A New Kind of Love Ch. 08

"Francis we just got a call... come on," Steve found his partner at the counter of the coffee shop they had stopped at. His partner quickly put a lid on his drink and followed Steve out to the cruiser.

"So what's the call?" Francis asked as he sipped his coffee.

"I don't really know. Apparently some guy was dropped off in front of the hospital and it looked like he took a pretty massive beating, so they called us," Steve explained.

"Hmm. Is he conscious?" Francis asked.

"They say he is, but he's kind of incoherent. Quoting bible verses or something," Steve answered.

"Weird," Francis laughed.

"Yeah."

10 minutes later they arrived at the hospital.

"Good, you're here. He's in room 221," A nurse at the front desk directed. Steve nodded his thanks and turned down the hall with Francis. They arrived at the room to see a doctor standing over the form on the bed with a clipboard in hand. He scribbled something down and then looked at them.

"Ah, you're here. I was hoping you would be able to get something out of him. I don't think he even knows where he is. He just mutters and whispers things. Won't even make eye contact. He could have a mental disability we don't know," the doctor shrugged.

"Steve, why don't you try and talk to him I'll go talk to the doc 'bout what's going on with him," Francis stepped outside with the doctor. Steve walked over to the bed and looked down at the man lying in it.

He had a long scar running from his left temple down across his eye over his nose until it reached the right side of his jaw. It looked red and angry. Something about the man reminded Steve of someone. He shrugged it off and tried to question the man.

"Sir, my name is Officer Bernard. You can call me Steve though, ok?" Steve told the younger man.

"Steve... Steve... greater... no one... this... lay down... life... his friends," the man mumbled. His eyes squeezed shut tight. He tossed his head back and forth.

"Can you tell me your name?" Steve asked.

"Name... what's... in... name... that... call a rose... by other name... smell... just as... s-sweet," the man whimpered.

Steve recognized the Romeo and Juliet quote.

"So not only bible verses huh?" Steve smiled.

"And now... you claim... not prepared..." the man muttered. Steve quickly recognized the line

"So much to do you cannot be spared..." Steve finished.

"Still... entreaties... death... not hear," the man whimpered into his pillow.

"That's 'Mephistopheles' by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra...." Steve realized.

"Meph... Mephistopheles... Stoph..." the young man whispered.

It hit Steve like a freight train.

"Oh my god... Stoph?" Steve gasped, leaning in towards the younger man.

"Steve...." he whimpered without opening his eyes. He still didn't seem to be coherent. But he could still hear, Steve had proved that.

"Holy shit!" Steve rushed out of the room.

"Francis!" he leaned out of the door.

"What?"

"It's Stoph!" Steve shouted. A couple of people turned to stare at him.

"What?" Francis repeated.

"The guy, it's Stoph!" Steve said again before rushing back into the room. He put a hand on Stoph's arm and the man flinched.

"Holy shit... it is isn't it. What the hell happened to him?" Francis asked.

"I don't know..." Steve trailed off looking into the face he still had dreams about.

"Look... Steve I still don't know what happened with you two. But I do know it destroyed you... everyone knew. One day you just came to school and you were like a zombie. You wouldn't eat or sleep. Your grades were slipping... and he never came back to school. You never wanted to talk about him, so we all figured it was something that happened between you two. Are you sure you can handle this call? We can call someone else in," Francis said, looking at his partner.

"I'm fine. I can handle it," Steve wouldn't move his gaze from the man's face.

"What did he do to you..." Steve whispered.

"What?" Francis asked.

"Nothing," Steve answered.

"Doc, what are you going to do with him?" Steve asked.

"Well, because of his behavior we will probably put him in the psych ward. No one has reported him missing. No one has claimed him.

"He has no family. I'm the closest thing he has. I'll take care of him." Steve glanced back down at the figure who seemed to be sleeping. He had large black circles under his eyes. It looked like he never got a chance to properly sleep.

"Steve, you haven't even seen him in what? 10 years?" Francis asked.

"So," Steve growled. Francis sighed and gave up.

"Alright well we need to keep him here for a couple days to make sure he's OK," the doctor said looking at Steve.

"After that, I can take him home can't I?" Steve asked.

"I'm not sure. I'll look into it," the doctor said.

"Alright," Steve replied, still holding the frail hand in his. Stoph never looked like this. He was always strong, even arrogant sometimes. Never this weak and defenseless.

"Stoph, please wake up," Steve whispered in his ear before kissing his temple.

"Steve, we got another call we gotta go," Francis said. Steve looked up.

"I'll be back later," Steve whispered into Stoph's ear. He thought he felt the man squeeze his hand but he studied his face for a moment and saw nothing.

Steve turned and walked out of the hospital with Francis leading the way. All he wanted to do was go back and hug Stoph tight to his chest, to make sure no one would ever hurt him again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve had just finished a long day at work and planned on showering and then going back to the hospital to sit with Stoph.

'Seeing him that way was just so weird,' Steve thought to himself.

"Yes, I thought the same thing."

Steve jumped at the voice.

"God damn it!" Steve shouted.

"Hey now," Michael scrunched his brow in disapproval.

"Sorry...." Steve muttered, blushing heavily.

"It's alright. Long time no see. So, you saw Stoph," Michael nodded.

"Yeah, what's he doing here? I thought he was, you know, damned to eternal suffering and all that jazz," Steve asked, guilt chewing at him.

"Yes well. I may have pulled a few strings upstairs," Michael smiled.

"It took you 10 years?" Steve raised an eyebrow.

"I worked as fast as I could, there were other things that needed doing. Saving a demon from hell wasn't exactly top priority," Michael laughed.

"I guess I can understand that. What happened to him, he's not really all there is he?" Steve asked worried about the answer.

"No, I'm afraid not. It seems he's lost his mind. Most of the time he doesn't even realize where he is or who the other people around him are. We rescued him about three months ago. Had to deal with some stuff before I could send him on down here to you. I've been working with him trying to get him to at least realize who he is and what's happened. But I haven't had much luck," Michael looked sad. "I wish I could have gotten to him sooner."

"You did your best. Better late than never, yeah?" Steve tried to cheer the angel up.

"I suppose. I figure if anyone could bring him back to reality, it would be you. I'll mess around in some people's heads and get it so that you can take him home," Michael said.

"Are you allowed to do that?" Steve asked.

"No," Michael answered. They both laughed.

"I have to go. Take good care of him." And then the angel was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A week later Steve was able to take Stoph home. He had a lot of vacation time saved up so he decided he would take a week off and spend it with Stoph. Now that he had him back physically, he wanted him back mentally as well.

"There you go, love," Steve said as he lay Stoph down in his bed. Stoph immediately turned on his side away from Steve and snuggled into Steve's pillow. Steve smiled as the younger man fell asleep.

"OK, you can sleep now. I'm going to go start dinner," Steve said before walking into the kitchen to make soup.

Steve walked back into the bedroom to see Stoph sitting on the edge of the bed staring at a wall.

"Babe? You OK?" Steve asked. Stoph let out a quiet grunt.

"Listen, Stoph. I'm not going to lie. I know it's my fault you were sent there. I feel horrible. I didn't forgive myself for the longest time. I just kept thinking about what was happening to you and that it was my fault. I do love you even though you're a Demon. I just wish I could have said that 10 years ago. Can you forgive me?" Steve asked. Tears silently falling from his eyes. Stoph didn't look at him. But after a moment he rested his head on Steve's shoulder.

"You do know I'm here, don't you? I'll help you, babe. I promise," Steve whispered into Stoph's hair before planting a kiss there.

Steve spent the next 3 days caring for Stoph. But other than when he rested his head on Steve's shoulder the first day he was there, he made no signs the he even knew where he was. Steve made sure he cleaned and bandaged the many still open wounds Stoph had. Sometimes when he was cleaning one of the especially bad marks, tears would slip from Stoph's eyes but he gave no sign other than that that he was ever in pain.

Steve hated the faraway look that was plastered on Stoph's face. All he wanted was for Stoph to make eye contact and just say his name. He would give anything for that. After a couple days the stress began to wear him down.

"Come on, babe. Something. Anything! Just say my name or... or... Michael... Francis... ANYONE!" Steve shouted at the small form on his bed staring at the wall.

"Lu... Lucifer...," Mephistopheles' voice shook at the name.

"Not what I was hoping for," Steve scowled.

~~~~

A few more days passed, with no change in Stoph's behavior. 'I wonder if he'll ever come back to me,' Steve wondered as he sat next to Soph's prone form.

"Babe, I love you... but you reek. You need a shower, come on," Steve sighed as he pulled Stoph off the bed. He lay limp in his arms. Steve attempted to drag him to the bathroom but Stoph was doing nothing to help. Steve began laughing.

"Can you at least TRY to help me here?" he smiled. He looked down at Stoph's face but saw nothing that hinted he even knew Steve was there. But Stoph picked up his feet and supported his own weight, though he swayed and shook.

Steve smiled down at the figure who was still looking at the wall.

"Even when you're insane you're beautiful," Steve muttered. Stoph's eyes shifted to Steve's and they made eye contact. Stoph held it for three seconds before shifting his eyes back to the wall.

For those three seconds Steve could have sworn he had seen the same Stoph from ten years ago. With his arrogant blue eyes. But he also saw something under the arrogant sharp blue. Fear.

'Insanity,' Steve corrected himself. 'He's insane. He didn't make eye contact with you on purpose. He doesn't even know who you are,' Steve thought to himself. His smile faded and he walked into the bathroom and started the shower.

After they had both showered Steve sat on the bed next to Stoph, who was lying down on it staring at his wall. He pulled out the box that held all of his bandages to dress Stoph's wounds. Stoph eyed the box for a moment. Then turned back to his wall.

Steve began dressing the wounds and when he got to the large whip mark across Stoph's back, tears began to fall from the demon's eyes.

Steve finished and pulled Stoph's head into his lap as he sat on the bed. He began singing softly to the boy. He sang the first few lines of 'Imagine' before Stoph sang the second verse in his softer, higher, voice.

Steve looked down when Stoph began to sing. And saw he was no longer staring at the wall but at Steve's leg. Steve lifted him so he was sitting in his lap. He cupped his face with his hands and kissed the younger man.

"I never liked that song..." Stoph said. Voice shaking. Steve pulled back and stared at his face. The eyes were sad looking. Filled with fear and pain. But they were aware. And that was the most beautiful thing Steve had ever seen.

"My god..." Steve said and leaned down for a deeper kiss. The two men kissed passionately before Steve pulled back when he felt wetness on his face. Stoph was crying.

"I was so lost..." he cried into Steve's neck. He held him closer and whispered sweet endearments in his ear.

" I know baby. But you're found now," Steve whispered, trying to soothe the other man. "How did you get back to me?" Steve asked.

"Michael. He sent me a bit of a wake-up call. Told me I had a wonderful man waiting for me and I had to get my ass back to him... well... my head actually," Stoph gave a weak smile. Steve saw it was forced but it was comforting nonetheless.

"We owe him a lot," Steve said. And before he realized it, he was crying as well.

They sat quietly and held each other.

"I heard you. All the times you were talking to me. I knew I had to get back to you but I didn't know how. I tried, I really did..." Stoph said until his sobs cut him off.

"Shh... it's OK. I'm here now. And you're with me," Steve smiled through his tears and hugged Stoph tighter. Soon, both men were asleep.