A/N: Sorry for the late update, I changed my mind a few times on how I wanted this chapter to play out, meaning I had to rewrite it a lot. But anyway, here it is!

Chapter 4 – Day 5

The next couple of days went by slowly, with Victor going into the hospital room as soon as visiting hours started and sitting by Yuuri's side until they ended. Of course, Victor wasn't the only one visiting. Yuuri's family and Minako would take turns staying with Victor and Yuuri in pairs and various other friends would stop by the hospital to show their support and ask for updates. At the end of each day, Hiroko and Mari would drag Victor home so that he could clean-up, sleep and eat some proper food.

It wasn't until the fourth night since the accident that Yuuri finally woke up.

Victor was, much to his dismay, not present. In fact, Yuuri had woken up at around three in the morning and the only ones who were there at the time were hospital staff. A nurse had been coming to check on him when she found the man whimpering and crying in his bed. The pain of his injuries had been excruciating and the doctor on shift quickly put him on a drip of high-dosage painkillers which lulled Yuuri back to sleep.

The next morning, when Victor arrived with Yuuri's family, the doctor explained to them what had happened.

"He appeared to be in a lot of pain, which isn't very surprising all things considered. We have put him on some strong painkillers, so hopefully the next time he wakes up he will be feeling a bit better and he'll be a bit more cognitive."

"I see." Victor said. He was frustrated that Yuuri had finally woken up and he had not been there. He was also troubled to hear that Yuuri had been in severe pain when he had awakened, all alone. "Will he wake up again soon?" Victor inquired hopefully.

"It's fairly likely he will wake up again sometime today, though the painkillers, alongside the head injury, may keep him quite drowsy despite the fact that he's been sleeping for such a long time so please do keep that in mind."

"You mean he probably won't stay awake for long?" Mari asked.

"Yes, there's a good chance he'll only be awake for a short-period of time." The doctor clarified. "I apologise but I need to go attend to other patients now. As always, if you have any concerns please speak with one of the nurses."

The second time Yuuri woke was later that day. This time however, Victor was sat at his bedside, rearranging one of the many bouquets of flowers that had been brought for Yuuri whilst the rest of the Katsuki family had stepped out for a moment to sort out some of the hospital paperwork.

The dark-haired man groaned as he shuffled under the covers and fluttered his eyes open, trying to focus his vision on the blur hovering next to him. "…Vic-?"

Gaze darting up immediately, Victor cut Yuuri off by calling his name excitedly and leaning over him to hold the injured man in a delicate embrace. There were so many comments Victor wanted to say in that moment, so many words he had rehearsed in his head over the past few days that he wanted to tell Yuuri and yet none of them came out. He just gave a whispered "Thank god."

"V-Victor?" Yuuri said, managing to get the whole name out this time. His voice was hoarse and gruff from not being used in so long and the lack of moisture in his throat.

Victor nuzzled into the crook of Yuuri's neck on the man's left side, tears leaking out of his eyes.

Noticing his fiancé's distress, Yuuri tried to move his non-plastered arm to hug the taller man's back but quickly realised he wouldn't be able to when the tubes and needles in his arm didn't allow for much movement, so instead he just enjoyed the warmth of Victor's hug.

Eventually, Victor backed-up a bit so he could stare into Yuuri's eyes. "I love you so much moyo zolotse."

"I love you too Vitya." Yuuri smiled up at him as Victor brought a hand to cup his face.

Victor was thrilled that the love of his life was awake after so long, but there was that thought nagging at the back of his head. What if he passes out again? What if he flatlines? Memories of what had occurred the last time the two had exchanged loving words after Yuuri had awoken began to flood his mind.

Yuuri picked up on the distance in his partner's stare and asked cautiously "Victor?"

"Don't you ever do that again." Victor nearly sobbed, looking away from Yuuri's eyes and down at the bed.

"What do you mean?"

"One second you were promising me that it would all be fine and the next you were flatlining." Victor told him, moving forward to hold Yuuri once more. "Never again, please."

Yuuri was still feeling a bit dazed and couldn't fully concentrate on Victor's words, but he did know he was scared by how shaken Victor was. How shaken Victor was by an event that Yuuri couldn't even remember. "Ah, I'm sorry I…I don't quite recall that happening but I'm sorry if I frightened you. I'll do my best not to do it again."

Apologising again, dammit. Victor sighed, moving to sit up and look at his fiancé."Yuuri – don't worry, it wasn't your fault. It just frightened me a little. You don't need to apologise, okay?"

"Mmm." Yuuri hummed as he attempted to nod his head – though he immediately found that it was painful and nauseating to do so.

Victor saw the flicker of discomfort across Yuuri's face. "Careful love, you've got a head injury so just stay still okay."

"A-a head injury?" Yuuri said, although he slurred his words slightly.

"Yeah. How are you feeling?"

"Dizzy and…I feel kind of…light? Numb? I don't know how to describe it really."

"Does anything hurt?"

"Not really…just when I tried to move my head."

"That's good, I'm glad you're not in too much pain. The doctor said they gave you some pretty powerful pain meds when you woke up last night."

"Eh? I woke up last night?" Yuuri asked.

"Yes, don't you remember?"

"No…" Yuuri answered, his eyebrows pulling into a concerned expression.

"Ah, don't worry too much about it love. The doctor said you fell asleep pretty quickly once they put you on the painkillers."

Yuuri hummed lazily in acknowledgment.

Victor began to notice how lethargic Yuuri seemed and realised that despite having been unconscious for several days and only being awake for a matter of minutes, he was already feeling drained.

Whilst, in all honesty, Victor didn't want Yuuri to go to sleep again anytime soon, he knew that he had to consider what was best for his partner's health. He sighed.

"Love, if you're tired it's okay to go to sleep."

"But I can sleep later." Yuuri whined but his eyes were already virtually closed.

Victor let out a short laugh before placing a chaste kiss on the uninjured side of Yuuri's face. "Don't be stubborn Yuura. If your body needs rest to get better, then please rest. I'll have to go soon anyway, visiting hours are almost over, but I'll be back as soon as the hospital staff will let me in."

"D'you promise?" Yuuri asked sleepily.

Victor gave a small laugh. "Of course."

Knowing that he'd have to leave Yuuri here overnight did not sit well with Victor. In all honesty, if he could not remain in this room with Yuuri outside of visiting hours, he was considering staying overnight in the waiting room again, although he knew Yuuri's family would protest to that.

Ah, Yuuri's family! Victor remembered suddenly. He had been so happy to see Yuuri awake and to finally be able to hold him and talk to him again that he'd completely forgotten to message anyone that Yuuri had woken up.

He quickly pulled his phone out of his pocket, sending a brief text to Mari to let her know that Yuuri had finally woken up but also that her brother would likely fall asleep again soon.

"Sorry Yuuri, I nearly forgot to tell-" Victor started as he put his phone away and looked back to Yuuri, who was already fast asleep. Victor's heart skipped a beat as his gaze snapped to the heartrate monitor which, to his relief, was still beeping regularly.

Victor pressed a light kiss to Yuuri's forehead before he sat back and watched over his partner.

Around five minutes later Hiroko, Toshiya and Mari arrived at the door.

"Yuuri?" Mari called, hoping to hear a response from her brother as the three entered the room.

Victor turned to look at them before apologetically saying "Ah, sorry, he fell asleep again."

Mari sighed. "Of course he did." She wasn't irritated with Yuuri for falling asleep, rather she was frustrated at their poor luck and timing.

"How was he Vicchan?" Toshiya asked, as he and Hiroko took the other two seats by Yuuri's bed.

"He was okay – he seemed a bit confused and out of it but not too bad."

"What did the doctor say?" Mari asked.

Shit. I forgot to get the doctor. Victor thought, scratching the back of his head sheepishly."Umm…I may have forgotten to…"

Mari laughed. "You're a real idiot sometimes, you know that?"

Afterwards, Mari had gone to inform a nurse that Yuuri had woken up briefly but that he had also quickly returned to slumber. The nurse then told her that a doctor would soon come in to check Yuuri over, though she scolded Mari for not informing them sooner so that they could have spoken with the patient directly to get a better read of his condition. Mari apologised for that, despite it not really being her fault, before passing on all the information about Yuuri's time awake that Victor had told her.

Less than half an hour after the Katsukis' arrival, the hospital's visiting hours ended and they, alongside Victor, were asked to leave for the night, leaving the still sleeping Yuuri alone in the hospital room.

It took some extra effort that evening, but Hiroko managed to convince Victor to come home for the night, half dragging him to Minako's car for the cramped two-hour drive home.

As always, Makkachin greeted Victor at the door upon their arrival. Whilst she hopped about excitedly, Victor observed as the dog tried to look for Yuuri behind him again only to give a whine before seeking affection from Victor.

"Hello Makkachin. Who's a good girl?" Victor said as he squatted down to run his hands through the poodle's soft fur.

She yipped in return, wagging her tail. Victor smiled at her and then stood up to move out of the entryway with the others, Makkachin trotting closely behind him as they walked through to the reception to find the others.

The inn had been closed over the wedding-weekend with the intention of allowing all of Yuuri's family some free-time to spend with the newlyweds as well as to let them house all of their foreign friends and guests for a couple of nights. It was supposed to have re-opened to the public yesterday, however with everything that was going on and a number of the wedding guests wanting to stay in Hasetsu longer than expected, they decided to keep the inn closed for a few more days.

In the lobby, some of Victor and Yuuri's friends were relaxing with drinks and watching a movie. Yuri was the first one there to greet Victor as he walked in before the younger Russian asked whether there was any news.

Victor relayed what had happened that afternoon, telling them how Yuuri had woken up for a few fleeting minutes, before going back to sleep.

"Did he seem okay?" Phichit asked curiously.

"Hmm, he was sort of out of it I guess, but he remembered me and could make conversation. He didn't seem to be in much pain either." Victor said.

"That's a relief." Phichit said with a reassured sigh.

"Mmm."

"Let's all go tomorrow then. If there's a good chance he'll be awake again then it would be nice for him to have as many friendly faces to greet him as possible, right?" Chris suggested.

"Yeah, but what about the '3 visitors at a time' rule?" Otabek reminded him.

"Well, we can just take turns."

"Fine, but I'd like to see you try and pry Victor or Kastsudon's family away from him just so that one of us can go in to see him." Yuri scoffed.

"Maybe if we explained that it'd make Yuuri happy to see us…"

"You think we're more important to him than his family? Than his lifelong friends? If he's only awake for a little while again, his time is going to be monopolized by them."

"Hmmm, fair point." Chris sighed in defeat.

Victor listened to the back and forth between his friends. He knew that they all cared for Yuuri a lot and that likewise, Yuuri cared for them greatly. But Yuri made a good point, there were quite a few others who were even closer to Yuuri than the other skaters. Besides himself and Yuuri's close family, there was also Minako and the Nishigoris. Although…

"Well Phichit might have a chance." Victor mumbled in a teasing manner, knowing that Yuuri considered the man as one of his closest friends.

"Ah really?!" Phichit lit up at Victor's comment.

"I still think we should all go." Otabek said. "It would be nice for him to know we're all there for him."

Victor smiled at that. It was nice to know that there were so many others looking out for his fiancé. "I think Otabek's right. It would cheer him up knowing you all care so much."

"It's agreed then. We'll all come to the hospital tomorrow then." Chris concluded.

The group kept up some light conversation until the movie ended. They then had dinner together with Yuuri's family. Most of them went back into the lounge area to play some board games but Victor decided to turn in early.

Truthfully, Victor wanted to go to bed as soon as possible to try and sleep through the night until morning so that he could see Yuuri sooner, it was his closest option to teleporting through time. He took a quick shower before going through his nightly routine and getting into his and Yuuri's bed.

Victor found himself struggling to sleep even more so than the past two nights despite being home and less afraid for Yuuri. He rolled over to stare at the empty side of the bed next to him. Speaking to Yuuri that afternoon somehow made him feel even more lonely as he lay there without him.

Sensing her master's distress, Makkachin moved from where she had curled up at the end of the bed and wiggled into Victor's arms. Upon this, Victor snuggled closer to her, wishing the hours would pass faster so that he could return to Yuuri.

A/N: I apologise if the one Russian thing I had in there is incorrect ('moyo zolotse' should mean 'my gold'). Thanks to all of you guys for reading, I hope you liked the chapter. And a special thanks to those who left reviews!