Asher eventually fell asleep again so Cailen lowered him down onto the bed gently, kissing his forehead and making sure he was tucked in so he wouldn't get cold.
Cailen left the room after that since Asher was sleeping and made his way to the front desk.
Madeline had gone home already but Cailen still had to report what he found out when Asher woke up.
Instead of Madeline behind the desk, there was a young man with a dark head of hair and blue eyes that Cailen's never seen before.
It wasn't surprising because he hasn't worked a night shift in a long time and wouldn't be now that he had Ezekiel to take care of.
Cailen still approached the desk, ready to introduce himself and report what he found.
"Hi, if you'd fill this out, we'll be with-" The man said, obviously not knowing who Cailen was either.
"Uh, that's okay, um, I work here actually." Cailen told the man, glancing down to see his name was Nolan.
Nolan closed his mouth in a small smile and nodded for Cailen to go on.
"I'm actually just here to fill out a report for Dr. Landon." Cailen said, leaning on the counter.
"Oh, alright, for..." Nolan said, standing up and going to a file cabinet.
"Asher Hale." Cailen told him with a small smile and waited for the paperwork.
Nolan nodded and slid a clipboard with a few papers on it infront of him, handing him a pen that Cailen took and began filling out.
He's filled out many of these, could probably do it in his sleep so he stayed at the desk because he knew it wouldn't take long.
"Is he okay?" Came a familiar voice from Cailen's right side.
Cailen didn't even glance up, he just continued to fill out the paper and nodded.
"As okay as he can be, Wil." Cailen told him, hand working fast to fill out the paper.
"What's... Dys...arth...ria...?" William asked slowly, peeking over Cailen's shoulder at the report.
"Dysarthria. It's a fancy word for muscle weakness." Cailen said quickly, signing the sheet and handing it over to Nolan.
Nolan accepted it with a smile and put it away.
"He's okay, weak and confused, but okay." Cailen added turning from the desk to look at his brother properly.
There was the same tired and worried look in his eyes that has been there all week, a look Cailen was sure was mirrored on himself, but underneath that was something else, something brighter and exciting that piqued Cailen's interest.
"Good, that's good." William said around an exhale of breath.
Cailen quirked an eyebrow at him because he was being fidgety, playing with the belt loops on his jeans and picking at an invisible lint on his shirt.
There was something he wanted to tell Cailen, he could see that much and Cailen wondered if it had anything to do with the glint of excitement in his eyes.
"Everything okay with you?" Cailen asked, glancing over his shoulder to see Matthew chatting excitedly with Ezekiel in the waiting chairs and Noah outside chatting on his phone.
William nodded, a smile that he was trying to fight breaking across his lips.
"Out with it." Cailen instructed, nudging his brother with his arm.
"It's- it's nothing. I just- I shouldn't... We should be focusing on Asher." William said with a shrug as if he were trying to tell himself this.
"Well, Asher is sleeping so there isn't much to focus on right now. Come on, tell me." Cailen insisted.
"Really... it's nothing. Or... It could be nothing, I don't know-"
"William!" Cailen encouraged.
"Okay, um, well there's this guy... He works for this management company that manages... Bands and stuff." William said slowly, smiling at his feet.
"And..." Cailen pressed on, only a little confused.
"And he wants to manage... Us." William finished simply.
Cailen looked at his brother, seeing the excited energy that was practically making him buzz but that he was containing for some reason.
Obviously this was a bigger deal than William was letting on but Cailen wasn't exactly sure what it meant.
"Manage you? Like... Your band?" Cailen asked, watching William nod and finally look up at him, green eyes bright. "So... You'll be a proper band, then? Like going on tour and recording songs?" Cailen asked, feeling the thrum of his own excitement for his brother beginning to buzz through him.
"Well, I don't know. It's not official yet. We're still talking this out because I haven't been able to really be there with everything going on, but... He says he wants to give us a shot, try us out at some bigger places and see what happens." William explained, shrugging and smiling at Cailen.
Cailen could tell William didn't quite believe this was happening, like he was expecting someone to pinch him so he reached out and did just that, pinching the skin on his arm and grinning at him.
William flinched away and looked at him questioningly before he seemed to realize what Cailen meant and laughed, burying his face in his hands.
"That's great, Wil!" Cailen told him, pulling him into a quick hug, feeling the man shaking with excitement.
"I didn't know how to tell you, I didn't want it to look like I didn't care." William said into Cailen's head before pulling away.
"Wil, I always want to know this stuff, and so will Ash." Cailen assured.
"I know, it's just bad timing..." William shrugged again.
"Yeah, well... Opportunities like this don't come every day, so bad timing or not, you better get your shit together and be there for your band." Cailen told him. "Asher's not going to be very social for the next little bit anyway." Cailen explained, sending him a smile that William returned, though his looked a little brighter...
Like he couldn't quite contain his excitement like he wanted to.
Cailen couldn't blame him.
*****
"Okay Asher, the burns on your hip and arm will heal, it'll be painful so I don't want you using them for anything... The skin there is very fragile right now. Do you understand?" Dr. Landon spoke from the end of the bed, clipboard tucked under his arm and his hands joined infront of him.
Cailen sat on Asher's right side, his hand entwined with Asher's as Asher nodded his head in understanding.
He wasn't very happy, though Cailen couldn't blame him, and was in a bit of a mood at the moment. Asher's been in and out of consciousness a few times since that day he woke up.
He's been trying to talk more, which he was able to do now without setting off a coughing fit but still had trouble streaming words together that made sense.
"The burn on your leg is a different story, we'll need to operate, take away some of the skin that's beyond repair. Unfortunately, it will scar and I'm afraid the nerves in that area are gone... But thankfully, with some physiotherapy, you'll be able to walk just fine with time." The doctor went on.
Asher nodded to this as well, his jaw set in a hard line and he stared down at his leg.
"It's all going to be very hard, physically and emotionally, but I want you to remember that it's going to get easier. I don't want you getting discouraged because that's going to be your biggest hurdle. Physiotherapy is a long process, it's not going to be a couple of courses and bam, you're fixed. Do you understand?" Dr. Landon asked.
Asher nodded once again, eyes remaining on his leg.
"Alright, I'll schedule in the operation and set you up with a physiotherapist afterwards. Let me know if you start feeling anything odd or even remotely alarming, okay? Have a good night." Dr. Landon said before excusing himself from the room.
Asher remained quiet after that, eyes trained on his leg as if by pure will, he could force it to heal itself completely.
Cailen truly wished it worked like that, but knew how silly that was to even think about.
He wasn't sure how to talk to Asher at the moment. He's seen Asher through his worst days, when Asher got so angry his face would turn red, or when he cried and would make these hideous sobbing noises, but he's never seen Asher like this.
Asher was honestly and completely defeated, mentally, emotionally and physically. He was quick tempered, more than usual, easily irritated and so much so that Cailen had to ask Noah to watch Ezekiel for the afternoon.
Cailen hadn't wanted to risk Asher snapping at the boy when all Ezekiel would be trying to do was help.
Asher's already snapped at Cailen a couple times but Cailen could handle it. He knew it wasn't really Asher doing this but the exhaustion of everything and his head injury fooling around with his emotions.
Asher was also sleeping a lot, but that was to be expected, though Asher hated it.
Cailen could tell when Asher was getting tired, it was usually when he started to get snippy, but he would also start to complain about always feeling tired and how it sucked and that he didn't want to sleep anymore.
This whole thing was already starting to get to him, and Cailen couldn't help but think about the long road they had ahead of them until Asher got better.
He was already wishing it were here, purely because he was tired of seeing Asher like this and getting his head bit off every time he suggested Asher to take a nap.
But he knew he had to remain positive, for Asher's sake, or it would only discourage the man further.
"See? You're going to be good as new." Cailen said, squeezing Asher's hand slightly.
Asher squeezed back but didn't look up at Cailen. He hadn't really looked at Cailen at all the past couple days and Cailen didn't know why.
He didn't know if he had done something to upset Asher, or if maybe he didn't quite have the energy to keep his head tilted that way for very long, but it still made it difficult to remain positive.
"Physio is going to be difficult at first-" Cailen was explaining but stopped when he heard a knock at the door.
"Come in," Cailen called out, expecting it to be William or Matthew but that's not who stepped through the door.
The three people who stepped through the door were unfamiliar to Cailen; a man with dark hair and wrinkled skin by the corner of his green eyes, a woman with long red hair pulled back into a ponytail to keep it out of her brown eyes, and a little girl about Ezekiel's age with the same red hair as what Cailen assumed to be her mother.
They all stepped gingerly into the room, the little girl needing a little push from her mother who smiled politely at Cailen, then looked to Asher, her gaze softening and smile faltering, only for a second.
Cailen missed her putting it back on when Asher squeezed his hand, drawing his attention to Asher's eyes that were trained on the little girl.
"Um, hello." She spoke quietly. "I'm sorry, you don't know me, but um, you saved my daughter and I just- I wanted to thank you." The woman spoke, her eyes becoming shiny and her voice shaky.