Okay I'll have to apologise for my mini-rank in my previous update. I wrote that when I was seriously frustrated and I reached my boiling point (a lot of it due to major family conflict)– reminds you of a character in a certain episode? Yes, Evan caused some damaged but he eventually comes through to the people he cares about…in this case it's my readers :)

And for the record I don't really blame Evan that much. We all do something we later regret when we're pissed off, right? And when everything piles up and you're pissed because of it you just want someone to blame it on to get rid of some of the steam. But give Evan some time to cool off and he'll come to his senses like he always does and I'll bet you he will even pay for the damages of his bro's car! It would piss me off too if my sibling had the same excuse to use every time he couldn't explain a secret (yes I know it's the LAW but still…y'know what I mean!).

I love Evan too much to let his character's reputation drop!

But let's be honest here, it's clear the writers used Evan's slightly out-of-character anger to just once get them to seriously fight…but they are doing it wrong! And it's tearing Hank and Evan lovers apart!

Alright I'll stop there! But what do you guys think about this? I'd love to hear your opinions!

NOW ON WITH THE STORY! :D

P.S. whynotlive – like I promised, chapter is dedicated to you! And a special thanks to LizaD for taking the time to beta read!

X

Thoughts

"Speeches"

"Whispers"

xXx – Scene Change

Flashbacks

Summary: It's just food poisoning…right?

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, you don't have to tell me twice.

Chapter 3

The sound of squeaking Italian shoes (a long ago purchase by an ex-fiancé) echoed through the bustling hallway of Heritage Hospital. Pacing in apprehension, Hank exhaled deeply as he crossed his arms onto his chest.

"Hank, please stop pacing. You're making me nauseous." Divya rubbed the surface of her forehead. She was just as nervous as the doctor was but knew for his sake that she needed to keep it concealed.

"I'm sorry, Divya." The doctor halted his incessant marching and took a seat next to his assistant. "It's just...it's shaping up to be a very long wait." The stress of the situation wormed its way into his foot, leaving it to bounce in anticipation. "Maybe I should go speak with Jill, she might know what's-" the older man muttered more to himself than to the young woman sitting in the next chair.

"Hank, relax." Divya reached out and put a firm hold on the doctor's wrist before the anxious man had gripped the chance to make his way down to the business administrator's office. "She'll be here soon with the blood test and a theory we can work with, which means Evan will be back to his old annoying self within the next few days."

"I know but-"

"Hank!" The two HankMed workers turned their heads to the direction of a familiar soft, sounding, female voice.

"Paige, I-" Before Hank could manage to stop her, the agitated young woman let a loose flood of words all centred on her concern for Evan.

"Where's Evan? Is he okay? Can I see him?"

"Paige, slow down." Hank placed two comforting hands onto her shoulders with the hopes of calming Paige down a bit. "We won't know anything for sure until we get his blood test back, but I can tell you that they are taking good care of Evan."

"That's good," the young woman sighed in relief. "So he's going to be fine. Right, Hank?"

Hank opened his mouth to speak but found himself at a loss for the right words. To be brutally honest, he wasn't 100% sure himself what was going on; it was an uncomfortable feeling being the worried family member instead of the in charge medical professional.

This situation was not like foreign territory to the physician. He had encountered times in the ER and ICU when he had to calmly explain to the patient's family how he would do the best he could to see that a loved one would make a full, safe recovery. So why then should he feel so thrown now?

Paige continued to wait for an answer after a few seconds passed by. When he failed to respond her brow creased with worry. "Hank?"

The doctor absentmindedly shook his head. "Oh- yeah, of course." Hank genuinely smiled at the young heiress as she sighed another breath of relief. A calmer Paige then took a seat next to Divya.

Of course? Hank's last words encircled his thoughts. Years ago, when he was just starting out the doctor made that mistake only once, as a know-it-all intern, and learned the hard way about the consequences of giving family members false hope. Hank vowed never to casually throw those two words around.

Now he found himself comforting someone who loved Evan just about as much as he did. Maybe, even a little more. In this particular instance, a little false hope would keep Paige's rising fear in check. At this point, Hank needed more to go on more than a theory; he needed someone to get back to him with the blood test results. Heritage was a small hospital, but its lab was comparable to those of the five star hospitals, as Evan liked to call them, Hank just had to be patient. He knew that Jill had staffed Heritage with an amazing amount of talented medical personnel. The doctor knew with that kind of help on his side, Evan would make a full recovery.

But knowing all this why did he still have this lingering…

"Hank?" The preoccupied man lifted his head at the sound of the soothing, soft familiar voice of his on again/off again girlfriend.

"Hey." Henry smiled. "I was hoping to speak with you."

"I've sent the blood test-"

"And-"

"And, like all blood tests, it should be back within a few hours, at least."

Hank nodded and sighed, noticing that an hour went by since his brother was admitted. "Isn't there anything I can do till then?"

"Well…you can sit here and wait."

"Or?"

"Or you could see your brother."

Hank swiftly turned his head to his girlfriend. "You mean-"

"He's stable and they are allowing a limited number of visitors. But only for a short time," Jill warned.

xXx

Earlier, in a small room down the hallway.

Evan felt like he was floating. It was kind of a cool serene feeling mixed with a whole lot of confusion on his part.

Then he heard a voice in the distance. Evan wondered where the voice came from. He tried but found that he could not put a face to the voice. The next thing he knew, there was a sudden pull; a harsh tug at his heart. And man was the feeling uncomfortable.

He's barely breathing…clear!

Another pull. If felt like it was dragging him to ground.

Charge again…CLEAR!

The last pull caused an abrupt escape of air from his lungs.

"We've got a pulse!"

Evan harshly gasped for air, his eyes widened in shock. He was left with distorted images and echoing voices that continued to converse even as he struggled to make sense of everything around him. A bright light above his head left his eyes squinting as the air continued to rush out of his lungs. Then, without warning, something was snapped onto his face that had oxygen making its way into his mouth. Exhausted, Evan gave up trying to make sense of what was going on and fell into oblivion.

xXx

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Why had something that had been so easy to do up until now was suddenly so noisy?

Breat- wait. Where are those voices coming from?

Evan kept his eyes closed. He felt too comfortable to open them. Stop talking, he thought, please stop talking. I'm trying to sleep. As much as he tried, he could not ignore the voices; not when they continued to get louder.

"It's too early for this," Evan spoke groggily, eventually giving up the thought of sleeping and opening his eyes. As his vision sharpened, he began to take notice of the four familiar people in his life hovering above him. He felt a gentle hand laying onto his, trailing the hand to find its owner to be his soon-to-be fiancé. The other three included the people he felt closest too. They had stopped just being a HankMed team and had formed a small family. Well at least they had in Evan's way of thinking.

"Hey," Hank softly said to the figure in the bed. He was seated on the edge of Evan's bed. "How are you feeling?"

Evan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "Wha-" He suddenly found that it hurt to speak; just what did I do last night? The still groggy man thought before he continued, "Why are you guys in my room?" The four people surrounding his bed gently chortled.

What was so funny? And why do his arms feel so heavy? What is this thing hanging below his nose? And why does his room look like…

Wait a minute!

The monitor tracking Evan's heart rate began to elevate higher numbers. Two hands lay onto his shoulders and he looked up to find his brother instructing him to breath slower.

Evan began panting. "Hank what's-"

"Easy there, Ev," the doctor instructed again. "Try and relax." Once Evan's breathing slowed and came at a steadier pace, Hank continued, "Try not to get worked up. We don't want any complications."

"Complications? From what?"

"We're trying to locate the source of your symptons but we can't be sure of anything until we receive the results of your blood test."

"How long will that take?" a worried Evan inquired.

"A few hours," Divya responded.

"What do I do until then?" Evan turned to asked the PA.

"You rest," Hank added. "You're currently provided with some medication to treat the low blood pressure." The doctor noted the uneasy look on his younger brother's face.

"Evan, you're going to be fine." Paige smiled down at the man she loved. "I'm going to call my parents." She placed her lips onto his. "I'll be right back." With that, she headed towards the hospital corridor.

A worried Hank turned to his PA. "Divya, there are two HankMed patients who are probably going to be very annoyed with…"

"I'll be more than happy to fill in for you," Divya responded.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course." A bittersweet smiled formed her lips. "That being said, I've got another appointment in a few. Please call me with any updates." She looked at her boss. Hank nodded. Divya then headed for the door. "Get better soon, Evan." The physician assistant closed the door behind her.

"I should check up on the blood test and see how it's going," Jill announced. "I'll be back." When the administrator pulled the door open she almost bumped into Paige as the heiress tried to make her way back into the small room.

"My parents send their wishes," Paige said once she stood beside Evan's bed. She opened her mouth to speak but found her thoughts interrupted by the ringing of her phone. "Hello?" Hank and Evan remained quiet. "No-no! NO! Do not place it there! Move it-…no move it-…no I can't come! My boyfriend's-"

"Paige, if you need to go it's fine with me," Evan said, his throat still feeling somewhat hoarse.

She lowered the phone. "No, Evan, I don't-"

"I'm serious, Paige, if you don't go I will!" Evan would go too if he could just find out where his clothes went.

Paige sighed and lifted her mobile. "Alright, I'll be there. Bye." Paige turned to her boyfriend. "I won't take long." It always seemed now that she was being torn between the very people she cared about the most.

Once his sweetheart left the room, Evan broke the silence. "And then there was two."

Hank chuckled. "You make it sound as if I'm going to murder you."

"Just trying to liven things up," Evan shrugged.

"By assuming that I'll be murdering you?"

Evan lightly sniggered, which served to produce a few worn-out coughs. Hank immediately reached for the cup of water waiting on the beside table and provided it to his brother. Evan swallowed down some sips and looked up to notice his brother's solemn expression. "So…haven't you got anything better to do?"

Hank took the cup from Evan's hand and placed back on to the table. "What do you mean?"

"So you're just going to sit here and wait hours for the test to come back?"

"Why does that sound so problematic?"

"It doesn't, I just thought you'd make more use of your time than just sit here and watch me sleep." Though he would not admit it, Evan was glad his brother was by his side.

"It's a precaution, in case there are any complications."

"Isn't that what nursing staff members are trained for?"

"Evan, if you want me to leave, I'll go!"

"You don't have to leave, I was merely suggesting that you outta do something more productive."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, organise your doctor notes? There has to be something else you need to do!"

Hank paused for a few seconds. "Ev, is there something wrong?"

"Aside from the fact that I almost died, not at all. Why?" Evan watched his brother's eyebrows rise with a look to show that he could see through his playful façade. "Don't even try. Like I don't know what that look means!"

"What look?"

"The one where you think you can read me like an open book!"

"I can read you like an open book!"

It was Evan's turn to pause before evading the conversation. "Shouldn't I be resting now?"

"Go ahead, I'm not stopping you."

Evan lay still for a minute before responding once more. "Well I can't do it with you standing so close and eyeballing me."

Hank sighed as he stood from the edge of the bed. "Maybe I should just leave you to rest."

"You don't have to leave the room, I just don't feel comfortable with you staring at me continuously." Evan watched a corner of his brother's lips rise, forming a smirk. Evan did not like that look. Every time Hank grinned cockily, he found a way to unveil a degrading observation that diminished Evan's pride. "What?"

"Oh I see what's going on."

"See what?"

"That you-" Hank's attention was diverted by the sound of the door opening. Jill approached the two men.

"Hey, Hank, they want you to leave so Evan can have his rest," She spoke, shrugging her shoulders lightly. "Sorry."

"Alright, Ev, I'll be just outside the room." The older man walked over to the door. "But don't worry, I won't leave the hospital."

"Why would I worry about that?" Before Evan received a response, Hank had already left the room. "Hank? I'm not worried!"

xXx

Hank closed the door behind him with a smile on his face.

"Something funny?" an amused Jill inquired.

"Oh…it's nothing," he replied. "So any word on the results?"

"Not yet, but they're working on it. Oh, have you called your father about the incident?"

Hank looked up guilty. "I completely forgot."

"While you do that do you want to grab some lunch from the cafeteria?"

"Sure." Henry smiled as he pulled up a number on his phone. He lifted it to his ear and listened to the continuous ringing.

"Turkey sandwich or tuna?" Jill said.

"Um...surprise me." Hank attentively waited until the ringing stopped.

"Henry, my boy!" a jovial voice on the other line beamed. "It's about time you checked up on your old man! How are ya'?"

"Hey, dad, I-"

"How's business? Did Evan tell you about my new business venture? It's-"

"About Ev-"

"Hey, listen, you'll love this idea-"

"Dad. Listen. Something has-"

"You know what, Hank? All three of us have to do lunch soon. It's been forever since we got together as a family!"

"Dad!" Hank exclaimed.

"Hank, you don't sound like yourself. What's wrong?" His father's voice toned down towards a more concern sound.

"Okay, before I tell you anything, don't freak out, because everything is under control."

"You're making me worry, son. Is everything okay?"

"Well, something happened…"

TBC

Hmm…I feel like I've jumped the gun with Hank's brotherly worry :/

I'm always going on about "characterisation" and that a fanfiction must be "in character" for it to work. And for the first time in my fics, I feel like I've ignored that rule (I think I might've gotten too excited…us whumpage enthusiasts are getting veeeery hungry)

Also, I would LOVE if whumpage would bring back the brothers together in the next episode! In fact it's the PERFECT TIME TO USE EVAN WHUMPAGE! Hank saves his life and YAY! One big happy family once more…or less :)

Aaaanyways, you know the drill ;)

Mrs-N-Uzumaki xxx

P.S. There seems to be some confusion about the timing of this story. If you guys remember I uploaded this when Divya moved in with Hank and Evan. Thus, there is no current conflict between the to brothers. Hope that clears it up.