Let me take care of you

Visitors

Charlie sat up on his bed and smiled weakly, any moment now his parents were going to walk in and see him. Apparently they had come to see him before after he woke up but he was asleep, so he couldn't wait to see them. He was told by the doctors that the time he was passed out was nearly three days, which left him in shock. He expected to be out for at most a day, but he guessed that the blood loss must have been much more severe than he had assumed.

He took a couple of deep breaths as he waited, he had already had two panic attacks since the morning began, one as soon as he woke up, and one while he was being handed breakfast. He didn't want his parents to worry, they were already dealing with enough.

The doctor came into the room, a kind smile on his face. This was a different doctor than his original, Doctor Harris and he was much kinder, he was also quite funny, he always had a calming smile on his face that would make you want to smile back.
"Charlie, your parents are waiting outside, they've just arrived. Are you ready to see them?" Doctor Harris knew what happened to Charlie, in full detail, and he knew that the amount of trauma Charlie was in would make it harder for him to deal with human connection as easily as before.

Charlie took on more deep breath, looked up at Doctor Harris and gave him a thumbs up, a small smile on his face. Doctor Harris left the room for a couple of minutes, leaving Charlie to keep his composure and keep a smile on his face. After a little while Doctor Harris came in, followed by his parents, his little brother Oliver, and Tori. Right before Doctor Harris let them through though, he made sure to remind them,
"Make sure you are careful with what you say. It's clear Charlie has not recovered from the incident, if you say something involving the incident it might set off a panic attack." He explained. His parents nodded professionally, as if they were trying to keep their cool. Doctor Harris nodded one more time before leaving them, exiting the room and giving Charlie one more encouraging smirk.

As soon as he left, bearly out the doorway, his parents rushed towards Charlie's bed. His mother wrapped him in a hug, which he gladly returned, squeezing her tight. She sobbed,
"Charlie! Your alright! You had no idea how worried we were, I haven't been able to sleep knowing you were here, knowing you weren't with me." She held him close, crying into his shoulder. He nodded, burying his face in her shoulder. Soon his dad rubbed Charlie's mother's back,
"Now dear, let the boy breathe." He said, in a calm tone. She looked at him and stopped hugging Charlie, chuckling and wiping her tears away. Charlie's dad smiled at him and gave him a hug aswell,
"My boy, I knew you were strong." He said, patting him in the back lightly.

Charlie smiled and nodded, his voice was still sore, not as bad as yesterday, healing slowly the doctors said, so he was still advised not to use it much. Next Oliver was hugging him. He got up on his bed and wrapped his arms around him, he was also crying,
"Charlie! I missed you so much!" Oliver said, burying his head into Charlie's neck and making him wince slightly as he was leaning on his shoulder.
"Missed you too buddy." Charlie replied in a weak tone, his voice was small and scratchy. His father smiled and pulled Oliver off of Charlie, holding him in his arms. Tori looked at him for a moment, she smiled, quickly looking away though and not saying anything. Charlie sighed, he knew this was hard on her.

Oliver sat at Charlie's legs, Charlie's dad was sat down with an arm on Oliver's shoulder. His mother sat opposite his dad and Tori stood in the corner of his bed. His mother told him what he had missed, all of the cards he got, the amount of check ups from all of his friends, all of the gifts sent to him. It was hard to keep up. She told him how quiet the house was, how quiet the neighborhood was without him, those two days felt like two years to his family. Charlie just listened, nodding and smiling when he needed too. It was alot to take in, knowing something terrible happened, and how hard it would be to move on from that. But at the same time, it could have been so much worse, he was incredibly lucky to be surrounded by the people he loved, alive.

His family stayed with him for a good two hours, just talking about life, how lucky he was, but not bringing up what happened. Charlie even chuckled and giggled a couple of times, regardless of the slight pain in his throat, he just wanted to let his family know he was okay. The entire time Tori just stayed quiet, nodded and smiled a couple of times, but she was mostly just looking away and hiding away in her hoodie.

Charlie's mum was in the middle of talking, she looked down at her watch and sighed in the middle of her conversation,
"Oh! I'm so sorry me dear but we need to leave now... We've got plans with work. I'll come see you tomorrow darling I promise." She said, upset to be leaving. Charlie held his arms out for his mother,
"It's fine mum, really." His mum hugged him once more, squeezing him tight once more. He smiled at her, he hugged and kissed his little brother on the forehead, he fist bumped his father and he just smiled kindly at Tori.

His mum wiped away a tear from her eye and smiled sadly, he knew how hard this was on her. She left the room first, it was best before she burst into sobs. His dad said goodbye once more and led his little brother out the room. Only him and Tori remained in the room.

He smiled at her once more, she just stared blankly at him. Her face had no expression, they stood there for a moment, Tori with her hands in her pockets. After a moment her face changed, her face scrunched up into some sort of frown. Charlie's eyes widened, she went up to him quickly and wrapped her arms around him, saying nothing. Charlie hugged back, surprised at the sudden gesture, he held her aswell, it had been a while since they hugged. After a moment he heard a sniff, he had never heard Tori cry before, she was always so, expressionless.

She took a deep breath,
"I wouldn't have known what to do if you were gone. I... I had to watch mum and dad cry, the shouted alot, I don't know about what. I held Oliver, he cried all night in my arms. I just... I didn't know how we would manage without you." Tori said, she didn't stop holding him as she spoke. Charlie didn't know what to say, he knew it was hard for them, but they didn't actually think he was going to die, right?

"Well... I'm okay. I'm strong, like dad said. And I'm not going anywhere." Charlie said, in a soft tone. Tori calmed down, she breathed slowly, her breath was warm against his neck, it comforted him. After a little while she pulled away again. She wiped her eyes, smiling slightly,
"I've just missed you, I know it wasn't long, but I'm glad your awake." She said, in a soft tone. Charlie nodded, he smiled at her again,
"See you tommorow Tori." He said, as she made her way towards the door. She smiled and nodded, right before she left the ward she looked back,
"Oh yeah. Nick told me to tell you that he's coming to see you tommorow, with the others, so be ready." She said, waving at him one more time before disappearing again like she normally does.

Charlie sighed happily, on one hand he couldn't wait to see Nick again. But on the other he didn't want to see how worried they had all been about him. He just wanted to see Nick again.