HEAL

3 -- HEARTS AND MINDS

Warning  --  Description of Injuries.

Laurent left in a hurry, virtually running out of the ER department.  Still more than annoyed at the too slow sliding glass doors he had encountered on his way in.  Unlocking his car, he threw himself on to the drivers seat, slamming the heavy door shut behind him.  He grabbed the steering wheel tight enough for his knuckles to turn white, banging his forehead, not so softly, against the centre of it.  His tears fell unabated, the breath in his lungs squeezing out of it's own accord, only to have to heave them full of air again, against his own wishes, his body betraying him.

He was scared.  Scared shitless, if truth be told.  Scared for Larry, for himself, for "Les Twins", though why he was scared for the latter, he didn't know, they no longer existed.  If Larry could barely function, there would definitely be no dancing.  Even if he didn't have the head injury, he had broken both of his legs anyway.  Well, that put paid to that, then.  No more "Les Twins".  That would be the least of his worries, as it would turn out.

A knock at the passengers window startled him slightly, and he unlocked the door for Eleni to get in.  She sat for a minute just looking at Laurent's pained and pitiful face, his tears still silently falling as she wiped away her own.  

"Doesn't look good, Lau"

"Ya think ?"  he replied loudly.

"OK, OK !  I know you're hurt and confused, and .... "

"Doesn't even BEGIN to describe how I feel, Eleni"  he told her, shaking his head, staring out of the windshield at nothing in particular.  "I've lost him.  He's gone"

"You don't know that, Laurent.  We don't know the extent of his ..... "

"Brain damage ?  Disability ?  Dysfunction ?"  The last one hurt even to imagine, let alone to say  "VEG-E-TA-TIVE STATE ?  I've always hated those words, now I have reason to hate them even more"  He cried harder.  "Everything we've worked for, everything we've built, all the blood, sweat and tears, gone, just like that."  He hiccuped another breath  --  All we meant to each other, all the memories, all the fights, all the love  --  he wanted to say, but couldn't.  

"Laurent ?  Don't take this the wrong way, but Larry wasn't exactly ..... with it, the last few months, was he ?  Maybe ..... "  She couldn't finish her sentence.  She didn't even want to finish her thought.  She wouldn't wish this on her worst enemy, let alone Larry, as fucked up as he had been recently.  

Laurent sat bolt upright all of a sudden, more awful thoughts flooding his already overwhelmed and exhausted mind.  What felt like physical pain lurched through his body.  

"I have to tell them, don't I ?  I have to tell everyone.  Mama will want to be with him, our friends, sponsors, endorsements, OH MY GOD, Lilo !  Princess, what the fuck am I gonna tell her ..... "  Everything was too much all of a sudden, and he started to hyperventilate.  

"Head between your knees, Lau.  There ya go."  He pushed his seat back, as Eleni pushed his head down between his legs, telling him to take deep breaths.  After a few minutes, his breathing was better.  Eventually he straightened up to look at her.

"Is this what it's gonna be like from now on, Eleni ?  Constantly fighting for breath ?  My heart and my mind, constantly battling it out all the time ?  My heart in shreds because he isn't here anymore ?"  Eleni enveloped Laurent in her arms now, shushing, smoothing his hair, kissing it gently.  Ever the optimist, 

"We can't fight what we can't see, Lau.  We need to wait, and it might be a long wait, to see how he is.  Things might be better, they might be worse, than we think.  You might be surprised ... "  She thought again, "Then again you might not.  He's a fighter, Lau, and he loves you, boy, does HE LOVE YOU !  So, when he knows, when he FEELS, that he has to get better for you, then we'll have a fight on our hands.  And we'll win, I know we will."  The tone of her voice left no room for doubt.  As Eleni rocked Laurent in her arms in the front seat of his car, they cried together for their lost brother and friend.