muses_w_remotes | 8.15. The Abyss quote
8.15. "Luck is not a factor."
| The Abyss
Co-written with sexyinscrubs
[Follows THIS]
Aiden was sprawled out in the visitor’s chair beside Pat’s bed; his head resting against the back of the chair, eyes closed, hand still clutched securely around Pat’s. Pat’s sedation had been stopped a good five hours previously, but still the usually bubbly nurse slept on. Aiden was determined to stay until Pat woke up, even if it was getting late now. He had only left the hospital when someone else was able to stay with his boyfriend. He realised he had too much of an anxiety that Pat was going to take a bad turn again and he just didn’t want him to be alone.
He was only lightly napping, though, probably looking highly unattractive in doing so. The chairs were fucking uncomfortable, so there was going to be no comfortable resting anyway. So when he felt a pressure around his fingers he shot up out of his seat immediately. “Pat?” he said softly, leaning close so he could be in Pat’s line of sight if he was waking. “It’s Aiden, love.” He started to stroke his fingers through Pat’s hair and exhaled heavily in relief when Pat’s blue eyes opened groggily and met his.
The other bed in the room was now occupied. After falling really ill earlier in the day, the ER had transferred Lachlan up to Pat’s room so their visitors could kill two birds with one stone. Riley got the ER doctor to pull some strings, and Lachlan was moved there about three hours earlier. He was in a bad way and had been repeatedly and violently sick for the first little while he was there. Aiden’s stomach was hurting just listening to him. There was also diarrhoea, an uncomfortable rash on his torso, and a sustained fever hanging at around 104 °F. He was miserable and had now taken to just lying on his side curled up in a sweaty ball, alternating between sleeping and throwing up into one of the sick bags he kept clutched against his chest. Tara hadn’t left his side, staying close at all times and mostly just softly rubbing his back or wiping his face with a cool cloth as he slept. Blood work and other pathology tests were taken and Riley’s suspicions were soon confirmed… Lachlan had become the victim of Typhoid Fever from drinking contaminated water in Mexico. He would remain sick and miserable for a few days while he was pumped full of strong antibiotics to kill the Typhoid bacteria, and then he would start to feel better. The nature of the disease had seen his symptoms coming and going in waves until it peaked with the fever reaching concerning heights. Once the antibiotics did their job, he would make a complete recovery. It was likely he had been more susceptible to infection due to the damage in his GI tract from the shooting, but either way, it was a relief to everyone that he was going to be okay. It seemed to come on suddenly, getting worse when the ailing Scot started to vomit blood in the ER. Thankfully he was started on the correct treatment ASAP and just needed to stick out the few miserable days before he would start to get back on his feet.
When Aiden shot out of his seat and spoke to try and catch his boyfriend’s attention, Lachlan opened his eyes just a little to look over at the other bed. Tara had turned in her seat too to make sure Pat was okay. “Shit…” Pat mumbled, wetting his dry lips. He closed his eyes again and turned his head just a little. “I did it again, didn’t I? Please tell me they didn’t put me in a green gown, darling…”
Aiden squeezed Pat’s hand, a relieved laugh escaping before he could stop it. He glanced up at Tara and Lachlan, seeing Lachlan close his eyes again without moving from the miserable ball he had taken refuge in now that he could see and hear his best friend was okay. Tara smiled encouragingly at Aiden and gave him a brief thumbs up before turning back to her ill husband. “No, it’s blue, beautiful,” Aiden confirmed and pulled his chair close so he could remain near Pat’s face. “I brought you some PJs, though. They said you could change into them when you woke up.”
Pat took a moment to analyse where his body was at. He ached all over and he gave his hand a tentative flex inside Aiden’s fingers. His head hurt and he felt extremely weak. He put his hand up to try and rub his eyes, but felt the telltale pull of the IV line near his wrist. He held his hand up and looked at it, eyes trailing alone the line to the IV pole. “Damnit,” he murmured, more irked than anything else that he had landed back in hospital. He looked back to Aiden. “Are you okay, darling? I’m sorry. I never expected it to happen so soon.”
“Shh, I’m fine,” Aiden said softly, even though it was a large stretch of the truth. “So, I had some freak outs but I had a lot of help to try and keep me from pissing myself,” he admitted and looked over at Tara again with a grateful smile.
Pat caught Aiden looking up and followed his gaze with a slow turn of his eyes. He needed to blink a few times to get his eyes to focus, then, “What the fuck?!” He tried to sit forward to see better. “Is that Lachie?”
Aiden held his hand against Pat’s shoulder. “You stay put, beautiful. You’ve been out for three days. You need to take it easy. You’ve broken your arm and you’ve got a mild concussion. Here, look at me, love. I’ll explain it all for you,” he urged, giving Pat’s hand a small tug to try and get is attention.
Pat wasn’t really paying much mind to his own health, though. He stared at Lachlan asleep in the other bed for a few lingering moments before reluctantly following Aiden’s request. When he looked back, he had a deep frown of confusion and concern on his tired features. “What’s going on? What’s happened?” he asked in a small voice. “Is this the ICU?”
Aiden shook his head. “No, love. Just a Medical Ward. Or ‘Med Ward’ as all you clinical types like to refer to it. Your doctor wanted to keep you asleep while the swelling from the knock to the head went down so it didn’t make you sicker. You slipped in the shower, love. Knocked your hand on the soap dish and cracked your arm on the tiles when you fell. I thought you would be okay… you told me you would be… you said you would only be quick. When I went to check on you, you’d passed out.” He stopped talking, needing to take a moment to keep his composure. He swallowed and bit his lip for a moment.
“Oh. No, darling. You can’t do this, okay? You can’t blame yourself. I knew this was going to happen. I was trying to do all I could to reassure you so you wouldn’t,” Pat said, speaking slowly as his tongue just seemed to want to stumble over the words, causing him to slur. He was used to it now. He was in the prime of an attack. He loosely threaded his fingers in with Aiden’s. “I’m just a walking accident when I’m getting sick. I can’t tell what functions I’m going to lose at any one time, it just happens. You couldn’t stop it, same as I can’t stop just because I think I might be getting sick. Okay?”
“Okay,” Aiden murmured. “I just… I don’t think I really could’ve been prepared for this. I tried, but as soon as I saw how sick and hurt you were, I lost it. I dropped the ball and I feel like I failed you.”
Pat pulled on Aiden’s hand to urge him up into a hug. “Come here, gorgeous,” he coaxed and then wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, albeit a little stiffly. Sleeping for three days wasn’t conducive to flexibility. “The only thing that you could have done that would have failed me was run away the minute this started. But you didn’t, and now you’re still here. That’s all I want, darling. I’m not expecting you to be Superman. I still want you to be Aiden Lewis, my lover. I just need a little help now and again. You haven’t failed me and I’m glad you haven’t, because I love you and I don’t want to lose you.”
Aiden pressed his face against Pat’s neck, holding him carefully. “I love you too, and I… thought I was losing you. I thought you would be better off with someone who knew exactly how to keep you safe and it hurt. It really, really hurt.”
“No one can keep me any more safe than the next person. My body is my biggest enemy and no one has any control over it. This is my lot, darling. I’ve accepted it and I’ve come to know this is how it just is. You need to see this too. If you want to…” Pat kissed Aiden’s temple, enjoying the familiar warmth that Aiden had become against him over the weeks. He smelt really great, too. He always did.
“I do,” Aiden said without hesitation. “Whatever it takes, I’ll be there,” he promised.
Pat’s hand wove up under the back of Aiden’s shirt so he could cradle his back. “You’re amazing, darling,” he whispered. “Really amazing.”
Aiden lifted his head and pressed a small kiss against the corner of Pat’s lips. “Ditto,” he said with a soft smile. “Now I need to tell you the mess your BFF has gotten himself into for getting too adventurous with the shower water in Mexico…”
Pat glanced over at Lachlan. “This isn’t going to be nearly as kinky as that just sounded, is it?” he asked wryly.
“Not quite, but it didn’t end with him getting a camera up his butt,” Aiden said with a smirk, though it was sympathetic. Tara had assured them Lachlan would eventually laugh about this when he felt better. Despite it being scary and worrying right now, Lachlan did always have a tendency of getting himself into messes and climbing out of them with an eventual laugh.
“At least we get some butt action,” Pat said, matching Aiden’s soft smirk, though his eyes turned back to his friend in the other bed. “And he gets a break from his interesting case of Uberfuckitis.”
drcampbell and doctortara used with permission. pullmysteth referenced with permission.
Word Count | 1,767
| The Abyss
Co-written with sexyinscrubs
[Follows THIS]
Aiden was sprawled out in the visitor’s chair beside Pat’s bed; his head resting against the back of the chair, eyes closed, hand still clutched securely around Pat’s. Pat’s sedation had been stopped a good five hours previously, but still the usually bubbly nurse slept on. Aiden was determined to stay until Pat woke up, even if it was getting late now. He had only left the hospital when someone else was able to stay with his boyfriend. He realised he had too much of an anxiety that Pat was going to take a bad turn again and he just didn’t want him to be alone.
He was only lightly napping, though, probably looking highly unattractive in doing so. The chairs were fucking uncomfortable, so there was going to be no comfortable resting anyway. So when he felt a pressure around his fingers he shot up out of his seat immediately. “Pat?” he said softly, leaning close so he could be in Pat’s line of sight if he was waking. “It’s Aiden, love.” He started to stroke his fingers through Pat’s hair and exhaled heavily in relief when Pat’s blue eyes opened groggily and met his.
The other bed in the room was now occupied. After falling really ill earlier in the day, the ER had transferred Lachlan up to Pat’s room so their visitors could kill two birds with one stone. Riley got the ER doctor to pull some strings, and Lachlan was moved there about three hours earlier. He was in a bad way and had been repeatedly and violently sick for the first little while he was there. Aiden’s stomach was hurting just listening to him. There was also diarrhoea, an uncomfortable rash on his torso, and a sustained fever hanging at around 104 °F. He was miserable and had now taken to just lying on his side curled up in a sweaty ball, alternating between sleeping and throwing up into one of the sick bags he kept clutched against his chest. Tara hadn’t left his side, staying close at all times and mostly just softly rubbing his back or wiping his face with a cool cloth as he slept. Blood work and other pathology tests were taken and Riley’s suspicions were soon confirmed… Lachlan had become the victim of Typhoid Fever from drinking contaminated water in Mexico. He would remain sick and miserable for a few days while he was pumped full of strong antibiotics to kill the Typhoid bacteria, and then he would start to feel better. The nature of the disease had seen his symptoms coming and going in waves until it peaked with the fever reaching concerning heights. Once the antibiotics did their job, he would make a complete recovery. It was likely he had been more susceptible to infection due to the damage in his GI tract from the shooting, but either way, it was a relief to everyone that he was going to be okay. It seemed to come on suddenly, getting worse when the ailing Scot started to vomit blood in the ER. Thankfully he was started on the correct treatment ASAP and just needed to stick out the few miserable days before he would start to get back on his feet.
When Aiden shot out of his seat and spoke to try and catch his boyfriend’s attention, Lachlan opened his eyes just a little to look over at the other bed. Tara had turned in her seat too to make sure Pat was okay. “Shit…” Pat mumbled, wetting his dry lips. He closed his eyes again and turned his head just a little. “I did it again, didn’t I? Please tell me they didn’t put me in a green gown, darling…”
Aiden squeezed Pat’s hand, a relieved laugh escaping before he could stop it. He glanced up at Tara and Lachlan, seeing Lachlan close his eyes again without moving from the miserable ball he had taken refuge in now that he could see and hear his best friend was okay. Tara smiled encouragingly at Aiden and gave him a brief thumbs up before turning back to her ill husband. “No, it’s blue, beautiful,” Aiden confirmed and pulled his chair close so he could remain near Pat’s face. “I brought you some PJs, though. They said you could change into them when you woke up.”
Pat took a moment to analyse where his body was at. He ached all over and he gave his hand a tentative flex inside Aiden’s fingers. His head hurt and he felt extremely weak. He put his hand up to try and rub his eyes, but felt the telltale pull of the IV line near his wrist. He held his hand up and looked at it, eyes trailing alone the line to the IV pole. “Damnit,” he murmured, more irked than anything else that he had landed back in hospital. He looked back to Aiden. “Are you okay, darling? I’m sorry. I never expected it to happen so soon.”
“Shh, I’m fine,” Aiden said softly, even though it was a large stretch of the truth. “So, I had some freak outs but I had a lot of help to try and keep me from pissing myself,” he admitted and looked over at Tara again with a grateful smile.
Pat caught Aiden looking up and followed his gaze with a slow turn of his eyes. He needed to blink a few times to get his eyes to focus, then, “What the fuck?!” He tried to sit forward to see better. “Is that Lachie?”
Aiden held his hand against Pat’s shoulder. “You stay put, beautiful. You’ve been out for three days. You need to take it easy. You’ve broken your arm and you’ve got a mild concussion. Here, look at me, love. I’ll explain it all for you,” he urged, giving Pat’s hand a small tug to try and get is attention.
Pat wasn’t really paying much mind to his own health, though. He stared at Lachlan asleep in the other bed for a few lingering moments before reluctantly following Aiden’s request. When he looked back, he had a deep frown of confusion and concern on his tired features. “What’s going on? What’s happened?” he asked in a small voice. “Is this the ICU?”
Aiden shook his head. “No, love. Just a Medical Ward. Or ‘Med Ward’ as all you clinical types like to refer to it. Your doctor wanted to keep you asleep while the swelling from the knock to the head went down so it didn’t make you sicker. You slipped in the shower, love. Knocked your hand on the soap dish and cracked your arm on the tiles when you fell. I thought you would be okay… you told me you would be… you said you would only be quick. When I went to check on you, you’d passed out.” He stopped talking, needing to take a moment to keep his composure. He swallowed and bit his lip for a moment.
“Oh. No, darling. You can’t do this, okay? You can’t blame yourself. I knew this was going to happen. I was trying to do all I could to reassure you so you wouldn’t,” Pat said, speaking slowly as his tongue just seemed to want to stumble over the words, causing him to slur. He was used to it now. He was in the prime of an attack. He loosely threaded his fingers in with Aiden’s. “I’m just a walking accident when I’m getting sick. I can’t tell what functions I’m going to lose at any one time, it just happens. You couldn’t stop it, same as I can’t stop just because I think I might be getting sick. Okay?”
“Okay,” Aiden murmured. “I just… I don’t think I really could’ve been prepared for this. I tried, but as soon as I saw how sick and hurt you were, I lost it. I dropped the ball and I feel like I failed you.”
Pat pulled on Aiden’s hand to urge him up into a hug. “Come here, gorgeous,” he coaxed and then wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, albeit a little stiffly. Sleeping for three days wasn’t conducive to flexibility. “The only thing that you could have done that would have failed me was run away the minute this started. But you didn’t, and now you’re still here. That’s all I want, darling. I’m not expecting you to be Superman. I still want you to be Aiden Lewis, my lover. I just need a little help now and again. You haven’t failed me and I’m glad you haven’t, because I love you and I don’t want to lose you.”
Aiden pressed his face against Pat’s neck, holding him carefully. “I love you too, and I… thought I was losing you. I thought you would be better off with someone who knew exactly how to keep you safe and it hurt. It really, really hurt.”
“No one can keep me any more safe than the next person. My body is my biggest enemy and no one has any control over it. This is my lot, darling. I’ve accepted it and I’ve come to know this is how it just is. You need to see this too. If you want to…” Pat kissed Aiden’s temple, enjoying the familiar warmth that Aiden had become against him over the weeks. He smelt really great, too. He always did.
“I do,” Aiden said without hesitation. “Whatever it takes, I’ll be there,” he promised.
Pat’s hand wove up under the back of Aiden’s shirt so he could cradle his back. “You’re amazing, darling,” he whispered. “Really amazing.”
Aiden lifted his head and pressed a small kiss against the corner of Pat’s lips. “Ditto,” he said with a soft smile. “Now I need to tell you the mess your BFF has gotten himself into for getting too adventurous with the shower water in Mexico…”
Pat glanced over at Lachlan. “This isn’t going to be nearly as kinky as that just sounded, is it?” he asked wryly.
“Not quite, but it didn’t end with him getting a camera up his butt,” Aiden said with a smirk, though it was sympathetic. Tara had assured them Lachlan would eventually laugh about this when he felt better. Despite it being scary and worrying right now, Lachlan did always have a tendency of getting himself into messes and climbing out of them with an eventual laugh.
“At least we get some butt action,” Pat said, matching Aiden’s soft smirk, though his eyes turned back to his friend in the other bed. “And he gets a break from his interesting case of Uberfuckitis.”
drcampbell and doctortara used with permission. pullmysteth referenced with permission.
Word Count | 1,767