Dan rushed into the room to sit at his boyfriend's side. Phil was still pale and laid there unmoving, but he was awake and looking more alert than he had at the convention. Dan was relieved for that, at least, and he needed to stay calm for Phil's sake. "Hey, you," he smiled, wiping tears from his cheeks. He reached out and took his hand, holding it up to his face to press his lips to thin fingers. "I missed you."

Phil wanted to smile back, happy to just be back with Dan, but he couldn't make the corners of his lips budge from a neutral set. He was so tired, but he couldn't sleep. He squeezed Dan's fingers for a moment before letting it hang limp again.

Dan ran his thumb over his knuckles, wincing at the protruding bones. He was too thin now; Dan wondered for the thousandth time where he could've possibly been these last six months, but Phil didn't seem to be in any state to talk about it yet. Dan smiled; his baby was here now, and had all the time in the world to tell Dan about it.

Dan tried not to question for now. He leaned in to kiss his cheek and rested his free hand on his shoulder. "The doctor's gonna examine you soon." He frowned, brow furrowing when he saw Phil flinched a little bit, feeling him tense but try to hide it. "He's gonna make sure you're okay."

Phil continued to stare at him, once bright blue eyes wide. He nodded, but Dan could still see how nervous he was. "Do you want me to stay with you?"

Phil bit his lip just briefly, and had to let it go when his teeth grazed the horribly sore bust in his bottom lip. He nodded shakily; he couldn't let go of Dan now that he had him again. Dan seemed to still care –he couldn't ask for more than that, but he couldn't take that for granted, either.

Dan forced a small smile. His heart was breaking seeing his love like this. He could only wonder what he was suffering that Dan hadn't seen yet. "Okay, baby, I'll be right here. I'm not going anywhere."

"Please try to lay as still as possible."

The doctor seemed to be losing patience; Dan shot him a glare for the harsh tone in his voice. Phil hardly noticed at all, lying, shaking, under the x-ray machine. He felt Dan kiss his temple and he winced, tears slipping down his cheeks as he had to be strapped down to stay still.

"Babe, it's alright. It's alright," Dan mumbled reassuringly against his hair. He was worried that strapping him to the table was only bringing back horrible, painful memories for Phil; they had no right to do this without knowing what he'd been through, especially when his reaction was so telling.

Dan started to think he really didn't want to know what his boyfriend had been through, but there was no way he'd let him continue to suffer in silence. However long it took, he was going to learn everything that had happened.

The more Dan learned about what happened, the more he felt sick over it.

A nurse had been instructed to get Phil cleaned up, decontaminating extensive scars with antibacterial wipes. When she reached for his arm, Phil jumped back, drawing in on himself. Dan held him as he sat shaking, rubbing his back for eleven minutes until he relaxed enough to come out of his position curled into a ball.

Dan asked the nurse to leave and let him clean him up himself. Sympathetic, she obliged.

Dan went to gently wipe the few scars on his hands, and his forearms to as far as the sleeve would roll up. Dan's eyes grew wet as he saw the red and white lines crosshatching his fair skin. "You're gonna need to take your shirt off, babe, I need to-"

He couldn't finish his sentence before Phil was in near hysterics, clutching onto his shirt and shaking his head furiously, eyes wild and damp. Dan tried to reach out to touch his arms, try to calm him, but his boyfriend jumped so far he nearly fell off the bed. Dan panicked and grabbed him, and Phil let out a strangled sound. He refused to look Dan in the eye as his own overflowed with salty, painful tears.

Dan couldn't finish. A couple of nurses came into, three restraining him as a fourth pushed a needle into his arm. Phil was unconscious a few moments later. Dan sat in stunned silence.

"X-rays have discovered three broken ribs and four more that have healed poorly, making his breathing difficult. In addition, we recorded a broken nose, extensive healed flesh wounds and superficial wounds, bruising of varying age over seventy percent of skin surface, and a deep healed slash wound across his eye socket has left him permanently blind in that eye."

Dan tried to listen as he watched Phil sleep through the window. The doctor had pulled him out of the room to tell him what the examination had concluded, though half of the information was pretty obvious.

"Did he say anything about what happened to him?"

Dan shook his head solemnly, not look at the man in the white coat. "I'm… worried about him…" he noted grimly, wiping at his eyes.

"I saw what happened when you asked him to remove his shirt." He at least seemed a bit melancholic about it, and that was some kind of comfort to Dan. At least Phil was being looked over by people with compassion. "I've called in a specialist to examine him further for evidence of sexual assault."

Dan's breath hitched. Oh god, no...

A/N: Reviews = quicker updates!