For the sake of my sanity and figuring out smooth transitions of information between characters, let's just ignore the fact that no doctor or nurse would break patient confidentiality. It's really hard to have a character who according to canon has a mother and sister (and who would most likely be his only medical emergency contacts). It is possible that Julia could have been appointed as an emergency contact since she and Tom are close friends...so let's all just assume she gave permission for all the characters involved similar rights to information as well, hahaha.

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CHAPTER 5

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The gentle whirring of machinery was the first thing Kyle noticed when he stepped into the ICU room. When he'd been told by the nurse that Tom had been moved from surgery, he had wanted to sprint to Tom's side. As she led him through the ward, he had to stop himself from snapping at her to hurry up.

The chatty nurse had rattled off what the surgeon had found as they walked. Tom's injuries were extensive, with broken ribs that had punctured a lung, a severe concussion, a hairline fracture in his hip, and a dislocated shoulder. But it was clear that it would have been worse had Kyle been the one to get hit in his original position, rather than Tom who had momentum and managed to roll instead of hit dead on.

Tom's still form was too similar to...that moment. He sniffed as he walked over to the side of the bed. Hesitantly he reached out a hand; relief flooded through him when Kyle felt subtle warmth in the skin of Tom's hand, clammy but not ice cold. He curled his own around it and gingerly sat on the edge of the chair by the bed. Kyle's eyes scanned over the wires and the tubing.

"The surgeon will be in later...I've been notified that your emergency contacts were finally reached – they'll be here in a little bit. Do you need anything? I'll just be down the hall..."

He shook his head, eyes still focused on Tom. He barely noticed her go, tutting to herself at the silent treatment he had given her. Tom's chest rose mechanically, assisted by the machines on the opposite side of the bed. The skin around his eyes were dark, but the rest of his face was an unnatural and pasty white. Kyle kept watching, waiting for his eyes to open, but they never did.

Kyle's vision got blurry, and he reluctantly let go of Tom's hand to curl up in the chair, sniffling. Leaning up gently against the bed, legs pulled up to his chest he finally let the tears free, until he was so exhausted he fell asleep.

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Jimmy stumbled into the room to find Kyle still curled up in the chair. The chair, and not the bed. Not in a morgue. Not cold or still and dead. The emotions that had flooded through him after hearing the news rose up again. Guilt. Terror. Why did he always have to screw every damn thing up? If Kyle had been hit and killed...

He stared at Tom. The man had irritated him when they had first met at the benefit. Mostly because Kyle had just been so star struck...Kyle was his brother, or at least as good as one, and the idea that a man twenty years their senior had shown interest in him just hadn't felt right. What if he was just using Kyle? Even now...

"He saved me." A familiar voice broke through his dark thoughts.

Kyle's head rested on his knees, blearily looking up at Jimmy with puffy eyes. "I...I was so *mad* at you, I didn't notice the car...and...and he pushed me out of the way..." Kyle sniffled, eyes turning watery once more. He turned his head away from Jimmy. He didn't owe him an explanation, not when he was the reason Kyle had been out there in the first place. But upon seeing the guy who he had trusted and loved his whole life look so lost, the words had slipped out.

Kyle sighed softly. "What are you doing here, Jimmy?" He asked quietly, voice still a bit rough and hoarse. The edge in his voice, however subtle, was biting and like a slap to Jimmy's face.

Jimmy opened his mouth, but didn't get the chance to say another word as a voice interrupted from just behind him.

"Yes...what are you doing here, Jimmy?" a gruff voice barked.

Derek stood in the hallway just outside the door, arms crossed, with his signature scowl on his face. The nurse overseeing Tom's care had only been a step behind Derek and looked between the two men nervously, clearly unsure whether she should intervene.

Jimmy was not pleased at the very unwelcome addition to the room. Derek had belittled the two of them, ignored their ideas, and fought against everything they'd worked for with Hit List. Derek...Tom had been an unknown potential danger, but Derek was really the cause of the rift between him and Kyle. He staunchly ignored the feelings of guilt at his own deplorable actions and scowled right back. There was NO WAY he was going to admit he'd been in the wrong with Derek around. That this...all of this, was his fault. He just couldn't.

"I have every right to be here. Kyle is my FRIEND, and I just got told he nearly died!" He said roughly.

"Oh, so now you're concerned?" Derek raised a brow in mock surprise. "From what I heard last night you renounced any ties with him or the show and made it perfectly CLEAR he was nothing but a pathetic worthless sell out."

"He's like a brother to me! How da—" Jimmy yelled, but he was interrupted by a new voice.

"I. am. Not. Your. Brother. You made that crystal clear when you showed up to the show, OUR SHOW completely trashed." Kyle was apoplectic, so angry he was shaking. "YOUR brother is the piece of shit that you swore you'd never go back to ever again! You say you've changed, but you haven't, EVER."

Jimmy froze, shocked at the strength of conviction...conviction against him by the one person who had always forgiven him. But not this time.

"Jimmy...please, just get out of here." Kyle's voice was growing shaky. He didn't know if he could handle much more of this. But it seemed Jimmy had finally gotten the message; the distraught expression on his face showed anger, despair, but also...guilt? Well if he was feeling guilty he could feel it somewhere else.

Kyle's command finally seemed to have processed, because Jimmy suddenly rushed out, shoving past Derek without saying another word.

"Are you okay?" Derek asks gruffly, brows still furrowed in concern.

"Yeah...I just...I can't..." Kyle tries to find words to describe how he felt, .

Derek cuts him off, shaking his head. "Don't worry about Jimmy, Kyle. I'll handle him until you're ready. It was a mistake—my mistake—not yours, agreeing that you'd be the one to tell him. I thought it'd work out for the best, seeing how he never listened to me, but..." Derek sighed.

"It's not your fault either, Derek. Jimmy...I just don't know what to do about him anymore."

Derek uncrossed his arms and walked over from where he had been leaning up against the doorway. He moved towards the chair opposite to Kyle, letting out a small grunt as he plopped down and leaned back to stare at Tom. His frown deepened.

"You poncy twat...always have to make things so overly dramatic, don't you?" He murmured. Kyle's eyebrows rose in consternation as he looked over at the man, but he understood the director wasn't talking to him anymore. Derek looked...concerned...fearful even, although he wasn't sure. It was not an emotion he usually saw in the haughty and arrogant director.

He had followed the musical world since he was a little boy, and he'd known all about the rumors and gossip circulating Tom and Derek's rather tumultuous history of working together. Before Bombshell, the two hadn't even been on speaking terms, and any reference to the other was often vitriolic at best. And even though they had agreed to collaborate in relative harmony for Bombshell, that had seemingly ended in what even the most optimistic, good-natured soul would describe as an all out verbal brawl.

"..."

But Derek continued, still speaking to Tom, almost as though he'd forgotten that Kyle was there.

"I don't know how I'm going to handle Julia and Eileen when they get here..." he let out a frustrated sigh as he dragged a hand over his face. "F*ck Tom, what the hell were you thinking?"

"I..." Kyle starts to speak up, and Derek looked at him between fingers, finally focusing back on him.

"What did the doctors say?" Derek asked, since the nurse had long since fled.

Kyle dutifully mumbled off what the nurse had told him, but honestly he had no idea what was going on. His short nap had been fitful at best.

"Jesus Christ." Derek didn't extrapolate. What else was there to say? They both stared at Tom in silence, each lost in their own thoughts of a future that seemed impossibly bleak.