Thorns And Roses

Chapter Forty-nine

Theo could only smile at Quinn as his best friend stood by his hospital bed and told him a very overdramatic retelling of his epic shift. Quinn's words, not his. Theo missed him. Like a lot. As soon as he saw the other man, Theo pulled him into a tight hug and sniffed at the scent that he grew up with.

He had let him go and that's when Quinn went into a theatrical version of the events that happened a few days ago. The green dragon waved his hands around and made loud noises when telling Theo how he had crashed through the roof of the warehouse he was being held at.

Theo was listening to him, but he wouldn't lie and say he wasn't worried about Demi. He couldn't even if he wanted to. The tearing of a piece of paper into smaller pieces that fell into his lap like snowflakes was a dead giveaway to his worry.

Theo's attention was torn away from Quinn as Demi stepped back into the room. He noticed the changes instantly. He was pale and slightly shaking. It was like he just got delivered some very bad news.

Theo made a grunting noise in his throat instead of trying to talk. Demi's head swung over to lock eyes with him and Quinn became quiet. All his mate did was give him a small smile and he came to sit in the chair that Theo had offered Quinn when he first got there.

Theo took Demi's hand in his, trying not to comment on the clammy feel of his palm or the way he shook a little. It forced Theo to stop his task of ripping the paper into tiny pieces. Theo didn't look away from Demi as the Omega spoke to Quinn.

"What were you guys talking about?" Demi asked. His eyes looked at Quinn instead of Theo. A feeling of being ignored slithered in his head but he pushed it down. Demi only asked Quinn because he couldn't talk.

"I was telling Theo about how he shifted and how awesome it was." Demi's smile grew fond before he finally met Theo's eyes. His mate lifted his hand and kissed his bruised knuckles.

"Quinn's not wrong, baby. It was cool. You grew like, eighty feet tall and smashed right through the roof of that stupid fucking warehouse." Theo felt a blush cover his cheeks as Demi spoke every word against the back of his hand. A smirk on his lips the entire time.

"See, I told you." Quinn boosted with a huge grin on his face. Theo rolled his eyes at his best friend before he drew his hand out of Demi's to use his notebook.

'How did the testing go?' It had to be bad if Demi's nervous and pale look was anything to go off of. It made Theo even more worried. Was there something wrong with Demi?

"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine. The doctor just wanted to run some tests because of the stress I was under." Theo felt like he was deflecting but he didn't have the energy to fight him on it. Now that he knows Demi is okay, even in the slightest way, Theo felt drowsy and ready to go to sleep again.

'Sleep?' He wrote down, his handwriting a little screwy from being half asleep already. Theo hummed a bit in the back of his throat when he felt Demi's fingers in his hair. He couldn't tell if it was still greasy or not. That was a worry for another time.

"Of course, pup. I'll be here when you wake up. Promise." Theo was out like a light before Demi even finished speaking.

When Theo woke up from his nap, the curtains were drawn and covered up a midnight blue sky. He pulled his gaze from the window to look down at Demi who had his head pillowed on the bed by Theo's hip and his hand securely wrapped around his. Like Theo was going to get up out of the bed and walk away from him.

He didn't want to wake Demi up but the sudden urge to pee hit him quicker than he would have liked it to. Theo pulled his hand out of the Omega's and wasn't surprised at all when Demi lifted his head with a jolt.

"You okay, Theo?" Theo gave him a nod and grabbed the pen and paper that sat beside him. He wrote down that he needed to use the bathroom and with some help from his mate and a nurse that Demi called in, they were able to make it to the bathroom.

Theo was put back into bed once he was done. He was exhausted once again, the need to sleep taking over everything. He wanted to go home but knew that wouldn't happen for a few more days.

"Go back to sleep, baby. It's late and you need to rest so we can go home." Theo could only listen to Demi and went back to sleep without a problem.

He woke up again sometime the next day, light streaming in through the curtains. They were still drawn so the light wouldn't hurt Theo's eyes. They were sensitive after spending a few weeks inside being isolated from the world.

"There he is." Theo turned his head at the voice that spoke and smiled as much as he could with the stitch in his bottom lip. Quinn and River stood by the entrance to his room, Jay and Layla sitting in their arms.

He waved at them as they moved towards his bed. River leaned down so he could run his fingers through his hair and he felt Layla tap her little hand on his cheek. Theo tilted into the gentle touch.

"You feeling okay? How's the pain?" River fretted a bit as he softly set Layla down on the bed. They must have told her to be tender beforehand because she just leans a little into Theo's space but doesn't touch him.

'I'm okay. Pain is manageable. Where's Demi?' He quickly wrote it down and just noticed that his mate wasn't in the room. He saw the look that passed between Quinn and River and knew they were hiding something.

"He went to get something to eat for everybody. I'm sorry to tell you this Theo but you're going to be on a liquid diet until your throat heals." River told him and Theo felt disappointed at that fact.

Food was a privilege at the warehouse that he had to earn and now that he was out he had to wait to eat. Yeah, that sucked.

'It's okay." Quinn came around on the other side of the bed and set Jay down.

"Cartoon's daddy," Jay asked. Theo gave up the remote control to the TV and Quinn was able to find a cartoon for the little ones to watch.

"We were so worried about you, Theo. When you disappeared on us we all thought the worse." He pulled his eyes away from the cartoon to look over at River who spoke. There were tears in the Omega's eyes. Theo reached out with his hand and felt relief when River took it.

"I know you're sorry. It wasn't your fault." After that, they watched TV with the kids until Demi got back from getting food. Quinn and River left with the kids so they wouldn't eat in front of Theo. He asked if Demi ate and his Omega told him that he did on his way back.

Theo fell asleep again at some point in time and when he woke up again it was to Demi talking to a doctor.

"When do you think he can come home?" He didn't alert them that he was awake. Wasn't too worried about it.

"I say either tomorrow or the day after. He's healing up nicely which is great after what he went through. So soon. He'll get to go home soon." That made Theo happy and if the look on Demi's face said anything then he was happy too.

A couple of days later, Theo went home. He was able to walk, with a slight limp in his step from the wounds he sustained but other than that he was fine. Demi practically glowed from how happy he was that Theo was home now.

Yeah, he couldn't do much but he was just excited to be out of that warehouse and out of the hospital. He still had to write everything down and he was still sipping protein shakes through a straw but it was nice to be home again.

As he and Demi sat on the couch a movie playing in front of them, the Omega turned in his arms, lifted his hand to cradle Theo's face, and whispered something to him that he never thought possible.

"I'm pregnant." Theo didn't mean to but he couldn't stop the tears from filling his eyes and rolling down his cheeks. Couldn't stop the grin from pulling at the stitches in his lip from how hard he smiled. He couldn't help any of the feelings he felt at that moment.

"Shh. I know, I know. I'm excited too." Demi pulled him close and held him as tight as he could without hurting Theo.

"I love you, baby." Theo purred in his throat despite how much it hurt and hummed his 'I love you too's.'