All That I've Got

The Next Morning: Frank's P.O.V.

My eyes opened as soon as the sunlight entered the room and looking down, I'd found the reason why there was a slight pain in my neck. I'd fallen asleep last night with my head resting against Carys' my body angled wrong since I was still sitting in the chair beside her bed. I slowly picked up my head, rubbing the spot that was aching me until the pain subsided. I leaned down and kissed Carys' forehead gently, looking at the watch around my wrist to get some sense of what time it was. Only 6:30 in the morning, the guys would probably be here around 7 since they'd went back home last night at the hospital's request, though none of us had particularly agreed with it.

"Morning Mr. Iero," a nurse smiled as she entered the room, pushing some kind of supply cart in front of her. "Would you mind to leave the room for a few minutes while I change her bandages?"

"Sure, just tell her that I'll be right back, please?" I asked looking up at her.

She nodded and I quietly stood, watching from the corner of my eye as the nurse reached for the bottom of Carys' still blood-stained t-shirt before I closed the door behind me. With the visitor badge around my neck, I waved a greeting to Dr. Scott when I'd passed him in the hallway, walking out the back doors to the large area that was owned by the hospital and taking a seat under a large maple tree, watching as the sun was fully starting to rise.

I was just about to pull out a cigarette from the pack in my jacket pocket, glad that I'd cut down on my usual number a day, when that same nurse walked out of the doors I just exited.

"I'm sorry Mr. Iero, but we need you back in the room, as soon as I cut the first bandage she was crying heavily. Maybe you could calm her down? We didn't want to wake her parents," she said worriedly with some slight fear, almost as if she expected me to yell at her for interrupting my thoughts or something.

I simply nodded and stood, walking after her and back into the building, being the first to re-enter Carys' hospital room.

Dr. Scott was failing at his attempt to calm her down, and I could see Carys lying on her side, her arms wrapped around her chest as tears fell down her face. She was pressing herself against the railing of the bed, Dr. Scott using patience in order to try and roll her over and onto her back again.

"Shh, Car, it's okay, I'm here," I soothed as I sat beside her on the bed, leaning down to hug her gently. Her body relaxed at once and I hadn't even noticed that her shirt lay folded at the edge of the bed, meaning two things. One, she trusted me to be in the same room as her when she was almost half-naked. And two, the reason for me needing to be here in the first place was because she was having a relapse of what happened last night with Kyle. "Would it be okay if I did your bandages instead?" I asked softly as I stroked her hair, recieving a nod in return.

The nurse instructed me in the proper technique of putting new bandages on before she and the doctor left the room, trusting me to take it from there.

Carys allowed me to roll her onto her back, eyes fixed on the cieling as I took the scissors in my right hand. I slipped my index finger under the first bandage, briefly touching her pale skin before bringing it up enough so that I could safely cut the bandage loose. I did the same with the next ones, moving up from her stomach to her chest, not allowing my eyes to abuse the trust that'd been put in me.

Though I could say that Carys' body definately made her even more attractive, if I was sure that I thought about her that way, that is, but even if I wasn't, it was true. There'd been two layers of bandages covering her wounds and after I was done, all of them were folded in a somewhat orderly pile on the cart that the nurse had brought in.

"This might be a little painful Car," I said as I looked down at her wounds, the K that was carved inches above her belly button clearly stood out against the stab mark on her chest, and would probably cause her the most pain when I'd do the first step of applying her new bandages, dabbing it with alcohol.

I took a cotton ball from one of the trays, dabbing the bottom of it in the container of alcohol before moving to the stab mark, carefully swabbing it on the wound, Carys cringing at the stinging that came from it. I used another cotton ball for the K, also cleaning up the dried blood around it along with the more fresher droplets. She only winced slightly by the time I was done, and I was glad that the whole experience wasn't more painful for her than it had to be. I slid my hand gently underneath her back, pulling her up into a sitting position.

She buried her face into my shoulder while I took the roll of bandages from the cart, unraveling enough to start and cutting the length from the roll. I took the end of it, pressing it onto Carys' side and holding it there with a finger, wrapping the bandage all the way around her and bringing it back again. It really was like that game we would play when we were kids when you wrapped the other person in toilet paper, except in my case, I had to be extra gentle not to hurt the "mummy".

I was finished in less than ten minutes, tying the last pieces together to hold the bandages in place.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" I breathed out as I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close when I was sure she was okay. She didn't really answer, just inhaled deeply and let me pull her into my lap, my hand running mindlessly through her dark red hair. The knock on the door a moment later didn't startle either of us, and we didn't look up when the door opened until we heard familar voices.

"And she awakes!" Bob smiled as he, the guys and my Dad all entered the room, the guys stopping as soon as they saw that Carys' shirt was no longer on her.

"You all are so immature, you act like you've never seen a girl without a shirt on," my dad sighed, tossing something at me. I caught it with one hand, realizing it was a clean band t-shirt, Green Day to be specific.

"Well...," Gerard started, my dad slapping him upside the head after guessing what he was going to say. "And it's not fair that Frank got all the action!"

"Get your head out of the gutter, I only put her bandages on," I said rolling my eyes as I loosened my grip on Carys, letting her pull the shirt over her head before curling against my chest once more. "They're just jealous because they're not chick magnets like I am," I whispered into her ear, earning a slap on the arm from a chuckling Carys.

"Did you see that Mr. Iero? She's violent!" Mikey exclaimed.

"You have to be violent with Frank sometimes, it keeps him in line," my dad laughed as he walked over, leaning over to hug Carys and I.

"Damn straight," I said nodding, everyone laughing when I saluted my father and recieved "the bird" in return.

"Alright, bet starting now, who says by September?" Bob asked, looking around at the guys.

"Forget that, my money's on next month," Gerard scoffed, his brother nodding in agreement.

"Just what are we betting on? I asked curiously as I turned my head to look at them all.

"Ever since we got out of the car, they've been debating on how long it'll take you two until you go out, and they're quite determined to make it happen," my dad explained, his smirk giving away exactly whose side he was on, their's of course.

Carys and I both scoffed, the others all rolling their eyes.

"How can you two be so blind? You obviously care a lot about each other and trust each other more than the average friend does, and don't think we don't notice the looks you give each other," Ray said shaking his head as he sat down.

"Or maybe you all are just full of it?" I asked with a smirk.

"Then why were you willing to take a bullet for Carys when someone was hurting her? We all would've done the same thing, but why do you think Kyle picked you to watch when he obviously saw Bob and Ray hiding behind the couch? He looked right at them Frank and didn't tell his friend," Mikey whispered in my ear.

And then again, Mikey had a point, maybe I did have feelings for my best friend.