They Rely On Hope. What Do I Rely On? - Tommyinnit Adoption AU

Chapter 161

A/N: if ur here for the new chapter notif, go to chapter 158, I added it in belatedly and idk how notifs will work with that lol

Puffy POV:

Puffy sighed slightly as Tommy's eyes flickered shut, his face relaxing and the fear seeming to fade. She doubted Tommy would be out of here soon enough to see the last of the Christmas lights, but she wanted him to. Wanted him to get to see them.

"Puffy?" Ranboo's voice asked after a long period of silence as they had watched Tommy fall into what seemed to be sleep, not unconsciousness.

"Yes Ranboo?" She replied, turning to meet the young boy's confused gaze.

"What did Tommy mean about the lights?"

Ahh, that made sense. She couldn't blame Ranboo for that confusion.

"Christmas lights, he loves Christmas lights. Christmas isn't an easy time for a lot of foster kids, and multiple times I've picked him up from a house around this time of year. I guess it almost became a tradition to go look at Christmas lights together between houses. Anything to make him smile."

Puffy couldn't help the whistful tone slipping into her voice, wishing Tommy would get to see the Christmas lights this year, but knowing it was unlikely. The nurse had explained that even if Tommy woke up, he would be here for another two weeks at least while the gunshot wound to his stomach healed. He wasn't able to eat or drink normally until it did, so he was stuck with a TPN feeding him. If nothing else though, Puffy supposed she should be glad he was getting a good amount of nutrition now. He had never been great at eating.

Puffy made sure Ranboo- who was now looking at his hands contemplatively, as though he was thinking through an idea of some kind- was ok, before encouraging him to rejoin with Eret and send Phil in. They were only allowed to have two people in the room at once and they hadn't expected Tommy to wake, but Phil would want to be here if it happened again.

She talked quietly with the nurse, trying to gage Tommy's health. Apparently he wasn't in a coma state anymore, simply sleeping, probably exhausted. His vitals were all normal, although the nurse would continue to check those regularly.

Puffy had to say, this nurse was her favourite of the ones who had looked after Tommy. Her name was Amy and she clearly cared for the kid, protective of him, and trying her best to minimise the pain he might be in. Plus she told Puffy what was happening instead of just waving her off as some nurses did.

"Hey Puffy, is Tommy ok?" Phil asked, entering the room- although he looked like he hadn't slept in months. Amy- the nurse- seemed to notice that too, encouraging him to sit down and sending for some water. She mumbled something under her breath about patients families becoming patients themselves, and Puffy couldn't help but chuckle slightly at that.

"Yeah, he's ok, he's sleeping, but he's not unconscious anymore," Puffy replied and Phil visibly relaxed at that. That was good. One less nightmare.

Words: 500

A/N: I messed up the timeline in that I forgot to write what happened to Finley and Conner and Techno, so I'm gonna add them in chapters that will be before this but published after, so uh... sorry about that- (this has now been done, chapter 158)