alexisjane (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alexisjane) wrote2015-07-30 10:53 am
alexisjane) wrote2015-07-30 10:53 am
Entry tags:
[FIC] Gazes Into You - 7/27
<<<<< Chapter Six / Masterpost
Chapter Seven
The process of waking up Jared was decidedly underwhelming. Mainly because he didn't actually wake up. The nurse came and unhooked whatever had been keeping him asleep. And that was it. Jensen stood huddled in the shadowed corner of the cubicle, biting at his thumbnail, like he hadn't done since high-school, wondering how in the hell he was going to explain his presence there, and hoping he didn't scare the poor guy to death.
The doctor had warned him that he wouldn't wake up straightaway but as nervous as he was, he felt horribly disappointed when the nurse finished what she was doing, smiled at him and just walked out. The ventilator was still working away, all the machines were still beeping and flashing. Jensen watched for a minute thinking maybe there might be a flicker of...something. Anything. But it was as it was before.
Jensen went out into the corridor and got out his phone.
The doc woke J up. But he's not conscious yet. Will let you know when he is.
He figured the nurse, Karen, would most likely be keeping Chris informed but it couldn't hurt to text him, that way Chris could keep tabs on him too. He thought about getting a coffee but the vending machine stuff was awful and he couldn't face trawling all the way up to the cafeteria for something that wasn't much better. Instead, he found himself back in Jared's little room, pulling up the plastic chair and opening Melville to the place where the words seemed to transition from familiar to new.
Jared had two more days on the respirator. Jensen came in after lunch on the third day to find it gone along with the bandage on his head. For a moment he just stood and stared, seeing the whole of Jared's face for the first time. His lips were red and sore and there was grey tape residue on his cheeks. The nurse hovering over him, was wiping at the sticky grey marks with a wet cotton ball. She worked away until they were almost gone before she noticed she wasn't alone. She glanced at Jensen and then gently brushed Jared's bangs off his face, carefully avoiding the single dressing on his forehead. "He tried to pull his tube out, so it was time."
Jensen blanched. "Is he awake?"
Karen shook her head as she placed a nasal cannula under his nose, and hooked the tubing around his ears. "He's going to be in and out for a while, I expect. He might open his eyes and then drift off again. He might even talk to you. Chances are though he won't remember it later." She put a reassuring hand on Jensen's arm as she passed by him. "It's all completely normal. We'll see how he does tonight and then he'll probably be transferred to an observation ward tomorrow."
Jensen nodded. Karen left and went about her day. And Jensen went about his. The plastic chair had been replaced with a more comfortable high-backed, padded chair, brought by the 'snooze fairies' according to Karen. Apparently, they couldn't stand the idea of anyone sleeping in the green one any longer. Jensen blushed and thanked her. It wasn't like he spent the night there or anything, but he did invariably end up dropping off and snoring quietly – "I do not snore", "I can hear you from the nurses station. I'm surprised Jared hasn’t woken up just to elbow you, already" – but then he would pick Melville off the floor and head home to his empty apartment, crawl into bed and cursing himself for acting like he was fourteen and lovesick, and would lay awake until he pulled Jared's t-shirt from under his pillow and wrapped himself in it.
~•~
The first time Jared woke up, Jensen thought it was a dream.
Jared did well off the ventilator – or at least Karen said so, although Jensen really didn't see any change – so he was transferred. After a bit of wrangling, they managed to find him a small private room, which had a view of nothing and a TV that didn't work. It was bizarrely quiet after ICU. The nurses were still doing frequent rounds, so there was a constant bustle, but Jensen got an upgrade in the chair department so he was pretty happy.
Chris came by once a day with news, or rather lack of it. The bar was a dead end. It wasn't flagged on anyone's system, so there was no reason to push it. His interview with Adrienne was unproductive. She basically regurgitated the same information she had given to Missing Persons and seemed pretty reluctant to add to it. "Plus, you could have told me how freaking tall she is?" Jensen mostly read the paper silently, read Melville aloud, and napped until the nurses woke him and he realized it was dark outside.
So when he opened his eyes on the third day, woken by something clattering in the hallway, and saw two dark hazel-green eyes staring straight at his, he figured he must still be asleep. Jared was looking at him, head tilted, pupils blown and they just stared at each other, not moving. Then Jared's lids slowly closed and his head turned away, and Jensen decided he was most definitely dreaming, let his eyes do the same and drifted back to sleep.
The second time Jared woke up, Jensen was reaching for his coffee and damn near ended up with third degree burns.
Chris had swung by after his shift ended, looking like he should be the one in a hospital bed. He looked exhausted and had a colorful bruise shading his cheek. Apparently, men who shoot their wives object strongly to going to prison for doing so. Still, Chris had got his man and even managed to pick up some burgers as well. They ate, ignoring the bitch face of the nurse when she came in to fill out Jared's chart, and talked about work.
There had been something bugging Jensen since the day he'd gone to meet him at the precinct. He'd tried to put it out of his mind but something about the quiet safety of the ward made Jensen finally get up the balls to ask Chris about it.
"So...I saw Brock at the precinct." Chris looked up wide-eyed and stopped chewing. Jensen shrugged and asked casually, "When did he get back?" before taking a huge bite from his burger.
Chris glared at him, then started slowly chewing again. He swallowed. "About six months ago." Jensen nodded, trying not to look too interested, but Chris wasn't buying it. "They've got him riding a desk in Fraud...I should have said something – "
"No, no, I just...I wasn't expecting to see him, I guess." Jensen paused and rearranged the wrapper on his burger so he could take another bite. "Is he...? How is he doing?"
Chris laughed. "Are you serious? Please don't tell me you're feeling sorry for the guy?"
Jensen looked disapprovingly at Chris. "It was a mistake, Chris. It's not like we haven't made them."
Chris swallowed down the last of his burger and balled the wrapper into the brown paper bag it had arrived in. "He shot you, Jensen. He may not have killed you but it was damn close and he sure as hell killed your career. As mistakes go, no. We haven't made any like that."
Jensen stopped like Chris had slapped him. It was always there. Always a reminder of one kind or another. But they usually didn't talk about it in quite those terms, never flat-out, factual, "you took a bullet to the chest". Chris changed the subject and rambled on until Jensen came back to himself.
But after Chris left, taking the trash with him, and Jensen decided he needed a coffee from the machine, it was still playing on his mind. Which is probably why he didn't notice that Jared had woken up until he sat back down in his comfy chair and picked up the newspaper.
Jared coughed and Jensen just about jumped out of his skin. The coffee slopped from the cup onto his jeans and he cursed as the hot liquid soaked straight through the fabric. He looked up and Jared was looking right at him. Jared licked his lips and whispered, "Are you a cop?" His voice was raspy from misuse, and probably from all the tubes that had been stuck down his throat.
Jensen was on his feet and bending over Jared in an instant. He reached for the button to call the nurse, saying, "No. No, but you're safe. You're in the hospital."
Jared smiled faintly. "My guardian angel, then?"
Jensen huffed out a laugh, but before the nurse burst in through the door, and he had a chance to get his brain in order to give a reply, Jared closed his eyes and drifted off again.
The following day, Jensen walked into Jared's room to find Jared sitting up, laughing with the nurse as she took his blood pressure, and Jensen felt like the bottom had fallen out of his world.
Jared looked over at him, questioningly at first but then he beamed. Fucking beamed. Dimples and all. He looked Jensen straight in the eye and said, "There you are! I wondered when you would be getting in."
Jensen thought he was going to puke. All the energy went out of his limbs. He had to drag himself forward, placing his coffee and Jared's copy of Moby Dick that always seemed to be in his, now shaking hands, onto the table near the door. He could feel Jared looking at him and could not bring his eyes up to meet his, no matter how hard he tried. He mumbled something about needing to call Chris and practically ran from the room, cursing the day he'd ever laid eyes on Jared Padalecki.
Chapter Seven
The process of waking up Jared was decidedly underwhelming. Mainly because he didn't actually wake up. The nurse came and unhooked whatever had been keeping him asleep. And that was it. Jensen stood huddled in the shadowed corner of the cubicle, biting at his thumbnail, like he hadn't done since high-school, wondering how in the hell he was going to explain his presence there, and hoping he didn't scare the poor guy to death.
The doctor had warned him that he wouldn't wake up straightaway but as nervous as he was, he felt horribly disappointed when the nurse finished what she was doing, smiled at him and just walked out. The ventilator was still working away, all the machines were still beeping and flashing. Jensen watched for a minute thinking maybe there might be a flicker of...something. Anything. But it was as it was before.
Jensen went out into the corridor and got out his phone.
The doc woke J up. But he's not conscious yet. Will let you know when he is.
He figured the nurse, Karen, would most likely be keeping Chris informed but it couldn't hurt to text him, that way Chris could keep tabs on him too. He thought about getting a coffee but the vending machine stuff was awful and he couldn't face trawling all the way up to the cafeteria for something that wasn't much better. Instead, he found himself back in Jared's little room, pulling up the plastic chair and opening Melville to the place where the words seemed to transition from familiar to new.
Jared had two more days on the respirator. Jensen came in after lunch on the third day to find it gone along with the bandage on his head. For a moment he just stood and stared, seeing the whole of Jared's face for the first time. His lips were red and sore and there was grey tape residue on his cheeks. The nurse hovering over him, was wiping at the sticky grey marks with a wet cotton ball. She worked away until they were almost gone before she noticed she wasn't alone. She glanced at Jensen and then gently brushed Jared's bangs off his face, carefully avoiding the single dressing on his forehead. "He tried to pull his tube out, so it was time."
Jensen blanched. "Is he awake?"
Karen shook her head as she placed a nasal cannula under his nose, and hooked the tubing around his ears. "He's going to be in and out for a while, I expect. He might open his eyes and then drift off again. He might even talk to you. Chances are though he won't remember it later." She put a reassuring hand on Jensen's arm as she passed by him. "It's all completely normal. We'll see how he does tonight and then he'll probably be transferred to an observation ward tomorrow."
Jensen nodded. Karen left and went about her day. And Jensen went about his. The plastic chair had been replaced with a more comfortable high-backed, padded chair, brought by the 'snooze fairies' according to Karen. Apparently, they couldn't stand the idea of anyone sleeping in the green one any longer. Jensen blushed and thanked her. It wasn't like he spent the night there or anything, but he did invariably end up dropping off and snoring quietly – "I do not snore", "I can hear you from the nurses station. I'm surprised Jared hasn’t woken up just to elbow you, already" – but then he would pick Melville off the floor and head home to his empty apartment, crawl into bed and cursing himself for acting like he was fourteen and lovesick, and would lay awake until he pulled Jared's t-shirt from under his pillow and wrapped himself in it.
~•~
The first time Jared woke up, Jensen thought it was a dream.
Jared did well off the ventilator – or at least Karen said so, although Jensen really didn't see any change – so he was transferred. After a bit of wrangling, they managed to find him a small private room, which had a view of nothing and a TV that didn't work. It was bizarrely quiet after ICU. The nurses were still doing frequent rounds, so there was a constant bustle, but Jensen got an upgrade in the chair department so he was pretty happy.
Chris came by once a day with news, or rather lack of it. The bar was a dead end. It wasn't flagged on anyone's system, so there was no reason to push it. His interview with Adrienne was unproductive. She basically regurgitated the same information she had given to Missing Persons and seemed pretty reluctant to add to it. "Plus, you could have told me how freaking tall she is?" Jensen mostly read the paper silently, read Melville aloud, and napped until the nurses woke him and he realized it was dark outside.
So when he opened his eyes on the third day, woken by something clattering in the hallway, and saw two dark hazel-green eyes staring straight at his, he figured he must still be asleep. Jared was looking at him, head tilted, pupils blown and they just stared at each other, not moving. Then Jared's lids slowly closed and his head turned away, and Jensen decided he was most definitely dreaming, let his eyes do the same and drifted back to sleep.
The second time Jared woke up, Jensen was reaching for his coffee and damn near ended up with third degree burns.
Chris had swung by after his shift ended, looking like he should be the one in a hospital bed. He looked exhausted and had a colorful bruise shading his cheek. Apparently, men who shoot their wives object strongly to going to prison for doing so. Still, Chris had got his man and even managed to pick up some burgers as well. They ate, ignoring the bitch face of the nurse when she came in to fill out Jared's chart, and talked about work.
There had been something bugging Jensen since the day he'd gone to meet him at the precinct. He'd tried to put it out of his mind but something about the quiet safety of the ward made Jensen finally get up the balls to ask Chris about it.
"So...I saw Brock at the precinct." Chris looked up wide-eyed and stopped chewing. Jensen shrugged and asked casually, "When did he get back?" before taking a huge bite from his burger.
Chris glared at him, then started slowly chewing again. He swallowed. "About six months ago." Jensen nodded, trying not to look too interested, but Chris wasn't buying it. "They've got him riding a desk in Fraud...I should have said something – "
"No, no, I just...I wasn't expecting to see him, I guess." Jensen paused and rearranged the wrapper on his burger so he could take another bite. "Is he...? How is he doing?"
Chris laughed. "Are you serious? Please don't tell me you're feeling sorry for the guy?"
Jensen looked disapprovingly at Chris. "It was a mistake, Chris. It's not like we haven't made them."
Chris swallowed down the last of his burger and balled the wrapper into the brown paper bag it had arrived in. "He shot you, Jensen. He may not have killed you but it was damn close and he sure as hell killed your career. As mistakes go, no. We haven't made any like that."
Jensen stopped like Chris had slapped him. It was always there. Always a reminder of one kind or another. But they usually didn't talk about it in quite those terms, never flat-out, factual, "you took a bullet to the chest". Chris changed the subject and rambled on until Jensen came back to himself.
But after Chris left, taking the trash with him, and Jensen decided he needed a coffee from the machine, it was still playing on his mind. Which is probably why he didn't notice that Jared had woken up until he sat back down in his comfy chair and picked up the newspaper.
Jared coughed and Jensen just about jumped out of his skin. The coffee slopped from the cup onto his jeans and he cursed as the hot liquid soaked straight through the fabric. He looked up and Jared was looking right at him. Jared licked his lips and whispered, "Are you a cop?" His voice was raspy from misuse, and probably from all the tubes that had been stuck down his throat.
Jensen was on his feet and bending over Jared in an instant. He reached for the button to call the nurse, saying, "No. No, but you're safe. You're in the hospital."
Jared smiled faintly. "My guardian angel, then?"
Jensen huffed out a laugh, but before the nurse burst in through the door, and he had a chance to get his brain in order to give a reply, Jared closed his eyes and drifted off again.
The following day, Jensen walked into Jared's room to find Jared sitting up, laughing with the nurse as she took his blood pressure, and Jensen felt like the bottom had fallen out of his world.
Jared looked over at him, questioningly at first but then he beamed. Fucking beamed. Dimples and all. He looked Jensen straight in the eye and said, "There you are! I wondered when you would be getting in."
Jensen thought he was going to puke. All the energy went out of his limbs. He had to drag himself forward, placing his coffee and Jared's copy of Moby Dick that always seemed to be in his, now shaking hands, onto the table near the door. He could feel Jared looking at him and could not bring his eyes up to meet his, no matter how hard he tried. He mumbled something about needing to call Chris and practically ran from the room, cursing the day he'd ever laid eyes on Jared Padalecki.