Heartbeat ~ A Heartstopper Sickfic Story

~ chapter 2 - hospital ~

Charlie stood outside the house, completely stationary, watching Nick be taken into the ambulance, covered in medical equipment. IVs, monitors, oxygen, all of which reminded him of how ill Nick was.

Once the ambulance drove away, sirens blaring, he couldn't handle it. His knees, now too weak to hold him, forced him to crumple up against the curb, tears streaming down his face.

It didn't feel real to him. He seemed fine, but he wasn't. He wanted to save him, but he couldn't. Nick's uneven pulse echoed in his head over and over, like a broken vinyl record stuck on loop.

"Is he going to be alright, Sarah?" Charlie asked, his voice still shaky.

"I don't know, Charlie," Sarah replied, her eyes starting to get red and teary.

"He was quite ill, after all."

Charlie forced a smile, still wanting to cry, trying not to seem like a child in front of his own boyfriend's mum.

He watched Sarah take out her phone to call David, then Nick's father, Stéphane, although neither of them picked up.

Charlie watched as she started to tear up, crying at the thought of her youngest son being so ill. As he started to also cry, he realised that he really understood how it felt; bad things happening to those you love is horrible, but he knew Nick would be okay.

Despite this, it was still too scary to admit that Nick was really ill, even more ill than Charlie had expected.

"I can't help but feel sorry for Nick. He's been suffering so much the last few months. Who knows how bad his illness was until now?"

The thoughts of Nick dying, once buried in his subconscious, now rise to the surface, Charlie starting to hyperventilate, and his hands starting to shake. Between each gasp of air, he tries his best to stop crying - but he couldn't. He cried, and cried, and cried. With his hands buried in his face to catch his tears, he didn't notice Nick's mum sitting down next to him and placing her hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, Charlie. Nick's safe now. You don't have to be as scared anymore."

Hearing these words comforted him, he found it was a bit easier to hold his tears in. He hadn't felt properly comforted in a long time since Nick had fallen ill, besides Tori every now and again. Thinking of Tori made him decide to call her. With tears still welling up in his eyes, and his throat slightly clogged, he managed to squeak out a few words in a croaky voice within a sea of tears.

"Thanks, Sarah. I'll call Tori."

~

When Nick woke up, he was hoping Charlie would be asleep on top of him with Nick's arms around him, and Henry still curled up on his bed next to him. But, when he woke up, he just saw white ceiling with blinding lights. He appeared to be laying in a single bed surrounded by light blue curtains, beeping filling his ears and pressure building up in his right arm.

As he was still disoriented and loopy from whatever he was given on the ambulance ride, it hadn't yet hit him that he wasn't in his room. It all just felt like a dream, a blur, a hallucination.

"Nicholas? Are you awake?"

A female voice echoed around him. He thought it must have been his mum, or maybe Imogen, but it wasn't. Once the medicine started to wear off, he realised he didn't know who's voice this was, or where he was.

Is this a hospital? He thought.

Why am I here?

What on earth has happened?

Where the hell is Charlie?

Confusing thoughts started to build up in his mind, stressing him out more and more.