BLAKE
Olivia sat in a chair next to Logan's bed, her chin resting in her hand, her elbow propped up on the hospital mattress. Blake was sitting on the pale green couch next to Andy, flipping aimlessly through a sports magazine he'd found in the hospital room. Andy was snoring lightly beside him, long lashes casting shadows across his cheek, his dark lips slightly parted, the silver ring in his bottom lip glinting in the light. He hadn't slept all night after he'd driven Blake straight from the party to the hospital where Logan was admitted.
It was almost noon. The doctor had been in once to check that Logan had stabilized after what she'd confirmed was an overdose of a GHB, but he'd still not woken up. Every time the nurse came in, Blake asked her when he would wake up, and the poor nurse would smile and tell him that everything would be okay, but Blake was still on edge.
The last time he'd sat by Logan's bedside in a hospital like this, he'd been thirteen years old. He was in eighth grade, excited about some middle school dance that had seemed such a big deal at the time but quickly turned stupid and mundane once Elijah woke him up in the middle of the night and half-carried, half-dragged him to their Toyota, where he sat in the backseat next to an unconscious Logan while Elijah oversped to the hospital.
He'd cried a lot back then. He cried so much that Logan started crying and then Elijah had to spend the next hour quieting both of them and then Elijah left for an hour after that and when he came back, his eyes were red and puffy.
Blake looked out the window now, swallowing the uncomfortable pain in his throat. This wasn't then. This had been an accident. Or something.
Elijah had always taken Blake to his doctor's appointments and Logan to his therapy sessions and stayed awake watching over Olivia after she'd been shot. Now, Blake kept glancing at the door, half-expecting his older brother to come in and take control of the situation and tell them everything would be okay.
But he didn't come.
Blake had tried calling the prison, but he'd found out inmates weren't allowed incoming calls. If he wanted to tell Elijah, he would have to drive down to the prison and do it in person. As soon as Logan woke up, he would do that.
Blake stood up from the sofa and stretched his arms overhead, trying to dissipate his uneasiness. His muscles itched and he was suffocated in the tiny hospital room from the strong, bitter scent of disinfectant and the never ending beeping of Logan's heart monitor.
"I'll be right back," he told Olivia, who murmured something noncommittal in response.
When he pushed open the hospital room door, he didn't feel the relief that he thought he would. Outside, the air was certainly less restricting, but there were so many people strolling down the halls, talking, whispering, laughing, crying.
Ordinarily, Blake loved crowds - he fit right in with a lot of people - but now with Logan lying unconscious in bed, he couldn't shake off the horrible feeling that someone was watching him. Someone was waiting for one of them to slip up. He wondered if maybe one of them was whoever had done this to Logan. Or maybe it was one of those people that had cornered them at the grocery store.
He opened the door to the stairwell where it was much quieter, and took a deep inhale of the slightly musty air. No one could get to him here. He was alone.
A hand touched his shoulder and he let out a little yelp and jumped sideways, his heart nearly leaping out of his mouth. He shook his head when he saw that it was only Andy. "Jesus," he said, exhaling slowly. "You scared me."
"Sorry."
Blake dragged a hand through his hair. "It's me, I'm just a little freaked out."
"Things turned out okay," his roommate said softly. "The doctor said he would be alright."
"I just can't stop thinking about how scared she must have been."
"If you're worried about, Olivia, don't be. She was really level headed when I talked to her."
"It's not just her, it's Logan, it's Elijah -" Blake stopped himself before he started naming everything under the sun that was wrong with this situation. A shiver ran down his spine. Safe house after safe house during the trial, he couldn't ever shake the feeling that someone would be in his closet, that the door would burst open and masked men would put their hands around his throat, that he would once again have to sit next to the hospital bed of one of his siblings for a third time, desperately hoping they would survive.
If that fear had come true, which of the others would too?
"Hey." Andy gently nudged Blake's shoulder, bringing him back to the dimly lit stairwell, where it was no one but him and Andy. No monster lurked in the corners, no one was waiting behind closed doors. "You okay?"
Andy was a nice person. He couldn't help not being nice. Even when Blake asked him what Logan had really said to him, he'd only said, he was just very panicked for you. You'd better call him back or something.
Sometimes though, Blake wished he wasn't nice. Then he wouldn't feel irrationally guilty for making up lies about when he used to live in New York when Andy poured half his coffee cup into Blake's if he saw he was tired. He wouldn't feel this desperate urge to tell him that his last name wasn't really Powers when Andy laughed if Blake freaked out over not following the exact directions on a new recipe they were trying.
And he wouldn't have to pretend that being this sort of fake friend with Andy wasn't sometimes this physically painful thing that he could barely stand.
"Blake?"
Blake leaned down further across the bars as if that could put some space between them. "My family is not normal, Andy," he said slowly.
Andy leaned over the railing next to him, his elbows lazily spread across the flaking metal. "I don't think families are really meant to be."
"It's not that, it's..." Blake looked down into the stairs below that converged from this high up, disappearing into a dark nothingness. He wished it would swallow him up. For the first time, his words were failing him, because for the first time, he couldn't just tell Andy what was on his mind. For the first time, he had to filter every single word that came from his heart.
And it was not a nice feeling.
"It's just...very complicated," was all he could come up with.
The corner of Andy's lips turned up in a dry smile. "Dude, this sounds like the world's worst breakup speech."
"I've heard worse."
"No, I'm pretty sure this takes first place."
"You're probably right," Blake said sullenly, and that made Andy laugh, which made Blake crack a reluctant smile.
"Whatever it is, it's fine," Andy said once they'd both lapsed back into a quiet silence, "You don't have to explain. But if you really feel the urge, definitely come up with a better breakup line."
"I'll make sure to Google something for next time."
"Or we could just skip it altogether." Andy shrugged. "You know, go straight to making up."
Blake rolled his eyes at his goofiness. "I'm pretty sure that's for people who are actually dating."
"Yeah, yeah."
Blake glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. Andy was just staring down into the stairwell, watching a woman exit two floors down and begin walking down to the ground floor. He didn't look like he was overthinking anything. Why then, did Blake feel like he had to overthink every little word?
He pulled away from the railing. "I think I'm going to go back to the room. I don't want to leave Olivia alone there."
"After you."
It took another hour of suffocating silence before Logan stirred. When a quiet groan came from the bed, Blake leapt to his feet, the magazine on his lap falling forgotten to the floor. He leaned over the bed, nearly knocking foreheads with Olivia, who had been sitting on the opposite side.
"Logan?" he whispered, lightly touching his arm.
Olivia batted his hand away. "Stop it, let him sleep if he's sleeping."
"He's not sleeping, I think he's waking up!"
"Well, don't wake him more! What if he needs to go back to sleep?"
"It's like twelve o'clock already! He's been sleeping all morning!"
"He's been passed out all morning! That nurse said it's not the same as sleeping!"
"Will you two...be fucking quiet...for two seconds," Logan rasped. He didn't open his eyes, but the muscles in his neck strained as he shifted on the white hospital sheets beneath him. His expression was pinched in clear pain.
"Oh my god, you're awake," Olivia said all in a rush, and threw her arms around his neck. Blake bent down and hugged them both tight. He pressed his forehead into Olivia's hair and clenched his fingers into Logan's shoulder.
"What the fuck-" came Logan's weak, muffled voice from beneath them. A shaky hand pushed at Blake's chest. "Why are you - what's going on?"
Olivia untangled herself from Blake's arms and pulled away. "What do you mean, what's going on?" she demanded. "Do you not remember?"
Logan slowly peeled his eyes open. They were red and bloodshot, a splotch of garish color in his white face. He squinted in the bright hospital light. "Can you turn that shit off, god," he grumbled, raising a trembling hand to cover his eyes.
The light flipped off, darkening the room considerably, and Logan jerked in his bed. Blake glanced back at what had scared him and saw Andy sitting up on the couch, his hand on the light switch.
Blake had to hold Logan down as he tried to get out of bed. "Relax, Logan-"
"Who the fuck is that-"
"It's just Andy-"
"Why the fuck is he here-"
"He drove me here."
Andy casually edged towards the door. "I'm just going to be outside," he murmured, then slipped out of the room and pulled the door shut behind him.
Logan's chest rose and fell rapidly. His eyes fell to where there was an IV taped to his hand and a heart monitor was clamped on his index finger. "Don't you dare pull that out," Olivia warned, holding his wrist away from him when he reached down to do just that.
"Let go of me, Olivia!"
"Then tell me what happened!"
"I don't know what you're talking about!"
Logan was clearly terrified of why he was laying in a hospital with tons of people around him and Olivia was clearly terrified of almost losing him and they were both so confused and scared that they were making this into a bigger mess.
She grabbed him by the front of his shirt and shoved her face close to his."What do you mean, you don't know?" she demanded. "You came home and you almost died and you're going to be like Elijah and pretend you have no idea what's going on?"
"I have no idea what's going on!" Logan shouted back at her.
"I don't believe you!"
"Well, fine, then don't! Why should I care?"
Olivia's face turned completely red. Her shoulders shook with rage and her lips trembled.
"Because I'm the one who had to hold you while you almost died!"
Logan's eyes widened and nearly fell right from their sockets. His expression contorted in confusion and terror. Tears welled up in Olivia's eyes and she snatched her hands away from him and tried to stomp off but Logan managed to catch and tug on the end of her shirt just as she turned away.
"Wait, Olivia, stop, hang on," he said. "Come here."
Blake was surprised at the way Logan pulled her closer to the bed. If anyone was ever angry with Logan, he couldn't be bothered to care, and if someone was walking away from him, he never begged them to come back. He hated seeming needy.
But now, Logan only let go of Olivia's sleeve once she'd sat down hard in the chair beside him. She bent down and wiped the tears coming down her cheeks on her sleeves. Logan's voice went up an octave.
"Don't cry, I'm fine, it's fine," he said, gingerly patting her head, and that was all it took for her to break down and put her head into his chest and begin to sob.
*****
It took Logan a long time to quiet Olivia's tears, mostly because Blake was trying to help and every time he said something, Olivia would snap at him and cry even more. Eventually, Logan told him to shut up and be quiet, and it was only after that he managed to wipe the last of her tears.
"Now can someone please for god's sake tell me what is going on," Logan said tiredly once Olivia finished blowing her nose.
Blake looked at the floor, embarrassed. Logan was going to know what had happened now. How he had completely screwed up last night and put Olivia through way more than she would have had he been sober.
"Well," he started, scratching at the back of his neck. "Olivia said you came in last night and-"
"I'm telling the story because I wasn't completely blackout drunk while Logan was puking his guts on the floor," Olivia growled at him.
Blake's cheeks went red.
Logan blinked twice. "What in the hell-"
"Alright, alright." Blake raised his hands and leaned back in his chair. "I just thought you didn't want to have to explain the whole thing again." He crossed his arms over his chest and tried to scrape his dignity off the floor. "And for the record, I was not blackout drunk. I told you I dropped my phone."
Her eyes flashed murderously. "You hung up on me!"
"I said explain, not start fighting." Logan rubbed his temples. "I feel like shit and you two are not helping."
"You look like it too," Blake told him.
"Well, thanks."
Olivia told Logan what happened since he'd come home the day before. Blake knew she was glossing over all the scary parts by the way she'd shortened the whole story, but in between the hour that he and Andy took to get there, she had to talk to police officers and doctors and filled out half a dozen medical questionnaires for Logan that she was mostly clueless about. When Blake came, he had to go through them and fix a lot of information she'd gotten wrong or didn't know to include the first time around.
By the time she was done, Logan was shaking slightly. "So it was just alcohol, right?" he asked hopefully.
"They, um...found drugs in your blood," Blake said slowly.
"What drugs?"
"Maybe the doctor should-"
"Just fucking tell me what it was."
Blake cringed. "Just a little...liquid G."
Logan visibly flinched and his eyes went wide and panicked. "What the fuck - that's a date rape -"
"They don't know what happened," Blake said quietly. "They said it's probably nothing but they said if you want to do a...a rape kit, they'll do it for you."
Logan put a hand on his face and exhaled shakily. He didn't speak for a while. His shoulders were tense, every single muscle in his body tight, waiting for an attack. Blake wanted to put a hand on his shoulder, comfort him, but he knew he hated being touched when he was freaked.
"Elijah," Logan finally whispered. "I told him to help me and he said to go to the place on Ninth and Steels. That's a bar."
"You went in there by yourself?"
Logan grimaced. "I was trying to look for something or someone or anything and the bartender threatened to kick me out if I didn't order and I - fuck, I shouldn't have drank that sprite."
"It's not your fault," Olivia said, but Logan shook his head.
"My stupidity is my own fault."
"Someone else's doing is not your stupidity and it is not your fault, Logan," Blake said adamantly. "You didn't ask to take those drugs and you wouldn't have drank it if you knew."
"Still-"
"Still nothing. Don't put this on yourself. They'll find the person that roofied you."
"I don't remember anything about anybody though." Logan pressed his fingers into his eyes. "Damn, this is stupid."
"Do you remember how you got home?" Olivia asked. "I didn't see your bike outside the apartment. Did you walk?"
"If I was as out of it as you say it was, I definitely don't think I walked."
"Then did you ring the doorbell?"
"What doorbell?"
"The doorbell rang and then I went to see and you were outside."
"I don't know, maybe I pressed it."
"But you were passed out on the floor."
"Olivia, just stop saying these creepy things! I don't remember any of it and it's getting really freaky."
Olivia leaned back in her chair and threw an arm over her eyes. "Tell me about it."
This chapter ended at a weird spot because originally it was longer but then it was getting too long so I had to split it into two.
The next updates will be WEDNESDAY and SUNDAY because I've already written most of the next chapter.
Also I finally watched the ending of Supernatural and...what was that. WHAT WAS THAT. I HATED THAT.
For next time: the rest of the hospital scenes + maybe Logan convinces Blake to help him (going to see what the word count is first)