Brian woke back up in the ambulance on his way to the hospital. All he really felt was embarrassment for passing out. They had an oxygen mask over his face and someone was trying to clean and unwrap AJ’s makeshift bandages. When they pulled it away from the skin, Brian made a small sound of protest. One of the paramedics heard him and moved to sit by his head, smiling. She was a middle aged looking woman, probably close to fifty, with the start of salt and pepper hair. Her eyes were kind. That was something that stuck with Brian. The woman had very kind eyes, and a warm smile. “Welcome back to us, Mr. Littrell.”
There was another sound, followed by a warm hand taking hold of his good one. That strong grip was familiar. Brian looked down and saw Kevin sitting there on his good side with the friendly nurse. “Hey, cos. Good to see those eyes of yours again.” Kevin managed to say.
The bandage stuck to his arm again and had Brian throwing his head back and squeezing his eyes shut. He brought a hand up to pull at the oxygen mask. “How bad is it?” he asked, looking at his arm. That friendly nurse brushed the hair off his forehead and slid the mask back on his face. “You inhaled a lot of smoke on that bus, so we need you to keep the mask on, all right sweetheart?” She didn’t pause to let him answer her. “Your arm will need stitches, and you most likely have a concussion. You should be in and out pretty quickly.”
Brian rolled his head to look at Kevin. “AJ.” He asked through the mask. The look on Kevin’s face had his stomach clenching.
“I don’t know, Bri. He’d passed out too. They were trying to stop the bleeding on his leg. Howie and Nick are with him. Howie’s in the back, Nick in the front. We’ll all meet at the hospital. I’m sure he’s going to be fine, though. It just looked like a cut on his leg.”
With a small cough Brian laid his head back down and closed his eyes. He stayed like that the whole ride to the hospital.
When he arrived they had to wheel him in to the ER and back to the triage room. They had him sitting up in a bed, his arm stretched out and strapped down for them to sew, when AJ was wheeled in. It was obvious that he was awake now, and driving everyone around him crazy. Howie was walking alongside the bed, trying ineffectively to calm AJ down from whatever was agitating him. “Please, AJ, let them do their job!" Howie begged.
Relief had Brian almost sagging into his bed. He raised his voice to carry across the room despite the scratchiness of his throat. “You raising hell over there, Alex?”
Instantly AJ was turning in his bed as they started to park him across the room. The nurses disappeared for a minute, and AJ made to swing his legs off the bed. Howie had to reach an arm out to stop him. “What do you think you’re doing?” Howie demanded.
AJ’s eyes locked on Brian. “I’m going down there.”
“The hell you are, J! Get in your bed!”
“Then wheel my bed down there, D. One way or another I’m going down there!”
The nurse who was working on Brian’s arm looked up at him with a grin and a wink and turned her attention down to the ongoing argument. “Go ahead and roll him down this way, I’m almost done with Mr. Littrell and then I’ll start on Mr. McLean.” She said with a grin.
Satisfied that he was going to get his way, AJ laid back in his bed, pressing the button to raise the back side of it. He grinned the whole way over. When Howie got him parked right next to Brian, the two smiled widely at one another. “Hey Rok.”
Brian looked at AJ lying there and found his smile fading. There was soot and dirt all over AJ’s skin, along with the blood that had yet to be washed off. There was still blood down the side of his face and along his shoulder and chest where it had dripped from his head. Now that it had stopped Brian could see the cut that was close to AJ’s left temple. What his eyes were drawn to though was the leg that was propped up on pillows. A long gauze pad was taped down over the length of the cut, though it was already starting to stain red. Nowhere near as much as it had been before.
While Brian looked AJ over, AJ was checking Brian out as well. There were various cuts and bruises, but none were looking too serious. It was Brian’s arm that had him worried, and any damage the smoke had done. The sight of the needle going in and out of Brian’s skin had AJ shuddering and feeling light headed, but he forced himself to look, to see how bad the cut on Brian’s arm was. Already they had wrapped and splinted Brian’s wrist with a short splint. Luckily the cut on Brian’s forearm was high up enough that the two bandages wouldn’t rub against one another.
“There!” The nurse announced as she tied off and then snipped her thread. She wrapped a new bandage around the cut, hiding it from sight. Once that was done, she put his arm in a professional sling so that he wouldn’t use his wrist or hit his stitches. “Now, make sure to change the dressing daily, and give it some time to air out.” She gave a few more instructions that Brian wasn’t really paying any attention to. Medics had removed Howie from the room by then, not wanting anyone in triage that didn’t need to be there. He had joined Kevin and Nick in the waiting room.
Brian swung his legs over the edge of the bed, watching as the nurse went to AJ’s side and started to look him over. She grabbed a rag, wiping off his face and chest, checking the wounds as she went. “Ok, well, the between looks fine.” She said with a grin for him. “But the head and the leg both need stitches. I’ll be right back with the supplies, and someone to help me clean your leg up first.”
With that she darted away before AJ could even lodge a protest. Brian could see that he wanted to. The thought made him grin. Imagine, their tattooed freak, scared of a little needle! “It’s just some quick stitches, J. They’ll probably give you a local for your leg.”
“Still a needle sewing up my head and my leg, Bri.”
“I can’t believe you’re scared of something like that. It’s just a needle. You probably won’t feel the one in your leg. The one for you head won’t be that bad either.”
“Easy for you to say! I just want to go home already.”
Mention of home had both of them quieting down. It was Brian who broke that uncomfortable silence. “I don’t want to think it, but I’m terrified that we’ll find out someone tampered with the brakes. I’m scared I know who it is.”
The look AJ gave him didn’t show any surprise, but did have anger in it. “You and I both, baby. If I ever lay hands on him again, I swear to God, his ass is mine.”
Any further comments were cut off by the return of their nurse, Nurse Chancer, and one of her co-workers who introduced herself as Nurse Taylor. The new one was younger, while the first nurse was close to the age of the female medic that had been in the ambulance with Brian.
“Well” Nurse Chancer declared. “Your head isn’t bleeding, so let’s take care of this leg first, shall we?”
Brian hopped down from his bed, only a little tender in his muscles. He quickly moved close to AJ, taking the side the nurses weren’t on. Without a qualm he reached out and took hold of AJ’s free hand. “I got you, Alex.” He said softly. AJ’s eyes locked on to his, and in them Brian could see that this fear he had was real, and it was strong. AJ didn’t bother to hide his panic. “Don’t go away, ok?” he begged him.
The way that AJ was looking at him floored him. Here was the proof he was looking for. In that instant Brian could clearly see the ‘James’ that was usually pushed underneath the ‘AJ’ persona. They weren’t separate people. One was a part of the other. Together, they made a whole. Brian knew that he cared for both parts of him. Together, James and AJ made up the Alex that he so loved. That, he couldn’t deny anymore. What he felt for his Alex was nothing like what he had felt for Dave, or anyone else for that matter. This went above and beyond the brotherly love they’d had at one point, or any kind of friendship love. This was the real deal. “I’ll stay right here.” He promised softly.
The elderly nurse was smiling as she worked, but the younger girl gave them a funny look, pausing as she cleaned dirt from the gash in AJ’s leg. Brian caught her staring and found himself glaring slightly at her. With a blush she went back to work. Nurse Chancer looked up and gave Brian a wink.
AJ did fine until they pulled the needle out for the local. Any color he had gained slid right back out of him and his grip on Brian’s hand tightened.
“Don’t look at it.” Brian suggested.
Instantly AJ’s eye snapped shut. While Nurse Chancer put the local in, Nurse Taylor looked from Brian to AJ, then down at the needle and back at AJ’s face. “You’re scared of needles?” she asked in disbelief. “But you’re covered in tats!”
“It’s different.” AJ managed through gritted teeth.
“But, they’re all needles. They’re all the same.”
“Let me sew you up and you see how you like it then!” AJ snapped out. He immediately looked contrite, but before he could apologize, Nurse Chancer let out a bawdy laugh. “I like you.” She announced, grinning at AJ. “You’ve got a saucy tongue, and great legs. Need someone to fatten you up, though, boy.”
Some of AJ’s color returned, and his eyes opened to focus on the older woman’s face. “I eat like a horse, old woman. I’ve yet to find someone who could cook enough food for me.”
“My husband, God rest his soul, always said I made more food than he knew what to do with. He was a proper size man, proud of his belly. If I was twenty years younger I’d marry you.” As she bantered with AJ she put the needle in his skin and drew it out, starting the sewing. He winced but kept his focus on her. “If I was twenty years older, I might say the same.”
“Boy, I aint your type!” She let out another bawdy laugh, snipping and tying off her stitches. While they’d bantered with one another, she had been quickly sewing, trying to distract him. She gestured to Nurse Taylor to wrap his leg up. “You’re to stay off that leg, mind you.” She instructed him as she moved to the cut on his head. “The x-ray they did doesn’t show any breaks, but your leg was stressed hard and you’re lucky no muscles were cut. It’ll need a few days of pampering to get it better.”
As she started on his head, AJ had to close his eyes and squeeze Brian’s hand again. Sweat broke out on his face, and his tone was strained, but he still teased her. “You sure are a bossy woman.”
“Is there any other kind?”
She finished his head quickly, it only needed just two stitches. When she was done, she patted AJ’s face and leaned down to whisper in his ear. Whatever she said had his grin flashing at high voltage. “We’ll be back with your crutches and then you two can head on out of here and get back home.”
When they were gone AJ let his head rest back against the pillows. Brian found himself bringing a hand up to gently stroke AJ’s cheek. That was when AJ surprised him yet again. He turned his face, nuzzling Brian’s palm as he whispered “I’m scared, Bri. I’m scared that this is Dave. I’m scared that this could have been worse. Or that it’s not going to be enough for him. I can’t stand the thought that he’ll come back and try to hurt you again.” A warm moisture touched Brian’s palm, stunning him even more. AJ was crying?
“Alex.”
Whatever Brian would have said was interrupted by the nurses returning. They got AJ up on his crutches and showed him the best way to walk on them. Then they were being ushered out of the room and toward their friends. Brian exchanged a look with AJ, and an unspoken message passed between them. They wouldn’t speak of their fears to the others, but when they got back to the hotel, they needed to talk.