hi folks, sorry about the week long wait. And I'm sorry for the constant abuse i'm putting poor Ichi through, some one asked me to not hurt him anymore!

I've pulled together a fairly short chapter of fluff, can't be smutt, the boy's in hospital afterall! but i hope you like it anyway.

Can't wait to hear from you all, will get on to replying to the reviews in a bit but need to say a big thanks to the guest reviewers from last chapter.

Phoe
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Chapter 22

The first thing Grimmjow felt was nausea. It reminded him of the time he'd got stupidly drunk and passed out only to wake up hours later in a pool of his own vomit. Thankfully he'd only really done that once, the other times he'd made it to the bathroom but it still meant he felt around a bit as he regained consciousness to see if he'd had an accident. Opening his eyes to a bright room made him wince, eyes instantly tearing up making him blink them rapidly. He was expecting his bedroom but even at first glance he knew this was a hospital and the smell certainly gave it away. He was dressed in a grey gown with little green flecks with a white blanket and sheet over his legs. He realised he had a tube in his arm as he moved and he followed it to the top of the metal stand next to his bed. A little wooden cabinet was just to the side of the drip stand and his curtain was pulled round blocking the rest of the room from his view. Starting to move around, he winced more at the thumping in his head and the tension in his neck. Lifting a hand up he dislodged a little grey plastic thing from his finger and it made a machine start beeping, the noise cutting through Grimmjow's already aching head like a hot blade. A nurse appeared round the curtain just in time to grab a sick bowl and get it under his head as he leaned over the side of his bed, heaving up thick yellow bile, a trail hanging onto his dry mouth. She handed him a tissue from a box in his rolling table and he wiped his mouth, dropping the tissue into the mess in the bowl. He said quiet thanks, mortified at what had just happened but she brushed him off, disappearing for a moment to dispose of the bowl. Grimmjow heard her washing her hands at a sink that must be just outside his curtained off bed area before she reappeared, smiling down at him.

"Hello Mr Jaegerjaques. I've been waiting for you to open your eyes for a while now. How are you feeling?"

Grimmjow just looked up at her, still slightly out of breath from the violent sickness and feeling confused about what had happened. "Where am I? Where's Ichigo?" He knew he should be with his boyfriend, even if he'd fallen sick Ichigo would be with him.

"You're in hospital Mr Jaegerjaques, do you remember what happened?"

Grimmjow shook his head, pushing back to try and sit up. "No, and I want to know where my boyfriend is."

The nurse tried to get him to stay lying down but didn't want to press the matter. She picked up the bed control and raised the back so he could lean back against it. "You boyfriend is here and you can see him later but first we need to see to you. You were drugged Mr Jaegerjaques and we need to make sure it didn't do any long term damage. The doctor will be here as soon as he can but I need to run through a few things first ok?"

The nurse reattached the pulse monitor to his finger and wrapped a blood pressure cuff around the upper part of his other arm, turning the machine on till it squeezed him uncomfortably. He asked if he could have a drink of water and she disappeared to get him a jug and a glass, a tall blond doctor at her side when she returned.

Over the next ten minutes Grimmjow's motor and brain functions were tested and the man got more and more irritated by the second. The doctor was proving very slippery when it came to answering questions but he certainly asked a lot.

"Mr Jaegerjaques,"

"Can you just call me Grimmjow?"

"Grimmjow then, you drank water laced with GHB, do you know what that is?"

Grimmjow shook his head.

"It's most common use is as a date rape drug but we've confirmed it was used on you to just incapacitate you. Unfortunately it meant the dose you got was a strong one and you've been unconscious for just under two days. It doesn't look like you'll have any long time side effects and aside from a killer hangover you're going to be alright. Take it easy for a few hours, I don't suggest eating anything yet but drink as much as you can. You'll get to go home later on today."

The doctor went to leave but Grimmjow stopped him. "Can you ask my boyfriend to come and see me? The nurse said I could see him after you were done."

"I think you've made an assumption there, I can't get him to you but I can get a nurse to take you to him. Ichigo is in the high dependency ward, I'm sorry to have to tell you that he was shot in the chest."

Grimmjow wasn't sure if the doctor said anything else, he lost focus and interest right away and he felt himself get a bit lightheaded. A thousand scenarios danced through his skull, his memories filling in as he imagined his gorgeous lover getting shot down while he lay unconscious. He knew for a fact his perfect man was lying probably with a million tubes in and out of him, not knowing if he himself was alright, lying in pain or possibly dying while Grimmjow just say in a comfortable bed with a bit of a headache. The man he was in love with, who was too damn good for him anyway could be near death on the other side of the wall for all Grimmjow knew. Grimmjow swung his legs, going to stand even though the doctor sharply told him to stay put. He gently manoeuvred his weight onto his legs, feeling them a bit weak but he should manage and he was just about to take a step away from the bed when a pair of arms stopped him, pulling him back onto the bed and gripping his chin.

"Che, awake for five minutes and already making a fuss? You really are your mother's son." Starrk cocked a dark brown eyebrow at him, pulling him the rest of the way back on to the bed. Grimmjow made as if to argue but when both eyebrows rose he decided to keep his mouth shut. "I take it you've heard about Ichigo? Would you like me to take you to see him?" Grimmjow nodded his head, horrified by the tears gathering in his eyes.

Starrk nipped out of his bed area and came back moments later with a wheelchair, his expression making it clear he wouldn't be getting into an argument over it. It was pushed over to Grimmjow's bedside and he moved into it, having to keep his legs together due to his lack of underwear. "Yeah you threw up on your clothes and it soaked down to your boxers twice, they decided to leave you in something easier to change after that. Grimmjow's face lit up like a beacon in humiliation and he just looked down, one hand on his forehead. Starrk stripped the blanket off his bed and folded it neatly, laying it over Grimmjow's bare legs and tucking it in the sides.

"Where's mum?"

"She's in the canteen. I sent her a text when the nurse told me you'd woken up but I said to give the doctor time with you. I'll get her up when you're back in bed. You're not wanting her to fuss around you just now right?"

Grimmjow shook his head, desperate to see his lover, all the horrific scenarios still at the front of his mind. They went out of Grimmjow's ward and headed to a lift, going up two floors before taking a left and heading down a long corridor. A ward came off that, the entrance painted a bright green with the ward numbers large and black and they went through the doors. Grimmjow was looking around, trying to see the bright orange hair somewhere but everyone that he could see had dark hair. They passed the nurses station and Grimmjow clocked the patient board and Ichigo's name was up on it next to the bed number. Starrk nodded at the nurses and they smiled back as he passed them. He turned the chair into a small side ward and Grimmjow was told to use the hand sanitizer, Starrk doing it also before pushing the chair through a closed curtain.

All those scenarios of a near death Ichigo flew out of the window as the man looked up, jerking his head out of the magazine on his lap and a huge smile cracking on his face as he saw his visitors. He scooted forward in his bed, pulling the thin oxygen tube off his nose and dropping it onto his bed before dropping himself onto Grimmjow lap, his long arms wrapped around the other's neck. Grimmjow could feel his lover sobbing but he was doing it silently, just the tremors through the body giving him away. Grimmjow felt the tears he'd been fighting with fall from his eyes and he just closed them, taking a deep breath of Ichigo to calm his nerves. If the boy was in his arms everything was going to be alright. Starrk gave him a quick squeeze to the shoulder before leaving the boys in peace.

"I was so worried about you and they wouldn't let me go and see you." Ichigo was speaking quietly, his voice cracking slightly under the emotion.

"I woke up and was told you'd been shot. I was picturing you strapped to life support." Grimmjow pushed the other away, looking him over from head to toe. He was dressed in a pair of pyjamas and aside from looking a bit pale seemed to be alright. "What happened? Are you alright?"

Ichigo sat up, wincing a bit as he moved. It seemed the adrenalin he'd got from seeing his lover had worn off and he was now feeling his injury. He stood from Grimmjow, one hand on his side as he turned and leaned on the bed. He pulled his top up, revealing the toned muscles and a large white bandage to the right of his sternum. It was quite low and there was bruising around it. "Fuckers pulled a gun when I figured out what they'd done. Tsukishima cornered me and tried it on, again, and then I saw you on the couch, a makeup girl trying to eat you. They'd drugged your water and you were nearly out cold. I pulled the girl off you by the hair but you were too far gone to speak to me. He then pulled a gun on me, Starrk and the cops stormed in and I managed to get the gun off him only to get shot by Ginjo. I'd decked him but clearly not hard enough."

Grimmjow pushed out of his chair, perching on the bed at the side of his lover and he ran his fingers over the bandage gently. "You got shot when I was asleep on a couch. It doesn't seem right. What's the damage?"

"Entry and exit wounds, skimmed the bottom of my lung, hence the nose tube. Just need to heal now, doc said I'll be in here for about a week before I can go home."

"What he's failed to tell you is that he stepped in the way of a gun pointed at you; didn't flinch when it was pointed in his face either. We will be having words when you're better about your reactions to danger." Starrk closed the curtain behind him. "Back into bed boy, get that tube back on your nose before your blood o2 dips again." Ichigo did as he was told, scooting back to the head of the bed and pulling the loop over his ears, placing the two small tubes under his nostrils again. "Grimmjow you've only got a few more minutes before this boy needs to rest. He might be making out that his wound was nothing but I can assure you it's not."

Grimmjow looked at his boyfriend, seeing the boy just shrug under the accusations. "You stepped in the path of a gun? Are you fucking nuts?"

Ichigo chuckled. "You had to be there. Trust me it's not that big a deal, and it wasn't that gun that shot me anyway." Ichigo gestured for Grimmjow to come closer and pushed the boy to the back of the bed when he did. With Grimmjow now reclining against the raised back, Ichigo tucked himself into his lover, pressing his nose into the soft flesh under the strong jaw over him. Grimmjow just gathered him in his arms and held him close. Just because he wasn't lying near death didn't mean he was alright and he'd been injured trying to protect both of them. "How are you anyway? Hangover killing you?"

"Fuck yes; apparently I've been throwing up as well, hence the outfit. Doc said I got drugged with GHB?"

"Yup, me too; remember the night I was ill, when I molested you and didn't remember? That's liquid E, it's not nice the day after either. I was told about it in the club. We were to never accept a drink from a punter then wasn't delivered by the bar staff and I always check the tops of my water bottles in case they've been opened. They put it in my lemonade and into the bottle of water you got. Get this, they've been dealing during the shoots too so not only are they busted for assault, attempted murder and intent to rape; they're going down for drug dealing too. Fate smiles on us love."

Grimmjow smirked, his head protesting at all the information he was getting but glad to know they didn't have to worry about retaliation. Ichigo snuggled into him deeper, one arm thrown over Grimmjow's chest and Grimmjow laid his larger hand over it, tucking his thumb underneath. Ichigo sighed quietly before his body relaxed slightly, drifting off. Grimmjow worried about letting the injured boy nap on him but he decided if he was in pain he'd make Grimmjow move so he just got comfy, drifting off a little himself.

Starrk came back in a few moments later, seeing the two lying with each other, Grimmjow's head having slipped to lie on top of Ichigo's. He smiled at them, happy they had each other. Ichigo would have to go through another trial, another lawyer trying to trip him up but he'd get through it. The bullet wound would take about six weeks to normalise, months to fully heal and knowing the boy, he'd probably put himself further back by overdoing it early on. Starrk fully planned on handcuffing him to a chair if he caught the lad doing sit ups for at least six months. Starrk pulled his phone out and snapped a quick picture of them lying there, sending it down to Sophia who called him back instantly.

"He's out of bed?"

"He's fine. The doc told him Ichigo had been shot and nothing else. He was about to crawl around the hospital if I didn't bring him up."

"Is he alright? Both of them, did Ichigo pull his stitches again?"

"Yeah they're fine, and no he contained himself. Just sat on his lap and held him. I think they'll be fine."

"Are we getting to take Grimm home tonight?"

"Yeah, you get to make him leave though; I've not got the energy to argue with the boy. Ichi'll be home at the end of the week."

"Fine I'll tell Grimm he's leaving tonight, you get to tell him they can't share a bed for a month."

Starrk said goodbye to his wife, chucking at her despair over their sleeping arrangements. He understood why they slept together, he was eighteen once and he'd had girlfriends who'd stayed over. Maybe it was a slightly different story but at least one of them wasn't going to end up pregnant.

One more chapter, big fluffy smutty epilogue coming next, working on it tonight but i doubt it'll be up till the end of the week, aiming for 100,000 words!