"Come on, get up." Cailen instructed as he walked into Asher's room, seeing that he was awake and staring at the ceiling.
Cailen walked over to his bed and threw back the covers, not having to worry about any wires because Asher didn't need any of those anymore, thankfully.
His lungs were, although not the greatest, good enough to manage on their own as long as he didn't decide to go for a jog... or even a brisk walk, and he was taken off morphine and put on pills to kill the pain in his hip and arm.
"What are you doing?" Asher asked, obviously confused.
He wasn't supposed to go anywhere unsupervised but Cailen figured since he was a nurse, he technically had supervision.
That's what he told himself anyway.
"We're going out." Cailen said, holding out his hand to his husband. "We are getting you out of here for a little bit, you're paler than pale." Cailen teased and reached for his right arm when Asher just kind of sat there with a confused look on his face.
"Is that allowed? I thought I wasn't supposed to go anywhere but Physio or the toilet." Asher frowned but pulled himself up using Cailen.
"Yeah, well... When have you known me to follow the rules?" Cailen asked as Asher swung his legs over the edge of the bed.
"Since you grew up and got a job where following the rules is kind of important?" Asher pointed out but gently set his feet on the floor anyway.
Cailen let go of his hand and stepped away to get the wheelchair from the corner, wheeling it over by Asher and locking it in place. He then held out his hand again for Asher to use to lower himself into the chair.
"Meh, we're not going far and as long as we don't work you too hard, the worse thing that'll happen to you is you'll get a sunburn." Cailen teased but then flinched at the poor 'burn' joke.
Burns weren't exactly funny at the moment.
"We?" Asher asked, not seeming to notice the joke as he gently lowered himself down into the chair and set his feet up in the holders.
The process took longer than it should have but Cailen remained patient.
"You'll see." Cailen grinned and then he was spinning Asher around and pushing him out of the small room and down the hall, smiling at anyone he passed like he was supposed to be doing this.
They wouldn't question him if it looked like he wasn't doing anything wrong.
*****
"And he's free!" Was what Asher was greeted by as Cailen pushed him around the corner of the hospital.
They had snuck outside and down the walkway, passing potted plants and other patients who were actually allowed outside right now.
William stood there with his arms outstretched infront of him, grinning at Asher.
Noah stood beside him with Ezekiel sitting on the ground at his feet, and Matthew and Hazel on a closeby bench with Aariyah in their lap.
They all turned with William's words, grinning at Asher and the fact that Cailen had 'busted him out'.
"Finally." Asher said exasperated. "I was going mad up there." He complained as Cailen brought him to a stop, locking him in place.
"We know." Noah agreed, his words teasing but his tone serious.
It was all a bit hard on them, watching Asher struggle like this, but they were trying their best to stay positive for Asher's sake.
"Dad, Aariyah burped and laughed at herself, you missed it!" Ezekiel said, standing on his feet and making his way over to Asher.
Asher chuckled, looking over at the trio sitting on the bench.
Matthew and Hazel both chuckled at the memory while Aariyah remained oblivious to the fact that they were talking about her.
"She does that quite a lot, actually." Matthew told them. "You'd think she woudln't find it so funny anymore." He added, smiling down at Aariyah.
Matthew then reached out with a finger, pressing her nose with it and making a 'boop' noise that had the little girl giggling at her father.
It was quite amusing to see- Matthew, the boy who used to be so 'cool' and 'badass' turn into a dopey father that made 'booping' noises.
If only he could go back in time and show that Matthew, this Matthew. Matthew would probably punch him out for suggesting he'd turn into any such thing.
"That never gets old, either." Hazel said fondly, looking down at the baby sitting in her lap.
"Just wait until she's old enough to understand my jokes," William told them, looking quite smug. "She'll never stop laughing."
"Yeah, AT you." Noah snorted, sending Cailen a wink.
The small group laughed at this, all except William who glared at Noah and gave him a small shove towards a tree that he grabbed onto to steady himself, still snickering to himself.
Cailen looked down at Asher seeing the smile on his face as he watched his friends and family interact and saw just how much this meant to him.
He obviously needed this.
Being up in that tiny room with one or two of them at a time just wasn't good enough.
He needed to get out and be with all of them, like things were normal and maybe soon, they'd start to be.
*****
When Cailen brought Asher back up to his room, Ezekiel tagged along behind them because the others had to get going.
They weren't planning on staying much longer because it was getting kind of late and Ezekiel still had to go for a bath before bed.
They were just getting Asher back into bed, needing to take it slow because Asher was easily winded, when they heard a knock on the door.
Cailen's heart sort of jumped because for a second, he thought he had been caught but when the door opened, a familiar red-headed woman poked her head through.
"Sorry, we don't mean to interrupt..." Lucia spoke softly as she slipped into the room, Airene and her husband in tow. "We saw you down the hall and were just wondering..." Lucia said awkwardly, like she hadn't really thought this through but realized this might be a little rude.
"No, no. Come in." Asher said, surprising Cailen.
Lucia smiled gratefully and stepped further into the room, Airene tucked shyly into her side.
"You look like you're feeling better." Lucia observed with a smile.
"Much, I'm sorry about last time... The medication is... really..." Asher apologized but Lucia shook her head.
"No need to apologize, really." She said and Asher smiled.
Cailen was glad Asher was in a better mood this time because he wasn't sure he could cover like he did last time.
"We just wanted to thank you personally. We- we can't thank you enough for saving our Airene." Lucia said, already beginning to tear up.
"I was just doing my job, Miss." Asher said, sounding ever so polite.
That trip outside must have really done him some good.
"No, you saved my daughter, I don't know what we'd do-"
"Airene?" Came a small voice from behind Cailen.
Cailen turned to see Ezekiel poking his head out from around Cailen's leg, his eyes trained on Airene.
"Zeke?" The little girl asked back, the two of them obviously knowing each other.