"I just wanted you to know..."

[disgraceddebutante]

Who? Maddie and Christian Casey
What? Overdue confessions
When? Monday morning
Where? Maddie and Christian's apartment... for now.

Maddie and Christian very rarely crossed paths at home these days. They tended to catch up at work when they could catch lunches together, because Christian spent most of his time at Evan's place, and Maddie was in the midst of packing to move in with Jeremy, Nate, and Tyler. Their lives had certainly changed from the days when they were each other's first port of call for everything, but Maddie didn't feel like that was wrong. They'd both fallen hard for someone special, and that would change things. It could be taken personally, but why? Maddie would never be angry with Christian for being happy with Evan and helping him with the things he was going through.

She was actually kind of surprised to hear the door open and see her brother walk into the place. That usually only happened lately when he needed something of his from the house, but it was just rare for their paths to cross here anymore. "Hey, big brother," she said, smiling softly at him. "Good to see you. I swear, the hospital has purposefully been fucking our shifts up lately so we haven't been able to see each other at work as much as usual. How are things going with Evan and Jace and Jesse? I know that appendix thing with poor Jesse had to be a hell of a scare." She stood up from her comfy chair in the living room, where she'd been sitting taking a break from packing. She had nearly forgotten how tired being pregnant made her. "I'm glad you're here," she said, as she gave her brother a hug. "There's actually something I wanted to talk to you about."

Comments

[givemethenews]

Christian shook his head as he dumped his things on one of the other chairs. He had come back to get some more clothes and his pillow. He hadn't been sleeping well in the day when he had nightshifts so he thought that it might help. Next stop was some sleeping pills of some sort or he wouldn't be a functioning human being for much longer. "I've been working doubles since Justin came in. Helping Nate out because he needs to be home with Tyler during the night. It's when he's most at risk of relapses. Poor kid needs doctors he can trust. Surprised he even still trusts anyone at all."

He dropped down onto the sofa. "Evan's still watching them both like hawks. Jace has been doing well, no more blips with him. Jesse's just been resting up after his op and only a couple of small fits after the anaesthetic. Jace told Evan we're not allowed to fuck for six weeks either as punishment for him not calling as soon as Jesse was sick, only I'm pretty sure that they've been getting creative behind closed doors because Jace had a sex rash when he came out to get OJs the other morning. But they're sweet together. Gives the rest of us some hope."

[disgraceddebutante]

"Doubles are a bitch when they only happen once in a while. It's gotta be rough when you have them happening on the regular," Maddie replied, with a shake of her head. "No wonder you look like you haven't slept in a month. Besides, I know you. When you're at home, you're not totally resting, either, because you're worried about Evan and Jace and Jesse. I understand, though. They became your family, too." She gave him a soft, warm smile. "I can't believe you're actually in love with Evan, of all people in the world. Not going to lie... as happy as it makes me, and as much as I adore Evan? It makes me laugh to this day that you ended up with him."

While Maddie wasn't on Justin's treatment team, she was very familiar with what was going on there, because Justin had a lot of connection to her through the grapevine of their huge group of friends and family. "The poor love's been through hell a million times over. I wouldn't blame him if he didn't have a speck of trust for anyone. It's just lucky that he does still love and trust a chosen few. Everyone needs that... People they love and trust." She had to smirk just a little at Jace's demands that Evan and Christian couldn't have sex until he and Jesse could. "Are you seriously going to tell me that you and Evan have abided by those rules?"

[givemethenews]

Christian smirked and nodded. "We have, because Jace is Evan's Achilles Heel. He feels guilty, so he's abided by the rules. But then, we've hardly been home at the same time to manage it anyway. Things will settle once Justin recovers a little more and they get him stable enough to go home. I think he'll be better off at home, his condition means he's hyper-aware of his surroundings at the moment and why he's in hospital. It's not always the best place for someone who's mentally ill. A lot stable much better in their won comfort zones, and I think Justin is one of them." He glanced over at her with a shrug. "Better than wanting to kill him, right?"

"But he and Jace are a package deal, and Jesse is an extension of that. Honestly, they're so close, there probably going to end up engaged and married before Evan has a chance to pause and realise how grown-up his baby brother actually is," he said, honestly expecting either Jesse or Jace to propose sooner rather than later. Love like there's was a one in a million chance, it was keeper levels. "What did you need to talk to me about?"

[disgraceddebutante]

"It probably hasn't been that hard for you if you've been working doubles anyway, even if you were both home at the same time... As soon as your head touches a pillow, it's probably lights out for the night." Still, her smile was huge, and playful. She was unbelievably happy to see her brother so happy with a boyfriend of his own and a whole new side of his family that he'd pretty much fallen into by virtue of falling in love with a guy like Evan who had a little brother who was his number one priority. "I was thinking that, too. Justin'll feel even more out of place in hospital." She had to snort a little with laughter at that. "It's true. And I was sure when all was said and done, you were going to kill him anyway. Glad you didn't, though. I like him."

Jace and Jesse were definitely one of those couples that just fit in every conceivable way, right down to both of them knowing what it felt like to have epilepsy. It was a strong bond that few would even understand, but they rocked it. However, Jace and Jesse weren't the only important topic here, and when Christian asked her, Maddie stopped short for a few minutes, trying like hell to figure out some kind of way to soften it... Make it more gentle, or less out-of-the-blue. But when all the million possibilities had raced through her head, none of them quite seemed right, and she just very quickly said, "I'm pregnant," before raising her eyes to meet her brother's gaze.

[givemethenews]

Christian and Evan had sort of accidentally stumbled into domesticity together. When Jace fell really sick, Evan still had to work to keep up the rent, so Christian had stepped in to help Jesse take care of Jace, who really had needed to be watched 24/7 in the wake of his string of bad fits. Christian had just stepped up and did his part without thinking about it and in the process, he and Evan had gotten closer. Jace brought out a vulnerability in Evan that not many people beyond Christian were privy to, so it was a massive thing, and a massive step. "For sure. It's a keeping my head above water sort of time right now. But luckily things are settling down. Jace has been doing some ink work and Jesse's been resting up. Just need to get Justin on an even keel so his folks can have a little bit of a breather. The poor kid is mentally all over the place, and that can affect physical recovery."

There was a moment or two where Christian just sort of stilled, and then there was a slight laugh of disbelief, because it had to be some sort of joke, right? "Wh-" he began, but cut himself off in the middle of the word. "How the fuck?" he finally cried in shock.

[disgraceddebutante]

Maddie teased Christian about his relationship with Evan, mainly because he'd despised the other guy for so damn long. But if she were honest with herself, she was thrilled to see her brother so happy, and to see that Evan really and truly was a great guy, and had a ton of love to give to Christian after all. Everyone always saw the side of Evan that was the cocky neurologist, way too full of himself and too self-assured in his own abilities. But when it came down to the people he loved... Christian, Jace, and Jesse, specifically, he was apparently incredibly kind, loving, and gentle. Maddie would never forget the shock when Christian had told her he was going out with Evan... and that there had been comfort sex -- something a guy like Evan came across as never needing. "Will they send him home with Mark having had a heart attack, too, and leave the two of them in Gen's hands, or are they trying to keep Justin in longer?"

"The... The usual way, I suppose," Maddie said with a shrug, not wanting to match Christian's freaked out tone. Besides that, she really wasn't all that freaked out by it. Not anymore. She definitely had been in the past, but she was dealing now. More than dealing. She was actually happy... and kind of looking forward to becoming a mom. "It's Jeremy's," she added, clearing her throat when she needed an extra moment or two to think. "You knew that he and I went out a few times after he came out of his coma, and it just kind of... progressed from there, I guess. Now we're having a baby. You're going to be an uncle, Chris."

[givemethenews]

Christian shook his head. "Nate doesn't want to prolong Justin's stay in here any long than necessary. It's not helping his mental condition at all. If Gen's hands aren't big enough, she's going to have to ask for help. They have a big support network. Justin's the main concern. He has to be. If they can get him home with Mark, all the better. He thinks he's the cause of Mark's heart attack. Their best bet would be to get some psych nurse support each day to keep a monitor on Justin's medications and how's he coping with the new regime. If they can't get him home, they'll move him on from ICU to psych, and that won't do the kid any good."

He was so shocked he didn't even actually connect to which Jeremy she was referring to. He blinked a couple of times, because the only Jeremy really on the radar in any significant sense was the guy who should have been Nate's brother-in-law, if his fiance hadn't been viciously raped the night of his bachelor party and his world coming crashing down around him. In a way that he turned to drinking and drugs, cheated on Nate, and brought out a mental illness that caused him to try to commit suicide, but before that, pushed his identical twin in front of a car that left him brain injured and in a coma for over a year. "He doesn't have the mental capacity to make his own cup of coffee! What were you thinking?!" He was thinking like a doctor, because he had consulted on Jeremy's case a time or two when he was in a coma. Coma was an area of interest for Christian, which is why he stepped up with Justin, but this was just causing brain explosions for him.

[disgraceddebutante]

At the very least, Maddie couldn't say she was surprised by her brother's reaction. He was a doctor, after all, and even more than that, he was an extremely protective big brother. He always had been, and the feeling had always been pretty damn mutual. Either of them would've killed for the other, and they both knew it. It wasn't abnormal for Christian to immediately be thinking this way. But Maddie had to step in and say something before her brother started driving himself even more crazy thinking about all the possible things that could go wrong. And she knew deep down that there were a lot, given Jeremy's current state. He was getting a bit better, but he had bad days, and at the end of the day, good days or bad, he was still brain injured.

"Do you want the honest truth?" she asked her brother, her tone still remaining calm, even if she felt anything but. "The honest truth about what I was thinking, and why? I was thinking that Jeremy Peterson is one of the sweetest guys I've ever met. He has a huge heart, and he listens when you talk to him, and even if he can't always remember everything you said, when you're talking, you're important. He's gentle, and sweet, and he loves his family with all his heart... to his own detriment sometimes." She paused, because pregnancy hormones meant sometimes tears were just a hat-drop away, and she didn't want to just lose it crying here. "I fell for him, Christian. It wasn't just a random hookup. We had already talked... there were feelings there, and we cared about each other. You don't have to agree with me. Honestly, I get it. I know why you're concerned, and if I were you, I would be, too. I'm scared, too... Scared of all the changes... Scared Jeremy won't be able to handle it. But I'm happy about the baby. I really am."

[givemethenews]

Christian didn't really know if he wanted the honest truth or not. This whole thing just seemed so messy, maybe because he knew all about Jeremy's condition and it was impossible to tell at this point what his long-term struggles from the brain injury would be. Dating Evan, Christian had gotten a far deeper and more emotional understanding of living with someone with a brain injury. On the face of it, Jace seemed perfectly normal, but his bad days were really tough and he needed someone with him. His worse days, he was barely functioning, but then Jeremy's brain injury was to a different part of his brain to Jace's so it wouldn't result in something like epilepsy. It was just hard to know what involvement he could have in something like raising a baby.

He sighed. "Yeah, I know he's all of that. But don't you think he has just a tiny bit too much on his plate right now to be adding a baby to the emotional strain?" he asked her quietly, concerned how this would all play out. "It's not about how you feel or how he even feels, it's what you're bringing a baby into. There's one thing to have feelings about a brain injured ex-patient, but you want to bring a baby into all that? Seriously? This isn't going to be a happily ever after, everyone walk off into the sunset singing hippy songs. He basically needs the level of care a child needs himself. Are you going to be involved in any of that, or are you just going to saddle him with a baby during his visitation hours and hope for the best? I can't agree with you. Not until you tell me how much you've thought about the practicalities of it all and not just the romance, and fear of giving up another baby."