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It was nearly a week before Ocean had come to visit Noel after he woke up – barring the first day where she was all over him, hugging him and crying, scared that she’d lost him for good.
Though this time she was visiting with her mom. This was the first time either of them have seen each other since the accident and since the choir ended up in the hospital.
Noel’s mouth kind-of dropped open, and he just mouthed “Mom”, tears pricking at his eyes.
Nearly a second later, Ocean’s mom was hugging Noel tight. It hurt Noel’s still-healing ribs but he didn’t care, hugged back as tight as he could, crying without realizing it.
He hadn’t seen his own mom at all, or got any calls or texts from her either, so seeing Ocean’s mom here…
It made Noel feel all sorts of things.
And it solidified the feeling that Ocean’s mom was his mom too, legality and genetics be damned.
When Ocean’s mom pulled back from the hug, she dried Noel’s tears, asking what was wrong. Noel just sniffed and wiped his eyes, going to grab the notepad that was on his night table.
He grabbed the notepad and pen and scribbled out ‘ Missed you Mom’ .
He didn’t even realize that was the first time she ever referred to her as “Mom” – not until Ocean spoke up at least.
“Noel, did you just call my mom ‘Mom’?”
Noel stares at the notepad, at what he just wrote, seeing the ‘ Mom ’ staring right back at him. He flips the page over and writes ‘ Guess I did, is that okay? ’
Ocean’s mom is trying not to cry as she responds, saying it was perfectly okay. Ocean said the same, snaking past her mom to hug Noel. Noel hugged her back, pulling back only to sign ‘I love you’ to her – the first sign Ricky ever taught him – pressing his hand against her chest. Ocean held that hand and smiled, ruffling Noel’s hair as she replied with “I love you too, Noel.”
Noel presses his hand – still signing ‘I love you’ – further against Ocean’s chest, his way of repeating the ‘I love you’.
“Sure, you love me more, Noel,” Ocean replies with a smile and an eye roll, gladly understanding what Noel meant. Noel nods right after.
Ocean soon has to leave for her physical therapy appointment, and she hugs Noel and her mom again before she follows the nurse out, leaving both Noel and Ocean’s mom.
Noel did realize calling her ‘Mom’ was practically second nature to him, even though he felt bad calling her that, since he does have a mom, too.
Though she hasn’t visited once.
Which did disappoint him, but, either way, she was still his mom.
But Ocean’s mom was his mom too.
And she was here, asking him about his first few days in the hospital – being awake, at least – have been.
‘ I’ve been…okay . Really out of it. I remember the accident but nothing after. ’ Noel doesn’t tell her about the warehouse, not wanting to seem crazy, but he remembers it in excruciating detail. ‘ Doctors want me to start therapy soon…too many different types. And they’re saying I won’t be able to walk again…It’s just…a lot. But Mischa and Ricky have been here, so…it’s been alright, Mom. ’
“They want to start you in therapy so soon?”
Noel nods. ‘ Apparently. I think speech therapy and occupational therapy…for obvious reasons. They’re giving physical therapy a while though since…well, yeah you know. ’
“They should give you more than a week, though, right?”
‘ I wish they would, but they won’t. I think I get a week…week and a half…before I start speech therapy. Not looking forward to it .’
“I wouldn’t expect you to be, especially being thrown into this so soon, but you'll be okay, Noel. The doctors only want to help you get better.”
‘ I know. I know they do, but I am not looking forward to this. ’
“No one looks forward to this, but it’ll help you. You have your friends and your sister with you too, so you won’t be alone.”
‘ I’ll have you too, right, Mom? ’
“Of course you will.”
Noel sets the notepad down and hugs her tight.
He misses his own mom, but Ocean’s mom is just as much a mom to him too. Always has, ever since he and Ocean were little kids.
“Remember your first-ever time in the hospital?” Ocean’s mom asks Noel after a while, after the hug had broken.
Noel makes a “so-so” hand gesture.
“Well, it was your seventh birthday, and you and Ocean had decided to be kids and do what kids do and sneak off to that now-abandoned playground at the edge of town…and now, I don’t know what exactly happened but you ended up breaking your leg.” She taps Noel’s left leg, and Noel moves the thin hospital blanket so he could see his leg, which was covered in bandages and cuts, though the old scar from nearly eleven years ago from that aforementioned incident was still there. Noel dragged his finger over it, unable to really feel himself touching it due to the damage his body sustained from the Cyclone. “Ocean carried you home and you just stayed as strong as you could. And it was a rough recovery, I remember, but you did it. And you’re going to get through this too…it’s just going to be a longer recovery.”
Noel nodded, grabbing his pen and notepad. ‘ Yeah…I can do this, Mom. ’
“You can and you will. And if you want to call your mom too, we can.”
‘ You’re my mom, too, though. ’ Noel writes out. ‘ And I miss my mom, but you’re my mom too. ’
“I feel honored to be your mom, Noel.”
Noel smiled softly, wrapping his arms around the cat plush Ricky had given him in his coma – Monique Chat-beau – holding it close as he wrote something else out. ‘ You’re as much my mom as my actual mom is. ’
“And you are as much my son as Ocean is my daughter.”