Caretaker learns of all the horrible things that happened to Whumpee while Whumpee is still in the hospital. Every time Caretaker sees Whumpee’s injuries, images of what must have occurred to create them after hearing the stories flashed through their mind and Caretaker isn’t able to fully hide how upset it made them.
Whumpee sees the tears Caretaker loses despite the way they tried to hide them and knows Caretaker has been told. It was evident in the way Caretaker’s eyes grow sad whenever they come into their room despite their attempts to remain upbeat and happy.
“I’m sorry,” Whumpee whispers to Caretaker in the dead of night one night.
Guilt had hit Whumpee deep in their chest when they had blinked their eyes open to see tears glistening on Caretaker’s face even in the dark. Caretaker was rubbing their fingers in a small pattern on Whumpee’s forearm, carefully avoiding any bandaged spot on Whumpee, hoping to soothe them gently even as they had thought Whumpee was still asleep.
Caretaker gathers a sad smile on their face, not trying to wipe away the evidence of their emotions this time.
“Shh. No need to apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong. Not one single thing.”
Caretaker continues to caress Whumpee’s arm, shushing them to sleep a bit longer.
Tears still fell silently from Caretaker’s cheeks and Whumpee still felt a speck of guilt settled deep in their bones. But Caretaker never stopped their gentle, soothing touches and Whumpee gratefully accepted the comfort.
Neither had talked about what happened in the days since Whumpee finally woke up in the hospital and perhaps they never would, but here, in the dead of night in the middle of the hospital, Caretaker found comfort in feeling Whumpee still warm and alive beneath their fingers tips and Whumpee took comfort in Caretaker’s tears, knowing it meant someone still cared for them.
It wasn’t perfect. Nothing would be for quite a while— if ever again. It wasn’t something grand or important. But this moment of quietness together, where Whumpee and Caretaker can just sit in their feelings and breathe a moment together despite it being shadowed in sadness, felt more like an understanding had come between them than anything before.