justprompts: Tree

[theirgoldenboy]

"Da-ad?"

Caleb was coming down the big staircase when Will half-burst, half-stumbled into the main lobby, the pale hair of Ash catching against the fabric of his shirt as he clutched the younger boy to him, one arm around his shoulders and the other under his knees. Reid's son looked even paler than usual; actually, both kids did. The teenager's voice was too much gasping and panting for the call to be too loud.

Caleb frowned, but, but picked up the call before bounding down the stairs to get to them. "Chase!" A few heartbeats, and he was in front of them, large arms reaching to relieve Will of his friend. "What happened?"

"I, we... we were climbing one of the oaks in the back. One of the branches wasn't as good as Ash thought it would be. His leg, he can't walk on it."

The man looked down to see familiar blue-green looking up at him from a scratched face. "You tried to stop the fall." He also hadn't fully let go of the blond, one hand still on the younger boy's shoulder. They looked like a youth and a child... almost.

Will swallowed, not quite squirming under the deep brown eyes. "Yeah. I was kind of below him."

"But not with power."

Head shaken, and eyes a little wider. "It happened too fast, I didn't... think of it!"

"It's okay." Caleb smiled a little, reassuringly. "He'll be okay, and you did good." And, again, louder, head swiveling to the side so as not to be yelling into both kids. "Chase! We need you here!"

He was considering Using himself, just opening himself up to find out if the older man was far enough in the big house to require actually using a phone instead of shouting, when the doctor showed up, from the direction of the kitchen, of all places. "Yeah?" A moment, and he fully registered that somebody was hurt. "What happened?"

Caleb was already moving to settle the boy in his arms onto the nearest couch. Will moved with them, stood behind the back of it, and when he wasn't in the way, reached down - slight touches, but - Caleb knew them, and he was pretty sure Chase did, too. Reassuring both of them. He let the son tell his father what happened; much better first hand. Chase was already working to reveal the leg and examine it as he was listening.

"He's going to be alright, won't he, dad?"

Slight smile, even if the curly head was focused down and skilled fingers were checking out if something needed to be aligned or set, or immobilized. "Of course he will."

Others started filing in, both children and adults; it was Will who met them with, "he'll be alright. He'll be all right!"


~~~

When Ash woke up, later, it took him a moment to remember. More precisely, he woke up, noticed that it was dark, and started to move, to turn to the other side.

And then pain shot up through his leg, reminding him.

Uncle Chase had given him something for the pain, and he and Dad had talked about things, and they'd gone to the hospital to put his leg in a cast, and that had been kind of confusing (or maybe it was confusing because of the drugs?) but wasn't hurting.

Well, they seemed to have worn out, now.

He whimpered.

The soft sound made somebody stir in the darkness, very close. "Hey, you okay?"

Will. It was Will. Ash relaxed a little, even if, on top of hurting, now he was feeling weak for having made that noise. "Yeah." Okay, his voice wasn't supposed to sound like this! He swallowed, and tried for steadier. Even if through gritted teeth. "Just forgot when I woke up and moved too quickly. And this thing weighs, too."

The older boy's hand was on his forehead, along his face. "Don't worry about it. You comfortable? Want something? Water?" It felt good. The palm was big along his skin, soft and comforting. Not as large as an adult's, but not a kid's, either.

Ash reached up, holding his arm, lightly. "No, I'm... I'm good." A beat, and more of his muzzled thoughts made their way up. "Hey, what're you doing here?"

"I'm..." Pause. Quietly. "Dad mentioned that you might wake up when the painkillers ran out. Thought you might not wanna be alone. I can go if you--"

"No! No, it's... it's okay. Come here." Ash shifted. After a few moments' hesitation, the older boy joined him, carefully, under the covers. Softly. "Not alone's better."

Will just nodded, against the top of his head.

And, later. "You know it wasn't your fault, right?"

Another small pause, and another nod. "I know." Light motion of fingers against his arm, slow, easy. "Let's go back to sleep."

"Okay. Good night, Will."

"G'night, Ash."


OOC: Introducing, kind of, the (probably) oldest two next generation boys in the Yay, girls!/Divergence 'verse, William Wilder Chase and Ashton Garwin. Ahem. Future, definitely.