Falling

Part 7

*5 days later.*
Platz' pov.

I'm in the hospital with Dan. It's Christmas Eve tonight but he has to stay longer. I don't like it at all. Camille invited us to her christmas dinner with the family and her non-biological brother. He came all the way from London to be here. Ralph had gone back to Leeds to celebrate Christmas with his parents and Greg was in Ireland. And Ben was in Vegas with his family. That left me and Dan. And Mac, but he didn't want to leave his little brother alone. And they didn't celebrate Christmas with the family this year. They also didn't last year. The loss of their mum had drifted them apart. Only Mac and Dan were close but they were still fighting all the time. Camille had also invited Mac because he would he alone otherwise but he said he woudn't come if we didn't. So now he had no where to stay either then with me and Dan at the hospital. We had put a little fake Christmas tree on the nightstand and some other decorations across the room but it wasn't nice. Not at all.
I'm drifting away in my toughts when the door opens. A nurse comes in. "I have an offer for you. Dan can go home tonight to celebrate Christmas but he has to be back here tomorrow." she tells me. "Serious?" I ask her. "Yes, he will have to sit in a wheelchair of course and he needs a lot of care, but then he can go for tonight." "Thank you." I say and i can't hide my smile anymore. I wake Dan. "Dan, come on. Wake up. We can go home for Christmas." I say to him and his eyes shot open. "We can go?" He askes me in disbelieve. "Yes, you will have to sit in a wheelchair. And I need to take care of you. And you have to be back tomorrow but you can go for tonight." I say and Dan also can't stop smiling. I help him put on some fresh clothes and when I have done that I call Camille. She picks up after a few rings. "Hi twin, what's up?" She asks me. "Dan can come home for Christmas tonight. He is a wheelchair tough, and has to be back tomorrow but he can join tonight. So we will be joining you for dinner and we need to borrow your shower." I say to her. "That's great! I will come and get you. Make sure you are ready, I'll be there in 20." she says and hungs up. The same nurse as before comes in with a wheelchair and I help Dan get into it. He shifts his weight until he is comfortable. I put a beanie on his head, gloves on his hands and a scarf around his neck. I help him into his coat and then we are ready to go. I check if I have my phone and wallet and we walk out of the room. We can just go, no papers to sign or anything. We walk to the elevators and I press the botton to go downstairs. The doors open and we get in. I press the botton of the right floor and the doors close again. I feel us going down and when the doors open again I can see the outside world. It had been snowing yesterday and everything is still white. A white Christmas. Nice. We go outside and I see Camille walking towards us already. "Dan! Daniel!" She says to us and we all laugh. "Let's go back to the car before any of us catchtes a cold. Have you told Mac yet that Christmas isn't canceled after all?" She asks me. "No I haven't!" I say suprised. He must be on his way here already because he would be here with us. "Let me push Dan for a sec so that you can call him." Camille says so I stop and she pushes Dan. He keeps looking at me, almost with a pleading look. He haven't had enough time yet to completely trust Camille yet and this is freaking him out. I pull my phone out and call Mac. "Hi." he just says. "Hi Mac. Christmas dinner tonight." I say and smile again. I still can't believe it actually. "What? They let Dan go?" He yells in suprise. "Yes! Only for tonight, and he is in a wheelchair of course but he can go celebrate Christmas. And it's a white one!" I say. "Text me the adress and I'll be on my way." Mac says and hungs up. I check my messages and see that I have one from Josh from To Kill A King. "Hi! How are you doing? We are doing a little bit better here. Ben is off to America to celebrate Christmas with his sister he hasn't seen for 8 years so me, Grant and Taffel are all alone. Grant has to work tomorrow and Ben also found a job but it isn't paying that well. So actually life is still pretty misarable but we are fine and happy. Merry Christmas to everyone and I'll speak with you later." it says. I write a respons back. "Hi. We are fine. Dan can come home for Christmas so I'm happy about that. And we have dinner at my sister tonight. I really hope you will have it better soon. Merry Christmas to you guys too." is what I have written. I put my phone back again and we get to Camille's car. I help Dan in and put his wheelchair in the trunk. I sit in the back with him and he leans against me. Camille starts talking. "My brother Ben is coming from London and I haven't seen him in 8 years." she says. "Wait a sec. Your brother is Ben Jackson?" I ask her. "Yeah, how do you know that?" She asks me back. "I know him. well, met him once. But did you pay for his ticket or so?" "Yeah, I did. And how the hell do you know that?" She asks me. "I talk to one of his friends once in a while. And he just texted me and said that Ben was to america to celebrate Christmas with his sister he hadn't seen in 8 years. So when you said that the pieces started to come together." I say and she hums. "More familliar faces then. The only people you won't know are my husband and kids then." she says and I feel Dan stiffen. "Kids?" He askes very carefully. "Yes, Kids. 2 of them. Don't you like kids?" She says to Dan. "I love kids, just not when I'm in a wheelchair. They want to sit on your lap and stuff and I'm not ready for that." Dan says and I totally understand it. "Don't worry Dan. When I tell them not to do that they won't." Camille says back. He seems to relax a bit and soon enough we arrive at Camille's house. I help Dan back into the wheelchair and up the steps to the frontdoor but when we come inside it's this open space with a kitchen island and it looks amazing. It's very modern but cosy at the same time, maybe that is because not everthing is white. Only the walls are and everything else is a different colour. I love it. I see Dan look around too and not soon after that 2 kids, both about 8 years old come down the stairs. They stand next to Camille and she hugs them. "Kyle, Luke, this is my twin brother Daniel." she points at me and i give a little wave. "And this is his boyfriend Dan." she says and points at Dan. He just smiles. "Dan is very shy so be carefull about that. And he also doesn't like if you try to sit on his lap or climb his wheelchair." She says to the kids and they nod. They run off again and Camille looks at us. "You really need a haircut Dan. And that beard is also a bit big." She says to Dan and he seems to shrink. "But take off your coat first." she says and we do so. "I'll wash it. Come on Dan." I say and help him up. I swing him over my shoulder and walk upstairs. I put him down on a stool that stands there. "We can't put you in the shower because of your arm and leg, so we will just use the sink to wash your hair and cut that beard." Camille says. She get some shampoo and scissors and we drag the stool a bit so that it is closer to the sink. I open the watertap and water comes out. Dan leans backwards until his hair is all wet and Camille puts some shampoo in. I rub it in very carefully because there are still spots of his skull that are vunerable. After I washed it out again Camille hands me the scissors. "Dan, I'm going to cut your hair now. Don't move please." I say and start. 10 minutes later his hair looks normal again. Of course it's not perfect, but it looks alright. I move on to his beard and after a while it is short again. I dry his hair and pick him up. He tries to get away. "Dan, come on. You'll have to let me take you. How will you come downstairs otherwise?" I say and he nods. I swing him over my shoulder again and walk downstairs. I carefully put him down in his wheelchair and on that moment the doorbell rings. Camille is still upstairs so I go to open it. It is Ben. "Hi Ben!" I say and he looks at me with a very weird look. "Just come in, I'll will explain it." I say and he steps in. He takes his coat off and hangs it away. He follows me into the living room and he sees Dan. "What happened?" He askes Dan. "Nothing." Dan says and Ben still doesn't seem to understand it. I hear that Camille is coming down the stairs. She appears next to me and I suddenly see Ben looking at us in shock. "My god. I understand it now. You finally found you long lost twin. Why didn't I see this before?" Ben asks himself. "It doesn't matter, we found each other now." I say and smile. "I really need to get started on dinner. Oh Ben, let me introduce you to the kids." Camille says. "We haven't even hugged yet." Ben says and he pulls a sad face. Camille turns around and hugs him. "It's good to see you again." Camille says to Ben. "It's good to see you too." he says back and the kids come running in. " "Kyle, Luke. This is your other uncle Ben." she says to them and they wave at Ben. He waves back and he smiles. They come closer and try to take Ben's hat. He runs away from them and they go after him. He runs around the table and they run after him. Ben really is good with kids. They run around the table for a while and Camille is in the kitchen, preparing dinner. Dan is sitting next to the couch and I sit next to him, on the couch. We are just looking at Ben and the kids. I really want to have kids one day, but I don't know what Dan thinks about it. The kids finally leave Ben's hat and he sits next to me on the couch. "How are things going?" I ask him. "A little better. I found a job, so that means more money. But we still don't have much to spend. Can't you talk some sense into Ralph, he won't even answer my calls." Ben tells me. "I'm sorry for you, but I might have a little solution. Since Wayne left Ralph has been playing with us, and if he doesn't want to go back to you guys Grant can come play with us. It would mean a lot more money." I say and Ben looks at me in suprise. "Ask Ralph first, I quite liked life as a musician. But if that isn't possible we will sent Grant. We really need the money." Ben says to me and after that we just stare into space, no words spoken. Dan is falling asleep with his head on my shoulder and I let him. It's pretty exhausting for him right now, all these new things. When is is really asleep I carefully stand up and move him onto the couch. I place a blanket over him and sit somewhere else. The doorbell rings again and I stand up to get it. It's Mac. "Hi." I say. "Hi" he says back. He puts his coat away and walks into the livingroom. He spots Dan and sits on the ground next to him. He goes trough his hair and a smile forms on Dan's lips. It looks so cute. Camille comes in and the kids run after her. I think it is Kyle who gives the hat back to Ben. He smiles and takes it, but puts it back on Kyle head. He runs away again, totally happy. "Do you have another one?" Camille asks. "Uum no, but I can do without." Ben says. "I have a beanie somewhere, you prefer them anyway. I'll look for it after dinner." she says to him and turns to Mac. "Well, that's Ben. My non-biological brother. And then we have the kids Kyle and Luke. And my husband Mike, but he is not home yet." Camille says and Mac just nods before looking back at Dan. The doorbell rings. "Speak of the devil." Camille says and walks to the hall. "You have keys remember." I hear her say before she comes back into the living room, Mike following her. "Mike, this is my twin brother Daniel." She says while she points at me. "The one on the couch is Dan, his boyfriend. And the one sitting on the ground is Mac, Dan's brother. And then we have Ben, my non-biological brother." she says and Mike nods and smiles at us. "Could anyone wake Dan? Dinner is almost ready." Cam says but she looks at me, knowing that Dan won't freak out if he wakes and sees me. I gently shake Dan a bit and his eyes slowly open. "Dan, dinner is ready. Come on." I say and he tries to sit up but he can't. Mac helps him up and back in his wheelchair and I push him to the table. Camille did a awesome job decorating it, but I notice that Dan is sitting too low. I walk back to the couch and get a little blanket where Dan can sit on so that he sits high enough. I help him so that he can sit on it and this time he sits high enough. Camille puts plate full of food infront of us and she joins us. "Enjoy your meal." she says and we start eating. I actually wait a few seconds before Dan is eating before I start. I'm so concentrated on Dan and checking that he is eating that I didn't even notice that my food fell off my fork. Luckily no one saw it. Dan is eating like a mad man so I just concetrate on mine now. When I have finished my plate I look at Dan. He is looking at me in panic and it looks like he is going to be sick. I stand up and roll his wheelchair to the sink and he pukes. I look the other way and turn the water on. I hear him puking some more and then it goes quiet. I look back and he bows his head in shame. "Hey Dan, It doesn't matter. It takes a while." I say but he doesn't look at me. He tries to get away, but with one arm it's not working. Camille is sitting next to him now. "Dan. Look at me." she says and he looks up. "It doesn't matter. I how how much you enjoyed the food, so I really don't care. I'll make something else for you, and don't eat it all at once this time." she says and smiles. She stands up and walks back to the table to clear all the plates. When she has done that everyone is just chatting and I'm still here comforting Dan. He won't stop crying. As always he is crying silently, and I seriously think that that is not good. I try to stop him but he is just too upset. In the mean time Camille is cooking something else for Dan. It smells lovely but that seems to upset him even more. Cam gives me a plate and I look at what is on it. Some meat and carrots. "I know it is not much, but I don't have much else." she says and I just nod. Dan won't ever eat it now. "Dan, come on. Eat some." I say and he shakes his head. "Come on, you promised me." I say and he looks up. "I'm sorry." he says and looks down again. "Dan, come on. Please, for me?" I ask. He looks back up and he gets the fork. He takes one big bite of the carrots and swallows it. He looks at the meat and then at his arm. "I'll cut that for you." I say and slice it in little pieces before giving it back. He takes another bite and slowly chews. He is slower this time, not wanting to puke it all out again. When his plate is finally empty again everyone is already sitting in the living room, drinking coffee and chatting. I put the plate away and push Dan in that direction. I place his wheelchair next to the couch again and sit on the couch. Cam smiles and me and I smile back. Dan is fallling asleep again and I notice that I'm too. His head is on my shoulder and my head is resting against his. My eyes fall close and it goes dark.