just_1_word | 17.2. Pain
17.2. Pain
Co-written with justalilcontact
[Follows THIS and THIS]
Rogue took a deep breath before stepping into Chase's hospital room. She wasn't really sure what to expect, and she honestly didn't notice any real changes except there seemed to be less machines. Or maybe they were different ones. And then it hit her, his expression was different. It was slightly more relaxed then it had been in ages. She walked quietly over to his bed, and brushed her covered fingers across his cheek before she leaned down to press a kiss to the top of his head where it safe. She felt the surge of emotion build up and threaten to burst, but she kept the tears back. She didn't want him to see her crying when he opened his eyes. Rogue took a seat, and threaded her fingers through his as she waited for him to regain consciousness again.
"I love ya, Doc. So does our baby girl. I know she ain't born yet, but she does. Every time she's near ya she starts kickin'," she murmured softly, needing to say something even if he was asleep.
Chase thought he imagined the voice at first. Either that, or Riley had been hooking into some helium on his break. His eyes opened slightly as he still tried to fight off that deep painful ache engulfing him and he turned his head slightly, expecting to find even more people swarming around him. He still couldn't quite link in his head that he was in a hospital bed and in PPTH's ICU. He couldn't even link the fact his arms were attached to him. He blinked a few times, trying to focus, but when he did, Rogue sitting beside him was a sight that had a small sob catching in his throat. "Oh god... you're here..." he mumbled, trying to weakly clutch at her hand.
Rogue covered his hand so she held it in both of hers and bit her lip as she nodded, not trusting herself to speak without crying. Not just yet. She leaned forward to bring her face closer to his. "Ain't anywhere else I'm gonna be... 'cept when they kick me out. If I had my way I woulda been here twenty-four-seven." She squeezed his hand and her breath escaped her in a rush. "I love you so much, Doc. I just... I never meant to hurt ya. I'm so sorry."
Chase's breathing was shallow and slightly laboured from the pain. He put his hand up to adjust the oxygen tube near his ear where it felt like it was tickling him. "No... no, don't... don't do that..." he whispered, holding her eyes with his own heavy-lidded gaze. He moved his hand from hers to try to reach her stomach. "I'm just so glad... you're okay..."
Rogue stood up to make it easier for him, and brought his hand against the baby bump. She gave a small nod. "You shoulda seen me bein' you... it was somethin'. I had the paramedics and doctors goin'," she told him with a shaky laugh. "We're both okay, I promise. Lachlan made sure the baby got checked as soon as I called him after... after you got taken to emergency."
Chase's forehead creased a little and he managed a slight laugh. "There should never be... two of me," he decided, swallowing to wet his throat and exhaled slowly as he felt as well as saw that his wife and baby were okay. "What happened?" he finally asked, hoping she was okay to tell him something about it all to brush away the confusion and slight fear in his gut. The pain alone was scaring him. He had felt small bursts of Rogue's powers in the past, but this was different and it was enough to tell him the whole thing must've been serious. Didn't Riley say he was out for two weeks? Just how much had he missed?
The tears were back and Rogue sat down slowly as she hung onto Chase's hand. This was the question she'd been dreading, and she had no idea why. It wasn't like Chase didn't know who she was, what she was capable of. "You came home from work and we were gonna... we were gettin' pretty serious, and hot, and we were both naked, so a lot of skin was touchin'. My control... it didn't just slip, it pretty much short-circuited. I felt a warnin', but I thought it was just how you were makin' me feel." Rogue tried to keep eye contact with her husband, but the truth was she could still feel a deep shame that she'd hurt him so badly, and that she hadn't pulled back in time. "It took a little while to get untangled, but by then..."
"Short-circuited?" Chase asked hoarsely. He blinked slowly, trying to process it. "Is it gone?" He had gotten used to her control. It helped them feel like they were almost normal when she could touch him without barriers of any sort. He hadn't minded from the start about what she was or what it could do. He had feared it slightly in the early days but only because she had seen memories of his that he had been too scared to share with her that early. But she knew everything about him now. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Medically, the fact he was in a coma for two weeks could mean lasting effects but he knew even in his weakened groggy state that it was too soon to know if that was going to be the case. He was trying to wrap his head around what the enormity of this all could mean but it was his brain that was short-circuiting right now and causing him to just stare at her as he tried to form rational thoughts.
She gave a slow nod. "Lachlan thinks it's 'cause of the baby... that the pregnancy is kinda messin' with everythin'. I don't know if it's gone, but I think it's just too unstable right now to trust. I don't wanna hurt ya again." Truth was her control had been slowly increasing the longer she was with Chase, like her skin was getting used to him. She didn't want to give it up, or believe that it was gone. "I'm hopin' it'll be back after the baby's born I just don't wanna get my hopes up. I don't know if I could take it."
Lachlan and Riley had been involved. Chase was gradually tucking away the facts in his brain that he would no doubt return to when he was feeling better. He had a bunch of mangled questions swimming in his mind, none of which seemed to form rationally into words for him to utter. It was the fear that was scaring him. He didn't want to be scared of his wife but the pain kept dragging over him and making it hard to ignore it. If she kept covered it would be fine, right? There was also the fact he had apparently lost two weeks in his memory bank. He remembered Lachlan referring to how surreal that had felt to accept. In fact, the last thing Chase could clearly remember was talking to House, but he couldn't remember what it was about anymore. "Um..." he mumbled shakily, trying to keep his composure. He suddenly felt overwhelmed by it all, most prominently the fact he was in hospital. "T-That makes sense..." he finally agreed.
Rogue pushed back the hair from his forehead, her expression sad as she watched her husband struggle. She'd never wanted him to go through this, never for once second wanted to make him afraid of her; the one thing she'd feared most. "I just wanna take ya home, but I guess it's gonna be a while. I'm just so sorry, Doc. I'll do anythin' I can to make it better."
Chase nodded only slightly. He still felt heavy like his muscles were no longer attached to his body. "It depends if there are complications," he explained. His eyes filled with tears before he had any chance to stop them and he looked at her almost pleadingly. "We're gonna be okay, right?" he whispered, reaching for her hand.
Tears slid down her cheeks in answer to his, and she nodded eagerly and took his hand. "Yeah, we're gonna be okay. I was so worried when ya woke up ya wouldn't even wanna see me." She leaned forward to kiss the top of his head again and rest her cheek against his chest where it was covered by the gown and bed covers. "You're everythin' to me, Doc. You ain't allowed to leave me."
Chase placed his hand softly on the back of her head and stroked her hair. The tears slowly slipped down his cheeks, but there was no move to wipe them away. It was just everything overwhelming him. He couldn't be scared of his wife and he would do everything in his power to block stupid thoughts like that. She was in her eight month of pregnancy now. They were on the home straight and if they got this far, they could get through anything. "I love you," he told her. "More than life."
Rogue sobbed in relief as she clutched his other hand tightly and turned her head enough to kiss him through the gown. She wanted so badly just to kiss him properly, but she couldn't risk it. Not while he was still fragile. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"Me too," Chase admitted with a small breathless laugh through the tears. "I feel like I missed out on an invitation to a really happening party that people forgot to take pictures at. Let me guess, Baby Campbell just got his first tooth or something? The sky hasn't turned green or anything? House grew some emotions?"
Rogue sucked in a breath, and her mouth twisted as she remembered how close she'd been to losing Chase to House. "No, nothin' like that. But... but his team did try to take ya away. They didn't wait that long before runnin' into the ER and tryin' to steal ya. Lachlan told me to kick up a fuss so we could get ya here with Riley."
Chase's eyes were on Rogue again as he took his time trying to process the facts. He gave a small, stiff nod and sucked in a breath from a wave of pain. He had to remember to ask for something to dilute that. "Remind me to buy him a drink," he said softly. "Both of them. It would've gotten messy if House was involved. He would've had the team breaking into our home and crawling all over you before you realised it."
"I know, they made me understand that." She sat up to look at her husband and touched her gloved fingers to his face. "Ya need somethin'? Anythin'? Ya thisty?" Rogue smiled a little, trying to push away all the feelings of unease and guilt. "I'd give 'em my first-born, but I'm kinda attached to the idea that she's gonna be ours, so a drink'll do."
Chase smiled a little. "Lachlan has his own first-born to deal with. I don't think you'll have a fight on your hands." He tried to see behind his head, but had to stop, breaking out into a sweat from the pain. "Are there any signs behind me? Nil by mouth or NBM? I doubt there will be but you never know. I haven't been puking blood or anything, have I?" He closed his eyes and put his hand up to his head. "I feel like I've been on a rollercoaster for a year and it just chucked me off."
Rogue glanced up at the wall behind Chase's bed and gave a shake of her head. She could see a few plugs and the light, but no signs. "I think you're allowed to eat and drink. There was no pukin' of blood. Not that they told me, anyway." She debated about telling him that he'd crashed, but she would wait until she was a little more together. "Baby Campbell's busy exercisin' his lungs. It's why I didn't really stay with Lachlan and Tara. Wasn't sleepin' as it was, so... We'll get ya better, okay? No more rollcoasters throwin' ya off."
"But you let them help you, right? They'd want to help..." Chase's eyes dropped again and he tried to fight off yet another wave of total draining exhaustion. He felt heady like he was going to pass out, but he tried to stay awake. His eyes were just really hard to open. Maybe he could just sleep for a minute and recharge for a bit? "Don't go..." He managed to mumble before he lost the battle again slipped back into unconsciousness.
All muses referenced with permission and are from the princeton2nyc universe
Word Count | 2,132
Co-written with justalilcontact
[Follows THIS and THIS]
Rogue took a deep breath before stepping into Chase's hospital room. She wasn't really sure what to expect, and she honestly didn't notice any real changes except there seemed to be less machines. Or maybe they were different ones. And then it hit her, his expression was different. It was slightly more relaxed then it had been in ages. She walked quietly over to his bed, and brushed her covered fingers across his cheek before she leaned down to press a kiss to the top of his head where it safe. She felt the surge of emotion build up and threaten to burst, but she kept the tears back. She didn't want him to see her crying when he opened his eyes. Rogue took a seat, and threaded her fingers through his as she waited for him to regain consciousness again.
"I love ya, Doc. So does our baby girl. I know she ain't born yet, but she does. Every time she's near ya she starts kickin'," she murmured softly, needing to say something even if he was asleep.
Chase thought he imagined the voice at first. Either that, or Riley had been hooking into some helium on his break. His eyes opened slightly as he still tried to fight off that deep painful ache engulfing him and he turned his head slightly, expecting to find even more people swarming around him. He still couldn't quite link in his head that he was in a hospital bed and in PPTH's ICU. He couldn't even link the fact his arms were attached to him. He blinked a few times, trying to focus, but when he did, Rogue sitting beside him was a sight that had a small sob catching in his throat. "Oh god... you're here..." he mumbled, trying to weakly clutch at her hand.
Rogue covered his hand so she held it in both of hers and bit her lip as she nodded, not trusting herself to speak without crying. Not just yet. She leaned forward to bring her face closer to his. "Ain't anywhere else I'm gonna be... 'cept when they kick me out. If I had my way I woulda been here twenty-four-seven." She squeezed his hand and her breath escaped her in a rush. "I love you so much, Doc. I just... I never meant to hurt ya. I'm so sorry."
Chase's breathing was shallow and slightly laboured from the pain. He put his hand up to adjust the oxygen tube near his ear where it felt like it was tickling him. "No... no, don't... don't do that..." he whispered, holding her eyes with his own heavy-lidded gaze. He moved his hand from hers to try to reach her stomach. "I'm just so glad... you're okay..."
Rogue stood up to make it easier for him, and brought his hand against the baby bump. She gave a small nod. "You shoulda seen me bein' you... it was somethin'. I had the paramedics and doctors goin'," she told him with a shaky laugh. "We're both okay, I promise. Lachlan made sure the baby got checked as soon as I called him after... after you got taken to emergency."
Chase's forehead creased a little and he managed a slight laugh. "There should never be... two of me," he decided, swallowing to wet his throat and exhaled slowly as he felt as well as saw that his wife and baby were okay. "What happened?" he finally asked, hoping she was okay to tell him something about it all to brush away the confusion and slight fear in his gut. The pain alone was scaring him. He had felt small bursts of Rogue's powers in the past, but this was different and it was enough to tell him the whole thing must've been serious. Didn't Riley say he was out for two weeks? Just how much had he missed?
The tears were back and Rogue sat down slowly as she hung onto Chase's hand. This was the question she'd been dreading, and she had no idea why. It wasn't like Chase didn't know who she was, what she was capable of. "You came home from work and we were gonna... we were gettin' pretty serious, and hot, and we were both naked, so a lot of skin was touchin'. My control... it didn't just slip, it pretty much short-circuited. I felt a warnin', but I thought it was just how you were makin' me feel." Rogue tried to keep eye contact with her husband, but the truth was she could still feel a deep shame that she'd hurt him so badly, and that she hadn't pulled back in time. "It took a little while to get untangled, but by then..."
"Short-circuited?" Chase asked hoarsely. He blinked slowly, trying to process it. "Is it gone?" He had gotten used to her control. It helped them feel like they were almost normal when she could touch him without barriers of any sort. He hadn't minded from the start about what she was or what it could do. He had feared it slightly in the early days but only because she had seen memories of his that he had been too scared to share with her that early. But she knew everything about him now. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Medically, the fact he was in a coma for two weeks could mean lasting effects but he knew even in his weakened groggy state that it was too soon to know if that was going to be the case. He was trying to wrap his head around what the enormity of this all could mean but it was his brain that was short-circuiting right now and causing him to just stare at her as he tried to form rational thoughts.
She gave a slow nod. "Lachlan thinks it's 'cause of the baby... that the pregnancy is kinda messin' with everythin'. I don't know if it's gone, but I think it's just too unstable right now to trust. I don't wanna hurt ya again." Truth was her control had been slowly increasing the longer she was with Chase, like her skin was getting used to him. She didn't want to give it up, or believe that it was gone. "I'm hopin' it'll be back after the baby's born I just don't wanna get my hopes up. I don't know if I could take it."
Lachlan and Riley had been involved. Chase was gradually tucking away the facts in his brain that he would no doubt return to when he was feeling better. He had a bunch of mangled questions swimming in his mind, none of which seemed to form rationally into words for him to utter. It was the fear that was scaring him. He didn't want to be scared of his wife but the pain kept dragging over him and making it hard to ignore it. If she kept covered it would be fine, right? There was also the fact he had apparently lost two weeks in his memory bank. He remembered Lachlan referring to how surreal that had felt to accept. In fact, the last thing Chase could clearly remember was talking to House, but he couldn't remember what it was about anymore. "Um..." he mumbled shakily, trying to keep his composure. He suddenly felt overwhelmed by it all, most prominently the fact he was in hospital. "T-That makes sense..." he finally agreed.
Rogue pushed back the hair from his forehead, her expression sad as she watched her husband struggle. She'd never wanted him to go through this, never for once second wanted to make him afraid of her; the one thing she'd feared most. "I just wanna take ya home, but I guess it's gonna be a while. I'm just so sorry, Doc. I'll do anythin' I can to make it better."
Chase nodded only slightly. He still felt heavy like his muscles were no longer attached to his body. "It depends if there are complications," he explained. His eyes filled with tears before he had any chance to stop them and he looked at her almost pleadingly. "We're gonna be okay, right?" he whispered, reaching for her hand.
Tears slid down her cheeks in answer to his, and she nodded eagerly and took his hand. "Yeah, we're gonna be okay. I was so worried when ya woke up ya wouldn't even wanna see me." She leaned forward to kiss the top of his head again and rest her cheek against his chest where it was covered by the gown and bed covers. "You're everythin' to me, Doc. You ain't allowed to leave me."
Chase placed his hand softly on the back of her head and stroked her hair. The tears slowly slipped down his cheeks, but there was no move to wipe them away. It was just everything overwhelming him. He couldn't be scared of his wife and he would do everything in his power to block stupid thoughts like that. She was in her eight month of pregnancy now. They were on the home straight and if they got this far, they could get through anything. "I love you," he told her. "More than life."
Rogue sobbed in relief as she clutched his other hand tightly and turned her head enough to kiss him through the gown. She wanted so badly just to kiss him properly, but she couldn't risk it. Not while he was still fragile. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"Me too," Chase admitted with a small breathless laugh through the tears. "I feel like I missed out on an invitation to a really happening party that people forgot to take pictures at. Let me guess, Baby Campbell just got his first tooth or something? The sky hasn't turned green or anything? House grew some emotions?"
Rogue sucked in a breath, and her mouth twisted as she remembered how close she'd been to losing Chase to House. "No, nothin' like that. But... but his team did try to take ya away. They didn't wait that long before runnin' into the ER and tryin' to steal ya. Lachlan told me to kick up a fuss so we could get ya here with Riley."
Chase's eyes were on Rogue again as he took his time trying to process the facts. He gave a small, stiff nod and sucked in a breath from a wave of pain. He had to remember to ask for something to dilute that. "Remind me to buy him a drink," he said softly. "Both of them. It would've gotten messy if House was involved. He would've had the team breaking into our home and crawling all over you before you realised it."
"I know, they made me understand that." She sat up to look at her husband and touched her gloved fingers to his face. "Ya need somethin'? Anythin'? Ya thisty?" Rogue smiled a little, trying to push away all the feelings of unease and guilt. "I'd give 'em my first-born, but I'm kinda attached to the idea that she's gonna be ours, so a drink'll do."
Chase smiled a little. "Lachlan has his own first-born to deal with. I don't think you'll have a fight on your hands." He tried to see behind his head, but had to stop, breaking out into a sweat from the pain. "Are there any signs behind me? Nil by mouth or NBM? I doubt there will be but you never know. I haven't been puking blood or anything, have I?" He closed his eyes and put his hand up to his head. "I feel like I've been on a rollercoaster for a year and it just chucked me off."
Rogue glanced up at the wall behind Chase's bed and gave a shake of her head. She could see a few plugs and the light, but no signs. "I think you're allowed to eat and drink. There was no pukin' of blood. Not that they told me, anyway." She debated about telling him that he'd crashed, but she would wait until she was a little more together. "Baby Campbell's busy exercisin' his lungs. It's why I didn't really stay with Lachlan and Tara. Wasn't sleepin' as it was, so... We'll get ya better, okay? No more rollcoasters throwin' ya off."
"But you let them help you, right? They'd want to help..." Chase's eyes dropped again and he tried to fight off yet another wave of total draining exhaustion. He felt heady like he was going to pass out, but he tried to stay awake. His eyes were just really hard to open. Maybe he could just sleep for a minute and recharge for a bit? "Don't go..." He managed to mumble before he lost the battle again slipped back into unconsciousness.
All muses referenced with permission and are from the princeton2nyc universe
Word Count | 2,132