Bend and Break(poly)(bxb)

Six

The incessant sound of machines beeping is what wakes me up. L gazes out of the window with a far away look and I want to tell him I'm right here but my throat is too dry.

"She's awake," a short haired nurse notices.

I'm drinking water with weak hands as soon as she hands the paper cup off to me. It feels like a tongue on my wounds.

"You lost a lot of blood."

I hear through the deep gulping in my ears.

"We had to give you more as well as other fluids. Your leg will require minor physical therapy and will be healed enough to walk on by tomorrow," the nurse continues.

L looks at me now. Smoky skin and soft stubble. I want him to hold me so bad. The more conscious I become the more I want to be suffocated back to sleep. L is the only one here with me and it comes as a brutally painful realization.

"Where's Seven?" I ask desperately. They're strong. They have to have gotten him back by now. He's in his own hospital room recovering from minor injuries or maybe he's back home cleaning or playing around. They all love him so much. There's no way they haven't gotten him back yet. Sooner or later he'll be peeking through the tiny window in my door before deciding to come in. Smiling with his dimpled cheeks and sparkly eyes. Smelling like strawberries and sunflowers.

L deadpans. He looks like I just told him of a death in the family. It's nothing but white noise before he speaks, just to make his words that much more clear, that much more real. "I don't know," he says.

I close my eyes hoping this is just a horrible dream. When I open them, everything is exactly the same.

My worst nightmare has bled over into my reality.

Over the next few hours I cry and come in and out of consciousness until my body is strong enough.

"It was so hard to take care of both of you with one arm," L speaks as the nurse pushes my wheelchair down the hall.

Romero looks absolutely broken when we enter his room. His hazel eyes are hollow and his untamed hair frames his face in the wildest way. He's tense as he lies on the bed and gazes at us from the corner of his eyes. He doesn't speak.

"She's awake now." L tries to offer good news but Romero turns his head away from us.

"I'm glad you're okay," he speaks with a gravelled voice. "I'd hug you but I can't move right now. My ribs are broken and everything else hurts."

"It's okay. I love you, Romero," I say it because it feels right. The shy smile he gives me makes it worth it.

"I love you too." He doesn't hide the tear that falls or the smile that falls either. "I'm sorry you got hurt."

"I'm okay," I lie. I don't want him to worry about a single thing ever again. Losing Seven is killing him.

"You two will be out of here tonight," L says. "You need to tell your dad something and I kinda need my arm fixed. I haven't been able to do much with this but I figured out the TLs address...It's just too far."

"It doesn't matter how far it is," Romero snaps, reasonably on edge as he winces at the way it hurts his ribs.

"It does. It would have taken them, that many of them, three hours at least in to get to us. From the time Von took Rosemary to when they arrived on our doorstep it was barely half of that." L shakes his head still trying to wrap it around everything himself.