Chapter Nineteen
Dex
Five days after the alarm sounded on Otto’s monitor, he was still in a coma.
After I left that day, the hospital had firmly informed my dad that his political clout had stretched all the rules possible.
We could still visit but due to privacy laws, they couldn’t release any more updates until either Otto woke up or next of kin arrived to give consent.
Otto wasn’t showing any signs of waking up and he had no next of kin.
He was all alone in the hospital with nobody to advocate for him and my heart broke every time I thought about it.
I held mostly true to what I told my dad and tried to stay out of Otto’s room, limiting myself to three short visits each day, one in the morning, at noon, and at night. I didn’t speak to him while I was there, just spent a few minutes watching him sleep to assure myself that he was still alive.
If I spent most of the rest of each day camped out in the hospital lobby during visiting hours, that really wasn’t anyone else’s business.
A theory that my boss at the coffee house apparently disagreed with given the text message telling me if I missed another shift I’d need to find a new job.
That was two days ago, so I was pretty sure that I was unemployed but couldn’t quite find it in me to care. My dads wouldn't let me starve.
At lunchtime on the fifth day, I was back in the lobby when my papa’s scent caught my attention. An Omega like me, his scent was sweeter than Dad’s but just as familiar.
“Hey, sweetie.” His hand settled on my shoulder, squeezing gently. “How are you doing?”
I tried to smile. “I’m trying to hang in there, papa.”
He lifted a small paper bag and wiggled it enticingly in front of my face. “You promised Dad that if we didn’t nag you about hanging out here, you would eat.”
“I did,” I sighed, accepting the bag and pulling out a sandwich. I took a large bite and nearly groaned. “You made me a rotisserie chicken sandwich on homemade bread?”
Papa winked at me. “No. I made you a pan of rotisserie chicken enchiladas that are waiting in the freezer and used the leftovers on a sandwich using the bread I baked this morning.”
“Oh, that’s completely different.” I smiled despite the turmoil in my heart. “You know I love you, right?”
“Oh, sweetie, of course I do.” Papa settled onto the small sofa beside me, laughing when the vinyl made a farting noise. “Dad tried to call you earlier.”
I pulled my phone out but it was dead. “I must have forgotten to charge it.”
“You know that without anyone to make decisions for Otto, he petitioned the court for an emergency order to appoint a guardian.”
I nodded.
“This morning the court appointed a temporary guardian.”
“They did? Do we know who it is?”
Papa nodded. “Yep. It turns out that Myke Kravets is registered with the county family services as an emergency foster placement guardian. He usually manages emergency placement for minors until long term situations can be arranged, but the certification process is the same.
I swallowed the last bite of my sandwich. “Otto was kind of a jerk to him.”
“The night Otto got tossed out of the bar?”
I nodded.
“Dad was at the hearing. He said that Myke told the judge about that but assured him that it wouldn’t impact his judgment. Do you think it will?”
“Not really. Myke was trying to look out for me when Otto was being all..” I waved my hands, unable to find the word I needed but Papa just smiled at me.
“Yeah, I get it. Your dad gets those moments, too. It’s an Alpha thing. Myke is in the hospital administration office filing the guardianship paperwork. He was hoping to talk to you when he’s done.”
“Okay.”
Papa sat with me while I finished the chips and apple slices in the lunch. He was crossing the lobby to throw the trash away when Myke appeared.
“Dex, how are you doing? Feeling okay?”
“Um, I guess.” I shrugged. “It’s, well, a lot.”
Myke nodded sympathetically. “I’ll bet. According to the nurses’ log, you’ve been visiting regularly?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I can quit, though.”
Myke cocked his head. “Why would you do that?”
“I think maybe he doesn’t want me to.”
“I see. Can I be honest?”
“Of course.” I braced myself to be told that Myke agreed and thought I should go home.
“Clark walked me through a little bit of what you told him. I think if you really want to help Otto, you should spend more time with him. Talk to him. Even touch him if you are willing to.”
My eyebrows shot up and Myke snickered. “Ah, I mean in a platonic way, Dexter. Hold his hand, things like that.”
Oh. “Why?”
“Because we already know that he had strong feelings for you and there is a lot of scientific evidence that Omega pheromones can stimulate healing in their partner.” Before I could dispute the classification of me as Otto’s partner, Myke continued.
“It can’t hurt, right?” He glanced over to where Papa was talking to someone in the gift shop to be sure we couldn’t be overheard.
“And it would be better for you and the baby to have that contact instead of the stress of the separation, yeah?”
“But what if he doesn’t want me there?” I was barely able to whisper.
Myke just shrugged and squeezed my shoulder. “Then he can damn well Alpha up and tell us so.”
~*~
Otto
I was stuck in a void where time had no meaning with no clue how I got there.
I also had no idea how many days had passed since I heard Dexter and Clark.
After they left, there were many times when I felt that Dex was back with me, standing in my room, but if he was truly there, he never spoke to me.
The only people who did were the doctors, nurses, and a religious leader who prayed next to my bed every so often.
That was until the day that a new voice, one that was familiar enough to know that I knew the speaker but not familiar enough to place it called my name.
“Otto, you need to wake up, man.” His voice was level and calm. “This is Myke Kravets speaking. Until you wake up, the law says that you have to have someone to make decisions for you and that’s where I come in.”
He paused like he was waiting for my response and then he continued.
“Right now, it’s just you and me but fair warning, I told Dexter that he is welcome to visit you.
Scratch that, I asked him if he would visit as much as possible in the hopes that his presence might help you heal faster.
Dexter is afraid that you don’t want him here but I’m fairly sure he’s wrong. ”
Another pause as I digested his words. Did I want Dexter here with me? Hell to the yes I did!
“Anyhoo, if he is right and you don’t want the company, I’m afraid you’ll have to wake up and tell me.
” Myke’s voice softened slightly. “Actually, we’d all appreciate you waking up no matter what the motivation is.
Not to guilt you, man, but Dex is pretty damn upset and, well, that’s not great for his condition right now. ”
Condition? What condition? Was Dex sick? I don’t know if Myke was done talking or if the knock on the door interrupted him, but the next sound was the now-familiar opening click of the door.
“Dex, come on in.” Myke’s voice was back to cheerful. “I told Otto you were going to be hanging out and he didn’t lodge any complaints.”
That was dorky enough that I gave a mental laugh snort.
“Um, okay.” Dex sounded nervous. “What do I do?”
There was a dragging sound followed by a small thump. “Here,” Myke sounded closer to me. “Why don’t you sit in the chair right here and talk to Otto? If you’re feeling frisky, you could even hold his hand.”
“What if he doesn’t want me to?”
I do!
Myke chuckled. “Otto? Do you want Dex to hold your hand?”
Yes! Damn it, yes!
“If not, speak up.”
Wow, he was really doubling down on the can’t communicate jokes, but it seemed to do the trick because I felt the air move against my skin before the chair creaked, telling me that Dex sat as instructed.
If I’d had the ability, I would have held my breath.
“Very funny,” Dex sounded more upset than amused but I felt the air move again.
The soft skin of his palm brushed over my arm and settled on the back of my hand.
“Otto, it’s me. I, um, I hope you’re okay with me touching you.
Myke thinks that maybe it could possibly help wake you up but I’m not sure why. ”
“Technically, the doctors are the ones who think it might help,” Myke interjected kindly. “It’s because coma patients sometimes respond to familiar presences, in a nutshell. Kind of like you providing an anchor for him to pull himself back to the awake world.”
“What he said,” Dex said dryly, carefully curling his fingers around my hand. “I don’t know if I can really be an anchor or if you even want me here, but I want you to wake up so much, Otto. I need you to come back to us.”
I would have sworn that my heart stuttered but this time the machine didn’t let out one of those squealing alarms.
I want to come back to you, Dex. You know I do. I just don’t know how.