Broken (Rhett and Link Fanfic)

Part 5

Link locks the bathroom door behind him and turns to the mirror. He runs a shaking hand through his hair and leans in towards his reflection. He begins to notice the dark circles that are beginning to appear around his tired, sad eyes. Link opens the drawer, takes a pill out of his prescription bottle, and downs it with a handful of water.

All of a sudden a feeling of intense and utter fear grips Link in the gut. Link pushes himself away from the mirror, slamming himself into the wall and banging his bad shoulder. He slumps to the ground, grapping his shoulder. Intense burning, aching, breath taking pain overtakes his body.

"Rhett!" He cries with all the might he can muster, "RHETT!!" Link grabs at his chest, the burning rushes to his head. The room begins to spin, and the corners of Link's vison begin to fade. Link takes a deep breath and with all the power in him lets out one last "Rhett!" before the room goes black.

Link is awoken by a hand on his thigh. He opens his eyes just enough to see Rhett and Chase crouched beside him, but he is unable to keep them open any longer.

"Hey... Link?" Rhett scoots his long body closer to Link's head.

Link tries to open his eyes again, and is able, with Rhett's help, to seat himself upright against the wall. All at once the pain of the fall grips Link's right shoulder, sending him into a fit of screaming. All the while, Chase remains peeking around the door, and Rhett holding Link's tremoring hand.

"Go get some ice, Chase! Hurry!" Rhett turns to look at the now payed intern. "Hurry!"

Link grasps his shoulder in obvious agony.

Chase huffs and puffs his way back down the hall, carrying with him a bag of ice, and a concerned Stevie jogs close at his heels. Rhett takes the ice from Chase and, after gingerly removing Link's hand, holds it to the injured shoulder.

"Do you want me to do anything?" Stevie asks her bosses.

"Go grab my phone and let me call Christy" Link groans, readjusting himself on the bathroom floor.

Stevie is greeted by a concerned Becca when she reaches the break room where Link had left his phone.

"Everything okay, Steves?" Stevie pushes past her and grabs Link's phone. She begins to speed walk back to the bathroom where Eddie has joined the group of on-lookers of Link's despair. Link is standing now, one arm around Rhett, who is leaning down to account for the 7 inch height difference between the two men. Link's eyes are squinted, and he begins to fall back to the floor, but his other arm is quickly taken by Eddie. Becca, who had followed Stevie back to the bathroom, runs and grabs a chair from the nearest office. Rhett and Eddie help Link stumble his way to the chair, where he is handed a bottle of water and his phone. Link dials Christy, jumping at the loud ringing sound as he waited for his wife to answer.

Link explains the whole thing to Christy, who then suggests that he should probably come home, but Link refuses, saying he's fine, and ends the call. Rhett looks at Link with the look he always does when things like this happen.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Rhett walks towards Link.

"I just need some Advil, that's all, dude." Link lets out a little scream of pain and grabs his shoulder. Rhett sends Eddie to CVS to get Advil, a cold pack, and some athletic tape, which Rhett has been meaning to pick up for Locke's diving injury, but hasn't gotten around to it.

"I'll roll you back to our office," Rhett spins Link around in the rolling office chair he is seated in, and proceeds to roll him down the hall and to his desk.