"You cannot hide yourself behind a fairytale forever and ever."

[lostinthefairytale]

Who: Brodie Bradford and Xavier Carlise
What: Reveal
Where: Xavier and Greg's estate, Westchester
When: Follows THIS

This wasn't like any hospital Brodie had ever been in. In fact, it was about 100 times better than any hotel he had been in and that included the expensive one Asher treated them to after he scored his first catwalk spot at Fashion Week. There was no nurse call button either, and Brodie sat up in the bed a little trying to see if he had dropped it. He seriously needed a pee and he was going to pee in the bed, like, ASAP, if someone didn't come to tell him where the bathroom was. It was one of those urgent needs where you were in physical pain by how much you needed to go and he would probably break out in a cold sweat soon if a toilet didn't eventuate in the next few moments.

He pushed up on his hand and looked around, but found no button. "Hello?" he called out. "Uh, nurse? Anyone? Kinda need some help in here." But even sitting up that little bit put pressure on his bladder and he made a soft squeak sound, only just fighting the urge to grab himself like he would have in grade school when he needed the bathroom this bad. He had been a bedwetter when he was a kid and he did not, under any circumstances, want to relive those memories. "These sheets look really expensive and I'm pretty sure whoever owns this hospital isn't going want them ruin. Come on! Like, stat! Or whatever it is you types say..." he added in a mumble, pushing the covers back and planning on finding the bathroom himself.

Comments

[bloodstainedheart]

It had been a waiting game on Brodie waking up. Xavier had called his doctor friend, fellow Kindred, Wesley, to be on hand to attend to him and also three nurses who worked on shifts to monitor Brodie. He had a fever when he was first brought to the manor and he had slept fitfully on and off, though never quite waking up completely. There were times Wes thought it be best for Brodie to be given some sedatives to stop the restless sleep, and those were the times Xavier spent with Greg. Though, Greg was Greg, and he could be impatient at times but he knew this was very serious business at hand, so he behaved... mostly. Greg was still Greg, after all, but more placated on his impatience since he had Xavier at his disposal for awhile.

Xavier had been reading in the study just across the hall from the room Brodie was staying in. Up the hall, he had left Asher in Seamus' care and Seamus had been seeing to Asher feeding the last he looked. Greg was sprawled on the nearby chaise lounge playing Flappy Bird on his phone. It was a stark contrast to the large volume of Shakespeare that Xavier was reading. Xavier had told him he could go entertain himself elsewhere, but Greg stayed close. That wasn't uncommon. As soon as Xavier heard Brodie's calls, though, he set the book aside and exited the room, leaving Greg to his game. Asher wanted Xavier to reveal everything to Brodie because he knew he wouldn't maintain control if he tried himself. It was crunch time, and this conversation would change everything.

He entered the lavish guest room where Brodie was propped up in the large canopy bed. "Brodie," he greeted him with a small smile. "My name is Xavier Carlisle. I am here to help you. You must not be up and about without aid, however. Let me assist you to get to the bathroom," he offered and went over to the bed to hold his hand out to Brodie to help him.

[lostinthefairytale]

Brodie had no idea who this guy was, but he was freaking gorgeous and had a posh English accent to boot. He wasn't going to object the help, though. He needed to pee, and then he could worry about everything else. He would be lying if he didn't admit he was nervy about this whole thing, though, because he had basic medical insurance and there was no way it would cover a place like this. How had he even ended up here? It was fucking dejavu. Why was he making a habit of randomly showing up in places he had no idea how he got here? The last thing he remembered was being back in Charleston, at the memorial garden and Asher...

No. NO. That was stupid. There was no way Asher had been there. His mind was playing tricks on him and he was worried the cancer was spreading quicker than they thought and maybe he was losing his mind? It was either that, or he was blacking out or hallucinating. He was terrified, but he didn't quite want to leave the comfort of denial. Denial was easy. In denial, he wasn't dying. He would get better. It was no big deal. He hesitantly took the guys hand and let him help him up from the bed. Brodie's legs were weak and shaky and he had no choice but lean on the guy... Xavier, for help. The bathroom was attached to the bedroom and Brodie was in there a little while taking care of business. The bathroom was bigger than his and Caleb's apartment. Jesus fuck, this hospital was going to send him broke.

He came back out once he washed his hands and wet his lips. "This is... it's real nice and all, Dr Carlisle, but I can't afford this place. Just point me in the direction of the exit and I'll call a cab or something. It's cool. Thanks for the help, but your suit there probably costs more than I pay on insurance a year."

[bloodstainedheart]

"I am not a doctor, Brodie, and this is not a hospital. This is my home, and you have been receiving medical treatment here, yes. Please, come back to bed. You must rest," Xavier urged and once again held his hand out to help Brodie. Thankfully, there came no protests. Brodie was visible weak and a little pale, but he had a little more colour in his cheeks to the previous days. He had been on constant IV fluids and the nurses Xavier had employed had taken good care of him. Asher sat with him for hours on end, and then retreated when hunger began to him. As hard as it was for him to remove himself from Brodie's presence when he wanted to protect him, it was for the best that he had developed enough control to not be an immediate threat to Brodie's well-being.

Confusion was the main sensation he was getting off Brodie right now. There were the snaps of emotion coming now whereas before, any Kindred in his presence would just have been getting an overwhelming sensation of sickness. Once Brodie was back in bed, Xavier poured him a glass of water from the crystal jug by the bed. "Sip that slowly. You rush, it may make you ill." He sat down in the armchair by the bed then, crossing his legs over. "You are here because of Asher, Brodie. He has asked me to talk to you about many things of importance, however only if you are feeling up to it. You also much know that you are not being held here against your will. Should you wish not to stay, you are free to leave and my driver can take you anywhere you wish."

[lostinthefairytale]

If Brodie had more colour in his cheeks, it was gone when he paled hearing Asher's name. The glass had been poised near his lips, but he didn't drink. He just looked at Xavier with a mix of anxiety and disbelief. Was this all some huge weird dream that the cancer was making his mind believe was real? His hand was shaking a little when he put the water glass back beside the jug and then gave his arm a little pinch. It hurt. A lot, actually. His skin was sensitive these days, but it was unlikely a dream. An hallucination? Did you knowing pee during an hallucination? "It's true, he's alive...?" The question was quiet, timid, sounding like he didn't want to ask it but had to.

"Am I... am I going crazy? I don't understand anything. I-I was in Charleston, and then I'm here, and I don't know what the hell is going on. Asher should be dead, but it's like I keep imagining him. I mean, are you even real? Or are you, like, the dude at the Pearly Gates who kicks the gay people to the curb for being gay? You kind of have the look of someone I figure God might employ for up there. Or are you just God outright? Because right now, I kind of feel like I'm losing my mind and nothing will really actually surprise me. Confuse me and make absolutely no fucking sense, but not surprise me. I... I'm sick. It might be in my mind by now..." He hadn't told his best friend, but he could admit it out loud to a total stranger. "I don't believe Asher's alive. I can't. I can't believe he would just... just... do that to me. Put me through that. He was supposed to love me."

[bloodstainedheart]

"You are not going crazy, Brodie. I assure you of that. You have simply been a victim of events occurring around you that has built a confusing picture for you. That is only because you do not have all the pieces of the puzzle. Which is why I am here, to talk to you about that." Xavier paused for a moment, analysing Brodie closely but quietly. Asher told him Brodie was very in-tuned to music and had always had a lot of ambition to pursue that was a career. If things were to go the way Asher hoped, Brodie would surely be Toreador material. It would just be a hard Embrace for the Sire with the tainted blood flowing through his veins. Just like it had been for Greg when he Embraced Trystan, though to this day, Greg has no recollection of it. He had been so ill in the wake of it, it had been easy for Xavier to manipulate his mind so he forgot it.

The boy certainly had a way with words, though. "I am not a doctor, nor am I God or one of his employees. But I am something that may come as quite a shock for you to take in initially, so I have to ask that you try to keep an open mind whilst we talk. I understand it will be extremely difficult for you believe and understand, and I do not, in any way, expect you to just accept my word. But knowledge of something new that you had no awareness of prior must come before I can show you that it is very real. So, I am going begin by say that that, yes, Asher is alive, however, he also did die. He was just brought back."

[lostinthefairytale]

When the guy said he wasn't crazy, Brodie was happy to believe him... even if he still felt like he was losing his marbles quite extensively. He kept waking up in weird places and having no recollection of it. That was a symptom of crazy, right? What did he mean by not having all the pieces of the puzzle, though? He hadn't even realised there had been a puzzle. If there was a puzzle, what was it? Why hadn't anyone told him? Would the puzzle still matter if he wasn't here to see out the finished product? He had been given a year, give or take. "I just... I'm sick. I mean, maybe you already know that. I have had more than my fair share of experiencing doctors and medical people doing things when I'm out to it. I'm running out of time and maybe I just don't have any to spare on puzzles," he murmured tiredly.

Now he was frowning in confusion with a small shake of his head. "What do you mean? Like, a defibrillator? That can't be, though. They said he was... that he was..." He just clamped his mouth shut and shook his head again. He couldn't say it. It had been painful enough hearing about it. Asher had been fucked up so badly by the car, he had no chance of being saved. He was DOA when the ambulance arrived at the hospital. There hadn't been enough to even identify the body. "He would have told me was alive..." he added in a tiny voice, trying to convince himself so hard of that fact.