Fic: Dream Awake - Pt. 2 [Eli Stone]
Title: Dream Awake
Rating: T
Characters/Pairings: Eli, Nate, others
Summary: After the fight with his brother, after the nosebleed, Eli wakes up in hospital. He's not prepared for what happens next. Post episode 209
"Is it brain damage?"
"No, Mom."
"Amnesia then?"
"He was just confused."
"You heard how he got the date wrong. 2008? And what about what he said to Taylor? She's distraught, poor thing."
"This can happen with head trauma. We just need to give him some time."
"You said it was just a concussion."
"And Dr. O'Day confirmed it. Why don't you and Dad go home? I'll call you if there's any change."
"We're not going anywhere."
Eli lay still and kept his breathing even as he listened to them talk. His eyes were closed and he resisted the temptation to open them until he had a better understanding of what was going on. His head hurt a little less which was making it easier to think. He concentrated hard, trying to piece together what he remembered about how he ended up in hospital. His mother and brother's conversation did little to clear things up. Nate…
In a flash the sight of Nate's angry, red face filled Eli's mind. He remembered they'd been arguing. He had been apologizing but Nate was enraged. Then suddenly Eli was on his knees and Nate was pressing something to his face. He recalled the metallic taste of blood on his tongue. He had been bleeding.
"You're worse than Dad."
Eli's chest tightened. He remembered those words.
"Who wants coffee?"
The pain in his chest became more pronounced when Eli recognized the male voice that wasn't Nate. He tried to will it away, knowing it wasn't true. But he'd seen him, been held by him.
His father was alive.
Eli's eyes snapped open as he gasped. Nate's concerned face immediately came into view.
"Eli? Can you hear me?" He sighed with relief when Eli met his gaze and held it steadily.
"I'll tell the doctor," Linda said and disappeared from the room.
Eli looked to his other side when he felt a warm, dry hand cover his.
"Hey there, son." Aaron smiled gently.
Eli tried to smile in response but felt tears well in his eyes instead. He couldn't be imagining it. His father was there. Not the younger man he'd known in his childhood - the alcoholic who swathed a path of destruction through their lives - he was older, quieter. Eli felt no tremor in his hand, heard no slur in his voice. He was clear-shaven and his eyes were bright and focused.
"Hi, Dad," he whispered. If it was a vision he didn't mind if it kept going for a while.
Aaron stayed by his son's side while Dr. O'Day came in to check Eli over. He performed a few tests on his reflexes and responses and reported to them that physically Eli was showing no ill effects from his concussion.
"You did an MRI?" Eli asked hesitantly. He wondered if the doctor was being discreet in not mentioning it in front of his family.
"Like I said, Eli, your tests were all normal."
"What about the aneurysm?"
O'Day frowned and looked over at Nate who echoed his confusion. "What aneurysm?"
"Ah, my aneurysm. In my head," said Eli.
"Eli, you don't have an aneurysm."
He let out a frustrated breath. "Yes, I do. Check the MRI. It's an inter-cranial aneurysm. It's small but it's there. You need to know what you're looking for."
O'Day looked surprised and a little insulted.
"Eli, you don't have an aneurysm," Nate said, stepping forward. "I even forced the neurology chief to check your MRI for me, just in case. No offence, Mike."
"None taken," the doctor replied but clearly didn't mean it.
"You're wrong," Eli said ominously. "It's why this is happening."
"What's happening?"
"This. All of it." He glanced at each of their faces but they were all looking at him like he was crazy. "This isn't real."
"Okay, I'm going to call for a psych consult," O'Day stated. "Keep an eye on him."
"Why is he saying all this?" Linda asked her eldest son.
"I don't know," Nate admitted in defeat, his eyes not wavering from Eli's.
"Don't you remember?" Eli asked him, needing him to understand. "You were yelling at me. You blamed me for what happened with Beth."
"Eli, I don't know anyone called Beth," Nate stated calmly so as not to agitate him any more than he already was. "You were at home with Taylor when you passed out and hit your head on the planter in your bedroom. Don't you remember?"
Eli frowned. "That was like... two years ago. George Michael was in my room singing 'Faith'."
"Oh my God," his mother murmured under her breath.
"Linda," his father said and she tried to keep her composure.
"Eli, you're not making any sense," Nate went on.
"I will. Just let me explain."
0 0 0 0
They gathered by his bedside when the attending physician from the psychiatry department came to speak with him. By this time Taylor had also arrived and sat beside Eli's mother who had a comforting arm around her. Taylor still looked at Eli with a measure of pain in her red, sleep-deprived eyes, but she was there and he agreed they could all stay during the consultation. Eli had nothing to hide. Maybe if he told them everything he could work out what was happening and what the point of the vision was, if indeed it was a vision.
"You said you saw George Michael, the singer, performing in your bedroom?" Dr Fields prompted. He was an older man, closer to his father's age Eli guessed, and he had an unfazed expression on his face.
Eli concentrated on him rather than the worried looks from everyone else. "That's right."
"Did you talk to him? Did he say anything to you?"
"No. He just sang."
"And do you hear other voices? Other singers?"
"Sometimes."
"And what do these voices tell you?"
Eli shrugged. "What I need to do to help people."
"How do you help them, Eli?"
"Usually in court. I'm a lawyer. Well, a prophet and a lawyer."
"You're a prophet?"
"That's was Chen's word, not mine. I denied it for a long time, but I guess it could be considered an accurate descriptor."
"Who is Chen?"
"Dr. Chen. Frank. Frank Lebakowski, actually. It's a long story. He's my acupuncturist. My guru, if you like."
Dr. Fields made a few more notes on his pad. Nate and Aaron just frowned at one another.
"Tell me more about your aneurysm," Dr. Fields continued.
"I was diagnosed after I saw George Michael for the first time. I guess I fainted and I hit my head." Eli glanced at Nate. "I had an MRI and they didn't find anything. But a few days later I started seeing things. Finding myself in situations that felt real, but weren't really happening." A bit like this, he added silently. "Nate had the scan checked by his neurology chief and he found an aneurysm. Just like the one my father had."
Fields looked over at Aaron. "I'm supposed to be dead," he said by way of explanation.
Eli recounted the attempt to remove the aneurysm and its recurrence, omitting the part about asking God's fiduciary for it back to spare his brother. There was only so much they could accept and he figured that would be pushing it. He did point out that the diagnosis of his aneurysm happened more than a year and a half earlier.
"Which is why you think it's 2008," Fields clarified.
"That's right. Because it is."
"Eli, what goes through your mind when I tell you that it's actually 2006?"
"How about I can predict who wins the next two series of American Idol? And Brangelina have twins."
"I'm serious."
Eli smothered a smile. "Okay, clearly something's going on here. I'm either having a vision or I'm stuck in some kind of weird limbo." He stopped, remembering the taste of blood. "That's it…"
"What is?"
"The fight. I was arguing with Nate. He blamed me for his fiancée breaking up with him because she also has feelings for me - which so wasn't my fault and you owe me an apology," he said, glancing at Nate. "Besides I knew her first and lost my virg-"
Eli clamped his lips together. "Never mind. We were arguing and then my nose was bleeding. Nate called the hospital. I guess maybe the aneurysm ruptured or something. I think I passed out. The next thing I remember is waking up here in some kind of time warp."
"That's interesting," Fields murmured and wrote some more.
"What about us, Eli?" Taylor asked quietly, her voice full of hurt.
Eli felt a twist of pain that he was the cause. "I'm sorry, Taylor."
"We're supposed to be getting married."
"I know, but things don't work out. It was mutual, you have to trust me on that. And everything turned out better, for you anyway. You're going to have a baby."
"Right. With some guy called Matt."
Eli smiled kindly. "That's right, Matt Dowd."
Taylor glowered at him, pulling away from Linda. "That creep from your office who tried to hit on me at the Fourth of July party? Right in front of my father, I might add."
"That's him."
"That's it. I can't sit here and listen to this anymore." She got up with a huff. "This is insane."
She stalked out of the room and Linda called after her before following her. Fields watched the interaction but did not comment.
"Let me get this straight," Nate said, looking confused. "I get engaged to some girl you knew in college?"
"Beth," Eli said.
"Right. Beth. But we don't get married because she's secretly in love with you?"
"Well, yeah, but personally I just think it's cold feet. She does love you, and it'll work out in the end. She needs you and so does Ben."
"And Ben is...?"
"Her son."
Nate raised his hands in surprise. "Her son! Of course. I'm going to be a father. Hey, Dad! You're going to be a grandfather."
"Not me, I'm dead, remember?" Aaron said with a small chuckle.
"Oh yeah, how could I forget," Nate replied.
Eli didn't appreciate his sarcastic tone. "I know you don't believe me. I don't suppose I'd believe it myself if I heard it like this. But these things all happened."
"Are you going to say anything?" Nate snapped at Dr. Fields, his anger mounting.
"What would you like me to say?"
"How about you're going to write him a prescription for anti-psychotics?"
"I don't know that drugs are the right course of action here, Dr. Stone," Fields said calmly.
"He's delusional. He thinks he has a brain aneurysm!"
"He's also suffered a concussion and I think a few days rest is warranted before we leap to a psychological disorder as the cause. Eli doesn't appear to be a danger to himself or anyone else."
Fields focused his attention on Eli. "Why do you think you're here?"
Nate let out a huff behind him but Fields ignored it. His eyes were unwavering.
"I don't know," Eli admitted. "But I can usually work it out given some time."
"Okay. But I want you to come back and see me in a day or so. Your brother can provide you with medical supervision in the meantime and perhaps being in a familiar environment will help."
Eli nodded, vaguely hypnotized by the doctor's steady voice and gaze. "Thank you."
"This will all get sorted out, Eli. You've got to have faith."
"That's just what George Michael said," Eli replied with a smile.
Rating: T
Characters/Pairings: Eli, Nate, others
Summary: After the fight with his brother, after the nosebleed, Eli wakes up in hospital. He's not prepared for what happens next. Post episode 209
"Is it brain damage?"
"No, Mom."
"Amnesia then?"
"He was just confused."
"You heard how he got the date wrong. 2008? And what about what he said to Taylor? She's distraught, poor thing."
"This can happen with head trauma. We just need to give him some time."
"You said it was just a concussion."
"And Dr. O'Day confirmed it. Why don't you and Dad go home? I'll call you if there's any change."
"We're not going anywhere."
Eli lay still and kept his breathing even as he listened to them talk. His eyes were closed and he resisted the temptation to open them until he had a better understanding of what was going on. His head hurt a little less which was making it easier to think. He concentrated hard, trying to piece together what he remembered about how he ended up in hospital. His mother and brother's conversation did little to clear things up. Nate…
In a flash the sight of Nate's angry, red face filled Eli's mind. He remembered they'd been arguing. He had been apologizing but Nate was enraged. Then suddenly Eli was on his knees and Nate was pressing something to his face. He recalled the metallic taste of blood on his tongue. He had been bleeding.
"You're worse than Dad."
Eli's chest tightened. He remembered those words.
"Who wants coffee?"
The pain in his chest became more pronounced when Eli recognized the male voice that wasn't Nate. He tried to will it away, knowing it wasn't true. But he'd seen him, been held by him.
His father was alive.
Eli's eyes snapped open as he gasped. Nate's concerned face immediately came into view.
"Eli? Can you hear me?" He sighed with relief when Eli met his gaze and held it steadily.
"I'll tell the doctor," Linda said and disappeared from the room.
Eli looked to his other side when he felt a warm, dry hand cover his.
"Hey there, son." Aaron smiled gently.
Eli tried to smile in response but felt tears well in his eyes instead. He couldn't be imagining it. His father was there. Not the younger man he'd known in his childhood - the alcoholic who swathed a path of destruction through their lives - he was older, quieter. Eli felt no tremor in his hand, heard no slur in his voice. He was clear-shaven and his eyes were bright and focused.
"Hi, Dad," he whispered. If it was a vision he didn't mind if it kept going for a while.
Aaron stayed by his son's side while Dr. O'Day came in to check Eli over. He performed a few tests on his reflexes and responses and reported to them that physically Eli was showing no ill effects from his concussion.
"You did an MRI?" Eli asked hesitantly. He wondered if the doctor was being discreet in not mentioning it in front of his family.
"Like I said, Eli, your tests were all normal."
"What about the aneurysm?"
O'Day frowned and looked over at Nate who echoed his confusion. "What aneurysm?"
"Ah, my aneurysm. In my head," said Eli.
"Eli, you don't have an aneurysm."
He let out a frustrated breath. "Yes, I do. Check the MRI. It's an inter-cranial aneurysm. It's small but it's there. You need to know what you're looking for."
O'Day looked surprised and a little insulted.
"Eli, you don't have an aneurysm," Nate said, stepping forward. "I even forced the neurology chief to check your MRI for me, just in case. No offence, Mike."
"None taken," the doctor replied but clearly didn't mean it.
"You're wrong," Eli said ominously. "It's why this is happening."
"What's happening?"
"This. All of it." He glanced at each of their faces but they were all looking at him like he was crazy. "This isn't real."
"Okay, I'm going to call for a psych consult," O'Day stated. "Keep an eye on him."
"Why is he saying all this?" Linda asked her eldest son.
"I don't know," Nate admitted in defeat, his eyes not wavering from Eli's.
"Don't you remember?" Eli asked him, needing him to understand. "You were yelling at me. You blamed me for what happened with Beth."
"Eli, I don't know anyone called Beth," Nate stated calmly so as not to agitate him any more than he already was. "You were at home with Taylor when you passed out and hit your head on the planter in your bedroom. Don't you remember?"
Eli frowned. "That was like... two years ago. George Michael was in my room singing 'Faith'."
"Oh my God," his mother murmured under her breath.
"Linda," his father said and she tried to keep her composure.
"Eli, you're not making any sense," Nate went on.
"I will. Just let me explain."
0 0 0 0
They gathered by his bedside when the attending physician from the psychiatry department came to speak with him. By this time Taylor had also arrived and sat beside Eli's mother who had a comforting arm around her. Taylor still looked at Eli with a measure of pain in her red, sleep-deprived eyes, but she was there and he agreed they could all stay during the consultation. Eli had nothing to hide. Maybe if he told them everything he could work out what was happening and what the point of the vision was, if indeed it was a vision.
"You said you saw George Michael, the singer, performing in your bedroom?" Dr Fields prompted. He was an older man, closer to his father's age Eli guessed, and he had an unfazed expression on his face.
Eli concentrated on him rather than the worried looks from everyone else. "That's right."
"Did you talk to him? Did he say anything to you?"
"No. He just sang."
"And do you hear other voices? Other singers?"
"Sometimes."
"And what do these voices tell you?"
Eli shrugged. "What I need to do to help people."
"How do you help them, Eli?"
"Usually in court. I'm a lawyer. Well, a prophet and a lawyer."
"You're a prophet?"
"That's was Chen's word, not mine. I denied it for a long time, but I guess it could be considered an accurate descriptor."
"Who is Chen?"
"Dr. Chen. Frank. Frank Lebakowski, actually. It's a long story. He's my acupuncturist. My guru, if you like."
Dr. Fields made a few more notes on his pad. Nate and Aaron just frowned at one another.
"Tell me more about your aneurysm," Dr. Fields continued.
"I was diagnosed after I saw George Michael for the first time. I guess I fainted and I hit my head." Eli glanced at Nate. "I had an MRI and they didn't find anything. But a few days later I started seeing things. Finding myself in situations that felt real, but weren't really happening." A bit like this, he added silently. "Nate had the scan checked by his neurology chief and he found an aneurysm. Just like the one my father had."
Fields looked over at Aaron. "I'm supposed to be dead," he said by way of explanation.
Eli recounted the attempt to remove the aneurysm and its recurrence, omitting the part about asking God's fiduciary for it back to spare his brother. There was only so much they could accept and he figured that would be pushing it. He did point out that the diagnosis of his aneurysm happened more than a year and a half earlier.
"Which is why you think it's 2008," Fields clarified.
"That's right. Because it is."
"Eli, what goes through your mind when I tell you that it's actually 2006?"
"How about I can predict who wins the next two series of American Idol? And Brangelina have twins."
"I'm serious."
Eli smothered a smile. "Okay, clearly something's going on here. I'm either having a vision or I'm stuck in some kind of weird limbo." He stopped, remembering the taste of blood. "That's it…"
"What is?"
"The fight. I was arguing with Nate. He blamed me for his fiancée breaking up with him because she also has feelings for me - which so wasn't my fault and you owe me an apology," he said, glancing at Nate. "Besides I knew her first and lost my virg-"
Eli clamped his lips together. "Never mind. We were arguing and then my nose was bleeding. Nate called the hospital. I guess maybe the aneurysm ruptured or something. I think I passed out. The next thing I remember is waking up here in some kind of time warp."
"That's interesting," Fields murmured and wrote some more.
"What about us, Eli?" Taylor asked quietly, her voice full of hurt.
Eli felt a twist of pain that he was the cause. "I'm sorry, Taylor."
"We're supposed to be getting married."
"I know, but things don't work out. It was mutual, you have to trust me on that. And everything turned out better, for you anyway. You're going to have a baby."
"Right. With some guy called Matt."
Eli smiled kindly. "That's right, Matt Dowd."
Taylor glowered at him, pulling away from Linda. "That creep from your office who tried to hit on me at the Fourth of July party? Right in front of my father, I might add."
"That's him."
"That's it. I can't sit here and listen to this anymore." She got up with a huff. "This is insane."
She stalked out of the room and Linda called after her before following her. Fields watched the interaction but did not comment.
"Let me get this straight," Nate said, looking confused. "I get engaged to some girl you knew in college?"
"Beth," Eli said.
"Right. Beth. But we don't get married because she's secretly in love with you?"
"Well, yeah, but personally I just think it's cold feet. She does love you, and it'll work out in the end. She needs you and so does Ben."
"And Ben is...?"
"Her son."
Nate raised his hands in surprise. "Her son! Of course. I'm going to be a father. Hey, Dad! You're going to be a grandfather."
"Not me, I'm dead, remember?" Aaron said with a small chuckle.
"Oh yeah, how could I forget," Nate replied.
Eli didn't appreciate his sarcastic tone. "I know you don't believe me. I don't suppose I'd believe it myself if I heard it like this. But these things all happened."
"Are you going to say anything?" Nate snapped at Dr. Fields, his anger mounting.
"What would you like me to say?"
"How about you're going to write him a prescription for anti-psychotics?"
"I don't know that drugs are the right course of action here, Dr. Stone," Fields said calmly.
"He's delusional. He thinks he has a brain aneurysm!"
"He's also suffered a concussion and I think a few days rest is warranted before we leap to a psychological disorder as the cause. Eli doesn't appear to be a danger to himself or anyone else."
Fields focused his attention on Eli. "Why do you think you're here?"
Nate let out a huff behind him but Fields ignored it. His eyes were unwavering.
"I don't know," Eli admitted. "But I can usually work it out given some time."
"Okay. But I want you to come back and see me in a day or so. Your brother can provide you with medical supervision in the meantime and perhaps being in a familiar environment will help."
Eli nodded, vaguely hypnotized by the doctor's steady voice and gaze. "Thank you."
"This will all get sorted out, Eli. You've got to have faith."
"That's just what George Michael said," Eli replied with a smile.