Edd had barely gotten a few hours of sleep before Seth came to Eddy's hospital room and vouched for them. The doctor explained Eddy's condition to Seth and walked out of the room to tend to other patients. Seth told the doctor that both Edd and Eddy snuck out when he was asleep. "Teenagers; who can keep track of them these days," Seth joked with the doctor. The doctor seemed to have accepted Seth's version of events. At least Edd wouldn't have to worry about the doctor calling child services anytime soon.
When the doctors left, Seth turned to Edd, "first things first. Where's my car?"
"It's in the row AKA 10. There's also something else that you need to know." Edd replied.
"Oh? And what is that?" Seth asked, drinking down a large paper cup of black coffee like it was water.
Edd sighed, "I found Matthew. He's here in the hospital. He was stabbed in the back in self defense, according to the police. I eavesdropped on them for a second."
"I'll call Lucas," Seth sighed in frustration, "Mattie's going to need a damn good lawyer if he wants to get out of jail before the next decade."
Edd told Seth Matthew's room number and advised Seth not to stay in Matthew's room for too long and to watch out for police officers. Seth only nodded and headed towards the door, limping as he walked. Edd noticed that Seth was also slouching when the dark-haired man stood to talk to him. Seth was in bad shape.
Edd could not understand the relationship between Seth and Matthew or Lucas and Matthew for that matter. Despite everything that Matthew has done, Seth is still at the man's beck and call. Perhaps it had something to do with the weakness Matthew found in Seth at an early age. The trio had a strange friendship.
Edd noticed Eddy slowly opened his eyes. Edd's heart stopped at that sight of his friend. Eddy was awake. Eddy was finally awake. Edd rushed over to Eddy, "you're awake! You're finally awake!"
"Yeah, yeah," Eddy replied, looking around the room, "why am I at the hospital?"
"You overdosed on the drug meth-Ecstasy." Edd corrected himself, knowing that Eddy probably would not know the scientific name for the drug.
"Fuck, no wonder why I'm feeling like shit," Eddy replied. "Where's Matthew?"
"I have some bad news, Eddy," Edd sighed, "Matthew is going to be charged with assaulting Sasha. I'm sorry, Eddy."
"Fucking Matthew," Eddy cursed, solemnly, "no matter what I do, he always leaves."
"Instead of foolishly relying on your brother to act more mature and fulfill his role as an older sibling, you should appreciate the people around you who will not leave your side like me for example," Edd explained.
"Why do you constantly stay by my side? What's in it for you?" Eddy asked.
Edd quickly went quiet when Eddy asked him that question. How was he supposed to answer that? What if he told Eddy the truth and drives the other teen away? Though keeping it a secret would probably do worse harm to Eddy's and his relationship. After some thinking, Edd decided to spill the truth to his friend. "Well, it's because I love you!" Edd replied. "When we were just kids, I regarded you as a very close friend of mine. As I grew older, I became more physically attracted to you. With the recent events that have occurred during the previous weeks, I have come to accept that I love you, Eddy. I love you more than anyone else."
Eddy looked shocked. He blinked owlishly at Edd. Edd was afraid that he might have said the wrong thing to Eddy. He started to wish that he could take back what he said. Was Eddy upset at him? Edd waited in anticipation. Eddy flashed a cocky grin and winked at Edd, "I don't blame you, baby. I'm the best-looking guy in all of Peach Creek."
"With your blatant flirting, you must be feeling better," Edd shook his head, halfheartedly and smiled at the other teen.
Eddy grinned wickedly, "If you want me to feel even better, come closer."
"What are you planning, Eddy?" Edd asked.
Eddy beckoned him with one finger, "come here and you'll find out."
Edd approached the bed and crouched down to where he was face-to-face with Eddy. Eddy took Edd by surprise by kissing him. Those warm, tantalizing lips caused Edd to shiver with pleasure and moan. Edd opened his mouth to suck on Eddy's top lip. Eddy also opened his mouth and massaged Edd's bottom lip with his own tongue. Edd leveled his head to where he could easily received more of the gentle massages from Eddy's tongue. Their tongues engaged in a familiar dance until Edd pulled away to catch his breath. "You still know how make me tremble," Edd admitted, "We should probably stop. The doctor could come in at any moment and catch us."
"You still owe me several weeks of kisses, Sockhead," Eddy joked.
"You will just have to get repaid back once you are at of the hospital," Edd joked back and added, "There's also someone here that wants to see you."
"Who?" Eddy asked.
"I'll have to go get him. I'll be back in a second," Edd said as he exited out of the room. A minute later, Eddy heard a noise like someone flopping down in front of the door. Edd's voice could also be heard after the noise, "Please, get up. Eddy's not going to yell or hurt you." Edd opened the door and let himself in, leaving the door ajar. Eddy tilted his head to the side and seen that Ed was the one in front of the door.
"What do you want, burhead?" Eddy asked.
Ed shuffled forward, still on his knees. Ed had his bottom lip out and looked at Eddy sadly with an expression that could only be described as giving Eddy "puppy dog eyes."
"What?" Eddy asked.
Edd shuffled two inches forward, his expression never changing.
Eddy sighed, "alright, Lumpy. I'm not mad at you. Come here and give me a hug, you big old lump!"
Ed jumped up and sped towards Eddy gleefully, wrapping the teen in a tight bear hug, "oh boy! Oh boy! We are three once again!"
"Ed, careful with him! Eddy is still recovering," Edd gently scolded.
"Gee Lumpy, I really love the smell of your pits and all, but my IVs are about to rip out!" Eddy squirmed, trying to not to get hurt.
"Oops, sorry!" Ed apologized, letting Eddy go.
"It's fine, Ed," Eddy replied.
The next several hours were spent watching cheesy unfunny sitcoms and chatting amongst themselves. The doctor and nurses came and went. Eddy was able to move around and eat just fine. However, the doctor still wanted to keep Eddy at the hospital for a few days for observation. Seth also came a few times to check on the teens. The Eds hardly noticed the guy there. Seth would come in and read a tattoo magazine for a few minutes and exit out of the room to check on Matthew. Edd was pretty sure that Seth had gotten the cops' permission to be in there. That's the only logical explanation to Seth's behavior. After a few hours, Eddy received a couple of unexpected visitors that he was not planning on seeing so soon.
"Eddy! Are you alright dear?" One of his heavyset visitors rushed towards him and held one of his hands desperately.
"Mom? Dad? You two are back!" Eddy exclaimed.
"Yeah," Mr. McGee replied behind his wife, "we went straight home as soon as we found out that the phone was disconnected."
"Are you two alright?" Mrs. McGee asked, "What happened? Why was the phone disconnected? The doctors told me that you overdosed on an illegal drug."
"I drank something at a party I shouldn't have," Eddy admitted shamefully, "as for the phone, Matthew disconnected it during one of his rages."
Mr. McGee exhaled with great disappointment, "I told you, Margaret. I told you that Matthew was a lazy, irresponsible sociopath. That son of a bitch stopped being our son the moment he was thrown out. I don't understand why you keep holding onto hope for him."
"Please Carl, not now." Mrs. McGee pleaded, "Our little Eddy is still recovering."
"Our little Eddy is recovering because Matthew wasn't watching him like he was supposed to and dumped the kids on what's-his-face! The one that grew up with Matthew and met us with the doctor," Carl retorted, "God help us if Matthew ever becomes a parent. He couldn't even keep a goddamn job at a fucking carnival."
"Matthew is a dad." Eddy chimed in, hoping to steer the conversation into a more pleasant one, "He's got two five year old girls and a three year old girl. Each of them has different moms."
Both of his parents were shocked by the news. Margaret got a twinkle in her eyes. Eddy knew that twinkle and already felt sorry for his nieces. He knew his nieces would face an onslaught of kisses and grandmotherly affection from his mother. The look on his dad's face was worry and pity. Just one look on his dad's told him his dad's exact opinion on being a grandpa; he pitied his grandchildren for having Matthew as a biological father.
"So where is Matthew anyway?" Carl spoke up.
"He's down the hall, handcuffed to the hospital bed." Both parents gave Edd a questioning look, "according to the cops, Matthew got stabbed in the back in self defense when he attacked the owner of a homosexual-orientated establishment."
"Christ, I need a cigar. I'll be right back," Carl replied gruffly, kissing his wife and ruffling Eddy's hair. He exited out of the room, leaving the three of them.
"I'm sorry about your father," Margaret apologized to Eddy, "Matthew causes him a great deal of stress and he becomes quite angry because of it." Then she added offhandedly, "I'll visit Matthew later. Right now, I want to spend time with you and make sure that you're alright. Both Carl and I missed you terribly while we were gone."
"I'm fine, mom," Eddy huffed, embarrassed.
"Excuse me, Mrs. McGee," Edd spoke up, "did you find the whereabouts of my parents?"
Margaret frowned sorrowfully, "No, they were not found. The only things found were Sam's and Marian's photo IDs and that was it. The police have no leads on where they are or what happened to them. The case has been declared a cold case.
Edd mourned the loss of his parents. Just hearing that was like hearing that they were dead. Margaret seen that and put her arm around Edd, "no matter what, Eddward, you still have your whole future ahead of you and that's what Sam and Marian would want you to focus on instead of their disappearance. We will all miss them greatly. You'll grow up into an intelligent adult." Margaret put her arm around Eddy as well, "you both will grow up into fine grown men."
"Gee, thanks mom!" Eddy muttered.
"Tell you what, boys," Margaret announced, "when we get home, I'll make some nice lasagna for all of us. Then for sides, I'll make bruschetta and garlic bread."
"What are you trying to do? Fatten us up so we won't leave the house?" Eddy grumbled, knowing that he would most likely get a stomachache after eating so much food.
"You're lucky I don't ground you!" Margaret retorted. Edd could only smile at the exchange between mother and son. This was going to be his family until his own is found. He did not mind the idea of being a part of their family.
A/N: Just one more chapter to go. Thank you to all who have stuck by this story and left reviews to this story. I really appreciate it. Be sure to look out for the sequel and the prequel after this story is done. You wouldn't want to miss it!