TIL THE SUNRISE - CHANLIX.

TWO

HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN A LITTLE WHILE. AND I GET A BIT LONELY.

   
      Chan had never been a fan of hospital waiting rooms. Granted, it was only the military med-tend he sat in, in a chair across from where the kid; Felix, was being attended to. Originally, he'd wanted to leave Felix there and go attend to his business, but the kid had given him such a kicked puppy look when he suggested it. It tugged on Chan's heartstrings, making him stay. At least they knew with the interaction that he could understand them.

     Felix flinched violently whenever someone raised a hand, making it almost impossible to bandage all his wounds, of which he had a lot. Many of them were healed, scabbed and scarred over. Some were fresh, like the deep angry lines lashed across his back and the cigarette burns on his shoulders and neck.

      His face, surprisingly, was untouched. He still had his smooth baby-faced skin, with the freckles across his skin and big brown doe eyes framed by thick lashes. Seungmin, the teams medic, had enough trouble just trying to dress the wounds on Felix's body, Chan had no idea how they'd complete a rape kit.

      Seungmin smeared some ointment on a large white bandage. "See if you can get him to listen. He's not responding very well to me" Chan took the bandage, carefully laying it over a patch of burns. Felix flinched a little, and then went deathly still. It was just enough time for Chan to cover the rest of his burns before he started flinching away again.

       "Hey Felix. We're going to take some swabs, okay? I'm going to need you to strip for me, is that okay?" Felix looked up at Seungmin in abject horror, shaking his head vigorously. He tried to scrabble backwards but the bed was small and left him nowhere to go. Chan placed a hand on the small of his back to stop him from falling off the back.

      "That's okay, kid. It's your choice. But doing this will help us catch the guy who did this to you" This time it was Chan who spoke and Felix turned his doe eyes to him. He shook his head, opening his mouth to speak before closing it once again. He lifted his hands, clenching his fists, before splaying his fingers and reaching for Chan's neck.

     Seungmin started forward but Chan threw up a hand to stop him. Felix closed his hands around Chan's neck, but he didn't squeeze. Didn't try to choke him. He pulled his hands away, before drawing a finger across Chan's neck. "What was that about?" Chan asked Felix as he retreated. Felix made a frustrated noise.

     He mimed the snapping of a neck, then pointed at Seungmin, at the swabs he'd had ready for the rape kit. Chan narrowed his eyes. "Dead? Is that what you're saying Felix?" He asked, and then watched as Felix nodded. "Okay dead... who's dead?"

     Felix seemed to think for a moment, his fingers twitching from their death grip on the sheets. He pointed again at the swabs for the rape kit. "The rape kit..? Oh, are you saying the person who did this to you is dead?" Another nod from the traumatised boy.

   
     "So they're dead. Do you know who killed them, Felix?"

    He nodded once again, before jabbing a finger into his chest, pointing at himself.

                   •  •  •

    

     After the examination was finished, Chan stepped out of the room to contact Felix's parents. It had been years since they'd seen him, they might not even recognise him. Although he was dirty and broken, Chan could tell that puberty had been kind to the boy.

     He was a decent height and slim, though that had more to do with malnourishment than his figure. There was something about him that made Chan want to protect him. He would protect him. That was his job now.

    He didn't know how the boy could still be so kind. On the way into the helicopter, Chan had banged up his knee on one of the seats and Felix had spent the ride tapping his knee until he rolled up his pants to show him that there wasn't even a bruise.

      He was so damaged, so broken. He'd need intensive therapy in order for his brain to survive the ordeal. But his body was here. He'd already done that job.

    And he'd killed the guy. Sweet, tiny Felix. The boy who was all bones, had gathered enough strength to kill his captor before escaping from the house. He'd done all that, chances were he didn't even need protecting.

     But Chan would do it anyway.

   
      He let out a harsh sigh, cold phone pressed to his ear as he waited for the parents' number to dial. The number connected with a click. "—llo?"
He let out another sigh before beginning to speak.

       "Hi Ma'am. This is military officer Bang Chan with the Australian Army. I'm calling from our base hospital in Venezuela with news about your son Felix. Is this something you would like to hear?"

      There was a harsh laugh from the other side of the line. The woman sounded angry. He supposed that was natural, it had been years without news of him and now someone was calling her about it. "About Felix? Is this a joke?"

    "I assure you I'm not joking ma'am, and I do believe this will be something you'd very much like to hear" He heard her sigh, clear her throat.

     "Go on then"

      "Your son is alive and we have him in our care right this minute. Our medical team has patched him up and is going to give him a psych exam as soon as they possible can. I know it's a lot to ask, but is there anyway you can get down here so we don't have to fly him back alone?"

       "No. No we can't. I'm sorry it's just, it's too soon. I don't know what to say to him. I still feel guilty for letting this happen to him. I'm his mother, I should be able to protect him but I failed. We can meet him at the airport, but you'll have to fly back with him"

     "We can do that ma'am, but I feel that I should warn you about his current mental state. He's going to need lots of therapy. He's not the same kid he was when he was taken. But he's gone to great lengths to escape, and I'm proud of him for it. You should be too. I know he'd like to see you"

      The call ended and Chan shoved it back into his pocket angrily. He understood the parental grief, losing a child in one of the worst ways possible.  If it happened to him, he thought he might go crazy with it. But now they didn't want to see him?

     He wouldn't tell Felix that. He wouldn't break his heart again.