Why the Straight One? - Chapter 56: Chapter 56

I was awoken by a pain so intense I couldn't breath. My stomach felt like it was on fire, shards of pain shooting through my body from the point of injury. I think I must have cried out in pain, because Thomas woke up immediately.
"What's wrong, Alex?" His voice was deeper from sleep, his touch light on my arm. It was all I could do to keep from screaming again, so I kept my mouth tightly shut, and just held onto my stomach with my hands.
It tool him a few moments to shake the sleep away, but he seemed to understand fairly quickly what was wrong.
"Alex, I'm going to get a doctor." He spoke slowly, one hand covering mine, and the other brushing the hair from my sweaty forehead.
Still not trusting my voice, I nodded, but clutched at his hand when he started to pull away. This pain was bad enough with his touch to ground me. I didn't want to be left alone for however long it took to find a nurse or doctor.
"I'll be right back." He tried to pull his hand out of mine, and I whimpered. He looked between my face and our hands, and I knew he was trying to make a decision.
"We need someone to give you your medicine. I swear I'll be back as soon as I can." He pulled his hand away harder this time, and it slipped easily out of my own weakened hands.
He was almost to the door, when he turned back to look at me.
"I'll be right back, baby." Then the door shut and I let my tears fall. The pain was unrelenting, and I no longer had Thomas' voice as a distraction.
I closed my eyes and tried to focus on something besides the pain. How it felt to fall asleep with Thomas being the one clinging to me. The look in his eyes and the sound of his voice when he called me babe or baby. I can't believe he called me that so often now.
I didn't hear the door open, or the sound of voices. Nothing really registered until I felt Thomas slip into bed beside me, his voice close to my ear.
"You're doing so good, baby. Only a few more minutes now."
I think I nodded, because I felt the tears slip from between my closed eyes. Thomas quickly wiped them away, kissing my forehead gently.
Someone was moving around to the right of me, and it must have been a few minutes later when I felt the pain start to subside. I could feel the tightness of my jaw and face start to relax, Thomas' steady breaths and gentle caresses helping me control my own breathing.
The doctor or nurse left after telling Thomas a few things, and I sighed when I finally heard the door close, turning my head to rest on Thomas' forearm he was using to hold himself up. I opened my eyes for the first time since he left, and look up into his concerned brown eyes.
"No amount of being taken care of is worth that."
He smiled softly, just looking down at me for a few moments before answering.
"I'm sorry you have to go through this."
"Well, the way I see it, there's nothing really for you to be sorry about. I mean, unless you like told Jasper to stab me or something."
"Alex." He was shaking his head, leaning closer to kiss me ever so softly.
"What?" I whispered against his mouth.
"You talk a lot."
"You know you love it."
"I wouldn't have it any other way. I can't even imagine if—"
"Stop." I brought my finger up to his mouth to silence him, and he smiled down at me. "You're kind of depressing, you know that?"
"Well, in my defense, it's been a little depressing these last few days."
"I know. Look, Thomas, when I didn't listen. I was just being an idiot. Well, I was really just trying to do the opposite of what you said. I'm sorry. I'm sorry it was almost so much worse."
"It doesn't matter anymore. You're alive, and that's all that matters."
He leaned closer to me, connecting our lips in a gentle kiss. I could feel his emotions through it, however chaste it was. His anxiety and fears, and finally his relief that this hadn't ended the way he thought it might. I hoped he could feel mine as well. I wanted him to know how grateful I was to him, how much I loved him back.
"Are you putting a spell on me? I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes open."
He laughed, running a hand through my hair. The way he did it was so delicate. He would run his hand through, then play with the ends of it almost absentmindedly.
"I think that's the pain medication, love. They said it would make you very drowsy. I'm kind of just waiting for you to fall asleep."
"That's cute." His eyebrows wrinkled in confusion.
"What's cute?"
"When you call me 'love' or 'babe'. It's cute." I leaned my head against his arm again, feeling my eyes getting heavier. "I like it."
"Then expect me to call you that a lot more from now on." I smiled, keeping my eyes closed.
"How's your stomach now?" His fingers still played with the ends of my hair, somehow adding to my drowsiness.
"I don't really feel it anymore." I yawned halfway through my sentence, sleep coming a lot faster than I expected.
"That's good. The doctor said we might be able to move you in a few days. We should go to the estate. Do you like that plan?"
I nodded, and I felt him start to shift so that he was laying next to me, instead of being propped over me from the side. He moved his arm from near my face, but kept on hand in my hair.
"Don't stop talking." His voice was calming, reassuring. I wanted to fall asleep to it, not silence.
"I was thinking this would be perfect time to start reading The Count Of Monte Cristo. I did promise to read it, and you have a lot of time on your hands."
I smiled as he pulled my head closer to his chest. I buried my face there, trying to pick out the steady pulse of his heart.
"And then since you'll sort of be stuck at the estate for so long, maybe once you are getting around a bit, you can help me redecorate. Because it's just as much yours as mine now, and it really needs some help. I'm sure you'd be able to make it much better than I have it. I mean, I saw you decorate that Christmas tree. You were definitely cut out for interior design.
I liked spending time with your family. Maybe we should go visit your dad sometime. But just your dad. To be honest, I don't think your mom likes me at all."
He continued to just talk about random things, until finally I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, and I fell asleep to the sound of his voice.
————————
"Jay and Cam!"
I must have had a dream about my best friends or something, because the first thing that came to mind when I woke up was their names. Thomas blinked, raising his head slightly from where it was resting on my shoulder.
"What?"
"Jay and Cam." I repeated, and his eyebrows drew together in confusion. It was probably one of the most adorable faces he has ever made, sleep causing all of his reactions to be slower.
"What about them?"
"They don't know what happened to me." I gestured to my stomach and understanding dawned in Thomas' eyes.
"You could call them."
"That's so odd to just say. I don't want them to worry."
He nodded, rolling onto his stomach so that we were laying side by side, him facing me.
"Do you want them to visit?"
"I do, but I don't know what Jonathan would think of that. Seems like he has a lot to deal with. And I want to move to the estate as soon as we can."
"Just a few more days if you keep healing as quickly as you are."
"I want to call Elliot too. I need to know how he is doing. I feel like I've been out of things for so long."
"Well, you kind of have been. Why don't you call Raymond? He can fill you in and maybe give the phone to Elliot if he is ready for a call. And instead of calling Jay and Cam, is you really don't want to, you can have him invite them to the estate. I'm sure they'd go, and you can tell them there."
"You're talking so much these last few days."
"Shut up." He nudged my shoulder gently, and it was beautiful to see how changed he was, even in the last few months. He was open, playful even, and so different from the Thomas I married. it was like I was seeing a wholes new side of him. A side that clung to me, and called me pet names whenever he could.
He held out my phone to me, looking at my strangely while he did so. Probably wondering why I was staring at him the way I was.
Raymond answered almost immediately.
"Alex! Is that you? Holy shit you gave us all such a scare!" I had him on speaker, and Thomas grinned at me as Raymond spoke, probably happy that someone was saying exactly what he was feeling.
"Yes, it's me. Sorry about that, but I'm on the mend now."
"Well, that's good to here. Cole here was being the depressing ass that he is and saying that he knew things would turn out this way and that you were probably going to die. You're such an ass, Cole!"
He shouted the last sentence, and I faintly heard Cole saying something along the lines of 'what did I do now?'.
"So, how are you feeling? Is Thomas behaving well? And is he eating and sleeping?"
"I'm getting there. I'm so tired though. All the time. Thomas is behaving wonderfully, and I know he's sleeping but I don't know about eating." I looked over at Thomas who rolled his eyes.
"Yes, mom, I've been eating my meals."
"That's quite enough scorn from you, young man. I'm only looking after your well being. We wouldn't want Alex's personal attendant getting all weak from lack of food or sleep."
"You can call me what you want, Raymond. Alex is alive so I'll be whatever I have to be to spend time with him." He smiled up at me, and I couldn't contain the grin that I'm sure covered my face.
"That's so cute I'm think I'm going to die. Cole, they're being all couply and cute over here."
I distinctly heard a 'gross' this time, and Raymond reproving Cole whole invisibly trying to cover the phone with his hand. It didn't work too well.
"Ray?" I wanted to get to what I had called about, but I was nervous to ask. He hasn't brought up Elliot once, which could be good or bad.
"Hmm?" He stopped reprimanding Cole, and turned his attention back to our conversation.
"How is Elliot?"
He didn't answer for a few seconds, and I was about to say his name again, when I heard him sigh.
"I thought that's why you called. It's hard to tell right now, Alex. He's...he's not the same."
"That was to be expected." Thomas voice was quiet, but I knew Raymond could hear him too. "But how is he different? And is he letting Alan near him?"
"That the thing. At first he was. Like, the first day he kept wanting to be near him and be sure that he was back with him, but every day he seems to get worse. He's like, sinking back in on himself, and it's...it's so hard to watch. He's pushing Alan away. Well, everyone, but especially Alan. He won't let him touch him anymore. And he has pretty intense mood swings. He's can get really angry, and it's hard to know what to do because we don't want to trigger anything. When are you coming back? We need you two."
"Soon. As soon as we can." Thomas tried to reassure him, but he looked troubled. "Has he been triggered by anything yet?"
"Well, the first day he came back, they had to do a lot of tests. For evidence against Jasper." His voice suddenly became harder, almost aggressive, and I could tell Thomas' protective instincts were aroused.
"What kind of evidence did they find?"
"Some of it they expected. I mean...I think we all knew that he had been...raped...the whole time he was there. But some of it...Thomas, I—I can't say all of this over the phone. Come see him for yourself. I'll talk to you here about it."
Thomas agreed and I ended the call, looking over to meet his grim eyes.
"We are going home as soon as we can, but not if it's going to make you any worse. Don't worry, we'll see Elliot soon."