August 2027: A Parent's Nightmare Part IV.
The same sentiments that were being expressed by Sebastian and Thad were in the hearts of all the people that knew the young couple. Having been sent away by Ollie from the hospital, Beats had slowly made his way back from the West Village, pausing at the local bakery to collect a bag of freshly baked bagels. He was starting to feel hungry now and one of them with a good filling would be just the thing to eat before he tried to get some sleep…
As he turned the final corner into the street, he bumped into Jeff, who had been on a similar errand that Monday morning. The blond had looked at him with such sympathy and had expressed it in a few simple words. "If there is anything that you need, just tell me; I can get your food shopping in, collect the children from school and babysit them… Or I can just be a listening ear, a shoulder for you to cry on…"
Beats smiled, and replied, "I know that blondie, and both Elliott and I appreciate that so much. Right now, everything is under control, and there is nothing that I need, apart from a few hours of sleep."
"Well, I will let you get to your bed. When you see them next, give Elliott and Dante my love; Lachlan and the Rosenfelds too," Jeff said, and then he pulled Beats into a hug. The latter allowed himself to be hugged tightly; he appreciated the contact and all of the love that it was given with…
Beats would be sound asleep by the time that lunchtime came; at the hospital, Dante tried his best to eat what he had been given, however unappetising it looked both in his own eyes and Elliott's. The latter had taken a moment to fetch himself a sandwich whilst a nurse had been with Dante, and he had fetched one for Mr Rosenfeld too; he sat patiently at the side of his son's bed as the monitors made that regular repetitive sound with each beat of Lachlan's heart. Elliott did not know quite how the man was able to cope with it so calmly; when he had seen Beats in a similar state all those years ago it had almost broken him.
He surmised correctly that Isaac Rosenfeld was just better at hiding his true feelings than he had ever been. He had not said a word all morning other than to say what kind of sandwich he would prefer; when Elliott returned with it, he thanked him, then said, "He will get through this, I know he will. He is a fighter, and he has passion. Dante is the love of his life and his brain saw him bleeding in its final seconds before he hit the ground and was knocked unconscious. He is unable to cope with that and so he has shut down. I keep telling him that Dante is alive, but I don't think that the message is able to get through yet…"
"We can all miss a message like that when there is chaos inside our head and we are screaming inside," said Elliott in response. He did not say what he was actually fearing, namely that Lachlan's brain no longer had any notion who Dante was, those memories lost forever in the accident.
"I have been telling him that his mother needs him to wake up too," Mr Rosenfeld said then, as if he had been reading Elliott's mind. "I think that one of the worst things about all of this is not knowing exactly what he can recall, or whether his memory has been damaged by the blow he received to his head. It breaks my heart to think that all that he had with Dante could have been lost in this way."
"Mine too, but I believe that love, especially the kind that they had for each other, will still be there and will find a way back. If he has no memories now, then they can start again; I do not believe for one second that they would not fall for each other a second time."
Mr Rosenfeld nodded and smiled, then turned his full attention back to his son, who still lay there in silence, the only noise the beeping of the monitors that showed them all that he was still alive…
After he had finished his lunch, Dante looked around the room, but his focus was constantly drawn to the curtain that screen him from the love of his life; he knew why it was drawn, to avoid upsetting him unduly, but at the same time, the pain of not being able to see him was unbearable. He could of course hear the steady rhythm of the monitors, which was a sign that someone else was alive behind the screen, but he only had the word of other people that the person in that bed was actually Lachlan. Yes, he knew that the Rosenfelds had been present, but that did not imply that they were there for Lachlan…
Eventually, he sighed and turned to Elliott, who was reading The New York Times, and spoke. "Can we have the curtain open now please? I need to see him. I know that he is alive because you told me, and I trust you, but all the same, I would like to confirm that with my own eyes…"
"The doctors did not think that it was a good idea for you…" began Elliott.
"I know but is paranoia a good thing for me to have, because that is what I am feeling. I am starting to think that you all won't let me see him because he has something other than just a head injury. All kinds of things are starting to go around in my head… I mean, I have read all about acid attacks, and Rudi had a glass bottle in his hand when he pushed Lachlan. Is that why you all want to stop me from seeing him? Is it because they threw acid all over him and he is now horrifically disfigured?"
As his son said those words, Elliott watched as on the heart monitor that Dante was still attached to the pace of the beats started to increase, and he was pretty certain that was not a good thing for someone in his still fragile condition. "You have to trust me Dante when I tell you that there was no acid involved, nor was the bottle smashed and the shards of glass used to cut your boyfriend's face. Please, you need to keep calm, because you are recovering from a major surgery, and stress will only hurt you…" Elliott paused, then realised that he had no option but to discuss the situation with the others involved. "Look, I will go and have a quick word with Mr Rosenfeld and ask him if he is okay with having the curtain open. If he is, then we will draw it back and to be frank, darn what the doctors think!"
Dante nodded, and he immediately felt calmer about the whole situation. As his heart rate slowed again, he smiled, and said, "Thank you dad…"
Elliott got up and made his way round the end of the curtain; he was startled to almost collide with Mr Rosenfeld as he did so. "I heard every word that he said, and I am extremely glad that my wife was not here to hear him, as even the mention of the words 'acid attack' would have put her into hysterics. If Dante is ready to see Lachlan, then I have no problem with that. If the medics come in and begin to object, then the two of us can handle things, I think. Go back and sit with your boy, so he has you there for support when the moment comes…"
Elliott nodded in gratitude and headed back to his previous seat, but this time he took Dante's hand in his own as he sat down. Then slowly the curtain that had divided the room was drawn back; Dante's breath hitched momentarily, and Elliott saw that he had closed his eyes. He knew that gesture was part of his preparation mentally for what he was going to see. With the curtain now fully drawn back, he bent down and whispered to his son, "The curtain is open now; are you still sure that you want to do this?"
"No, but I have to do it sometime," came Dante's quiet response; slowly he opened his eyes then turned his head in the direction of his boyfriend's bed. The immediate sob that he heard told Elliott all that he needed to know, but he did not move to obscure his view. He knew that his boy had to get used to the sight before him, and he would do in the fullness of time…
Eventually Dante acknowledged the presence of the other man in the room. "Hello, Mr Rosenfeld. I am so sorry that I let this happen…"
"For a start, there is no need for you to apologise for anything; none of this is your fault. It was a random attack and the fact that it turned out that you knew your assailant is a complete coincidence. From what I have been told, you told Lachlan to run whilst he had the opportunity, and he chose not to. If that is indeed the case, then this is just as much his fault too? Can I also remind you once again that it is Isaac; if you are going to be my son-in-law one day, you need to start remembering to call me by my first name…"
"I wasn't sure if after all of this you would even allow that to happen; even if you are prepared to allow it, there is no guarantee that Lachlan will even remember who I am…"
"Oh, but I am sure that he will; it might just take him a little time when he wakes up. The love that the two of you have for each other is much too strong for it to have been forgotten due to a blow to the head."
"He looks so small right now," Dante said then, his eyes now focused again entirely on the young man in the other bed. "At least his heart is still beating strongly..."
Mr Rosenfeld nodded, then went back to his seat on the other side of his son's bed, once again taking his hand in his own.
At that moment the door opened to admit a nurse and they all waited to hear them make a comment about the fact that the curtain had been opened without looking at them. "Well, that is much better; they needed to be able to see each other," the nurse said, and it was only then that Elliott realised that the man that had walked in was Roderick. He smiled at them all, then said, "I requested that I be allowed to work up here today; Ollie might have had a word with my immediate boss to smooth the way… Now, I am here to do the observations, but there is no need for anyone to step out of the room whilst I do them, as far as I am concerned."
"It is nice to know that our boys will have two people that know them well to look after them whilst they are here," said Mr Rosenfeld.
"It certainly is," agreed Elliott, before adding, "And congratulations on your own news; you will make a wonderful father. Roderick blushed, before thanking both Elliott and Mr Rosenfeld, who had chimed in with his own congratulations.
"Of course, I have to point out that being a father is not an easy job; for all the joy that it brings you, there are also quite a few heartaches. You accept them both as part of the job," the latter went on to say. "It is also by far the greatest privilege in the world; your child is the embodiment of all your future hopes. I am confident that Lachlan will carry on making me proud for a great many years to come…"
Ollie Harwood would also return that afternoon, smiling at the fact that Roderick was now the working on the floor. "That young man is by far the best of the male nursing staff here in the hospital, not that I would ever tell anyone that, especially him," he whispered to Elliott. "He isn't aware of it yet, but I have been informed that he has passed his latest set of examinations with flying colours; in my opinion, he is worthy of going to medical school and training to be a doctor. However, he refuses to even consider such a move, happy to be a nurse… I am hopeful that when the head nurse down in the Emergency Room retires in a few years I can persuade him to take over in the position from her; he would be the best candidate for that role. He has the nursing skills required and so much empathy for the patients. He also has the ability to cope with the administration that comes with the role, which is quite unusual; normally people have one or the other. The fact that he is also popular with the other staff would help greatly; running the department would be a breeze with him as a right-hand man. We are so very lucky to have him; he would have been wasted as just a journalist…"
Having said that in a low voice, he spoke up so that Mr Rosenfeld could also hear him. "I am so glad to see that you have opened the curtain; Roderick told me it was done at Dante's request, so I have no issue with it, and I am sure the other doctors will agree with me." Then he walked over to take a look at Lachlan's charts; he frowned at them, which did make Mr Rosenfeld a little worried for a moment. "I am puzzled as to exactly why Lachlan has not woken up yet. All of his vitals are normal, and there is no issue with his brain activity either. We might need to try and find some additional stimuli that might assist with bringing him back to a conscious state, but for now we will allow him to come to naturally. If he is still like this tomorrow, then we will act. Until then, all I can advise is that we carry on doing what we have been doing - talking to him and holding his hand. He will be hearing you and will know that you are there and concerned for him…"
When the clock reached 4pm, the door opened again, this time to admit Beats with Ty at his side. "Olivia is with Jeff, Wes and Evie just now," he said to his husband as he looked for her. "She did not want to come and see them like this, and I can't blame her. Ethan and Drew are taking Ethel to the airport, but she will go to them when they return."
Ty meanwhile had run over to Dante and was giving him the gentlest of hugs, his eyes wide at the sight of the bandages on his chest. "They didn't tell me that you had been stabbed! I'd have come last night if I had known!" he said, loud enough for the whole room to hear the accusatory tone in his voice.
"And missed school as a result? I would not have approved of that one iota! Education is vital," Dante replied.
"They told me that you would say that!" said Ty with a laugh in his voice, but then he went all serious once more. "Was Lachlan stabbed too? Is that why he isn't awake like you?"
"No, he wasn't; he just had a very bad bang to his head. His brain has decided that he needs to rest for a while longer," explained Dante. "We have been talking to him, as he will be able to hear us – well, his mom and dad have been… He will wake up when his body is ready."
Ty looked thoughtful, then said in a low voice, "Maybe it isn't his mom and dad that he needs to hear though; it might be you that he needs to hear and feel to know that you are safe. That is the only way that his brain would truly know that you are okay, because even if his parents have told him that, he might doubt them…"
There was a silence in the room once he stopped speaking, as everyone had heard him; they had all realised too that the youngest of them might have a very good point…
A plan of action would be required to allow Dante to be with Lachlan. It was not quite as simple as moving the two hospital beds to within touching distance of each other, as both of the young men were still attached to numerous wires and tubes that emerged from the wall. "I think that we have no choice other than to summon the doctor and run the idea by him," admitted Elliott. "And, of course, by doctor I do not mean Ollie; he might be all powerful downstairs in the Emergency Room, but with hospital politics being what they are, for him to make any changes up here would be overstepping the mark entirely."
"He might be persuaded to help make our case though," said Beats, although even that was not certain. He knew from Thad what their father was like at his workplace in the hospital in Columbus; he was the Great I Am, whose word overrode that of even the most experienced and specialised doctors without a care or thought for how unprofessional such things were. Ollie would never do something similar. He wondered if they might have more luck asking Roderick to be their additional voice, although he knew again from Julia this time that some doctors regarded even the most experienced and time-served nurses as people who knew very little, and who should therefore keep their mouths shut…
By good fortune, however, the doctor that had been assigned to monitor both Dante and Lachlan was a reasonable one, and they had no idea at all in listening to their hypothesis, although they failed to mention exactly who had come up with it.
"They do have a lot of evidence that people in comatose situations can hear what is going on in the room and recall it afterwards; that is why we advise relatives to talk to them, hopefully with love and affection… Given what Dante had said in regard to events prior to Lachlan being injured, then I think that what you are saying is valid. Lachlan might well just be in shock, under the impression that Dante is dead, and that knowledge leaves him with no desire to wake up and face a world without him. Based on that, here is what I am going to suggest we do. I am going to give Dante a once over, check the condition of his wound and see that it is healing well; his dressing will need changed in any case. If I am satisfied with the progress we are making, then we can take him off the monitors, and place the drip on a portable stand. That way he can be moved into a wheelchair and thus taken across to Lachlan's bedside…"
They all agreed that idea was perfect; leaving only Mr Rosenfeld to sit at his son's bedside, they all headed out for half an hour to allow the doctor to do his work, ably assisted of course by Roderick. They headed down to the canteen for drinks and snacks, as Ty was starting to feel hungry, and Elliott had to admit that he was feeling much the same too.
When they returned to the room, it was to find Roderick assisting a now grinning Dante into a wheelchair. "The doctor apologises, he was called away to see an urgent case, but he was more than pleased with progress, and had authorised the removal of the monitor leads. I then took advantage of your collective absence to give him a quick wash and change his gown so that he is at best for his boyfriend. Now, I don't need to head off to check in with any other patients just now, so shall we make a start? I am hopeful that when I have to perform my next set of observations it will be on two patients that are awake; I think that Dante's presence might just be the motivation that Lachlan needs…"
Even with Roderick's encouraging words, Dante meanwhile was starting to have doubts. "What if Lachlan doesn't wake up though? What if he remains comatose?"
"Then we wait; we keep on trying everything until he does," said Beats firmly. "I know that all of this hard for you, but it is the best that we can do in the circumstances." Elliott nodded his agreement as Dante's eyes turned to him, doing his best to keep his own doubts off his face to reassure his son.
They began to slowly wheel Dante across the room in the direction of Lachlan's bed, but stopped as the door opened, and Mrs Rosenfeld walked in. She looked at them, and what was happening, and understood exactly what was taking place at once. "Yes, this is an excellent idea! It is probably exactly what is required in the circumstances," she said, then after placing a hand on Dante's shoulder briefly to show her support, she moved across the room to join her husband.
Elliott meanwhile had wheeled Dante right up to Lachlan's bedside, choosing the side where the fingers of his hand were not splinted, as that injury, even though it was minor, would upset Dante. Kneeling down at his side, Elliot said, "He will know that you are here when you take his hand; talking to him will provide more evidence. However, we should not be expecting a miracle; you might need to talk to him for hours before his eyes finally pop open and he tells you to be quiet as he is trying to sleep…"
Dante shook his head at Elliott's words, but he did so with a smile. "I will talk to him non-stop forever if it is what it takes for him to wake up. However, there is always the possibility that he might wake up the very second that I take his hand and he hears me speaking to him…" Elliott nodded, even if he himself doubted that would happen as much as all the other adults gathered in the room.
"I don't know about talking to him forever," said Roderick then. "I spoke to the doctor before and he told me that you would still require your bed rest; in fact, he admitted that it is very rare that after such an invasive operation a patient would be out of bed and in a wheelchair. You have been granted that right because of your youth and the specific circumstances. I have also been charged with keeping an eye on you whilst you are sitting there; if I see any trace of blood on your bandages, or notice any shortness of breath on your part, then you will be straight back into the bed until we are satisfied that you are fit enough to try again. I know that sounds harsh, but whilst I am a friend of yours and your dads on the outside, in here I am Nurse Practitioner Meeks and what I say goes."
Dante nodded, and then the room fell silent as he turned towards the young man that was lying supine in the bed before him; the monitors that had been making noise constantly had been placed on silent mode by Roderick just for the moment so that Lachlan would be able to hear his boyfriend more easily. With a trembling hand, Dante reached out and took his hand in his own, holding it firmly but with such love and tenderness, nonetheless. He did not speak, just held it for a minute, and then he let out a breath and spoke…
"Lachie, if you can hear me, then I want you to know that what happened to me was not as bad as it might have looked; I am here, and I will make it through. However, the truth is that whilst I have survived, I don't believe that I can even start to recover from this unless you are with me 100%..."
He paused, his eyes starting to tear up, and then went on, "Just being here in body isn't enough. I need to hear your voice, because even the very sound of it makes me smile and when you sing, well then it is heaven on earth. I need to see your eyes too, twinkling as you look at me with such love and affection; knowing that you can see me looking at you in exactly the same way. I need you and I always will, no question of it. You and I are two halves of the one whole, each other's missing piece. The worst thing that has ever happened to me is what took place last night, because I couldn't protect you from harm; worse, you saw me getting hurt just before you were knocked out… They have fixed me up, and yes, the wound is painful, but it is nothing to the pain of not having you. I am going to be good, but I won't be completely fine until you are okay too. If you are still tired and can't open your eyes quite yet, then that is okay too; I understand that only too well. However, could you give me some sort of sign that you can hear me, even if it is only moving one of your fingers?"
There was silence then, as Dante blinked away the tears that had formed in his eyes. That silence turned out to be fortuitous, as otherwise, nobody might have heard what happened next. "Hallmark…" came the faintest whisper. Mrs Rosenfeld gasped and grabbed for her husband as Dante lowered his head closer to Lachlan's a huge grin forming on his face…
"Hallmark?" he said, overjoyed that Lachlan had spoken so soon, but confused as to he had just uttered that word in those familiar tones.
"You sound like you have swallowed a million awful greetings cards, before washing them all down with some cheesy afternoon movie," said Lachlan, his eyes now slowly opening. As they did, Roderick discretely pressed the call button beside the bed, knowing that there would now have to be a plethora of checks and tests; he was summoning another nurse to ask to go and tell the doctor, knowing that this would give the young couple a little longer before they were pulled apart once more.
"I know, but it's only because I love you so much," whispered Dante, his cheeks a little red.
"We are all aware of that," said Mr Rosenfeld, before adding, "It is good to have you back with us son…"
"My head is throbbing," Lachlan stated in reply. "It feels as if someone is trying to break my skull…"
"I'm afraid that someone actually did do that," said Roderick, stepping up to the bed as he had seen an uptick in Lachlan's heartrate on the monitor. "The truth is that both of you have been in the wars in your own way."
Lachlan looked then at Dante's chest and saw the bulge of bandages under the hospital gown Dante was wearing. "But we survived it, and all that we have suffered will serve to make us even stronger," the young man said with a firm tone in his voice.
Roderick felt guilty that he had to break up the scene that was now before him, but he now had to put the nurse hat firmly on as he had a number of tests that he needed to do. He was fortunate though in the fact that Dante also seemed to appreciate that fact as well. He held onto Lachlan's hand for a moment longer, then let it go with a smile.
"We have the whole of the rest of our lives to hold hands, but now my love the priority has to be getting you properly fixed up and we can't achieve that if I am sitting here and getting in the way of the nurses and doctors. I am going to get my dads to take me back over to my bed; that way we will still be able to see each other all the time, even if we are too far apart to touch…"
Lachlan sighed, but said, "You are right, we do need to let them check me over, because my head is really sore… All I can remember is falling down and getting back up, but after that I can't recall a thing until I woke up right now…"
"Don't worry about things like that just now," said Roderick, engaging full nurse mode. "My priority is getting you something that will ease your pain and then checking all of those vital signs are still going strong…"
Thus, the two young men were parted from each other once more, but they kept eye contact as Beats wheeled Dante back across the room; he had deliberately done so backwards to ensure it. However, as he and Elliott helped him back into his bed, the doctor arrived, and moments later with an apologetic look on his face, Roderick was drawing the curtain closed again on his instructions.
A moment later Mr Rosenfeld appeared on their side of the curtain, but his wife did not follow him. He smiled and said, "The doctor knew better than to try and expel a Jewish mother from her child's bedside…" They all chuckled at that, Beats having a vivid image of Mrs Wilson at that juncture, knowing she would have clung to Flint's bed if anything had happened to him as a boy. Then Isaac Rosenfeld turned to Ty, who had watched it all with a smile that was a mix of delight and 'I told you so' and held out his hand. After a moment, Ty took it and shook it warmly.
"Thank you, young man, for being the one with the intelligence to point out what all of us older and supposedly wiser people had missed; that my son needed to hear the man he loved far more than he needed to hear me or his mother."
"It just made sense; people always want to be with the ones they love when they are hurting," Ty replied.
"It does," Mr Rosenfeld replied, "but sometimes us mature adults need to be reminded of such things by the younger generation; as we age, our common sense diminishes…"
"Mr Rosenfeld," Dante then said; on seeing the look on the man's face as he turned towards him, he closed his eyes for a moment, then said, "Sorry, Isaac, I want to say something. I have been thinking about it for quite some time now and all that has happened in the last 24 hours has just made me all the more certain it is what I want to do. I know that his faith is pretty important for Lachlan, not that he would ever admit it, and he is proud of his Jewish heritage. I want to support him in all of that; it is the key to a successful relationship to share common interests and be there for each other. For that reason, I would like to convert to Judaism, if that is something that would even be a possibility…"
There was silence in the room again then, as Beats and Elliott just stared at Dante, and Mr Rosenfeld tried hard to get past his shock at Dante's statement. He recovered first, and said, "Well, it is certainly possible, and I have witnessed it taking place a few times over the years. I am not sure of exactly how the process goes, however, so it might be best for you to have a discussion about it with Rabbi Hirsch. After all, if all is well, she would be the one that would be supervising the process for you. One thing I do recall is that you would need to have a member of the congregation as a sponsor, but that person could not be Lachlan or indeed myself or my wife."
Dante nodded, then turned his attention back to his two fathers, who seemed a little less stunned after the blow from left field now. "I know that I should have spoken to the two of you about this in private first, and I intended to, but circumstances just made that impossible; all that has happened has brought it to a head…"
"I will admit that it is a surprise, but thinking about it, it isn't really," said Beats. "You and Lachlan have always been so close, so it is no wonder that you would wish to share a faith with him as well…"
As Elliott nodded in agreement, Dante said, "Do you think that Uncle Flint would be my sponsor in the congregation if I asked him?"
Beats thought for a second, but he knew the answer straight away really. "I think that there is every chance that he would do it for you, yes… If nothing else, his mother would approve of him doing so…"