Carter sat up tiredly and stared at Ethan, bracing himself to be told off and sent away. Jeremy had moved over so he could hit the nurse button on the side of the bed, and Ethan gave another grunt as his eyes fluttered again, and this time they managed to open, though it was clear it wasn’t easy for Ethan to do so. He looked around the room for a moment, like he was trying to figure out where he was, his eyes sweeping over Jeremy before he turned and focused on Carter.
“Carter?” Ethan croaked out, his voice was hoarse and tense. “What… How did…You’re here.”
“Jeremy found you. I didn’t even know where to look,” Carter said quietly.
Ethan nodded at that. “That’s okay. You would have been in danger if you went there. I thought…I figured you probably left, when I was laying in the closet.”
“I’m not good at leaving,” Carter said simply, shrugging.
It seemed to be then that Ethan noticed everything he was hooked up to. He gave an annoyed grunt at the realization that he was mostly held down with wires and tubes, as all he really wanted to do was hug Carter. The nurse had just come in when Ethan pulled the oxygen mask off.
“Dr. Morrow!” she chided.
“I’m breathing fine,” Ethan argued as he put the mask on his lap.
“I heard that doctors make terrible patients,” Carter remarked, smirking.
Ethan chuckled. “The absolute worst.” Then he smiled at Carter. “I’m really glad you’re here.”
“Oh?” Carter asked, “Why is that?”
“I didn’t want to have to leave the hospital under advisement not to in order to track you down in Ohio or Connecticut and apologize,” Ethan replied. The nurse gave him a look that said she didn’t like this line of talk, but she pressed a button on her shirt to call in a few of the doctors.
Carter stared at him for a moment. “Go on, then,” he said, a familiar twinkle in his eye, “Apologize.”
Ethan couldn’t quite make himself smirk though. “I shouldn’t have lost my temper. I acted like my father, and it’s not a good look. And I wouldn’t blame you for walking, but I am sorry and I plan to work on it.”
Carter pretended like he was ticking off points on his fingers as Ethan talked. “You forgot one,” he said when Ethan finished.
“What is that?” Ethan asked.
“Leaving me crying alone in a hotel room for three days,” he said honestly, “then scaring me half to death with…” here he gestured at the hospital bed and all the tubing and wires, “…this. Plus, wasting a week of my emergency leave from the team just before the playoffs while you just slept like other folks’ lives don’t matter.” Carter winked at Jeremy, “How am I doing?”
“I think that just about…Oh wait,” Jeremy said as he brought his hand up to his chin. “Being a dumbass to even go back to that house, because what the fuck were you even thinking?”
“I don’t think I was, to be honest,” Ethan replied candidly. “Dad came and found me and I just…wanted to believe he wasn’t as psycho as he seemed. That maybe if I fixed one thing in this whole shitty situation, then I could fix the rest. Probably a dumb idea, though, you’re right.”
Carter nodded. “So long as you’re aware,” he said, making as if he wasn’t going to say more until Jeremy made an exasperated sigh. “Oh, yeah, I’m sorry too, or whatever. You’re not an entire red flag, by the way, just the behavior. Behaviors can change, flags can change colors. Relationships aren’t like babies in bathwater. You don’t just toss them out.”
“Sometimes even a single red flag can mean it’s time to run though,” Ethan replied, turning away to watch as the nurse went out to watch the doctors coming down to the room.
“Well, I don’t work that way. I let at least 100 red flags pile up before I consider not putting my shampoo in someone’s shower. No, that isn’t Code,” that last he said to Jeremy.
“Sure,” Jeremy said as if he didn’t believe him as Dr. Irving and another doctor they had seen coming in a few times, Dr. Holcomb, came in to check on Ethan.
They checked his reflexes and his eyes, before looking over his current vital signs. Dr. Irving decided they could take out the IV but he wanted the PICC line to stay in while they continued with antibiotics and while they made sure he could move around and use the bathroom. They would send him home with it and make sure he had the supplies he needed to continue the antibiotics at home. They also wanted to make sure he could handle eating, but he wanted to go slow with soft foods first.
He sent two nurses in to get the catheter out, which Ethan grumbled through while also telling Dr. Irving that he was done with that oxygen mask, and the blood pressure cuff. The nurses helped Ethan stand, and he didn’t feel sore so much as he just felt weak. It took some help, but they were able to get him into the bathroom. He didn’t feel strong enough to try and stand to pee on his own, so instead he sat down. It was a demeaning experience and he never really wanted to go through it again, but he knew there wasn’t any way he could get out of here without proving that he was capable of doing all of this.
Ethan ended up in the hospital for another four days while they worked on getting him to eat, and using the bathroom on his own. They also helped him figure out getting a shower, though he sat on the shower chair the entire time. It felt amazing though, and he felt just a little more human after he was done.
He also had to speak to Detective Perry and Holden Briar, who was still one of the leads in the DAs office, since Jeremy couldn’t work on his case, about what exactly happened the days he disappeared. Ethan told them how he had gone to the treehouse and was in there for a while despite it being cold. He had been considering how to make everything right again when Peter Morrow showed up and asked Ethan to come back to the house to warm up, clean up his wound, and talk.
After that, it was mostly a verbal confrontation. Peter didn’t put another hand on him, but he also wouldn’t let him leave. He ended up locking him in his old bedroom, and since Ethan was hurt he didn’t trust getting down the tree, so he grabbed all the spare blankets and huddled down into the closet like he used to as a kid. The pain was getting bad and then he couldn’t remember much. He told them he was in and out, and he remembered his mom coming in to try and give him food, and Ines coming in to put cold cloth napkins on his head, but not much beyond that.
His mom had said he needed medical attention, and Peter’s exact words that were the only things that stood out during that haze of fever and pain: “He went to medical school. If he’s so good, he can figure it out himself.”
Jeremy and Carter were the ones who picked him up to take him home when he was discharged from the hospital. Dr. Irving wanted him off from work for an extra two weeks so he could recover. Everyone was there when he got back home, and he told them to stop fussing when he walked himself over to sit on his own couch.
Ethan waited until Carter sat down next to him before he rested his head on Carter’s shoulder, taking comfort in his presence and warmth. He felt exhausted. They had started some physical therapy in the hospital but he had a long way to go. “Thank you, love.”