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 Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 7:40 pm
Ladon was sitting in Tate's room, downright exhausted and feeling wreaked. Running from his parents room and having to explain several times what had happened, both with their comas and with his eye, he had taken forever to see Tate. It was moments like these that family wanted to give big hugs and stick together, but he didn't want to stick around for his father's awkward gentleness or his worried sister. It was only with the help of his father and sister being awake to go watch over their mother that he was allowed to run off, and even then it had been hard when his father suggested, in his own way, that leaving his family was essentially cruel abandonment when he was needed the most. He was about to point out that he had been alone without them this entire time and that he had been there for them during their comas when he decided against it. Instead, he ran off. They had each other. He needed to check on one last person.
It was leaning back in a chair that he sat beside Tate, her form still sleeping and her monitor blinking normally. People in the hallway outside were either crying out in joy or in loss and he kept his eyes on Tate's heart rate, watching it for any signs that she might be slipping away. A nurse came every so often, a frantic mess of rushing in, checking Tate, and running off again. He felt bad for them, but his mind was on other things. After the fourth visit, he went to just giving the nurse the report, getting a quick "thank you" from the woman before she rushed off in a blur of Pepto-pink scrubs.
While the world outside of her room was flooded with drama, he sat there, the dull rhythm of her heartbeat slowly lulling him into a tired daze. His eyes often looked at her hand, the slight curve of her body as it reclined on a pillow, to the dull light highlighting in her hair. It wasn't flattering and he wondered how it made anyone hopeful when the light only made someone look pale, sickly even.
With a loud sigh, he rubbed his bandaged eye, wanting to pull at the fabric before he looked back down at her hand. His eye flashed out to the door and very slowly, he reached over and tapped his fingers against the back of her hand. It didn’t move. Licking his dry lips, he went in closer, scooting his chair. Dramas had told him that holding someone's hand often gave them the strength to pull through, and if that was all it took to keep her from dying, he didn't want to regret it later. Slowly, he reached over and took her hand, curling his fingers between hers. There. A simple "get well soon" handhold.
He swallowed hard.
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Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 7:57 pm
In a soap opera, she'd ease into wakefulness, open her eyes and give Ladon a beatific smile.
Life was not a soap opera.
The only warning Ladon got was when her hand tightened, almost painfully, around his. Then she was awake, sitting up in bed, looking around. "******** hallways," she was saying. "Goddamn piles of useless ******** sailor scout--"
She didn't even seem to realize he was there. Her dark eyes were going to the IV in her hand, all the cables and machines. Then the window, and then--Ladon. She narrowed her eyes for a minute at him, at the hospital gown she was wearing, and then she touched her hair. "Oh," she said, very quietly. And she looked back to him, riveted on his face. "Ladon?" She smiled, just a little bit, tugging at her wires.
For a moment it seemed she was going to say something completely different, and then she finally noticed the elephant in the room. "...Ladon, what happened to your eye?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 8:28 pm
It wasn't the soft voice he expected to hear, weary and drained, but more akin to a Tourette's patient who just stepped on a nail. If he had been tired, he was awake now, and looked at her with wide eyes and an open mouth. The only thing that made him feel good was that she was directing it at senshi, and he wondered how she even knew that the senshi were involved. Was it just a dream or did she know before she slipped into her deep slumber?
If it hadn't been for all the noise outside, he was sure the entire nursing staff would come in to see what in blue blazes was going on. Instead, it went quiet as Tate took in her surroundings and now aware she would notice his hand, he slipped it away, pulling his hands into is lap in hopes she would not notice it was ever holding hers.
It was a good thing too, since her question only made him want to withdraw in more. While people waking up was cause for celebration, it had the bitter sweetness of now having to explain to others where they were, what they were doing here, and why he was now blind in one eye. There was plenty of excuses he could use with Destiny City being as dangerous as it was, but he didn't like the impression it gave. It said that, without supervision and on his own, THIS is what happened.
There was no going around the explanation anyways, and he knew that he'd have to do a lot of explaining for a while until it passed. "I got into an accident. It's nothing." He brought his downcast eye back to her. "I'm more concerned about you. Are you okay? You've been in the hospital for some time and everyone wants to know if you are alright. You're uncle has been visiting, but he's been called away." She didn't want him to think that Ivan was not here for her.
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Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 4:50 pm
She shifted position a little, elbows on her knees now as she contemplated the bandaging. Something had been up, she remembered seeing Doc Wes in her dream, and a familiar-looking sailor scout. It wasn't really worth thinking about too much, though; she was awake, or something like it.
Certainly more agreeable than American Gothic, with coveralls made out of human skin.
"I'm fine," she said, "it was just a weird dream, wasn't it? Not like I was out for months, I mean, hell. I still have all my hair! They would've shaved it if I'd been out for a while." Unless your uncle kept abandoning the cardiac unit to check on you, in which case... Well, who knew. "I'm really more interested in you," she said.
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Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 8:54 pm
He offered a soft chuckle that lingered in the room. "I would have stopped them from shaving your head at all costs. I don't think I could look at you with a straight face if you were bald. The moment they did that to you, I'd have to go get you a wig. Uh – not that I wouldn't ever talk to you if you ever did decide to shave your head." He didn't want her to get the impression he was so shallow and that he was only around her based on the fact she was pretty and had a full head of hair. "You have only been here a couple of weeks. Everyone has. You weren't the only person to fall asleep, but it seems a lot of people are waking up." He wondered briefly if he should also point out how lucky she was to be alive and not dead like some of the other coma victims, but decided that she was going through enough already.
At her persistence, he felt even more uncomfortable. While it was touching she was concerned, he really didn't want to answer these questions. "I'm fine, Tate. I've been fine since you fell asleep, and I'm doing okay right now. See? I'm not dead or hooked up to any machine." He couldn't say he was missing anything, but he was trying to pass it off as a minor injury. Something commonplace and easy to adapt to.
"Do you want anything? Water? A soda? I can run to the vending machine? Or do you want to sleep? I can go if you want me to. I just wanted to make sure you were okay and had someone here when you woke up." Someone who wasn't a strange nurse. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel as if she was forgotten by everyone.
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Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 9:06 pm
This statement brought a bit of an annoyed look. "Oh, really," she said, her tone a little bit dangerous and definitely irritated. It looked like, were her hands free to move, she'd be slapping him upside the head; but one hand was full of IVs, and the other was on the wrong side of her body to properly smack him. She just scowled a minute, and then flopped back in the bed. "Don't you guilt trip me, I can't help when I decide to pass out."
What had happened anyway? Last thing she remembered, she was going to work... and now?...
Whatever it was, he didn't want to talk about it, and that... well, it hurt. Her expression, as always, broadcast her unhappiness--not through a frown, but through the way her eyes suddenly slipped to half-mast, slanting away. "Alright," she said, staring fixedly out the nearest window like it was the most fascinating thing in the room. "Thank you, but I'm okay." A little detached.
Ugh. For all they'd talked, he really didn't understand her at all--telling her something she thought was unimportant wasn't didn't exactly scream you're important to me. It felt more like he was just brushing her off.
She sighed a little. "So... how long was I out? Do you know?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 9:23 pm
He wasn't astute enough to know what caused her to be unhappy, but he did register that she was now upset. It was just a question if it was because of him or just waking up in the hospital. Maybe it was being around girls more that told him that it was his fault, and he felt all the more miserable and confused for thinking he was to blame. Maybe it would have been better if a nurse had been here when she woke up instead of him as he wasn't doing a very good job at cheering her up.
Please just look at me. He hated how she was looking out at the window. It made him feel that not only did he saw something wrong, but that he wasn't worth looking at – and due to recent events, he blamed it on the missing eye.
"I…I don't know. Like I said, a few weeks. I know the nurses would know." He looked behind him to see them rushing about. "I can ask them when they're not as busy if you want." Anything if she would just look at him. He'd been waiting for her to wake up for days upon long days, and now she didn't even want him around. He – he felt personally insulted by it. She was usually so nice to him. It must have been him.
"I'm glad..that's your okay. Tate.." He gave out a heavy sigh. "…could you just look at me? Please? I haven't seen you in weeks." He wanted to see her awake, breathing, moving. He only wished she would smile. "I've missed you." His one hand was set on her bed again, not with the same freedom he had when she was unconscious and he could hold her hand, but just curling around a bit of her blanket.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to guilt trip you. I know it wasn't your fault. Are we still friends?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 9:54 pm
"The date, I meant," she said, and her tone was a little cold. The stutter had her glancing back, and then he was sighing and her hand tightened in the sheets. She couldn't really ignore him; he'd been waiting for her to wake up so patiently, so she shifted in the bed to look at him and she forced a smile. Surprisingly, it didn't kill her to do so. In fact, she felt a little better; and the smile eased, became more natural.
She tipped her head a bit, set her free hand over his. "Sure, okay," she said. "Uh... it's just. I was worried about you. I am. Are you sure you're all right?"
One more chance for him to let her know what was wrong. "Hey, what are you doing in that outfit, anyway?... Have you been in here, too?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 5:26 am
He didn't want to sound like a whiner, and in comparison to being in a coma and having a possibility of dying, he wasn’t bad off. Just this morning, he was set on her being worse off than he was, but now that she was awake, it was different. The last thing he wanted was for her to take pity on him or to shower him with unwanted attention. At least not the sort of attention he wanted. The idea of being somehow handicapped in any way bothered him even if he felt less whole now.
It was her hand on his and the fact she called him out on his clothes that forced him to be honest. Lying to her when their hands were touching felt impossible. "I'm fine. I'm still alive, which is the big picture I'm looking at." It was similar to what he just said and he wondered if se would become cold to him again. She was smiling after all. Why would he want to ruin that? "It just happened recently – so I don't think its hit all the way. I still expect for them to pull off the bandages and it will be there." He sometimes even hoped that the doctors got it wrong. That the surgery that they had to perform had just been a lie and that he really did have another eye there. That this was all a false diagnoses and that it was just hiding.
Then he remembered the time before the hospital, the punch by Castor, and the soft heat of pain in his face. To check, he'd sometimes touch the bandages, press on them, and wait for a bit of sting to tell that underneath the white fabric was a mess.
Just talking about it made him feel sick, and he didn't want to break down in front of her. Not again. He had wanted to try his hardest to give her the impression that he was a rock – unbreakable – so that when she needed to break down, he could be there. If he didn't, then she might just hold everything in to keep him from being upset. Wasn't that the sort of thing that girls found desirable in a guy? To be strong and to be someone to lean on – to not break down.
"I really don't want to talk about it." He looked back up from staring at their hands. "I came here a lot to visit you and my family, but I've been in the hospital for a few days now. I came down right after checking on my parents and sister, so I haven't been here long. Not as long as you." Just like her, he forced a smile, hoping it would cheer them both up. This was supposed to be a time to celebrate. Tate was awake, alive, and wasn't that a cause to be overjoyed about?
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Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 8:32 pm
It didn't sound like whining, she didn't look at him coldly this time through, if anything she looked--sad, and her hand tightened around his fingers. It was true that he was still alive, and they were both alive and here. But it didn't seem like that weird-a** dream caused her any lasting damage, but Ladon...
But Ladon...
"Your eye," she asked, the lilt at the end of her question making it seem kind of kiddish. "Is it... gone?" Then she shook her head, reached out to brush her free hand along the curve of his cheek. Her smile was rueful, and she said, "I'm sorry. We don't have to talk about this."
For now, they didn't have to talk about it. For now... She shoved herself up, glared at her miscellaneous wires and tubes. "I'd offer a hug, but I guess this is the best I can do," holding up their joined hands.
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Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2010 9:43 am
He was grateful that she wasn't pushing the subject, but did respond with a small nod that, yes, it was gone. "I'm set for a replacement." Ivan and some of the nurses had left information on the surgery he had and what was available for him in the future. He had some upkeep to do, and after several weeks, would be set up for a prosthetic eye. A eye that, as the brochure assured from their FAQ section, would look just like his other eye. He worried that despite their promise, the eye would look completely fake and be instantly recognizable as a fraud. The picture he had was that he would have some sort of doll eye that would only creep people out than give him the appearance of being normal.
The hand at his cheek had been distracting but soft, and he found it hard to look at her - wondering if his eyes would reveal his thoughts to her.
The jerking of her hand made him cringe, not wanting her to pull on IVs that might set off alarms or just hurt. Still, she seemed fine and at the mention of a hug, he slowly sat up from his chair. It wasn’t something he thought he would do until he found himself already in motion – but he was very happy to see that she was awake. It was probably the most affection they had shared at this point, but he slowly moved up and wrapped his arms around her, trying not to bump his head against her – his eyesight was a little off now – and gently wrapped his arms around her.
“I’m happy you’re okay.” He wondered if she always felt this light, this delicate in his hands. “Welcome back.” Was it just because they were close together that made him feel so warm?
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Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 4:37 pm
"Oh, Ladon," she said. What else could she say? Nothing she could do would bring back the missing eye; nothing she could say would assuage his fears over getting a replacement. She knew he was nervous because she would be, and he couldn't face a video game, and then here in real life...
She ran her thumb over his row of knuckles, smiled just a little bit at him just for lack of knowledge of what else she could do. It bothered her that he couldn't--wouldn't?--meet her gaze; but she couldn't call him out on it, hadn't she done just the same thing a moment before? Instead, she obligingly tilted her head, set her chin on his shoulder. Somehow, she thought, she remembered him being a little smaller.
At the welcome back, she laughed. "You're ridiculous, Ladon," she said, but her tone was warm; "It feels like I was never gone."
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Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 7:03 am
An easy break away was impossible, and he lingered still, not daring to move a hand or breathe too deeply. It was as if he stayed still, she wouldn't notice he was still wrapped around and he could hug her for just a moment longer. It was so much better than just holding hands.
"Really? It seems like you were gone for an eternity." He turned his face, setting it down a little as he looked down. "I'm glad you didn't leave me." He was glad she wasn't dead or stuck in a coma all her life. He was glad that this was over with, but he still had a sick feeling something worse would happen to her.
He squeezed her a little more tightly.
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