Lost to Lovely

Chapter 10

"When you're sad, you're not sad. You are merely oblivious to the good things in your life. There is always a crack of light in the darkness. Find it." 

-Dianna Agron

Theo awoke to the stifling smell of antiseptic and clean linen. He blinked groggily, finding that one eye wouldn't open. He became aware of the IVs hooked up to his arms, and the heart monitor beeping steadily beside him. The EKG spiked as his heart sped up in panic. How'd he get in the hospital? 

His middle section was bandaged, preventing very much movement. He was in a numb, loopy, med induced state of mind. Wavering from fully aware of things, to not registering anything at all. The IV drip must be filled with something, but nothing as strong as Morphine. 

He was just fading back into sleep when someone knocked on the door. He had a delayed reaction, and said, "Come in." after they had already came in and were standing by his bedside. 

"So you're awake, huh?" An older sounding voice said. Theo opened his good eye curiously, looking the older woman over. She was in a nursing scrub, a name pin attached to the front that read 'Linda.' She was short, and had gray hair that was pinned back into a bun. She was smiling warmly, revealing smile lines from years of tedious laughter and smiles. "Your friends have been worried."

Theo's brow crinkled in confusion. Friends? Friends.....Oh, yes. That's right. The two blondes. What were their names? He groped around his muddled mind for the right information. Jacques and Marcie. That sounded right. The nurse noticed his confusion, patting him on the shoulder. "You might have trouble remembering things for a bit. The medication mixed with your accident equals the perfect equation for memory loss," she reassured. He nodded numbly, biting his cheek as he thought.

Linda went on to write down all his statistics on a clipboard, while Theo mulled things over. He slowly began to remember Jacques and Marcie, all the memories of the previous days flooding back at a snails pace. But he couldn't remember anything that would have landed him here.

His heart rate jumped again, making Linda give him a worried look. "Something wrong, honey?" She asked, grabbing a paper cup from the sink and filling it with water. She brought it over to him and he drank it gratefully. Between drinks he asked, "Where's Jacques?"

She gave another heart warming smile. "He's just outside. Been out there for a full three days. He wouldn't leave your bedside, we had to drag him out just so he'd eat. The doctor was just in here checking up, that's why he's outside now. The girl went out for something, not sure what though. I'll call him in if you want," she explained, making Theo's eyes widen. He'd waited at his bedside for him to wake up? 

"Y-yea. Call him in," he stuttered, and the nurse ducked out of the room. He could here soft murmurs, a chair squeak loudly, and then the door opened again. Jacques was soon at his side, relief scribbled all over his face.

"You're okay," Jacques said in a breathy exhale. "How do you feel?" 

"Better than ever." Theo gave him a weak smile. Man, did his face hurt. 

"You're okay.." Jacques repeated, almost as if he didn't believe it. Tears threatened to brim over, making his eyes glassy. One tear rolled down his cheek. Theo's face crinkled in confusion, and he raised his hand and wiped the tear away. "Hey, hey. I'm okay, see? No tears." Theo smiled goofily, waving his hands as if to prove that he was awake, he existed. 

Jacques held back the waterworks, for Theo's sake. He pulled up a chair, sitting down and grabbing Theo's hand. He squeezed it tight, giving a sad yet happy smile. "I thought I'd lost you." His eyes were filled with sorrow.

"Well, you didn't," Theo said surely, squeezing Jacques' hand in return. The rest of their conversation was filled with goofy, relieved smiles, loopy med induced hallucinations, and happy tears. "Jacques, what exactly happened?" Theo dared to ask.

Jacques hesitated for a second, trying to find the right way to say it. "It had been a while since you had left to explore, and Marcie and I had started to worry. So we went to look for you. I found you wedged between two trashcans, bloody, beaten, and unconscious. We rushed you to the nearest hospital. Which was the next town away. Luckily, a woman gave us a ride once she saw your condition. We don't know what happened," he explained, voice slowly dwindling to a whisper. 

"I don't remember what happened." 

"We figured you wouldn't. But it looked like you were beaten up." Jacques bit his lip, partly in anger and partly in worry. 

"What injuries do I have, exactly?" Theo asked curiously.

"A few broken ribs, luckily no internal bleeding. Some really bad scrapes and bruises, a bloody nose and a black eye," Jacques listed off grimly.

"Well that explains a lot." Theo chuckled dryly. "Like why it hurts like a bitch when I breathe, even on these meds." He clicked his tongue. "Next question."

"Fire away."

"Did you really stay at my bedside all that time?"

"Every. Damn. Minute." Jacques smiled. Theo grinned, and was about to ask Jacques where in the world Marcie was, but Linda wheeled in a cart. The mouth watering smell of food wafted from it, making Theo's stomach rumble. 

"I brought both of you some lunch. And, Jacques, be glad I didn't make you get up and go down to the caf again." She smiled sweetly, laughing. Jacques returned the smile, thanking her for the food. "I'll leave you two to your meal. The doctor should be in shortly to check up on you," she informed before she sauntered off. 

Jacques got up and grabbed the plates off the cart. He sat one gently down on Theo's lap, putting his drink on the pull out tray attached to his bed. "They have great food here, despite it being a hospital," Jacques murmured around a mouthful of french fries.

"She gave me mashed potatoes, green beans, and what looks like steak?" Theo cocked his head to the side.

"You haven't eaten anything for three days. Gotta get something in ya," Jacques mused as Theo tried his mashed potatoes. His eyes widened, genuinely surprised at how great they were. In a few minutes they had polished off their food, just as the doctor came in. He nodded at what he saw.

"Good, good. You're awake and well," he observed, taking notes on another clipboard. "We'd like to keep you for observation for a couple more days, just to give your ribs some time to heal and you time to get your strength back." He tinkered around with a few of the machines, lowering the dosage of medicine going through the drip. He nodded at them again, exiting the room.

Theo and Jacques spent the rest of the day flipping through the crappy television channels on the TV mounted on the wall. They watched the last few minutes of The Exorcist, giggling at the obviously fake special effects. After it was over, their eyes were glued to the screen as Titanic came on. A few tears and a pint of requested ice cream later, Theo was struggling to keep his eyes open.

"'Mm sleepy." He murred through a pillow.

"Then go to bed," Jacques said simply.

"Promise you won't leave?"

"I swear," Jacques replied seriously. Theo smiled into the pillow, slowly drifting off. Just when Jacques thought he was asleep, Theo's head popped up.

"Jacques, I'm cold," he stated.

"I can call the nurse to get another blanket." He looked at the button that called the small old woman.

"Nooo," Theo whined, obviously loopy with sleep and meds. He patted the spot beside him. "You gettup here." Jacques was about to protest, when Theo gave him the most pitiful sad kitten eyes. He sighed heavily, crawling into the small bed. He wrapped his arms around Theo's midsection delicately. The cat-boy purred softly, startling Jacques. He didn't know cat-hybrids could purr.

"Hey, Theo," Jacques whispered.

"Mm?" The shorter boy grunted.

"I'm really glad you're okay." He smiled.

"I'm really glad you're here," Theo replied, lulling off to sleep.