"Who was that man, Brian?" Lindsey asked curiously as Brian came back into the room a few minutes later. Her friend's quick attempt to catch up with the other man, who appeared to be a hospital employee, hadn't gone unnoticed by either woman.
"His name is Justin," Brian told them as he took his customary seat back at Gus' side. "He's the one who helped take care of him when I brought him in last night, and he's also the one who arranged for me to use the room next door – and brought me some lunch earlier today."
"Well, I'd say he's certainly going above and beyond the call of duty, then – offering to find you a change of clothes, too?" Lindsey observed as she and Mel exchanged a knowing smile, both thinking the same thing – it was obvious to them by the way this blond had been looking at Brian that he was infatuated with him. They only hoped he didn't get his heart smashed like a fly when he found out Brian's standard one-fuck per customer policy that he held, but they couldn't police every vulnerable man's heart no matter how well-intentioned and kind they might be.
Brian shrugged. "It wasn't my idea," he maintained. "I can't help it if I'm hot," he decided as Lindsey stifled a laugh and Mel merely rolled her eyes in disgust at his statement.
"That must be the reason," Lindsey murmured as she glanced down at their son to check on him. She hated the fact that she and Mel had been gone when he awakened earlier, but she was so thrilled to hear from Brian that he had, indeed, been awake again. That was definitely a promising sign. "If you ask me, I think someone has a crush on you."
Brian snorted, thinking that sounded so high school to his ears. "Well, if he really likes me, maybe I'll give him my varsity jacket when we start going steady," he quipped. "Do you think he'll let me get to 3rd base, too?"
"Give me a fucking break, Brian," Mel finally growled from her side of the hospital bed. "There're more important matters here than satisfying your oversized libido," she added curtly, staring down at their child intently. Both she and Lindsey had felt terribly guilty about not being at the hospital when their son had been brought in; that was mainly why she was acting so angry at Brian, but the man still annoyed the hell out of her with his constant innuendos.
"Gee, Mel, I never would have figured that out," Brian snarled back at her. "I guess I just brought Gus to the ER last night so he could take a tour when it wasn't so crowded."
"Brian…..Mel, please," Lindsey pleaded. "Can we call a recess at least until Gus is better?" She placed her fingers at her temples as if she was trying to ward off a migraine while she appealed to her partner and her friend.
Brian shook his head; Lindsey wasn't the only one about to get a headache. He stood up and stretched as he leaned backward. Taking one more quick glance at his son to make sure he seemed okay for the moment, he stated, "I've got to get out of here for a little while."
Lindsey opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it as Brian turned on his heels and promptly walked out. She turned a disapproving stare at her partner. "Mel, do you always have to bait him like that? After all, he probably saved Gus' life."
The brunet huffed. "I can't help it with him – he's always thinking with his dick instead of his other head."
Lindsey shook her head. "Please….for my sake as well as our son's – just tone down the sarcasm and vitriolic diatribe until he's better and ready to go home, okay?"
Melanie couldn't help rolling her eyes at her partner's defense of Brian Kinney once again – the man who could apparently do no wrong. But she realized this was one case she wasn't going to win. "Okay, okay, whatever," she grudgingly agreed.
Lindsey nodded, satisfied that at least for now her partner would tamp her objections down to a more civil level. She glanced up at the clock overhead their son's bed, noticing it was close to 5:00 p.m. She also realized she and Mel hadn't eaten anything in several hours. "Mel….when Brian returns you want to run upstairs to the cafeteria and grab something to eat?" She asked. She continued to hold Gus' hand softly in her own, hoping he could somehow figure out by her touch that she was there by his side. Since Brian had brought him in, one of them had always been there by his bed and she was not going to make an exception now.
Mel nodded with a soft smile, admitting, "Yeah….I could stand a little something myself." She surprised Lindsey by adding gruffly, "We could bring Brian something back if he wants."
The blond's eyebrows rose at that unexpected statement. She smiled appreciatively at her partner's attempt to be civil. "That'd be nice," she told her.
Brian placed his hands at his lower back and leaned back again to try and relieve some of the tension there. Between sitting in the uncomfortable, vinyl bed/chair and remaining practically immobile for hours on end, he was stiff as a board. At least he had been able to take a shower previously; he was convinced if he hadn't had the opportunity to take advantage of that particular luxury earlier, he would have been aching all over even worse than he was.
Thinking about his shower made him think about something– or someone else: the blond orderly, Justin, that had been popping up frequently lately. Despite Justin's insistence that he was doing all of it simply as part of his job, Brian didn't buy that for a second; he had seen enough interested looks in his day to know when a man was attracted to him. Of course, with his looks and his 'attributes,' there weren't many men – or women, for that matter – who weren't.
That didn't mean he was always interested in return, though, but with this particular man – now, he could definitely find something useful for those long, slender fingers to do in addition to carrying around meal trays and bedding; something much more interesting. For now, however, until he knew for sure that his son was definitely on the mend, he would merely have to be content with wishful thinking…..
Same Time – Laundry Room
Justin swiped his employee card and quietly opened the laundry room door; he was vastly relieved to find it unoccupied at the moment. Nearby, he spied racks and racks of newly-laundered clothing for various departments of the hospital, including the maintenance uniforms he was seeking.
He had been hoping with it being near dinner time that the two employees normally in charge of uniform inventory would be eating; he had been down here enough times, fetching clothing for new employees for orientation, to know they seemed to follow a distinctive pattern of arriving and leaving at certain times. Fortunately for him, the two men who normally manned this department were regular as clockwork. Today was no exception as he noticed the room was unoccupied.
Quickly walking over to the maintenance pants and shirts shrouded in clear plastic apparel wrap, he hurriedly began to search through the tags to locate the sizes that Brian had given him earlier. His face warmed at the recollection of his earlier meeting with the sexy father; he still felt embarrassed by his response to Brian asking him if he wanted his 'measurements.' Naturally, his vivid mind immediately honed in on just what part of Brian he wanted to 'measure." It didn't take much imagination to figure out that that particular body part would no doubt fall in the 'extra-large' category to which it belonged.
He muttered to himself over his idiocy; the man could obviously see through him instantly. He had to know he was attracted to him; hell, anyone would have known. All they would have had to do was look into his face to find out. He shook his head in disgust; why in the world had he volunteered to find Brian a change of clothing? He wasn't the man's valet and he hadn't asked for such a favor. But it was too late now; he had already offered and the man was no doubt waiting for him to return.
He rapidly pushed the clothing around on the racks until he found a decent pair of dark-gray uniform pants and a navy-blue shirt fitting Brian's measurements; the shirt was emblazoned with a rectangular-sized name patch that said Leroy. Oh, brother, he thought – Brian definitely didn't look like a Leroy to HIM; Adonis, maybe…..but Leroy? He smacked his head softly; could this get any worse?
"No way am I giving him a shirt with the name Leroy on it," he vowed. Glancing around guiltily left and right to ensure no one was within sight of what he was about to do, he quickly grabbed the shirt and grasped the name tag, trying to frantically tear it off. The seamstress must have been a descendant of Betsy Ross, however, because it wouldn't budge. He would just have to find a pair of scissors lying around somewhere to take care of it; the longer he stayed in the laundry room, the more it was likely his subterfuge would be detected.
Feeling like he was a medical cat burglar, he quickly grabbed the items and rushed toward the door, hoping like hell that no one was about. Opening the door, he stuck his head out to double check, breathing a sigh of relief when he found the hallway vacant. As fast as he could while he had the chance, then, he hurried down the hallway toward the employee elevator. Before he entered, he made a quick pit stop nearby at the patient supply closet (armpit stop, he couldn't help joking to himself) to snag a small, mini-size stick of deodorant; at least, no one could say he didn't provide for the hospital's patients – or their fathers, for that matter, as he placed it in his pocket for safekeeping. Finally laden with his supplies, he walked out and over to the elevator, pressed the button and waited rather impatiently, as well as nervously, for the elevator to arrive.
As the car ascended shortly afterward, he tapped his foot restlessly on the worn floor, still wondering if he had lost his mind in agreeing to help out this virtual stranger. The man was probably the most magnificent male specimen he had ever had the privilege of encountering; the hospital was the last place he expected to find someone like Brian Kinney. Maybe the French Riviera, or Paris, or Los Angeles; but the emergency room at the Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh? What in the world did he think he was doing? He had to admit, though; he was finding the whole thing rather exhilarating in a weird sort of way. He still had this feeling that it would somehow blow up in his face, though.
The more time he had to think about it, the more he felt like he was definitely out of his league here. He shook his head, deciding it would be best to just give the man his clothing and go back to his job duties; Brian Kinney would be out of his life as soon as his son recovered and left the hospital. Once the little boy was all better, the man would have no more need for his services. He sighed; that was just what he was, too – a servant; an orderly; a peon in the pecking order of gay men.
Reaching the main floor housing the ICU, he disembarked and turned right to head down to Room #7 – the room containing a little boy, two women, and one tired, clean, but slightly sweaty, sexy man. He could feel his pulse quicken just a bit at the thought of encountering him again, but he had promised and he always fulfilled his promises, no matter how nerve wracking it might prove to be.
Caught in his daydreaming about a certain brunet who had been occupying quite a bit of his thoughts lately, he rounded the corner to hurry toward the ICU wing, and ran smack into a hard, chiseled tower of steel; the very man he had been spending way too many moments thinking about lately.
The breath was knocked out of him and the clothes went flying to the floor as two hands quickly grasped his upper arms to steady him; that was probably a good thing because as he gazed into the inquisitive hazel orbs intently staring down at him and his eyes slowly lowered to take in the full, dark-pink lips that looked just dandy for all sorts of pleasurable activities, if he had had any breath left at the moment, all of it would have been taken away anyway.
Brian's mouth twisted up into a smirk. "Nice of you to drop in with my clothes, Florence Nightingale," he drawled as he gazed amused into the wide-open eyes of his captive. He glanced down at the pile of clothing and plastic wrap lying rather crumpled on the floor and his eye caught a small stick of deodorant propped up against the floorboard. "My, my, my….aren't you just the most thoughtful personal assistant around; you even found me some deodorant?" His smile broadened at the blond's obvious look of embarrassment as he murmured, "You want to take a sniff to see if I need it?"
Justin squirmed as Brian continued to hold onto his upper arms. Brian Kinney, up close and personal, was even more formidable than from a few feet away. "Uh….no…..that's okay," he stuttered, berating himself silently for sounding like an idiot again. What was it about this man that made him DO that? Never mind, he didn't have to answer that – all he had to do was look at the man – and feel his strong hands holding onto him to know the answer.
Brian laughed softly. "Well, if you're sure. I was just taking a short walk to relieve some of my stiffness. You wouldn't have any cures for that, would you, Nurse?" he asked innocently, his eyes twinkling in mischief as he watched Justin's eyes widen even more at his question.
Justin huffed. "First of all, I'm not a nurse. And second of all, if you're…stiff…..ask the REAL nurse to bring you some Ben Gay – that would probably be appropriate!" And with that, Justin pulled himself free from the other man's grasp and bent down to pick up the clothes lying on the floor; he flushed a deep shade of pink as he realized the 'view' Brian must be enjoying as he leaned over to retrieve the small stick of deodorant nearby. He swore he could practically feel the other man's eyes boring into him as he abruptly stood back up and twirled around, finding the other man smiling back at him with his eyebrows raised in challenge.
"Here!" Justin said, thrusting the clothing and deodorant into the man's hands, his eyes flashing. "When you're done with them, just throw them into the clothes hamper – Leroy!" As Justin stomped off down the hallway, Brian frowned. Leroy? Where did that come from? As Justin disappeared out of sight, however, and he had a chance to pull up the plastic covering the shirt, he laughed out loud. "Touché, Florence," he murmured with a smile as he watched him go. He turned in the opposite direction back toward Gus' room, feeling just a bit more optimistic and more like himself than he had in quite a while. He glanced back toward where Justin had gone. "I'm not done with you yet, Florence," he promised with a wisp of a smile as he finally turned to walk back down the hall toward the ICU.
Lindsey looked up as she saw her friend returning, noticing a smile on his face. "I take it that's your new wardrobe?" she asked, amused at him holding up two wire coat hangers with the maintenance outfit sheathed underneath; apparently the blond orderly who was infatuated with him had followed through on his promise. She watched as Brian began to take his own shirt off, preparing to change into the other outfit.
"Do you mind, Brian?" Mel couldn't help grousing. "Not everyone gets aroused by your male presence," she retorted dryly. She tilted her head toward the side. "There's a bathroom there for a reason."
Brian shook his head in disgust. "I doubt if you get aroused by anything," he muttered as he grabbed the clean clothes and sauntered over to the bathroom, closing it firmly behind him.
"Mel, honestly," Lindsey murmured in entreaty as Brian left. "You promised," she pointed out.
Mel shook her head. "He just really pisses me off," he snapped. "He excels at it."
Lindsey sighed. "We all have to try and get along for Gus' sake, okay? Hopefully he'll be moved to a private room tomorrow and we'll be able to spread out a little more. Please try and just deal with it in the meantime, okay?"
Mel rolled her eyes. "Okay….I'll try. But I'm not promising anything."
Brian quickly changed from his designer clothes into the cotton work pants and shirt, blaring his new pseudo name. He shook his head in amusement. "No offense, Leroy, but I think we'll have to do a little bit of custom tailoring on this outfit, too," he declared. He wasn't sure if they kept all the scissors out of the reach of all the patients or not, but come hell or high water, he wasn't going to be christened with that moniker.
As he stood back from the rather small vanity mirror, though, 'Leroy's' shirt hanging open, he had to admit; at least the pants and shirt fit. And it felt damn good to have his stinky, sweaty clothes removed at last. He reached for the Lilliputian-sized stick of deodorant and pulled the tiny top off. "You've got to be kidding," he snorted as he reached under his left arm and tried with limited success to rub some of the deodorant there. "Baby powder," he muttered. "He would have to get me the baby-powder scent."
He finally managed to apply enough of the deodorant to both underarms and promptly threw the small item into the nearby trash can. Buttoning the shirt up partway and tucking it into his pants, he balled up his clothes and opened the door.
Lindsey's head rose to look at him as he reentered the room. "Leroy?" she asked, her mouth twisting up in amusement as Brian walked over to the closet to open it, locating a white, hospital-issued plastic bag for carrying personal items and promptly stuffing his dirty clothes into it. He hung the drawstring bag on one of the metal clothes hooks inside and shut the door. "Hey, I had no control over whose identity I stole," he reported, shrugging. "Has anyone seen a pair of scissors around?"
Lindsey chuckled. "I think I saw the nurse put a pair in the drawer over there," she reported, nodding her head toward the small dresser built into the wall. Brian walked over and pulled out the top drawer, relieved to find a small, metal pair of scissors nestled inside. He reached up to grab them and in short order, 'Leroy' was just a distant memory as he discarded the patch in the trash.
"Rest in peace, Leroy," he quipped as he walked over and once more sat down next to his son's bed. As he reached over to take his son's hand, he felt a barely perceptible movement as he clutched it and his head jerked up in surprise. "Gus?" he whispered. "Can you hear me?" Brian looked over at the two women. "I just felt his hand move a little," he explained.
The two women anxiously stared down at their child as Brian continued speaking. "Come on, Sonny Boy! You've been asleep long enough! Time to wake up!" he ordered softly. "Your moms are here with me. Come on, Gus – wake up, Buddy!" he urged.
Lindsey gasped as they watched Gus' eyelids fluttering while he struggled to wake up. She squeezed his other hand softly. "Come on, Sweetie, can you wake up for Mommy?" she encouraged him, reaching over to stroke his now-cooled forehead. "Wake up, Honey," she insisted.
"Come on, Baby," Mel said, leaning over the bed railing to add her voice to her partner's. "Wake up so we can talk to you."
Brian couldn't take his eyes off his son as he watched him continue to try and awaken from his slumber. "Come on, Sonny Boy," he pleaded softly. "Wake up and talk to Daddy."
Finally, glimpses of brown began to appear beneath the miniature, long lashes and Gus slowly opened his eyes, blinking a couple of times before at last they remained open and stayed open to everyone's delight.
Brian couldn't erase the huge smile that instantly appeared on his face as Gus turned his head slightly at the sound of his father's voice. "That's my big boy," he cooed at his son, reaching over to touch the boy's cheek. "I knew you could do it." He could see his child's lips moving, trying to speak.
"Shh," he responded, reaching up to stroke his son's bangs. "Don't try and talk right now, Buddy. You just lie there and rest. You've been really sick, but you're going to get all better now."
A movement at the door caught the parents' attention as Daphne entered the room and smiled at the sight before her. "He's awake!" she cried out in delight. "That's great!" She walked over to the side of the bed where the two women were as Mel and Lindsey pulled back slightly to make room for her.
"I need to check him out for a couple of minutes now that he's conscious," she told them. "Would you mind moving back over there for just a little bit so I can take a look?"
The two women nodded as they pulled back a few feet to watch the young female doctor speak softly to their son; they were impressed by her gentle tone of voice and the caring expression on her face. It was obvious that this young resident doctor genuinely loved what she did as she held her stethoscope against Gus' small chest and explained to him what she was doing. They heard her apologize softly as Gus jumped slightly at the cold impression of the instrument against his skin. "Sorry, little man," she said to him with a smile. "Have to check out your heart and make sure it's getting all better."
Brian watched the brown-haired woman carefully check his son's heartbeat, pulse, temperature, and blood pressure and flip through his chart of progress over the past several hours. He was thrilled that during the entire encounter, his son had remained awake this time. "You're doing great, Sonny Boy," he told his son with a tender smile. "Daddy's so glad to see you're awake finally."
He turned his gaze upward as the young doctor wrote a few lines on his son's chart to ask, "Is he definitely on the mend now?"
Daphne smiled at him. "Well, I have to leave the final consensus up to Dr. Broderick, but all the signs are looking really good." She smiled down at her patient. "I have a good feeling that he'll be able to move to a private room tomorrow morning, but the final decision's up to him."
Brian smiled in relief. "Thanks, doctor," he told her in genuine gratitude. His boy meant the world to him; he hadn't realized just how deeply he loved him until he had been afraid he would lose him.
She nodded and smiled at him and then the two women. "I'll let Dr. Broderick know the results of my exam; he should be in shortly to confer with you about whether he can be moved tomorrow. But I really think it looks promising for him."
"Thank you, doctor," Lindsey told her also. "That's wonderful news."
The young resident nodded with a smile before looking down at her young patient who was staring up at her curiously. "Nice to finally meet you, Gus," she said. "I'll see you again soon, okay?" She gave him a tender smile and nodded once more at the three parents before quietly turning to go.
As she walked out into the hallway, she finally burst out laughing. She had spied the suave, elegant man's rather unusual choice of wardrobe and somehow she knew; she had no doubt where the man's attire had come from. You've got it bad, Justin, she said to herself. You've got it REALLY bad….. She had never seen her friend go to such lengths to help out a patient's father before, but then again, she had never seen one quite like Mr. Kinney. Smiling to herself, she hurried down the hallway toward her next patient, vowing silently to do what she could to help her friend become better acquainted with the sexy father.