Untouchable ~ A Jared Leto/MARS Fanfiction

Chapter Seven

"Yeah, but he's always been a picky eater," Jared shrugs and dives into his mesquite cake. "Well, that just means more for me. It's always been that way, even when we were little kids. I always used to eat whatever Shannon didn't want on his plate. Drove my mom and grandparents crazy."

I picture Jared and Shannon as children and it makes me smile. They had to have been a cute and precocious handful.

Shannon returns to the hut a few minutes later. He watches Jared finish both of their breakfasts. "I can't believe you ate that," he remarks, his lips twisting in a disparaging grimace.

Jared grins and hands me the empty plates. "I can't believe you won't. It's good."

Shannon shakes his head, but says, "The chopper should be here within the next ten minutes. Just spoke to the dispatch again. I also called Mom. She'll be at the hospital when we get there. So will Tomo and Stevie."

"Is anyone else going to show up?" Something in Jared's tone makes me look at him closely. There's a rigidity in his eyes. "I don't want a fucking circus made out of this, Shan."

Shannon's eyes slide over me briefly. "You mean the media and the paparazzi, or Katia?"

"Both." Jared spits the word out. "I don't want any of them there."

"As far as I know, nobody in the press has any idea you even split town. But Katia..." he shrugs. "Katia does what she wants to do."

"Isn't that the truth," Jared mutters under his breath. "So we're flying in this helicopter all the way back to the hospital in L.A.?"

"Probably. I mean, Cedars-Sinai is where your orthopedic specialist is, so it would make the most sense, wouldn't it?" Shannon points out.

"Orthopedic specialist?" I echo, frowning at Jared. "Did you have a previous injury?"

Jared nods. "Fucked my back up climbing last summer, and then my knee during a performance on stage a few months ago. My right ACL was messed up. It's not a big deal, really."

No, except that it's the same leg he's now broken. I bite my lip and meet Shannon's gaze. Something in my expression captures and holds his attention. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" I ask him.

He doesn't answer at first, and then tilts his head out the door, a nonverbal cue to come outside. "I'll be right back," I tell Jared.

"Don't beat up on him too badly," he calls after me as I exit the hut.

I head for the edge of the clearing, Shannon right behind me.

"Hey Mom, are you going to have any of these clams?" asks Shelby, squatting near the fire with a plate full of the steaming hot, nasty crustaceans.

Yuck. "No," I answer. "They're all yours." I keep going, well into the trees. Shannon crashes and crunches in my wake.

"What is it?" he demands.

I finally stop and turn. "Jared injured his right ACL a few months ago? What kind of injury was it?"

"Yeah, he twisted something or hyper-extended it or something like that. He had to wear a brace for awhile. Why?"

I wince at this news. "ACLs take time to heal. Longer than a few months, usually. He probably wasn't healed when he went climbing and it gave out, probably injuring it even more. Jared's going to need intensive physical therapy to regain full use of his right leg." I pause, and add, "Even then, it'll probably never be a hundred percent again."

Shannon snorts. "You don't know Jared. He's healthy and strong, but more than that, he's tenacious and stubborn. He'll bounce right back from this."

I shake my head adamantly. "Maybe twenty years ago he could've. But Jared's in his forties, and he's not going to bounce right back."