From Your Wires to Your Core

It was three more days before he could finally leave the hospital. Over those days, the doctors reviewed his condition with him. The heavy strikes had broken a series of ribs, some of those quite close to his spine. He'd been relatively lucky. Even though his lung had been punctured, the shards hadn't caused damage elsewhere, and they'd managed to patch it up. His bones had been set and the tight corset he'd been strapped in for the past week had kept them in place. He was healing as well as expected. They said a lot of other things, but the long and short of it was that as long as he kept moving around, he'd be able to leave soon.

During those three days, he'd been up and moving as much as possible. Each time he took a step, a sharp pain lanced through his side. Breathing was getting easier. It still ached like a bitch, but he'd been taken off the liquid morphine. Unfortunately, that meant he had the shakes for the next two days while trying to ignore the cravings. The pills he was given were far weaker and less addictive. He worked on a few light stretches, whimpering pathetically with each move. Because of this, he did his best to limit those stretches to when he was alone. He didn't want to think of the pinch that would mar Nines' brow if he saw him whining in agony.

The hours he spent with Nines were what he looked forward to the most. Obviously, Nines worked during the day, so although he was there in the morning for breakfast, he left fairly quickly. Depending on the day, he wouldn't return until almost ten o'clock. That didn't mean he was alone. Tina dropped by a few times. Sometimes at lunch and sometimes after her shift. She tried not to be there at the same time as Nines. She thought it was better that way, so he had company for longer. Elijah turned up most afternoons. Since Gavin was awake and on a regular schedule, he'd stopped sleeping in the cot at night. He left that exclusively to Nines now. Chloe sometimes joined him, bringing home-cooked meals and cookies. Gavin swore he was going to put on a stone from all the sugar he was eating. Hank and Connor sometimes dropped in, usually with Nines. They'd stop by with the pretext of dropping Nines off and linger for a few minutes to see how he was doing. Fowler hadn't been in, but he'd called the private phone to give him an earful about almost getting himself killed. As soon as he was up to it, he could return for light duties. A pile of paperwork was already stacked on his desk, waiting.

At the end of those three days, Nines was there. He'd taken the day off to settle him in at home. What Gavin didn't realise was that he wouldn't be settling in at his own home. He was confused and somewhat distressed to find Nines driving away from his street and out of the city. He was taken to Elijah's house and carried like a bride to their room, where he was placed on the bed like a delicate princess. When he'd questioned him, Nines had been ever so reasonable about it. Of course, he couldn't be left alone all day when he'd just gotten out of the hospital! What if he fell? Anything could happen. Nines would worry if he were alone. He didn't need to worry. Nines was checking in on Lynx regularly and keeping the house tidy. He could return once he was fully healed.

Nines took fully healed to the extreme. He wouldn't let him leave Elijah's house for two solid weeks, even if he did feel well enough to go into work for light duties. Whenever he brought up getting back to work, his LED would spin red. It was fucking adorable. People didn't worry about Gavin Reed like that. They didn't treat him like he was fragile. Gavin's green eyes would always soften and he'd kiss his temple until the red was chased away, grumbling reluctant agreements about staying within Elijah's estate. He was at least allowed to walk in the gardens. Chloe even set up a garden chair and umbrella for him since it was getting hot outside. He'd spend hours lounging in that padded chair, sometimes falling asleep and being roused by the feeling of lips on his temple as Nines guided him back indoors for a late dinner.

Even after a month, when he was finally allowed to return to work, Nines still wouldn't let him return to his house. Anything he needed or desired was brought to him. Most of his favourite clothes now littered Elijah's house, along with a few books and DVDs. Nines had even snuck in his old leather jacket, though Gavin kept it quiet that he knew. He'd caught him once. Standing by the open closet huddling the jacket against his face, his LED spinning blue. It was too fucking cute. He'd turned away and shuffled towards the bed, making enough noise for Nines to realise he was there. He'd heard the scuffle of a backpack zip and then the doors had closed.