Chapter 2
Regulus woke up in a hospital bed, no longer surrounded by the warmth of Remus. He looked around the room. Sirius, James, and Remus were sitting in chairs around the room, while Effie and Monty fought with doctors in the hallway.
“Ma Lune?” Remus grabbed his hand. “I’m right here, my star.” Sirius fake-gagged. James went to tell the doctor he was awake.
James returned with his parents and a couple of doctors. The doctors went over some test results with him, and told him what had happened. Regulus had fallen asleep in Remus’ arms the night before, but sometime that night he stopped breathing and coded. Effie was able to keep him stable until they got to St. Mungo's.
He was in and out of sleep for the next couple of hours. Eventually they took him in for more testing. They found out he had at least three broken ribs, extremely malnourished, and he had a concussion. They brought in a neurologist to make sure everything else was ok.
The doctors were in the room for a half hour, they went over test results, inserted an NG tube, and set it up. Remus held Regulus’ hand through all of this. James and Sirius sat outside the door while the doctors were in the room.
Monty took Sirius and James to a shopping outlet so they could get Regulus’ room set up and get him a couple gifts for his birthday. Remus sat in bed with Regulus and read to him, Effie was still in the room, but neither of them minded, her presence was rather comforting to Regulus.
James and Sirius returned with Monty and some gifts. They set the gifts on a table in the corner of the room for Regulus to open when he woke up, but for now they let him sleep. Monty and Remus stayed overnight with Regulus while Effie, James, and Sirius went home.
You think you can escape me, Adhara! You will never get away! Regulus’ mother's screams slowly turned into his boyfriend's calming voice. “It’s okay, seren, I’m right here.” When Regulus opened his eyes, Remus was holding him and rubbing his arms, and Monty was holding one of his hands and reassuring him that he wasn't alone. He couldn’t fall back asleep after that so Remus stayed up and read to him.
Effie, James, and Sirius arrived a few hours after the nightmare. Sirius and James made Regulus open all the gifts they had bought him the day before: a few books, new clothes, and a phone. Remus had also gotten him a couple of gifts: a couple of books he annotated, and a photo album.
For the rest of the day they all sit around and play games. Occasionally Regulus gets taken for more testing, but other than that, they all stay together.
Eventually, when the time comes, Monty takes the boys home for the night, while Effie and Remus stay with Regulus. Sirius is reluctant to go, especially after he heard about Regulus’ nightmare, but Remus assures him that it will all be okay and that if anything happens he and Effie will be there.
Regulus has another nightmare tonight, instead of his mother, it’s his father. He’s reliving what happened the night they left. Reliving his father's hands, and no matter what he does, he can’t get them away. He screams. He kicks. He thrashes. But the hands never go away.
He wakes up in Remus’ arms again. Remus is holding him and reassuring him that he’s right there. “It’s ok, seren, I’m not leaving,” and “Breathe with me, c’mon, I know you can,” and “I’ve got you, love, they can’t get you here,” and Effie is holding his hand reassuring him as well. “It’s ok, dear, we’re right here” and “You’re right here, they can’t get you,”
Regulus doesn’t sleep for the rest of the night. Instead he took a shower. He scrubbed until his skin was red and raw. He’ll do anything to get his fathers, no, Orion's hands off him.
There’s a knock at the bathroom door, “Reg? Love, can I come?” he doesn’t answer. Not because he doesn’t want to but because he can’t find the words. He hears the door open, “I’m gonna come in, is that okay?” All he can do is make a small noise. Remus comes in and sees him, “Oh, my love, c’mere,” he set the clothes down on the counter and held his arms out for Regulus.
Remus helped him dry off and get dressed. He placed small light kisses on all the bruises. When he was done, he carried Regulus back to the bed. Neither of them slept, instead they did what they had done the night before, Remus read to Regulus until the nurse came in to check on him. But as soon as the nurse left, he went right back to reading.