Will you be my shoulder, when I'm grey and older?

High, James Blunt

Arundhati's POV

I sat outside the ICU, my arms around my weeping best friend, my bhabhi. She was inconsolable, though I tried my hardest to drive into her head that my brother was going to live. Not just live, but he would heal well. He won't be paralysed for life, he won't have brain damage, nothing. He wasn't broken beyond repair. He was pretty badly bent out of shape, with almost half his bones broken and his body covered in contusions, but that was about it.

Gotta look at the good in life, right?

"Coffee or tea?"

I looked up to see Shantanu standing next to my chair, a cup in each hand. He had been...God sent. I was so in shock when I had got that call from bhabhi that it had been impossible for me to function properly. It was he who had booked the tickets, it was he who packed for George, and it was he who was keeping my son preoccupied, and most importantly, away from the hospital right now.

He had dropped me home when we landed in India, and had gone home. I thought that I probably won't see him for a few days, but he proved me wrong. There was something about these brothers - they liked to prove me wrong, and pleasantly surprise me. No matter how much their mother hated me, I had to hand it to her - she had brought up the boys well.

"Tea would be good, thanks" I smiled, and he handed me one of the cups.

Bhabhi took that opportunity to finally wipe away her tears and stagger away to the washroom to clean up. Shantanu collapsed in her chair.

"She's been...hysterical" he noted.

"Can't blame her" I sighed.

"By the way" he continued, sipping from his cup of tepid coffee and grimacing, "Neil called yet?"

I almost jumped at his words. How in the world could I have forgotten to tell him? What was he going to think of me when he found out that I had practically fled the country and not informed him for twenty-four hours after?

"I...didn't call him" I muttered back sheepishly, fishing for my phone, "In fact, I'll call him now."

"I told him you were coming, and that I was coming with you" he sipped again, and grimaced hard, "Gods above, what in the name of coffee are they retailing here?"

"Wait" my heart almost numbed out, "you told him?"

"Yeah" he shrugged, "You were out of sorts, and you had to pack, so I told him that we were coming."

"He...hasn't called then" even I could hear the note of dejection in my voice.

"Bhabhi..." he threw me a sidelong look, "Don't take it to your heart. I told him to call after sometime because you would be busy after landing."

Some time? it was almost twelve hours after I had landed and rushed here.

"He'll...probably do it soon" I tried to shrug it away.

I could see him watching me from the corner of his eyes. "Yeah" he shrugged along with me, "He'll do it soon."

We sat in mutual silence, waiting for my bhabhi to come back from the washroom. My parents had gone back home, tired and bedraggled after I came to take over the situation. They were currently in charge of George. I had called my boss once after landing here, and had been very nicely told to not come back again. My paycheck and severance would be waiting for me when I returned. And I had still not had a word with Neil.

A soft, calling-bell ringtone broke the suffocating silence, and Shantanu scampered to pick up his phone. I saw 'Ma' flash on his phone.

"Haa, Ma, I'm still at the hospital" he said in a hushed voice.

I heard an indistinct voice on the other end, and tuned out, not wanting to listen in on his conversation.

"Are you serious?" he sounded anxious, his tone forcing me to eavesdrop, "Oh, okay, just hang on." he gestured that he would be back in two minutes, and speed-walked out of the ICU lobby.

I sighed. Looked like his mother really didn't like me.

**

I must've fallen asleep on that hard, plastic chair.

"Dhati..." a voice was saying, and the voice was very close to my ear, and the voice sounded a lot like...Neil's. That was all it took for me to wake up. I sprang up, heart thudding at the sudden shock of hearing his voice, and there he was, in flesh and blood sitting next to me with an arm supporting my head.

I stared back at him, speechless.

"Let's get you home" he gave me a weak smile.

"Should I ask what you're doing here?" I rasped out, heart still not back to normal.

"I had an interesting conversation" he shrugged, "I might be out of a job, but okay."

"I'm already out of one. We'll die penniless" I whispered.

"Penniless together" he smirked.

"What good is that?" I settled in into the crook of his arm, still not able to believe that he really had come, "And what happened to your plan of running away?"

He laughed silently, you know, the type of laugh where no sound comes out, but because you are so close to the person, you can feel their chest heaving with mirth. I scurried in, wanting to feel it against me.

"Life happened" he pressed a quick kiss onto my head, "How's Ashok?"

"He'll be fine" I sighed.

"You wanna talk about what happened?" he inquired.

"Not really" I closed my eyes, "Car hit bike, standard accident. He hit the curb, broke his legs and hand, fractured his skull. But he'll survive with minimal scarring."

He was silent for a few moments.

"You want to go home?" he asked.

"I think it would be better if you take bhabhi home" I said, although, selfish as I am, I really wanted him to stay right here, and hold me tight.

"Shantanu has taken her already" he said, "And since they aren't allowing anyone inside, I think you should too. I'll come back and keep watch if you'd like."

I disengaged myself from his arms to look at him properly. This man was...I don't really know how to describe it. Suffice it to say that if I could hold onto him for a lifetime, I would. I remembered asking him recently if we were worth all this trouble. The tenderness with which he was looking at me now gave me the answer to my own question - yes, a thousand times yes. He was worth it.

"You must be exhausted" I said. And he looked it. His eyes were tired, and it looked like he hadn't shaved for a few days.

"Well, now, you're a Dehati...you must've never pulled all-nighters like we did in college..."he tried to joke, immediately forcing my mind to remember him saying something similar when he had taken me to that beach cabin in California.

God, that seemed a lifetime ago.

"Let's go home" I smiled weakly, "I'll ask a cousin of mine to keep watch. You need the rest, my lord."

**

The cousin wasn't much of a problem. Uncle Dipesh sent over his son, a straggly twenty-year old Manish, to keep watch. We set him up outside the ICU, gave him our numbers and told him to call if anything happened, and that someone would come relieve him from his duty in six hours.

The scene at home was something else altogether.

Shantanu had gotten Bhabhi home, and fallen asleep on the living room couch. Bhabhi was asleep at the dining table. Dad was pottering about, trying his best to distract himself. Mother was staring at the two sleeping adults in the living area, confused as to what she should do.

"Dhati..." she rushed over when she saw me, "Who exactly is this boy in the living?..."

Her voice trailed off, and her expression morphed from confusion to shock as she saw Neil step in behind me.

"Namaste, aunty" Neil said good-naturedly.

Mother gawked.

Father came in, disgruntled, saw Neil standing, and promptly sat down on the sofa. "What are you doing here?" is all he asked.

"I came to get Dhati home, she's tired" Neil continued smiling like a teacher's pet.

"That's alright, but what are you doing here? In India? And Dhati, who's  this other idiot on the sofa?"

"That idiot is my brother" Neil cut in, still smiling like a Cheshire cat.

"Oh" and Dad was silent.

Ma was still looking at us as if we had been playing holi instead of waiting outside the ICU. You know, that utterly incensed look, laced with a bucket full of confusion.

"We're both exhausted, and Manish is keeping watch at the hospital" I informed them, "We're just going to take a nap before we go back in a few hours."

"He's... what here?" Ma finally spoke.

"Nap, Ma" I said quietly, "Sleep for a while."

"Sleep...where?"

"My room" I rolled my eyes, catching hold of Neil's hand and dragging him along.

"Oi" came Ma's voice just as I entered my room, "Keep the door open."

**

No matter how old we get, we'll always remain innocent babies in our parents' minds:)

Until the next one, I rest, Ellanie!