My Choice (Third in the "Baby Brother Series)

Fifteen

(TW: mentions of suicide and alcoholism; medical emergencies)

Andy had fallen asleep at Bill's side, his head resting on his boyfriend's hand. Miley had been chatting with his doctor outside, keeping Tom on the phone so he'd hear the updates. He still deserved to know what was happening to his little brother.

"We're going to have to try a new medication. It appears this one isn't helping the tonic clonic seizures at all," she frowned. "I'm going to do a bit of research and see what we can do."

"A new medication? Okay, last year the meds he was on had him sleeping 18 out of 24hrs. Last month, he couldn't eat a thing without vomiting everywhere. Can you promise me that he won't die this time?"

"Bill's case is challenging, Ms. Cyrus. Since his brain stem is mostly scar tissue and didn't heal properly we have to find something that manages the inflammation that's causing most if not all of these attacks. "

"And you can't surgically fix the problem either?"

"No, cutting into his injury, he'd bleed out on the table or end up a vegetable. The best we can do is try and remedy the problem."

"Okay. What are we to do now? Just wait until you figure it out?"

"I want to keep him here. Monitor how the medication is working and make sure he's stable on it before we send him home."

"Billy hates hospitals," Miley frowned. "Is there a way we can make him at least comfortable?"

"The neurology wing has private rooms, we can move him to one of those while we figure this out. Bill's case is a challenging one but we won't rest until he's able to be in remission."

"Fine. I'll tell him when he wakes up."

She looked down at her phone and noticed that Tom's face was screwed up, he was biting his cheeks and trying to avoid barking at the doctor for failing his brother again. He saw the look on her face and immediately knew what she was going to say. Instead of allowing it, Tom took a deep breath and hung up the phone.

"Is his brother going to come soon?" The kind neurologist asked.

"I don't know. But I don't think so. I'm also his legal guardian. I have the paperwork in the car if you need to confirm."

"No we have you on file. It's just, Tom is usually on top of everything so it's strange to not have him breathing down my neck or threatening to kill me," she chuckled.

"He may come later. I'll keep him updated. He's upset that he can't be here today. Billy means the world to him."

"I know. You should've seen him 3 years ago. My colleague thought he was hurting his brother because of how aggressive he was."

"I wish Tom could hear you say that. He might...Nevermind. Thank you, so much."

"I'll go submit these documents and then I'll come check on Bill," she smiled, disappearing around the corner.

Miley had to breathe before stepping back into Bill's room. He looked peaceful sleeping soundly while Andy rested on the side next to his hand. She noticed that Andy pushed back the blanket because of the scratchy material and was gently rubbing the clear space on his hand.

The silence was broken by the steady beeping coming from the many machines monitoring his life functions. Tom should've been here, he needed to be here. She wanted to call him and tell him to bring his ass to the hospital to be with his brother but she knew better. She knew that wasn't going to be good for anyone involved. Tom still needed his space and she knew that from him quite literally running away from the fire.