starlightcafe | When I see the way you look, shaken by how long it took...

It was a couple days after the surgery, and he swore he already felt better. Sure, his legs didn't always want to work and he still couldn't talk, but they had taken him off the life support machines! That meant something, right? So if they could just let him out of here-...

He'd been watching out the window when he heard his door creak open. Glancing over, then seeing Lexi he smiled brightly, waving her in to join him.

Lexi returned the smile, although hers was more relaxed. She pulled a chair up to Gobo's bed and took a seat.

"So, how are you feeling today?"

The way he threw his hands out and flopped backward as best as he was able to needed no translation, really. BORED. Bored bored bored bored b o r e d. Sitting up again after a moment, he glanced at Lexi and used actual signs, now.

"There's nothing to do in here! I've got to ask a nurse if I even want to go outside for a while, and that's only in a wheelchair. This sucks."

Lexi smirked a bit, resting her elbow on her knee and her head in her hand. "We're very unlikely friends, in some ways, you know that?" she pointed out, before she waved her free hand through the air. "Look, just think of this as a vacation, except the food sucks."

"This is hardly my idea of a vacation." He rolled his eyes, then gave her a sideways smirk as he continued. "And I'll still have to take your word on the food."

Then, at a thought he brightened. Sort of. "Though I'm due for real food soon! ...Which I'm not looking forward to."

And he laughed.

"If they wanted to be merciful, they'd keep you off the real food," Lexi snorted, wearing a jokingly disgusted expression - but it was nice to hear, or rather, see him laughing. "But, uh, congratulations?"

That got a little shake of his shoulders in a silent snickerfit, then he looked up and nodded.

"Thank you, I think." Then he blinked, and his eyes shifted to a specific point beside Lexi's face. She might be able to guess what he was looking at before he even asked. "You still have my scarf?"

The scarf, which had been washed by then, was worn wrapped around a segment of Lexi's bangs. She smiled hesitantly as Gobo pointed it out.

"Yeah, I do... I just..." She didn't have the words to explain, though. She just trailed off with a shrug.

A quiet "Ah" motion that one could almost hear, particularly the trail off.

"They told me that... the scarf, and the collar, helped... helped..." He hesitated, unable to finish the sentence.

"I think I can understand why you kept it."

"Yeah, that, and..." But she trailed off, deciding that the rest of that thought was too sentimental, and too sad, to give voice to. "Yeah. That."

He blinked, glancing up a bit from the scarf back to her face. He'd heard something unsaid but couldn't tell what it was. "What is it?"

"It helps me remember you're okay," she sighed out. Lexi had been having nightmares often, since Gobo had been attacked by the fox. Sometimes, when she woke up, she wasn't sure which part was reality and which part was the dream - had Gobo survived? And then, out of the corner of her eye, she'd see his scarf.

He was clearly touched, giving her a watery smile. Then a little blink- and he motioned for her to sit forward, to lean toward him.

Lexi returned the smile, just as emotional, and leaned in. "Gobo?"

Once she was close enough he reached up, and though his fingers were somewhat clumsy at it he undid the top knot, then trailed his index finger down to loosen it from her hair. Once the bottom knot was also cleared, he took the scarf, holding it between his hands, running his thumb over it. He'd had this for a long time, through thick and thin. It was there when he tricked Junior that he was a bushel basket genie; was there on the trip to the Hole Who Knows Where; was there underneath his elaborate costume for Joke Day. He'd been wearing it when he'd first met Doc and had learned Sprocket's name.

Smiling gently, he leaned close to Lexi again, almost in a hug. This let him pass the scarf around from one hand to the other, behind her neck. Once he sat back, he pulled both ends to the front, flipped one over the other and put in an expert knot, one he'd tied many times. Not too tight to the neck, but not so loose either. Once it was tied he left the scarf skewed to Lexi's left, trailed one end back over her shoulder as he'd so often worn it himself. He caught her up in a warm smile; one hand touched himself, then the same hand went to her, where the scarf's knot had come to rest.

It had been with him a long time... But he could always get another scarf.

She closed her eyes tightly against a surge of tears, then opened them to look at Gobo carefully. Her first instinct was to protest - that was his scarf! He almost always wore it, he couldn't just give it away.

But he had, without hesitation, and Lexi didn't want to cheapen the gesture by questioning it. If Gobo changed his mind down the road, it would be fine. But for now... What a gift. She lay a finger on the knot of the scarf, her smile growing warmer.

"Thanks... Thank you, Gobo."

He nodded, then took their closeness to give her a proper, warm hug now. When they pulled back, he glanced her over and then laughed some.

"Now you kinda look like me."

Lexi snorted at that, amused. "I think that's a stretch. Maybe when I'm in my Fraggle form, though. We'll have to see."

Beyond the scarf and Lexi having a spot of orange coloring here and there, she didn't see it. Although, well, she'd been thinking of adding a second set of streaks to her hair. Maybe pink...

"I said kinda. But you're right, your Fraggle form might fit it better anyway."

"Yeah, it might fit me better then, but I make this work now, too."

She wasn't the most attractive Duck Sibling for nothing, after all.

"Yeah, definitely."

He smiled, settling back against the pillows. While he was cheered, it still had a deep edge of tiredness to it, and when he paused to take a deep breath- that it had to have a pause spoke to how his breathing alone hadn't quite bounced back yet -he closed his eyes a moment, rubbing at the edges of his bandages. The minorest scratch- then mindful that he was being watched, he let his hand drop.

Lexi frowned a bit, watching Gobo's little scratch there. "...Are you not supposed to touch the bandages?"

"I can touch them but I'm not supposed to scratch them. The only problem is it itches worse than a whole week's worth of Pebble Pox."

"Yeah, well... Let's just try getting your mind of it," she said, fiddling with the scarf a bit. "Hey, sometime after you're out of here and you can talk again, we should visit the Rock, don't you think?"

"Visiting the Rock sounds like a great idea." He smiled, then paused after a moment. "Though the doctor said I'd have to take it easy for a couple weeks at first. Uncle Scrooge said I could stay at his place, which isn't exactly one hundred percent comfortable, but it'll do. We can go to the Rock after that."

That got another amused snort from Lexi. "Man, Fraggles are weird," she muttered. "I don't know, I'll kind of like being able to meet up with you easily for a while, Gobs."

True, usually Fraggle magic, or whatever the heck it was, made it so she could find her friend when she needed to, but the point stood.

"That's definitely a bonus. That, and the garden being right there."

Ohh what he wouldn't give for something crisp right now.

"Yeah, see, there you go. It won't be so bad," Lexi assured him, laying a hand on his pillow, by his head. "And I'm sure the other four will stay there with you, if you want 'em to."

He nodded, pleased by that thought. Though... his expression fell after a moment. Another, and he signed the problem.

"I don't know if I've been asleep then or what, but... I haven't seen anyone since Mokey was here for the blood donation. Has anyone been by...?"

"Really? I figured I must've missed Red and Mokey being here..." She knew, though, that Mokey had been quite scared of the hospital, and she could imagine Red feeling unsure of how to act in this situation. As for the other two...

"Wembley really wanted to come - he was here once, actually, but everyone was pretty worried about how he'd handle seeing you in here. Unca Scrooge talked to him, and he didn't tell him everything, but... Enough that he gets it. He's still worried about you, so Boober's been sticking pretty close to him. You know, making sure he's okay."

"I'm glad Boober is with him. With me in here, Boober's the next one I trust to keep after him..."

Still, even the signs were only half-hearted, as he looked a bit down and away.

"I must've missed the girls, I guess. Sleeping's all I've been doing anyway..."

Lexi's frown deepened. "Yeah, you must've," she said, though she wasn't sure that was the case at all. "Should I tell them you wouldn't mind being woken up?"

He nodded some, then looked up at her curiously.

"Does the Rock know?"

Hoo boy, she didn't want to answer that one. It had been the subject of a lot of debate among Gobo's friends, Fraggles and otherwise, and in all that disagreement - in all of the everything that had been going on - the Rock hadn't been informed yet. But that wasn't going to be something he wanted to hear...

Lexi blinked, her troubled expression easily shifting to a confused one - heck, it (almost) looked like it could have been a confused expression all along. "Sorry, I didn't get that one," she lied, loosely mimicking the signs Gobo had just done. "I think it's hard, the telepathy thing, when you're so tired."

His brow furrowed for a moment, then he breathed out a sigh, settling back. It was hard to tell if he believed or, if he was just to tired to try. One hand waved in a limp dismissal of the sentence, though when he turned to continue watching out the window, it almost seemed a dismissal of Lexi. It was obvious, no matter which way you sang it, that his spirits were pretty low.

She sighed. He might have seen through that, but it was hard to say - and in case he hadn't, she wasn't about to hurt him more. Maybe he just needed to rest a bit...

"Do you want to get some sleep?"

A simple answer, no signs, just a single nod of his head. He didn't look her way, just stared out the window, slow blinking only once.

Oh. Well, yeah, that... That just confirmed that he was tired, right? That was all.

"Okay... I'll let you rest up, then," she said slowly, pushing the chair back and getting to her feet. "I'll come around again soon."

One hand raised, a simple wave. Then he let it drop. A goodbye, without ever turning to look.

When I see the way you look, shaken by how long it took...

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