On tumblr I got a request for a Bedtime Stories Sleeping Beauty AU… but they pretty much ARE a sleeping beauty story, so I didn't really want to rewrite the fairy tale. But I mulled it over on my walk home yesterday, and I came up with this on the corner just before I reached my house. I didn't get to sleep until about 4:30 a.m. because I was brainstorming.

So, yeah. Here's some Bedtime Stories angst. Yeah, I went there. I feel like I should apologize, but I hope you enjoy it? But it is me, so there's a happy ending. (And a teeny-tiny Jackunzel reference, just because. But very vague.)

Sleeping Beauty

Every new nurse hired to Santoff Claussen hospital was told about the young coma patient - and the husband who never left her side. In part because no one wanted to deal with what would happen if someone tried to make her leave her room - and especially not with anyone who dared to say the words "visiting hours are over".

A new head nurse had arrived a few weeks after Katherine Lunanoff was admitted into long term care. The woman, determined to run a tight ship, tried to tell the man to go home, that is wife was in good hands. Nightlight had declined. And when the woman had pressed, almost demanding he leave, the normally quiet man had almost flown into a rage.

Long story short, the head nurse was fired. That was when the hospital staff realized the rather odd assortment of people who came to visit her must be far better connected than they'd imagine.

Nightlight's brother, Jack, was allowed to come and go any time, if only because he was the only one who could get his brother to eat, and only because he brought food so Nightlight didn't have to leave hospital - and didn't have to endure the food from the cafeteria.

The nurses loved it. They got to sigh and swoon over the dedication playing out before them - the loyalty that put chick-flicks to shame. And Nightlight was certainly easy on the eyes. But he was off limits for obvious reasons - but there was always his single brother to dream about...

As for the muscle bound Australian, and the hulking Cossack that came to visit... well, no one was willing to give them a hard time. It just didn't seem to be in the interest of anyone's health. Though those two generally came within visiting hours, and never caused problems.

So time wore on.

#

Nightlight had never been on to talk much. he'd always been the quiet one who spoke through actions.

But Katherine had always loved books, and he needed something to do so he wouldn't go completely crazy in the endless days that seemed to stretch so long until the seconds threatened to shatter from the tension. So he read to her.

Jack came every day with few exceptions. Every Friday he made a library run. Thursday he picked up books Nightlight was done with, returning them on Friday and picking up more.

He'd tried to read some of the books Katherine had written... but they hurt too much. Looking at the watercolor paintings of the children's books hurt like a knife in his heart. So instead he read books by others.

A few times Jack would show up with books from the children's section: some they remembered from their childhood, some by Katherine's friends in the publishing industry, some just because Jack found them amusing. Growing up all three of them had love Beatrix Potter. They still loved them. He knew Katherine admired Potter's stories and art.

He read Jane Austen, Shakespeare, The Bronte sisters (that he kind of wished he hadn't done - it was depressing), The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings. He finally read the Similarion. And more fairy tales than he'd ever thought possible.

#

"How are you holding up?" Jack asked, arms braced on his elbows as he looked at his brother, searching the face so similar to his own. The question wasn't really necessary - he could see the exhaustion and emotional pain that grew more obvious with each passing day.

Nightlight shrugged. He held one of Katherine's hands, absently stroking it with his thumb. "'As well as can be expected' - whatever that means."

Jack didn't respond.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Katherine and Nightlight were supposed to be the fairytale - they were supposed to get the happily ever after. Childhood sweethearts - Jack was pretty sure they'd been in love since they were twelve, and he'd watched the whole thing unfold while he rolled his eyes. Though once he was old enough to understand, he'd been as supportive as anyone else. They'd had the fairy tale wedding. Everything had been perfect.

They were supposed to have a couple kids so Jack could spoil them rotten.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Not for them. Not for his brother. That bothered Jack as much as anything else. Because there was nothing he could do.

Nightlight sighed, finally looking over. "Are you going to ask her out?"

"Who?" Jack felt his face flush as he asked the question, though he knew the answer.

"The nurse," Nightlight said. "The blond one."

Jack swallowed. He'd tried not to be so obvious, because he was here to visit his brother and his wife - not flirt with a cute nurse. "Now's not the time."

"Same old Jack - always an excuse."

"How can I think about dating with you two here?" he asked, glancing at Katherine. Her eyes were still closed, her breathing slow and even. He was so accustomed to the steady beeping that tracked her heartbeat he'd relegated it to background noise.

"Just because Katherine and I are here doesn't mean you don't deserve happiness," Nightlight said.

"Right." Jack sighed. That was his brother - always thinking of someone else. He stood up from the chair, resting a hand on Nightlight's shoulder. "I gotta get back to work. Eat something, okay?"

Nightlight just nodded.

#

It was strange watching half of your life slow down, while the rest of it kept moving.

Katherine was his life. But she had come to a stand still. Unmoving. Unchanging. And he was tied to her, frozen in time while he waited for her to come back.

But outside the windows the world kept turning. Winter had melted away. The brilliant colors of spring were slowly being edged out by the lush emerald greens of summer. Would he be here when those green leave exploded in the autumn finale before the world was blanketed in snow again?

He wondered if his brother had been snowboarding at all last winter. He could barely remember anything from that time - it was all a blur of disbelief and pain. But he knew even Jack wasn't the type to take a day off for fun when the people he cared about were in pain.

Nightlight sighed. How many months had it been? He'd lost track. He'd never bothered counting. He just knew he was watching his brother take responsibility, pick up slack, run around trying to cover everything Nightlight couldn't find the energy to do. He knew the rent on his and Katherine's apartment was being paid because every month Jack by a stack of bills for him to sign before he sent them out, along with Katherine's royalty checks, so those could be cashed.

"Jack taking responsibility," he muttered, looking over at Katherine. "That's not something I ever thought I'd see. I've been looking after him as long as I can remember - making sure bills get paid on time, and that he buys groceries instead of eating out every night."

He shook his head. "Things change so fast."

#

Every time he thought he had run out of tears to cry, something else would trigger in his mind.

This time it was a time when they'd been young - she had probably been eight, and she hadn't been able to sleep. For a child as loved as Katherine, that was viewed as a travesty, and had practically resulted in a war meeting of people trying to figure out how to help her.

North had tried singing... but he didn't actually know any lullabies, so his songs were a little less than relaxing. Aster had suggested chocolate - which had some how turned into an ocean of chocolate. Ombric's suggestions had been bizarre... but no more so than usual, considering it was Ombric.

All that, to try and help a little girl sleep.

And now all he wanted was for her to wake up.

His body shuddered with sobs, his fingers clenching painfully around the generic blankets draped over the hospital bed. Over her unconscious figure, so thin from months of lying there so still, nourished by only the IV feed hooked up to her arm.

And she looked so peaceful, it would be easy to pretend she was sleeping. Most of the time he could do that - he had to, because the truth was too heavy for him to bear.

But sometimes it hit him, like a knife slammed into his heart and twisting, that she wasn't sleeping. That there was no guarantee she would wake up from this.

He crawled up onto the narrow bed, stretching out next to her. His hand was clasped with her, fingers laced through hers, silently begging for her to respond, to squeeze back, to acknowledge he was there.

"Please, Katherine," he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers. A tear gathered on his lower lashes to fall, hitting her cheek and rolling down the side of her face, vanishing into her dark blond hair.

He pressed his lips to her briefly, desperately. "Please. Come back to me."

#

Even after all these months, his lungs weren't used to the overly sterile air of the hospital.

He woke up with his head on the edge mattress of the hospital bed, sitting in the chair that had become a permanent fixture next to the bed, since the nurses had requested he not sleep next to her in the bed.

It took him a moment to realize that what woke him up was the feeling of someone stroking his hair.

His eyes opened slowly, blinking to break through the sleep on his eyelids. And it took another moment for him to find the strength and will to turn his head, reluctant, afraid to find out this was another dream.

But he finally turned his head, dislodging the hand from his hair.

Katherine's eyes were open only slightly, but she met his gaze, offering him a small smile.