Elijah sniffed and smiled weakly as he hugged him. "I help people all of the time, you don't need to thank me for that." He tried to get him to lay down again. "Just being here and being so wonderful to me is more than enough, you don't have to work so hard for me. I don't want to make things difficult for you.'

Anthony expected that Elijah would try and get him to lay down again, and he tolerated it. "You're the one that's always working so hard for my sake. It's only fair that I try and do the same, too," he said. "you never make things difficult for me, trust me. I want to help you. I want to 'work so hard for you'."

Elijah smiled weakly and knelt down to rest his head on his chest to let him be close while the other could remain lying down. He also liked listening to his heart beat. "I'm grateful, but you do more than you realize by doing nothing. If you want to, I will be grateful, just don't push yourself. I would rather you take care of yourself first."

"Well, if you insist," Anthony eventually relented. There wasn't much he could even do, right now, considering that he could barely even sit up by himself. And still he wanted to do something. "...I guess I can just wait until I'm better before doing anything, then." If he even gets better. He wasn't very optimistic.

Elijah smiled and patted his hand. "You don't have to do anything. For now the only thing I want from you is to get better. It'll mean so much to me."

"I'll try to do that, then," Anthony said. He appreciated just how much Elijah cared for him, but this all made him think about his injuries and what happened yesterday, and he really didn't want to think about those things. Now he was praying for Elijah to forget to ask him about who hurt him. "if I didn't want to recover before, I sure as hell do now."

Elijah nodded and smiled as he pulled up a blanket to cover Anthony. "Sleep, it should help you forget the pain for a little while." He kissed his forehead. "I won't leave your side for a moment.'

Anthony was certain that Elijah had forgotten, now. This was an absolute victory. He tried not to seem too happy about that, though. "You're a blessing, really," he said.

Elijah smiled weakly as he looked at him. "Thank you. You are to me as well." He held his hand. "Now rest, I mean it."

"Okay, fine," Anthony said with a jokingly annoyed tone. And if his tone didn't betray the sarcasm, then the smile on his face probably did. He squeezed Elijah's hand a bit for a moment, and then tried to rest like he told him to. It was awkward. He felt awkward trying to go to sleep with someone watching him.