Justin had to stay in the hospital for three days after he woke up.  His doctors wanted to make sure everything was fine so he wouldn’t have any serious complications once he returned home.

Justin, of course, was not pleased with this news.  He had already missed a week of life and was anxious to return to the outside world.  His now eternal phobia of hospitals didn’t help any.

However, the conditions were minimized by one fact.

Brian was here.

It amazed Justin just how much of a difference it made that Brian was there with him.  He didn’t spend lonely days in pseudo-isolation debating the man’s true feelings.

He was here, his feelings were out in the open, and he never left.

The hospital’s staff came to treat the couple as regulars at Cheers, so to speak.  If they all loved Brian while Justin was unconscious, they adored the conscious version of the young ball of sunshine.

When the day came for the boys to finally leave the hospital, the staff was actually upset.  They loved the two and they seemed to always bring joy to the hospital.

Brian helped Justin into the Jeep and buckled his seat belt.

“Brian, I can buckle my own seat belt,”  Justin said with a smile.

With a look of a mix of ‘Let me do this’ and ‘Don’t even think about it’ Brian responded, “Sunshine, arms, hands, shoulders, and torso are required for the proper fastening of a seat belt.  Your arms, shoulders, and hands are cut up and your torso is bruised.  Now, will you stop being a drama princess and let me help you?”

Justin laughed at Brian’s attempt at sounding like a professor and Brian, seeing that beautiful smile and hearing such a care-free laugh couldn’t resist.  He leaned in and planted his lips on his more than receptive lover’s.

After about a minute they pulled apart and Brian walked around to the driver’s side.

“Home we go,” Brian sing-songed as he put the Jeep in drive.

“Home,”  Justin sighed, relieved to finally be returning home to the loft.

Once again, neither man noticed the man lurking behind the building.  This one, however, was not holding a bat, he was holding a key.