Christmas Morning

[patrick_koster]

Follows this.He woke up feeling a bit disorientated, vaguely remembering regaining consciousness some time during the night and after a few words from the doctor, falling into a restless sleep again. The pain was still there, but nowhere near as bad as it had been when he firs woke up last night. Grateful for small favors, Patrick allowed the nurse

Comments

Christmas day and birthday, all in one

[stormybrendan]

He checked his pockets for the hundredth time that morning, making sure the packages were in there. Sam was organised to send over the meals with one of the regular barmen who'd volunteered to drive them over to the hospital for them, and the bar was decorated for Christmas lunch. Bookings had been thin at first, but in the last week had picked up

Re: Christmas day and birthday, all in one

[patrick_koster]

Patrick smirked. "Of course - don't I look awfully happy about it?" He shook his head, the thought of getting out of bed rather ludicrous given how he'd been feeling last night. Yet he couldn't deny that it was appealing at the same time: one of these days perhaps. "Come here," he said quietly, holding his hand out to Brendan as the man approached the bed.

Re: Christmas day and birthday, all in one

[stormybrendan]

Brendan took Patrick's hand and bent down to kiss him, lingering a little as his lips pressed to his lover's. "Happy birthday," he murmured before kissing him again.

Re: Christmas day and birthday, all in one

[patrick_koster]

He smiled into the kiss and closed his eyes, his fingers tightening around Brendan's: it had been a long time since anyone had said that to him, he couldn't even remember who had said it last or when. "Thanks," he mumbled and slowly blinked his eyes open again and looked up at Brendan. "Sort of forgot about that myself, really."

[stormybrendan]

"Your back?" Brendan asked quietly, concern again clear in his voice as he looked at Patrick. "Is it playing up again?"

[patrick_koster]

Patrick nodded. "It was giving me a bit of trouble last night," he muttered, part of him still trying not to worry Brendan too much. The look on Brendan's face, however, told him that he didn't believe him and Patrick shrugged. "I sort of passed out," he added quietly when Brendan merely kept looking at him.

[stormybrendan]

Brendan had noticed Patrick was still lying relatively flat when he'd walked in, and had felt a lurch in his stomach, as normally the bed would have been raised by now. His fingers tightened on Patrick's when the man admitted how bad it had been.

"Christ!" he muttered. "How're you feeling now?"

[patrick_koster]

"Better," Patrick said. "But I suppose that's not saying much." He smirked and shook his head at remembering just how bad it had been. "It were my own fault though - reckon I'm not that good at asking for help" Something the doctor had more or less confirmed without actually saying as much.

[stormybrendan]

Patrick had been sleeping, lunch having been a fairly interesting attempt by the hospital to provide its patients with some Christmas cheer. It was a major task, getting meals out to so many in one go, as Brendan had learnt in the last year at the bar, and his appreciation for the task had changed his attitude to hospital meals.

He glanced at his watch, Tess having said she'd be by in the afternoon, and wondered which might arrive first, her or Sam's parcel of food from the bar.

[naughty_tess]

There was a soft knock on the door and Tess stood there. She'd had no idea what to get Patrick for Christmas, or if he'd even want anything, and she didn't want to give something to Brendan without getting anything for Patrick. But it was Christmas Day, and Brendan had said it was Patrick's birthday too. So even though she knew there would be food coming, she'd taken the time the day before to make several different kinds of cookies. Not just any cookies, but several different kinds. Ginger cookies, hazelnut crunch cookies, rosemary-cheese spritzes, toasted coconut marshmallows, citrus squares, Mexican wedding cookies, sherry butter nut drops, white chocolate holiday bark, and chocolate peppermint pizzelles. She'd gotten up early and spent most of the day making them before going to Face's; she hoped they were all right.

[stormybrendan]

Brendan looked up from where he was watching the movie on the new iPod and sees Tess, his face lighting up when he saw her at the door. He glanced at Patrick as he pulled the earpieces out and stood, making his way to the door. Pulling it open he could see basket she was carrying and grinned.

"So where's the little red hood, hmmm?" he asked, leaning in and giving her a kiss. "Merry Christmas," he added then held the door open for her. "He's asleep at the moment," he said, glancing at the bed as he led her in.

[naughty_tess]

"Ha ha." She kissed him back and went to set the basket on the table against the wall. "I figured cookies would be safe, since I didn't know what to get him. Everyone likes cookies, including you. This is my gourmet Christmas present," she whispered. "And Merry Christmas to you too." She looked a Patrick. "He doing okay today?"

Christmas dinner

[patrick_koster]

The firs thing he heard when he woke up was the sound of Brendan's voice, unable to make out any actual words and a bit worried about the silence that followed the man's voice, Patrick slowly blinked his eyes open and waited until Brendan - or the person he'd been talking to - came into focus.

Re: Christmas dinner

[stormybrendan]

"Hey there. Have a good sleep?" he said gently as Patrick blinked and tried to wake up.

Re: Christmas dinner

[naughty_tess]

Tess knew enough to keep silent for now, and she studied Patrick's face as he awoke, thinking of the many times she had watched her mother's face in just the same way.

Re: Christmas dinner

[patrick_koster]

Patrick nodded and said, his voice still sleepy and a bit hoarse, "Rather." He then managed to open his eyes altogether and, after blinking a couple of times, both Tess and Brendan's faces came into focus. "Hey," he mumbled, a faint smile crossing his face as he looked up at the two of them.

[stormybrendan]

As Tess poured Patrick some water Brendan felt his phone start to vibrate, being on silent as it was. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out, seeing it was the bar's number on the caller ID.

He answered, the call being from Sam telling him the young kitchen hand was on his way with their dinner.

"Looks like dinner is on its way," he announced to the other two after he'd thanked Sam and shoved his phone back in his pocket.

Christmas Afternoon

[naughty_tess]

"Hooray!" Tess would have clapped if she'd had her hands free. She almost put the glass to Patrick's lips for him, thinking of her mother, but then she didn't want to make him feel self conscious. Hmmm, better to use a straw. She put it in the glass and held that to his lips.

Re: Christmas Afternoon

[patrick_koster]

On any other day he'd have balked at this from anyone other than Brendan, but today he was tired, didn't have the energy left to protest or to attempt doing it himself instead. Wryly thinking that swallowing his pride had become as simple as swallowing water, Patrick emptied the glass and, after swallowing just one more time, he even managed to thank Tess, knowing she was merely trying to be nice and help him out.

Re: Christmas Afternoon

[stormybrendan]

Brendan watched Tess give Patrick the water and was secretly relieved he'd managed to accept it. He understood Patrick's discomfort at accepting any assistance from anyone, except maybe himself, but was worried others wouldn't understand. He really didn't want Patrick to alienate himself, and hoped Tess would understand how much that simple acceptance of her help meant.

"Might just duck down to the foyer, save him trying to find somewhere to park so he can bring it up here."