"What's happened?" William answered on the first ring as if he had been sitting there staring at his phone, waiting for Cailen to call.
Cailen felt a little bad for finishing his sandwich first but he was pretty sure Noah wouldn't have let him go anyway.
"The doctor said he'll be fine with time. He's a lot banged up, but... He's going to be okay." Cailen told him, smiling to himself with the reminder that Asher was going to be okay.
"Oh, thank God." William sighed.
Cailen let him have a moment for this to sink in, taking a moment to look up into sky. It wasn't dark yet but he knew it would be in a couple hours.
"Yeah..." Cailen said after a moment. "I was wondering if you'd make Zeke dinner for me and then bring him down here?" Cailen asked, smiling politely as a couple passed him on the sidewalk.
"Uh, well... He's already eaten. Arabella made us dinner." William said a bit awkwardly.
"Arabella? Why is- Shit! I forgot she was coming over!" Cailen practically yelled, earning a glance back from that couple he had smiled at.
Cailen ignored them and smacked his hand to his forehead. "Oh my gosh, did- did you tell her?" Cailen asked.
He had forgotten all about the fact that Arabella was going to come over to meet Ezekiel tonight.
"Yeah, I told her what was going on and she offered to stay and watch Zeke while I went to the hospital, but I wasn't sure if you'd be okay with that... I don't know, I didn't want to leave Zeke with someone he doesn't know." William explained in a rush. "So she offered to make dinner. I hope you don't mind, Cai. I couldn't just kick her out." William said and Cailen realized his brother was worried that he would be mad at him for introducing her to Ezekiel.
"No, no, it's okay, Wil." Cailen assured. "I just- I just forgot. Did it go okay? Do they get along?" Cailen asked, happy for a subject change for the day.
"Yeah, he's inside playing with Samantha and Samuel right now. Arabella is tidying up the flat. Apparently, she's a lot like mom when it comes to worrying- she cleans." William explained. "Maybe it's a Mom thing."
"Yeah, okay. Um, then I guess... Did you want to bring him down?" Cailen asked. "I don't know if we'll get to see Asher tonight, but I need to talk to him and I'm not leaving the hospital until Asher is awake."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll get him ready." William said. "I guess... You'll want me to watch him over night?"
"If you don't mind?"
"Of course not, whatever you need, Cai." William said immediately.
"Okay, thanks Wil, Love you."
"Love you too. See you in a bit." William said and then he was hanging up the phone and making his way back into the hospital to sit with Noah who started asking him about Asher's condition.
He asked about all the 'fancy' words the doctor used and what it all meant and Cailen did his best to explain them to him. He then started asking questions about what would happen after Asher woke up, how long he'd be staying in the hospital, what treatment he'd be getting and stuff like that.
Cailen did his best to inform the blonde but his mind still wasn't thinking completely clearly for him to remember everything.
It was about an hour after that when William and Ezekiel arrived.
He had been sitting at the table with Noah and Matthew, Matthew with his head down and eyes shut and Noah listening intently as Cailen went on about the symptoms that came with head injuries.
It wasn't exactly the thing he wanted to talk about right now because it was sparking a bit of anxiety in Cailen, but he pushed through for Noah because he seemed like he honestly wanted to know.
He heard them before he saw them, a loud voice interrupting his explanation on Asher's possible mood swings after he wakes up.
"Cailen!" Came Ezekiel's voice from behind him and then two small arms were wrapping around his waist from behind, not quite making it fully around him.
Cailen smiled, not realizing until now just how much he wanted to see Ezekiel.
He thought he had been dreading it because that would mean explaining all this to him, but now that he was here, Cailen couldn't stop smiling.
Just having Ezekiel here made him feel ten times better and he was a little surprised by that.
"Hello, love." Cailen greeted, grabbing his little hands and prying them from around his waist so he could turn to hug him properly.
Cailen bent down, wrapping his son up in his arms and lifting him up into his lap. He didn't care if Ezekiel didn't like this- if he didn't like being treated like a 'baby', he just needed a hug from Ezekiel right now and this was the easiest way to get it.
But Ezekiel didn't seem to mind for once. He just threw his arms around Cailen's neck and squeezed him tight and Cailen had to blink back more tears from that.
"I missed you, love. Were you good for William?" Cailen asked, pulling away from him but keeping him in his lap.
Again, Ezekiel didn't seem to care.
"Of course." Ezekiel said automatically.
"He was an angel." William confirmed, smiling down at them.
Cailen sent him a grateful smile to which he nodded because they didn't need any more than that to say what they wanted. They were glad to see each other and Cailen was thankful for William's help.
"Where's Asher?" Ezekiel asked, making everyone's smile fall.
Ezekiel looked around the table from Matthew who had sat up with the commotion to Noah and up to William before going back at Cailen who sent him a sad soft smile before leaning in to place a kiss on his forehead.
Cailen hoisted Ezekiel up onto the table so he was sitting higher than them all and now looking down at Cailen.
"Okay, I've got to talk to you, love." Cailen began.
He hadn't even given much thought to how he was going to say this.
"While Asher was at work today... Um, he sort of got... hurt." Cailen said slowly, half hugging Ezekiel.
It was an awkward angle with Cailen's arm thrown over his legs to hold him close with his other hand on his back.
"Hurt?" Ezekiel questioned, his face falling into a sad, confused expression.
"He's okay, he's going to be okay. But yeah. He got hurt, love." Cailen assured quickly, realizing he should really make sure Ezekiel knows that.
"Like when I scratched my head?" Ezekiel asked, sort of like he knew it was not like when he scratched his head, that it was much more serious or they wouldn't all be looking at him like they were waiting for something- a reaction of some kind.
"Not exactly." Cailen said awkwardly, that hand creeping back around his heart when Ezekiel's eyes started to fill with tears.
Cailen stood immediately, wrapping him up in a tight hug. He saw William look away to hide his face, Matthew look into his lap as if he couldn't stand to see a little boy cry, and Noah looking up at them with a troubled expression.
"He's okay, Zeke. He's going to be okay. You have nothing to worry about." Cailen assured, squeezing his own eyes shut because he knew he had to appear as if everything was fine.
Everything was fine, he reminded himself. Asher really was going to be okay.
"No, he's not!" Ezekiel cried out, his hands coming to Cailen's chest but he couldn't tell if he was gripping onto Cailen more or trying to push him away.
He didn't know if Ezekiel knew either.
"Yes, he is. The doctor said he is going to be okay. You know what a doctor is, right?" Cailen asked, trying to look down at him.
"They know all about people getting hurt and they fix them. They are fixing Asher, he's going to be okay." Cailen repeated, bringing his hand up to run his fingers through Ezekiel's hair in a comforting gesture, trying to calm the boy.
"Ssh, it's okay. Everything is okay, Asher is okay. He's not going anywhere." Cailen assured, feeling as Ezekiel seemed to decide on clinging onto Cailen instead of pushing him away.
Cailen pressed a kiss to the top of his head, still running his fingers through his hair as he listened to Ezekiel's breathing turn calm and his tears become small sniffles.
"He's not?" Ezekiel asked quietly.
"No," Cailen answered immediately, pulling away to meet the shiny brown eyes of Ezekiel.
He wiped at the skin under his eyes with the pad of his thumb, wiping away the wetness streaking his cheeks.
"No, love, he's not going anywhere. He's a floor above us, getting taken care of."
"You promise?" Ezekiel asked, his small voice muffled by Cailen's shirt.
Cailen's chest ached at the vulnerability in his voice and he immediately nodded.
"Yeah, I promise." Cailen said softly.
Ezekiel remained quiet after that, not saying a word but also not letting go of Cailen, not that he minded. He was finding just as much comfort in Ezekiel as Ezekiel was finding in him.
The only thing he wished was different was that he didn't have the edge of the table digging into his hip.