Purely Submissive

7 - Incipience

A couple hours later Shiloh was slowly coming back to consciousness. How body woke slowly, his mind being the first thing to come to. He kept his eyes closed as he went over the most recent events in an attempt to keep himself from panicking. Next, his body started to wake. He wiggled his fingers and toes in an attempt to get the tingling feeling out of his extremities. With a deep breath, he finally opened his eyes only to shut them tightly in response to the bright lights, an unconscious whimper leaving his lips. Rhett immediately stood from the couch against the wall, turned the lights down, and perched himself on the edge of the bed.

"It's okay. It's not as bright anymore. " Shiloh cautiously opened his eyes again, staring at the tiled ceiling of the hospital before moving his gaze to Rhett's. "How are you feeling? Any pain?"

"I'm okay I think. I'm not in any pain right now... What happened after I was shot?" Shiloh played with the hem of the blanket as he waited for an explanation.

"You went through surgery to patch the chest wound, but due to your rare blood type, there were some major concerns. but thankfully Malin has the same blood type so he was able to donate enough for your transfusion. That's why he's here. They're keeping him overnight to make sure there's no complications due to his medical issues." Shiloh nodded along to the explanation. "We weren't sure of your status and you had lost so much blood... So I called your father. " Shiloh closed his eyes tightly at the thought of how disappointed his father must be. "He is expecting you to die and won't be visiting..." Shiloh flinched at the news. He couldn't say he was surprised by his father's reaction but that didn't make it hurt any less. "Also, I am very unimpressed with his treatment of not only his employees but his family. We will be ending service with the company. You will also be staying with us until you recover. You shouldn't be lifting anything heavy or moving a lot with an injury like this, so Malin and I have agreed to care for you. If you're okay with it that is. You'll be here for at least another two days for observation, you have until then to think about it." Shiloh sat in silence as he thought over all the information. It was overwhelming and he was terrified. This was it, he had officially lost his family. He had spent so much time and effort to make them happy, he wasn't even sure who he was without being who they wanted him to be.

Shiloh had never been so overwhelmed with emotion. He had never been able to make decisions, living as he was told to, and now that he could he was stressed and terrified. His eyes watered before finally overflowing.

"Oh, Shiloh" Rhett wrapped his arms around the smaller man tightly, holding him to his chest. "It'll be okay, we're here for you. You're not alone." The words only made Shiloh cry harder, sobbing into Rhett's chest while soaking up the affection and attention. "I've got you. Let it out."

Shiloh gripped anywhere he could, holding tightly and letting out all the built-up emotion until there were no tears left and the sound he could make was soft hiccups. "I don't know how... I am who he wants me to be and all I've done is fail at it... I don't know how to be anything else."

"You don't need to worry about that right now, just focus on taking it easy and healing." Shiloh went to argue but settled at Rhett's expression.

"Okay... But who will guard you too? This is obviously a much bigger issue." Rhett continued to hold Shiloh, offering as much comfort as possible through gentle touches. He couldn't imagine what the poor man was going through as his entire world turned.

"Research is almost done and should be published in the next two weeks or so. I'm thinking we'll go into a lockdown at the office until then. It's already equipped with everything that could be needed and we could always have items delivered if needed." Rhett's voice was calm as he explained.

"You two are really dedicated to this work... Will they really leave you alone once it's published?" Shiloh unconsciously played with the hem of Rhett's shirt.