"Is he awake yet?" Noah asked, rushing into the room and stopping mid-step when he looked to the bed and saw that Asher was not awake yet.
The doctor had finished operating on Asher about an hour ago and had returned Asher to his bed but had told Cailen he was still heavily drugged and would be in and out of consciousness for a while.
Asher hadn't woken up at all since the doctor returned him but at least now, he really was just sleeping, not knocked out.
He was still on a breathing machine but instead of the full face mask he had before, it was only two little tubes that went into his nostrils.
There were still other wires connected to him- a heart monitor just in case and a morphine drip because he would still be in a lot of pain but there weren't as many as before.
"No, hasn't woken up since the doctor brought him back." William explained from where he sat on the other side of the sleeping man, Matthew sitting beside him.
Ezekiel sat on the end of the bed at Asher's feet, his legs curled up underneath him because seating was dwindling with each person that came.
As it was, Noah had to stand because there weren't any more chairs and Cailen wasn't sure they could fit another one in here even if they had one.
"He's going to be very sleepy, very exhausted. Even when he does wake up, it won't be for long and he'll probably be a little out of it." Cailen explained, his eyes trained on his husband's face.
He had been staring at Asher since he was returned to the room, watching for any sign of Asher being conscious- a peeking eye or even a twitch, but nothing had come.
Asher remained completely still.
"Dad is on drugs." Ezekiel told Noah, turning to the blonde.
Cailen almost regret telling Ezekiel this because at first, he thought it was the 'bad kind of drugs' and had panicked until Cailen explained that it was actually medicine to help Asher get better.
Ever since then, the boy had been telling everyone that Asher was on drugs, trying to trick them into thinking the same thing he did.
Cailen didn't even want to think about where an eight-year-old had learned about 'bad drugs'.
"Is he?" Noah questioned, smiling because even his friends got happy when Ezekiel referred to either of them as 'Dad' and 'Papa'.
"Can I have some, too?" Noah mumbled around a smirk.
Cailen shot him a glare because Ezekiel was sitting right there and he really shouldn't say things like that infront of him but he didn't do much more than that.
He could understand the anxiety Noah was probably feeling and knew he probably could have used something to calm himself on Monday when all this started.
"Unfortunately, you'd have to be-" Matthew went to say but then a cough spluttered it's way from Asher's mouth and then the man was trying to sit up, his eyes fighting to open and throat trying to grasp onto a proper breath.
Everyone in the room stilled for a moment and just watched, a little too shocked, but Cailen's nurse training kicked in and he sprang into action, standing and slipping a hand under Asher's back and helping him into a sitting position.
Asher went easily enough once he had help, his right arm coming up and beginning to pull on the wires in his nose.
"No, love, you can't do that." Cailen said, slipping his hand in Asher's and lowering his hand.
Asher weakly fought him but was no match for Cailen's healthy strength. Asher continued to cough, something he'd be doing a lot for the next little while, as Cailen rubbed his back, trying to soothe him the best he could.
"I- I'm-" Asher tried talking but he was cut off by more coughs and then he really was fighting Cailen, pulling his hand free from his and making grabby hands in the air, asking for something but Cailen didn't know what.
"S- sick." Asher got out between coughs going still where he sat, his hand dropping and his coughs coming to a halt.
It took a second to realize what Asher meant but when Cailen looked at his face, he could see it there- Asher was going to be sick.
Cailen pulled himself from Asher, bending down beside the bed and reaching under the bedside table to pull out a bucket that he immediately handed to Asher just in time for the man to keel over, clutching the bucket infront of him and expelling what little contents of his stomach he had, if any at all.
The noises were horrid, wet sloppy splashing sounds that mixed with some groans and ragged breaths as Asher seemed to calm some after a moment.
Cailen was a little torn between reaching out to stroke Asher's back and reaching out to comfort Ezekiel because he could see the distress on Ezekiel's face, but then Noah was at Ezekiel's side, picking him up and holding him on his hip.
Ezekiel didn't protest but he was unable to tear his eyes away from the sight before him.
Cailen debated on asking Noah to take him out of here but didn't get to ponder it any longer.
"Cai-" Asher panted, his voice sounding scratchy and thick.
Cailen snapped out of his debate and reached out to Asher, going for the bucket but Asher shook his head right before lowering his head to throw up again.
"Is that normal?" Matthew asked, concern on his face.
"Yeah, unfortunately." Cailen said sadly.
It was normal for a person with moderate or severe head injuries to have headaches that don't go away for long periods of time, repeated vomiting or nausea, convulsions, aphasia, dysarthria, weakness or numbness in the limbs, loss of coordination...
The list went on and on and Cailen's been over it several times in his head so he knew what to expect when Asher woke up.
"It's going to be difficult." Cailen said softly, reaching out to stroke Asher's back, feeling that he was now shaking from the exertion. "Wil, can you get me a wipe from the cupboard?"
William nodded and stood, going to the cupboard and retrieving a box full of wipes for him.
"Shouldn't there be a nurse in here or something?" William asked, handing the box to Cailen.
"I am a nurse." Cailen pointed out, pulling out a wipe and tipping Asher's head back.