Surrogate (Unfinished and Abandoned)

part 7

Freed's POV

I ignored his comment and embraced him with a wide grin.

"Woah... Freed? Are you okay? What happened?" he groaned.

I stepped back to examine his face. His eyes weren't bright and smiling as I had imagined them, but instead had lost their usual small gleam they had when he was around me. In that moment I had convinced myself that the gunshot that grazed his head had somehow changed his personality-- now I realize it was exhaustion, he had been in a coma for over 2 months, after all.

"Laxus... you don't remember?" I replied.

He tried to shake his head but he winced and I could tell the light was something his eyes still had to get used to.

"My father..." I scratched my head as I tried to forget those hurtful memories, "tried to kill you and Mira. You've been in a coma for two months."

His eyes widened and he got a look of fear in his eyes. "I missed two months?" he shouted (well, it came out as a hoarse whisper) and tried to sit up.

"Laxus, it's okay." I put a hand on his shoulder, trying to keep him laying down. "Don't hurt yourself."

His gaze hardened, his eyebrows narrowing. "I can't believe it," he muttered to himself. I stroked his blond hair as my worried eyes darted across his face, checking to see if he was actually alive.

"I can't either," I whispered under my breath.

***

"We can finally go back home!" I shouted, as Laxus gave me a faint grin and Mira and I helped him out of the building.

It wasn't snowing, but it was cold enough to. The air was white, frost covered the grass and you could see your breath in the air. We all shivered on our way to the car, even Laxus and I had given him an extra scarf.

I got into the drivers side, and as we left the hospital no one spoke a word. Then Laxus finally decided to break the silence with, "I mean, seriously, what is up with your hair?"

Then I remembered that I had never told him about what had happened after he left the guild.

"Well, this is kind of an embarrassing story but..." I stopped to sigh, remembering how long ago that was. "When you left the guild, I was really upset. I guess I needed to think about something else in my life so I could accept that I may not have seen you again, let alone had the chance to tell you how I felt. And... These past few weeks I've thought about that a lot too and just tried to keep my mind off losing you."

He chuckled, "I just liked it better when it was longer." He put his hand on my head and I pouted.

"Fine, I'll grow it out."

***

I threw open the door to our empty apartment. It looked sad and neglected, and probably the only one in the whole building not decorated for Christmas.

"Hey," Laxus said, breaking the silence, "do you think we should get a tree?" He smiled. Mira was in her own apartment, decorating it cheerfully as she had done every year. She was doing this mostly so me and Laxus could have some time alone, though, because we hadn't had much time to ourselves in the past few days.

"I have a fake one in the closet," I replied, then proceeded to venture into the black hole that was my only closet.

Pulling it out of its beaten-up box, I put together the scrawny little tree and looked at Laxus.

He just chuckled. "You call that a tree? It's pathetic."

I punched his arm playfully.

"Not as pathetic as last Christmas," I laughed. Last year, Laxus had promised to chop me down his own tree for me for our first Christmas as a married couple. Things didn't go too well. Let's just say a few trees went missing due to a mysterious... lightning storm.

He frowned at me, and went to sit on our bed.

"It won't look as bad with a few decorations. We can buy some tomorrow," he muttered, and I nodded in response, following him to the bed.

Suddenly I felt sentimental. A memory of a few weeks ago flashed into my head.

I had thought Laxus wouldn't see Christmas. I thought he would never wake up, that I would never see that gleam in his eyes again, that I would never hear his voice again. And that he would never hold his child. I remembered how dreary and depressing the ultrasound was without him-- not at all hopeful or cheerful like it should've been.

I hugged him then, ignoring the few tears that fell down my cheeks. "I still can't believe you're awake."

He put his arm around me. "Don't cry, Freed. I'm right here."

I wiped away the tears, looking up into his eyes to see the gleam had returned, in addition to concern.

I leaned forward, kissing the man softly, and he kissed back roughly, his tongue asking for entrance. My lips parted and he pushed me back onto the bed. All my worry melted away he kissed me ferocity and passion, and I returned with the longing I had built up over the past few months.

Hehe, sorry about that but I don't like to write smut. Thanks a lot for reading, and sorry for the short chapter.

Bleh I have to go back to school.... It was a four day weekend!! *sobs in corner* Sorry I just hate Mondays