The group hadn't been informed of the accident until three days after it happened. They had all been crowded in Ashton's hospital room, impatiently waiting for him to awaken, when a nurse came in. The group immediately became defensive, ignoring the nurse, as they assumed she'd come to tell them for the fourth time that day to leave, as there was too many people crowding in the room.
Instead, the news she brought to them was much more depressing, and when they learned of Esten's accident they'd wished she had have come to told them to leave. She informed them that Esten, too, was in a coma, and was fighting for his life in a room two floors above. Only immediate family was allowed to visit, and since Esten was disconnected from the entirety of his family, nobody was allowed in.
The nurse also informed them that she'd have let them know sooner if she could have, but Esten was a John Doe until earlier that afternoon when the doctors had identified him as Estenious McFerrel VII. The group almost instantly broke out into conversation, wondering where Esten had come from and why he hadn't spoken of his heritage before.
They spent the remainder of their day in Ashton's room, having nothing better to do. Michael came and went, snatching pizza from the cafeteria now and then. He gave very mixed reviews; earlier in the time they spent there it had been "fucking god damn delicious", and later in the night it tasted "fucking narsty". Everyone else, excluding Kirsten and Luke, had no appetite due to worry, and eventually they went home to sleep in their own beds.
Ashton woke up at two a.m. that night.
The house felt horrible that they hadn't been the first faces Ashton had seen when he awoke, but he was ever grateful that almost all of them had left the house the moment they left the call. Michael had stayed, telling them to show Ashton a picture of him in case he'd forgotten what he looked like, but he was much too tired to get out of bed and he stayed home to sleep.
Ashton only had to stay in the hospital for one more day after he'd woken, just to be sure he was completely stable. Everybody stayed with him and kept him entertained until he was discharged—Michael arrived at the hospital at three o'clock that day, carrying a large veggie pizza in his arms. Him and Ashton were the only ones who liked that kind, but everyone had a piece anyway, just to be kind.
When Ashton was discharged, they brought him home to have a movie night. They'd decided not to tell him about Esten's accident until Esten was awake and recovering well, as they didn't want a repeat of previous events.
They spent the night watching old Disney movies from the 1950s that night, catering to Ashton's needs and then sleeping late. Nobody mentioned Esten, and Ashton had seemingly forgotten his entire existence. The group assumed silently that it was due to the trauma and eventually he would remember Esten, but then again he could just as well have been pretending to forget Esten.
Either way, everyone was overly happy about Ashton's safe recovery, and they slept that night in a dog pile in front of the television.
