Connected Lives (a Les Twins FanFiction)

Chapter 8

These have got to be the longest two days of my life, Thea thought. Two days of postponing events, performances, and workshops. Two days of figuring out reasons because the real reason was a no fly zone. Two days of fretting about Mama B not knowing, lying to Gabi, fans finding out. And two days of watching Laurent not improve while Larry kept a sleepless vigil at his bedside. She cared deeply for the twins in the hospital room behind her. She was in love with one. She fell back against the wall and leaned her head back, resting it on the thin ledge separating the faux wood paneling and the creamy white paint. They should have stuck with sterile white, it's a hospital for christ sake, no matter how you dress it up. She smirked. Now I'm getting punchy. She hadn't slept all that much either. Dread wrapped around her like a cloak - time to go play manager.

Opening the door she found herself overwhelmed with the need to see Laurent awake, she wasn't sure she could handle it. It turns out she could. The moment Larry lifted his tired eyes to her, she knew she could. She had to really. I am an intelligent, strong, resourceful woman, she repeated this mantra in her mind, a reminder to herself that she accomplished nothing by accident. She let that and Larry warm gaze lift her as she stopped at Laurent's bedside across from Larry.

"Hey Larr," her smile was soft and genuine, "anything new?"

He absently pinched the tips of his brother's fingers. No doubt he would have pestered him more if he could find a way through the maze of tubes, monitors and medical tape that entombed his narrow frame. "Um, let's see. So the doc is an asshole." He watched her face go from surprise to disapproval then gave her a wide smile. An honest to goodness Larry smile that she had feared she would never see again. Yet here it was . She put tremendous effort into not smiling back. Okay, so she didn't succeed at everything she attempted.

"Oh my god Larry! You're a pain in the ass you know that!" she laughed.

"Aw, but you love it baby!" He winked, then realized what he had said and things got awkward. His smile faded and her heart ached. "Wow, Thea, sorry, I shouldn't have called you that."

She steeled herself, shaking her head. She opened her mouth to reassure him that it wasn't a big deal. Instead, "I'm glad you said it," spilled from her lips. Really Thea!? Larry cocked his head at her, a lopsided grin starting to form on his face. Clearly I need to work on my "flirting with my crush in his unconscious brother's hospital room" skills. Larry was about to say something to her but she started talking in her back-to-business voice so he shut down and closed off.

"So what's the latest with Lau? You never actually said."

"Oh, yeah. So the doc says they have to keep him in a comma."

"Coma?"

"Yeah. They need to keep him in one of those for a few more days but when they stop he will wake up. That's good." His face was desperately hopeful as he looked at her.

"Yes, I think that is very good." she paused a moment before continuing, "Larry, it's time to call your mother and get her here."

"No."

"Larry, you have no right to keep your mother away from her son. It's wrong and it's fucking selfish." She cut him off, gently, before he could start in, "Don't argue with me on this."

They sat looking at each other for a long while. He was too tired to be as angry as he wanted and her exhaustion was close to snipping her thin thread of strength and authority. He counted 51 beeps from the heart monitor before he finally conceded. In truth, he wanted his mother here, he didn't know what to do. He had truly believed Lau would be awake and home by now. But the doctors and nurses kept talking about kidney failure and brain damage and comas. He had simply stopped listening because he didn't believe them. He was scared to death.

"You're right Thea. Please call her, have her come as soon as she can." He saw relief smooth her features as she nodded thank you.

Thea rose to leave, her relief was obvious. She reached as if to grasp his hand - he wanted her to - but she stopped herself, instead dropping her hand onto the bedrail. She told him she would let him now the travel arrangements asap, then smiled and turned to leave. She was stopped at the door by Larry's voice saying her name. She looked back at Larry who was now standing with his hands on the bed rail.

"You knew something was wrong with Lau before I told you." Her eyes went wide and her lips parted slightly but he gave her no time to respond. "Once Maman gets here, we're gonna go walk and you gonna tell me all about that."