Thanks go to TAE for the Beta Monster. Also to the Ladies and Teej, in chat who put up with me using chat time to write these.
William picked up his presciption and turned to exit the hospital. As he passed the ER, he heard familiar voices arguing.
"Jim, you know the doctors won't let you out of here unless there's someone to keep an eye on you."
"Of course I know that. But you have Daryl this weekend, I don't want to ruin your time with your son."
"What will ruin my weekend is when Sandburg finds out that you're in the hospital. You can't honestly tell me that he won't leave that conference early just to come and keep an eye on you."
"Well, he won't if he doesn't know."
William almost laughed at the conspiritorial tone in his son's comment. He continued to listen as the captain delivered his rebutal.
"You have the kid listed as an emergency contact. If you're admitted, the hospital will have to call him."
"But.."
"And when they can't contact him at the usual numbers," William could almost picture the captain cutting off Jimmy's comment. "They'll contact the police department to have us find him. I do NOT want to be the one to tell Sandburg how you once again managed to turn the loft into a crime scene and end up in the hospital."
William couldn't resist, any more. He walked over to the curtain concealing Jim and Simon. "Excuse me, Captain Banks, but I couldn't help overhearing."
"Dad?"
William stepped around the curtain to see his son sitting on a gurney and Captain Banks looking exasperated. "I may have a solution to your stand-off."
A look of relief flashed across Captain Banks' face. "Your stubborn son here, would rather stay in the hospital overnight than stay with Daryl and me."
Jim wasn't about to admit defeat, "You only get a few weekends with Daryl, I don't want to be in the way."
"Damn it, Jim, you know Daryl..."
"Please, I think I can end this peacefully." William said, putting a halt to the debate. "Jimmy can stay with me. I have plenty of room and I have recent, um experience, with taking care of a concused patient."
Jim gave his father a wide-eyed look, scrutinizing him closely. Before he could ask for more details of William's recent adventures, the doctor entered the cubicle.
"Well, gentlemen, I'm assuming that Detective Ellison doesn't wish to stay in the hospital... again. The only question is, since I don't see Mr. Sandburg, who is going to keep an eye on him?"
Before Jim or Simon could speak, William stepped up to the doctor. "I'm William Ellison, Jimmy's father. He'll be staying with me for the weekend."
"Good, I'll get the papers and you can take him home." The doctor looked over at his patient, "You're pretty lucky, Detective. There are a lot of people who can't rely on their parents for anything." That said, the doctor turned and left.
Jim took as deep a breath as his bruised ribs would allow, "I guess that settles that. Looks like you have a house guest, Dad."
Simon sighed in relief, "Thank you, Mr. Ellison."
"Don't mention it, Captain. Actually, I'm looking forward to it. This will give Jimmy and me a chance to spend some time together."
Jim used the action of putting his shirt on to hide his lack of enthusiasm. Between William and Simon, they got Jim dressed and the paperwork completed.
*
"I'm sorry about this, Dad. I know this is not how you planned..." Jim started to say as his Dad unlocked the front door.
"Don't worry about it, Jimmy. You're my son. I don't mind helping you out." There was an akward pause before the elder Ellison continued, "Besides, I want to spend more time with you."
Jim wasn't too sure what to say to that.
There was another moment of akward silence as father and son tried to think of what should happen next.
Mercifully, William broke the silence, "I could make us a pot of coffee and you could tell me how you ended up in the hospital."
"Um, I think I'll just head upstairs and get cleaned up."
William, seeing his son's discomfort, nodded, "I'll see if I can scrounge up a change of clothes for you."
*
Jim felt much better after his shower. His dad had put in a shower head with a massage setting; that, combined with the hot water, had worked wonders on his bruised muscles.
He walked out of the bathroom and, using his senses, located his father downstairs in the kitchen. Inside his old room, he found the clothes that his dad had placed on his old bed.
Jim picked up the sweatpants and did a double take at what he found underneath.
*
William Ellison looked up to see his son enter the kitchen. "I see you found the clothes."
Jim smiled and gave his Army sweatshirt a tug, "Yeah."
William held up the coffee pot in a silent offer. Jim nodded and grabbed a coffee mug out of the cupboard.
"So, Dad, are you going to tell me how you got the sweatshirt? Last I heard, Rafe had it." Jim said as his father filled his coffee mug.
William looked up into the smiling face of his son, "Well, it was last Friday. I'd gone to the ..."
William explained how Rafe and Rhonda stopped the mugging, then accompanied him to the hospital. Jim told his dad how the sweatshirt has been passed around from friend to friend. Father and son spent the evening at the table drinking coffee and trading stories.
After hearing about the teasing that Rafe got about having to be rescued by Rhonda, William got up to make a fresh pot of coffee and came back with the pain medication that the doctor had prescribed for Jim. "Here, it looks like you could use these."
Jim nodded and took his medicine without complaint.
William watched intently, as his son rubbed his eyes. "Do your senses make it worse?"
At Jim's confused look, William continued, "The headache from the concussion, is it worse because of your senses?"
For a moment Jim flashed back to all the critisism and negative comments that his father had made in the past, but he saw no malice in his father's eyes, now. "They do... complicate things. I don't know if they make things worse or not. I've kind of forgotten what normal is." Jim explained, ending with a yawn.
"Well, you and Blair can tell me all about them later. I think it's time for bed," William said as he took their coffee mugs and placed them in the sink for Sally to wash the next day.
William helped Jim out of his seat and up the stairs. It was obvious that one of the complications was that Jim reacted quickly to medications.
On autopilot, Jim crawled under the covers.
William just smiled and pulled the covers up over his tired son. If he had thought about it, he'd have laughed at the idea of tucking in his fully grown, ex-Army, cop son. He turned out the light and pulled the door shut as he left.
"Dad?" Jim said, before the door was fully closed.
"Yes, Son?"
"Thanks... for everything."
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