The Balavans

Chapter 5: Home

I woke up to the sound of beeping, frowning confused. Where was I? This wasn't the cell, nor was it home, so where was I?

"Pax?" Dominic's voice asked hopefully and I groaned, feeling stiff as I moved my head to the direction of his voice. "Bear?" I asked, my voice extremely hoarse. "Oh thank gods, you're awake, you want some water?" He asked, relief colouring his words and I nodded, carefully opening my eyes and discovering I was in a hospital.

He carefully held a straw to my lips and I quickly sipped at the water, feeling relieved as the liquid soothed my sore throat. "What happened?" I asked, unable to remember much after finding Jesse, Keene and Denley.

"We were escaping, like we'd planned, and Cox tried to stab me. You, for some bloody reason, decided to push me out of the way and take it instead. You've been in a week long coma partially from blood loss and partially from medicinal reasons. How are your legs?" he asked, concern shining in his eyes.

I frowned in confusion and said, "What do you- wait. Nic, why can't I feel my legs?" I grew scared as I realised I couldn't feel anything below my waist, no matter how much I tried to move them. I started shaking and he quickly took my hand, pressing a kiss to my knuckles.

"Pax, the knife scraped your spinal cord and the doctors don't know if you'll be permanently paralysed or not, but please, don't panic, we can make it through this," he begged and tears filled my eyes.

"How am I supposed to protect you if I can barely function by myself? I won't be any help to you, I'll just be in the way," I whispered and he kissed my fingers. "You're never in the way darling, and you don't always need to protect me. I'm 25, and my ability thanks to you is much stronger than ever," he said softly and I sighed, squeezing his fingers.

A doctor walked in and smiled as he saw that I was awake. "Mr. Levitt, it's nice to see you in the waking world once again, how are you feeling?" he asked and I rolled my eyes, quickly wiping them.

"I feel fine, minus the fact that I can't feel anything below my waist," I said sarcastically, not caring at the moment that it was rude. I was paralysed, I was allowed to be rude.

He nodded, seemingly unaffected by my tone. "Yes, unfortunately we don't have the medicines or the scientific advancement to fix that, but we do have scientists working on trying to find a way to heal paralysis. For now, you will unfortunately be in a wheelchair," he said and I sighed, unhappy with that fact.

"You seem to be recovering quite well from the blood loss, though, and I think after one more night here tonight, you can go home in the morning," he said and I pushed myself up, wincing as my back ached.

"No! I'm not staying another night here, I've spent three months in a cell, I just want to go home, can't a nurse or someone just come check on me in the morning? I'm fine!" I protested and he studied me for a second, probably seeing the horror and pleading in my expression.

"I guess I can send a nurse to check on you early in the morning, but if anything happens tonight you will have to come back and stay here for a few days, for observation," he said finally and I nodded quickly, eager to just get back to my bed.

He signed a piece of paper and said, "You'll be allowed to leave in about an hour, so we can check your vitals and make sure the medications you'll need are ready. Mr. Hanford, why don't you go find some clothes for Mr. Levitt, and come back so he can change into something more comfortable."

Dominic hesitated but nodded, leaning down to kiss my forehead before saying, "I'll be back in no more than a half hour. Thankfully, B- Percy and Conell brought all of us to London, almost everyone is in here for malnourishment or some kind of injury we didn't have the ability to heal while we were there."