THE FIGHTERS

34 THANK YOU

Nathan Collins

"How you feeling E?" I ask her quietly as she comes to. She whines lowly and I walk over to her as she turns over so she's on her back.

"Where am I?" She asks her voice all raspy and I hand a cup of water. She moves to grab the cup and I watch her closely. Tony said she's okay so I brought her to my house.

"You're in my room." I say quietly half expecting her to freak out but she doesn't instead she grabs my shirt and pulls on it.

"Please..." She says barely auto-able to me and I'm not sure what she is asking for until her fingers curl around my wrist. I lay with her and move her hair away.

"Marrco.." She whispers as she slips back into unconsciousness. I frown knowing I'm keeping her from Marco and Jack. I walk away from her thinking about what to do. After a while she wakes up and whines more. I walk over to her and hand her a ice pack along with some advil to help with her headache.

"Listen E.. I've been thinking about it and.." I stop unsure of how to word this.

"My head hurts Nate.." She whispers and I nod.

"I'd be surprised if it didn't you hit it pretty hard.." I say and she nods slowly.

"E?" I question and she hums an answer and puts her head down against my pillow.

"You wanna kill Jorge yeah?" I say and she nods.

"Marco won't let me though." She says and I nod.

"What if he didn't know you were alive?" I whisper and she looks at me confused.

"What do you mean?" She asks and I look at her.

"Never mind when you feel up to it you can text him and I'll take you back to Tony and Marco can pick you up." I tell her and she reaches out for my hand. I step over to her and she pulls herself up so that she's sitting on the edge of my bed and I put myself in front of her. She grabs my arm and puts her forehead against my abdomen.

"Easy E you have to go slow.." I murmur to her and she sighs.

"Can you.. Uh.. I have to pee..." She says and I sigh.

"Damn E I didn't think about that.." I say and she looks up at me her pled in her eyes and I sigh again.

"Alright but I'm not going in the bathroom with you." I say and she nods slowly. I help her up and steady her before she can fall over. She goes into the bathroom and I wait for her to come out. I hear the water run before she comes out again and almost falls again. I grab her and she sighs.

"What did you mean?" Her voice quiet as she asks and I shake my head.

"Nothing worth talking about. How do you feel?" I ask her and she stops walking.

"I could have easily died.. I definitely hit my head hard enough. Well enough to cause brain swelling or internal bleeding. Which can easily cause someone to be brian dead." She says quietly. I look at her confused and she looks down.

"We all have skeletons.." She whispers and I just help her sit.

"That's how my parents died. Or how they said. I didn't believe it.. And obviously it wasn't true.." She continues and I nod.

"I could train you. But they'd have to believe you died.. " I say and she looks down.

"All of them would have to believe you're gone." I say.

"I'd take you to my brothers house. and train you. But you'd be alone besides me. I'd be the only person you'd be able to talk with." I say seriously. She pulls me closer to her and lays her head against my abdomen again I run my fingers through her hair and she sighs.

"What about high school?" She mutters and I sigh.

"Well. You could do online schooling to finish it out." I say. and feel her shake her head against me.

"What about Marco and Jack and the guys?" She whispers and before I can answer her she answers herself.

"They'd all have to believe so that it could go back to Jorge..." She says and I sigh.

"Yes. It's up to you E." I whisper to her and she pulls back.

"I'm tired.." She says and I look at the clock on my nightstand. 2:13 AM..

"I'll do it but Tony has to be in on it." She whispers laying down again and I nod allowing her to sleep.

"Will you stay with me? I'm about to lose my whole life.. And I don't even get to say goodbye.." She says and it sounds like she's yelling but her voice is barely at average speaking volume. I sit on my bed and she flips over on her side. I just sit there with her for a long time before standing and stretching. I stand and pull her into my arms. I take her out to my car and drive over to Tony's house. I knock on the door and wait a few minutes before he opens it.

"Nathan what are you doing here? And why do you still have Lina why didn't you take her back to Marco he's probably worried out of her mind." He says and I look back at my car and see E move and wake up.

"We need your help." I say and jerk my thumb back to E. He nods and comes out.

"Lina?" He questions and she yawns.

"Tony.. Nate has to explain something to you." She says and they both look at me. So I explain the whole thing to Tony. They both sit quietly and for a second before he looks at her.

"Is this what you want.?" He asks and she steps out of the car.

"I need this. I can't keep living in fear that he's gonna hurt someone I care about." She says her voice the strongest I've heard it since she got to the gym yesterday.

"So you're willing to hurt everyone for this.?" He asks her.

"If it means protecting them in the end then yes." She says determined and he sighs.

"Fine." Is all he says before he gets in his car. E slides into the passenger seat and I hop behind the wheel and we leave. The three of us get to the place and E jumps out and follows Tony in. I wait in my car for a little bit before going in. E is already hooked up to ten hundred different machines and they all read like she's dead. But her eyes are open and I can see her breathing.

"Okay time to call Marco." Tony says before putting a needle in E's neck making her groan.

"Tony what the f*ck!?" I yell as E's eyes slide shut.

"Nathan it's to stop her vitals if they touch her she will feel dead." He says before pulling out phone. I hear it ring once twice the third time getting cut off.

"Marco.."