Chapter Text
When Jack woke up this morning and said, "Good morning," Robby mumbled it back.
Jack nearly cried.
He cupped his sleepy husband's face between both hands and covered it in slow, gentle kisses until Robby let out a tiny, embarrassed huff and hid behind the blanket. "I've missed hearing your voice."Jack whispered, forehead resting against his.
Robby's eyes stayed half closed.
"...Morning." he repeated softly.
Barely audible and still rough from days of no speaking.
Jack smiled so hard his cheeks hurt.
The feeding tube was working too.
Robby had gained three pounds in the first week.
Langdon had warned them not to expect miracles.
"Slow and steady," he'd repeated nearly every day.
So seeing the scale creep upward felt almost impossible. Jack had stared at the number twice before looking at Langdon.
"...Is that right?"
Langdon smiled.
"It is."
Jack actually laughed.
The first genuine laugh he'd managed in weeks.
"I'll take three pounds."
"You should."
Langdon looked toward Robby.
"It's not just the weight. He looks better."
Jack followed his gaze.
His eyes weren't quite so sunken.
He wasn't shivering constantly anymore.
His pulse had slowed back toward normal.
Little things that made Jack impossibly happy.
Things were not normal.
Not even close.
The medication withdrawal still lingered - Robby wasn’t afraid of the feeding tube but drinks and pills scared him shitless. His OCD was still brutal. The compulsions hadn't disappeared simply because he was eating again. If anything, without medication they were still loud enough to drown out nearly everything else.
But Robby fought them.
Sometimes. Tiny battles. Tiny victories.
Jack had learned to celebrate those.
The bathroom faucet was running.
Robby stood in front of the sink, washing his hands.
Soap.
Rinse.
Repeat.
Jack knew the pattern.
The compulsion wanted "just one more."
Then another. Until his hands bled.
Jack quietly walked over.
He didn't say anything.
He simply reached past Robby and turned the faucet off.
Immediately Robby's shoulders locked.
Jack waited.
Robby stared at the sink.
Every muscle in his arms twitched.
His fingers flexed against each other.
His breathing sped up.
The faucet was off.
The compulsion screamed.
Turn it back on.
Wash again.
You missed something.
Your hands aren't clean.
Something terrible will happen.
Jack could almost see the thoughts moving behind Robby's eyes.
Robby reached toward the tap.
His hand stopped halfway.
Shook.
Jack didn't touch him.
Didn't stop him.
Just waited.
Robby squeezed his own wrist instead.
Hard enough that his knuckles turned white.
His breathing sounded painful.
Then his hand dropped.
He took one stumbling step straight into Jacks chest. Jack wrapped an arm around his waist immediately.
"You did it."
Robby shut his eyes tightly.
His whole body trembled.
Jack felt him silently crying.
Not loudly. Just exhausted tears.
"You did it," Jack repeated softly.
"You listened to yourself instead. I‘m so proud"
Robby nodded once against his shoulder.
The urge clearly hadn't gone away.
Jack could feel him vibrating with the effort of not giving in.
But he hadn't turned the water back on.
That counted.
Breakfast looked different now. The tube feeds handled most of the calories.
Which meant every bite Robby managed to eat himself was no longer about survival.
It was therapy.
Half a piece of toast sat infront of him.
Jack cut it into tiny squares.
Robby picked one square up.
Held it for almost a minute.
His breathing sped up again.
Poison.
Dirty.
Unsafe.
Jack reached across the table.
"You don't have to finish it."
Robby looked at him.
"You just have to try."
A long pause.
Then he put it in his mouth, chewed and swallowed.
Jack smiled.
Robbys ears turned slightly red.
Later that afternoon Dana stopped by.
She carried groceries in one arm and a new puzzle under the other.
"I come bearing carbohydrates."
Jack looked genuinely emotional.
"You are an angel."
"I know."
She looked toward Robby.
"Hey, Chief."
Robby looked up from where he was sitting cross-legged on the floor.
"...Chief"
Another word.
Dana's face softened immediately.
"Well, look who's talking."
His ears turned pink again.
The puzzle ended up taking over the living room floor.
Neither Jack nor Dana were especially good at puzzles.
Robby, however, despite everything, noticed patterns before either of them.
Dana watched him for a while.
"You've got all the fish."
Robby looked down.
"...Fish."
Jack smiled weakly.
"You picked the aquarium puzzle?"
Dana shrugged innocently.
"I figured maybe we'd replace one memory with another."
For a second Jack worried that had been a mistake.
Instead Robby traced one tiny printed jellyfish with his fingertip.
"...Pretty."
Jack's smile faded into something softer.
"Yeah."
Pretty.
Not terrifying anymore.
Just...
Pretty.
It felt like progress.