Strike Astonishent into Angels

Chapter 9

Wow okay so apparently I'm bad at being consistent. Also I realized I should probably add trigger warnings, but if you've made it this far and your okay with angst and panic attacks, keep reading. If not, STOP BECAUSE THERE ARE A BUNCH. Trigger warning for this chapter: Another panic attack. Heres the next part (finally)

Lafayette could walk.

Sort of.

It was a far cry from the pathetic hobbling he had been attempting weeks ago, he was proud to say. He had turned in his wheelchair for a pair of crutches and could walk much better without help. Even his arm was allowed out of its cast, although Lafayette still had to go to therapy to regain full control in his hand.

But he was healing. They all were.

Alex and Eliza were sitting on Alex's bed doing homework together. John sat at the foot of Thomas' while Lafayette reclined next to Thomas on the bed. Eliza and Alex were softly talking and shooting each other sappy looks that made Thomas roll his eyes, John frown, and Laf beam. Thomas soon left the room, and after about the sixth or seventh time that the couple barely refrained from a kiss, Lafayette cheerfully announced that he and John were going on a walk.

"They don't have to be so public about it," John huffed as they walked down the sidewalk.

"They were just sitting in the b-bathroom," Laf pointed out. "We were the ones intruding."

John just shrugged, fingering the fabric of his hoodie. "What?" He snapped at Laf's wide grin.

"Nothing," Lafayette replied brightly, still giving him a look.

"I know what you're gonna say," John sighed. "And you don't have to say it."

"What?" Lafayette said innocently.

John gave him a look.

"I'm just saying-- if it b-bothers you so much, talk to him about it," Laf urged.

"No," John said flatly. "Nope. Never. He loves Eliza. You know he does."

"But he could love you, too!" Laf protested. "Eliza is great and all, but if you just get him to notice--"

"I said no," John growled.

They walked in silence for a while.

"Eliza noticed," Laf told him finally.

"What?" John frowned.

"I'm surprised you didn't realize it. She knows that you like Alex. Even f-feels bad that she's with him when you look at him like that."

"You're imagining things," John chided, but he was smiling now. Laf gave him a friendly push and John laughed back.

A phone call interrupted them.

Laf pulled his cell out and answered with a cheery voice. As he listened, however, his grin faded, replaced with a look of blank shock. He hung up after a mumbled farewell and whirled to face a bewildered John.

"I need to go to the hospital. Now."

***

Laf didn't know what to do. At all. Whatsoever.

But Adrienne was awake and that was all that mattered.

He was sobbing, letting John hold him as they waited outside Adrienne's room as the doctors made sure she was stable enough for visitors. John gently ran his fingers through Lafayette's hair as the Frenchman struggled to pull himself together.

She was awake.

"You can see her now," a doctor told them. "But only one at a time."

Before Laf went in, the doctor stopped him. "She has severe damage," he told him in a low voice. "We don't know if she'll make it very long awake. She may not even remember who you are."