Picking up the Pieces

The Hospital

            Jeff awoke in a brightly lit room. He opened his eyes and squinted against the harshness of it. Everything hurt; his head, his arms, his whole body. He groaned and a voice nearby spoke.

            “Jeff? Babe, can you hear me?” Nick asked gently.

            “Nick?” Jeff said quietly.

            “I’m right here babe, how are you feeling?” Nick took Jeff’s hand in his own and kissed his knuckles.

            “Everything hurts,” Jeff said quietly, turning his head slightly to look at his boyfriend.

            “I know baby. I’ll go get the nurse, okay?” Nick went to get up, but Jeff tightened his grip on his boyfriend's hand.

            “Please,” Jeff whispered, tears welling up in his eyes, “Don’t leave me.” Nick leaned down and stroked the only part of Jeff’s face that wasn’t cut up or bruised, kissing his forehead gently.

            "Shush, shush, it's okay. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."

            Tears were streaming freely down Jeff's face now and a sob escaped his throat, his body screaming in pain when it did. The pain only made him cry harder, a vicious cycle that he didn't know how to stop.

            "Shhh, shhh, Jeff, babe it's okay. I'm here, you're alright," Nick whispered, trying to calm the blonde boy down.

            "What's going on here?" a nurse asked, walking in to the room, "I said you could stay so long as you didn't upset him when he woke up. Now, out!"

            "No!" Jeff said loudly, "No! Nick, don't leave me! Please! It's not his fault! Don't make him go!" Jeff looked desperately at the nurse as Nick continued trying to hush him.

            "Shhh, hush now, Jeff. It's okay," Nick sid quietly, gently running his fingers through Jeff's blonde hair.

            "Alright, alright, he doesn't have to leave," the nurse said, hurrying over, "But you do need to calm down."

            "Everything hurts," Jeff whimpered and the nurse nodded sympathetically.

            "I know dear," she said kindly, "Here, this will help with the pain." She injected something into the IV as Nick watched.

            "What is that?" he asked.

            "Morphine," she said, "It'll help with the pain, but it'll also make him very tired. Now, we still need his parent's number." She looked at Nick expectantly, but Jeff spoke first.

            "Don't call them," he said quietly, already starting to fall back asleep, "They won't care. They'll just be disappointed those guys didn't finish me off."

            "We to call someone, an adult," she said gently.

            "Kurt," Jeff said, looking at Nick through tired eyes, "His dad." Nick nodded and gave the nurse the phone number. She left and Nick sat on the edge of the bed.

            "Kurt's dad will help us," Nick said, "We'll have to call your parents at some point, but I'm sure Kurt's dad will do what he can to keep you safe."

            Jeff was silent for a few moments before reaching out and tugging on his boyfriend's sleeve.

            Nick looked down at his boyfriend. "C'mere," he said, leaning back and Jeff attempted to move to rest on his boyfriend's shoulder. Nick slowly and carefully helped the other boy up until he was leaning against Nick.

            "I love you," Jeff breathed.

            "I love you too," Nick said, kissing Jeff's temple gently. "Now, go to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up."

Alright, so for some reason, at whatever point it was that I thought of this story, I really liked the idea of Jeff not having the greatest parents and sort of being taken in by Kurt and his family. It was a bit of a head cannon I had that the Warblers would've spent lots of time at Kurt's house, Jeff and Nick especially because it would've been safe for them.

I hope you liked this chapter! Thanks so much for reading! New chapter next Monday!