Forever Is A Long, Long Time

Page 3

"Are you okay?!" Aaron tried to read her confused expression, cleaning her ragged thumb with a clean, wet washcloth. Triple antibiotic and bandages waited on the coffee table, her chin still covered in drying blood and spit.  

Alexander was fretting like a hen in a foxhole, frantically pacing from the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, to the living room, and back, looking for something to help Phoebe's condition. She had chewed the end of her thumb into shreds, and hadn't seemed to come back to reality about it yet. 

She just stared into space, a quizzical look on her face like she wasn't sure if she had really done it.

Alexander, for the first time since the accident, was terrified for Phoebe's condition. 

"Phoebe, look at me." He half-plead with her, and watched as she slowly turned to face him. Her eyes still stared right past him, and he could see she wasn't really listening. But it was a start, and that's all he could hope for at the moment.

"Does it still hurt, Phoebe?" Aaron asked, the bleeding finally stopping as he held her hand up above her head. 

She half-nodded, her eyes finally seeming to lose the glossy, lost look. Alexander sighed in mild relief and Aaron began bandaging her thumb. 

"You really had us scared, princess. Did you even know you were doing it?"

Phoebe shook her head, glancing between her two dads with a look of heartfelt honesty. Alexander smoothed a loose curl down from the top of her head and looked up at Aaron. 

He could tell right away that he wasn't going to get a word out of her. Usually, whenever Phoebe went nonverbal, it would take maybe a half hour to an hour for her to come back. But after what she had been through, Alexander was less certain that she could bounce back as fast anymore. 

When the pizza arrived, Alexander got Phoebe a paper plate with a few slices and he and Aaron sat on either side of her. They left the TV turned off, to keep from overstimulating her even just on accident, and kept their conversation quiet.

Tobi, their older Saint Bernard and Phoebe's favorite, eventually came into the living room and slumped at Phoebe's feet, his tail thumping against the floor as he looked at her expectantly for scraps. Phoebe just held an untouched slice of pizza out for him, her free hand gently scratching behind his ear.

"Phoebe, don't-" Alexander cut himself off as the Saint Bernard happily pulled the slice of pizza out of her hand and quickly scarfed it down. He sighed and rubbed his temples, trying not to appear outwardly upset as Phoebe offered her second slice to the dog. 

"Phoebe, you do have to eat a little." Aaron said softly. Phoebe continued staring into space, her mouth pressed into a thin line. Her fingers twitched and she stood up, leaving her plate on the coffee table and returning to her childhood bedroom. That would likely be all the interaction they would be getting from her for the evening. 

Aaron cuddled up to Alexander, trying to ease the tension in the room. "Do you think she'll be alright? I've never seen it get this bad."

"She's just getting used to coping with her trauma." Alexander hooked an arm around his husband. "Hopefully, she'll come back around to talking to us again."

When he had originally received the call to come and care for his daughter, he was cautiously ecstatic. He had missed her, and this was an opportunity to make sure she was recovering healthily. There was no way he could turn it down.

But, seeing how bad it really had gotten.. He wasn't so sure that he could help anymore. Not that he wouldn't try. God, would he try his hardest to help his daughter.

But, if she really was this far gone, it might be too much of an uphill climb for either of them to take on.