Chapter 91
“Where’s my chocolate?” she demanded.
“Should you be up yet?” Dad asked.
“Come off it, Dad, they’d already discharged me by now with Flora,” Jenny said flippantly.
“Er,” Eli said. “When was he actually born?”
“About two in the morning,” Dad said, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Alright, alright. Let’s, uh. Let’s go up and see Rob.”
Eli bit his lip, wondering if it really was a good idea to let them. “Um,” he said. “How about you get Jenny her chocolate, and give me…ten minutes? Ten minutes to make sure he’s up for it. He was pretty groggy earlier, and Danny’s with him and Danny wears people out normally never mind…”
Jenny gave him an anxious look. “Okay,” she said, “but even if he’s asleep I want to see for myself he’s alright.”
Eli nodded, and slipped away. He took the stairs, unwilling to wait for the busy lifts, and near-ran back to Rob’s ward with the full intention of giving the man as much warning time as possible. Rob would kill Eli later for letting Dad see him less than up and fighting, but Eli could see he wasn’t going to get a second chance at this, so—
Danny jumped and nearly spilled his cup of orange juice when Eli slipped back into the cubicle and closed the curtains behind him. The smell of bleach was eye-wateringly powerful. “The fuck?” Danny demanded, hastily putting the cup down. A slow smirk crossed Rob’s face, but his eyes were half-lidded and drowsy.
“Hey, savage,” Eli whispered, stooping over the bed to kiss him gently. “How you feeling?”
“Sick,” Danny supplied. “He’s on fluids. They tried giving him OJ, so he fuckin’ puked all over the floor, then nearly punched a nurse ‘cause it hurt so fucking much.”
Eli winced. “You feeling any better now?” he whispered, stroking both hands through Rob’s hair.
“Mm.”
“They upped his drugs,” Danny supplied. “He’s in and out a bit.”
Eli grimaced. “Rob? You actually with me?”
“Uh-huh,” Rob mumbled before yawning widely. “Sit m’up?”
Eli and Danny exchanged wary looks, then Danny shrugged and fumbled for the buttons on the bedframe. “Your funeral,” he said.
Rob went a funny shade of grey as the head of the bed rose, but—thank God—he didn’t throw up or pass out.
Eli perched gingerly on the mattress beside him, and slid his arms around Rob’s shoulders in an awkward hug. But a needed one, judging by the way Rob turned his face into Eli despite his younger brother’s presence.
“Jenny wants to see you,” Eli said.
“Jen?”
“Mm. She’s had the baby but she’s worried about you. She’s coming to see you.”
“What, now?” Danny asked.
“Yeah.”
“Is she bringing the baby?”
“Yeah.”
“Sweet,”Danny said, and grinned lecherously. “Fit bird with a new baby and no bloke in the picture? I’m there.”
“Her old man ain’t worth the trouble,” Rob advised sleepily.
Eli laughed quietly, kissing the top of his head.
“Actually, Dad just apologised to me for ragging on you all the time and misjudging you.”
“You what?” Danny said, and started sniggering. “The great Chief Inspector Bell apologised for something? Fuck off.” The off was drawled into orrrfff.
Eli rolled his eyes even as he smiled at Rob’s stuttered, painful laugh.
“He did,” Eli said quietly. “And he’s going to apologise to you, too.”
“Mate, no fucker tell you it’s fucking rude to lie to people who’re high on morphine?”
“S’not morphine…”
“Might as well be fucking morphine, state o’ you.”
Eli smiled, pressing his nose against the crown of Rob’s head, and slid off the bed when his phone buzzed. Undoubtedly Mum. “They’ll be up in a minute,” he said, and kissed Rob on the corner of the mouth. “Love you.”
He got a fuzzily confused look in reply, and a snigger from Danny, but ignored them both and retreated. His family were clustered in the ward corridor, looking suitably confused. He steeled himself.
“He’s really fuzzy,” Eli said, looking his father right in the eye, “and if he reacts badly to you guys being there, you’re out. He’s got a scratched liver and a big hole in his side and I’m having him out of hospital and home soon, not in several weeks because you pissed him off and he ripped his stitches.”
Mum made a little noise, but Eli ignored her and turned on his heel, returning to the cubicle. By the time Mum pushed Jenny through the half-open curtains, Eli had resumed his position on the mattress beside his boyfriend.
Rob stiffened and squeezed him tightly when his sharp wariness broke through the drugs.