The light coming in the window was dim – barely illuminating the figure in the bed. It was enough, though, for Chris, seated next to the bed, to see the sluggish movements. "About damned time," he muttered as he leaned forward. "Standish," he called softly.
Slowly, Ezra's head turned toward the voice and his eyes slowly blinked open. He peered at Chris in confusion. His lips quirked and a soft moan came from him.
"You're in Nathan's clinic," Chris answered the unasked question. "He said you're gonna be fine."
A soft sigh escaped from Ezra and his lips parted slightly.
"You took a bullet to the head. Nathan said it just grazed you," Chris said anticipating what his friend was going to ask. "You're gonna be fine," he repeated.
Ezra's hand twitched slightly and, again, his mouth moved as if he were going to say something or ask a question. Once again, he didn't have a chance.
"No one else was hurt, so don't be worrying about that. 'Course, JD damn near passed out when he saw you. Thought you were dead."
This time, Ezra managed to blink before Chris carried on.
"There was blood all over you. He…we…all thought for sure that bullet took half your skull off."
Ezra's hand slowly began to reach to the bandage wrapped around his head, but Chris intercepted it before he'd done more than lift it slightly off the bed.
"Don't you be touchin' that bandage. I practically had to get the others to carry Nathan outta here so he could get some rest. He comes back and sees you made a mess of his hard work, I ain't never gonna hear the end of it."
Letting his hand relax against the quilt over him, Ezra again drew breath to speak.
"Three days," Chris said before the other man could make the slightest of sounds. "I know you like to sleep, but even for you this was getting to be a little much."
This time, Ezra didn't even bother to try to speak, just raised his eyebrows.
"You can go back to your room when Nathan says you can and not a second before." At the slightest twitch of his friend's mouth, Chris added on, "This bed's just fine, so don't even start your complainin'."
Ezra closed his eyes and drew a breath but was again cut off by Chris before he could say a word.
"We weren't sure where your mother was. Josiah's tried to track her down, but no luck."
A tiny shake of the head was Ezra's only answer…or attempt to answer before just lying still and looking at Chris intently. A few seconds passed with silence between the two men. When Ezra licked his lips, Chris jumped up and grabbed a glass filled with water.
"Sorry. I didn't even think. You must be thirsty." He supported his friend's head and held the glass to his lips. "Here you go." Once Ezra had drunk his fill, he settled him back against the pillow and pulled the quilt up to his head. Despite the fact that he'd just regained consciousness, Chris could see his eyes getting heavy. "That's enough questions now. You need to rest."
Ezra smiled wryly at his friend's words. He hadn't said a single thing, yet Chris had been able to anticipate and answer all his questions. Mother would probably tell him it was because he'd become too predictable - too soft. He knew that the real reason was that he finally had friends who knew him and cared about him. It was a warm feeling. As he settled back into a healing sleep, he blinked his eyes open as one more question came to mind.
"Don't worry. One of us will be here when you wake up," Chris assured him with a small smile. "We're not going to leave you alone."
Ezra nodded almost imperceptibly then nodded off to sleep with the most important question answered…he'd found a home and a family.