The Good Son - 17. Chapter 17: Tired for Comfort

Daniel fluttered his eyes open, a throbbing pain in his head. There was a beeping noise beside him and he looked to his side, a dim light above him letting him see in the otherwise dark room. It was a heart monitor, beeping persistently because a cord had slipped. Daniel rolled his aching head to the right and caught Arty. The man was sleeping in a recliner beside the bed that the teen lay in. He looked like a mess. A beautiful mess.

Daniel rose his arm from the bed to reach across and touch Arty, but his arm was heavy and when he looked at it, he discovered that it was in a cast. He breathed through his nose and put his arm back against the bed, closing his sore eyes. There was a sudden flush from around the sink in the room and Daniel peeked his eyes open to see Jack coming out of the bathroom. The man shut the light off and shut the door before turning to the sink to wash his hands, where he saw that Daniel was awake.

“Hey, Daniel,” he said softly to not wake up Arty. Daniel just watched the man, too tired for comfort.

“What happened?” he asked. Jack didn’t answer until he was done washing his hands, drying them with a paper towel from the dispenser across from the sink.

“Well… you were in a car accident. I don’t know what happened, exactly. You’re in the hospital, though.”

“Where are Geil and Henry?”

“Geil’s at Sandra’s house,” Jack tossed the paper towel in the trash underneath the sink, “And Henry’s still in surgery.”

“Will he make it?”

Jack glanced at Daniel briefly before walking to the bed and around, where he sat against the marble windowsill beside Arty. The windows were giant, and it looked like it was getting dark outside through the cracked blinds. The man shrugged while shaking his head.

“I… don’t know. I honestly don’t know.”

Daniel tried sitting up in bed, but his vision rolled over with giant, black blotches and his head pulsed with pain. He moaned and lay back down. Jack sighed.

“The doctor says you have a concussion. You also have a pretty bad gash on your leg. ...Try not to move much,” the man said when Daniel tried looking down at himself, a blanket over him.

“When can I leave?” the teen asked. His head was spinning. Jack lifted his hand to look at his watch.

“It’s seven forty p.m. They want you to stay overnight, but we’ll leave first thing in the morning if they let us.”

“Do you have work tomorrow?”

“No, they let me off when we heard about the accident.” Jack crossed his arms. “Do you remember anything about the crash?”

Daniel let out a heavy sigh. “No, not really. ...Actually, Henry was sort of going off about… weird things.” He looked at Jack, eyebrows knit together in false emotion. It seemed to work on Jack, though, because he gave Daniel a confused look.

“Like what?”

“I’m… not entirely sure. He talked of being upset about work, feeling like a burden to the family.”

“What?” Jack scoffed. Daniel nodded softly.

“Then he started about being upset with me, and… I think he did it on purpose. I-I do, I think he meant for us to crash.” The teen put a hand to his forehead, saddened by the “memory”. Jack didn’t want to think badly of his brother, but Daniel could see that he was falling for the bait.

The door to the hospital room suddenly opened and a nurse came inside. She smiled at Jack and Daniel when she saw them look at her, and she walked to the paper towel dispenser, where there was a marker board that she signed in on.

“I’m gonna be your nurse for the night,” she said quietly while writing her name as Emily on the board. She looked young, maybe Arty’s age. Her eyes looked tired though, full of grey. Jack nodded in acknowledgment. Emily walked to Daniel’s bedside, where she started messing with the monitor. “I was wondering what room this beeping was coming from,” she murmured and the rapid beeping came to an end. Then she took something from the wall behind Daniel and went to do something to him, but he stopped her with his good arm.

“What are you doing?” he asked. She gave him a reassuring smile.

“I’m checking your vitals, I just need to check your blood pressure real quick.”

Daniel held her at bay for a moment before giving in and letting her do her job. She checked to make sure everything was okay before writing some things down on a chart.

“Okay,” she said, “So, your pupils aren’t really reacting evenly and your breathing is a little rough; are you having any pain?”

“My head, I have a very bad headache.”

The nurse nodded. “Okay. I can get you some Ibuprofen for that. While I get that though, I’m just gonna let you breathe in this air- it’ll stimulate your lungs, alright?”

Daniel gave a hesitant “Alright”. Emily stretched a thick tube from an air compressor and rest it on Daniel’s chest. Turning it on, some cool air started coming out and blowing against Daniel’s face. “Just make sure to breathe it in, and I’ll be back with the pain medicine, okay?” Emily pat Daniel’s shoulder softly before leaving the room. Arty shuffled in the recliner and Daniel glanced over. The man was awake now, probably because of how noisy the air was. Arty looked at Daniel before turning his attention to Jack.

“What’s happening?” he asked. Jack motioned to the air machine.

“His lungs were stalling.”

Arty sighed and brought a hand up to rub his tired eyes. Watching him, Daniel noticed that he was wearing his wedding band. How did he get it? Where were Daniel’s clothes? Arty looked at Daniel again, resting his chin on his hand. Daniel looked at the man and they made eye contact. Arty knew that Daniel was freaking out inside. He dropped his hand to the floor beside the recliner and brought up a sack.

“Your clothes are in here. They’re bloody and torn from the crash, but I didn’t know if you wanted me to throw them out or not,” Arty said while watching Daniel. The teen stared at Arty. Jack cleared his throat, getting both of their attention.

“I need some coffee. Do either of you want any?” he asked. Arty shook his head.

“I’m alright. I don’t want to be up all night.”

Jack leaned over to kiss Arty before walking to Daniel and patting his head. “Okay, I’m gonna get two just in case.” He left the room after that and Arty put the bag back on the floor. He closed his eyes and sighed.

“...All we’ve wanted to do was help you,” he said softly. Daniel looked at the wall, breathing in the cool air deeply. It did help him to breath better, his breaths coming out smooth. “Did you crash the car?” Arty asked, opening his eyes to look at Daniel again. The teen didn’t answer, staring at the wall. “Daniel. Did you crash the car?”

“Henry did.”

“Why would Henry-”

“Why do you care? You don’t care about Henry, I know you don’t.”

“Geil was in the-”

“Everything is about Geil to you!” Daniel snapped and looked at Arty. “He- he’s just a kid! He tells you he loves you because that’s what kids do! When I told you I liked you, I meant it!” He breathed heavily. Arty sighed and shook his head.

“Daniel, you don’t understand. I get it. You had a rough life. That doesn’t mean you can just latch onto someone and do what you want! There are consequences. What you did-”

“I wouldn't have had to do that if you had just accepted it.”

“Accepted what, Daniel? You need to see a psychiatrist.”

“Accepted that you love me and not Jack. I’ve seen the way you look at me, I’ve done so much for you! What has Jack done? Given you money? Taken you away from your mother? You’re only with him because he reminds you of your father!”

Arty slapped Daniel. He was standing up beside the bed now, panting angrily. He still held his hand up, shocked that he had slapped the teenager, but not upset that he did. Daniel looked at Arty to glare at him.

In a swift move, the teenager grabbed Arty’s wrist tight with his broken arm. Arty tried pulling away, but Daniel just tightened his grip.

“Let go of me before you hurt yourself,” the man said to Daniel. The teen just glared at him, his broken arm shaking because of the strength he used to grip Arty. “Let go.”

“I will take everything away from you Arty. Don’t think I haven’t done it before.” Daniel squeezed Arty’s wrist until the man cried out in pain. The teen let Arty go after a moment and the man rubbed his abused wrist before going into the bathroom just as both Emily and Jack came back. Daniel dropped his aching arm to his side.

“Alrighty, let’s take a look at things now.” Emily walked over to look at the monitor. She smiled. “Looking good, Daniel. Your air is looking very good.” She started putting the air away and Jack set the cups of coffee on the counter of the sink. He looked at Daniel.

“Where’s Art?”

“Mm, he left to the restroom.”

Emily handed Daniel a paper cup with some pills in it. “Go ahead and take these; it’s just some pain medicine to help with your headache.”

Daniel took the pills with some water she gave him, and then Emily wrote on the marker board Ibuprofen: 8:15 P.M. Next adm. 12:15 A.M.

Jack went to sit in the recliner and Emily turned to leave the room, bumping into Arty as he came out of the bathroom. Looking at him, he looked like he had probably cried some; to Daniel anyway. Jack was looking at the marker board to see what all was written.

“Oops, excuse me,” Emily slipped by Arty, but the man caught her by the elbow. She looked at him.

“Um, is Henry out of surgery yet?”

“Henry?”

“Henry Mason- it’s my husband’s brother.”

“Oh. I can check to see, but his surgeon should come and tell you when he’s in the RR. If you go into the waiting room, they have a digital chart for patients in the OR.”

Jack shook his head. “It’s fine, we’ll just wait for the surgeon to come by.”

Emily nodded and smiled to them all before making her leave. Arty looked at Jack, clearly upset at his dismissal, but his husband just shrugged.

“Henry’s a strong guy. I don’t want to be rushing the surgical team, they’ve been on him for four hours already,” he said. Arty rolled his eyes and glanced at Daniel again before walking to Jack. The teen was just watching them silently.

Arty dropped down onto Jack in the recliner and the other man winced when the brunette’s butt bone jabbed his groin. “Babe, ow,” he complained, scooting in the big recliner to give Arty more room. Arty sat beside Jack and crossed his arms, staring at the wall bitterly. Jack tried putting an arm around Arty’s waist, but the other man leaned away. Jack scoffed. Getting up from the chair, he walked to the linen closet of the room and grabbed a hospital blanket and took it back to the recliner with him, grabbing the coffees on the way.

“May I have one?” Daniel asked, making Jack look at him. The man groaned.

“We should have asked if you can.”

“It’s alright.” Daniel held out his good hand for one and Jack handed over a coffee after a small moment of contemplation. Then Jack put the other coffee on the windowsill beside the recliner and went to sit beside Arty again, but the brunette had decided to take up the room of the chair. Jack gave him a look.

“Babe.”

Arty looked at him. “Babe,” he copied. Jack rolled his eyes before shaking his head in annoyance.

“I don’t know what’s wrong, but move your ass some.”

“Like you ever know what’s going on,” Arty said angrily and scoot to the side in the chair. Jack narrowed his eyes at the man before sitting beside him and unfolding the blanket to lay over them both. Arty twisted in the seat to face away from Jack and Daniel, and Jack just looked at him.

“...Okay, what’s wrong?” he finally asked. Daniel sipped his coffee, staring at the ceiling. Arty didn’t answer Jack, so the man pulled out his cell phone to check his emails from work.

Arty could see the light from behind him and huffed. “Put your phone up,” he muttered. Jack glanced at him from a new assignment.

“I need to study this case.”

“You don’t need to.”

Jack put his phone in his lap and looked at Arty.

“Why are you putting all this frustration on me? What did I do?” he asked. Arty ignored him and closed his eyes, curling under the blanket. Jack watched him, waiting for a response. When he didn’t get it, he just reached over Arty and grabbed the coffee, picking his phone back up with a shake of his head.

In the morning, Arty was folding the blanket. Emily had come by once every hour to check Daniel’s vitals, but now it was the morning nurse, a woman named Liz. She seemed a little cranky with things, and she didn’t act as thorough when taking care of Daniel. Jack was still asleep because he had drunk coffee and stayed up looking at the case until six in the morning. It was just seven, right now. Daniel was awake though, lying in bed and watching Arty fold.

The surgeon had come in at two a.m. last night. Apparently, Henry had cut his head open on the windshield; the truck hit Henry’s car on the driver’s side and it went rolling. They found him underneath the car. To add to that, he had glass shards in his stomach and his left leg had been absolutely torn up. He was in the ER on life support, in room 302. It was a miracle Geil was unscathed.

Arty put the blanket back in the closet and looked at Daniel.

“Come on, they’ve already checked you out,” he said. Daniel didn’t move yet, his body still aching. Arty went to the recliner and nudged Jack. “Wake up, they put Daniel on release.”

Jack didn’t wake up at first, but Arty managed to get him up eventually. Once Jack got up, so did Daniel. He wanted to rest as long as he could, but he still wanted out of that place.

The three left the room and took an elevator to the first floor from the fifth so that they could go to the parking garage. It was relatively cold outside, and Arty decided that he would drive, because Jack was too tired and Daniel wasn’t able.

“Are we going to your mom’s house to get Geil?” Jack asked Arty. The brunette shook his head.

“She can drop him off. I hate burning gas for her.”

“You need a nap when we get to the house,” Jack muttered. Arty looked at him but didn’t say anything. Jack didn’t have to look to know Arty was giving him the look.

Daniel rested in the back seat until they got home, where they all three went their own ways. Arty went to take a bath, Jack went to his office, and Daniel went to his room.

Arty twisted his wedding band around his ring finger while he lay in the bath’s hot water. As soon as he had gotten Daniel’s clothes while he was in surgery, he searched for any evidence of anything. From that, he found a tracphone and his ring.

Looking through the phone’s texts, there was only one contact: Joe. There were deleted messages that probably held some type of incrimination for something. That said… where did he get the phone?

Arty sighed and sank into the water, closing his eyes to think. What had Daniel done to him? He hadn’t been raped, he could tell. Just… what happened when he was knocked out? What was he trying to do?

Arty suddenly sat up in the bath and reached out to grab his phone from a small shelf. He called his friend Cameron. It rang just a few times before he answered.

“Hey Art, what’s up?” his college friend asked, probably walking down the street because of the sound of traffic. Arty leaned forward on the bathtub’s rim.

“I need you to pull up some documents. About a kid named Daniel Scott.”

“Okay… I’ll text you what I find. Anymore specifics?”

“He’s from Edinburgh, Scotland. He was an orphan.”

“Okay then, I’ll see what what I can do.”

Arty smiled softly. “Thanks, Cameron.”

l.l

That night, Daniel stood in front of the fire, watching the embers float up into the air from the canvas he had worked so long on- Arty’s painting. He was upset about burning such a masterpiece, but other than that, he felt empty inside. The fire provided a small amount of warmth to his chilly body.

“What are you burning out here?” Jack suddenly asked, making Daniel jump. The teen glanced behind him at the man. He shook his head to clear his mind.

“Just a bad painting.”

“Mm, I’ve had some of those. Want some marshmallows?”

Daniel chuckled lowly. “No, thank you.”

Jack pointed off to the house. “You sure? You’ve already got a fire going, might as well make some good use of it,” he smiled. Daniel sucked his teeth and shrugged.

“Alright, I suppose.”

Jack stepped forward to the teen and put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, Henry’s gonna be okay. You can cheer up,” he said. Daniel watched the fire.

“...I’ll try.”

Jack pat Daniel’s shoulder before turning away and walking back to the house to get some marshmallows. As if waiting for Jack to leave, Daniel’s phone started ringing when he was gone. He pulled the phone out and flipped it open to look at the caller ID. He smiled and answered it, putting it to his ear.

“Yes?”