Adopted by Phan

Chapter 31

Phil's P.O.V.

I think Dan was right, we all definitely needed sleep. We were all still in our old clothes, apart from Jay, who was still in her hospital gown. The staff had washed her clothes for her overnight and around half an hour before we left the doctor bought them in for her, and Kate took her to the bathroom to help her get changed.

When she returned the girls were both laughing, Jay was back in her old clothes and was hobbling across the room with her crutches held in her hands.

"You ready to go home Jay?" She nodded and hugged Kate, whispering something to her and pulling away. Both girls were flushed red and were giggling incessantly, but I just smiled at Dan. I really hoped Jay would see more of her, it seemed like they would be good friends.

I picked up the backpack, Jay's phone and stuffed toy, pushing the latter two into the backpack and then giving it to Dan, who took it and motioned Jay over. She came, but not before giving one last goodbye hug to Kate and then said goodbye to Ash, who hugged her tight.

"Get better soon Ash and we'll see if we can meet up again?"

"Yeah, I'll see if we can organise it. Bye Jay." Ash's voice was muffled by Jay's shoulder, I thought he sounded a little upset but I ignored it, waiting for Jay to come.

We headed down to the front desk and signed Jay out, waiting out the front for a taxi as Dan hung back with Jay so she could catch up, her foot and cast slowing her down.

We took the taxi back home and after I had paid the driver, I followed the others up the driveway and into the living room. Jay collapsed onto the couch and both Dan and I followed in suit, I think Dan was asleep almost immediately.

I could feel the pain in my back from sleeping on the plastic chair at the hospital and I knew it was going to worse later on, I had had back pain before and it was worse. I could feel an ebbing pain in my spine and I rubbed my back, hoping to calm it.

"Are you okay Phil?"

"My back's sore, from sleeping on the chair." She held out her hands and I left the couch with Dan on it and moved to beside her, picking her up and carrying her to her room. She had managed to grab her crutches and they were dragging along the floor behind me.

We fell onto her bed and she giggled, trying to push me off her, where I had decided not to move from. I carefully pulled her leg out from underneath her so she wasn't lying on it again and then pulled the sheets and blankets down, pulling them over her chest.

"Stay?"

"I'll go get Dan. He'll freak out if he wakes up alone." I tumbled down the stairs and back into the living room, shaking Dan gently.

He groaned and his eyes opened, connecting with mine before they shut again.

"Let me sleep Phil..."

"Come on, I've taken Jay upstairs and I've got to go back, unless you want to stay here alone?" He sighed.

"No." He stood up, wobbling a little bit and followed behind me, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

Jay was already asleep when we made it back up the stairs, I had gone back into her room to check on her while I was waiting for Dan to make his way slowly up the stairs. Once Dan had trudged his way into her room, I shook my head and pointed out the door, we were going to sleep in my room for the night.

He sighed but tucked his hand in mine, pulling me out of the room, but not before sending one sidelong back at Jay, who was sleeping peacefully.

Dan collapsed onto the bed, dragging me down with him. We were still in the same clothes we had been in all day yesterday but neither of us were bothered to change so I just pulled my shirt off, helping Dan do the same. He gave me a quick kiss on my forehead, pulling the blankets down so we could scramble underneath them.

"Night Phil." I let out a huge sigh, wrapping my arms around Dan's chest and pulling him in. He turned over beside me and kissed me again, this time on the lips. I kissed back, slowly, gently, passionately.

When we broke away it was because both of us were gasping for air and Dan's face was flushed red. He smiled at me and suddenly I noticed how happy he looked. His face was glowing and his eyes were bright, something I hadn't seen for a long, long time.

When he was on the anti-depressants was rarely truly happy. He would put on a fake smile for the camera, pretending to be happy but I knew better. He would sometimes spend hours just staring at nothing and it would take just as long to pull him out of his trance, sometimes taking days to fully recover to what we considered normal.

Now that he was off them, there were more times when he seemed natural, more honest, more genuine, more himself. We would spend hours and hours together, just talking to each other and it really seemed Dan was improving, which made everything so much brighter.

Back to the present, Dan was still flushed red and breathing heavily, his head resting in my chest. I ran my hand over his bare back and he shivered, swatting it away.

"Don't! That tickles!" He was whispering but trying to squirm away, making me laugh.

"Okay I'll stop. Night Dan." Planting on last kiss on his lips I pushed my head into the pillow and felt Dan do the same. His hands were resting on my chest and when I opened my eyes for the last time that night, I saw his eyes close and we both fell into the deep well of sleep.

-------------------------------------------------------

When I awoke the next morning Dan was already awake, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling.

"Mornin' Dan." I mumbled and he turned to me, falling onto my chest. I laughed, pushing his hair back.

"You tired?"

"Yeah." His voice came out muffled and once he turned his face towards me, I saw sleep dust clinging to his eyelashes and building in the corners of his eyes.

"We should probably go check on Jay, what's the time?" He reached over to the nightstand and grabbed his phone off it, turning it on. The screen read 10:23.

"I'll go check on her, you might want to come down now." He groaned and took my offered hand, which I had held out to him after my attempt to get up.

I left him standing there, stumbling out of the bedroom and a few steps down the corridor was Jay's door, so I pushed it open. Jay was awake, lying on her back with her duvet kicked onto the floor. She looked up when I came into the room.

"You need a little help there?"

"Please, I tried to get up but I basically threw one of the crutches and now I can't reach it." Looking around, I saw one beside her bed, leaning against the wall and the other was in the doorway just at my feet. I bent down and picked it up, handing it to her as she struggled to her feet.

I watched her carefully as she made her way down the stairs, she had more balance than yesterday but it was still wobbly enough that I stood in front of her as she clung to the handrail with on of her hands, to stop herself from falling.

Once in the living room, where Dan was already waiting on the couch, she collapsed beside him, her crutches falling to the floor with a clatter.

"Mornin' Jay, how you feeling?"

"Ughhhhhhhh..."