Chapter 36: Just be honest with us

While they were in a rush, Rhys was completely right about Charlie not coming down within 5-10 minutes after the phone call. When he did come down, he wasn’t alone either.

His parents were with him. Well, at this point it was more accurate to say their parents given the treatment they were giving to poor Charlie. The kid looked chewed out, and embarrassed. Taylor and Carlos weren’t in the room when they arrived. Taylor was gone because she was getting the room ready, and Carlos simply didn’t want to be around to witness the ’happy little family’ as he had put it.

Rhys greeted the trio as they arrived, and watched as everyone stiffened at the sight of Kellen in the hospital bed. It was actually surprising to Kellen that they hadn’t even attempted to visit after Rhys had left his side yesterday, but from the way that Rhys was smiling tightly, he might not have told them what was going on.

The glaring look that Rhys received from Kellen’s Mom told him that might be the case.

“Rhys Thatcher.” She began, clearly ready to work herself up into a fit. Charlie, embarrassed, hung out beside Kellen’s Father who looked pissed too. However, he moved to Kellen’s side, placing his hand on Kellen’s shoulder since he couldn’t take Kellen’s hand in his. It was in a sling still.

“I apologise, Eleanor. It wasn’t intentional on my part to keep this from you. I was just…” Rhys was smiling, but it was tight. It twisted slightly as Rhys glanced towards Kellen. “I was a little…messed up yesterday.” Rhys admitted quietly. “I’m fine now, Kellen is fine now. He’s okay.” Rhys said and Kellen almost worried that his Mom was going to continue to be in a fit.

She was wearing an outfit that Kellen was familiar with. It was something she had often worn when she had to go to court. She clearly had been getting ready for the day when Rhys made his phone call to Charlie through Henry and was not about to miss out on this. Her arms were crossed, she was glaring at her future son-in-law and Kellen would have found this situation hilarious if he wasn’t at the center of it.

“Mom, don’t get mad at him. He got banished from the room last night because he was scaring everyone.” Kellen told her with a small smile. “I apologise for not telling you about my plan with Charlie either.” Kellen said and his Mom snapped her neck in his direction.

“You think this is about that?” She asked, her voice dangerous and Kellen blinked. “This is about the fact that he didn’t tell us you had another episode. Do you know the fragile state that your body is in right now? In fact, where is Taylor and that whack scientist she’s working with. I want to have a word with her about loyalty.” She growled and Kellen hoped for Taylor’s sake that she didn’t show up. It would not do her well if she did right now.

“What do you mean by that? Of course Taylor is loyal. She’s been working herself sick trying to get everyone saved, Mom. That’s not a fair thing to say.” Kellen said and then got the full force of the same glare directed towards him. It dimmed slightly as she took in the machines he was hooked up to and the sheets wrapped around him. The anger faded from her eyes quickly as she caught how Kellen was looking at her, and how her husband was looking at her.

“Ellie, I know you’re angry, but that’s besides the point now. Come over and say hello to your son instead of ripping into the man who cares about him.” Henry told her softly and Kellen watched as his Mom struggled with her anger before coming over. This time had been a lot for everyone. A time of trials, over and over without rest.

They had just been told by Rhys that someone else was going to attempt to assassinate them, and they had just found out that it was Kellen who had seen it, not Rhys. That had put Kellen down here, and now Charlie was going to step to help Rhys while Kellen couldn’t. Or at the very least, Kellen was fairly certain that they had put those truths together. Especially given how smart and knowledgeable they were.

“I apologise again. I really didn’t mean to keep it from you. Kellen was the one who convinced me to leave to tell you and I was a little scattered at the moment.” Rhys apologised again and Kellen’s Dad let out a soft chuckle.

“It’s alright, Rhys. I can only imagine what Kellen was able to do to convince you to leave him alone. Especially given the fact that he had to go through so many tests again.” He said, squeezing his son’s shoulder. “But you’re sure everything is alright now?” He asked and Rhys let out a long exhale. Kellen could feel how the energy in the room shifted and Charlie looked up, concerned.

“Did something go wrong?” He asked, worried and Kellen shook his head.

“Nothing went wrong per se, just…they might have found a solution but it’s dangerous. Not exceedingly dangerous, but still dangerous as any solution to something with such high stakes would be.” Kellen said and the grip on his shoulder tightened more.

“How dangerous?” He asked carefully and Kellen looked up at his father. Henry was keeping it together. He’d been keeping it together since he’d basically had a mental breakdown upon hearing Gwen got sucked into the gate and after everyone had gotten out of the gate. Kellen was very proud of him.

He knew that it had to be hard to come back from the mental state he had been without giving himself more of a break. Everyone was walking on eggshells around him a bit because of it. So the fact that his Dad was holding it together while asking questions about his son like this was a good thing in Kellen’s mind.

He wouldn’t be able to say that he’d be this stable if he was asking questions about his sister.

“I have to get a blood transfusion that will swap all of my blood out of my system with a blood type I am compatible with. Hoping that my body doesn’t reject it. That’s the dangerous part of it.” Kellen said and watched as his Mom’s eyes widened, horror filling them as she raised a shaking hand to her lips. Kellen’s Dad inhaled sharply.

It was honestly not an uncommon thing. A full transfusion? That was weird, but the actual thing was pretty common. It was how Kellen saved his Dad. They had the same blood type.

But, given how precariously his body was balanced at the moment….He could understand why this might be a shock to them. He could understand why it was a shock to everyone. Kellen had a feeling that everyone was going to be shocked. However, Kellen was feeling pretty Zen given what he and Rhys had done earlier. He felt like he had a better head on his shoulders.

He was calm, collected.

He didn’t want to look at that reality too closely.

“A full transfusion?” His Dad repeated and Kellen nodded.

“Yeah. I know it sounds relatively simple, but it wasn’t something that they considered because, well, there were a lot of moving parts and we couldn’t do it safely on the front lines.” Everyone was slowly nodding at that answer and Kellen was glad that they were. Well, besides Charlie. He didn’t have enough knowledge of the front lines to understand that part.

“Is it dangerous because your body could reject the blood?” Charlie asked, proving that he was understanding of the situation, but needed some clarification.

“Yes. And putting my blood back into my body could be dangerous as well because of the level of poison in it. It’s going to be a very delicate balance, which is why we want Rhys fully charged, or as much as we can before we begin it.” Kellen said with a smile.

“Kellen, you are not allowed to smile right now.” His Mom said dangerously and Kellen blinked.

“Why not? It’s not hurting anyone.” Kellen protested and Rhys reached over, taking Kellen’s hand in his. He looked towards his boyfriend, taking his eyes off of Kellen’s Mom for the first time since she entered the room.

“Kellen, honey, it is. It feels like you aren’t taking this seriously.” He said softly and Kellen blinked.

“But I am? I just know you aren’t going to let me do this on my own, and it’s better to have you as close to your best as you can be so that if something goes wrong, you can pause it.” Kellen said. Rhys looked like he’d never considered that possibility, and it was a bit surprising to Kellen. He leaned forward, staring at his partner. “You were thinking about that, right? It’s not like I thought you were going to leave me bleeding out or my body seizing while something went wrong. Granted, a human body is more complicated than cement, but I did think that was part of the reason you agreed so easily.” Hadn’t Kellen brought it up?

He thought he had, but now that he was thinking back on their…conversation he realised he’d never brought it up. Neither had Rhys.

Rhys closed his eyes, dropping his head as he shook it and laughed.

“I’m a damn idiot.” He murmured. “I’m supposed to be the Captain, the one who plans everything. How the hell did I function before you?” Rhys asked softly and it was Kellen’s Dad who answered.

“Well enough, but your better half tends to make things better.” He said softly. “Well, I feel a bit more relieved hearing about this. Is that why you needed Charlie so early? So that you could do the Guiding session before they attempted the transfusion?” He asked and Kellen nodded.

“That, and I refuse to let anyone guide Rhys alone.” Kellen said. “For their safety, and my peace of mind.” That response seemed to partially surprise his parents.

“You don’t…trust Rhys?” His Mom asked. She sounded confused. Out of everything, it was obvious that Rhys only had eyes for Kellen to anyone else. Kellen even believed the man only had eyes on him. He also trusted Charlie.

It was a completely illogical response on his part.

“Oh, I trust everyone involved.” Kellen said. “It’s me who is illogical.” Kellen readily admitted it and Charlie gave a small smile.

“I think it’s romantic.” Charlie said softly. “If I had a pair I cared about this much, I wouldn’t want them to be alone with someone else either.” Kellen was glad he was making it sound so sweet, but he genuinely hoped Charlie never had to experience this feeling.

It was a terrible feeling to doubt someone so damn sweet.

“It is romantic.” Rhys agreed, taking Kellen’s hand and raising it to his lips. He pressed a soft kiss there. “My Kellen is just worried about everything, I want to give him some comfort. Green is also making sure to actually monitor it as well. We wouldn’t be able to test compatibility since those machines haven’t come in yet from overseas, but we’ll be able to make sure what happened to Kellen will not happen to Charlie.” Rhys said with a firm conviction. Kellen’s Mom’s eyes softened.

“Rhys, knowing you as well as I know you now, I know that was a terrible coincidence. It’s okay. I don’t believe Charlie would agree to this if he thought he was in any true danger.” Charlie didn’t say anything, and while Kellen’s parents took that as an agreement with their statement, Kellen didn’t exactly agree with it.

He saw the small glint of relief in Charlie’s eyes at the words, and the small bit of guilt. He had a feeling that Charlie was hoping, ever so slightly, that Rhys might take his powers. That wasn’t going to happen since Rhys wouldn’t let it happen, but Kellen could understand the other man.

It was slightly tantalizing to have no powers. Only a little bit. Charlie would realise that too once the guiding session was over.

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