AN: I sincerely apologize for the delay. This chapter was supposed to be posted several weeks ago. I actually tried to post it, but kept running into some sort of glitch that wouldn't let me, and subsequently forgot that it hadn't been uploaded yet. For that, I sincerely apologize. That being said, it does mean that you now get this chapter and the next one in the same day. I hope that's at least sort of a consolation. Enjoy!


Drake was absolutely not okay - and neither was Josh, if he were being honest with himself. Don't get him wrong, being home was great, and much better than being in the hospital. The food was better, there weren't any strangers around, the deputies were down the street instead of right outside the door, and most importantly, he and Drake were no longer separated by several feet at all times. But, they both wanted to just immediately go back to the way that things were, and that just wasn't working.

It became immediately apparent that they couldn't do anything without leaving the other's side, from sitting so close to each other on the couch that Drake was nearly in Josh's lap, to waiting right outside the bathroom door for each other. Any separation was too much, and that became abundantly clear when Drake said he wanted to take a shower.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Josh asked. It was the first time Drake had taken a shower since it happened, and Josh was nervous that Drake was going to overdo it, and he wouldn't be there to help him.

"It's just a shower, Josh," Drake said as he pulled a pair of flannel pants and boxers from his drawer. He also pulled out a sweatshirt that Josh was fairly certain was his, and not Drake's own. He didn't say anything about it. "I haven't had one since it happened. I just want to feel clean again." Drake sat down on the edge of Josh's bed, looking up at his brother. Josh sighed and sat down next to him.

"I know, that's why I'm worried," Josh said. He didn't want to elaborate, but he would if Drake made him.

"I'll be okay," Drake repeated. "And if I need you, you'll know, and you'll be there. You always are." He offered Josh a small smile, then stood and left their bedroom.

Josh was able to wait a whole ten seconds before getting up and following him. He sat down on the floor, right in front of the bathroom door. Their parents would be even more concerned if they saw him doing this, but luckily, they were both downstairs doing some much needed cleaning that had been overlooked while the brothers had been missing, and Megan was still at school. Josh knew it was hard for him and Drake to be out of their parents' sight too, but at least they were adults and were handling it well, giving them some space after being bombarded by people in the hospital. His own excuse was that he wasn't an adult, and thus didn't have to act like one. If he wanted to sit right in front of the bathroom door, as close to Drake as he could be without being in there with him, then he damn well was going to.

Josh sat silently outside the door, all of his attention focused on listening if Drake needed him. He heard the soft sound of Drake's clothes hitting the floor, then a shuddering intake of breath. A few seconds later, another stuttered breath, like someone crying but trying to stay quiet.

"Drake, are you okay?" he softly called out, turning his head to rest against the door.

"I'm fine," Drake called back. It was obvious that he wasn't fine. Josh could hear the tears in his voice. But, he needed to respect Drake's space too. Drake didn't need him to come in there, at least not yet.

Josh couldn't stop his breathing from picking up at the sound of the shower curtain being drawn across the rod. He dug his fingers into the carpet beneath him and closed his eyes. Drake was fine, he was just taking a shower, he was fine, he wasn't being hurt, he was okay, he was safe, they were both safe, everything was okay. Josh repeated it like a mantra, again, and again, and again, and again.

Over the sound of the shower, Josh couldn't hear Drake crying anymore. He hoped that was a good thing.

Josh glanced down the hallway at the sound of footsteps on the stairs. Based on the weight of them, it had to be his dad. A few seconds later, Walter turned the corner off the stairs into the hallway, confirming his suspicion. He was holding a stack of clean laundry. Walter stopped as soon as he saw him sitting there.

"What are you doing?" he asked, though not unkindly. Walter set down the clean clothes right outside the door to the master bedroom, then walked over to Josh, and sat down on the floor across from him.

"I need to make sure he's okay," was all Josh offered in response. He leaned his head back against the door and stared up at the ceiling.

"He's gonna be alright," Walter assured him. "You both are. Drake doesn't need you to sit right here waiting for him. You know this isn't healthy."

"What is healthy, Dad?" Josh shrugged, wincing at moving his shoulder. "How am I supposed to be handling this? When that monster touched him, you know where I was?" He waited a moment before continuing. "I was right there in the same room, locked in a cage. I could hear Drake screaming, and begging him to stop, begging for my help, and I couldn't do a damn thing about it. All I could do was listen. So next time Drake needs me, I need to be able to actually do something about it. I can't do that if he needs me and I'm not right there."

"I'm sorry you had to listen to that," Walter said. There was a pain in his eyes that Josh hadn't seen since his mom died. "You shouldn't have had to, and Drake shouldn't have had to go through it. But he's just taking a shower. He's not in any danger. You can't be around him twenty-four-seven. What are you gonna do when you go back to school? You aren't in all your classes together. You're going to have to be apart from each other for a while."

"But we don't have to right now," Josh immediately responded. "We'll deal with later, later. Right now, I can be with him. I can protect him. So that's what I'm going to do." He wasn't leaving any room for discussion, and hopefully, his dad wouldn't press him about it. If he did, Walter would lose. No one was getting between Josh and his brother, not even his dad.

"I'm worried about you," he said.

"I know." Josh gave him a small smile, but didn't tell him that he shouldn't worry. Maybe he should. Josh knew, in the back of his mind, that what he was doing wasn't healthy, but he didn't care. That was a can he could kick down the road.

"You know I'm here for you, right? For both of you?" Walter asked. Josh nodded, and Walter continued. "I know I don't know anything about what you've been through, or how to move forward, but I do know that I love you boys more than anything, both you and Drake. He's just as much my son as you are, and I want him to know that I'm here for him too. I might not be able to do anything for either of you, but I'm here." He shrugged slightly and looked at Josh with all the love in the world. "I'm here to listen, to let you cry, or get angry, or do whatever it is that you need me to do, even if that's just to give you a hug. Your stepmom and I will do anything for you guys. I hope you really do know that."

Josh smiled at his dad and nodded.

"I do, Dad," he said. "Thanks."

"Anytime." Walter smiled and patted Josh on the knee before standing up - with a groan and complaint about being too old to sit on the floor - and returning to the clean stack of laundry he'd abandoned.

Josh turned his attention back to the bathroom behind him. He could still hear the shower water running, and nothing else. How long had it been? Josh hadn't looked at the time before he sat down, and he wasn't wearing a watch now. Should he have been concerned? What if Drake had passed out or something?

"Drake?" he called out. "You doing okay?" Josh put a hand over his other ear and focused intently on listening through the door. The shower water turned off.

"I'm okay," Drake said. His voice sounded rough, like he'd probably been crying the entire time. Josh's heart ached with the need to hold his brother until he was okay again.

Only a minute or two later, Drake quietly called out, "can you help me?"

Josh was scrambling up and opening the door faster than should've been possible. Drake was standing there in his flannel pants, but without a shirt. He had bandages out on the counter and the topical medication he'd been prescribed to fight the infection in the bite.

"I can't reach to do it myself," he said. "Can you do it one handed?"

"Of course," Josh responded, despite not knowing if he actually could. He probably could though.

Josh stepped to the counter and took hold of the medication in his left hand in the sling. He had enough dexterity back in that hand to squeeze out some of the solution onto his right hand, and then it was just a matter of carefully treating the wound. Drake would only have to do this for another day or two, and then, as long as the redness around the bite didn't return, he would be in the clear, and only need to keep taking his antibiotics every morning until he was finished with the whole prescription. After rinsing his hand off, Josh took the bandage that Drake held out for him and carefully covered the bite, avoiding looking down at the deep purple bruising peeking out on Drake's hips from the top of the flannel pants. At least the scratches and cuts were all healing nicely.

The moment Josh stepped back, Drake grabbed the sweatshirt and put it on with a muttered "thanks". As he had suspected, it was definitely one of Josh's, and it wasn't exactly new. It wasn't comically large on Drake, but it was clearly a few sizes too big. It would've been big on Josh now, too.

"You don't mind, do you?" Drake quietly asked, gesturing at the sweatshirt.

"Of course not." Josh smiled. If that helped Drake, then his brother could have his entire closet.

Drake gave him a soft smile back, then wrapped his arms around himself and headed back to their room. Josh immediately followed him and plopped down right next to him on their couch, purposely putting Drake on his right. He didn't say anything as Drake moved closer to him and grabbed a nearby blanket, wrapping them both in it and leaning against his brother - really, snuggling against him, but the difference didn't matter. That was roughly what Josh had figured would happen, and Josh was okay with it. He was actually breathing a little bit easier now that he had his brother beside him again, even if Drake's hair was still wet and felt cold on his shoulder.

"Wanna watch Celebrities Underwater?" Josh asked. Drake could rarely resist that mindless show.

"Sure," Drake said with a shrug, unmoving from Josh's shoulder. Josh jostled him a bit, and couldn't hold back his grin when Drake looked up at him with a pout. "What was that for?" he whined.

"The remote's over there, dude." Josh nodded towards the far end of the coffee table where the remote sat, closer to Drake than to Josh. "You would have to get up anyway in order for me to get up and get it, so why not you just get it?"

"Fine, be that way," Drake muttered, but obediently got up, grabbed the remote, and settled right back down into his place against Josh. He wrapped himself back up in the blanket, hand barely sticking out enough to use the remote. Drake dropped it a few minutes later once their show was on, and snuggled deeper into Josh's side. Within a few minutes, Josh could hear the soft sound of Drake's little snores. He grinned and grabbed the remote off the couch from where Drake had dropped it, and turned the volume down on the TV. Josh adjusted slightly, then wrapped his arm around Drake's shoulders, allowing his brother to lean more comfortably against him.

Josh mindlessly watched the reality show for close to an hour before he heard the sound of footsteps at the door. He turned his head as much as he could to see his stepmother standing there. He smiled at her, so she quietly walked into the room.

"How long has he been asleep?" she asked, her voice just barely above a whisper.

"A little less than an hour," Josh softly replied. "He hasn't made a sound either, no nightmares or anything like that."

"I was gonna say that dinner's almost ready, and your father will be home with Megan from oboe practice in a few minutes, but he should probably sleep if he's finally doing it now," she said. "God knows he needs it."

Josh nodded, looking back down at his brother. Drake hadn't slept much in the hospital, and when he did sleep, he was tortured by nightmares of what they'd been through. The dreams weren't enough to make him wake up screaming or anything, just a little scared. Josh had woken up a few times when Drake did, and each time, he saw that Drake immediately calmed at the sight of him, and relaxed. Audrey had even told him that Drake would relax upon just seeing Josh, even when Josh was still asleep. He needed this good, quality sleep.

"I'm good to wait until he wakes up," Josh said. "We can eat later."

"Okay," Audrey said with a nod. "Spaghetti will be in the fridge to reheat when you're ready." She reached down and gently brushed Drake's bangs away from his face with a pained smile. "Thank you for taking care of him," she said.

"Of course," Josh replied. There was nothing he would rather do. Of course, he wished that nothing had happened in the first place that required Drake needing to be taken care of, but that wasn't the point. Josh would take care of Drake forever if he needed it.

As Audrey left the room, quietly closing the door behind her, Josh turned his attention back to the show. There was some guy on it, maybe one of the Backstreet Boys, who was about to break Justin Timberlake's record - now that would really reignite the rivalry between the two now-irrelevant bands.

The Backstreet Boy did not break JT's record.

It was about forty minutes later that Josh felt Drake stirring beneath him. His brother groaned slightly as he began to stretch, then finally opened his eyes and quickly sat up a bit.

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to fall asleep on you. How long was I out?"

"About an hour and a half, give or take."

"An hour and a half?" Drake confirmed, eyes widening in shock. "Why didn't you make me move? My bed's right there."

"Because you needed the sleep," Josh replied with a smile. "That's the best you've slept since-. That's the best you've slept in a while now. You really needed it."

Drake sighed and gave a halfhearted shrug, and let himself lean back into Josh again.

"Still, you didn't have to let me sleep on you."

"Well I did, and I would again, so get over it." Josh grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. "But now that you're awake, I'm starving, and Mom made spaghetti." He gestured for Drake to get up and get off him, and after a moment, Drake did - keeping the blanket wrapped around him.

As the boys walked down the hallway, they met Megan at the top of the stairs. For the first time that either of them could remember, she immediately greeted them with a smile that wasn't full of evil.

"I'm really glad you guys are home," she said, then kept on walking without another word and closed the door of her bedroom behind her.

"I don't think I could ever get used to that," Drake said. Josh nodded enthusiastically and put a hand on Drake's shoulder.

"Something about it is just creepy. It feels wrong, dude."

Drake nodded again with wide eyes, and the two continued down the stairs and into the kitchen, with Josh being careful to avoid stepping on the blanket as it trailed slightly behind his brother.

"Hey, boys," Audrey greeted as they walked into the kitchen. She was washing dishes while Walter was taking out the trash. "Good nap, sweetie?"

"I shouldn't've slept so long," Drake said.

"You needed it," Audrey said. "Now go sit down. I'll heat up some spaghetti for you guys."

"We can take care of it," Josh said. "No need to stop what you're doing to heat up food that we can heat up ourselves." His tone was light, but his stepmom still looked a bit hurt. Josh swallowed. That hadn't been his intention, he just didn't want their parents acting like they couldn't do anything themselves anymore, especially something so simple as heating up food.

"The boys are right," Walter added as he put a new trash bag in the can. "They can heat up food."

Audrey raised her hands slightly in surrender before going back to the dishes.

"You're right, you're right," she said. "I don't mean to be a mother hen or anything, I just want to help you two in any way that I can."

"And we appreciate that, but even I can heat up food," Drake said with a small smile. He somewhat reluctantly set the blanket he was wearing on the back of a chair at the table, and set to work on getting the food out while Josh carefully grabbed two bowls with only one hand. Only a few minutes later, and they were both at the table, enjoying their mom's cooking.

"How is this always so good?" Josh asked around a mouthful of food. Drake shrugged and simply kept eating in silence.

"Have you boys thought at all yet about when you want to go back to school?" Audrey carefully asked in lieu of accepting the compliment. She had finished the dishes, and was leaning back against the counter, feigning relaxation as she drummed her fingers against her arms.

"Tomorrow," Drake immediately responded. Both Josh and Audrey looked at him in slight shock. Drake had never exactly been one to want to go to school. "I just want to get it all over with instead of dreading it. The longer we're gone, the harder it's probably gonna be to go back. I just want to get it over with." Drake shrugged and pulled the blanket closer around himself, the rest of his spaghetti forgotten for the time being.

"If that's what you want, then that's what I want too," Josh said.

"Are you sure? I don't want either of you forcing yourselves into doing something you're not ready for," Audrey said. "Drake, if you really want to go, then I'll support you, but Josh, if you're not ready, you don't have to go back yet."

"If you don't wanna go yet, I'll wait," Drake said before Josh could reply. "I don't want you to do something you don't want to do because of me."

"What I want is what you want," Josh affirmed, ducking his head to force Drake to look at him. "I just want to make sure you're okay, whether that's here or at school. So if you want to go back to school tomorrow, then we'll go. If you want to stay home, we'll stay home. I just want to do what you want." And Josh truly meant it. All he wanted was to make sure that Drake was okay, no matter where that was. Now, he couldn't care less about school. He just wanted Drake to be okay.

"Well, then if you're sure it's okay," Drake cautiously said.

"Of course it's okay," Josh interjected, keeping a gentle smile on his face, hoping that would calm his brother's sudden nerves - damn, it hadn't even been a week since they were taken, and it was already as though they were entirely different people than they'd been before. "We'll go to school tomorrow."

"Just be careful," Audrey said. "I know you will, but please, look out for each other, and don't hesitate to call me or your dad to come pick you up if you need us to."

"You know we will," Josh assured her, while Drake nodded and went back to his spaghetti.

After dinner, Josh was about ready to fall asleep right then and there, and the bags under Drake's eyes told the same story, despite the nap he'd inadvertently taken.

"I think we're gonna go to bed early," he told their parents, who were sitting on the couch watching TV together - though neither of them looked like they were actually paying attention.

"Okay," Audrey said, turning towards them with a smile. "Goodnight, boys."

"Goodnight," the brothers said in unison. They each gave a slight wave to their parents, then ascended the stairs and headed back into their bedroom.

"Are you gonna be okay if I go take a shower?" Josh asked. Most of the time, both of them preferred to shower in the morning, but Josh hadn't showered since before everything had happened either.

"Yeah, of course," Drake replied, looking at Josh like he was stupid as he climbed up onto his bunk. It had been a familiar look on his face only a week earlier, but now stood out as being forced and out of place.

"Okay, just making sure." Josh grabbed some pajamas and excused himself to the bathroom. Less than two minutes later, before he'd even turned on the water, Josh heard the sound of something pressing against the closed door. Honestly, Josh was impressed. He would've bet Drake would've been at the door in no more than ninety seconds, but he'd made it about one hundred and five. That was around ten times longer than Josh himself had made it. And if he were being even more honest, Josh was glad. He didn't want to be apart from Drake just as much as Drake didn't want to be apart from him.

As much as Josh relished the feeling of the hot water, he managed to make his shower quick - at least, as quick as he could while only using one arm. He wanted to get Drake back in his sight, and would need his brother's help in changing the bandage on his shoulder and rewrapping it anyway. Taking it off was a lot easier than putting it back on.

"You can come in now, Drake," he called out. Josh chuckled at the sound of Drake scrambling to his feet and opening the door in the span of about two seconds, despite knowing that it had probably sounded just as silly when he'd done the exact same.

Unprompted, Drake immediately began helping him to rebandage and wrap his shoulder, without any comment about the stitches looking gross or the probability of a cool looking scar. He was even about to help Josh to put the sling back on when Josh stopped him.

"They told me not to wear it at night, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Drake said, setting the sling back down on the counter.

"Come on." Josh nodded towards the door and put his arm around Drake's shoulders. "I'm beat. Let's get to bed."

Josh relaxed the moment he sank into his bed. He hadn't realized just how much he'd missed his bed until that moment. Mr. Puff Puff was perfect, and his blankets were soft and warm and wonderful.

Josh tensed the moment he realized he couldn't see Drake from his bed. He sat up, and peered around the corner of the room, but he couldn't see his brother unless he got up or scooted down the bed. When he finally saw Drake, his brother visibly relaxed, seemingly having come to the same conclusion himself, and hating it just as much.

"I'll be fine," Drake said, even though Josh hadn't asked. He didn't sound even half as convincing as he had when he'd said the same thing twenty minutes earlier.

"Yeah, yeah, me too," Josh said with a nod. He moved back up in bed and turned off the lamp, plunging their bedroom into darkness. He would be totally fine. Just because he couldn't see Drake didn't mean he wasn't right there. They were still in the same damn room. They would both be fine. They didn't need to literally be in each other's eyeline twenty-four-seven. If they couldn't handle being in the same room but not seeing each other, how were they going to handle going to school and not being in the same classes? They were fine. Everything was fine. It was totally fine.

Josh repeated it to himself again and again and again, as the minutes ticked by into hours, and the ceiling remained unchanged.

Everything was fine.