If I Could Tell Him

Bonus Chapter!!

CONNOR POV

Connor was sitting up in the bed he and Evan had once shared, clutching a picture of the two of them when he got the call from his daughter.

"Hello?" He answered, clearing his throat and doing his best to not sound like he'd been crying.

"Dad! Dad...he's...I..." Marigold sounded very out of breath and...was she crying?

"Hey, hey. What's wrong Mari? Are you alright?" Connor asked, suddenly on high alert.

"He's awake."

Connor had never gotten out of bed so fast in his life. Not even bothering to put on proper clothes, or even shoes, he bolted out the front door.

"Shit...keys. I forgot my keys." He reminded himself under his breath. Running back into the house, tripping over his own long legs, he grabbed his keys and stumbled to the car. "Mari? Marigold? Are you still there?" Connor asked into the phone frantically, throwing on his seatbelt.

"Yeah dad I'm here. Hurry!"

Connor drove quickly to the hospital, the grooves in the gas pedal cutting into his bare feet.  He parked the car haphazardly -taking up about three parking spaces- and scrambled out the door.

"I'm on my way I'm on my way..." Connor said into the phone, panting heavily. The loose, sharp rocks on the street dug their way into Connor's feet, definitely drawing blood. He grimaced but kept going, the thought of Evan being awake much more important than any pain.

"Name?" The front desk lady droned tiredly.

"Hansen. Please he...I need to see him." Connor pleaded.

"Let me find the room." The woman said in the same, disinterested tone.

"Oh fuck you you're no help." Connor growled, yanking on his hair. He'd kept his hair carefully shoulder length, just in case Evan woke up, so that at least that would have remained unchanged for him. Connor would have absolutely died if Evan woke up, just to not recognize his husband. Even the thought made Connor nauseous. He pulled his hair harder, successfully distracting himself. "I'll just find the room alone."

He'd already memorized the room number and the way to get there anyways, so it wasn't much trouble at all to find it.

Connor raced through the halls and up the stairs, his heart pounding so hard that it physically hurt.

"Evan!" Connor cried out when he finally reached the room.

And there he was.

"Connie?" Evan asked, blinking at the light. Realization dawned on him and he frantically tried to pull at the tubes along his body. "My angel! Connor I..."

Connor simply took his hands and pressed his lips to Evan's, cutting him off. He didn't even realize he was crying until he pulled away. Connor gently cupped Evan's face in his hands, running his hands over his hair, making sure this wasn't another cruel dream that he would wake up from.

"You're...you're real.." Connor finally said, feeling his voice break. Evan laughed that laugh. That beautiful, perfect, musical laugh that used to haunt Connor when he was alone. But this time it was real. He was really here, listening to Evan laugh.

"I love you." Evan said softly, causing more tears to well out of his husband's eyes.

"I-I love you too..." Connor responded, his voice just above a whisper. "I missed you. I missed you...it felt like there was a...an empty hole in my heart. Like something was missing."

"I only dreamed about you." Evan responded. "You and Marigold."

At the sound of her name, their daughter made her way back into the room.

"Are you guys done being all gross and mushy now?" She asked, cracking a smile as tears coursed down her cheeks.

"Come here, honey." Evan said. Needing no prompting, Marigold ran to her parents, flinging her arms around both of them.

Connor sobbed, holding his family. He got them back. He finally got them back. And as Connor held his family close to his chest, feeling the two people he loved most in the world safe in his arms, he swore to himself he would never let anything take them away from him.

And everything, everything, was absolutely perfect.

The end.

I don't care that we're not quite at 50k. You guys deserve this.

Happy new year!