The Pros and Cons of Loving

up my leg. His hand rested on my knee.

“I… I don’t…” I said, looking around.

“You don’t what? Want me to tell your father you’re gay?” Luke whispered, sliding his hand farther up my leg. “I could, you know. I could tell him everything… he’d disown you.”

I suddenly felt like I couldn’t breathe. My chest was tight and I just couldn’t seem to catch my breath. “D-Don’t touch me.” I whimpered, scooting back hard and ramming my back into the safety guard on the bed. “Don’t fucking touch me.”

I felt him looking at me and he said something, but I couldn’t hear it.

“You… you promised you wouldn’t tell.”

“And I won’t, baby… but don’t you think you should do something for me in return?”

“I-I’m… I’m only twelve.” I whispered, not feeling right. This wasn’t right…. It wasn’t right at all.

“But you’re so mature for twelve. And so pretty. You’re skin is so soft, Eric.” His hand slid up my shirt and he began touching my stomach.

“Please don’t.” I scooted away from him on the couch. “I’m ready to go home.”

“It won’t hurt. It feels nice.” He said, sliding his hand up my leg again.

I closed my eyes tightly, trying to make it easier to breathe. Why was I doing this? Why was I shaking? Why couldn’t I quit thinking about this?

Aiden asked something, sitting up.

“Don’t touch me.” I whimpered.

He said something again, taking his hand off of my arm.

“It doesn’t feel nice… it doesn’t feel nice.”

He put his hand on my arm again and made me look into his eyes. I began to cry, shaking my head.

He pulled me close to him, rubbing my back. I didn’t want him too. I didn’t want to be touched.

“Get… get off.” I whimpered, pushing at him. “Get off.”

He let me go and I scooted back again, trying to catch my breath.

“If you don’t quit, I’ll tell your dad.” Luke said, sounding different. I had never heard him sound so… mean before.

“Please don’t tell Dad…” I whispered.

“I won’t, if you be good.”

“I… I don’t want you to touch me like that.” I said, getting even quieter.

“Well I don’t care, really.” Luke said, and suddenly he had pulled me up. “You’re such a beautiful boy, Eric. I love it when your eyes are big like that… you are very sexy when you’re scared.”

“Eric, why are you acting so scared?” Aiden pleaded. “What’s wrong?”

“Don’t fucking touch me! Don’t touch me! Stop!” I screamed. I took a deep breath, trying to let air fill my lungs. Maybe if I could breathe right I would feel better… I would feel better and quit remembering this.

I felt his hand on mine. “Eric… what’s wrong?” his voice cracked.

“Don’t touch me!” I wretched my arm from him.

“Please… just take me home.” I whispered.

He shook his head and grabbed my hand, roughly pulling me towards his bedroom.

“You’ll have to excuse the mess. I don’t normally expect company, you know. Especially company as grand as you, Eric.”

I began shaking. I wanted my mom, my dad. Anyone to get me out of this. Why had I let him kiss me all of those times before?

“Now you’re gonna be a good boy so I don’t tell daddy, aren’t you?” he whispered cruelly, lying me on the bed.

“Leave him alone, Aiden… Gerard went for help.” I heard Frank saying.

“H-He isn’t right!” Aiden said, sounding hysterical. “Eric, baby—.” I felt him touch my arm.

I stumbled off of the bed, almost tripping. It happened in a bed… it happened in a fucking bed.

“Don’t look so scared, Eric… I promise, you’ll like it.”

“I want to go home. Please let me go home.” I said, tears filling my eyes.

“Don’t cry… it’s nothing to be scared about.”

“I don’t want to be around you! You’re scaring me!” I began to sob. “Let me go home. You don’t have to drive me! I’ll walk! Just let me go!”

“Eric quit being such a baby.” He said, yanking my shirt off.

“Let me go!” I began to sob even harder. “I’ll tell my dad!”

“You’ll tell your dad nothing because he’d know you wanted it.” Luke said, sliding his hand down my chest.

I shuddered.

“It’ll be fine, Eric. Just quit whining.” Luke whispered, unbuttoning my jeans.

I continued crying, begging him to let me go. He pulled my pants off, leaving me only in my boxers.

“Let me go!” I suddenly screamed, kicking out at him.

He smacked me across the face, making me see stars.

“Do you want me to tell your dad? Do you?! Do you think this is funny Eric?! DO YOU?!” he smacked me again. “It isn’t boy. Do you hear me.”

“It’s rape.” I sobbed. “Let me go.”

“You can’t rape the willing.” He hissed.

“Eric, what is wrong? What are you feeling?” someone asked. I had never seen the person before.

I looked at them, not really seeing them. “Do… Don’t touch me. Please. Don’t touch me.” I whispered.

“I won’t touch you… I’m not touching you. Now I want you to step out into the hallway and talk to me.”

“No!” I began to cry again.

“Okay, okay. We’ll talk here. Can you breathe, Eric?”

“Leave me alone!” I sobbed.

“Now if you don’t shut up I will make you shut up, Eric. Do you understand?” he said, raising his hand by my face again.

I stared at his hand, feeling my cheek burning.

I swallowed and nodded, tears still in my eyes. I have a watery hiccough, then closed my eyes and prayed he didn’t hit me.

“Now really, Eric. You act as if I’m trying to murder you or something.” Luke laughed. He slid my boxers down and I began to cry again. I felt his hands on me and I bit my lip, trying not to cry.

He began touching me and I tried not to like it. I let out a moan and a sob at the same time.

“You know you like that, Aiden… it’s okay. Moan for me again.”

I began to cry.

“Yes, I know. It’s rather uncomfortable being hard isn’t it?” he whispered.

“Please…” I whispered back.

“Say ‘please’ again.” Luke whispered.

My eyes lit up. Was he going to let me go?

“Say it, Eric… say it. Tell me you need it.”

“Please… I need it…” I whispered. I needed to go home! Maybe I’d been over reacting!

He bent down and took me in his mouth. My eyes widened in shock. And then I began to cry because I was so frustrated. How could I have been so stupid? Like he was going to let me go!

“Hush you’re crying.” He hissed. “Roll over.”

I began to cry even harder.

“I said roll over, Eric. Or your father finds out.”

I rolled over, sobbing.

I heard a zipper and closed my eyes.

I wasn’t here… I was at home in my room in bed, going to sleep.

I felt him climbing on me and I began shaking again, willing myself gone or dead. Then he was roughly pushing into me. I let out a scream of pain and felt his hands on my shoulders.

I couldn’t believe this was happening… I was in shock. I… I was being raped. Raped by someone who… I was in total shock. I just couldn’t accept it… but it was happening. It was happening and it hurt…

“It’ll go away soon.” Luke whispered, thrusting into me again. “Now shut up.”

I bit my lip to keep from screaming again, not wanting to be hit.

It didn’t go away… it just got worse and worse. Until it all went black.

Gerard’s POV

“Eric, calm down.” The doctor said, touching Eric’s arm.

“Leave me the fuck alone!” Eric shouted, pushing the man back. “Don’t touch me!”

“Young man, you need to calm down.” The doctor said.

“Dad, let me up.” Aiden pleaded. “I can help.”

“Aiden, stay in bed… you’re sick.”

“He needs me!” Aiden said hysterically, then went into a coughing fit.

“He needs to calm down.” The doctor repeated, touching Eric again. “As does your son.”

It was like the doctor was trying to push Eric over the edge. I felt myself growing angrier at the doctor by the second. I had told myself I’d let him handle it, he was the doctor after all. But Eric was scared shitless and this man… he was making it worse. I had to stop this.

“Quit touching him!” I said as Eric began to cry even harder, shoving the doctor from him.

“I am trying to help.” The doctor snapped.

“You aren’t! You’re scaring him!” I said, rushing over there. “Now get your fucking hands off of him and leave. Please.”

“Gerard, what on Earth—.” Frank began.

Eric began to calm slightly after the doctor left. I gave a small sigh of relief and look at him. I knew everything he was going through… I had been there before. I knew he’d be okay eventually, but I also know how alone he felt. It didn’t matter that he had Aiden, Frank, and I.

“Eric, listen to me…” I whispered. “I’m not gonna touch you… I just want to talk… I got him to leave, okay? Now listen.”

He looked at me. I was talking quietly, because I didn’t want Aiden and Frank to hear. I don’t think he would have either. If he hadn’t been so scared I would have led him outside, but he was listening and I didn’t want to ruin that.

“Listen… I know what you’re going through… I know how you feel.” I whispered. “I know you don’t want to hear it… I know now you’re fucking confused and scared… but it gets easier… and yeah, things set you off… but one day it gets easier.”

“It doesn’t… it’s been four years.”

I looked at him, taking in his appearance. He was paler than usual, his hands were still shaking. I hated that I knew what he was going through… and that I knew there was nothing anyone could do to make him feel better. Eric didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve it at all.

“I know… but it will get better. Trust me. I know what you’re going through.”

“No you don’t! How could you possibly know what I’m going through?!” Eric shouted.

“I… I just do!”

“Quit acting like you know everything about me! Like you know what I’m going through! FUCK YOU! You fucking hate me and I know it! You don’t know what I’m going through! You don’t care! QUIT ACTING LIKE YOU CARE ABOUT ME!”

I grabbed Eric, pulling him close to me. “I don’t hate you, Eric. Don’t you ever think that… and I know what you’re going through because I was raped too… my dad raped me when I was fourteen.”

Eric slowly looked up at me, tears in his gray eyes. “Really?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah… he did.” I said.

He buried his head in my chest and began to cry. I couldn’t believe I had ever hated him. He was easily one of the nicest people I had ever known. When I’d first met him, though, I had blamed him for Aiden hating me. Maybe because Aiden quit talking to me when he quit experimenting with drugs. Eric had made him quit taking drugs… I was stupid though and I saw that now. But now it was too late because Eric thought I hated him.

Now though, I just… I loved him. He had helped Aiden quit hurting himself, he made Aiden happier. And it would be hard to not love someone that could make Aiden so happy.

I rubbed his back. “It’s okay… it’s going to be okay.” I whispered. “And I don’t hate you. I do care about you. I love you.”

He began to cry even harder, nodding. His arms went around me and I hugged him, kissing the top of his head. I had never loved this kid more than I did in that moment.

Frank’s POV

Gerard kissed the top of Eric’s head and I knew it. I knew in that instant, he loved Eric. After a few seconds of watching them, though, I turned to Aiden. He was taking in little gasps of breaths, looking very off. He had stopped coughing, but like I said…. You could tell something was off.

“Aiden?”

“I need water.” He said, coughing.

“I’m not gonna give you any until you quit coughing.” I said.

He nodded and took a few deep breaths, then quit coughing. He
“Are you okay?” I asked him.

He nodded, looking at Eric and Gerard. Eric got out of Gerard’s arms, wiping his eyes.

“It will get better.” Gerard said quietly, but it was loud enough for me to hear. “You’ll see. It will be hard, but it will get easier.”

Eric nodded, sniffling. “Thanks.”

I smiled, thinking Eric had finally calmed down. But then he started crying even harder than before and he stormed from the room.

“D-Dad?” Aiden asked, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

“No, Aiden. You can’t get out of bed.”

“Dad!” He coughed. “Eric needs me!”

“Eric needs someone who understands him, Aiden! And I know you remember Gerard telling you about his past… well this is something you can’t deal with! It’s gotten past the point of you holding him while he cries. I’m sorry, Aiden!”

He let out a frustrated growl, and then glared at me. His glare didn’t last long though because he began to cough, then collapsed onto the bed and put his hands over his mouth. I could see how fast his heart was beating in his chest, but he didn’t seem to care. The first second he didn’t cough, he had sat up and was swinging his feet over the edge of the bed again.

“Aiden, you are coughing like crazy! Get back in bed!”

“Dad, he needs me!” he said, his eyes wide in fright. “What if he… what if he’s bad off? What if Daddy c-can’t help him?”

“Aiden… baby… trust me. Eric needs this. He needs to hear it from Gerard. We both know that. And you need to calm down.” I put my hand on his forehead. It was sweaty. “You’re going to make yourself sick. You can barely breathe. Stop it.”

“Eric needs me.” he whined, shrugging my hand off of him.

“Gerard, can you go after Eric?” I said.

Gerard nodded and rushed out after Eric.

“That should be me.” Aiden whimpered. The angrier he got the more obvious it was he was having trouble breathing. I climbed onto the bed, wrapping my arms around him. He was shaking but when he buried his head in my arm, I could tell he was still sweating.

“Eric’s okay, Aiden… you can’t let yourself get worked up like this. You’re finally getting better and one little fit can’t have you getting intibated again.”

“It isn’t some little fit, Dad—.”

“That was a bad choice of words. But the point is… look, we’ll handle what’s wrong with Eric. I know you love him and you want to help him but baby… right now you’re main priority needs to be you. You’re still bad sick, Aiden… and if I lost you, I… I’d die.” I said, rubbing his back. “So promise me you’ll quit worrying so much?”

“Dad, I can’t help it… I love him. I want to be with him… it isn’t fair that Daddy is out there. It should be me.” he said, then gave a small cough.

“I know, baby… I know… but Gerard is handling Eric right now and you’re gonna need to accept it and quit getting so worked up. Okay?”

He didn’t answer, but sighed and then coughed again.

I playfully nudged him. “Okay, babe?”

“I’ll try.” He sighed. “But I’m not making any promises.”

I pulled him close to me, kissing the top of his head. “I love you so much, Aiden. You’re my world.”

He smiled sadly at me, then took in a few deep breaths and shook his head.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m just… I don’t feel good. I feel like I can’t catch my breath.” He said.

“Aiden?” I asked.

“I can’t… I can’t breathe.” He gasped out suddenly, eyes widening. “I can’t fucking breathe.”

I sat Aiden up quickly. Bella had had asthma and I’d dealt with enough attacks to know what to do when a kid couldn’t breathe. I tried to ignore the fact that this was my son, unable to breathe. If I thought about it, I would freak out. Then we’d BOTH be in deep shit.

I reached over, pushed the doctor call button, and sat on the bed by Aiden.

He began panicking, shrugging me off of him and kicking.

“Aiden, calm down.” I said as the doctor came in. It wasn’t the doctor who had been arguing with Gerard over Eric, it was a younger one.

“If you can keep him still,” the young man said. “It will be much easier. Now Aiden I am Dr. Anderson. I’m going to give you a breathing treatment. If you’ve ever seen anyone with asthma use a nebulizer, it works exactly like that. Have you?” he was mixing something in a small cup.

“He has.” I answered for him because he was still struggling with me and gasping for air. “Aiden, stop.”

“Sir, could you hold your son still?”

I nodded and sat next to Aiden on the bed, pulling him towards me. I wrapped one arm around him, holding his head still against my shoulder. He was breathing heavily and had sweat mopping his forehead. I looked at him, seeing a flash of him staring at me with blank eyes with a breathing tube down his throat. I did not want that. I never wanted that. No parent should see their kid like that. It is a scary thing… I couldn’t do it again.

“Shh, babe… you’re okay.” I whispered, stroking his hair.

He coughed and I held his head still. The doctor came over, hooked the nebulizer up, and smiled. “You inhale this. Are you familiar with how to do that?”

Aiden coughed and nodded, reaching for the cup that attached the medicine. He relaxed against me and I rubbed his back, wondering if Eric and Gerard were okay. I hoped that Gerard was calming him down… that both of them wouldn’t be too emotionally drained. Gerard never liked talking about his father… not even to me. But then again, I hadn’t been in a situation like he had… maybe him and Eric would help each other through it.

“Now put the attachment in your mouth and I’ll turn it on. Inhale deeply.” The doctor said, snapping me from my thoughts. I looked down, then put my hand on the cup below Aiden’s to help him hold the cup. I knew he wasn’t going to like this at all.

Aiden nodded. “I know.” He said, coughing.

He turned the machine on and the familiar low buzz filled the room. Aiden inhaled the mixture and began coughing.

“It’s okay… you’re okay. It’ll be over before you know it.”

Gerard’s POV

“You never would have been good enough and that’s what you have to understand to move on… it was nothing that you did, Eric… you had parents that weren’t good people. You know how they say some people are meant to be parents and some aren’t? It’s true.” I said, holding a sniffling Eric close to me. We were sitting in the waiting room floor and I had my arms around him.

I don’t know how long he’d cried before he’d calmed enough to talk to me.

“But i-it was perfect before I started n-noticing boys.” He said, watery hiccoughing. “B-But they didn’t know…”

“Just because they didn’t believe it doesn’t mean they didn’t know. My mom knew when I was little I think… and you know what? It sucks. It sucks that people are like this. Frank would have loved to have taken the kids to church… but he couldn’t because of society.” I said. I was trying not to comfort Eric by hugging, but by words. I knew how he must hate to be touched.

“Y-yeah…” Eric sniffled. “I hated ch-church.”

“Me too… my grandma always wanted me to go.” I said, leaning against the wall. He did too.

The waiting room was silent, bar the secretary typing on her computer and Eric’s sniffles.

“But, Eric… like we were saying… well, I promise… sooner or later you will move on. Now you’re so young and… soon you’ll see what I mean. Now you’re in love and it brings up these things… and any time you think about sex, you think about the rape… but soon, Eric…. Soon you’re going to go half a day without thinking about it… and then a full day. And you’ll see that while you remember… it isn’t holding you back.”

“I-It won’t go away.”

“It will, honey… you don’t think it will now but I promise you. It’s going to get better… easier… you’ll live life normally… it’ll be hard, but you can do it.”

Eric sniffled and wiped his eyes, nodding. “I just wish they loved me.”

He said it so quiet and tears filled his eyes again but he was refusing to let them fall.

“Well I don’t know if they do or not…”

He let out a hollow laugh.

“But Frank and I love you like you were our own son. One day I’m sure you’ll be an official member of our family, too… so you always have people who are here for you. Just remember that, okay?”

He nodded, sniffling again. “I… sometimes I think that maybe y-you guys think I do-don’t love Aiden and am just u-using him…”

“We don’t think that at all.”

“Good because i-it isn’t true. I love him… I really do…” his shoulders began to shake again and he buried his head in my chest.

“And he loves you too, hun… I can promise you that. He… he really does. I mean, he always wants to be with you. When you aren’t around, he’s miserable… now he’s pretty miserable regardless. And we’re all under so much stress because we’ve been here a month… but you know what? Soon we’re gonna go back and you’ll remember. You’ll be happier. Hospitals are just depressing, babe. But soon we’re gonna be back home and everything will go back to how they were. Just wait.”

Frank’s POV
The Next Day…

After various breathing treatments and a lot of rest, Aiden was back to how he was yesterday before Eric’s episode. He woke up early and when I woke up, he wasn’t in his bed. I heard water running in the bathroom and blinked, looking at his empty bed.

The door opened and I took in my baby boy’s appearance. It made me want to cry. To cry forever. Gerard was helping him walk and… just… wow. I really wanted to sit down and cry.

Not because he was better and walking. Not because he hadn’t been up in a month.

Because he was so… skinny. I knew he was going to lose weight… but… looking at him… it was hard. He still had IVs in his arm, making me wonder how he even got out of the bed. He was pale and looked… he looked dead. Like he was barely hanging on. It scared me. He couldn’t even walk without Gerard!

“A… Are you okay?” he asked.

“Y-yeah.” I said, forcing a smile.

“I had to pee.” He smiled at me, coming forward.

Gerard smiled at me and I stood up and rushed to help them.

“Dad, I’m okay… really.” He said.

“I just want to help you.” I snapped.

He sighed. “Fine. Help me.” He gave a small cough.

I realized how light he was and tears filled my eyes… I really couldn’t believe it. I looked up at Gerard, but he didn’t look sad… he didn’t look sad at all.

“Dad… I’m okay.” Aiden said again.

“Look… look at how much weight you lost!” I whispered so I didn’t wake Eric. It was late when he and Gerard had finally came in and they both almost instantly fell asleep. I knew Gerard was awake (for whatever reason) but I figured Eric needed the sleep.

“I was sick… I am sick.” Aiden said.

“How… you look anorexic! You’re so small! You were tiny to begin with!” I snapped. I wasn’t irritated with Aiden. I was irritated with him being sick… I just wanted him to feel better.

“Ah, you’re done?”

My head whipped around as some old man came in. “Who are you?” I asked.

“Frank.” Gerard whispered harshly, like he was snapping at Aiden or something.

“I’m Dr. Morris. You are his father I assume?”

“Yes.” I said, then helped Aiden back into bed.

“I have been sent to come and speak with you. Aiden has gotten better. As you see, he is walking around and is able to talk and eat full meals by himself.”

I stared at the man.

“We believe tomorrow he will be good enough to go home.”

“He isn’t ready for that!” I exclaimed.

Gerard’s rolled his eyes and I heard him mutter, “Here we go.” To Aiden.

“He’s fucking lost so much weight he feels like a baby! And he had a fucking anxiety attack or some shit yesterday! He isn’t ready to go home!” I continued.

“He feels fine.” The doctor said.

“He— he almost died! And you’re just going to up and let him go home?!” I exclaimed.

Gerard’s eyebrow arched. “Frankie…”

“Sir, he’s been able to eat food on his own for three days.”

“Like hell he has!”

“He can breathe on his own.”

“Do you remember last night?!” I asked shrilly.

“Frank—.” Gerard said.

I got a tight feeling in my chest. I just… I couldn’t deal with Aiden at home! I didn’t know how! I wasn’t a doctor! He was still so pale…

“Sir, I assure you he is ready. If there were any doubt in my mind, we would keep him here. But this is a public hospital and if he doesn’t need a bed, we have other patients who do.” Dr. Morris said calmly.

I ran my hands through my hair and began to pace back and fourth.

“Dad… I feel okay.” Aiden said from the bed. “Honestly.”

Dr. Morris turned to him. “You won’t be better right off you understand? There are conditions to you going home, young man, and you need to follow them.”

Aiden nodded. I continued to pace back and fourth, feeling as if the world was caving in on me. How did I take care of him when he was so sick? Gerard and I couldn’t handle this… not alone. Not without doctors.

“You will need to stay in bed for a week… maybe even two. Your father is right, son. You lost a lot of weight and that isn’t healthy. We’re going to require you drink plenty of liquids and eat as much healthy foods as you can.” The doctor continued. “You’re not going to feel great. You’ll feel pretty shitty, like a real bad cold. The flu. If you need a doctor, you can always go to one. You’ll be on medicine as well to make you feel a bit better quicker.”

Again, Aiden nodded. I sat down in the chair by his bed, figuring I had better listen because this doctor seemed intent on Aiden leaving and even though Aiden said he was listening, it was obvious he wasn’t. He kept looking out the window and at Eric.

“Now he’ll need to be watched closely.” The doctor said to me. “This means getting up in the middle of the night. Different people react differently to medications and he is already weak from his stay here in the hospital. His breathing may be difficult and we want to make sure nothing happens. It’ would be best if someone was with him at all times.”

My eyes traveled to Eric. I didn’t think we would have a problem there. Eric was still sleeping in a chair, with a small blue blanket over him.

I nodded my head at the doctor to show I was listening.

“A doctor will be in shortly to check on you.”

I turned to Gerard, my eyes wide.

“This is great!” he said happily.

“No it isn’t! Aiden almost died! How are we supposed to take care of him?!”

“Like the doctor said! Do you think they’d send him home if he wasn’t ready? Frank, relax. He’s better! We don’t need to worry anymore!” Gerard practically ran to the bed, hugging Aiden.

Aiden snuggled in his arms, smiling.

If I hadn’t been so nervous knowing he was coming home tomorrow I would have smiled… but all I could think about was mucking up and ending up killing Aiden or something. I had never been this scared in my life. Watching Aiden and Gerard looking happy just scared me even more…

Aiden’s POV
The Next Day…

“You know what time it is.” Heather, my nurse, said coming in and smiling.

“Ugh.” I moaned.

“Ugh? Aren’t you happy to see me?” she laughed.

I forced a smile. Wasn’t I happy to see the person who was yanking needs out of my arm? Hell fucking no I wasn’t. Sure she was hot, but man… I didn’t like needles at all.

“It won’t be that bad.” She smiled, coming up. “Do you want me to do the easy stuff first or the hard?”

“Hard.” I said, holding out my arm. I looked away and closed my eyes, as if someone would turn my head back towards her…

“Aww.” She laughed. “You look so scared. Trust me, honey, it will be over soon.”

I nodded. I felt someone grasp my other hand and opened my eyes to see Eric smiling.

I smiled back and squeezed his hand.

“You’re gonna leave soon. Are you excited?”

“Fuck.” I whimpered as I felt her taking one of my IVs out.

“That was the big one.” She said happily. I felt myself growing annoyed. She was too goddamn cheerful. For fucks sake, she worked in a hospital. Shouldn’t she be acting depressed or something? I’ll rip a needle out your fucking arm and smile… maybe she’s psycho.

“Ouch.” I snapped.

“The other big one.”

“I really hate you right now.” I said, making her laugh.

“Hey this can’t be nearly as bad as having that feeding tube taken out again like last night!” she exclaimed, still laughing.

“It did.”’

“All done.” She smirked.

I looked down at my arm.

“Now, Mr. Iero, would you like Scooby Doo Band-Aids or Powerpuff girls?”

“Powerpuff girls!” I smirked.

She laughed and gave me Powerpuff Girl Band-Aids for my ‘boo boos’ as I called them.

She began unplugging the machines hooked to me. First the heart monitor, and then tons more. I didn’t have any clue what they even did. She put all of them, bar one, right next to the wall. It made the room look a lot bigger and less congested.

“I’m leaving on your oxygen until its time for you to leave because you’re still breathing pretty hard. So just put your mask on and relax. In about an hour the doctor will come to check you out.” She smiled. “Congratulations, Aiden. You made it.”

I smiled and put the mask back on, feeling very triumphant.

“Well how does it feel, not being hooked up to fifty million machines?” Daddy Gee asked me.

“Weird.” I shrugged, glancing at Dad. He didn’t look too happy and I knew he was worried about me.

It wasn’t like I felt good… I still felt like complete shit to tell the truth. I had noticed it was harder for me to breathe and I felt weird… like I was drained of all my energy. Even though I’d been sleeping like crazy.

Heather stepped back in with a glass of water. “You may start to feel a little whoozie because you aren’t hooked up to the IVs anymore so drink plenty of this.” She said.

“Oh… okay.” I said, reaching for it.

She handed it to me, smiling. “I think that’s all. If you need anything, just push the call button.”

I nodded and relaxed back against the pillows. Eric took off my mask so I could drink some of the water. I smiled gratefully and took several big sips. I felt a little better and things that had started to spin seemed to level out.

“You done?” Eric whispered.

“Yeah.”

He put the mask back on me, then kissed my cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” I said, then felt myself drifting off to sleep.