You're My Way Home, You're My Backbone.

The sounds of muffled talking were enough to cause Brendon to stir. Being more asleep then not, he couldn’t quite make out what was being said. Grumbling he rolled over to go back to sleep. A tug on his hand stopped him from moving and confused, he forced himself to open one eye and caught a blurry glimpse of a skinny tube running from his hand to a bag of fluids above the head of the bed.
Brendon groaned and buried his head into the pillow. More needles.

The voices got louder and Brendon startled from a sudden loud groan of pain from somewhere close by. He snapped his eyes open and found himself still in the emergence ward. There were people talking on the far side of the room and more voices that was getting closer to him.

Shadows appeared on the curtain first before they were pulled open by Dr Murray. The doctor smiled as he caught sight of Brendon blinking drowsily up at him.

“Ah, you’re awake.” Dr Murray announced sounding rather cheerful. “Feeling better?”

Brendon grunted in response and Dr Murray nodded like the noise was enough of an answer. He glanced up at something over Brendon’s head for a moment.

“A little.” Brendon croaked out before clearing his throat.

“You’ve only been asleep for a little while, some of the medication might not have started working yet but they should soon. We had to put you on fluids because you were starting to become quite dehydrated. You were also given something for the nausea.”

Brendon nodded taking in the information and tried to keep his eyes from slipping shut. He blinked slowly, eyes closing for a second too long.

“Have you been sleeping well lately?” Dr Murray asked.

“Yes and no.”

The doctor hummed almost thoughtfully and picked up the file from the holder on the end of the bed, flicking it open he started writing in it.

“I’m not sure at this point what is causing you sickness, whether its chemo induced or not. Once I get you blood work back I should have a better idea, but until then, I’m sorry to say, you’ll have to be admitted to the hospital until the sickness is under control.” Dr Murray explained tapping his pen against the file. “There may be a chance you will be in here for a couple of nights at least.”

Sighing, Brendon frowned and sunk into the bed. Not quite the news he would like to hear but at least he’s in the best place right now.

Dr Murray put the file back and flashed a soft but friendly smile.

“I’m going to see if a bed has been organised for you yet, once it has you’ll be moved up.”

“Ok, thank you.” Brendon croaked.

With that the doctor walked back out through the gap in the curtains. Brendon could hear him say something to someone and suddenly Kenny was shuffling his way through the gap. He smiled hesitantly and sat down in the chair next to the bed.

Brendon blinked sleepily and shifted as much as he could to face Ken better.

“Hey,” Ken said softly. “Feeling better?”

“Kind of.” Brendon made a weak so-so motion with his free hand.

“I called Mum and he’s getting a change of clothes and stuff for you.” Kenny grinned when Brendon looked confused. “Probably getting Ryan on the way too.”

It took a moment but it clicked in Brendon’s head and he chuckled weakly. Mum is a good way to describe Spencer sometimes, he could imagine Spencer right now, running around fussing over everything, yelling at Ryan to ‘hurry the fuck up, you’re slower than a sloth!’.

“It’s a good thing you decided to have the blood test done today then, huh?” Ken commented, keeping his voice light.

Brendon hummed in agreement. Through he wasn’t feeling as light headed as before, the lights were still playing havoc with his eyes to the point that Brendon had to squint to see Kenny despite how close his friend was sitting to the bed. He hoped it wouldn’t develop into a headache that was the last thing he needed.

Ken opened his mouth to speak again when the curtains were pulled open. That let a whole bunch more of light in and Brendon threw his free arm over his face and peaked out when it felt safe. Dr Murray and a nurse walked up to the bed.

“We’re got you a bed in the ward all set. Do you feel well enough to be moved by wheelchair?” The nurse asked rounding the side of the bed to the drip machine.

Brendon paused for a moment then slowly lowered his arm and nodded.

“I think so.”

Dr Murray left the room as the nurse lifted the mattress so Brendon was sitting up. He felt woozy when he was up straight again but the feeling didn’t last long. Before Brendon knew it Dr Murray was back with a wheelchair and he was being helped out of the bed.

It took a while to get settled in the chair, long enough that Brendon almost was embarrassed by it. Ken grabbed what items Brendon did have and followed as the nurse wheeled Brendon out into the main hallway.

“I’m going to wait out front for Spencer,” Ken said slowly down to a stop where the hallway split off in four directions. “What room as you going to?” He asked the nurse.

“Fourteen B. On the left side of the general ward, just past the nurse’s desk.”

Ken waved at Brendon and turned headed for the main exit. Brendon slowly waved back and as the nurse started pushing the wheelchair in the direction Dr Murray was walking, he ducked his head to avoid all the looks he was getting for other people walking past.

He couldn’t wait to be settled in the new bed so he could go back to sleep.

*

The idea of a good sleep didn’t last very long when Brendon woke up with a start, all but throwing himself off the edge of the bed and dry heaving heavily. He could feel himself shaking, cold sweat rolling down his face and clothes sticking to his skin.

His skin was boiling and when someone placed a hand on his back, even through the layers of fabric he could feel how cool it was and almost whimpered. With a groan as the dry heaving stopped he collapsed dangerously close to the edge of the bed and curled into himself, arms wrapped protectively around his midsection.

Whoever‘s hand was on his back was now trying to pull him away from the edge. Brendon let the person roll him over and as the lights shone down onto his face, he gasped and threw an arm over his eyes. A sharp pain ran from one temple to another.

“Turn off the lights.” The person said and the lights were immediately switched off.

The same person pulled Brendon’s arm away from his face gently but Brendon kept his eyes closed and curled back into himself, huddling in the middle of the hot mattress. There was a tug on his hand when the fluid line snagged on the end of the pillow.

“Bren? Hey, can you open your eyes?”

Brendon didn’t respond even as another cool hand touched his forehead. Whoever was touching him gasped and quickly pulled their hand away.

“He’s burning up real bad, someone get a nurse!”

“Press the nurse button above the bed.”

A loud buzzed echoed in the room and someone else – he was starting to think there was around three people in the room but it was too hard to focus to figure out who it is –touched his shoulder from behind him.

“Bren, can you open your eyes? The lights are off now.” They asked, sounding very worried.

It took a while for the words to sink in and click, but Brendon slowly blinked his eyes open enough to see something. Everything was one big blur for a while and it was then the world around him came into focus, things started making sense. Well, a little.

He was gasping for air, throat dry and the cramping muscles in his stomach were making it worse. It was like he was suddenly hit with a truck while whatever protective layer his mind was grabbing onto was ripped away.

“Brendon.”

He recognised that it was Ryan who was standing in front of him, leaning down trying to get a better look at his face that was half hidden from the mess of pillows and sheets. Brendon guessed that it was Spencer on the other side of the bed, hand still on his shoulder.

Brendon tried to say something, anything to show he was awake but his mouth was too dry and when he attempted to swallow it felt like his mouth was full of cotton balls. The action must have done something though, because his stomach rebelled again and he was back leaning on the edge of the bed. It didn’t really make sense why he was trying to throw up, there was nothing down there, not even enough stomach acid to reach his throat.

The buzzing sound went off again, longer this time and Brendon could vaguely hear Ryan – or was it Spencer? – talking in a soft voice.

Suddenly there was a whole bunch of movement in the room.

“Brendon? Brendon, tell me what’s going on, hun.” A lady asked.

Brendon force his eyes open again and looked up at the nurse, it was a blurry vision still but a fair bit clearer than before. The lady was pulling a trolley with her as she rounded the bed when Ryan quickly moved out of the way to make room. She started looking for something on the trolley as Brendon tried to find his voice.

“Water, I- “He managed to croak out, weakling pointing to his throat.

Her eyes widened in realisation and suddenly Spencer was there holding a water bottle. The nurse propped the bed up and carefully Spencer helped lift Brendon’s head up so he could drink without choking. He managed to get about half a mouth full before he started coughing.

“I-I feel hot. Stomach...hurts.” Brendon gasped. “Dizzy.”

“Nausea too?”

Brendon waved his hand in a yes. The nurse turned to her trolley again.

“I’m going to get you something for that, and the fever, but first I need to check your obs. I’ll be quick as possible.” The lady promised.

Still mostly out of it, he just lied there as she strapped things to him, poking him here, pushing him there. She started talking about what she was doing but it fell on deaf ears, for Brendon it went in one ear and out the other. It was too much to keep up with.

The nurse must have left at some point because he could feel Spencer sit down on the bed behind him and start rubbing up and down his spine. It helped a little, almost calming and helped him slow his breathing down to a better pace.

The nurse was back suddenly and Spencer went to move but she said something that kept Spencer where he was, which Brendon really appreciated. He looked up slowly and watched as the nurse put some medication into the fluids.

She then turned back to the trolley and picked up a needle. If Brendon had the energy he would have either screamed in annoyance or rolled his eyes. As it was he huffed but let Spencer and Ryan moved him around so the nurse could put the needle into his thigh.

Before the metal touched his skin, Brendon reached out and grabbed Ryan’s hand, which was the closest, and held it as tightly as he could.

Ryan moved closer to the bed and squeezed his hand back. Neither let go nor did Spencer move as the nurse left saying that she’ll phone the doctor and Brendon slowly drifted back to sleep as the medication started to work slowly.

*

“Hey!” Jon chirped loudly.

Spencer pressed the phone to his chest, quietening it as he walked out of the room. Brendon was all but out to the world right now, but Spencer wasn’t going to chance accidently waking him up.
“Hey,” Spencer greeted quietly when he put the phone back to his ear.

Poking his head into the room, he made sure he hadn’t disturbed Brendon and quietly shut the door. Spencer didn’t have a chance to say anything before there was loud rustling from Jon end on the line, like he was scrambling out of bed.

“Shit, what happened?”