Stitcher - 11. Returnng

Cam asked me to tell you what it was like right after the accident—wait—accident, my ass! That asswipe tried to fucking kill me! Why does everyone call it an accident?

This is gonna be kinda short because, well—I don’t really have a lot to remember. I was in a fucking coma, I’m told.

So, I guess the best place to start would be when I heard this loud crash behind me. I jerked my head back, and my eyes locked with that fucking sperm donor I used to call Dad.

“Dad! No!”

The next thing I remember was flying through the air. It was so bizarre, almost like everything just went into slow-motion. I remember landing on the pool deck. My feet were underneath me when I landed, and I felt my quads sliding up my thighs. There was also a sharp pain in my side. I thought, “this is gonna suck,” just as I felt surrounded by water.

I know I tried to swim to the edge of the pool, but my legs wouldn’t work. They just hung there in the water. I held my breath as long as I could, but I just felt blackness surrounding me. I really thought I was dying, but the strangest thing happened.

I felt Janet there with me. I seemed like she had her arms around me, but it was more than that. She completely surrounded me, and she kept telling me not to worry, I wasn’t going to die.

I remember being lifted out of the water and thinking that Janet was a lot stronger than I ever imagined. Then I felt lips on my mouth. I remember those lips! Vic! That reminded me that I need to tell Cam about those summers with—

Whoa! I was coughing up a storm. Vic was crying and telling me to hang in there and stay with him. Janet was telling me to relax—that everything was going to be okay.

I was pretty aware that my body was seriously fucked up. I wasn’t really in pain, just aware. I don’t remember much about the ambulance ride—or even the helicopter. Janet was there the whole time just talking about how Cam and I were such great dads and how she loved the name Eli. She said she was also with him and would be for his entire life.

I kinda became more aware as I got to the emergency room and knew there was a shitload of people working on me. I remember being moved into an elevator and then, as Janet told me, the operating room.

The next block of time went black. I guess that was the surgery. When I started becoming aware of things again, it was different. It was really quiet. All I could hear was Janet’s soft voice. The “outside world” was completely silent.

When someone would come into the room, I couldn’t hear them. Janet would tell me if it was a nurse, a doctor, or one of my family members. She told me that Mom would just cry when she would visit. She said Dad just held my hand and didn’t really know what to say other than he loved me and wanted me to fight hard to get better.

But when Cam would come in, Janet would tell me what he was saying—what he was doing. She would tell me to squeeze the hand he was holding. She would tell me how happy he was when I would respond to him. I’ll never tell him I didn’t hear him those first visits. I think it would devastate him.

I think it was his second or third visit when Janet told me that Cam had asked me to marry him so I could legally adopt Eli. Aw man, even though I was out like a light, that made me so happy. It also gave me the motivation to get my ass better as fast as possible.

I remember asking Janet if there was anything that could be done to help me. Were there any secret powers on the other side? She kinda laughed and said she would have to go away but would send my relatives that were there on the other side. She said she couldn’t be here with them, so she would be leaving. She promised to be back.

She said I should try to sleep and trust that his relatives would be there and would help heal my head so they could bring me back to the “real world.” And then Janet was gone.

In just seconds, I felt surrounded by so many people. I saw (felt, really) my grandparents from my dad’s side of the family and my grandfather from Mom’s. I didn’t recognize the others right away, but I felt my grandmother really close to me before I could even think about it.

“Ian, you have a lot of us here with you right now. We’re going to help you get better, but you just need to clear your mind and let us do what we need to do. In a few hours, you will start waking up and becoming more aware of your surroundings. You will have a long and challenging recovery, but we will be here to help you. However, this is the only time you will be aware of us. Now, go to sleep, my beautiful grandson. You are going to be just fine.”

“Will I see you again?”

“Yes, you will, my dear. But it will be a long, long time from now. You have a wonderful life ahead of you. You will be a lawyer that does so much good for so many. It will be a beautiful thing that will make your husband and children so proud.”

“Wha—?”

And that was it. I was asleep, and the next thing I knew, this doctor guy was poking, prodding, and spending a lot of time looking at my head. Fuck! That’s starting to hurt. Then It hit me, for the first time since all this shit started, I was feeling pain.

A bit after the doctor left, a nurse came in and started saying stuff about how they would start me on a series of pain medications as they ease me off the other meds—or something like that. I couldn’t hear her very clearly—Whoa! I could hear her, though. That was really cool.

This warm feeling started to fill my body, and it was nice. But before I knew it, I was out again. The next thing I knew, I heard the doctor guy talking to me again, but I was a lot more aware this time.

“You’ve had quite a time of it, young man. I’m fairly certain you can hear me now, but don’t try to talk. That will come later. You’ve done amazingly well over the last twelve hours. We’ve had you sedated quite heavily, but you did so well last night that we have begun to bring you out of it. I’m holding your hand now. I’m going to ask you some questions. Squeeze my hand once for yes, twice for no. I also have a nurse here to help us out.”

Help me out?? She stuck a fucking pin in my toe!

“Did you feel that?”

I squeezed his hand once.

Next, she pricked my left hand. Ow!

“Did you feel that?”

I squeezed his hand again. Too bad he didn’t give me an option for that fucking hurts!”

He asked me if I was ready to have some visitors, and I squeezed once. I needed to make sure my Cam was one of those visitors. With every ounce of strength I could muster, I was able to get one word out—barely.

“Cam.”

“Oh, wonderful. You’re starting to speak. And yes, I’m sure Cam is chomping at the bit to get in here. I think he’s one of the reasons you are doing so well. That young man thinks the world of you.”

“M-marry. Me.”

“Cam asked you to marry him?”

One squeeze. It was just too hard to talk yet.

“Are you going to say yes?”

Fuck yes, I’m saying yes! One squeeze.

“Would you like me to tell him for you?”

Hell no! Two big squeezes and the fucker laughed and said he would never tell something that big. He was testing me some more.

“Okay, Ian. You’re doing great right now. Much better than I was expecting. I’m going to go out to the waiting room and talk with your family. I’ll tell them how wonderful you are doing, but I won’t let out any secrets. Do you want me to tell them you’ve said a few words? Or would you rather surprise them yourself?

“Don’t. Tell.”

And then he left—Mom and Dad came in a bit later. Mom was crying again, and Dad seemed to be a bit more relaxed—or relieved, maybe? They just talked shit, but it was nice hearing about Eli. They would ask me questions and soon figured out the one squeeze/two squeeze thing. I feel kinda bad bout not even remembering what they were saying. I just wanted to be with Cam so bad!

Finally! I felt those sexy lips on mine. I tried to kiss him back, but I don’t know if he could tell.

He did tell me he loved me and managed to whisper “love” back to him. Vic took over and said he was only staying a short time so I could have some time with Cam. I love my cousin. He knows what I really need!

He mentioned that he told Cam about our history together and that everything was cool. Vic said he wished I could’ve seen Cam’s face when he figured out he was gay. I had a great picture in my mind, though!

He also told me he was going on a date tonight! Awesome! It’s about time if you ask me!

Vic left me alone with Cam, and we had a wonderful visit. I started to re-enter the real world a bit more, and then the best news I’ve had so far happened. Every time Cam kissed me—or my hand—my cock started to fill up and get hard! Thank God it still worked! Whew!

Then, out of the blue, I heard my little man. “Da-da! Da-da! Da-da-da-da!”

I opened my eyes and said as loud as I could muster, “Baby!”

He was all wrapped up in miniature surgical scrubs. The sleeves and legs were tied off, so he couldn’t grab anything, and he had this little face mask on. He looked like a stuffed cabbage! The nurse handed Eli to Cam, and he just kept doing his “Da-da” thing. I couldn’t stop smiling!

I really needed some water. I knew I could talk better if I could get my throat wet. I would have preferred a shot or two of my Cam’s cum, but I don’t think that would have gone over very well! The nurse gave Cam a cup of crushed ice and a spoon and told him to give me a spoonful.

I reached my arm out to Eli, and Cam placed him on my side with his little head on my chest—his favorite place. I got a spoonful of ice, and damn, did it feel good! Cam asked if I wanted another spoonful, and I nodded yes. Oh yeah, I’m still smiling my ass off! I was with the two most important boys in my life!

After the second spoonful of ice did its magic, I was able to speak a lot better. I looked down at my baby boy and told him, “Did you miss me, little man? I sure missed you!”

Eli stopped wiggling around and looked up to me as he cooed and gurgled. God, I love that sound!

“You and your daddy are the best medicine in the world, my little stuffed cabbage! I’m going to need you to help me get better fast cuz we have a lot of stuff to do!”

I looked over at my beautiful Cameron and smiled. “Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Dude, you asked me to marry you, and I don’t think you were able to hear my answer last night!”

“You heard? You really heard me?”

“Cameron Elliot Franklin. Nothing will make me happier than to become your husband—and this beautiful baby’s daddy.

* * * * *

He heard me! Ian fucking heard me propose to him! And he said yes! The tears were uncontrollable now—and I wasn’t even crying!

Before I could even tell my beautiful boy I loved him, the nurse knocked on the door and said it was time to go, that Ian needed some rest, and the doctor needed to see him. I leaned down and kissed him—and he definitely kissed me back and even threw in a little bit of tongue!

“Ewwww! Coma breath!’ We laughed, and I gathered up our little man, and as we headed out. I turned around and told my beautiful boy I loved him.

“I love you, too—both of you!”

I got out of my scrubs as the nurse helped get Eli out of his. He loved the attention he was getting from the nurse. We are so lucky to have such a happy baby!

When I walked into the waiting room, Claire, Sam, and Vic looked up and saw the huge smile on my tear-stained face.

“He’s awake. He’s talking. He said yes!!”

“Yes?” Claire was obviously confused.

“That’s just what I said! Ian heard me propose to him last night, and he said yes!”

Claire jumped up to hug my son and me. “Oh, sweetheart! That’s wonderful news!”

“Of course, he has to heal and get out of this damned place, then do the physical therapy thing. Don’t worry, we won’t rush, and there are zero plans yet, so don’t panic!”

Realizing we had two hours before we could see Ian again, Claire and Sam said they would walk over to Whole Foods and get us lunch from the hot bar, leaving Vic and me with the baby.

I grabbed his food bag, pulled out a bottle of formula, and pressed the call button for Nurse Black. In a few minutes, she came in, and I asked her if there was a nearby microwave so I could warm the bottle. She led me down the hall to the nurses’ breakroom. She said I was welcome to use the microwave any time, and she would let the other nurses know that it was okay.

When I walked into the waiting room, I found Vic on the floor, changing a fussy Eli’s diaper. “He got grouchy as soon as you left, so I checked his diaper, and he needed a change. I hope I did it right!”

As soon as I picked up my little man, he stopped fussing and started to reach for his bottle. The diaper looked good, and I thanked Vic for helping out.

As I was feeding Eli, I asked Vic how he was feeling about Hayden. “You know, it’s off to a good start. I have these moments when I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time. I then have these moments where I feel like I’m a lecherous old fool—I mean, I’m five or six years older than he is. And my God! He spent two years with this crazy teacher fantasy thing he had!”

“Vic, almost every female student and a lot more boys than you or even I am aware of had the same fantasy. Hell, I even had some impure thoughts in your first year. You’re hot as fuck! Do you realize that you were the only teacher we could have a fantasy like that with? I mean, Jesus! Were we supposed to have a teacher fantasy with Mr. Collins?” Mr. Collins was the oldest teacher at the school back then—and he soooo had a few fantasies about some of the boys in the school. He wasn’t good at hiding it.

“But then, Hayden is smart, funny, cute, and a helluva great kisser! I know, I should stop worrying about shit, just enjoy our dinner date, and see what happens from there.”

“Just remember, he’s not your student anymore. He’s at least twenty and is quite capable of making his own decisions.”

Eli had finished his bottle, and I asked Vic if he could get a pacifier out of his diaper bag. Nurse Black had a rocking chair delivered to the room while I was in with Ian. Perfect!

I carried my little stud-muffin to the rocker. I Gave Eli his pacifier and started rocking him while gently singing to him. Today’s selection was “For Good” from Wicked. Eli’s favorite way to fall asleep was with his whole body on top of ours. I guess he found comfort in our heartbeats and hearing us talk or sing through our chests.

Before I even finished the first verse, little Eli let out a big sigh and just collapsed on top of me. He was fast asleep. I slowly stood up and walked over to his baby jail and gently laid him down on his back. When I stood up and turned around, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing!

“What the—are you Facetiming me?”

Vic just smiled and said they could hardly see anything because of all the hearts flying across the screen. “You are sooooo gonna be trending by the end of the day!”

I looked into Vic’s phone. “Hi folks, thanks for watching! We’re going to go away now!” I leaned down and turned off the feed.

“I can’t believe you did that!”

“Don’t be pissed! First of all, it was an awesome video, and people loved it all over the place. Second of all, do you even realize how much social media cred you just earned?”

“I would have sung better if I knew you were broadcasting me all over the fucking universe!”

Sam and Claire walked in with bags of hot food, a couple of gallons of fresh-brewed iced tea, and a lemon meringue pie. We all enjoyed a delicious pasta dish with chicken and peas, some awesome roasted Brussel sprouts, and an excellent fresh garden salad.

I felt kinda bad for the hundreds of people in this building who had to eat the crappy hospital food when there was this stuff literally right next to the place. I mentioned to Claire that we would have to get Ian this good food once he was eating again. She agreed that it was an excellent idea since visiting hours were during meal times.

While we were eating, Vic told us that he was going back to Barnstable with Hayden. He explained that school starts again in a couple of days, and he had a lot to do before the students came back.

They have a new principal this year, and she asked Vic if he would take over the gay-straight alliance sponsorship. He was recommended by nearly all of the staff and faculty, not really because they all thought he was gay, but mainly because he was loved and respected by the vast majority of students. He was also going to become the strength coach for the school’s not-so-good football team. They had won the state championship a while back, but that was a freak thing. They were back to their normal suckage now.

Just then, Claire’s cell phone rang. “Oh my, it’s Mary Greenely. I should probably take this.” She stood and walked out into the hallway. Sam, Vic, and I just looked at each other with the same concerned look. “I hope this isn’t more bad news. We’ve had more than our share in the last couple of days.”

Claire came back in and pulled a chair up, and sat across from me. “Cam, that was Ian’s mother. She’s in Barnstable to identify and claim Jack’s body. She was not happy about having to do that at all. The only other person to do it was Sam, and they knew he was here with us.

“You do realize she left Jack as soon as she could once he threw Ian out of their home. She’d not been in any kind of contact with him since she left him. She had no idea that he had been planning to do this horrible thing. She would like to meet you and apologize for what happened. She would also like to see Ian. I’ll talk to him about it when we see him next.”

Wow. I didn’t know what to think. All this time, I thought Ian’s mom had been in on throwing out her son. Now it sounds like it was just that bastard man’s idea. I didn’t know what to think or say, but then I thought about what Ian would do.

“I don’t think it’s for me to decide. Let’s wait and see what Ian has to say.”

Nurse Black came in and told us it was time for another round of visits. Claire and Sam went in first to talk to him about his mom. Eli was still asleep, and I didn’t want to wake him for a visit. I hope my boy understands.

When Claire and Sam walked back into the waiting room, she was smiling. “It took a little convincing, but Ian has agreed to see Mary. He admitted that he misses her but is confused about why she didn’t fight for him or even try to contact him over the last two years.”

“I guess he’ll get some answers when he sees her then. So, if Ian’s okay with her coming here, then I guess I am too. But if she starts causing any trouble, she’s gone.”

When Vic and I went in to see Ian, I leaned over to kiss him. This time he took his hand and held my head in place as he shared the kiss with me. God, I missed that!

“You’ve got me all hard and horny, my sexy fiancé. But if I try to do something about it, I’m afraid I’ll set off way too many alarms, and I’ll have zero privacy.”

“Wow! You are getting better fast!” That got my beautiful boy another kiss, and Vic pulled up two chairs and told us to get a room.

“So, I guess you heard that my mom is coming to visit later today.”

Vic spoke up first. “Yeah, you okay with that? I mean, Aunt Mary was always really nice to me, even though she was always quiet.”

“Baby, you do know she had nothing to do with all this, right?”

“Yeah, I know. And I do miss my mom. I just have so many questions.”

“So do I. But I promise to be nice to her. After all, I need to thank her for making such a beautiful boy that I get to marry.”

It was a surreal scene. Among all the beeps and clicks of the machines keeping a close watch on my boy, the three of us were just having a normal conversation—just like we would back at the house.

“Where’s Eli?”

“He’s napping. I thought you would understand that I didn’t want to wake him. I promise to bring him in on the next visit.”

“That’s cool. We both learned the hard way not to wake him from his beauty sleep.”

After twenty minutes, the nurse knocked on the door and told us we needed to wrap things up so Ian could get some sleep.

“That all I do—sleep. But they said I do my best healing when I’m out, so I’ll be sleeping a lot so I can get out of here sooner than later.”

“I love you, beautiful boy.” I kissed him again on the lips and thoroughly enjoyed Ian’s return kiss.

“Love you, too, Cuz.” Vic leaned forward and kissed my boy on the cheek.

“Thanks, Vic. And thanks for saving my life. I guess I’m indebted to you for the rest of my life now. Isn’t that how it works?”

“Whatever, the only thing I want you to do is to get your little ass better!”

* * * * *

I watched my sexy boy’s ass as he and Vic left the room. My cock was hard as a rock—and I couldn’t do a damned thing about it! Fuck me!

I was thinking back on what Dr. Bohls told me about my injuries. That explained the headache. That explained the bandages on my side. It also explained why both my leg were in these removable casts and why I couldn’t move them.

Really? Both quads? Doc explained that one quad rupture was an extremely rare injury, but both quads were almost unheard of. Something like nine in one million quad ruptures was both legs. He also said that my recovery from the leg injuries would be the most challenging and most prolonged. On the bright side, me being in good shape could cut my total recovery in half.

As I was thinking about all that had happened, I fell asleep. When I woke up, I enjoyed a few spoonfuls of ice (yummy, yes?), then I saw her—Mom was standing at the door to my cubicle.

“Ian! Oh, my baby boy!”

“Mama!”

And then she fell to the floor. I pressed the call button on my bed. Please hurry! My mom just collapsed!