“Sir, what’s your name?”

Justin heard the question but he couldn’t answer. He felt like he was floating. He knew he was moving because he could see the lights move. There were more questions that he couldn’t answer, so he just closed his eyes again and let his mind slip away. The last thing he thought about was what his husband would think if he knew the baby hadn’t been his.

Ted Schmidt walked through automatic doors of Alleghany General’s Emergency Room. He had been called by his ex-boyfriend Blake. They weren’t together anymore but they still were friends. He’d been glad that Blake was still clean in his battle with meth addition, just like he was glad he was as well.

When Blake called him earlier there was a spilt second that he thought the he had fallen off the wagon. But that wasn’t the case. Apparently, Blake was driving down the road and someone jumped out in front of his car. He dodged the guy but hit a tree. He had whiplash, along with some seatbelt burns he said on the phone.

Walking up to the reception desk he hoped that he wouldn’t have any problem.

“Hello, I’m looking for Blake Wyzecki,” he said to the tired looking receptionist. It was way past midnight.

She looked at him, then down to her computer before typing in the information. “Trauma Room Five. Through that wood door and to the left,” she said pointing towards said door. She pushed a button releasing the door and he headed in. He found room five pretty easy.

“Blake,” he called, entering. He couldn’t see Blake because the curtain was pulled.

Pulling back the curtain he saw there was a mistake. It wasn’t Blake laying in the bed but another small blonde. For some strange reason he looked a little familiar but he couldn’t place him. He must have seen him around town was all.

Leaving the room, he went to the nurses’ station. A tall, brunette nurse was looking at something on a computer.

“Excuse me, I wonder if you could help me?” Ted asked.

The man looked up. and Ted was swallowed in by deep green eyes. The man was absolutely gorgeous. Ted did his best not to swallow his tongue or make a fool of himself. Or both.

“What can I do for you?” the man all but purred.

Not being able to help himself, Ted turned around looking for someone else who had chosen that moment to talk to the gorgeous nurse. Nope, there was no one. With wide eyes he looked back at the man. So much for not acting like a fool.  

“Umm…I…umm. I’m looking for my friend Blake Wyzecki. The receptionist said he was in Trauma Room Five but that wasn’t him.”

“Ah. Mr. Wyzecki was moved to six and the boy in six was moved to five.”

“Why?” It made no sense to Ted.

Mr. Gorgoeous’ eyes shifted very slightly. “Apparently, Mr. Wyzecki had been in five before and it brought bad memories. It was no problem since we had yet to put Mr. Degas in his room.”

“Mr. Degas?” The name didn’t seem to fit the blonde man.

“He’s a John Doe till he wakes up, but I’ve always hated that. So I’m calling him Mr. Degas, he looks like an artist to me.” Again the eye shift. “Here let me show you to Mr. Wyzecki’s room.”

Blake was sitting sideways on the bed. Just from the look at him, Ted could tell he was antsy.

“Blake.”

“Oh, Ted. Thank you for coming to give me a ride.”

Ted felt the nurse brush against him on his way out. It felt like the man grabbed his ass. But that couldn’t be right. Could it? What was all that about? Maybe the man was messing with him.

“It’s fine. Are you getting released soon?”

“Yeah, doctor is filling out the discharge papers now. Were my eyes deceiving me or did my nurse just feel you up?” Blake’s eyes narrowed.

“I’m not entirely sure. So what exactly happened?” he asked, changing subjects.

“This blonde guy ran right in front of my car. I swerved to miss him and hit a tree. He’s in the next room. He woke up some when the ambulance got there but not since, at least I don’t think so. He left in the first ambulance I was taken in the one a few minutes later.”

“I just saw him a minute ago. Do you think he’s going to be okay?”

“I don’t know. I hope so. I didn’t hit him but someone sure did, not with a car though.”

“So room five gives you bad memories?” he asked, still not sure what to think about anything.

“What? I mentioned I had been in five when they put me there. My nurse then all the sudden switched rooms, said I wouldn’t have bad memories then. I wasn’t having any bad memories I was pretty out of it my first visit. It was weird but I didn’t argue with him.”

That just left Ted with more questions than answers. He finally decided that it just didn’t matter that much. Whatever was going on didn’t concern him.  

On his way out Ted was shocked beyond belief that the nurse, Erik, gave him his number. Ted didn’t miss the way Blake scowled at Erik as they left. He didn’t say much of anything else to Ted before he dropped him off at home.

Ted met Erik at the little café close to the hospital. He couldn’t believe he had been dating this magnificent man for over a month.

“Well, hello, sexy,” Erik purred. Ted still couldn’t get over the fact that Erik liked him…really liked him.

He kissed Erik lovingly on the lips before taking a seat at the table Erik was seated at.

“Sorry, I’m late.”

“Thirty seconds, Ted. That’s not late.”

“Well, I’m still late. Brian has been a bear lately. He’s been looking for Tommy’s other father but the man’s husband said Justin ran off with the gardener.”

“And you believe that?” Erik asked as he fiddled with the menu. Erik knew the whole story, Ted had told him. When Ted introduced him to everyone he had been worried Brian would steal him away. That didn’t happen though. They barely noticed each other, too busy with their own thoughts. Ted did catch Erik looking at Brian a couple times but it wasn’t lust, it would something he couldn’t decribe.

“Oh, I have big news,” Erik said happily.

“What?”

“I start foster classes tomorrow. If everything goes right, I’ll be able to foster Marissa.”

Ted sighed. “Honey, I don’t want you to get your hopes up.”

This had been almost all they talked about. Mr. Degas was still in his coma and it had been almost two months. The man had been four months pregnant when he was beat. It was a miracle the baby had made it this far.

Because Erik’s a float nurse, he was moved to long term care while one nurse was out with a broken wrist. He had gotten attached to Mr. Degas and his baby. Usually he would be moved to maternity but the hospital couldn’t afford him to take up valuable space when he and the baby wasn’t in danger. He was just in coma as Erik put it. For the past month Erik had been lamenting over what would happen to the baby when she was born.

Erik had been able to pull quite a few strings; Ted still didn’t know how. They had given him a good maybe, that if he got certified as a foster parent he could get the baby until Mr. Degas woke up.

Ted didn’t want Erik to get his hopes up. There was still three months someone from the man’s past could show up.

“You always do that. Can’t you for once think positive,” Erik snapped.

His love was usually as sweet and docile as possible but say something about this one subject and he went from zero to pissed off in one second flat.

“I’m sorry. I’m happy for you, really.”

“For us,” Erik corrected.

Suddenly, Ted was the one becoming annoyed. Not once had Erik asked his option or if he wanted this. But as always, Ted swallowed his annoyance and smiled at Erik.

“Can you name her?” he asked finally.

“The state will give her a name and documentation. It will be able to be changed when he wakes up.”

“Really? Let’s say she’s five when he wakes up. Is it fair to have her suddenly be called something different?”

“I thought we were going to eat lunch.”

He knew to leave it alone, so that’s just what he did.

“Thomas Brian Kinney, get down!” Brian yelled.

When Tommy first came into his life he was a meek little thing. Now he was a little freakin daredevil. He was still on the quiet side but usually only around people he didn’t see often.

Currently, he was hanging off the jungle gym, just by his legs. It looked like Gus was trying to copy but he was not as nimble as his little brother.

As of yesterday he had full custody of Tommy. Justin hadn’t shown up at the hearing, but that was to be expected he hadn’t been seen in two months. Brian had met the husband and it took everything in him not to beat the man within an inch of his life. The man had made a play for custody but was shut down quick by Brian’s lawyer. Maxwell Steven’s said that Justin run off with the gardener.

They were able to get his mother to fill out a missing person’s report. She had recently left her husband, taking her daughter with her. It was four years too late for her son. He begrudgingly let her see Tommy because the boy really wanted to see her.

Not one of them believed that Justin ran off with the gardener.