DT Serum, Primary Testing In Progress

Echo explained the whole scene to Lex, rubbing her eyes afterwords. "I just want my best friend."

"He'll come back," Lex told her.  "I'm not the reassuring type.  I call things as they are.  Yeah, he's probably going to hold a grudge for a while, long while, but if he's worth doing what you did for him, then he'll come back.  Okay?"

Echo just looked down. She still felt awful, empty, and hollow.

Lex patted her shoulder firmly.  "Give it time.  I gotta get going."  He stood and headed for the edge of the roof.  Then he stopped, swaying slightly.  The roof was blurry... everything was... "Oh Crap," he mumbled before the full force hit.  Pain exploded in his skull in the form of pressure so intense he was amazed his skull didn't explode.  He stood still, eyes closed.  Please.  Not now.

(don't touch him, please.)

Echo wiped her eyes and just stared forward. She swiftly became lost in thought, and hadn't noticed Lex's pain yet.

Lex couldn't breathe.  He tried to take a step back, knowing he needed to reach safety.  The world swam before him.  Then everything went black.  
Lex collapsed, his limp body tumbling down.  He hit the edge of the roof and rolled, sliding off to land on the lawn below.  he lay motionless, face white as a ghost.

Echo heard the crash and investigated, Seeing Lex, her eyes widened and she did her best to half carry him down the ally. Luckily, she spotted Ashton and called him over. After some brief and panicked talking, Ashton took Lex and swiftly made it home. Echo followed as best she could on the rooftops, making sure no one was around to make a huge, unwanted scene. Once Ashton made it home, Echo retreated to her most secretive safehouse.

Lex made no response to either of them, barely breathing, his lips faintly blue, his face deathly white.  He looked almost dead.

As soon as Gaster saw Lex, and Ashton was inside, he told Ashton to get in the car. He yelled at True that he would be at the lab, and he was in charge while Gaster was gone. Once in the car, Gaster had to have been breaking some traffic laws to have gotten there so fast. Ashton took a shaky breath before tensely following Gaster into the lab, where the doctor swiftly hooked Lex up to the appropriate machines, including an oxygen tank, making records of his vitals. Ashton fidgeted off to the side, trying not to look at anything. He hated it here, and it took all his willpower not to run out screaming. He had promised Lex, and he would be damned if he didn't keep his word.

Lex's breathing was little more than sips of air.  His torso was a blanket of bruises, hinting at broken ribs beneath.  His heartbeat slowed dangerously.

The fact Lex was indeed breathing and his heart was still beating meant Gaster could do very little right now other than monitor him. He hooked Lex up to an IV drip, and started to prepare some strong drugs designed to relax him, predicting Lex would be very tense when he regained consciousness for being here, but wanted Lex coherent enough to talk and think.

A couple of hours passed before Lex's eyes fluttered.  He moaned softly, turning his head.  Ow.  Everything hurt!  And what was pressed against his face?  He opened his eyes and tried to focus on the blurry shapes around him.

Gaster had already applied the medicine to the drip, and sat beside Lex with Ashton on Lex's other side. With some convincing, Ashton had taken something to allow him to relax a little. Gaster looked up from his paperwork as Lex moaned. "Easy now." He said gently. "You're all right. From what I've gathered, you fell off of a roof, more than likely due to another one of the bad headaches. You're at the lab, and I haven't done anything other than what I deem was needed." In fact, since Lex was stabilizing, he started to take him off on some of the vitals monitors.

Lex squinted at Gaster then looked at Ashton.  Seeing Ashton seemed to calm him more than the medications.  He stared at him a moment, then tried to reach up and remove the oxygen mask to ask a question.  His arm wouldn't move properly.

Despite the calling drugs, Ashton was still a little jittery. He still hated it here, but he was steadfast on keeping his promise.
Gaster removed the last of the monitors, keeping Lex only on the IV drip and oxygen for now. Seeing Lex was up still, and his breathing had regulated, Gaster took off the mask to switch it out to favor the kind that only went to the nose. He swapped the two and carefully hooked the new oxygen hose over Lex's ears.

Lex took a ragged breath, still having trouble breathing, but he didn't like the face mask.  He looked at Ashton and croaked out, "What are you doing here?"

"I made a promise, remember?" Ashton said. "I told you that if you were coming here because of the headaches, I'd come with you." He gave Lex a weak smile.
"How do you feel now, Lex?" Gaster asked.

Lex ignored Gaster, frowning at Ashton.  He reached out and managed to catch Ashton's wrist.  Weakly, he tried to pull Ashton forward, wanting nothing more than to hug him.

Ashton frowned, not quite knowing what Lex wanted, but came closer to his friend.
Gaster merely watched, ready to take notes on Lex's condition as needed.

Lex pulled Ashton to him and wrapped his arms around Ashton.  He was shaking.  He'd been terrified when he had fallen.  Now he was scared of where he was.  He knew Ashton was probably even scarder than he was.  And here he was.  With him.

Ashton was a little surprised at first, but gently hugged Lex back, careful not to jar or jostle anything. "I'm here, man. I'm here..."

"Thank you," Lex wheezed.  "Thank you."  He moaned softly, leaning back as he struggled to breathe, his head aching.

Gaster cleared his throat softly. "Lex, how are you feeling?" He tried again.

"I hurt everywhere," Lex wheezed.  "Hard to breathe.  Chest hurts."

"I believe you cracked several ribs when you fell." Gaster said, taking notes. "Anywhere seem to be hurting more than the other?" Dr Ally scurried in and hesitated, waiting to be addressed before she spoke.