Chapter Text
Caleb Nichol hated hospitals.
He hated doctors, too. Stupid sons-of-bitches hadn’t been able to help his beloved Rose. So what good were they?
Of course, he was willing to make an exception for that Summer girl’s father, if only because he believed that the man might, eventually, become family.
Family.
Family was the entire point of his being here. He’d just gotten his family back, better than before, and it was thanks in no small part to that boy lying in the hospital bed with a red face, holding hands (a trifle defiantly) with his girlfriend.
What a clever little thing she was; tracking down the boy and finding a way to sneak into his room, a way (he was guessing a kiss, by the depth of their mutual blushing) to wake him up. What a determined, clever young lady. She reminded him of no one so much as his dear, dear Kiki, with the craziness of his natural-born grandson to make life really interesting. If she was as much like his daughter as she appeared, his newest grandson had his work cut out for him.
Not that he thought Ryan minded; the kid was pretty far gone, according to Summer.
Now there was another clever young lady, one whose forceful nature was the perfect foil for his somewhat lethargic Seth. She seemed more than capable of taking charge, grounding the boy and helping him find a direction for his life. Not to mention: dating that girl just may provide him some protection from the pressure of his peers
‘’Maybe you should go? Before the medical staff shows up?’’ Taylor nodded at him, squeezing her boy’s hand farewell before fleeing the room. He raised an eyebrow at the kid on the bed and got a shrug in return. He was shaking his head in amusement when the nurse arrived, doctor in tow.
‘’Where’s his mother?’’ Caleb didn’t know why his daughter (and the rest of the family) weren’t here. They were supposed to have been notified immediately upon his grandson’s return to consciousness. If he hadn’t been playing a hunch by checking Ryan’s room in his attempt to track down the Townsend girl, he wouldn’t be here himself. He didn’t know what was going on, but he had a feeling this punk in the white coat had something to do with it. Sure enough, the man snapped out a disrespectful answer to his very legitimate question; barely affording him a glance sideways.
‘’Waiting room, where they belong.’’ The ass didn’t even warn the kid what he was going to do, he aimed the light right into the blue eyes, making Ryan flinch back with a curse. ‘’Definitely a concussion, then. Patient evidences sensitivity to light, headache……’’
‘’Not until you did that.’’ The boy muttered, rubbing at his temple while his grandfather hid a smile. Kid wasn’t willing to let anyone push him around, he liked that. The nurse looked sympathetic, but the doctor over-rode anything she might say with a patronizing attitude that set Cal’s teeth on edge.
‘’You should be more co-operative.’’ His entire attitude implied that being here was Ryan’s fault, not something that this particular teen would argue against. The old man felt his blood boiling, trying to keep a handle on his temper for the sake of the youngster on the bed. ‘’I know how your kind operates, son. You’re not getting any drugs out of me, no matter how good a con you run.’’ Okay, that was enough. He may not be the boy’s guardian, damnit; but he was still family; and no one treated the family of Caleb Nichol like this.
‘’He is not your son.’’ He stepped forward, yanking the younger man away from the bed with a firm grip, hearing the startled yelp with dark satisfaction. ‘’He is, however, my grandson; and I will not have him treated by the likes of you.’’ He turned to the nurse with his most charming smile, softening his tone to gentle respect. ‘’You can check him out, can’t you, young lady? Until they send down someone more competent than this idiot? I’ve always had more faith in the nursing profession, anyway.’’
‘You can’t……’’ The quack was actually daring to protest. He turned his head, silencing the punk with a glare.
‘’Get out of this room, at once, or I will not only call security, I will lodge an official complaint against this hospital. It’ll put a strain on my relationship with my old friend, Bob Norlund’’ he had the supreme glee of seeing the weak brown eyes widen in fearful recognition of the name of the hospital’s administrator ‘’but family is more important than a friendship, however close or long-standing.’’ Keeping himself from smiling was difficult, watching the scrambling retreat; especially when the idiot tripped over his own feet just before exiting. There was a muffled snicker from the bed, and he definitely saw the nurse swallow a smile.
‘’Hello, Ryan; my name is Janet.’’ The woman smiled, taking the kid’s hand. ‘’It’s nice to see you with your eyes open.’’
‘’Hey.’’ As much as he was enjoying the blushing, Caleb thought he’d better go get Kiki and the others, or he’d be hearing about his ‘insensitive’ delay of the good news for the next month.
‘’Don’t worry if he doesn’t talk your ear off, Janet.’’ He patted the blanket-covered leg, trying to be reassuring. ‘’That’s the other one.’’ The woman furrowed her brow at him even as she secured the blood-pressure cuff around the young man’s arm. ‘’His brother, Seth. Whom I should go retrieve, along with the rest of the family.’’
‘’We’ll be okay here, then.’’ Janet pressed a button on her machine, tightening the cuff; but not before warning her patient that it might hurt. Nice; a fine change from the behavior of the idiot. .
He left the room, confident that the kid was in good hands. It was lucky he’d played his hunch, or the two kids would’ve been busted breaking that stupid deal; not to mention how that punk of a doctor would’ve behaved without him there to reign him in. Now he just had to explain to Kiki why he hadn’t come running to get her the first instant he’d seen the boy was awake.
He wasn’t exactly looking forward to it.