trashchildren | For Joan

Ted frowns, thinking back carefully for several long moments, until he finally shakes his head.

"No, I don't think so," he says. "He mentioned his friend in the story, and he thought he was doing this on behalf of Richmond, but that's it. I never saw or heard anyone else."

Well that's a relief. Maybe it all was just a crazy football fan after all, and not the result of his relationship with Joan having put a target on his back.

"That's all we have," McCoy said, closing his notepad. "Thank you for your cooperation. If you think of anything more..." He nods at Joan. "Let Miss Watson know and she'll know how to contact us."

"Thank you both," Joan says sincerely, grateful for them having been gentle with Ted.

Ted nods in response to promising to contact them. Ted knows there's more he could go into detail, mention all the little things he remembers, what he was thinking, and so on... but it doesn't seem vital to the investigation, and he'd rather do so after he'd had some rest.

When Joan thanks then, Ted nods affirmatively in agreement. "Yeah, thanks guys, I appreciate you."

When they leave, he sighs heavily and sinks back against the pillows.

Joan sighs as well, also glad that's done. It wasn't nearly as hard for her as for him, of course, but it still hurt to see him hurt, to hear what had been done to him. She's also weary, the events of the day having taken their toll. She squeezes his hand and leans against the bed.

"Are you okay?" she asks softly.

He nods gently, closing his eyes. "I will be..." he answers quietly, giving her hand a reciprocal squeeze.

He looks over at her. "Wanna lie down with me now?" he asks. He desperately wants to get some rest, but he'd rather feel her against him at least for a bit while he does so.

"Yes please," she says.

She slips off her shoes and climbs into bed next to him. She curls an arm gently around him, gazing into his eyes.

Ted carefully shuffles some pillows around, lying down as much as possible. He has very limited ways of sleeping, between the broken leg and the broken ribs, but he's so tired that he doesn't think it will matter.

He smiles softly at her once she's climbed in, and gives her a small kiss, putting a hand on her arm.

"I look like a real mess, don't I?" he asks, with a smile that might actually qualify as amused.

She smiles back at him, amused and fond. "Pretty bad, yeah," she agrees.

She touches his bruised and swollen cheek, ever so gently, and leans in to kiss him just as gently.

"You're always beautiful to me," she whispers against his lips.

"Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna keep this look, though," he quips tiredly, giving a soft chuckle.

He gives a long sigh, turning his head to look up at the ceiling, then closing his eyes. "I think I might pass out now, if that's alright with you," he says quietly.

"Fair enough," she responds to the quip with a soft laugh of her own.

She nods and curls her arm around his waist again. "Go ahead. I'll be right here."

She wouldn't be surprised if he has nightmares, and she wants to make sure he knows he's safe.

It's a pretty solid bet. He does at least fall asleep really quickly, his body in desperate need of some rest. And for the first bit he doesn't dream at all, too tired and too deeply asleep to do so.

Unfortunately his body's also already been conditioned to expect a wake-up call pretty frequently.

It's only been a few hours when he wakes up with a start, the feeling of burning ice hitting him, and he pushes himself up then immediately regrets it, falling back against the pillow with a pained groan.

Joan had drifted off, her arm around him and her head on his shoulder. So when he sits bolt upright she only barely keeps from falling to the floor.

"Hey," she says softly, regaining her balance and putting a hand in his shoulder. "It's okay, it's okay, I'm here, you're safe."

It takes a few moments for him to properly register her presence, and then to calm his panicked breathing. His body really hurts. In way too many places.

He groans a little, screwing his eyes shut. "Sorry. I'm sorry," he apologizes, not specifying what for. Probably for waking her up or scaring her.

The apology pains her, and she wonders how much he might blame himself for what happened to him. "It's okay," she says, taking his hand and squeezing it as she runs his shoulder. "You don't have to apologize. You haven't done anything wrong."

She touches his cheek, then strokes his hair.

"It's okay," she murmurs. "You're okay."

He doesn't blame himself nearly as much as others might... but definitely still a little bit. There's some doubt niggling at how trusting he is. How his insight won't always protect him in time.

After the combination of the loss and kidnapping, he's also felt the return of that doubt that Richmond would in fact be better off with a different coach. A part of him wondering if he'll ever feel ready to return to the team. He always gets back up when he gets knocked down, but he's never been knocked down as hard as this, and it may take some time.

He leans into her, calming down little by little, but still in quite noticeable pain, that frown staying on his face.

She would totally understand that doubt. She knows he's swam upstream in Richmond for so long. It must be tiring, but he was making terrific headway, convincing the players and the fans. To have a sudden, catastrophic flood like this mentally wash him back to the beginning? It can't be easy to pick himself up again and go forward. Luckily he has the people around him to hold him and help him. Beard and Rebecca and his teammates. And Joan herself.

She wraps her arms around him, kissing his hair. She can tell he's in pain.

"Do you want me to call the nurse? They can give you more painkillers. It might help you sleep."

He just nods a little at the question. They mentioned they might give him an IV later on, after assessing how bad the pain was, and also making sure that they were drugging away pain that might be a sign of something worse being wrong. But hopefully by now, they can do that.

She strokes his hair and kisses his temple, then reaches for the call button.

The nurse arrives fairly quickly, and doesn't say anything about Joan being in bed with Ted, which Joan appreciates greatly.

"What can I do for you, love?" she asks Ted.

"Hey," Ted greets, lifting his head a little bit not sitting up properly. "Sorry for not getting up, but I'm quite a bit of pain here," he says with a strained smile. That apology is a joke though.

She smiles at him and promises they're going to fix that in a minute, but first she wants to ask him some questions. And he gets to describe where the pain is and how bad it is, whether it's constant or just when he moves, all of that. His leg is probably the worst by now, but the headache has lessened a lot, which is apparently a good sign.

Eventually they get him hooked up, and she explains this will also help him keep hydrated, but he should still drink water, which he promises to do. He thanks her and lets her know he appreciates her - and her find medicine - and the pain starts going away again. With it also goes the tension in his shoulders.

Joan holds him the whole time, listening to him describe his pain, knowing what the nurse is screening for with each one. She feels for him, because the sort of pain he's going through sucks, but she's also reassured, because the descriptions tell both her and the nurse that Ted's injuries are probably not life threatening. The pain in his head subsiding reassures Joan that his brain, while bruised, isn't bleeding.

Joan holds his hand and strokes his hair as the nurse inserts the IV. As he relaxes against her she kisses his head.

"I'm right here," she whispers. "You can sleep. I've got you."

Ted nods a bit and smiles at Joan, grateful for her comfort and... Well, grateful for her.

"It's alright, you know," he reassures her quietly. "I've broken stuff before, I can deal with that part." He knows she's worried about him, but there's a limit to how much worry she needs to carry.

"I know," she says, smiling a little at his concern. "I'm not worried about that part. I just want to make sure you know you're safe. If you'd rather I give you more space, that's totally fine."

Part of her just wants to hold him and keep him safe, the part of her that wishes she could have protected him from the start and stopped this from even happening. But she also recognizes that he might not want her to be so protective.

He shakes his head a little. "No, I like you being here," he answers and smiles softly.

Eventually he'll probably be alright being left on his own, but for right now at least, knowing that someone he knows and loves is looking out for him really helps put him at ease.

Part of him hopes that she's not just doing it out of guilt, but no, he knows that's not the case. Whatever Turner tried to convince him, he knows that Joan loves him.

He eyes shine a bit as he looks at her, with that same affection and admiration as he often does, and he leans in and kisses her softly.

She smiles back. "I like being here," she answers softly. He had said that the man who kidnapped him had told him that nobody really cared about him, and she wants to reinforce what he probably already knows: that what the man said was a lie, and Joan cares about him very much.

She wonders if he remembers her telling him she loves him. It's possible he doesn't, in which case Joan doesn't want to complicate things. He's going to live, and she wants to preserve this comfortable affection for now, so she doesn't have to risk creating a rift in case he doesn't feel the same way for her and cannot say the words back to her.

Her own eyes are full of love, however, as she gazes back at him, seeing that affection and admiration of his shining back at her. She closes her eyes as their lips meet, and kisses him back, just as softly.

When the kiss ends, he doesn't pull back, instead just leaning his forehead against hers, eyes closed. Just resting there for a moment, feeling much more at peace.

After a few moments there's a gentle knock on the door, and Ted opens his eyes to see Beard.

"Sorry for disturbing," he says.

"No, it's alright, what's up?" Ted reassures immediately.

"I, uh, called Michelle and let her know you were in the hospital. Her and Henry are flying over as soon as they can."

There's an immediate relief apparent in Ted's body. The thought of getting to see Henry again was one of the things that kept him going. "Thanks, coach," Ted says softly and smiles at him, and Beard smiles back.

"Anything I can get for you guys?" Beard offers, looking at Joan as well.

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