(no subject)

[reidings]

CHARACTERS: Jax & Jamie
WHAT: Jamie wakes up in the medbay, Jax is there
WHEN: A few hours after they get back from Kamchatka
WHERE: Medbay
WARNINGS: Some feelings

Buzzing, persistent and growing decidedly louder in his ears, is the first thing Jamie’s mind is aware of as he drifts into the waking world. There’s a dull thumping headache pressing against his skull and when he finally opens his eyes everything is blurry. Slowly, he reaches a hand up to his face. No glasses. At least that explains the blur. He remembers he’s hurt, something to do with an unsuspecting, but rotten metal railing that didn’t hold up to his weight. A fall down the same empty stairwell with nothing but cold, hard ground to cushion his body. Ouch.

He turns his head slowly to the side, catching a glimpse of a shape in the corner of his eye. The blob is still amorphous even head on, but he can make out a few details that tell him who this is. “Heeey,” he croaks out. God his mouth is dry.

The sound of a voice that isn't Nadine's soft, feminine one has Jax, said amorphous blob, stirring. The first sensation is pain - he's draped sideways across a chair, legs over the arm with a book flipped open on his abdomen, and it is truly awful to wake to. He moves a hand and On The Road thwacks into the floor.

"Oh, c'mon," he groans irritably, as the room begins to come into focus through the stab of pain in at least five places in his body. But the voice - Kit? No, it's– "J, fuck. Hold on."

Jax stands faster than his aches care for, his eyes meeting Jamie’s and hand taking his. "Hey, welcome back."

Jamie manages a laugh, as he watches Jax get to his feet. Blinking, he tries to get his eyes to focus better. When he feels Jax’s hand take his, he squeezes it, happy to feel the warmth against his skin.

“I’m happy to be back,” he brings Jax’s hand up to his mouth and brushes a kiss to the back of his hand. “You didn’t have to stay here, I’m sure that chair wasn’t comfortable,” he feels a pang of guilt at the thought of Jax making himself uncomfortable just to keep vigil at Jamie’s bedside. “I’m glad you did though,” he adds, ensuring Jax knows how grateful he is to wake up to him.

“How long have I been out?”

"A couple hours," Jax admits as he's extending his reach for the glasses at the end of the bed without breaking the tight hold of their hands. The glasses are delicately maneuvered back onto Jamie’s face. "Pain on a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst you've ever felt?"

He sits still as Jax slides the glasses back on his face, relieved he can see everything again, taking a moment to review Jax’s face. He looks tired, worn down a little bit. “Not a ten,” he finally replies. “But not great. Probably a five? It’s not too bad,” he waves his free hand, dismissing the thought that it would be higher than that. Digging an elbow into the mattress, he tries to sit up a little bit, as if to show Jax that there’s nothing to worry about, the movement brings on a wave of nausea almost certainly a result of his current state.

Immediately, there's a hand on his face to stop him. "Hey, stay prone, alright handsome? You've got internal bleeding, and we need you immobile." He tries for a reassuring smile, though it's mostly for Jamie's benefit. It's followed by a lean in and a kiss, and brief touch of his forehead, to Jamie's temple. "Water?"

Jamie shoots Jax a small frown, but listens to him and settles back against the pillows behind his head. “Fine,” immobile is not what he wants to be right now even though he knows that trying to move will only pile more stress on the man standing next to him. He nods, accepting the offer of water. Once his mouth feels sufficiently less like a desert, he opens it to speak, “I’m going to be okay, you know that, right?”

There's a sharp inhale. Jax's voice is quiet. "I know. Just hard to see you here either way." He takes a seat on the edge of the bed as gently as he can, and folds Jamie’s hand up in both of his, kisses his knuckles. "You're heavy, by the way." A lie, yet still an attempt at levity.

“I know and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you, railings are trickier than I thought,” it is probably too early to begin making light of the way he was injured and yet he can’t help but poking a little bit of fun at it. There are much cooler ways to be hurt. “Then you must be really strong, carrying me here unassisted,” he teases with a smirk.

This time, Jax's smile warms up a few degrees. "Yeah, you think I should try my hand at being a firefighter? Hot and strong, it's a double whammy."

Jamie’s body relaxes more at the sight of Jax’s smile, “I’m pretty sure you’re already hot and strong without firefighting, if you add the uniform to the mix I won’t be able to contain myself. And if you do one of those firefighter calendars?” He inwardly curses his body for its current lack of mobility restricting him from sitting up and kissing Jax.

The captive hand is brought up, and the inside of Jamie's wrist kissed. "I don't wanna work you up or anything, but I've done a couple of those. I can pose shirtless with the fire extinguisher if you want the full effect."

“You’re too sweet to me to offer and I might have to take you up on that,” his eyes soften as they sweep over Jax, his chest tightens, letting the overwhelming feeling of love and security wash over him. “You should go get some rest, baby,” the words fall out of his mouth naturally, as if he’d been calling Jax this for years.

It's completely ridiculous that Jax is a couple years off fifty and still it's possible for his face to heat up like he's in his twenties. He drags a leg up onto the bed, making himself as comfortable as possible after having spent the last few hours in a chair; he's not going anywhere. "You're awake now, so not happening." Soon enough, he'll tell Kit and Ara, but the memory of carrying a half-conscious Jamie to the medbay is too fresh in his mind.

He guides their hands to rest on Jax’s leg, settling for any amount of touch he can get right now. “Okay,” he concedes easily, not really wanting Jax to leave or to be alone either. Despite the circumstances, it’s nice to be awake and have this time just the two of them. “You’ll get some sleep in a bed soon though? You can sleep in mine if you want,” an offer that Jamie assumes will be turned down, but suggests it thinking that it would at least be more restful than the chair.

The desire for closeness isn't his alone, and before their hands can rest there for too long, he slides off the bed. "I won't sleep for a while now, but I'll stay with you," he concedes. Naturally, he won't be mentioning the cot Adri brought by, tucked on the other side of the bed out of view; he wants to be close right now. It takes a bit of gentle maneuvering to get himself fully on the bed next to Jamie, and Jax, uncaring that there isn't quite enough room for two sets of shoulders, reclaims a hand to press it to his chest.

After a tremulous breath, he adds: "I don't want to hurt you if I have a nightmare. You can sleep if you want, though. I'll be right here."

With a contented sigh Jamie smiles, “I’m not going to sleep again just yet. But this is better, thank you.” He lifts his free hand to trace a finger down Jax’s jaw, thankful to have him here right now, Jax instinctively leaning into the touch. “I just don’t want you to lose sleep over me, sleep is important. Nadine is taking good care of me here and will continue to do so even when you need to leave. But I’m not going to force the issue, I’ll wait to lecture you about sleep when I am back on my feet.”

"Which'll be soon if you listen to her and me." It's not close enough. Jax angles himself down to kiss that inner wrist again, then Jamie’s forehead, the curve of his cheekbone, the corner of his lips. He whispered: "Sleep's important but so are you."

“And you’re important too,” he inches his head forward ever-so-slightly to capture Jax’s lips in a kiss. “I don’t want you forgetting that, as happy as I am that it appears you’ve appointed yourself as my second doctor.” His head nestles back on the pillow, trying to understand how he’s lucky enough to have people that care about him as much as Jax does.

There's more shifting as Jax turns onto his hip to face him, bracing on a bent arm. "I'm no Dr. Reid," he jokes while moving, and once settled, a hand brushes gently over Jamie’s ear and side of his face before settling in his hair, "but I do have that medical background, so I am uniquely qualified to boss you around. Both as your second doctor and your…" A pause to consider. "Is 'paramour' too 1400s?"

Jamie nods, “and despite the nickname, I have no medical background. So better that you’re in charge here than me.” Jamie looks thoughtful for a second. “I think so, it sounds nice, but there has to be a better word for this than that,” although Jamie silently admits to himself that he would take paramour over situationship any day.

Somehow, Jax's chest feels both too tight and so free at the same time. His thumb smooths along the side of Jamie's neck as the thoughts process in circles in his head.

"I don't know the word yet," he admits after a few moments. "It's more a… feeling than a word. Like I've already accepted something that I don't want changing, and it's that I'm yours. That's it. Just– yours."

Oh. Oh. His words hit Jamie’s stomach first, sending it into a series of somersaults and then work their way up to his throat, constricting with emotion. Jamie shuffles his body ever so slightly to the side, ignoring the dull pain accompanying this movement and takes Jax’s face in his hand. His eyes meet the other man’s for a second before leaning in and giving him a soft, lingering kiss.

“Just mine sounds lovely and in case you didn’t know I’m yours too,” falling down a stairwell is no laughing matter, but if this is the result of such accidents then who is he to complain?

Jax’s hand settles atop his, then slides down his wrist, as he leans into the palm with a smile. As if he can read Jamie’s mind— "Then don't take shortcuts down stairs next time, alright?"

He releases a huff, “I think you need to take that up with the stairs, not me! I would’ve happily taken the proper way down.”

"Yeah, alright, I'll go talk to the stairs," is mostly laugh as Jax leans in for another sweet kiss.

An airborne nitrile glove limply hits Jax in the back, just as Nadine comes into view. "Jackson St. James, please stop canoodling with my patient. Jamie, please lay back. I'll be back in five minutes with my last Tylenol, and we'll talk about your ultrasound results. Behave, canoodlers," she warns lightly, then off she goes, curls practically jumping out of her bun.

Jamie sighs and slowly lays back, heeding Nadine’s demand begrudgingly, “Stay for a little while longer?” With her mention of Tylenol, he knows she’ll want him to try to sleep more after they go over his results. In truth, his head is starting to ache more persistently so sleep isn’t the worst idea. The thought of staying in the medbay by himself is an unpleasant one or at least as long as he’s awake it is. “Just until we go over my results and I fall asleep again?” He knows he must sound pathetic, but the interruption makes him feel that way.

It would be so easy to slide down and join Jamie on the bed properly, and yet. Jax leans down to kiss his forehead, then his lips, and scoops up a hand once more. "'course I'll stay. As long as you want."