Aiden Lewis

14. I'll get your medicine when your tummy aches
build you a fire if the furnace breaks
Oh it could be so nice, growin’ old with you.
I'll miss you, kiss you, give you my coat when you are cold.
Need you, feed you, I'll even let you hold the remote control.
[‘Grow Old With You’ – Adam Sandler]

Co-written with sexyinscrubs | Follows THIS

Aiden never really got hangovers. Not terrible ones, anyway. He usually suffered through a headache and got bitchy until it wore off, but that was the extent of it. And that was only when he drunk a lot. He wasn't a heavy drinker at the best of times. So there really was no explanation why he was bent over the toilet throwing up extensively the morning after Lachlan's birthday party. If anyone should be in this position right then, it was the birthday boy himself. Aiden had all of two glasses of wine because he was driving home. The thing was, he rarely got sick, too. He usually had to be unable to move and half dying before he even admitted to being ill, but right now, he really did not feel good at all.

( With a small, strained moan, he flipped the lid of the toilet closed and flushed it so he could move to the sink and brush his teeth. Despite being sick, he didn't even really feel much better... )

All muses referenced with permission and are from the princeton2nyc universe


Word Count | 1,020

Track 04. If I had the sun and moon // I would give you both night and day // Of satisfyn’
(Bad Company – ‘Feel Like Making Love’)

[Follows THIS]

It was really early in the morning when Aiden sought some refuge in his office at home. It was still dark outside and the apartment was still and quiet save for his soft footfalls across the polished board of the floor. Lachlan was still at the hospital following Andrew abruptly coming down with appendicitis and in the bedrooms back up the hall, Pat and Tara were yet to wake up. It had been another bad night. Pat was in a lot of pain which was common when the MS was at its worst. It was a pain he struggled to describe, too, so Aiden could never understand no matter how much he wanted to. Pat said it was like an all-over toothache where his joints and muscles just had this hot ache in them that he couldn’t shake. He spent a lot of time in bed, even during the days, because it just took too much energy for him to be up and about.

At night, Pat was restless or uncomfortable, often awake in the middle of the night crying because it was too much and he was tired but couldn’t sleep. These were the times Aiden just held him and tried to keep him warm; tried to reassure him that he was still there and wasn’t going away. The moments when Pat was feeling okay and wanted to be up and about, Aiden made every effort he could for them to be together and enjoy themselves. They watched movies, went for some short walks, smiled and laughed together. But these moments were few and far between right now. Aiden would catch Pat watching him sometimes and he would just know his boyfriend was desperate to offer even more waves of apologies, but the words didn’t come anymore. It would just end up upsetting them both.

( Aiden had spent many hours talking to Pat’s family and friends about the MS and about how Pat deals with it, and even more hours researching it online... )

Patrick Preston [sexyinscrubs], Tara Brennan-Campbell [doctortara], Lachlan Campbell [drcampbell] & Andrew Connor [paramedically] referenced with permission


Word Count | 860

Track 12. Oh I know everything that I do tonight // Means nothing if I don't succeed
(Jebediah – ‘Animal’)

[Follows THIS]

Aiden felt sick. It was taking all his effort not to cry as he paced back and forth in the corridor of the Emergency Room. He had tried to prepare for this, but it was impossible. He just couldn’t shake the image of Pat lying at the bottom of the shower, blood mixing with the water as it seeped down the drain.

Last night seemed to be the start of it, but there was no reason to think Pat wasn’t just tired from the trip and needed a good night’s sleep. Pat obviously had no indication to think otherwise either or he would have mentioned feeling off. Aiden’s abrupt 4.30am wake up call of Pat being violently sick in the en suite bathroom hadn’t even rung warning bells. The favoured explanation for that was Pat ate something on the plane back from Mexico that didn’t agree with him. Three near misses and a casualty of Egyptian cotton sheets later, Pat crawled back into bed at around eight am, stomach now completely empty, and fell into a deep sleep. Aiden did everything he needed to help, with Pat repeatedly assuring him he was okay. He didn’t exactly think he would fill the nurse shoes or scrubs with quite the same finesse as his boyfriend did, but he did his damnest, teetering on the edge of helplessness the whole time.

( Two hours later, Pat woke up again and this time something was off... )

All characters referenced with permission


Word Count | 901

Track 02. I love you anyhow // And I don’t care // If you don’t want me // I’m yours right now
(Screamin' Jay Hawkins – ‘I Put a Spell on You’)

Co-written with sexyinscrubs | Follows THIS and THIS

Room 301, 302, 303, 304… 305. Aiden looked up at the numbers above the door of the hospital room. It was a real trendy facility, not that he had much to compare it with. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been anywhere near a hospital. It had been years, so he could only assume it was trendy. It was also where half of Luke’s new pod worked, Pat included. He wondered what it must be like for Pat to find himself a patient in his own workplace, but it’s not like the poor guy had a choice.

The nurse at the reception pointed Aiden in the direction of Pat’s room, 305, in the west wing Medical Ward. He realised his stomach was flipping with nerves and was more than convinced Pat was going to tell him to piss off. Still, with his balls firmly gripped in his hand (proverbially, of course), he knocked softly on the glass door of Pat’s room and took a tentative step inside. One arm was nestled around a large bunch of flowers which hopefully conveyed his apologies for coming on too strong as well as the standard ‘feel better’ wishes. The other man still had a sickly pallor to him and looked weak and tired in the hospital bed. There was a drip in his arm and the room was dimmed from the sun outside with the vertical drapes drawn almost all the way. Bouquets of flowers already dotted the room, indicating to Aiden his original suspicions that Pat was popular, despite the self-esteem issues. It didn’t seem to make sense.

( “So, I was, uh, in the neighbourhood and thought I’d drop in to see if you were up for visitors,” Aiden said with a small smile... )


Word Count | 1,940