Chapter Text
GABE
Gabe wakes slowly. Not all at once-just enough to feel it first. The ache.
It sits deep in his stomach, heavy and sore, like something inside him has been moved around and hasn’t quite settled back yet. It’s not the sharp, twisting pain he’s used to-the kind that makes him curl in on himself and wait it out. This is different.
He shifts a little in the hospital bed and a small sound slips out before he can stop it. His hand presses instinctively over his abdomen, careful, protective.
Right. Surgery. It comes back in pieces. The bright lights. The mask. His dad’s voice telling him he’d be right there when he woke up. Six year old Natalie making a face to try to make him laugh even though she looked like she might cry.
This is his first big surgery since he was a baby. He’s seven, almost eight now, so doesn’t remember that one-but everyone else does.
He knows the story anyway. How something inside him stopped working when he was eight months old-his intestines just… stopped moving. Completely blocked. They almost lost him before anyone figured out what was wrong.
They fixed it. But not really.
Since then, his body’s never worked the way it’s supposed to. Food doesn’t move right. Sometimes it slows way down. Sometimes it feels like it stops completely, and when it does, the pain builds and builds until it feels like something is twisting inside him.
The doctors call them “pseudo-obstructions.” Not a real blockage-but it feels exactly like one.
He’s learned to live with it. Mostly.
He blinks his eyes open, the room coming into focus; soft lights, pale walls, the quiet hum of machines. The chair in the corner shifts.
His mom.
Diana is curled up there, asleep, her head tipped against the side, resting on an extra set of pillows they’d brought for his family, hair falling into her face. Gabe watches her for a moment. She looks calm. That makes something in his chest loosen just a little.
“Mom?” he says softly. No response. He glances toward the door.
Dad must’ve taken Nat to the cafeteria. She’d been getting restless earlier, asking when Gabe could play, kicking her feet against the chair. Gabe had told them to go.
‘I’m fine.’ He’d assured his Dad. He always says that. The room settled again. Quieter as his mom read to him, he’d fallen asleep to her voice. She’d been okay.
But now.. she’s moving again. The chair creaks as Diana stirs, shifting upright, blinking like she’s trying to figure out where she is.
“Mom?” Gabe says again, a little more awake now. Her gaze finds him..then freezes..something changes. It’s small at first; just confusion, her brow pulling together like something doesn’t make sense.
Oh no.. Gabe’s stomach tightens.
“Hey momma,” he says, keeping his voice soft. “Dad took Nat to get food. They’ll be back soon.”
She doesn’t answer, her eyes move over him slowly. The hospital gown. The IV. The way he’s sitting up in the bed, smaller somehow against all the white. Her breathing shifts.
“…no,” she murmurs. Gabe stills.
“No?” he echoes. She shakes her head slightly, like she’s trying to wake herself up from something.
“This isn’t right-” she starts, then stops. Her eyes snap back to his face. And this time.. her expression is twisted in fear.
“Where is he?” she asks suddenly. Gabe blinks.
“What?”
“My son,” she says, her voice tightening. “Where is my son?” His chest drops.
“I- I’m right here,” he says quickly, a little breathless. “Mom, it’s me-it’s Gabe.”
She flinches. Actually flinches-like he said something wrong.
“No,” she says, louder now. “No, you’re not-” Her gaze darts over him again, landing on the IV taped to his arm, the way his face still looks pale and tired from surgery.
“He’s not sick,” she says, almost desperately. “He’s not-he’s fine, he’s okay, he’s-” Gabe’s hands tighten in the blanket.
“Mom,” he says again, softer this time. “It’s me. I’m okay, I promise.” But her expression only gets worse.
“No,” she insists, shaking her head harder. “No, you’re not him.”
The words hit him hard and he freezes. His entire body suddenly feels very cold. He doesn’t know what to do.
He’s helped her before-when she gets confused, when she forgets things or mixes them up. He knows how to be gentle. Calm. Reassuring.
But…she’s never looked at him like this. Like he’s wrong. Like…like he shouldn’t be there.
“You need to leave,” she says suddenly, standing too fast. The chair scrapes loudly against the floor. “You can’t be here-”
“Mom-” Gabe pushes himself up a little, wincing. “Hey, it’s okay, just-just look at me, okay? It’s me, I promise-”
“Don’t,” she snaps, her finger coming up to point at him- it is shaking.
“Don’t say that.” She steps closer. Too close. Too upset. Gabe instinctively leans back against the raised hospital bed, heart starting to pound.
It feels wrong, to shrink away from his mom. The pit in his stomach is making him nauseous in a way that has nothing to do with his illness. This isn’t right..
“You’re not him,” she says again, frantic now. “My son is fine. He’s not like this, he’s not-”
Her hands come up suddenly and grab him. Hard. Her fingers clamp around his shoulders, right where the hospital gown hangs loose, and she shakes him.
“Where is he?” she demands, her voice breaking. “What did you do with him?!”
Pain flares instantly where her nails dig into him- the shaking creates a sharp pulling against everything that still hurts from surgery.
“Mom!” Gabe cries out, his voice small and scared now. “Stop, you’re- you’re hurting me!”
But she doesn’t stop.
“Tell me where he is!” she pleads, shaking him again, nails biting harder. “Give him back, give him back!”
Tears spill over immediately, hot and fast.
“I am him!” Gabe sobs, the words breaking apart. “I am-please, Momma, it’s me!”
The door bursts open.
“Ma’am!” Two nurses rush in, moving quickly toward them.
“Let go of him!” one says firmly, grabbing Diana’s wrists, pulling her hands away from Gabe’s shoulders.
Gabe gasps as the pressure releases, immediately curling forward, one arm wrapping protectively around his stomach, the other pulling in close to his chest.
Diana struggles against them as another nurse steps in to help, panic still wild in her eyes and movements.
“That’s not my son!” she cries, trying to reach for him again. “You don’t understand, he’s gone, he’s-”
“It’s okay,” one nurse says, guiding her back toward the door. “You’re overwhelmed, we’re going to step out for a minute-”
“I’m not leaving without him!” Diana protests, voice breaking completely now. “Please-!” Gabe looks up through blurred vision.
“Mom..?” he tries again, but it comes out barely audible. She doesn’t look at him. Not once.
They guide her out into the hallway, her voice fading as she keeps insisting, keeps searching for someone who apparently…isn’t him.
The door shuts automatically behind them. The sudden silence crashes down.
Gabe sits there, shaking, his shoulders aching where she grabbed him, his stomach throbbing where he moved too much. His chest heaves.
He presses his hand over his mouth, trying to quiet the sounds coming out of him, but it doesn’t work. He feels small. Too small.
Like he did something wrong. Like maybe-maybe she’s right. HE isn’t right. Tears slip down his face, one after another, faster than he can wipe them away.
“I am him,” he whispers, voice breaking. “I am…”
The door opens again and his nurse, Barb he remembers, rushes to him with one of the nurses who had taken his mom out.
“Oh sweetheart.” Barb says as she sits on his bed and pulls him into a hug. It’s not the hug he wants.. he wants his mom. But Barb’s rubbing circles on his back and whispering ‘it’s going to be okay’ and he lets himself lose it, crying loudly into her shoulder.
The other nurse works quickly, checking his incision site and vitals as Barb holds him and narrates what ‘Harry’ is doing as he’s doing it. Harry declares he’s ’okay’ after using an alcohol wipe to clean where his mom’s nails cut into his shoulders. It stings. He didn’t feel okay.
A few seconds later, the door opens again.
Dan steps in first, a tray balanced in one hand, Natalie just behind him- and everything stops as he takes in the scene and its..wrong.
Because Gabe is curled in on himself in his nurse’s arms, crying so hard he can’t hide it, hands shaking, face wet with tears. The chair where his mom was- was empty.
The tray clatters onto the counter.
“Gabe?” Dan says, alarm cutting through his voice instantly. Natalie freezes in the doorway, eyes wide. Gabe looks up at them, his face crumpling all over again when he sees them- and this time, he doesn’t even try to pretend he’s okay.
He can distantly hear Harry explain what happened. That;
“Everyone is physically okay though. She’s currently in a room down the hall with another nurse. Our psych doctor is in his way down. I’m sorry sir, but she’ll likely have to be on a psych hold..”
Gabe couldn’t listen much more.