"Duke, slow down," Nathan told him. He was getting antsy just watching Duke as his younger boyfriend struggled with the buttons on his jeans. With one arm in a cast and still strapped to his bandaged chest, he was having to do it one-handed. Since he couldn't really bend at the hips, courtesy of the massive gash and the stitches still residing there, he was having to lean back awkwardly against the bed to try to pull them up, all the while balancing on his one good leg. All in all, it wasn't working very well.
"No!" Duke snapped nonetheless. "The sooner I get dressed, the sooner I can get out of this fluorescent hell."
"Yeah, and if you fall or mess something up, the longer you're gonna stay in this fluorescent hell."
Duke glared at him. "If you don't have something helpful to say, kindly keep your mouth shut." He almost had his jeans fastened, but at the last second, his shaking fingers slipped. It must've pulled something, because he let out a pained gasp and a swear, his face twisting into a grimace.
Nathan promptly pushed off the wall he'd been leaning against and walked over to him. He reached for him, but Duke batted him away. "Hey," Nathan said softly, sliding his hands around Duke's waist. This time, Duke allowed it, and after a soft hug, Nathan turned him around and pulled him back against his chest. "What do you say you let me help you?" he asked. His chin was resting on Duke's uninjured shoulder, and his lips were close to Duke's ear. "That is, after all, what I'm here for."
A soft chuckle rumbled in Duke's chest as he leaned back into his boyfriend's chest. "I was wondering what you were good for," he teased, turning to steal a quick kiss from his helpful lover. "I guess that answers that."
"Ooh, look who's getting his lip back. He must be feeling better." Nathan smiled and reached around Duke's narrow hips, carefully fastening Duke's jeans and pulling up the zipper. "There, see? On to the shirt." Keeping a steadying hand on Duke's hips, he grabbed Duke's fleece-lined canvas jacket. It was cold outside, and it would be both warm and soft for him.
Duke went to take it, but Nathan just slipped the sleeve over his good arm, pulling it up over his shoulder. The other side he simply draped over his shoulder, letting the empty sleeve hang loose at his side.
Duke had one boot on, and only a sock on his left foot, because the knee brace on it held it off the ground anyway.
"All right, well, it looks like you're ready to go," Nathan said, pressing a quick kiss to his boyfriend's lips.
"And not a second too soon," Duke said. He went for a kiss of his own, but Nathan stopped him with a hand on his chest.
"Maybe not soon enough," Nathan muttered, turning Duke around with a hand on his hip.
Standing in the doorway was none other than Reverend Driscoll, an expression of smug, barely-concealed disdain on his face.
Nathan felt Duke stiffen in his arms.
"I was visiting the hospital for my weekly Wednesday sermons. I thought I might stop by to…check in with the man who saved my flock. You can imagine my surprise, walking in to find you in the arms of…well, I think you understand."
Nathan, for one was just going to ignore the Rev. The bigot would always find something wrong with him – be it his Troubles, his ethics, or his relationships – and frankly, he had bigger things to worry about.
But Duke, it seemed, wasn't quite so ready to let the comment pass. "Oh yeah, I understand perfectly," he sneered. "I understand that your ego, among other things, is in such desperate need of a stroking, you'll take any chance you can to play Saint. I understand that, probably as a result of some deep-seeded Daddy issues or some other bullshit like that, you can't stand the idea that your word isn't always the fucking law." He limped forward, a caustic smirk on his face. "And I understand that it must be really fucking hard to go home at the end of the day to nothing but a bottle of scotch and a dusty old book. What I don't understand is how even a pathetic, self-righteous, Bible-thumping son of a bitch could stand there and watch some guy about to kill a little girl!"
"And what would you have had me do, son?" Rev asked, his tone distinctly condescending. "I'm neither young nor fit; I wouldn't have ended up in the hospital. I would have ended up dead."
"And it would have been exactly what you deserve, you fucking hypocrite!" Duke shouted, his voice coming out rasped and raw and full of so much fury, Nathan felt his own eyes widening. Duke was never like this. Duke was always so controlled, so calm. To see him like this, seething mad and screaming…it was surreal.
Until he found out why.
"It would've been disgusting enough if you'd just stood there. You preach about love and courage and saints and God's-fucking-glory like you're its very embodiment here on earth, but when it came time to show it, to save that little girl's life, where was your halo then?"
"Duke…" Nathan started, reaching a hand for him, but Duke shrugged him off.
"You…you, Rev, are a special kind of fucked up! Standing there would've been one thing, but you weren't just standing there, were you? You weren't just watching it happen, sitting on your hands like a useless, hypocritical sack of shit!"
"Duke!" Nathan tried again. Duke was breathing hard, and Nathan wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to stay up on his one foot.
"No! Nathan, he wasn't just sitting there!" Duke shouted. "He was fucking cheering him on! What was it you said, Rev? 'The ungodly must be cleansed'? Remind me how the hell a seven-year-old girl can be ungodly, you sick fuck!" And in an instant, Duke launched himself at the man. Nathan just barely managed to get a hold of him, locking his arms around Duke's waist as he screamed at the man, "He was going to rip her apart, and you justified it! You told him to do it, to kill an innocent little girl, and yet you stand there in that door and act like the holiest thing since Mother-fucking-Theresa!"
"Duke, calm down. Just calm down."
"You didn't hear her scream, Nate. You didn't see her crying, see the way that guy was coming at her. All because of him! You say the Troubled are monsters, but how the fuck can you look in a mirror? You're worse than every last one of them!"
It was all Nathan could do to hold Duke without hurting him, but mercifully, the same elderly nurse from before chose that moment to poke her head in.
"I think you should leave," she told Rev after only a moment in the room. Nathan would give it to her; the woman was perceptive.
Rev seemed to decide he'd done enough damage, because he waved to them and turned to leave. "You take care now," he called over his shoulder.
Duke made another lunge for him, but Nathan had a much better grip on him now. He turned Duke away from the door, pulling him into a firm but careful hug. Duke twisted in his arms, but Nathan just held him, cradling his head against his shoulder and stroking his thumb down Duke's neck.
"Shh, just take it easy, babe," Nathan said, and he'd no sooner finished speaking than Duke's leg gave out from under him. Nathan only just managed to catch him and the nurse hurried over to help him as he eased Duke back down on the bed.
Duke was white as a ghost and breathing hard like he'd just run a marathon. His eyes were fixed on the door the nurse had closed only moments before, and Nathan could've sworn he saw tears in them. Duke was too proud to cry in front of the Rev; no matter how much control he lost, he wouldn't go that far.
"Sweetheart, why don't you lie down for a few minutes," the nurse said kindly. She went to push him back, but Duke shrugged her off. His eyes never once left the door, but Nathan noticed they weren't exactly pinpoint focused.
Nathan moved to kneel in front of him, tipping Duke's chin down until he looked at him. "It's okay. He's gone, Duke. He's gone."
"You didn't see…" Duke whispered, a haunted sort of look on his pale face. "You didn't…he was smiling…I thought he was gonna kill her, and I…"
"He didn't, though. You saved her, Duke."
After a moment, Duke nodded hesitantly. Nathan wasn't sure it was because he agreed with him, rather he probably just did it on instinct. "Nate, I don't…" he paused, taking in a breath through his nose and letting it out. "I don't feel so hot."
And then he pitched forward.
"Hey, hey." Nathan rose, catching Duke as he fell and tipping his head back. Duke's eyes were still open, but they had a dazed look to them, and his head kept lilting to the side. "Duke, babe, what's wrong?"
"He's probably about to pass out," the nurse said before Duke got a chance to. "We need to get him lying down."
Nathan nodded, and together with the nurse, they got him straightened back on the bed. Duke automatically tried to sit back up, but Nathan held him back as the nurse disappeared into the bathroom.
"No, just stay down," he told him, brushing a hand through his hair. "You just need to relax now. You're okay."
But Duke kept trying to push himself up onto his elbow. "We're going," he said. "Home. We're going home."
It was almost painfully easy to slip his arm out from under him and ease him back to the bed. "Not right now, babe. Not right now."
Duke let out a soft whine, but this time, he didn't try to get up. Right about then, the nurse emerged from the bathroom with a folded wet towel which she handed to Nathan. He guessed it was cold, but he couldn't have known.
Not until he pressed it to Duke's brow, anyway. His boyfriend flinched when it touched him, but finally he just gave up.
"Let me know if you need anything or when he's ready to get up again."
"Will do," Nathan said. "Thanks." With a nod, the nurse left him alone with Duke. He turned back to his boyfriend, padding the cool cloth over his cheeks and brow. "Feeling any better?" he asked softly.
"'m fine," Duke mumbled. He didn't open his eyes, but he did lean into Nathan's hand as he traced his fingers lightly along Duke's jaw. "I just got worked up's all…still ready to go home."
Nathan chuckled a little at that. Leave it to Duke to be pig-headed and stubborn while he was trying not to faint. "Give it a few minutes, babe, then we'll go, I swear."
Duke opened a single eye, peering at Nathan pointedly. "Pinky swear?" he asked, and the corner of his lip quirked up into the barest hint of a smile.
It was one of the most beautiful things Nathan had ever seen. Smiling, he leaned down and captured Duke's lips in a soft kiss. When they parted, he sat back and hooked his little finger in Duke's.
"Pinky swear."