"How are you feeling?" Remus asks Draco after Neville informs them that his CT results are clear and that he doesn't have internal bleeding or organ damage. Somehow, Narcissa had managed to miss his vital organs in his psychotic rage, however, he is supposed to take it easy for a few months.
"Like someone stabbed me," Draco responds sarcastically. "Where is the crazy bat?"
"Jail," Remus stops Draco from moving too much. "Waiting to be sentenced to prison. You will have to give a statement, Draco."
"Fine." Draco would do anything to put her away forever. Unfortunately, she hasn't quite gone through with killing Draco, so she will get out eventually, ready to unleash hell on her son. Hopefully, Draco is going to be completely unreachable at that point.
Remus gives Draco a worried look. "Harry is down at the courthouse right now, getting papers for you to sign."
"What papers?" Draco raises an eyebrow, "Restraining order?"
"Marriage papers," Remus stresses.
"Oh," Draco blinks, "So the wedding we spent the last month planning is off. All that work down the drain, wonderful." They spent two weeks looking at china patterns alone, and one hell week was about fabrics. Oh, the fucking fabrics. Draco is bummed he is not going to wear his wedding outfit. Oh well, maybe he will wear it to his parents' funerals. Those are bound to be good days full of joy and celebration.
"Draco," Remus doesn't know how to bring up the recent incident and the abuse. "Why didn't you say anything to me?" He feels a little hurt, even though he has no right to be. He likes to think that people can trust him, however, Draco's trust issues must be worse than they look.
"About what?" Draco peeks underneath his hospital gown and looks at the gnarly scar left on his abdomen, wondering if Harry will still find him attractive. His body has always been his greatest asset. Narcissa usually takes care not to leave scars. Draco tries not to think about the reasons.
"That." Remus gestures to his hospital gown, where Draco's wound is bleeding a little.
"Don't bother." Draco stops Remus from buzzing the nurse. "It will stop on its own."
"No, it will not." Remus is extremely worried. Draco's behaviour is not normal. The whole Malfoy family is not normal. Everything Sirius has told Remus about his family is true, and then some. Just as he is about to inquire more about Narcissa's behaviour, Harry walks in, his face tense, and papers in his hand. When he sees that Draco is awake, his expression softens.
"I will leave you two alone." Remus knows that technically, Harry and Draco need two witnesses here, but this is an intimate moment, and these kids need to work it out amongst themselves.
"Hi," Harry sits beside Draco as Remus leaves, shutting the door behind himself softly, "How are you?"
"Fine," Draco notices the marriage papers. "So we are forgoing the big wedding?" He wanted to wear the outfit he picked out.
"Sign here," Harry directs Draco's pen. "Initial here." As Draco is signing, Harry notices the growing bloodstain on his hospital gown. "Jesus, you are bleeding. Hold on."
Draco is left holding the papers as Harry disappears and reappears in a matter of what seems like seconds, with materials that Draco doesn't recognize.
"Remove the gown." Harry orders as he sterilizes his hands and dons gloves.
"The wedding night starts early for us." Draco jokes, but obeys, a little self-conscious as Harry laser focuses on his bleeding stomach.
"This isn't my idea of penetration. I am not a knife person." Harry responds, joking back as he grabs the needle driver and forceps.
"No?" Draco asks as Harry makes quick work of removing the previous sutures, and starts anew, quickly controlling the bleeding. "You are good at this." The pain is minimal, and Harry seems so competent. It's sexy.
Draco suddenly understands why a lot of surgeons are alphas. Their instincts to domineer naturally align with the surgical profession. Also, a lot of alphas are psychopaths and are attracted to power. Not Harry though. Harry is one of the good ones. He is a good alpha and he is a good doctor. Maybe that's why God assigned them to be mates. Harry's good complements Draco's bad.
"Thanks," Harry responds dryly. "Kind of gave my life to this so I better be good at it."
"You are," Draco marvels when the bleeding just stops under Harry's careful yet effortless ministration.
"Listen," Harry says as he puts the forceps away, "Draco, you should have told me what your parents were doing."
"It's not that bad," Draco makes quick work of recovering himself with the gown. He feels self-conscious and ugly. He is supposed to be this alluring, perfect omega for his alpha. Now he is scarred and hideous. He is surprised Harry still wants this marriage. Considering how judiciously Harry is gathering the papers, he still does. "Mother was having a bad day." Even for Narcissa, that was awful.
"I have seen your medical record. There have been many bad days." Harry holds up a hand when Draco starts protesting. "You should have said something."
Draco realizes his neck is distressingly empty and his emerald chain is missing. He rubs his neck uncomfortably.
"Pomfrey took it off you when they were trying to stabilize you. She has it in her office." Harry reassures caringly. "There are a lot of thefts at this hospital."
"It's why I never come here," Draco admits. He's lost stuff here before.
"It's downtown." Harry hates that Draco visits hospitals enough to have a preference.
"It's so nasty. I try going to the one across the city." Draco shudders. The private room is clean enough but the emergency room is always disgusting. "You should start a nice private practice."
"Boring." Harry comments. "I need Neville to give you the go-ahead and we will go home."
"Listen, Harry." Draco grabs the alpha's wrist when he starts to stand.
"I am coming right back." Harry places a kiss in platinum blond hair. "Just need to submit these before four pm."
Jesus. It's not even four pm and so much has happened. Draco has a hole in his stomach. His mother is in his jail and he is married. "It's not as bad as it seems." It warms his cold heart considerably to see that Harry is so worried about him, but it's an exaggerated response. This isn't needed. Draco has been through this before. It's not usually this bad. Mother was a bit dramatic today.
Draco supposes that the thought of losing her regular punching bag made her lose what little control she had over herself. It's the most satisfying thing about finding his mate. Narcissa will have no more access to Draco physically or mentally. Draco always thought that he would end up in a similar abusive situation with his alpha, however, with Harry, there is hope again. Draco actually kind of feel like before he presented. A human being with some worth, and rights.
Harry frees his wrist and goes out of the room for a minute. Draco can hear him talking to Ron, asking him to take the papers to the courthouse. "Draco," Harry returns, and sits beside his omega again, "What she has done to you over the years is not okay. Your parents are monsters." He places a tender kiss on Draco's cheek. "No one is ever going to hurt you again."
"That's admirable," Draco says numbly as Harry pulls him close and holds him. "I have to go back to get my things."
"We have to get you away from your parents," Harry explains, speaking in soft tones. "I will buy you new stuff."
"Well," Draco leans into Harry's touch. "I did marry you for your money." Harry laughs, looking slightly less worried for a split second. "Harry, I am going to go live with Severus." He knows that he has a choice now because his mate is Harry and not some psychopathic alpha from his social class.
"This again?" Harry pulls back from the embrace a little. "What the fuck?"
"You can go back to Ginny." Draco shrugs, "You only have to be with me once to save my life. You can be free after that."
"Ginny is dating again." Harry sighs, "Ron said she is happy."
"Then go be in a threesome with him and Granger," Draco suggests, only half-joking.
"Threesome," Harry makes a mock thinking face, "How about with Ginny and Cedric? Ow," He says, when Draco punches him weakly, it doesn't hurt at all. "You are coming home with me, Draco."
"And then what?" Draco makes an incredulous sound. "I will be your housewife?"
"Remus won't let you," Harry cannot see his omega parent relinquishing control to anyone else, especially not another omega. And besides, Harry has known Draco for an extremely long time. He is incapable of housework. Harry has personally seen Draco start a fire trying to boil water. The entire university building had to be evaluated. That dorm common room still has black stains on the ceiling. The university left it there as a reminder that fire kills. Harry thinks the message should be that Draco's cooking kills.
"I am giving you an out." Draco suddenly feels very cold, and he reckons it's not just the blood loss. "Take it."
"Tell you what," Harry grabs Draco's hands in his and starts rubbing them, hoping to warm him up. "Give it a chance, and if you don't like it, I will move you in with Severus myself. Hell, maybe I will come with you." Harry makes fun, knowing full well that Severus would rather kill them all than have another alpha in his space. Especially Harry. Despite mentoring Harry for years
"His house is gorgeous." Draco muses. "It's an architect's wet dream."
"I know," Harry misses the house more than he misses anything else about being Snape's teaching assistant. "That's where the professor's salary goes."
"And drugs," Draco's godfather is much more controlled with his addiction to painkillers than his mother, but it's still plain as day to anyone close to him. Considering his godson is the only person he cares about, or who cares about him, Draco sees it all.
"He is in a lot of pain," Harry remembers seeing bottles of oxycontin and other hardcore pharmaceuticals laying about carelessly. He always wondered if he would end up the same way, broken and addicted to drugs considering most alphas do not find their mate. Thanks to Draco, pain is no longer his future.
"I am not going to let that happen to you," Draco promises, pressing his forehead against Harry's shoulder, enjoying the feel of those elegant fingers running through his hair. He doesn't know if they will live together or not, but Draco isn't going to abandon Harry to his fate any more than Harry would Draco to his fate of death.
Draco feels like a hypocrite, considering that only this morning, he was ready to die at his mother's hands. He tells himself that he faced death and was brave in its face, instead of the real truth. His depression got the worse of him, and for that moment he gave up on life and urged his mother to stab him instead of trying to deescalate the situation like he usually does, trying to talk her out of her psychotic episode. It's why he doesn't blame her for today. Narcissa is who she is. Draco should have known better. "I won't do it again," He promises Harry, even if the alpha has no idea what happened.
"Do what?" Harry looks into Draco's glassy blue-grey eyes, confused.
Draco is saved from the trouble of explaining or lying when his doctor walks in.
"How are you feeling?" Neville asks as he walks in, head bowed. He looks up and apologizes when he notices how close Draco and Harry are. "Should I come back?"
"No," Harry gives Draco an inch of space.
"You are progressing well," Neville hands Harry his iPad to peruse Draco's chart. "Take it easy for the next few months. You can go home but no sex."
"What?" Draco and Harry say together.
"His ribs are fractured bilaterally. Light petting is fine," Neville sounds very businesslike. "But no…" He coughs suddenly, a blush coming on. It's hard to be subjective when he's known these people for close to ten years.
"Hard fucking?" Draco adds, helping. "What?" He gives Harry a look, the alpha seems mortified. "I am helping your friend."
"Soups only, broths, tea." Neville recovers quickly. "I told Remus all this. There is no organ damage as far as we know, but it's good to be careful considering the rib fractures. Too much movement and your broken lower ribs will knick your organs and cause internal bleeding."
"Agreed," Far be it for Harry to disagree with medical advice, especially from a trusted colleague.
"Splendid," Draco mutters. Now Harry is going to treat him like an invalid, someone to handle with kiddie gloves.
"Thank you so much," Harry says, genuine and humble. Neville looks taken aback. "Thank you for taking care of my mate, Neville. You did a good job, doctor."
Harry is like the star of their graduating class, so getting a compliment from him is a real honour. "Right," Neville looks even redder and stumbles out the room.
"That was very nice of you," Draco comments as Harry's fond little smile disappears as quickly as it appeared.
"He has grown into himself," Harry explains, unable to remain objective when it comes to this one particular colleague. "I think he's great."
"Then he is." This is a trait of Harry's which stands constant. Building people up and being their cheerleader. "He is a good doctor." Neville was competent and in charge. Draco never would have suspected that Neville of all people, shy and socially anxious, would end up working in the downtown ER. Then again, Draco never suspected that underneath his obnoxious personality was an omega waiting to come out and be victimized. Draco deserves it too, for being the little brat that he was.
"Yeah," Harry smiles again, small and sad. "You feel up to going home? Remus will make us that soup we need."
"And then hard fucking?" Draco questions as Harry helps up him, practically carrying him out of bed.
Harry is not that phased, having gotten a little used to Draco's lack of inhibition when it comes to sex, or at least talking about it. "Soft lovemaking, lots of lube and candles."
"Lube?" Draco scoffs, letting Harry help him get dressed. It's Harry's clothes, which don't fit Draco's slender frame and hang off him, despite them being the same height. "I don't need lube, sweetheart, I get wet." Draco tries not to sound proud at the fact that he can get wet for Harry. He fails.
Harry pauses, his throat feeling suddenly empty of saliva. All he can manage is a needy look.
"When I am aroused," Draco says softly and slowly, enjoying the power he has over Harry, "My body naturally produces its own lubricant."
"Uh-huh," Harry clears his throat. "Pants?" He helps Draco step into his pajama bottoms.
"Sure," Draco leans into Harry, letting the alpha support his weight. "Why do these have rabbits on them?" He looks down at what he is wearing. Soft, comfortable material with horrendous pink bunnies everywhere.
"Please don't ask," Harry begs. "Christmas is a dark time. You might get a pair this year."
"Remus?" Draco guesses when he is steady on his feet.
"No," Harry is suddenly sheepish. "Ginny."
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Draco isn't mad. He is just disappointed.
"These are pure cotton," Harry helps Draco walk, and leads him out the door. He is more attached to the pajamas Ginny bought than he is to her. She deserves someone better than Harry.