Harboured and Encompassed, Chapter 24

[bbcphile]

We're almost done!! Thanks to everyone for your patience in having this clutter up the LJ page!

Title: Harboured and Encompassed

Author: BBCPhile

Chapter: 24/25

Word Count: 1718

Pairing: Horatio Hornblower/Archie Kennedy

AO3 link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/9135700/chapters/24719580

Trigger warnings: Eating disorders, hospitals, panic attack

A strange beeping sound pulled Horatio out of a very bizarre dream about a cat that insisted on sailing the seven seas with him.

His nose itched. He tried to move his left arm to scratch it, but nothing happened. His arm felt absurdly heavy. He grunted in frustration and started to move his right arm instead.

“Horatio?”

Horatio frowned. Will? Why was Will here? He sounded worried.

He wrestled his eyes open, then blinked as his surroundings came into focus. A blue curtain. Not Will. He frowned, then slowly turned his head to the right. Will’s face swam into view.

“Will,” Horatio rasped, his throat distressingly scratchy.

Will smiled faintly, then reached out to pat Horatio on the shoulder. His hand lingered, a warm, comforting weight. “Good to have you back with us. How’re you feeling?”

Horatio blinked. His head felt like it’d been stuffed with cotton. It was remarkably difficult to think, let alone make words. “’M alright.” He paused, then looked down at his left arm, which had started to throb. It had a cast around it. He frowned. “My arm hurts.”

Will gave him a faint smile. “Understandable. Should be almost time for more pain meds. The nurse said the surgery went well. No complications. You should be back to rigging ships in no time.”

Horatio nodded distractedly. Something was missing. Something important.

“Hannah and Victoria are here, too. In the waiting room. Didn’t want to crowd you when you were just waking up.”

“Don’t . . . mean to be a burden,” Horatio muttered.

“It’s no trouble at all,” Will insisted. “And your father will be here in a few hours.”

Horatio met Will’s eyes again. “But--”

Will rolled his eyes. “He found someone to cover his patients for the next two days. You’re not inconveniencing him, either.”

Horatio frowned, his hand drifting up to touch the pendant around his neck.

“What do you need? Water? More pain meds? A rest?”

Horatio glanced down at the compass between his fingers, then looked up, scanned the room, and turned to Will, his eyes narrowed and his mind terrifyingly clear as worry burned away the mental fog. “Where’s Archie?”

Will stilled. “Archie’s fine,” he said, his voice too deliberately calm.

Horatio glared at Will, his heart racing. “That’s not what I asked. What’s wrong? Why isn’t he here?”

Will shifted. “He’s . . . resting.”

“Why? What happened? Did he have a seizure? Is he safe?”

The heart monitor started beeping urgently. Will frowned, glanced at the screen above Horatio’s head, then squeezed Horatio’s shoulder gently. “Archie’s safe, Horatio, and he didn’t have a seizure.”

“Then why--”

Another gentle squeeze of his shoulder. “Because he . . . fainted not long ago. But he’ll be alright, Horatio, he--”

Horatio struggled to sit up. “Where is he? Take me to him. Now.”

Will gently pressed him back against the bed. “You don’t need to go anywhere, Horatio. Lie still. He’s right here.” He walked over to the blue curtain next to Horatio’s left side, and pulled it open.

Archie was lying in a hospital bed, his face unnervingly pale, almost ashen, and unnaturally still. Normally, even in sleep, his eyelids would twitch, or he’d smile, or frown, or nuzzle up against Horatio. But now, he looked like he belonged in Madame Tussauds. Or like he was--

Horatio blinked repeatedly as Archie turned into a watery blur.

Will’s hand squeezed his shoulder again. “He’ll be alright, Horatio. He just needs some rest.”

Horatio swallowed and wiped his eyes with his good hand. “What happened?” he asked, unable to look away.

Will's hand left his shoulder. “We’ll know more when all the blood tests to come back. The doctor guessed that he hadn’t been eating enough. Or staying hydrated. Or sleeping. Stress response, most likely.”

“But, I gave him breakfast,” Horatio said, hardly caring that his voice shook.

“Did he eat it?”

Horatio grimaced. “Just a bite. I’d hoped he’d finish it while I was--” He trailed off, then turned to face Will, his heart in his throat. “Will, he said he hadn’t eaten since Sunday night!”

Will’s eyes opened fractionally wider, before he dipped his head. “That’d do it.”

Horatio set his jaw and glared. “Didn’t anyone notice? You’re always making sure I eat. Why didn’t you give him food?”

Will raised an eyebrow. “I did. He didn’t eat it. Not really.” He paused. “Not sure he could.”

Horatio deflated, his anger and indignation rushing out with a shaky sigh. He turned and looked at Archie again as an ache started in his chest that had nothing to do with Simpson’s fist. “But I don’t understand,” Horatio started, his voice sounding far too reedy and thin, “we’re in a hospital. If he felt too nauseous to eat, why didn’t he say something? Surely there must be medication someone could have given him--”

Will’s hand touched his shoulder again. “I think he had other things on his mind, Horatio.”

Horatio clenched his jaw. “Oh. You mean me.”

“Horatio.” Will narrowed his eyes. “This is not your fault.”

“Of course it is!” Horatio bit out as more tears started to fall. “If I hadn’t left him alone, if I’d listened to him, we’d both be safe at home, and I wouldn’t have a broken arm, and he wouldn’t have fainted, and--”

“Horatio. It is not your fault that you were attacked or that Archie collapsed.”

Horatio looked up, frowning at the unusually steely tone of Will’s voice. “But--”

“No,” Will insisted, his eyes blazing, his face as hard and cold as rock. “This is Simpson’s fault, and his fault alone. That fucking sadistic bastard--” He cut himself off, closed his eyes, and exhaled slowly through his nose. When he opened them again, the fire had been tamed. He cleared his throat. “It’s not your fault,” he murmured again, before glancing first at Horatio’s arm, then over at Archie, as a flicker of something soft and sad flitted across his face.

Horatio stared at Will, his eyes narrowed. Will never showed his emotions so openly. “Will? What’s--” he gasped as the explanation hit him. “--he told you?”

Will snapped his head over to meet Horatio’s eyes, then dipped his head in a quick nod, his gaze dropping to the ground.

Horatio managed a weak smile. “I’m glad he trusted you.”

Will huffed out a quiet laugh. “Not sure he meant to. Seemed to spill out.”

Horatio raised an eyebrow. “He could hardly make himself tell me, and we’d been together for about a month. He’d have to be at his wit’s end for that to come out involuntarily.”

Will hesitated. “He keeled over right after.”

Horatio swallowed, remembering Archie’s helpless sobs and uncontrollable shaking after telling him the truth. He squared his shoulders as best he could and took a deep, shaky breath. Pride be damned. Archie needed him. “What do I do? How can I help him?”

Will shifted his weight, then looked at the ground. “Ask him.”

Horatio bit his lip. “And if he won’t tell me?”

Will sighed. “Be patient. Join a Supporters group.” He paused. “Research,” he added with a small smile.

Horatio rolled his eyes.

Will’s expression became more serious again. “He’ll want to know it doesn’t change anything. That he still has you--” he paused again as his eyes drifted over to Archie,“--and me.”

Horatio nodded, his eyes following Will’s. They fell into silence as they watched Archie sleep, his chest rising and falling slowly. “At least he’s getting some rest,” Horatio said eventually, glancing up at Will. “He hardly slept last night. Nightmares every hour.” He paused. “How long has he been asleep?”

Will glanced at his watch. “About 45 minutes, I think.”

Horatio nodded. “He’ll probably be waking up soon, then.”

Will hesitated. “Possibly. They might have put something in his IV to help him sleep. It was rather chaotic. Didn’t get the whole list of ingredients.”

Horatio narrowed his eyes. “Will. Why was it chaotic?”

Will shifted uncomfortably. “He was . . . briefly unresponsive. But that passed quickly and then they started the IV.”

Horatio’s heart monitor started beeping again. “Unresponsive?? For how long?”

“It’s really not--”

“HOW LONG?”

Will hesitated, then sighed. “Five minutes.”

Horatio gaped at him as the world started crashing around him. “I almost lost him,” he whispered, his eyes filling with tears again.

Will’s hand was back on his shoulder in an instant. “But he’s alright, Horatio. He’s safe. So are you. The best thing you can do right now is to sleep. Both of you.”

Horatio frowned. “How am I supposed to sleep when he could wake up at any moment?” He paused. “Archie was unresponsive. Did someone call his family?”

Will nodded. “Nurse Rashidi said that his emergency contact had been notified and that she was on her way.”

Horatio frowned. “That’ll be Izzy, since she lives the closest. Cambridge is only an hour and a bit away.”

Will raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that good?”

Horatio shook his head. “He hadn’t told his family about Simpson.”

Will nodded, then looked at the ground. “Right.”

Horatio swallowed as the image of the sudden influx of Archie’s family stormed through his mind. “Will, what are we going to do?”

Will squeezed his shoulder again. “The best we can. Just try and rest now. I’ll take care of everything.”

Horatio nodded, then shifted to get a better view of Archie, wincing slightly with the movement. He’d just keep watch until Archie woke up.

After a moment, Will sighed quietly. “You’ll jar your neck, twisting like that. Here, let me.” Will’s warm hands reached out and adjusted his pillow, pulling it to the right to reduce the strain on Horatio’s neck, and brushing against a curl in the process.

The silence stretched, broken only by the occasional beep of the blood pressure cuff around Archie’s arm.

Archie was much too far away. Were the beds on wheels? Perhaps they could push the beds closer together. He stared longingly at Archie’s hand, then blinked repeatedly as his eyes started to prickle with tears again.

“He’ll be fine, Horatio,” Will murmured beside him as he scooted his chair closer to the bed. “The worst is over.”