pandaphin (pandaphin) wrote in morningstar_mnr, @ 2009-11-02 01:39:00 |
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Entry tags: | bridget, phin |
Panda Apartment, Sunday night, Bridget & Phin
Phin was a little more comfortable than he'd been lately. The neck brace was gone. He still had the leg brace but that was going to take longer to heal. His back still hurt pretty much all the time but at least he could lay down and sleep on his side. He was getting a little better at moving around the apartment without being able to see too, though that wasn't rally something he thought he should be excited about. He was still having trouble keeping track of time without being able to see.
After dinner, he'd attempted to help with bath time but Jeth - who was on a post-Halloween sugar high - had dove out of the tub at him and Phin had fallen back trying to make sure he didn't drop him and hit the back of his head on the tank of the toilet. There was a small welt there now and ever since he'd had what he would have previously classified as a blinding headache if he wasn't already blind. He'd managed to help with the rest of bath time and changing the kids into their pajamas but after that had staggered back to the mater bedroom to lay down. It took awhile to fall asleep but the headache hadn't subsided.
He wasn't sure what time it was when a sudden bright light interrupted his sleep but it caused him to let out a groan and to tug the covers up over his face. "Gotta warn a guy 'fore turnin' the light on..." He murmured tiredly, not nearly awake enough to register that he was indeed processing that a light was on in the room, something he hadn't been capable of doing since he'd gone into his first surgery at the hospital.
Bridget was at the bedroom doorway, her hand on the light switch. She'd come in, ready for bed, after watching some television in the living room. "Sorry," she said. "I thought you were as..." She cut herself off with a confused frown. Her heartrate felt like it picked up a little. "Wait. Is that some kind of joke?"
Phin's forehead scrunched. "What's ta joke 'bout." He reluctantly rolled onto his back with a painful quiet grunt of an exhale, backs of his hands shielding his eyes. "Y'can't just turn lights on when someone's sleepin'." He said through a yawn, still coming out of his sleep daze and squinting his eyes shot around his hands.
Bridget's eyes, on the other hand, got wider. She dropped her hand off the switch and approached the bed. "Phin," she said firmly to get his attention. "You can see the light?"
"That's not funny," He said, assuming this was some kind of afterlife joke. He grimaced and scrunched his face up as he moved to put his hands on the bed and push himself into a seated position. He reached up to rub the crust out of his eyes afterward. He turned his head in the direction of her voice, which was in the direction of the edge of the bed, and finally opened his eyes. Everything was bright, fuzzy and blurry. The pain of the sudden light was so sharp, it felt like needles poking into his eyeballs, so a moment later he squeezed his eyes shut and reached his hands up to let his fingers rub over his eyelids. Okay, that was kind of scary.
"No, you joking about seeing light isn't--are you okay?" She took her last few steps quickly and bent down to put her hand on his shoulder and look into his face.
Phin let go of his eyes and blink rapidly a few times. He opened them, squinting in the light and turned this head to the blurry blob of what had to obviously be Bridget's face. He blinked a few more times and squinted a little more to try and see if he could focus but it wasn't working. Still! It was something other than darkness! His mouth fell open a little in stunned silence. "Everything's blurry." He answered.
"Oh my God." A grin took over Bridget's face and she let out a laugh. "Oh my God, really?" She lifted her hand and waved it in front of his face a few times.
Phin blinked rapidly. He would have liked to have found this funny but he still had a blinding migraine. It was hard not to smile a little though. "Yeah rea-hey..." He lifted his hand up to try and catch whatever she was waving in front of his face and eventually when he caught it, he realized it was her hand and then hesitated a moment. He reached his other hand up to the side of her face and tried to focus again but everything was still blurry. He nodded though. "Yeah. Really." He said.
Bridget let out another amazed laugh, sitting down on the bed next to him after he caught her hand and touched her face. "That hit on your head...it must have done something, maybe." She squeezed his hand tightly and turned to glance up at the light. "Is it too bright? Should I turn off the big light?"
Phin squeezed her hand to keep her from getting up when she suggested turning the light off. It hurt like hell but it was so much better than the dark. "No! No, no, no, no, no!" He shook his head quickly but kept his voice down so the kids wouldn't wake up. He smiled a little more now. "I've been in the dark too long," He added. He kept blinking, trying to clear the fuzziness from his sight. "We can leave it on a little longer." He said. They could turn on the night stand lamps too he supposed but he wasn't sure if that would make it even more blurry. He wasn't sure if he should be worried about the pain or not. He kept his eyes on her face, willing them to focus so he could see her, regardless of whatever it was that he might see in her eyes so long as he could just see them.
"Okay," Bridget nodded. "I'll stay." If he could see her eyes at that moment, he'd see that she was pretty genuinely happy for once. She looked right back into his, seeing if they looked more focused than usual. "Is it getting better or staying blurry?"
Phin let out a sigh of relief when she said she'd stay. He could tell she was happy by the sound of her voice and also by the blurry line he though was her mouth and was all curved up in a smile. "Still blurry." He said, unable to help sounding concerned about that. And there was that pain too. But was that just from hitting his head or something else they should be concerned about? Should they be calling the doctor? Was blurry vision better than no vision at all? He was thinking yes.
Bridget hadn't been the blind one, but she would have thought the answer to that was hell yes. She nodded at his answer, disappointed, but maybe they just needed to give it more time. "Let me know if there's any change," she said after a moment.
Phin nodded. "I will," He assured though he was pretty sure she would probably be able to tell. He wondered how much different he looked being able to at least turn his eyes to aim them instead of just staring off and wildly trying to train them on something but being unable to. "...It feels weird." He admitted.
It was nothing short of amazing that he was actually able to look right at her. She couldn't help but laugh a little again at his comment. "A good kind of weird though, right?"
Phin nodded. "My head still hurts though," When Jeth had taken that slippery leap off the edge of the tub, Phin had heard Bridget shouting for him not to and he had been concerned about not being able to see Jeth to catch him and keep him from getting hurt. He never would have thought that smacking the back of his head on a damn toilet would mean that he'd be able to see again, even if it was just blurry blobs of shapes. "Can we go see the kids?" That was probably a bad idea, even though he really wanted to, despite only being able to see blurs. "Maybe we shouldn't turn their lights on though," His forehead scrunched up a little and his eyes moved back to what he thought would have been her eyes, at the least it was her face. "Should we call the doctor?" It was probably too late in the evening for that though.
Bridget still held onto Phin's hand, but moved off the bed to stand up. "We should see the kids," she agreed. "Calling the doctor would be a good idea, but it depends on whether or not you want to wait until morning."
He nodded. "We can wait until morning to call the doctor." He decided, especially if this was a fluke and he was going to wake up in the morning and be blind again. Okay," He nodded, moving to swing his legs over the edge of the bed. He took care in standing up since his knee was still pretty bad. He looked toward the nightstand and reached out to grab the long hooked shape that had to be his cane. He just grabbed one though, for once not fumbling for them, and tucked it under his arm. He took a look around the room finally, blinking again before his brought his eyes back to Bridget. "I can see." He stated the obvious, more excited now despite the headache. "Everything's blurry...but, I'm not in the dark..."
Bridget gave him some space so he could get up. She watched him reach more easily for the cane with a grin on her face. "I've never been so happy that Jeth divebombed you," she said before she kissed him without thinking much about it. This was just so amazing. She had resigned herself to thinking Phin's blindness was permanent.
Phin let out a small snort of laughter. "Tell me about-," he cut off when she kissed him, not expecting it but managing to return the kiss. He was a little shell shocked, but in the good kind of way. He really had resigned himself, while in the hospital, to living the rest of his life blind. He had even started getting used to the darkness. This was incredible.
Bridget smiled. "Let's go." She started for the kids' rooms, walking slowly and keeping her eyes on Phin to see how well he was navigating.
Phin limped along with her, so glad he didn't have to throw a hand out to grope around in order to get through the doorway. "I'm not used to moving so easily." And what a thing to say since he was still lumbering along.
"Guess you're going to have to now," Bridget smiled. Provided this was going to last. She flipped on the light in the hall and opened the first kid's door.
Phin smiled a little. He wasn't sure if he should gets his hopes up for this being permanent but for now he wanted to be happy even with his blurred vision. "We don't have to wake them," He said. "...I just want to see..." he paused and cleared is throat a little, maybe a little emotional and excited about possibly seeing the kids. "To see them." He corrected.
"Sure," Bridget nodded, her smile widening. She held the door open so the light from the hallway would shine in. "I'll be right behind you," she told him.
Phin nodded nervously. "Okay," He said quietly before he lumbered into the room, taking care to be as quiet as possible. He stayed out of the way of the light from the door after he made it to the bed and leaned over enough to squint down at Jeth. He could make out the outlines of the covers and Jeth's head and shoulders, his hair and even some of his ear. His vision wound up a little extra blurry after that since they glassed over a little. There was a small sad smile on his face. He was worried this would go away instead of getting better and he was sad because he didn't want to wake them...but at the same time he was dying to do so.
Bridget walked up next to Phin and put her hand on his back. She looked back and forth between them. "Can you see him?" she asked quietly. Judging from what she could see of Phin's face in the shadows, the answer was yes.
Phin could only nod at first, unable to pull his eyes away from Jeth for a moment. "I can." He nodded again before the corners of his mouth turned up a bit. He sniffled quickly and carefully leaned over enough so he could run his fingers lightly through Jeth's hair. He hadn't done so to either kid very often when he wasn't already holding them because he didn't want to risk poking them in the eye or anything crazy.
Bridget moved her arm further around Phin when she heard that sniffle. She felt pretty worked up too. Phin being able to see again was like pretty much crazy and miracle-like. She leaned her head against his side and looked down at his hand and Jeth.
And this wouldn't be happening if Bridget hadn't insisted that he come home since he wasn't exactly capable of taking care of himself when they'd let him out of the hospital. He ran his fingers through Jeth's hair one more time but stopped when Jeth rolled over and burrowed his head a little more into the pillow. He stood up straighter again and leaned just a little bit of his weight back against Bridget since she was leaning on his side and all. He'd take blurry over only being able to 'see' memories in his mind's eye definitely, not that he minded being able to see the memories and all.
After taking a few more moments with Jeth, they made their way to Penny's room for a similar scene, but thankfully didn't wake her up either. Once they were back in the hallway, heading for the bedroom, Phin stopped a moment and turned to look at Bridget. "I don't know how to adequately thank you for letting me come back when they released me," He said, still keeping his voice to a normal tone used once the kids were asleep. Anyway, his statement was true. If he hadn't come back, then the Jeth Bath Time Dive-bomb probably wouldn't have happened because blind Phin wouldn't have been able to take part in Panda-kids bath time.
Bridget stopped and looked at him. She furrowed her brow some to prevent her face looking too emotional, something she now had to look out for again since Phin could actually see her. "You're welcome," she said, a little quieter than his voice. "Doing it wasn't really a question."
Phin nodded a little, squinting a little more to try and read her expressions but he just couldn't see them properly. "I know," He said quiet. "Regardless, thank you." He said again. He thought about kissing her, like actually kissing her but settled on managing to lean forward and kiss her forehead without having to put a hand on the side of her face so he knew where it was like he normally did with the kids.
Bridget smiled a bit and put her hand on his arm. "Do you want to go to bed, or is there anything else you want to look at?" She asked as she moved her thumb up and down a few times.
Phin thought about that for a moment. On the one hand he was scared to go to sleep in case he woke up in the dark again. But his head was still in pain and he was exhausted from the day and now the emotional stuff with the blurry vision to add to it. He nodded. "Let's head to bed..." He eventually decided. However, he was planning on looking at her a little more before he closed his eyes again.
"All right," Bridget nodded. She slid her hand down his arm and stepped aside so he could head on into the bedroom.
Phin watched her blurry form for a moment before he nodded and hobbled back into the room. He made it to the edge of the bed and let out a deep breath as he sat down and moved to put his cane back down. "What a day..." He said with a sigh, and a hint of a smile around the corners of his mouth.
Bridget was smiling a little herself. She walked over to turn on one of the lamps next to the bed before she went back to flip off the ceiling light. "What a night," she added as she headed back to the bed. "Is it still just as blurry as before?"
Phin blinked and let his eyes adjust to the new light and then reached out to turn his own lamp on. He moved to sit back against the head board after putting his legs up and let his eyes follow her shape around the room. "Yeah," He nodded. "Head still hurts too," He nodded. "I'll take it over the dark though," He added with a quick few nods, "Definitely."
"Yeah, I imagine you would," Bridget nodded as she climbed into bed. "We can leave the lights on when we fall asleep," she suggested. "So you don't have to wake up in the dark." Provided his eyes weren't going to stop working again.
Phin smiled, a little relieved at that prospect. "Are you sure?" He asked since it might put her out to have to sleep with the light on. He was worried that his eyes would stop working again. "We don't have to if it'll keep you away," He added as he let his eyes keep following her, this time with purpose instead of just staring at nothing.
"I'll be fine," Bridget assured with a shake of her head. After a moment she added, "It's strange that it feels so odd to see your eyes following me around."
Phin couldn't keep his eyes off of her actually as he moved to lay down properly and roll onto his side so he could face her. "Well it sounds as strange as I'm sure it feels." He nodded. He hesitated a moment, unsure how she would react but eventually gave in and admitted, "I miss your eyes." Regardless of whether or not they would be sad with all he'd done to her. He just missed them. He missed her whole face, everybody's even, but he really missed her eyes. The kids too. He felt completely disconnected from all of them without being able to see them.
Bridget closed her eyes for a moment when he said that and let out a quiet breath. She thought back to that morning in the hospital after Phin's accident, when he was making stream of consciousness babbles about her and the kids. But mostly her. She'd been doing her best to help Phin since he came home (and even before that, in the hospital), but now that he was able to see somewhat, she was just starting to realize that things were going to get awkward very fast.
"Does my face only look like a blob to you?" she asked, looking down at him.
Yeah they were and Phin was dreading that but he felt worse being as dependent on her as the kids when he was a grown man and once she was supposed to pretty much hate at that. "Pretty much," He answered. "I can make out the outlines of your eyes sorta...and your mouth..." He nodded. "Its like..." he tried to figure out how to explain it. "Waking up in the middle of the night to get one of the kids." They'd both stumbled around out of the master bedroom and blearily bumped into things on the way thanks to that until their vision cleared. His just hadn't cleared yet...if it was going to.
Bridget nodded and added an "Oh," as she was now pretty much used to vocalizing just about everything since Phin couldn't see her body language. She moved to lie down and put her head on her pillow. "I really can't believe this is happening."
Phin's eyes kept following her. He couldn't help it. "I'm not entirely convinced I'm actually awake." He admitted. and more importantly, he wasn't convinced that once he went to sleep, he'd wake up and still be able to see. So there might've been a fair amount of fear in his eyes because of that.
That didn't go unnoticed and so Bridget lifted her hand to the side of his face with a small smile. "Trust me, you are," she assured. "And no matter what happens with this, we'll deal with it."
"Okay..." He said with a small nod, closing his eyes for just a moment when she put her hand on his face. He was going to have to remember these last few moments when it came time for her to go back to hating him and wanting a divorce. He hoped this blurriness lasted until at least the morning so he could see the kids while they were awake.
Bridget had promised him that she'd give them another try, but they'd been stuck in limbo since Phin came home from the hospital. He was still recovering, so Bridget stayed in caregiver mode instead of worrying too much about their marriage problems. But they were going to have to have some serious talks about it soon, instead of Bridget always brushing Phin off and reminding him he had more important things to worry about. She moved her thumb along his cheek for a few quiet moments before she pulled her arm back again.
Phin had tried bring it up multiple times because he knew it had to be difficult and exhausting for her, their current arrangement. "I'll call the doc in the morning." he said since he didnt know what else to say.
It was, but it would be difficult and exhausting anyway taking care of both Phin and the kids, even if things were okay between them. "Yeah," Bridget agreed. "If we tried to get in touch with any of them now, they'd probably just say to wait until the morning anyway."
Phin just nodded. "All I've been able to see lately are memories." And he'd tried to keep most of them to himself to keep from upsetting her too much.
Bridget tried not to frown. "That's...one of the saddest things I've ever heard you say." And she'd heard quite a few depressing statements from Phin over the past few months. She reached out for his hand. "Do you remember what the kids look like?" She'd been afraid to ask this, but she'd been wondering.
Phin face twisted up. "Of course I do..." and then a horrible thought struck him and his face twisted more as a worried expression crossed over it and he paled a little. "Th-they haven't changed that much have they?" was that why she was asking?
Bridget realized she probably should have kept this question unasked. She shook her head quickly. "No, no, not that much," she assured. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to imply anything, I was just curious."
It was pretty sad that this was what everything had come down to. He let out a shaky breath when she assured him they hadn't changed all that much. It was all still terrifying. "Sorry..." he apologized for spazzing. "I remember what they look like. You too...at varying ages...memories and all that." he frowned and turned his eyes down to the bed as he thought about the night she'd asked him to babysit while she went on some date. He'd flipped through all their photo albums that night and had taken a handful of photos home with him, photos he couldn't currently see. It was all pretty sad and pathetic really.
"It's all right," Bridget shook her head as she moved her thumb over his fingers. "And that's good. That you remember." She cleared her throat a little. "And..hopefully you won't have to remember anymore, 'cause you'll be able to see the kids whenever you want again."
"Yeah," Phin nodded. "Hopefully." He closed his eyes for a moment and let out a tired sigh. He was hoping that if he rested them for a moment, his vision would clear when he opened them again. It didn't work though, her face was still blurry when he opened his eyes.
"Any better?" she asked, arching her eyebrows hopefully even though she figured he would tell her if that were so.
"Not really." He shook his head. "My head hurts pretty bad." He admitted though he figured it was just cause of the welt on the back of it still being sore. He frowned because he knew sleeping was inevitable and that meant closing his eyes for a lot longer and possible waking up blind again.
Bridget's face fell at his response. She nodded and asked, "Do you want me to get some medicine for it?"
Phin shook his head a little. "No, no," He didn't want her to have to get up again. He didn't want to be alone either with his blurry vision. It would be a waste. He almost wished one of the kids would have a bad dream and come strolling on in so he could be with them while they were awake. He felt bad for thinking it.
"All right," Bridget agreed. She didn't know if he just didn't need it or if he didn't want her to leave. She was sure it was the latter, which made her frown. She turned her head down toward their hands. She was quiet for a few moments before she cleared her throat a bit and spoke. "Do you remember what I told you in the hospital? About trying to work this out between us?"
Phin was dreading whatever she was going to say next. He didn't need to see her to know that the way she'd cleared her throat meant serious business. His face fell a little even though he'd fought to keep it steady. He nodded. "Yes," he answered, and he did too. He turned his eyes down reluctantly and added. "If you've changed your mind, y'know...it's..." he paused and cleared his own throat. "It's okay."
"I know we haven't talked about it much since then," Bridget continued, not directly responding to what he just said, "but if your sight comes back, you're not going to be as dependent on me and the question of what we're going to do is going to come up." She tilted her head up again and looked at him, frowning a little more when she saw the disappointed look on his face. "I told you I wanted to try and I still do, so...I've been thinking and I think maybe we should try going to see someone. A marriage counselor. Because knowing us, we won't be able to get anywhere on our own." She wasn't sure what Phin would think of this idea, but she also knew that he wasn't really in a position to refuse it.
Phin nodded as she went on. They hadn't talked about it much, but he'd tried to start conversations on it, even just to show her that he was still well aware that he'd fucked up and had to pay the consequences. He turned his eyes back up and squinted to focus them a little more - just a little more but not much more than how blurry they were a minute ago. His eyebrows arched a little. Phin was not the kind of guy who liked other people meddling in his business, especially when it came to Bridget or the kids, but if going to a counselor meant getting a chance to try and put them back together, he would readily agree. So he nodded. "Okay," He answered without so much as a flinch or a missed beat. "Okay," He repeated with another nod. "I think that's a good idea." He said before adding. "But only if you're sure. Don't get me wrong, I'm willing to do anything you want me to, I just...I really do want you to give us a chance if you want to, not...y'know...not because you feel guilty that a building fell on me." He wanted so badly to tell her that he loved her and to thank her again repeatedly for letting him come back after the accident.
She wasn't all that surprised at how easily he answered. She was fairly certain she could have asked him to jump off the building and he'd do it if it meant they'd reconcile. And that was a large part of the reason why she was willing to try and fix things -- it was more than clear he was remorseful and guilt-ridden and wanted to make up for his mistake. It was just too bad the mistake was so colossal, or else this wouldn't be such an uphill battle for her.
"That's not the reason why," she said, though the accident did have a lot to do with it. If she hadn't almost lost him, she might not have ever realized how much she wanted him back. "So I'm sure about this. We both like our privacy, I know, but I'd be willing to sacrifice a little of that with some therapist if it meant we'd be able to have...constructive conversations. About what you did."
Phin was a little relieved when she said that wasn't the reason why. And he really would have done anything she asked him to, pretty much. He turned his eyes down a little, guiltily, at that last part and nodded. "Okay," He agreed. "Does that mean you have one you want to go to or should we start looking for one?" Not that he could exactly look for one just yet, eyes and all. Still.
She shook her head. "I poked around a little bit online, but never nailed anything down. It's be nice to just ask people I know, but asking for advice on marriage counselors is a little more awkward than asking for recommendations for dentists and pediatricians."
Phin frowned some a nodded. He wanted to ask her what he family thought, about all of this, but he didn't want to cause some kind of fight or anything. "I'm sorry," He said even though their marriage had been full of fighting and issues before he'd gone and made it worse. What he did was still worse than whatever issues they had from the get go.
Bridget took a slow breath and after a moment nodded. "I know you are," she said quietly. "Which is why I'm willing to try and work this out with you."
Phin turned his eyes back to her. He thought they might be a little clearer but he wasn't sure if he was just hoping that was the case. He ignored it for the moment and nodded. "Thank you." he said. "Really. For everything."
"You're welcome." She turned her eyes down to their hands and tried to push away the usual mental images that sprang to mind when they spoke about Phin's indiscretion. She had a pretty vivid imagination, which didn't help when it came to this.
Phin squeezed her hand a little. "...If you change your mind at any point or...you decide you just can't get past it...just say so," He wondered if she realized at all how painful it was to even say such a thing. He was hoping, though, that being so even tempered about whatever her decision was would, at the very least, keep them on civil terms through a divorce and sorting out all the custody stuff that was bound to get complicated in the end if that's what road they wound up taking. He didn't want her to force herself to be miserable because of what he did, even though he really, really wanted to get them past this.
"I will," Bridget said without hesitation. She most definitely would do so should the situation arise. She hoped it wouldn't, though. It wasn't like she wanted their marriage to fall apart.
Phin nodded, a little sadden by how quickly she just jumped on that. He shouldn't have been so hurt or surprised by it but he just couldn't help it. But she was willing to try and that's what he was pinning all of his hopes on at the moment. "Okay," He said. He opened his mouth to go on but the sound of the door opening from it's cracked open spot wide enough to let in a grumpy little Jeth, rubbing his eyes and making his grumpy half awake and wanting to be asleep but had a bad dream noises as he murmured Bridget's name. Phin moved to sit up so he could try looking across the room where Jeth was stumbling on in.
Bridget sat up quickly, now used to intercepting the kids before they got a chance to jump all over Phin. When she was upright she remembered Phin's now-blurry sight. She glanced back at him quickly before turning to Jeth. "Hey, honey," she said in her sweet motherly tone. "What's the matter?"
Phin was blinking and trying as hard as he could to clear the blurred vision, even closing his eyes for a couple seconds at a time and opening them to no avail. He tried not to frown. Jeth shambled over to Bridget's side of the bed since she'd been intercepting lately and daddy had trouble picking him and Penny up. "Monster inna pool," He frowned in that pouty tone. It sounded kinda like 'mobsters' instead of monsters. He started trying to climb as soon as he reached her side of the bed.
"Oh," Bridget frowned as she leaned over and hoisted him up. "Not again. It was just a dream, Jeth. There are no monsters in the pool." That reassurance still didn't explain what had happened that one day, but Bridget didn't know what to make of it in the first place. She gave Jeth a kiss on the side of his head and moved him between her and Phin on the bed so Phin could get a look at him.
Phin almost snorted. Between the monsters in the pool dream and Penny's seals with clown noses nightmares, they had some strange kids. But strange kids that Phin could kinda see now! He turned toward them both and smiled some as Jeth tried to decide who he wanted to snuggled up to. Phin reached out and brushed his hand through Jeth's hair. "Mom's right, dude." He nodded.
Jeth turned his eyes to look at his daddy and his forehead furrowed up. He looked at his moment and pointed at Phin. "Daddy's eyes'er funny." He said in a matter-of-fact tone.
Bridget couldn't help but smile at that. "Yeah, they are," she nodded as she moved her hand over Jeth's back. She wanted to tell him that Phin was able to see a little, but if it didn't last, then it would only make things more complicated for the poor kid to tell him that he couldn't anymore. She turned her eyes to Phin, unsure of how he wanted to handle it.
Phin kept his hand on the side of Jeth's head and he carefully leaned over to kiss the side of his head. He moved to lay down again, facing them, to try and entice Jeth into lying down. "Your eyes are funny when you wake up too," He said. "All cruddy in the corners." he grimaced as Jeth nodded in agreement. He moved free of their arms and started to settle in between both of them. He would be quite content to stay and sleep here for the night after the scary pool monster dream.
Bridget moved to lay down as well. She reached down to adjust the covers over all three of them. She knew that Phin wanted to literally see the kids, so she would let Jeth stay with them instead of trying to put him back to bed. "Okay, you can sleep with us tonight," she said, "but this isn't going to become a habit." She leaned over and kissed the side of Jeth's head.
Phin kept his eyes trained on Jeth as he snuggled in and thanked Bridget when she said he could sleep there. He liked mommy and daddy's enormous bed lots. Plus they were warm and it was comfy and they were both there so Jeth was happy despite his nightmare. He waited until Bridget had given him a kiss to lean over and kiss the other side of Jeth's head. He looked over at Bridget and quietly asked. "How long before P-e-n-n-y comes looking for the party?" He smirked just a tiny bit. It always seemed like one twin or the other caught on to when one of them was up and not in their room. Or they always had nightmares on the same night. Quite frankly it was freaky.
"I bet he's sending out his twin signals to her as we speak," Bridget smiled. She'd always read about twins having weird little connections to one another, but she hadn't actually thought it was possible until she had a pair of her own.
Phin chuckled quietly. "Probably," he nodded. He definitely hadn't believed the twins-weird-connections thing until Penny and Jeth existed, no sir. He'd laughed even when Bridget had told him about it after reading some article or other. Anyway, it was when Jeth was just about to fall asleep again that they heard Penny in the hallway, calling for Bridget. Phin almost frowned. They didn't really call out for him anymore.
Bridget lifted her head and looked toward the door. "Speak of the toddler," she commented quietly before raising her voice to call, "Penny? We're all in the bedroom, sweetie."
Moments afterward Penny came nearly running into the room and straight over to Bridget's side of the bed. She was good at scaling furniture. She managed to get almost all the way up the bed before she was picked up. The hole time she was murmuring about seals.
Phin shook his head slightly as he tried not to laugh while Jeth made a sleepy comment about Penny having a nightmare. "It has to be a full moon or something..."
Bridget smiled as she moved over on the bed and got Penny settled next to Jeth. "Yeah," she nodded. She looked at Phin for a moment as she added, "The good kind, though." Since it was clearly affecting his eyes and all. She leaned down and gave Penny a kiss and some reassurances that the seals with clown noses were not around.
"Definitely." Phin agreed with a nod before he settled in again. He let out a little sigh as he watched both kids, and gave them the occasional kiss. It was so strange to even be able to see their outlines right now. It was good strange but strange all the same. He let out a little sigh and moved his fingers through Jeth's hair again as Jeth dozed off.
It didn't take Penny long to follow after that. And then even Bridget's eyelids started drooping, despite the fact that she wanted to stay awake in case Phin's vision cleared up more. "Think'm falling asleep..." she said quietly before yawning,
Phin reached out and brushed his fingers along her cheek and through her hair a bit. "It's okay." He told her. "It's still blurring anyway. And we should get to sleep." He told her. "I'll call the doctor in the morning." He murmured before he yawned too. He kept his eyes moving though, from Bridget to the kids and back again.
"'Kay," Bridget said quietly with a sleepy smile, her eyes now closed. She hadn't had a look on her face like that in a while. "Love you..." And then she was asleep before she could realize what she said.
Phin's droopy eyes focused on the look on her face. He hadn't seen a look like that in a long time and he wished he was able to fully see it, but he'd take the blurry version over nothing. Hell, he would've taken seeing a glare at that point. But when she said that last part, his droopy eyes popped open wide. But her eyes were closed, he could tell that much. So he waited until he was sure she'd fallen just enough asleep that he could kiss her forehead and tell her he loved her too. He kept his arm draped across both kids and as far around Bridget's side as he could as he started falling back asleep, with just a hint of a smile on his lips.
It was some time later when Phin was brought out of his sleep by a combination of the throbbing in the back of his head from the welt and the need to have to urinate. He grimaced against the light and started rubbing his eyes with his free hand as he carefully moved to sit up, debating whether or not to wake Bridget up to let her know he was going to hobble to the bathroom or not.
Bridget moved her legs a bit once Phin got up, but other than that, she stayed asleep.
Phin let out a yawn, stifling it behind his hand. He reached out to the night stand as he looked over at it, and saw the cane sitting there. He grabbed it and used it to stand up. Then he got a good oh...three steps before he realized that his vision was no longer blurry and then he nearly fell when he came to a stop. He blinked and turned to look over at the bed right away. Sure enough there were Bridget and the kids, lying there sleeping, clear as his vision was before the accident. It actually made Phin feel dizzy, so he leaned heavily on the cane as he reached his free hand out to brace himself on the bedpost. And then a few moments later he turned his head down and maybe his eyes filled a little bit. They were the good kind for once though.
One of the kids stirred, which made the other turn over, which made Bridget kick her leg again as she murmured in her sleep to no one in particular, "Sssh, go back to sleep, honey..."
Phin lifted his head to look at Bridget when she kicked her leg. He spotted Jeth, who had stirred to get closer to Penny and Bridget for more warmth and blinked, clearing his slightly tear clouded vision. Holy shit, he could see them. He reached out for Bridget's closest foot and shook it as he said her name quietly, in a slightly shaky tone.
Bridget bent her leg up with a slight frown. "S'okay...just go backta..." She frowned further and squeezed her eyes open, waking up now. "Hm?"
Phin blinked a few more times rapidly, and there she was, eyes open and all. It made his face contort up a little and he let go of her foot and dropped his face into his hand for a moment. He could see. He could actually see. And not in just blur-o-vision either! He needed to sit down but he didn't want to move just yet.
Bridget blinked her eyes open as she looked down at him. When he dropped his head down, she frowned worriedly and moved to sit up. "What is it? Did it go away?" she asked quickly.
Phin shook his head but couldn't speak for a moment. He cleared his throat quietly and looked up at her after rubbing his eyes quickly. "No," He answered. "It's not blurry anymore." he told her as he focused his eyes on her, really focused his eyes on her, for the first time since the accident.
Bridget's own eyes widened. "It's back? It's really back?" She started to smile slowly.
Phin watched her face for a moment and then nodded to answer her question. He felt completely conflicted. Everything was going to change now that his sight was back and he was excited about being able to see, but he was dreading it. Regaining his sight meant getting serious about the marriage stuff like they'd talked about earlier and he was terrified that it meant having to leave the apartment again and juggling the kids back and forth. He wasn't sure he could handle that forever. But right now he just wanted to be happy that he could see. He turned his eyes to the kids and blinked once or twice to clear them again.
Bridget followed his line of sight briefly to the kids. When she turned back to him, she was fully smiling. "I know I must be dreaming this," she said, sitting up some more. It was difficult to believe that a miracle like this could actually happen to them. Phin's recovery was pretty much perfect.
Phin looked back over at Bridget and couldn't help smiling a little bit as he moved some around towards her side of the bed. He sat down on the edge of it by her knees and looked over at her again. "I can actually see you." He repeated, because it deserved repeating and because he was still pretty shocked.
"No blurriness..." she commented, watching his eyes stay trained on hers as he did so. "I never thought you'd actually get to this point."
Phin smiled a little more. "Me either," he said quietly before he glanced over at the kids again for a long moment. He shook his head a little and reached up to run his fingers over the bump at the back of his head as he looked back over at Bridget, and hazarded reaching out to put his hand on the side of her face as he looked all around her face.
Bridget was tired and not in the mood to harsh Phin's buzz, so with a smalll smile, she let him touch her face. "The kids are going to be so happy once they realize..."
Phin let go after a moment since he figured it had to be awkward and just put his hands down in his lap. He nodded and turned to look at the kids again. He'd missed looking at drawings, and being able to tell what mood they were in just by looking at them. He'd missed just looking at them. It was pretty hard to resist the urge to wake them up right now.
Bridget looked at the kids too before turning back and bringing her eyes to Phin's. "What do you want to do now?" she asked quietly.
Phin shrugged up his shoulders after a moment. "I dunno," He answered before he brought his eyes back to Bridget. "I woke up cause I had to pee." He said.
Bridget had to lift her hand to her mouth to keep from laughing too loudly at that. She cleared her throat quietly and shook her head. "Then you should do that," she advised.
Phin nodded. "Yeah," He looked over at the kids again and then over at Bridget. "Okay," He said before he lingered on her face a moment before he nodded and moved to stand. He leaned over to kiss the side of her head quickly before he hobbled off into the hallway and to the bathroom. Once he was done in the bathroom, he stopped in the hallway outside the bedroom for a moment. Then he headed for the kitchen. He had toddler drawings to look at.
Bridget heard him walking around the apartment. She wasn't sure if he wanted to be left alone or not, but after a minute, she decided she didn't care. She carefully climbed out of bed, made sure the kids were set, and then headed out. When she found him in the kitchen she stood by the entrance and just watched him.
Phin was standing at the refrigerator, which was covered with more pictures than usual. He wasn't quite frowning but he wasn't quite smiling either. It looked more like his mouth was fighting to do both at once. At first he was staring at all the pictures, occasionally reaching up to run his finger over the outline of something on one of them. Then it wound up a little difficult to see the pictures because his stupid eyes had to go and get all watery.
After a minute, Bridget couldn't just stand around looking at him any longer. She quietly walked up behind him and slid her arms around him. She didn't care about anything else at the moment, just the fact that he could see again.
Phin jumped, just a little, out of slight shock from the sudden touch but his muscles relaxed a few moments after that. He let out a slow breath. "I've been telling Penny these are beautiful for weeks." He said. Even before that, he was just used to saying the pictures the kids drew were perfect little works of art anyhow. He never thought he would honestly think they were, but he'd been in the dark for a long time. He moved one of his arms down to rest it along hers.
Bridget didn't say anything in response. She leaned the side of her head against his back and closed her eyes. The fact that they wouldn't have to worry anymore about the kids not understanding Phin was blind was such an amazing relief.
It sure was. The weight, though, of the everything else that was going to happen, now that he could see, was a little heavy. He closed his eyes, but only for a moment, before he opened them again. He didn't want to keep his eyes closed for too long right now. "Are you tired?" He asked.
"A little," she admitted. After a moment, she added, "You should get off your legs."
Phin nodded some. Most of his weight was on his good leg, and she was right, he should get off of them. "Yeah," he agreed. "I don't want to keep you up," He added before he loosened her arms so he could turn around. He wrapped his arms around her but leaned back enough so he could look at her, eyes moving all around her face. She certainly looked tired.
That was pretty much par for the course for her lately, but Phin probably realized that. Bridget smiled a little when he looked at her. It was nice to see his eyes focus on her again instead of searching around for something he couldn't see.
Phin smiled, just a little bit. He leaned over and pressed his forehead to hers lightly for a moment before he gave her a short, sweet kiss and leaned back. "No matter what happens after this...or whatever you decide about us," He said. "I want you to know that I love you." He looked her face over again before letting his eyes focus on her again. The fact that he could see and focus and all of that awesome stuff was kind of overwhelming.
The kiss caught Bridget by surprise, but she returned it with a small and sad smile. She leaned in to give him one quick kiss of her own and then let go of him and stepped back. "C'mon, you need to sit or get back into bed or something," she said quietly.
Phin was relieved by the kiss but her follow-up comment wasn't the most encouraging. Still, he nodded. "Okay." He said. It took longer than normal to get back to the bedroom thanks to his slow limping. Once they made it, they still had to get into bed without waking the kids up. This was even harder because Phin felt compelled to lean over and give each of them a kiss before he settled into his normal spot to start staring some more at them while they slept.