First Night Seduction Pt. 02 Ch. 01

"That's easy, my parents, his dad, sister and brother, his nieces, Lily his P.A."

"I'll make a note, anything you need just ask."

"Thanks, Sue, never thought I'd be here like this."

"Nobody ever does, love. Go on get yourself in there."

"I'll only be a minute then I'll step outside to call our families, I did promise them, I don't want to risk him hearing what I have to say."

After he'd made the promised call Adrien sat beside Theo's bed slipped his left hand under Theo's own, the same one he'd held all that time ago in the car-park at the farmer's market, and wept silently with his forehead on the back of the hand he was holding.

The nurse sat in the corner of the room watching Theo's vital signs on her own monitor said nothing, she'd seen loved ones react in much worse ways but how Adrien had kept his composure to save his partner's life was beyond her, that he had was already becoming legend, so to see him this way was understandable.

He never moved from Theo's side listening to the rise and fall of his chest, the regular beeping of the monitors and feeling the pulse at his wrist, it was where his parents found him.

"Sweetheart, how's he doing?" his mother asked as she joined him at Theo's side putting her arms round her son's shoulders.

"Holding his own mum, Paul's been, he's technically in charge now, he wants to start reducing the sedation late tonight maybe the early hours."

"That's good isn't it?"

Adrien nodded in reply to his father's question, Edward had his hand on his son's shoulder which he gripped in gentle reassurance -- it told Adrien he was not facing this alone, his parent's concern was for both he and Theo.

"We left your luggage in your office, Pamela's cancelled all your surgeries and told us Paul's doing anything that can't wait. She said to tell you Chester over at Waverly has called to say his team will take as many electives as they can."

"Apparently you and your lovely man have caused something of a tsunami of offers," Sue the ward sister told them as she came into the room, "the hospital exchange has been overwhelmed with calls from all over."

Adrien tried to smile at her,

"Yeah, he does that to people."

"No, Professor you do."

"If I'm just his partner in here it's Adrien."

"Old habits," Sue chuckled.

"When did you last eat son?"

"I can't dad, I'll just throw up, I know I will, but Sue and her wonderful crew have kept me well supplied with tea."

"All part of the job. It's shift-change in half an hour, I wanted to say goodnight before I left. Keep talking Adrien, you know it's important."

"Thanks Sue, for everything."

Paul arrived around midnight to check on his patient's progress,

"What do you think? Is he ready?" Adrien offered.

"Only way to know is do it. I'm sure you're all aware of this already," Paul addressed their family, Theo's own having arrived some time before, "but it'll take some time for the sedation wear off it's not like in the movies we need to bring him round slowly so we don't shock his system and it makes it easier for us to keep on top of his pain level."

Paul monitored Theo's reactions to the lessening sedation for well over an hour before he felt confident enough to be sure nothing averse would happen, by then he and Adrien assessed Theo to be sleeping naturally.

"You know where I am, but I don't have the luxury of a chopper to get back," Paul chortled.

"I'm glad you were there."

"Me too," Paul told him laying a hand on Adrien's shoulder, "like you said he's a tough bastard."

It began with the merest twitch of Theo's eyebrows as if he was wincing in pain, Adrien clocked the time, two-thirty, before calling in Jack, Sue's night-shift counterpart. Adrien was alone with Theo having sent their family to his office to get what sleep they could on the sofa and chairs.

"Just wanted you to see."

Adrien knew full well that the replacement nurse in the corner would have seen the same changes in Theo's vital signs as Adrien had but he wanted someone else to confirm what he was seeing visually, someone who'd seen many such happenings.

"Not bad, we'd normally expect it to take longer," Jack said before checking with the monitoring nurse then leaving.

"Theo!" he gasped a short while later having felt his lover's fingers jerk in his hand, "Theo if you can hear me open your eyes, come on look at me, please, open your eyes."

Adrien waited, wondering if what he'd felt was merely a small muscle spasm and not any sort of voluntary action, then it happened again but stronger, he leaned in to whisper in Theo's ear, carefully resting his head on the pillow beside Theo's,

"Come on Theo, please love, open your eyes for me sweetheart, please. Come on, I'm a wreck here Theo, I need you. I love you."

"Why are you whispering?" Theo's own voice was no more than a whisper -- a croaky one at that.

"Jesus Theo! You scared the living shit out of me."

"Water, need water."

"Ok, let me get some ice chips," Adrien looked towards the nurse who nodded and picked up the phone beside her keyboard.

"Can you get through to my office on that?" he asked her when she'd passed on the request for the ice.

"Yes Professor, here," she held out the handset towards him as she dialled his office extension.

"Thanks," he heard his office 'phone ringing.

"Hello?"

"He's just spoken Lindy."

"Oh thank god for that! He's just spoken everybody," she called to others and Adrien heard exclamations of relief from Theo's dad, brother and his own parents.

"Give him half an hour if you can, he may go back to sleep for a while."

"Not bloody likely," Theo croaked.

Adrien smiled, he was going to be fine, Theo was going to be just fine.

"Gotta go Lindy, my lord and master calls," he chuckled.

"He wouldn't be doing that without you Adrien, thank-you for saving my brother."

"I couldn't face being without him, if I'd lost him Lindy I don't know what I'd have done."

"I know, love, we felt the same way."

"See you soon, I'll call if he goes back to sleep."

"Be there soon."

Theo looked through hooded lids at Adrien,

"You look like shit."

"I look like shit! Have you seen yourself lately?"

"No, but I feel like I've been kicked by a mule and eaten a dessert."

"Hush, wait for the ice."

"Ice be damned, come here."

Adrien returned to the side of the bed and took hold of Theo's hand,

"You want your welcome home don't you?" he smiled.

"I'm a bit banjaxed for all the usual but your lips would do for a start."

"Theo we are not alone," Adrien hissed.

"So? She's a big girl, she'll survive seeing a pair of gay men kissing," he looked towards the nurse.

"I've survived worse, just ignore me guys," she smiled, "welcome back mister Jepson."

"It's good to be back, be better if my wuss of a partner kissed me.

"Oh for the love of, alright you win," Adrien laughed as he leaned down towards Theo.

"Don't I always?"

That was how they were when their family returned, Adrien perched on the edge of the bed, his body as close to Theo's as he dared, their lips touching but barely as they smiled, laughed near-silently and talked just as quietly; Adrien pressed his lips lightly to Theo's one last time before he'd stood up. It was the first time their family had ever seen them be so intimate, they'd never been overtly affectionate in public it just wasn't who they were, even with their family they'd occasionally, briefly, hold hands or stand so close their bodies were touching, sometimes Theo would lay an arm around Adrien's shoulders but rarely more yet here and now Adrien didn't care every time he'd thought about how close to losing Theo he'd been a lump formed in his throat and his stomach sank he'd needed to feel Theo's breath on his skin, taste his lips, hear his voice all at once.

"Hello dad, how's the farm."

"In better shape than you are."

"Hey, compared to the alternative I'm doing great," Theo smiled.

"Don't joke about it Theo, Christ knows how Adrien's got through this," Lindy snapped, her voice choked.

"The same as the rest of you I'd bet, gallons of tea, pacing the halls all that stuff," Theo said.

The other five all looked at Adrien, Theo quickly picking up on there being something he'd not been told.

"You haven't told him?" Jeff asked.

"What don't I know?" Theo looked from the others to Adrien.

"What do you remember?" Adrien asked right back.

"The plane landed on time, Roger picked me up from the airport in the Jag, we were making good time back home from East Midlands, I was in the front with him working on some emails so that everything was done by the time we arrived at the parsonage. Then it's just bits and pieces, Rog yelled something, I felt something hit me after that there's nothing until I heard you talking to me," he told them.

"Theo, Adrien saved your life, he performed what amounts to open heart surgery on you, you were flown to the Royal Infirmary and from there to here because of Adrien the emergency consultant there's a locum she didn't know about you and him, you're still here because of him," his sister told him.

Theo turned to face Adrien wide-eyed with shock,

"Thank-you my love," he mouthed, too stunned to speak out loud.

"Can I come in?" it was Lily.

"Yes, the advantage of a sole occupancy room," Theo replied.

"I'm not staying, well I am just not here, I only wanted to let you all know I'll be on call 24/7 until Mister Jepson says otherwise, I'll be setting up shop in the Professor's office for now and yes Pamela knows, our security are liaising with the hospital's they're here already, if word gets out that Mister Jepson's here we'll arrange with the hospital to get you and him out from the heli-pad when he's ready for going home."

"What are you talking about Lily?"

"It's our standard operating procedure as the military call it Professor, I need to be close to Mister Jepson so I can monitor the situation, the security team's as much to protect the other patient's safety and privacy as Mister Jepson's and if there's the slightest whiff of journalists in the area when Mister Jepson's well enough to go home we'll bring in the chopper because we all know what happened after your coming out party. Obvious really."

"And how come you have these procedures in place?"

"Professor, Thepson Holdings needs to protect its biggest single asset, Mister Jepson, to that end it would be remiss of me to not have plans in place for just such a situation."

Adrien shook his head, after four years there was still much about Theo's business life he didn't know. Lily was Theo's gatekeeper, virtually everything got to him only through her and she was highly protective of him.

"So if anyone needs anything at all you know where to find me, last couple of things, I'm aware that the Professor's home is large enough to accommodate you all but at least until Mister Jepson leaves this ward I've made an open-ended booking for all of you at an hotel close to the hospital, here are your room keys and my own room number, you'll have a driver on call at all times for getting there and back, here's the number you'll need, if you need laundry doing, more clothes anything at all I'm your first and last port of call and I'll have a company credit card for you to use for buying meals and so on available tomorrow. I've been in touch with the Royal Infirmary and the update on Roger is that he has bruised ribs, a few minor cuts and grazes and a dinged knee, he'll be going home later today. I'll say goodnight and it's wonderful to see you doing so well Mister Jepson, your story's all over the hospital."

Before anyone could make further comment Lilly was gone.

"She's efficient I'll give her that," Jeff chortled.

"Theo all that with the card and whatnot it's not necessary," Edward said.

"You can try arguing with Lily Edward but I doubt you'd win," Theo smiled weakly.

"Sorry people but I think we need to call time on this little soiree, my one-time patient need to sleep and so do you."

Adrien was right Theo soon fell into a natural sleep and because of the high-tech monitoring systems he was attached to there was no need for the staff to constantly disturb him to take observations.

"Adrien," his mother whispered when she and their family returned just after eight-thirty that same morning, "come on love, I'm taking you to get some breakfast, Linda and George will stay with him, you go and shower, get changed, eat and I'm not taking no for an answer. We've all done the same already. If you won't look after yourself then I'll do it."

"Your mum's right son, we'll keep an eye on him, my Emily would never forgive us if anything happened to you because you didn't look after yourself," George told him, "go on if anything happens we'll make sure they beep you."

"Sound medical advice is that Professor," the nurse now sitting at the computer in the corner added with a smile.

"Alright I know when I'm being ganged up on," he huffed, "how come mothers always know best?"

"Because we just do," Linda replied genuinely smiling for the first time since she'd arrived.

"Good morning Professor, Doctor Leadbeater," both Pamela and Lily called when Adrien and his mother got back to his office.

"Yes it is," Adrien replied, but his smile was tight and his voice sounded brittle, "he's still sleeping and my mum put her foot down and made me come back to change," he looked down at his mother who'd accompanied him.

"You're also having breakfast, by my reckoning you haven't eaten since lunch yesterday."

"Professor! How can you take care of him if you collapse through lack of food?" Lily exclaimed, "What do you want?"

"He'll be having a full English," Dorothy told her.

"It'll be here when you're ready," Pamela put in already coming from behind her desk.

"Pamela I'll go to the canteen I do not need waiting on hand and foot."

"Do you not? If you go there you'll get no peace, even those who don't come and talk to you will be talking about you," Pamela said with some authority, "you need to stay away from crowds for now."

"They're right Adrien, please, if only for today let us take care of you it is my job you know."

Adrien slumped with his back against a filing cabinet, his head down and he began to tremble, the last eighteen hours were catching up with him -- fast. Before he knew it all three women had their arms around him and his tears finally fell, his mother uttering words of comfort.

"Come on," Dorothy eventually said as the tide of fear and exhaustion ebbed, "before anything else you're having a lie down whether you sleep or not's irrelevant but your body needs to rest."

"I'll shower and change first, I feel like I haven't been out of these clothes for days."

Adrien had slept, fitfully, for about an hour then his mother had made him eat the breakfast she'd asked for.

Pamela had been right it had taken them far longer to return to the I.C.U. ward than it should have due to all those who wanted to pass on their good wishes and congratulations. When they finally got there Adrien recognised the two men at the doors as being part of Theo's personal security team -- he'd never really been sure why Theo had such a thing but had never questioned it, today he was glad of it.

"Good morning Professor," one of the men said, "how are you?"

"Better now my mum's taken charge," Adrien smiled.

"Yeah, they're good at that," the second man smiled back, "good morning Doctor Leadbeater."

"Good morning gentlemen," she replied as Adrien swiped his i.d. tag to open the ward doors.

They were both shocked at what greeted them when they stepped into Theo's room -- the place was unrecognisable! The ward had a strict 'No flowers' policy (they also had an only two visitors at a time rule but that had already been swept aside for Adrien, Theo and their family) but there were at least a dozen 'Get Well Soon' balloons bobbing close to the ceiling in one corner and a vast array of cards to go with them, an enormous fruit basket sat on the bed's trolley table there were even a couple of packs of Theo's own blend coffee beside it a gift tag taped to one of them read "From the gang at T.J.'s".

"Holy bloody hell! How the ruddy hell did this happen?" Adrien exclaimed.

"It seems your heroics have been blabbed about," Linda replied, "actually they're all from people within Thepson and some of the cards are for you," she picked up a small collection of envelopes from the bedside cabinet and held them out to him.

All of them were thank-you cards, the smallest, most discrete amongst them was actually from Theo although how he'd been able to write it mystified Adrien considering the number of lines Theo's body carried and it was obvious Linda had chosen it. It simply showed a small, stylised, rainbow on the front and had no gushing, sickly sweet verse within just Theo's own words.

"You truly are my hero.

I.G.T.F.U.T.I.C.T.U.C. -- EVENTUALLY!!

I love you,

Tx"

Adrien gave Theo a small smile then tucked the card back in its envelope before squirelling it away in his jacket pocket.

"Yeah, eventually," he chuckled.

Paul arrived to see his patient after his morning clinic although through the wonders of modern technology he'd been receiving all the information from Theo's monitors.

"You are a living breathing bloody miracle," he laughed as he entered the room.

"In no small part thanks to you I gather," Theo's voice was stronger than when he'd first woken up but was still far from the warm tone Adrien loved.

"Have you eaten anything?"

"I was allowed something purporting to be porridge but it was missing the maple syrup."

"Don't think the NHS budget stretches to that I'm afraid."

Adrien and their family left the room to allow Paul to talk with Theo alone, although Adrien couldn't stop himself pacing the hallway for the few minutes it took.

"I'm sending him for a scan, we need to know how that valve's holding up, I've told him that if it's at anything less than ninety-five per cent efficiency we may need to replace it," Paul told them when he left the room.

"I bet that went down well," Jeff replied.

"Yes, he wasn't best pleased."

"Realistically how long's he going to be here?"

Paul and Adrien looked at each other for a few seconds before Paul replied to George's question.

"We won't know until we know. We need to see at least two day's-worth of clear bloods to be sure there's not going to be any infection then we need to monitor the right side heart valve to ensure it remains as it is or even improves."

"Excuse me," Lily said as she approached them, "is there any chance I could have a quiet word with Mister Jepson?"

"Of-course Lily, what's up?" Adrien asked worriedly.

"We have a developing press situation, I may possibly need to issue a statement to down-play the incident, it all depends on how much they already seem to know. Basically I'll tell them that Mister Jepson's injury, whilst serious, was not as bad as first thought, which is true, and that he's already awake, talking and eating, again all true the Professor's part in his recovery I'll avoid mentioning. If needs be how do you feel about facing a press conference Mister Spence?"

"I don't but if you need it I'll do it, better me than Adrien."

"I'll do everything I can to avoid it but who knows, however some minor celebrity's been seen entering a re-hab clinic so with any luck that'll pique their interest more than a relatively faceless billionaire surviving a car crash. Well it will if I have anything to do with it," she ended enigmatically.

"What did that mean?" Edward asked when she'd closed the door to Theo's room.

"I have absolutely no idea dad."