A/N: Sorry for the delay in updating. Life has been busy. Thank you all for the continued support.The story is gaining ground quickly. We've surpassed 10k reads!! Yay!!! You guys rock! As always, I've enjoyed reading your comments. They are a constant source of entertainment.
Marc's black SUV screeches to a halt outside the Academy Hospital emergency room doors. I'm a little dizzy from the blood loss, but I know the wound isn't going to kill me. It just hurts like hell and there's more blood than I thought there'd be. The bleeding has slowed down quite a bit, but I still look like the starring role in a slasher flick. It really does look a lot worse than it is. Before I realize it, the door beside me swings open and Raven is pulling me out and carrying me into the hospital. Marc already has a nurse waiting with a wheelchair. I roll my eyes.
"I can walk, I'm not an invalid." I protest to deaf ears as Raven slips me into the wheelchair gently, as if I might break. The nurse, whom I recognize from previous visits to the hospital with Sean when I'd "assist" him in his rounds, smiles down at me patiently.
"It makes them feel better and it's hospital protocol, just sit back and enjoy the ride." She says quietly into my ear as she begins to push me back into triage.
"Is he working the E.R. tonight?" I ask, afraid of the answer. But, my question is answered for me when I hear him on the other side of the curtain.
"Ohh, lookie here. We've got a patient who was testing the waters as a pin cushion! Let's get a look at this." That's when the curtain is thrust to the side and there stands Sean Green, complete with stethoscope and his sexy white coat. His dazzling green eyes widened on his heart-shaped face as recognition overcomes the surprise.
"What- Who- How?" He sputters for a moment before the scene becomes apparent and all Sean sees is his Pookie sitting in the emergency room covered in blood like a character from 'Cabin Fever' or 'House of A Thousand Corpses". I really need to stop watching those damned movies with Nathan. Sean races to my side, shoving Raven and Marc out of the way as his large, soft hands cup my face. "What happened, Pookie?" His eyes dart over me trying to pinpoint the wound.
"Sean, I'll be ok. Take a deep breath, I need you to be my doctor right now, and then you can be a concerned boyfriend, ok?" I need him focused so I can get this over with and get changed. I feel gross. He studies my face a moment longer, reassuring himself I'm not in any immediate danger and then steps back.
"What happened, Sang? I need you to tell me how you ended up like this." I cringe knowing he isn't going to like anything I have to say from this point on.
"Well, I was on my mission with the Toma team." I motion to Raven and Marc with a nod of my head. "And Machete was there with some of his crew."
"Crew?"
"He's in the Four-Oh-Five in North Charleston." I respond calmly and clinically. "We were talking, when someone else came up behind us and I couldn't blow my cover so I intimated that this other person was an ex-boyfriend who may not have treated me with the utmost respect. Unbeknownst to me, this other party is a member of a rival gang, the Jamison Park crew. Machete went to attack this other party with a switchblade and instincts kicked in, I swear I thought he'd stop, but I guess the momentum was too much and I stepped in too late to stop the swing and he got me in the upper arm. Raven and Marc immediately pulled me out of the ensuing chaos,created a tourniquet and got me to the hospital as quickly as possible while updating the rest of the team on my status." I end my brief report expecting some kind of response. What I get is a gaping mouth and wide eyes. I gesture to my left arm hanging limply at my side. "I think I need a few stitches, and maybe something for the pain?" The last part is what I suspect gets Sean's brain working again.
"Jenny, get me fifty cc's of saline, two hundred and fifty milligrams of naproxen and get her started with a shot of cephalexin, one hundred and seventy-five milligrams so we can stave off any infection. Who knows how clean that damned knife was. I need a suture kit stat." Sean taking control of the situation is sexy. His usually easy going, almost playful nature, has been replaced with this cool, calm and assertive persona. Is it wrong that I'm bleeding and turned on at the same time?
Marc and Raven are ushered out of the triage area so Sean can treat my injuries without an audience. Once we're alone, Sean starts the inquisition. "Why are you dressed like a prostitute? That isn't your cover story is it? I'll strangle Owen if he agreed to this." Sean's fist tightens around the syringe.
"I'm a waitress at a dance club. This is one of the uniforms." I try to ease the tension a little with honesty. "Owen was aware of the uniform before I accepted the mission. We discussed it at length."
"You obviously didn't discuss the length." Sean's cheeky nature starts to bleed through the initial panic. I let a giggle slip at his comment as he's cleaning my wound and injecting me with antibiotics at the wound site. He also instructs me to take the painkillers before also injecting novocaine into the wound site as well. "Do you have another uniform you can wear?" I suspect he's trying to distract me from the stitches he's giving me by making me focus on something else.
"Yeah, I have a few different sets in various colors. Owen's been trying to get me to bring a set to his place." The pain medication is starting to take effect. I feel kind of funny, light, like I'll float away yet my arms and legs are feeling heavier by the minute.
"I bet he is." Sean snickers under his breath, but I can still hear him. It makes me giggle and I have no control over them. "It's a good thing I'm done sewing you up, or you'd have had crooked stitches." He tries to admonish me, but it only serves to make me laugh harder. Sean is having trouble holding in the laughter bubbling from his throat as he watches me laugh for absolutely no reason. "Okay. I'm noting your medical records, Pookie. We need to go light on the pain medication. Apparently you react strongly." I try really hard to reel it in. I know this is serious. I needed stitches for goodness sake! The guys are going to find out about the mission and they are going to pull me. That thought sobers me up. I need to prove I can do this.
"Sean, please don't tell the guys." I beg.
"I had the nurse contact Owen already. He's on his way. But I'll leave it up to Owen's determination if we tell Kota per protocol." Sean finishes cleaning the blood off of my arm and side with a disinfectant wipe. "Do you want to sit back here, or in the waiting room? Marc and Raven are out there waiting on word about your condition. Axel, Corey and Brandon might be out there by now too."
"I'll go out there. You have work to do and I'd just distract you if I stayed back here." I go to slide off the bed they've got me sitting on when Sean catches my good arm.
"Hold on, I'm not letting you walk around in your condition. We'll get you in a wheelchair and you can sit in that. The pain medication is already working through your system. I don't need you tripping over your own feet and hurting yourself further." I barely keep from rolling my eyes at him as he signals for a wheelchair to be brought over and helps me into it.
"Honestly, this is ridiculous Sean. I am capable of walking on my own two feet."
"Hospital policy, you need the wheelchair."
"You wouldn't make any of the guys use the wheelchair." I grumble under my breath. But, he must have heard me because we've stopped short in the hallway. I lift my eyes from the floor and standing a few feet away is Jimmy and some other guy who was with him at the club. I feel the blood drain from my face as panic flares to life inside me. If they find out I'm not what I say I am, I'm done on this mission. I shoot a nervous look to Sean and see him studying Jimmy for a moment.
"Kitten." Jimmy utters as he takes the two of us in. It's like we're transported back over two years ago and we're back in that house of horrors. Sean pauses for a moment, taking in Jimmy's appearance and his location in the back halls of the Academy hospital. He's sizing Jimmy up in his loose fit jeans and deep blue tank with the pound and a half of gold chains around his neck. His tank was torn and spotted with blood and there was a sizable bruise forming on his cheek and his knuckles were all ripped up.
"Polaris." Sean steps around the wheelchair up beside me. Jimmy's face breaks into a grin.
"Ohhh, man. The guys are never going to believe this." Jimmy says excitedly to the guy next to him who is quietly assessing us.
The quiet one is asian in appearance, maybe Korean or Japanese. His inky hair is short on one side and around the back and longer on the other side, styled in a chaos of spikes and sharp lines, the tips are a bright red as if they were dipped in fresh blood. He somehow makes it look polished. His intense dark eyes remind me of pools of dark chocolate, almost black in color. He seemed comfortable in his black skinny jeans, sliced expertly to look like he survived being dragged behind a vehicle or getting thrown from a motorcycle. His large black belt with three rows of alternating studs and spikes was strictly for fashion as it didn't even fit through his belt loops, it just sat enticingly on his hips. His white t-shirt was also cut up and had big black kanji scrawled across it "自分が愚かで". My lips quirked a little when I read it. It still somehow managed to showcase his sinewy muscles. His black biker boots were tipped with steel and studs, completing the look. He looked dangerous, even with the humorous t-shirt. Which, I suppose was the point. He was in a gang. He was dangerous. But compared to Jimmy, the quiet one didn't seem to have a mark on him.
Jimmy takes a few steps forward with his hand held out. "It is such an honor to meet you Doctor Green. You're, like, man, like a legend. You and the whole Blackbourne team." Sean hides the surprise well, but I still catch a slight widening of the eyes at Jimmy's statement. Sean slips on a warm smile and shakes Jimmy's hand cordially.
"Nice to see you again Jimmy. I hadn't realized the Anderson team had helped you into the Academy." Sean is still a little stiff and uncomfortable, but I probably only notice because I know him so well. It's so much easier to read them anymore. I don't have to wonder if they mean what they say or not, I can read their body language, even the subtle things like a twitch of an eyebrow or the slight dilation of their eyes, or a millimeter raise to one side of their mouth. "So, who's your friend? I'm assuming he's a family member?" Jimmy's cheeks tinge slightly pink at the admonishment for not introducing his friend to us.
"Oh! Sorry! Guys, this is Haru Ito. He's the leader of our little family. There's only four of us. They were only three until I came along and I fit in so well after the first mission we did together I joined their team." Haru still hasn't said a word to us. Maybe he doesn't speak english very well.
"Kon'nichiwa!" I start out in Japanese, greeting him. He reacts to that with shock and surprise, so I decide to continue. "It's a pleasure to meet you Haru-san. I think your shirt is funny. Does he know what it says?" I giggle and Haru smirks at me.
"No. I told them all it says "Rock and Roll forever". They know I'm not being honest but until they figure it out, I'm going to mess with them. I told them they should learn a few other languages to round themselve out. We're still kinda young as a team though. We've only been together about four years now." the language flows off his tongue elegantly.
"So you do know English then?" I ask.
"Yes. I'm fluently in several languages." He responds still in Japanese. "Were you hurt bad? You shouldn't have jumped in front of the knife like that. Jimmy could have easily blocked it. But, he was upset with the way they were treating you. You shouldn't be working there. It's dangerous." Haru scolds me gently. This gets Sean to bark out a laugh he's been holding in since we started our conversation and Haru's eyes widen with surprise. "You speak Japanese, too?" He asks Sean this time.
Sean nods, "Yes, who do you think taught her! But, It may be a little rude to continue this conversation in a language Jimmy doesn't understand." The person in question is leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and brows furrowed as if he just concentrates hard enough, he'll understand what we're saying. I smile over at him and continue in English for everyone's benefit.
"I'm on a mission there with the Toma Team. I didn't know Jimmy was Academy." I state, not wanting to give them any more details.
"Wait, so the guy with funny eyes and the scary bouncer dude, those are Toma Team members?!" his eyes light up like a kid on christmas morning who's discovered that he's gotten everything he's ever asked for. "Man, Sang! You HAVE to introduce me!!" he begs.
"Ummm... I'm not sure." I look to Sean for guidance. I don't know what proper etiquette is with this. Can I introduce them? Do they need to go through other channels? Does it have to be more formal?
"Sang?" Haru asks. "I thought your name was Chastity." He directs at me confused.
"It's like I'm in the midst of Academy royalty. Is the rest of the Blackbourne team here?" I blanche at the question. Gawd, I hope not. They'd never let me out of the condo again. I'm beginning to feel woozy from the pain meds. I'm going to have to go soon if I want to manage to keep any of my dignity. It's bad enough I got stabbed.
"Wait. Sang, did you jump in front of the gang member's knife in an attempt to save Jimmy?" Sean finally catches up to the conversation and exactly what I didn't want him to pick up on. "And what were the gang members doing to make Jimmy upset, exactly?" Sean's eyes became scary right then. I tried to shoot Jimmy and Haru looks that told them to keep their mouths shut if they knew was was good for them.
"They were just a little handsy, no biggie." I reply
"They were doing fucking body shots off her!" Jimmy exclaimed at the same time. Haru knocked him upside the back of his head for me and gave me an apologetic look. 'Sorry' he mouthed. I grimaced.
"I'm writing you a note Sang, you're to take tomorrow off to heal up. We will be talking about this. You should have told this to me immediately."
"I'm sorry, Sean. I thought my stab wound was more important than something that happened before the confrontation. I was in the process of getting extricated from the situation when Jimmy came up and antagonized them. I had it under control." I state angrily.
"Clearly. That's why you now have stitches in your arm."
"Can we move this conversation out of the hall way and maybe wait until tomorrow. I'm really not feeling the greatest." I frown at them as I suddenly feel like I have a million butterflies taking flight in my stomach. I try to take a few slow, deep breaths to calm myself. Sean nods stiffly and marches me down the hall in my wheelchair toward the visitor's waiting area where the entire Toma Team are seated, waiting for me. I sigh heavily. Here we go.
"Why did you subject her to that?! You should be ashamed of yourselves! Allowing strange men to lick her neck for their perverse pleasure!" Sean growls lowly, trying not to draw attention.
"Little bird said she could handle it. She was trying to get us information. We trust our little bird, so should you." Raven pokes Sean in the chest. I absently wonder how much trouble Sean will get into for fighting in the lobby. That's probably a big no-no. I giggle. 'No-no' is a funny word. You don't say 'yes-yes'. My giggling and mumbling subside as I realize I have eight, no wait, nine pairs of eyes on me. Owen's molten silver eyes take in the wheelchair, the blood on my uniform and my odd behavior with confusion as he walks up to us from the front doors.
"What is wrong with Sang, and why are you all acting like buffoons in the lobby?" Owens eyes go hard as they take in the Toma team and Sean. Sean backs down immediately, looking sorry. But my boys on the Toma Team rally around me.
"Mr. Blackbourne." Haru addresses Owen politely. It's like Haru has come face to face with a god and it's blowing his mind. I roll my eyes, not even trying to hide it. "Sang was injured at work trying to protect one of my team mates during a mission. We didn't realize another team was in the club or we would have checked in with them through the proper channels. It also would have likely avoided this whole situation, so I apologize sir." Haru does a formal little bow which shocks all of us.
"I see." Owen says calmly as he pushes the thin black frames of his glasses up his nose. "I want a meeting at my house with both teams tomorrow around eleven a.m. I am not going to risk one of my family members because of miscommunications. Now, if we're done here, I need to assist Ms. Sorensen home and allow her to get some sleep." They all nod and disburse, the Toma team sharing numbers with Jimmy and Axel and Haru speaking quietly off to the side.
Once we're situated in Owen's BMW and on our way home, he turns to me. "When I asked you to bring one of your uniforms back to my place, this was not what I meant." I burst out into giggles.