As You Go, 1/1, Leverage
Jun. 18th, 2010 04:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gilascaveTitle: As You Go
Author: james
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Alec/Eliot
Word Count: ~3200
Disclaimer: not mine, no profit made
Notes: written for hc-bingo, square 'seizures'
Summary: Everything's going their way, until Eliot gets injured.
Alec didn't bother looking up from his keyboard in the back of his brand new, outfitted up the wazoo, teleport to China if he wanted to van just because he heard Parker saying "Eliot, you're bleeding."
Instead he concentrated on his computer screens, making sure that all of the out-going calls, texts, and emails that might have mentioned a strange group of people breaking into the Wegner Building got lost or rerouted through AOL. As he worked he heard Eliot growling back at Parker that he wasn't hurt, didn't need a doctor, and he'd been hit like that before and would she stop giving him that look. Alec smirked to himself but kept working. During a job, if Eliot wasn't bleeding, their resident lunatic considered it a personal failure of some kind.
Alec realized what he'd just thought, and mentally revised. Their resident neanderthal. Lunatic neanderthal. He was about to reconsider again, already pulling up a web browser window to double-check some personality traits of the Klingons versus the Satedan military class when he heard Parker saying, "Maybe you should sit down."
He spared them a glance, then, because Parker had sounded kind of worried and for Parker to get wigged over an injury it was either serious or it involved being covered head to toe in slime.
Ask Alec how he happened to know that, and he would swear that all the video files had gotten erased and they hadn't existed in the first place anyhow.
He looked at Eliot, who was standing beside the open rear doors of the van. He was leaning kind of heavily against the frame, his face turned towards Parker. His entire body language said he was giving Parker that indulgent, not-going-to-kill-you-yet glare. As Alec watched, Parker reached up to Eliot's forehead and said, "He hit you with a bat. Twice."
Alec frowned. Eliot just said, "And I hit him with a typewriter. Fair's fair."
"A typewriter?" Alec shook his head. "What kind of office in the twenty-first century has typewriters?"
Eliot glanced over his shoulder, still looking annoyed with the world. "Maybe it was one of those fancy typewriters. The kind with the little screen."
Alec narrowed his eyes. "You are fucking with me, I know you are fucking with me. You act like you've never seen a fancy box that shows moving pictures on it and where the hell does the sound come from. But I have seen your movie collection and I know how big your screen is and what your percentage of Blu-Ray to DVD movies is." He pointed at Eliot, who was doing an irritatingly good job of looking like he had no idea what Alec was talking about.
It was one thing Alec really found annoying, that Eliot was the second-best actor in their troupe, because nobody ever seemed to remember that, including himself. It had taken him seven months longer than it should have to getting horizontal with the guy because Eliot acted like he didn't give a damn about how hot a dude was, even when said dude was trying his best to flirt with him.
And was it Alec's fault that his idea of flirting with a hot neanderthal didn't quite jibe with said neanderthal's? At least he'd finally had the brains to ask Sophie for advice, and now Alec was free to call Eliot on all those little non-looks he never gave when he totally knew the difference between seventeen different types of word processors.
His train of thought was starting to veer towards ways he could revel in the power of his finally knowing how to get Eliot naked and horizontal with him -- it involved saying things like 'hey Eliot, wanna get naked and horizontal?', or 'that was the best lasagna I've ever eaten.' Alec didn't mind the way his brain was more interested in distracting images of naked Eliot than of wrapping up the loose ends of the job, since what he was doing could be done with one hand and both eyes closed. That thought started leading to 'one hand, eyes closed, naked Eliot' thoughts when Nate and Sophie strolled up to the van.
"All right, kids, let's pack it in and head home." Nate gave them all a smile; he was still clearly coasting on the high from a job well-done.
Parker scowled. "I think Eliot--"
Eliot growled at her, and Alec was about to dismiss them entirely so he could get back to his finishing the job which wasn't nearly over with yet, when Eliot grabbed his head. Everyone froze, staring at him, before Alec shoved himself out of his chair and towards Eliot.
"What the hell, man?"
Eliot's eyes were closed tight in a grimace of pain Alec had never seen on his lover's face before. He ground out, "Headache," still clutching his skull. It sounded like just getting out the words was painful. Alec could hear Nate and Parker talking at the same time, but didn't hear a damn thing they said because suddenly Eliot spasmed and collapsed sideways into the van.
Parker's hands flashed out, grabbing onto Eliot's jacket to keep him from bouncing his head off the inside of the van. Alec was leaping for his keyboard to call 911, and when this was over he was going to give Eliot so much grief for acting like a baseball bat to the head was no big deal.
Then he froze, because Eliot's head fell backwards and his eyes were closed and before any of them but Parker could get to him, he began to seize.
~~~
Alec was trying not to pace, and only managed it because Parker had attached herself to him like a baby lemur clutching to its momma's fur. Alec told himself he needed to spend a hell of a lot less time at cute overload. He looked around again for the doctor.
"They'll come find us when they can," Nate said, and Alec had no idea how long Nate had been standing beside him. He knew Nate and Sophie had been saying that exact same thing over and over since they'd followed the ambulance in. Alec's van had been parked only a few blocks from a hospital; Alec and the others had hit the ER only moments after the gurney carrying Eliot had slid through the doors.
"He'll be OK," Parker said quietly, though Alec didn't think she expected him to believe her, with the way her face had gone blank and her eyes were practically dead.
Alec shuddered and forced himself to think about something else. Something helpful, like was this hospital the best place for head injuries and should he see about buying a helicopter and Life-Flighting Eliot someplace better.
"Why don't you sit down?" Sophie suggested, tugging gently at the arm that Parker wasn't monopolizing. She was holding out a cup of coffee out for him, but Alec just shook his head.
"Where is the damn doctor?" Alec growled, and he nearly lost it when he realized just how much like Eliot he sounded.
Maybe he could claim it was intentional and not something he was picking up from spending too much time together. He could try it again on purpose; people always jumped when Eliot growled. If it were Eliot standing here no doubt the nurses and doctors would be all over themselves answering the scary man's questions.
Or maybe they'd just sedate him from a distance. Alec had threatened to do that, once or twice, when Eliot wouldn't leave him alone long enough to finish an episode of Doctor Who. Not that a strip tease wasn't nice, but couldn't the man wait half an hour so he could have Alec's full attention?
Maybe he should go look at pictures of baby snakes and walruses instead.
When Parker tensed, Alec looked over and nearly charged the doctor who was coming towards them. The doctor glanced at each of them, a look of confusion on his face. "You're Eliot Spencer's family?"
There was a pause and Alec cursed himself as he tried to remember if he'd even given anybody fake identities in case of emergency this time. If he had, he damn well couldn't think of any of their names.
Quickly, however, Sophie said "I'm his aunt. This is Eliot's uncle and sister," she added with a nod, then she glanced to Alec, clearly not sure how he'd want to be introduced.
As if it mattered. Alec stepped forward, out of Parker's hold, and said, "I'm his partner. How is he?"
The doctor's eyes widened slightly, and Alec was half a second away from tearing the man's head right the fuck off. As if he needed this shit when Eliot was bleeding or dying or--
"We're taking him to ICU," the doctor said quickly, and his voice had gone back to that calm, even tone that grated on Alec's nerves. If people were really OK then nobody tried that hard to sound like everything was going to be fine. "We believe he's had a subarachnoid hemorrhage; we'll need to do a CT scan to be certain, but all his symptoms point to that, especially considering the nature of the injury." The doctor paused, and looked at Parker. "You did say he'd been struck twice?"
Parker just nodded; Alec glanced over at her and saw the unhappy expression on her face, the one that always made Alec want to jump through hoops to make everything better. He shuddered. If only.
"He's gonna be all right?" Alec asked, his throat dry.
"His chances are good," the doctor said kindly, and Alec wanted to scream. Sophie grabbed his other arm, then, and he didn't know if they would be able to hold him up if they had to.
"Can I see him?"
The doctor smiled again, and this time it was almost real. He said, "As soon as we get him settled."
~~~
Alec walked into the ICU, directly towards Eliot's bed. He was surrounded by an array of machines and, as Alec drew closer, he saw what looked like a half dozen tubes attached to Eliot's body. Eliot's eyes were closed and his entire face looked pale and...Alec couldn't decide, exactly, but it was like his face had gotten smaller somehow without Eliot awake to animate it.
The doctor had reassured him that Eliot was not in a coma and was simply asleep, and had asked Alec very firmly to let him rest. Alec found that hard to do, faced with Eliot lying there motionless. He needed to know, suddenly, if Eliot really could wake up, needed to see Eliot's eyes open and hear him snarl at Alec to not wake him so damn early in the morning because he'd finally gotten around to going to sleep.
Instead all he got was the beeping of the monitors. Alec's fingers itched as he looked at the machinery; if he could hack into them, he could force them to say Eliot was perfectly fine.
And then he would be.
He had to jam his hands into his pockets to keep from touching the monitors and made himself stare at Eliot. He didn't have a clue what he was supposed to say, or do. He wanted to take Eliot's hand but was afraid to touch him; if he knocked a tube loose the doctors would chase him out of there and never let him back in. So he stayed by the foot of the bed, and watched Eliot sleep.
After a long moment, Alec glanced upwards. Nana, if you're listening, put in a good word. Please let him come home with me. Y'all don't need him up there, yet.
Then he sat in the chair provided, and leaned his elbow on his knee and his chin in his hand, and waited.
~~~
Alec ran around to the passenger side door, not at all surprised to see it open and Eliot getting out. He grabbed Eliot's arm and held him steady, ignoring the fierce glare he got and especially not letting go when Eliot tried to tug free.
"I don't need your help," Eliot snapped.
Alec forced himself to ignore the soft pauses between the words. Amy, Eliot's speech therapist, said that he was doing better; she'd agreed with Alec's observation that when he was annoyed, Eliot spoke noticeably smoother. Alec would never admit to deliberately annoying Eliot just to get him to practice talking, but he did make sure to share the tidbit of information with the rest of the team.
Not so strangely, Parker was the best at drawing Eliot out of his sullen silences, and into only softly clipped, just barely halting, sentences. The pictures Alec had taken of Parker's Sharpie Art on Eliot's arms made up the wallpaper on all of his computer screens.
Now, though, Alec gave Eliot a look and didn't reply as he pulled Eliot's arm over his shoulders. Eliot tugged to get free, and his expression went from annoyed to sincerely murderous in an eye-blink. "I can walk."
Alec took a deep breath, then leaned in close. "I do not fucking care if you can walk. I have spent the last six weeks not being able to fix a damn thing and now if the only thing I can do is make sure you don't wobble on the way to the front door then I am damn well going to do it."
He realized he was shouting, and didn't frankly care. He did back up, just a little, out of Eliot's face but didn't let go of his arm. He braced himself for a prolonged shouting match and reminded himself he wasn't above calling Parker to come over and give Eliot the 'I never had a puppy' eyes that made Eliot (and possibly himself) do anything she asked.
But Eliot just looked surprised, then he reached up -- his left hand, Alec tried not to notice how he didn't even try with his right -- and he cupped Alec's face. Eliot pulled himself in, then wrapped his arm around Alec's neck and held onto him.
Alec just buried his face in Eliot's shoulder. He still smelled like the hospital, no matter that they'd brought Eliot his own pajamas and shampoo, and had been sneaking in the chinese food from Leo's that he claimed was the best American-Chinese he'd ever eaten.
But Alec could still smell disinfectant and tile and fucking doctors all over him -- and maybe that was his imagination, a little, and Alec really didn't care. He had Eliot in his arms, and he was standing, and talking, and acting like there wasn't a single thing wrong with him that a bag of ice and a couple of stitches couldn't cure.
Alec pulled himself together and got them turned towards the front door of Eliot's house. "Let's get you inside before Mrs. Peterson gives herself a fit trying to figure out what we're up to."
"She enjoys it," Eliot said, quietly. He was smiling, though, and Alec saw his gaze slip down the block towards the old lady's house. Alec pretended he didn't know how Eliot went over there sometimes, trading recipes and casseroles and charming the poor woman into baking the desserts that Eliot claimed he couldn't quite manage.
Alec had been over there himself once a week while Eliot was in the hospital, giving her updates and spending a lot more time talking about his Nana than he'd ever thought possible. Mrs. Peterson had sent him home with nearly five dozen cookies yesterday, which were waiting in the kitchen for Eliot to discover.
They made their way to the front door, slowly enough that Eliot didn't have much chance to wobble. He'd made so much progress that his physical therapist expected him to make a very good recovery. Very good, but none of his doctors or therapists would use the word 'total' or 'complete.'
So far Eliot hadn't said a word about it, alternating between acting like nothing was wrong and acting like he'd be perfectly fine once he recovered. It was one of the things Alec had been dreading a discussion about. He'd already suffered through it with Nate, talking retirement and 'advisory capacity' until Alec could barely stand to think of what the conversation would do to Eliot himself.
Lately Eliot didn't seem at all inclined to talk about it, and so far Alec had let him. But as they got into the house and Alec herded Eliot towards the kitchen, he knew they were going to have to talk. Determinedly, he decided to put it off for awhile longer, because right now all he wanted to do was drink in the fact that Eliot was home.
Alec grabbed him in another bear hug, catching him in mid-cookie. Eliot just laughed, though, and wriggled a bit so he could eat and be glommed at the same time.
"I love you," slipped out, and Alec had been pretty sure he'd been about to ask if Eliot wanted some milk, or had he gotten one with the M&Ms and coconut. He hadn't ever said those exact words to Eliot before, even if giving him the entire set of Babylon 5 was a pretty good indication. But he'd said them, and he knew he didn't ever want to stop.
Maybe they could open a diner, and Eliot could feed poor people and homeless folks and growl at kids trying to rip off the register. Alec could cover one wall with over-sized screens, and they could watch football and hockey and reruns of the Thunderbirds when business was slow.
He felt Eliot's arm tighten on him, then there was a cookie-muffled, "Love you, too."
Alec looked over at the plates of cookies. He could feel himself trembling and tried to ignore it. His voice was not at all shaky when he said, "Man, she made four plates of those things. You don't have to gobble them all at once. Especially since she's probably going make you more tomorrow."
Eliot grinned. "That's why I have to--" He stopped, and a look of confusion appeared on his face.
It nearly broke Alec's heart, watching Eliot try to figure out which word he wanted. But he'd tried filling them in before with guesses, and it wasn't that he got Eliot's usual death glare of annoyance when he tried. It was the fact Eliot got quiet and wouldn't even bother finishing his sentence, wouldn't bother talking much at all until someone annoyed him out of his silence again.
Eliot glanced at the plate of cookies, and shrugged, apparently giving up the search for the word he didn't know anymore. He looked calm as he said, "She'll bring more. These should be gone." He spoke softly, but hesitantly, and Alec pretended not to notice.
He grinned."Then I get one?"
Eliot scowled. "No."
Alec gave him a cute look.
Eliot just shook his head, and ate another cookie. Alec just laughed, and settled himself back into his bear-hug, pressing Eliot against the counter and resting his head against Eliot's temple. He was content to stand there for the rest of the day if Eliot would let him.
Although Eliot and a double chocolate fudge almond cookie would be pretty good, too.
the end
Author: james
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Alec/Eliot
Word Count: ~3200
Disclaimer: not mine, no profit made
Notes: written for hc-bingo, square 'seizures'
Summary: Everything's going their way, until Eliot gets injured.
Alec didn't bother looking up from his keyboard in the back of his brand new, outfitted up the wazoo, teleport to China if he wanted to van just because he heard Parker saying "Eliot, you're bleeding."
Instead he concentrated on his computer screens, making sure that all of the out-going calls, texts, and emails that might have mentioned a strange group of people breaking into the Wegner Building got lost or rerouted through AOL. As he worked he heard Eliot growling back at Parker that he wasn't hurt, didn't need a doctor, and he'd been hit like that before and would she stop giving him that look. Alec smirked to himself but kept working. During a job, if Eliot wasn't bleeding, their resident lunatic considered it a personal failure of some kind.
Alec realized what he'd just thought, and mentally revised. Their resident neanderthal. Lunatic neanderthal. He was about to reconsider again, already pulling up a web browser window to double-check some personality traits of the Klingons versus the Satedan military class when he heard Parker saying, "Maybe you should sit down."
He spared them a glance, then, because Parker had sounded kind of worried and for Parker to get wigged over an injury it was either serious or it involved being covered head to toe in slime.
Ask Alec how he happened to know that, and he would swear that all the video files had gotten erased and they hadn't existed in the first place anyhow.
He looked at Eliot, who was standing beside the open rear doors of the van. He was leaning kind of heavily against the frame, his face turned towards Parker. His entire body language said he was giving Parker that indulgent, not-going-to-kill-you-yet glare. As Alec watched, Parker reached up to Eliot's forehead and said, "He hit you with a bat. Twice."
Alec frowned. Eliot just said, "And I hit him with a typewriter. Fair's fair."
"A typewriter?" Alec shook his head. "What kind of office in the twenty-first century has typewriters?"
Eliot glanced over his shoulder, still looking annoyed with the world. "Maybe it was one of those fancy typewriters. The kind with the little screen."
Alec narrowed his eyes. "You are fucking with me, I know you are fucking with me. You act like you've never seen a fancy box that shows moving pictures on it and where the hell does the sound come from. But I have seen your movie collection and I know how big your screen is and what your percentage of Blu-Ray to DVD movies is." He pointed at Eliot, who was doing an irritatingly good job of looking like he had no idea what Alec was talking about.
It was one thing Alec really found annoying, that Eliot was the second-best actor in their troupe, because nobody ever seemed to remember that, including himself. It had taken him seven months longer than it should have to getting horizontal with the guy because Eliot acted like he didn't give a damn about how hot a dude was, even when said dude was trying his best to flirt with him.
And was it Alec's fault that his idea of flirting with a hot neanderthal didn't quite jibe with said neanderthal's? At least he'd finally had the brains to ask Sophie for advice, and now Alec was free to call Eliot on all those little non-looks he never gave when he totally knew the difference between seventeen different types of word processors.
His train of thought was starting to veer towards ways he could revel in the power of his finally knowing how to get Eliot naked and horizontal with him -- it involved saying things like 'hey Eliot, wanna get naked and horizontal?', or 'that was the best lasagna I've ever eaten.' Alec didn't mind the way his brain was more interested in distracting images of naked Eliot than of wrapping up the loose ends of the job, since what he was doing could be done with one hand and both eyes closed. That thought started leading to 'one hand, eyes closed, naked Eliot' thoughts when Nate and Sophie strolled up to the van.
"All right, kids, let's pack it in and head home." Nate gave them all a smile; he was still clearly coasting on the high from a job well-done.
Parker scowled. "I think Eliot--"
Eliot growled at her, and Alec was about to dismiss them entirely so he could get back to his finishing the job which wasn't nearly over with yet, when Eliot grabbed his head. Everyone froze, staring at him, before Alec shoved himself out of his chair and towards Eliot.
"What the hell, man?"
Eliot's eyes were closed tight in a grimace of pain Alec had never seen on his lover's face before. He ground out, "Headache," still clutching his skull. It sounded like just getting out the words was painful. Alec could hear Nate and Parker talking at the same time, but didn't hear a damn thing they said because suddenly Eliot spasmed and collapsed sideways into the van.
Parker's hands flashed out, grabbing onto Eliot's jacket to keep him from bouncing his head off the inside of the van. Alec was leaping for his keyboard to call 911, and when this was over he was going to give Eliot so much grief for acting like a baseball bat to the head was no big deal.
Then he froze, because Eliot's head fell backwards and his eyes were closed and before any of them but Parker could get to him, he began to seize.
~~~
Alec was trying not to pace, and only managed it because Parker had attached herself to him like a baby lemur clutching to its momma's fur. Alec told himself he needed to spend a hell of a lot less time at cute overload. He looked around again for the doctor.
"They'll come find us when they can," Nate said, and Alec had no idea how long Nate had been standing beside him. He knew Nate and Sophie had been saying that exact same thing over and over since they'd followed the ambulance in. Alec's van had been parked only a few blocks from a hospital; Alec and the others had hit the ER only moments after the gurney carrying Eliot had slid through the doors.
"He'll be OK," Parker said quietly, though Alec didn't think she expected him to believe her, with the way her face had gone blank and her eyes were practically dead.
Alec shuddered and forced himself to think about something else. Something helpful, like was this hospital the best place for head injuries and should he see about buying a helicopter and Life-Flighting Eliot someplace better.
"Why don't you sit down?" Sophie suggested, tugging gently at the arm that Parker wasn't monopolizing. She was holding out a cup of coffee out for him, but Alec just shook his head.
"Where is the damn doctor?" Alec growled, and he nearly lost it when he realized just how much like Eliot he sounded.
Maybe he could claim it was intentional and not something he was picking up from spending too much time together. He could try it again on purpose; people always jumped when Eliot growled. If it were Eliot standing here no doubt the nurses and doctors would be all over themselves answering the scary man's questions.
Or maybe they'd just sedate him from a distance. Alec had threatened to do that, once or twice, when Eliot wouldn't leave him alone long enough to finish an episode of Doctor Who. Not that a strip tease wasn't nice, but couldn't the man wait half an hour so he could have Alec's full attention?
Maybe he should go look at pictures of baby snakes and walruses instead.
When Parker tensed, Alec looked over and nearly charged the doctor who was coming towards them. The doctor glanced at each of them, a look of confusion on his face. "You're Eliot Spencer's family?"
There was a pause and Alec cursed himself as he tried to remember if he'd even given anybody fake identities in case of emergency this time. If he had, he damn well couldn't think of any of their names.
Quickly, however, Sophie said "I'm his aunt. This is Eliot's uncle and sister," she added with a nod, then she glanced to Alec, clearly not sure how he'd want to be introduced.
As if it mattered. Alec stepped forward, out of Parker's hold, and said, "I'm his partner. How is he?"
The doctor's eyes widened slightly, and Alec was half a second away from tearing the man's head right the fuck off. As if he needed this shit when Eliot was bleeding or dying or--
"We're taking him to ICU," the doctor said quickly, and his voice had gone back to that calm, even tone that grated on Alec's nerves. If people were really OK then nobody tried that hard to sound like everything was going to be fine. "We believe he's had a subarachnoid hemorrhage; we'll need to do a CT scan to be certain, but all his symptoms point to that, especially considering the nature of the injury." The doctor paused, and looked at Parker. "You did say he'd been struck twice?"
Parker just nodded; Alec glanced over at her and saw the unhappy expression on her face, the one that always made Alec want to jump through hoops to make everything better. He shuddered. If only.
"He's gonna be all right?" Alec asked, his throat dry.
"His chances are good," the doctor said kindly, and Alec wanted to scream. Sophie grabbed his other arm, then, and he didn't know if they would be able to hold him up if they had to.
"Can I see him?"
The doctor smiled again, and this time it was almost real. He said, "As soon as we get him settled."
~~~
Alec walked into the ICU, directly towards Eliot's bed. He was surrounded by an array of machines and, as Alec drew closer, he saw what looked like a half dozen tubes attached to Eliot's body. Eliot's eyes were closed and his entire face looked pale and...Alec couldn't decide, exactly, but it was like his face had gotten smaller somehow without Eliot awake to animate it.
The doctor had reassured him that Eliot was not in a coma and was simply asleep, and had asked Alec very firmly to let him rest. Alec found that hard to do, faced with Eliot lying there motionless. He needed to know, suddenly, if Eliot really could wake up, needed to see Eliot's eyes open and hear him snarl at Alec to not wake him so damn early in the morning because he'd finally gotten around to going to sleep.
Instead all he got was the beeping of the monitors. Alec's fingers itched as he looked at the machinery; if he could hack into them, he could force them to say Eliot was perfectly fine.
And then he would be.
He had to jam his hands into his pockets to keep from touching the monitors and made himself stare at Eliot. He didn't have a clue what he was supposed to say, or do. He wanted to take Eliot's hand but was afraid to touch him; if he knocked a tube loose the doctors would chase him out of there and never let him back in. So he stayed by the foot of the bed, and watched Eliot sleep.
After a long moment, Alec glanced upwards. Nana, if you're listening, put in a good word. Please let him come home with me. Y'all don't need him up there, yet.
Then he sat in the chair provided, and leaned his elbow on his knee and his chin in his hand, and waited.
~~~
Alec ran around to the passenger side door, not at all surprised to see it open and Eliot getting out. He grabbed Eliot's arm and held him steady, ignoring the fierce glare he got and especially not letting go when Eliot tried to tug free.
"I don't need your help," Eliot snapped.
Alec forced himself to ignore the soft pauses between the words. Amy, Eliot's speech therapist, said that he was doing better; she'd agreed with Alec's observation that when he was annoyed, Eliot spoke noticeably smoother. Alec would never admit to deliberately annoying Eliot just to get him to practice talking, but he did make sure to share the tidbit of information with the rest of the team.
Not so strangely, Parker was the best at drawing Eliot out of his sullen silences, and into only softly clipped, just barely halting, sentences. The pictures Alec had taken of Parker's Sharpie Art on Eliot's arms made up the wallpaper on all of his computer screens.
Now, though, Alec gave Eliot a look and didn't reply as he pulled Eliot's arm over his shoulders. Eliot tugged to get free, and his expression went from annoyed to sincerely murderous in an eye-blink. "I can walk."
Alec took a deep breath, then leaned in close. "I do not fucking care if you can walk. I have spent the last six weeks not being able to fix a damn thing and now if the only thing I can do is make sure you don't wobble on the way to the front door then I am damn well going to do it."
He realized he was shouting, and didn't frankly care. He did back up, just a little, out of Eliot's face but didn't let go of his arm. He braced himself for a prolonged shouting match and reminded himself he wasn't above calling Parker to come over and give Eliot the 'I never had a puppy' eyes that made Eliot (and possibly himself) do anything she asked.
But Eliot just looked surprised, then he reached up -- his left hand, Alec tried not to notice how he didn't even try with his right -- and he cupped Alec's face. Eliot pulled himself in, then wrapped his arm around Alec's neck and held onto him.
Alec just buried his face in Eliot's shoulder. He still smelled like the hospital, no matter that they'd brought Eliot his own pajamas and shampoo, and had been sneaking in the chinese food from Leo's that he claimed was the best American-Chinese he'd ever eaten.
But Alec could still smell disinfectant and tile and fucking doctors all over him -- and maybe that was his imagination, a little, and Alec really didn't care. He had Eliot in his arms, and he was standing, and talking, and acting like there wasn't a single thing wrong with him that a bag of ice and a couple of stitches couldn't cure.
Alec pulled himself together and got them turned towards the front door of Eliot's house. "Let's get you inside before Mrs. Peterson gives herself a fit trying to figure out what we're up to."
"She enjoys it," Eliot said, quietly. He was smiling, though, and Alec saw his gaze slip down the block towards the old lady's house. Alec pretended he didn't know how Eliot went over there sometimes, trading recipes and casseroles and charming the poor woman into baking the desserts that Eliot claimed he couldn't quite manage.
Alec had been over there himself once a week while Eliot was in the hospital, giving her updates and spending a lot more time talking about his Nana than he'd ever thought possible. Mrs. Peterson had sent him home with nearly five dozen cookies yesterday, which were waiting in the kitchen for Eliot to discover.
They made their way to the front door, slowly enough that Eliot didn't have much chance to wobble. He'd made so much progress that his physical therapist expected him to make a very good recovery. Very good, but none of his doctors or therapists would use the word 'total' or 'complete.'
So far Eliot hadn't said a word about it, alternating between acting like nothing was wrong and acting like he'd be perfectly fine once he recovered. It was one of the things Alec had been dreading a discussion about. He'd already suffered through it with Nate, talking retirement and 'advisory capacity' until Alec could barely stand to think of what the conversation would do to Eliot himself.
Lately Eliot didn't seem at all inclined to talk about it, and so far Alec had let him. But as they got into the house and Alec herded Eliot towards the kitchen, he knew they were going to have to talk. Determinedly, he decided to put it off for awhile longer, because right now all he wanted to do was drink in the fact that Eliot was home.
Alec grabbed him in another bear hug, catching him in mid-cookie. Eliot just laughed, though, and wriggled a bit so he could eat and be glommed at the same time.
"I love you," slipped out, and Alec had been pretty sure he'd been about to ask if Eliot wanted some milk, or had he gotten one with the M&Ms and coconut. He hadn't ever said those exact words to Eliot before, even if giving him the entire set of Babylon 5 was a pretty good indication. But he'd said them, and he knew he didn't ever want to stop.
Maybe they could open a diner, and Eliot could feed poor people and homeless folks and growl at kids trying to rip off the register. Alec could cover one wall with over-sized screens, and they could watch football and hockey and reruns of the Thunderbirds when business was slow.
He felt Eliot's arm tighten on him, then there was a cookie-muffled, "Love you, too."
Alec looked over at the plates of cookies. He could feel himself trembling and tried to ignore it. His voice was not at all shaky when he said, "Man, she made four plates of those things. You don't have to gobble them all at once. Especially since she's probably going make you more tomorrow."
Eliot grinned. "That's why I have to--" He stopped, and a look of confusion appeared on his face.
It nearly broke Alec's heart, watching Eliot try to figure out which word he wanted. But he'd tried filling them in before with guesses, and it wasn't that he got Eliot's usual death glare of annoyance when he tried. It was the fact Eliot got quiet and wouldn't even bother finishing his sentence, wouldn't bother talking much at all until someone annoyed him out of his silence again.
Eliot glanced at the plate of cookies, and shrugged, apparently giving up the search for the word he didn't know anymore. He looked calm as he said, "She'll bring more. These should be gone." He spoke softly, but hesitantly, and Alec pretended not to notice.
He grinned."Then I get one?"
Eliot scowled. "No."
Alec gave him a cute look.
Eliot just shook his head, and ate another cookie. Alec just laughed, and settled himself back into his bear-hug, pressing Eliot against the counter and resting his head against Eliot's temple. He was content to stand there for the rest of the day if Eliot would let him.
Although Eliot and a double chocolate fudge almond cookie would be pretty good, too.
the end