"Now I'm falling even more in love with you."

[truthrunswild]

Who: Finlay Bennett and Shannon Webster
What: Alone time
Where: Shannon's room, Mount Sinai
When: Saturday

It had been a really long and hard week, to say the least. Fin hadn't expected it to be so hard not to be able to talk to Shannon. He hadn't underestimated how close their bond was, and always had been, but it had just become part of his life to be in touch with Shannon daily. Until Shannon had to have his operation. Then he was kept sedated in the wake of it, until they were confident there had been enough healing around the wound him to be moved. Shannon had woken up, but he had been in so much pain, they ultimately kept him pretty much knocked out on heavy painkillers. If he was awake, he was in tears. Fin still visited him every day, even if they couldn't talk.

In the process of all that, he had gotten to know Zeke. Zeke was a real easy guy to like, and he and Fin hit it off pretty well. It was a good outlet for Fin to have, being able to hear all Zeke's no-filter stories about growing up with Shannon. He could see Shannon and Zeke share similarities in personality. They were both fun and hilarious. Zeke had a challenging past of his own, having survived cancer, and a pretty nasty form of it, from the sounds of it. But he joked about it, and that showed a lot of strength of character. Fin hadn't met Zeke before now because he had been on student exchange in London. Zeke was the sort of colourful character who could probably write a book about his life, even if he was only in his teens.

It was the weekend now - finally - and Fin came to the hospital armed with his laptop, expecting Shannon to still be struggling. When he got there, though, Niko was there with Shannon and it looked like he was actually conversing with him. "Hey," he said in surprise, hurrying in quickly to find that Shannon was awake and he wasn't crying. "Aw, hey, beautiful. Do you know how good it is to see your eyes, huh? Can I hug you, or is that still off-limits?" he greeted him, tearing up as he took Shannon's hand with a smile. Niko ruffled Fin's hair with a smile and told them he'd let them have some alone time. That was one thing Fin truly adored about all of Shannon's family; they accepted him, and had kept him involved right through this whole thing.

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[wordsofwisdom]

Niko had just been filling Shannon in a little on family stuff, mostly. Shannon accused his uncle of looking like he was about to keel over from exhaustion, and Niko confessed he hadn't been sleeping too well, and the stress of Shannon's op had his blood sugar levels all over the place. So much so that he had to go to see his doctor here at the hospital in a little while to mess around with his insulin doses. Niko didn't usually say much about his diabetes, so the fact he had told Shannon he really probably wasn't feeling the best right now. Niko had promised his nephew that as soon as his doctor's appointment was done, he was going to go home to bed.

"You better," he said weakly, though he was smiling. He was still stuck flat on his back and stuck in a neck brace to keep his spine straight so the healing could happen around the new pins and plates at the injury site, but he was feeling in better spirits today than he had been. "Fuck, I missed you so much, babe. And I know I made you cry, I'm so sorry." Shannon had been in an out of it, drugged up on heavy medication. But there was one time he was awake, in awful amounts of pain they couldn't control, and all he had been able to do was cry. Yet, he had been aware of his surroundings that time, and had heard Fin crying his eyes out nearby. He hadn't been able to see him, though, because he had too many staff members around him trying to assess him.

[truthrunswild]

"I was crying because it was hard to see you in that much pain. You don't need to say sorry for that. It just... is when you love someone," Fin told him, and was leaning over to give Shannon a hug. It wasn't the easiest task in the world. He was super-conscious of not wanting to jolt Shannon or hurt him in any way. He did the best he could, and followed it up with a lingering kiss, Shannon's face cupped between his hands. He rubbed his nose softly against Shannon's, reluctant to move back just yet now he had Shannon's eyes open and he was awake.

So, he didn't. He dropped a few more little kisses to Shannon's forehead and cheeks, nuzzling their noses together. "How are you feeling? You look a little better. I know it's been hard. You've been in so much pain. I've been coming each day after school, but you've been so out of it, so I just sat with you anyway and did my homework. When I could concentrate. Which wasn't very much," he admitted, and sat carefully on the bed beside Shannon so he could stay close to him. He took his hand to hold, thumb sweeping back and forth over Shannon's knuckles. "I love you. The operation didn't go as smoothly as they hoped, they said. The plates at slipped, so it took longer to remove the old ones. There was one of the screws pushing in against a nerve and they were worried if they tried to remove it, it could paralyse you."

[wordsofwisdom]

Having Fin here, getting a cuddle from him, it felt like coming home after a really long time away. Shannon knew this operation wouldn't be easy on him. He had precedents that generally didn't lie when it came to your body. They warned the anesthetic could stir up his CRPS... it had. They warned that they may not know what they were dealing with until they got inside him... they didn't. They made sure Shannon and his family knew it was risky... it had been. But ultimately, it was successful. Shannon wasn't paralysed. In a lot of pain, yes, but anyone who had massive surgery was. He knew he wasn't paralysed because he could feel pain everywhere, so in a way, that was the silver lining. It would be a slow and steady recovery, but he knew he had Fin there to support him.

"I love you." The kisses and the soft touches, they felt therapeutic to Shannon. He needed Fin more than anything right now, and he knew that was why Niko had left them alone. Niko knew how head-over Shannon was for Fin. They might be young, young people weren't too dumb not to be strong and mature in facing challenges. Fin was here for him just like he promised Shannon he would be before he was wheeled away for the surgery. "It's okay, babe. It just means it might take more hard work getting strength back. They had to go in a different way to what they planned, but I'll be okay. Like, I'll have you cheering me on with physio. Did you get to meet Zeke?"

[truthrunswild]

Fin nodded as Shannon explained what would happen next. "I'll be there for as many of your sessions as I can be. Other than tending to Gyps, I'll be here with you. I don't care how long it takes. I know how hard you work with your physio and I know some days, you really feel frustrated that you can't walk. Your surgeon said when you were still asleep that you will probably feel that all amplified now, because it's a bit like being back to square one." He had actually recorded some of the conversations Shannon's family had with his doctors and they let Fin sit in on, then took them home to play to Walker so Walker could explain it in a way Fin could understand better. Walker wrote things down for him, and Fin would go and Google more about it.

"I did! He was here the other day when I was here. It was a bit of a crap day for me, A bit dizzy, so I was just taking it easy. Been stressed out worrying about you. I couldn't help it. He's just like you said he would be. We got along really well. I thought maybe he might like to come along to a movie night Cas is having on the weekend? Then he can meet everyone. Plus, Sasha is there. Did you know that? He knows Sasha from Andi. They had chemo together for awhile," he told Shannon with a smile. He took a packet from his bag and held it up. "I smuggled some M&Ms in for you."