to have appeared from nowhere. He could see a bit clearer now, and saw Howard, smiling and with tears in his eyes, his lips trembling. A man who Vince assumed was his doctor stepped forward, and looked like he had just come from inside the wall. At seeing his patient's confusion, the doctor smiled and said,
"We wanted you to wake up seeing a familiar face, rather than just a boring old doctor," He grinned again, before moving on, "I'm Doctor Hunt, and we...Vince? Are you ok?" At hearing his doctor's name, Vince's eyes had gone wide and his face had gone quite pale,
"No, I'm...I'm fine" Howard stroked the back of his hand and Vince smiled, which made Howard started crying,
"I'm.. I'm sorry, I just, it's been ages since I saw him smile, I just..." Vince squeezed his hand with as much energy as he could muster and looked up at the doctor again. He grinned at the pair of them and continued,
"So, before I tell you everything that's happened, or at least let Howard fill you in, I need to do a few routine checks" With that said, he shone a beam of light in Vince's eyes, and nodding happily, as presumably the pupil dilated or something.
"We'll need to send you for another CT scan, to check there's no brain damage, but I'd say you were fine. Let me just ask, what's your name?" Vince looked puzzled but answered,
"Vince. Vince Noir" Doctor Hunt nodded and asked,
"And who's this gentleman here?" Motioning towards Howard. Vince smiled beautifully up at him and whispered,
"Howard Moon, he's... the most special thing in my life" Howard bit the inside of his to cheek, trying to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Was Vince, his Vince, really awake? He couldn't stop stroking the younger man's hand, staring at him as he answered the doctor's questions, every so often throwing Howard a slightly nervous but nonetheless loving smile, fidgeting impatiently on his weak limbs,
"Are we done yet?" Vince asked, already bored of the situation. Doctor Hunt smiled and said,
"I just want a quick talk with you about what happened. Do you remember?" Vince saw Howard shuffle slightly straighter in his seat and glanced down at his hands,
"He... he shot me" Vince whispered, before realising what he just said and grabbed onto the doctor's arm, "I.. I mean, yeah, no, I was...the car it, I went right over it. I was listening to 'Life on Mars'" He ended, remembering that part about the whole accident. He shuffled nervously as both Howard and Doctor Hunt glanced at him, but neither said anything, until the doctor flicked through his chart and said,
"You were in a coma. Quite a deep one, but surprisingly came out of it very unscathed and in a small amount of time. You were only in there for about 2 months" Vince paled and looked over at Howard, grasping his hand tightly,
"I..I left you alone, for 2 months?" He asked hoarsely, feeling weak and tired. How could he do that to his fiancee? With a sudden surge of happiness, he realised Howard hadn't asked him properly yet. Howard looked extremely shocked at the way Vince's face had gone a brighter shade of white. and quickly said,
"Don't be upset Vince, please, it wasn't you fault, and it doesn't matter now, because it's all over, we can just go on as though nothing happened" Vince nodded, not quite paying attention and said quietly to the doctor,
"Can we, y'know, havea few minutes alone?". He looked up hopefully, eyes shining, something anyone would fall for. Apart from Gene. Shockingly, Doctor Hunt shook his head,
"Sorry Vince, you need rest, and visiting time's over. I promise Howard can come tomorrow" Vince's eyes filled with tears and tried to clutch at Howard's hand, but his hand was too weak, Howard's easily slipping through his grasp,
"No, please, I need him here, I've been away from him too long, I've missed him too much" The doctor gave him a curious glance and asked,
"Do you mean that you feel that you've been in a coma too long or...?" He left it open to suggestions, watching Vince curiously. The young man didn't know what to say. The doctor would look at him as if he was mad if he said that he went back in time. Eventually he settle for,
"I could hear you... sometimes. I missed you, I couldn't say anything to you" He directed this at Howard, and his bottom lip wobbled once more, gazing at Howard, wishing with all his might that he could just have an hour or two that was just them alone. Even if there wasn't much talking. Just looking at each other and maybe Howard, sat on the bed next to him, cradling him softly as he slowly fell asleep. He yawned slowly, picturing the scene so perfectly.
"Ok Vince, you really need rest, you need all the strength you can for physiotherapy tomorrow" Vince eyes flicked nervously towards his doctor,
"Why? Can't I walk?"
"You haven't used your muscles in two months, and weren't far away from going into the pre-natal position in your bed, the foetal position. We need to get you walking as soon as possible. It might be a bit harder than normal, as you got some injuries in the crash, so you might get a few... twinges. But enough of that for the time being. You need to rest." He nodded at Howard quite forcefully, who sighed and looked down at Vince, not wanting to leave him. Vince picked up on the huge hint for Howard to go and immediately tried to protest,
"No! Please don't make him leave! At least let him stay until I fall asleep!" He grabbed his doctor's coat again in desperation and this time Doctor Hunt sighed and gave in. He nodded at Howard and said,
"Fine, but tell me as soon as he nods off" With that he swished out of the room.
Finally they were alone. Vince twisted the corners of the hospital duvet and glanced up, almost shyly, at Howard,
"Hey" He murmured, blushing at how stupid he sounded. He'd just come out of a coma, and the best he could come up with was that? He twisted the duvet some more and whispered,
"I'm... so so sorry Howard. I... god, you don't know, I'll never... I can't believe I left you for 2 months..." He broke off, wheezing slightly due to the fact he hadn't been breathing on his own for very long, and he was now trying to take big gulps of air, sobbing slightly.
Howard was horrified that Vince genuinely blamed himself for everything. Ok, Howard had been terrified during the last 2 months, and sometimes missed Vince's voice so much he felt sick, but would never guilt trip Vince about any of this.
"Oh Vince," he sighed sadly, getting up and sitting on the hospital bed so he could hold Vince. Running his hands through the younger man's hair, he murmured, "I love you Vince, and the only ting I'm going to think about any of this is that how lucky we both are. How lucky Iam. I've got the most amazing, most... stunning fia..." He stopped, about to say fiancee. Vince may have said he could hear them, but even if he had, he definitely hadn't answered yet. And now wasn't a good time to propose.
Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be, Vince looked up and heard what he was about to say,
"Howard?" He croaked, "Were you...I mean, before, when I was.. y'know, you. I didn't dream it did I?" He asked, suddenly looking very woe begotten. Howard's face slipped a notch. Did this mean Vince wanted to? Should he ask? The other man's white face, which set out his startling blue eyes made his mind up for him. Quickly rummaging in his pocket, Howard produced the ring he had slipped on Vince's finger only a few days into the coma and got down on one knee.
Vince gasped, his eyes shining, hands clapped over his mouth as though he was going to be sick. It wasn't exactly a surprise, or the most romantic of moments, but right now, Vince couldn't imagine any other place he'd rather have it done. He shining eyes stared right into Howard's nervous ones, and he squeezed them shut for a second after Howard said solemnly,
"Vince, will you marry me?" Even though his throat still wasn't exactly the best, he managed to squeal girlishly and burst into ecstatic tears, glad when Howard came back up off the floor and slipped the ring on, which meant Vince could finally fling his arms around his husband-to-be.
I was intending to make this longer, but I wanted to post this part, and loads of you said you wanted it to kind of... drag on, so the like, 10000 words i was gonna put in this can be sized down to nice lil' chunks called chapters ;) Please review, right now you have no idea where I'm going with this ;P