"Stop! Please!"

Sebastian's head shot up quickly. He hadn't realized he fell asleep, head lulling back into the couch cushions behind him.

Rylee twitched roughly in his lap below him, his hand still resting gently on her shoulder.

"Hey..Ry. You're okay. Ryles. Wake up." Sebastian shook Rylee lightly by the shoulder, trying to get her attention.

"Please stop. Please, Michael. It hurts."

And at that, Sebastian's heart snapped into two. God. Fuck Michael. Sebastian gently shook Rylee's shoulder again. "Ry, wake up baby, it's not rea-"

As Sebastian spoke, Rylee's eyes shot open and she punched him square in the face.

"Fuck," Sebastian exclaimed, surprised at the action, putting both his hands over his nose.

Rylee sat up on the couch, both her hands clenched into fists, defensive, ready to fight, pouring sweat at this point. Her breathing heavy as she panted to catch a real breath. She finally came to herself within the next few seconds, realizing where she was and who she was with. But the man she was with was doubled over in pain. Oh shit.

"Oh my God. Oh shit. Seb...Seb. Oh my g- are you okay?"

Sebastian put out one of his hands, to signal he was okay, but when he put it out, Rylee saw that it was covered in blood.

"Seb. Shit. You're bleeding. Come on." She stood up quickly, grabbing gently onto his elbow to guide him up and walk together to the bathroom. A small trail of blood slid through his fingers, dripping to the floor.

He sat on the closed toilet seat tilting his head back, resting it against the wall, as Rylee grabbed a washcloth, getting it wet and placing it over Sebastian's nose, trying not to put too much pressure on it, though she received a wince from him anyway.

Sebastian sat there quietly, breathing lightly through his mouth as he held the washcloth tightly to his nose, eyes closed.

"Sebastian...."

He held up a hand, again, trying to signal he was okay, and yet it was still covered in blood.

"Should we go to a hospital? I don't kn-" Rylee was trying not to panic.

"I'll be fine." Sebastian responded, his hand still out. His voice sounded different with his nose covered, half swollen. "Are you ogay?"

Rylee huffed out a laugh, of course Sebastian would be making sure she's okay, as his nose was dripping blood like a leaky faucet.

"Yes," Rylee sighed, "it was a...a nightmare..."

Rylee felt utterly embarrassed and awful. Here she was having nightmares, punching her boyfriend in the face...who does that? And here he was, trying to comfort her..

Sebastian wiped his hand on his shirt, smearing blood across the crisp white t-shirt he was wearing, just so he could put his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it to calm her.

She put her hand over his, unsure what to do.

Rylee patted his hand for a moment and said "I'll be right back," and quickly scooted out of the room.

When she came back a minute or so later she was carrying ice from their champagne bucket in a baggie and a fresh dry towel.

She traded Sebastian the wet washcloth he had, now coated completely red, though his nose had seemed to stop dripping for now. He placed the ice across his nose, flinching again at the hardness of the ice on his tender nose.

Rylee felt helpless, "What can I do, Seb? How can I help?" Concern still completely taking over her face and voice.

"I'm ogay. Honessly." Sebastian replied, removing the ice for a minute, which made Rylee suck in a breath.

"Oh, Seb..." Rylee said, covering her mouth with her hand.

Sebastian's eyebrows scrunched down, confused, but they shot back up quickly when he realized it hurt to move them like that. Rylee helped Sebastian stand and look in the mirror.

There were black, blue, and purple patches swirling and forming under his eyes on either side of his nose.

"Yiges." Sebastian commented, looking closely into the mirror, lightly touching the bruises. "Thad was fasd...I don thing iss brogen though."

He gently touched the bridge of his nose, sliding his finger lightly down the middle, feeling it for any misshapen spots.

Rylee put both her hands up to her mouth, covering it, she didn't know what to do...how to help...this was her fault...all her fault...why-

"Ryles...your thods are preddy loud." Sebastian said, looking over his shoulder through the mirror at her, knowing she was probably reeling from this. "Iss nod your fauld." He put the ice back onto his nose, wincing again.

"Seb. How is it not? I literally punched you...in the face. Pretty sure it's my fault."

"You were asleep and worried aboud Michael." Sebastian responded quickly as they made their way down the hall, making sure not to step in the drips of blood on the hardwood. "I've had those kinda nighdmares..I ged id...come ere." Sebastian said sticking out one of his arms.

Rylee released the stress and anxiety that she didn't realize she was holding in her shoulders and closed the distance between her and Sebastian, as he took her into his one armed embrace, the other hand holding up his ice.

Rylee buried her face into his neck, his cologne always reliable in relaxing her. Sebastian gently ran his hand through Rylee's hair, occasionally massaging her scalp in the process.

They were both quiet for a moment, just staying in each other's embrace. Rylee broke the silence quietly.

"I said I was going to do it before...but when we get back I'm going to see Dr. Bishop."

"Your therapisd?" Sebastian asked.

Rylee just nodded in return.

Sebastian wasn't sure what to say. He loved her openness, and unashamed nature. Mental health always seemed so taboo for some reason. But he appreciated that they both talked about it openly.

"I'm ere every sdep of de way.." Sebastian tried comforting her, however he could, "however I can help.."

Rylee nodded into his neck, "I love you," her words muffled into fabric of his shirt.

"I love you, baby." Sebastian replied easily.

——————————

The next morning, around 7:00 am, Sebastian rolled over and felt two things, one, that the other side of the bed was empty, and two, his pillow as well as the top of his shirt were soaked.

"Whad da-" he looked down and noticed he had fallen asleep with his ice-filled sandwich bag on his face. It was now completely empty, laying beside him on the pillow.

When Sebastian sat up his head started to spin for a moment. He placed his hand on the end table beside him, regaining himself. He stood up slowly and took off his half wet shirt, accidentally dragging it across his nose in the process.

"Shid," Sebastian yelped as his hand flew to his nose, touching it gently to make sure it didn't start bleeding, luckily it didn't. He gently patted his face with the bottom half of the shirt to dry off from the melted ice that still remained.

He tossed the shirt aside and slowly made his way out of the room. He was surprised to see Rylee on the floor when he rounded the corner on her hands and knees.

"Ry? You ogay?" Sebastian spoke, though he wasn't covering his nose anymore, it was swollen enough to make his speech still sound off, almost like he had a rough cold.

Rylee looked up at him and he now noticed what she was doing. She had a scrub brush and a bucket, working on cleaning up the last of the blood stains on the floor from last night.

"I'm good, just finishing up," Rylee said, sitting back on her calves, and wiping her forehead with the back of her forearm. Her hair was up in a messy bun, her glasses on, and in one of his shirts she had snagged the night before.

"Aw, I coulda helped." Sebastian said, bending down to move her bucket out of the way when Sebastian suddenly felt the room spin. He dropped the bucket, luckily from only an inch or so off the ground, and threw his hand up onto the wall to brace himself.

"Seb?" Rylee stood quickly to help him stay up, hands on his shoulder and arm.

"Holy...." Sebastian said in almost a whisper, not even finishing his sentence.

"What's wrong?" Rylee asked confused.

"I...uh...I dunno." Sebastian said, shutting his eyes and not moving, continuing to keep his hand on the wall his other on his knee.

"Come on, can you get back to the bed?" Rylee asked helping Sebastian straighten up, though it sent his stomach reeling.

Luckily the bed was only ten steps away but to Sebastian, it could've been a mile. When they got there Sebastian sat down very, very slowly, and immediately laid down instead of sitting up, eyes still shut.

"What can I do?" Rylee asked, feeling helpless.

Sebastian couldn't answer for a moment. Even though he was laying still he still felt like the room was moving around him.

"I-I don' know. Maybe I sh-" he had to stop talking for a moment or he thought he might puke from how his insides were churning.

"I'm calling a car...we're going to a hospital..." Rylee said as she typed in the number for the front desk.

Sebastian was going to argue, say he was just going to try to sleep it off, but he was afraid to open his mouth, in fear of what might try to come out.

"Okay...they should be here in five..." Rylee said as she went into Sebastian's suitcase to find him a new shirt. She was glad to find a black short sleeve button up, because she was terrified of trying to slide a shirt over his head right now.

Sebastian sat up very slowly, with Rylee's help, and luckily didn't suffer any extra dizziness from the movement. She slowly helped him slide on his shirt, buttoning up the front, leaving the top two or three buttons undone.

"Okay...we're gonna have to stand up and walk, we've only gotta make it to the entrance. Do you think we can do it?" Rylee asked seriously, concern dripping off every word she spoke.

Sebastian was going to nod but quickly stopped himself and just simply said "Yes."

Rylee helped him straighten up, very slowly, and began walking towards their suite door.

Ugh shoes. Shit. Sebastian put his hand on the wall while Rylee bent down to find the easiest shoes to slip on Sebastian's feet. He had a pair of loosely laced Nikes that he usually just stepped into, and luckily these did the trick. Sebastian slipped them on and they were out their door heading towards the elevator.

When Rylee pressed the button for it, Sebastian worried. "I don' know how de elevador will go..."

"Well, honestly it's worth a shot. Better than trying to get you down four flights of steps." As she finished her sentence the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Rylee helped Sebastian walk on and he stood in the corner, hands on both railings as Rylee stood right beside him as she pressed the lobby button.

Oh fuckin' lord were Sebastian's worries legitimate. As soon as the doors opened, Rylee helped Sebastian out the door but he immediately took two extra steps towards the large garbage can across the hall and threw up.

"Oh Seb, I'm sorry. We're almost there I promise." Rylee could've cried. She hated seeing Sebastian this miserable.

"Iss fine," Sebastian said quickly as he took Rylee's guiding hand again and they made it outside to the waiting car.

Rylee helped Sebastian slowly sit down and turn into his seat when she paused and told the driver she would be right back.

Sebastian sat with his head back and his eyes closed, dreading the ten minute ride to the hospital.

Soon enough, Rylee returned, walking around the car and getting in the other side, sliding towards the middle seat to sit close to Sebastian.

She tapped his arm and placed a bag into his hand, "I'd say just in case...but I should just say, 'For when you need it.'"

Sebastian wished he could've laughed. But he was afraid to do anything, as the car slowly pulled into traffic. He was surprised with how gently they were driving. He wondered if Rylee explained the situation or this person was just a very careful driver.

Even though the trip was smooth, Sebastian's stomach was still reeling, they had just pulled up to the hospital intake door. Rylee had asked the driver to take them to the nearest hospital and was surprised to see it was UPMC Salvator Mundi International Hospital. UPMC hospitals were very common where she grew up, seeing as UPMC stood for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. This for some reason helped ease her mind as she slowly helped Sebastian get out of the car, and was met by a nurse with a wheel chair.