Skylar was very uneasy right now. She had texted Brian telling him that she was stopping by the library for a little after finishing up with the location team. He never texted her back but by the looks of it, he had read her message. Hoping that he just got caught up at work she thought nothing of it and got some research done for her last big paper for school.
After a couple hours with no response from Brian she was starting to really worry. It wasn't like it to not answer her, especially since all the stuff with Rocco had started. He was constantly checking on her throughout the day.
She had taken a cab over to Staten Island to make sure everything was okay. To her dismay his Jeep wasn't in the driveway but she used her key to let herself inside. Everything about the house was the exact same as they had left it that morning so she didn't think he had even been home yet.
It was almost 10 o'clock when he finally walked in the door and it took Skylar half a second to realize how drunk he was. "Where have you been? I've been calling and texting you for hours." Skylar demanded.
"Well look who it is!" Brian shouted sarcastically.
"Excuse me?" Skylar asked completely confused on why her boyfriend was acting like this.
"You honestly have the balls to ask me where I've been and be at my house?!" Brian shouted.
"What are you talking about?! Skylar yelled back. "You're the one that told me to stay with you in the first place! What is wrong with you right now?!" She began crying.
"Oh here come the fucking waterworks." He groaned, his speech very slurred from all the alcohol.
"You know what...you're clearly very drunk. Let's just talk about this tomorrow when we're more level headed." She said trying to calm herself down and began to climb the stairs to the bedroom.
"You're not fucking staying here." Brian announced with a cocky laugh. "I want you outta my fucking house!"
Skylar's face became beet red in anger. She had no idea why Brian was acting like this but if he wanted her out, she was leaving. Scurrying around the living room to collect her things as Brian looked on in rage, she held back her tears. She knew he was drunk but she couldn't believe he was breaking her heart like this.
"Can you at least tell me what the fuck I've done to make you hate me?" She asked as she reached the front door.
"Word of advice for your next relationship, guys tend to get a little pissy seeing their girlfriend ride another man like a fucking show horse." Brian snapped.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Skylar responded.
"I saw the tape Skylar, don't fucking lie to me anymore! I accepted what you did for work but you promised no extras especially to that fucking asshole." Brian told her. The images he saw on that tape were still burned into his skull. He had hoped all the booze would make them disappear but unfortunately he was still picturing it.
Skylar's face was loaded with confusion. "Brian I honestly have no idea what you are talking about..."
"I didn't get to finish the tape, so tell me did you fuck him at the end?!" Brian yelled interrupting her.
"Ya know what Brian, go fuck yourself! How dare you ask me something like that!" She shouted. As she slammed the door behind her, all she heard was Brian continuing to scream from inside the house.
She didn't know what to do so she continued to walk for a bit until the cold finally got to her and she decided she needed to call a cab.
Meanwhile Brian was sitting on his living room floor assessing the damage he had created. His cats were hiding upstairs afraid to come down because of all the noise. When Skylar left he smashed and broke so many things around him, not knowing how to deal with the anger and heartbreak he was feeling. Finally he landed on the couch, the alcohol finally winning and causing him to pass out.
As Skylar got out of the cab in front of her apartment, she couldn't help but feel bad for the driver. He had listened to her cry her eyes out all the way from Staten Island so she made sure to give him a generous tip.
She entered her apartment not wanting anything but a hot shower and her bed. As she made her way to the bedroom she glanced at a picture of her and Brian she had on her counter. Him hugging her from behind whispering something in her ear causing her to laugh hysterically. One of the crew members had taken it when they were all out after a long day of shooting.
On the car ride back to Manhattan she was starting to piece together what Brian was talking about and figured he must have somehow seen footage from the night Rocco threatened to fire her. Of course he would be upset but the way he reacted was completely over the top and she didn't know if she could honestly be with the person that she saw today. That's if Brian would even speak to her tomorrow. All she wanted was to sleep in her own bed tonight and figure it all out in the morning.
"You've kept me waiting." A deep voice came out from the dark room.
Skylar's heart leapt from her chest in fright. Suddenly lights flicked on and standing before her was her former boss.
"Roc..co" She stuttered feeling her adrenaline start to rise. She debated turning and running out the door. However she decided against it because if he caught her, she wasn't sure what he would do.
A once well put together man stood before her looking a wreck. There were dark circles under his eyes, his hair looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks and facial hair now covered his once clean shaven face. He looked on edge and unpredictable. It was then that Skylar realized she was dealing with a very unstable person and had to handle this situation very carefully.
"Rocco, how did you get into my apartment?" Skylar asked as calmly as her voice would allow.
"The door knob is old, not hard to wiggle it open. You haven't been home though. I come every night expecting you and you're never here." Rocco said taking a couple steps towards Skylar.
Instinctively she backed up. "I'm scaring you." Rocco said in a confused tone.
"Rocco..." Skylar said trying to remain calm, "You broke into my home, of course I'm a little scared."
"Did you get my flowers?" He asked.
"Umm..yeah I did. Thank you." She responded. "Look, I'm not exactly sure what you want but I'm kinda tired. I was going to go to bed. I'll walk you out." She said turning on her heels to hopefully lead Rocco out.
Before she could react she felt a pain she could never describe. The back of her head felt like it had been split completely open. The last thing she remembered was seeing a pool of blood beside her on the floor. Then everything went dark.
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Joe, Sal, And Murr all stared at one another completely annoyed. Never in their lives had they seen such a hung over Q. He literally had been sitting at a table on set for going on 20 minutes with his head down. He hadn't gotten up to do anything; this shoot was going to take all day at this rate.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Sal finally snapped.
"Back off Sal." Q groaned. "Leave me alone." He added then pulled his hood over his head.
"You do realize you're here to do a job right?" Murray called over.
"I'm aware." Q mumbled with his head still down. "Just give me 5 more minutes."
Joe rolled his eyes and headed to refill his coffee. Something told him he was gonna need it today.
Just as they were about to get rolling, Cha came running into the room. "Joey! Bessy's on the phone, said she tried calling you a bunch of times. It's an emergency!"
Joe's heart dropped, the only reason she would ever call was if it was about Milana. He snatched the phone from Cha, "Honey, what's wrong?!"
Everyone in the room stared in fright as Joe tried to understand his wife on the other end. "Baby slow down, you're crying too hard. I can't understand you." He paused for a moment while Bessy took a couple deep breaths and tried to explain the best she could.
Joe's eyes suddenly settled on Q. "What hospital?" He asked Bessy. "We're on our way."
Joe hung up and without taking his eyes off of Q, he called out to the entire crew, "Sorry guys we gotta wrap. Skylar's in ICU. She was attacked last night."
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Brian was quiet the whole ride to Mt. Sinai Hospital. Hearing that Skylar was in ICU made him want to throw up. The entire car ride as Joe did his best to race through the streets of New York City, he was trying to pump Q for more information but all he was able to get was that they had an argument and Skylar went back to her apartment last night.
After 35 long minutes they finally pulled up to the entrance of the hospital immediately hopping out and throwing the keys to the valet. When they made it the ICU floor, they saw Bessy in the waiting room pacing the floor.
"Oh my god!" She cried out when she saw her husband and Q. "Baby I'm so scared!" She exclaimed as Joe grabbed her into a hug. "They won't let me see her. Why won't they let me see her?!"
"Skylar's tough, I'm sure she's gonna pull through." Joe assured her stroking his wife's hair softly. "Have they told you anything?"
"Just that her neighbor heard a commotion in her apartment and when she poked her head into Skylar's place there was a man standing over her body. He took off but she was able to give police a description of him." Bessy said tears flowing down her face. "They found her cell phone and called the last number she dialed which was yours." She said looking over at Brian. "They called a bunch of times but you wouldn't answer!" She snapped at him. "They started going through her contacts and finally called me."
"Where were you?!" Bessy shouted at Brian.
Brian refused to look at either Bessy or Joe. "We got into a fight, so she went home. I went to bed, didn't hear my phone and haven't looked at it at all today." He mumbled ashamed of himself.
"Fight about what?! And who would ever attack Skylar?" Bessy was in hysterics at this point.
"Wait a minute." Joe interrupted, "Does this have anything to do with her old boss?" He asked remembering his previous conversation with Q.
Brian's only response was a small head nod.
"What old boss? What are you talking about?" Bessy asked looking between the two men.
"I guess when Skylar quit her other job recently, her boss wasn't happy about it." Joe said.
"What do you mean, wasn't happy about it? Did he threaten her?" Bessy asked.
"Q?" Joe said getting annoyed that his friend was remaining so quiet in the corner of the waiting room.
"Whatever you know about my cousin, I wanna know now!" Bessy demanded.
Brian cleared his throat before speaking, "The owner at the club she was at, Rocco, guy's an asshole. When she quit he wasn't happy and then we started noticing strange things happening."
"What kinda strange things?" Joe asked.
"Her apartment was broken into and he sent flowers to work for her." Brian answered. "A detective friend of mine opened a case and has been looking for him but there's been no sign of him."
"Let me get this straight...there is some asshole out there that is breaking into my cousin's apartment and you just let her go back there by herself because you got into a stupid fight!" Bessy screamed.
A nurse poked her head into the waiting room, "Excuse me!" She snapped in a harsh whisper, "This is ICU with very sick patients, take your argument outside."
Joe immediately jumped into action, "I'm sorry. Things are a little emotional right now, we'll keep it down."
The nurse left but not before shooting a very dirty look to all three of them. Bessy had now taken a seat but was sending dagger eyes to Q.
"Bessy I'm sorry. I let my temper get the best of me last night. I should never have let her leave, this is all my fault. I didn't protect her." Brian apologized whole heartedly. "This is all my fault." He repeated putting his head in his hands.
"Excuse me...Skylar Thompson's family?" A doctor came in interrupting.
"Yes!" Bessy answered jumping up. "I'm her cousin,Bessy. This is my husband, Joe, and Skylar's boyfriend, Brian."
"Nice to meet all of you. Sorry it wasn't under better circumstances. I'm Doctor Jeffery." He introduced himself.
"How's my cousin? When can I see her?" Bessy asked.
"She's got a pretty nasty hit on the head. Whatever the attacker used opened up the back of her skull that we had to staple shut. Luckily any internal bleeding was minimal. It also looked like she was kicked in the side repeatedly and it fractured a couple ribs on her right side." Dr. Jeffery explained.
Bessy listened in horror, "Is she going to be okay?"
"It will take time but doesn't seem to be any permanent damage. I know it doesn't seem like it but she's very lucky it wasn't worse." He answered. "A nurse will come get you in a few once she gets settled in a room."
"Is she awake?" Joe asked.
"No, not yet. May be a few more hours or longer. Her body needs rest so the longer she sleeps, the better it honestly is for her." Dr. Jeffrey answered.
"Thank you so much." Joe said.
Once the doctor left the room was silent. Joe looked over at his friend, seeing the pain in his eyes. "You okay buddy?" He asked sitting next to him.
"I shouldn't have fought with her last night. God I am so fucking stupid!" He said kicking the chair in front of him. "I knew it wasn't safe at her place, that's why she was staying with me."
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With a shortage of rooms, it took a little longer to find Skylar a bed but surprisingly after about an hour they managed to get her moved upstairs to a private hospital room.
As the nurse guided them off the elevator she wanted to prepare them for what they were going to see. "She's bandaged up pretty well and we just removed her breathing tube. She looks worst than she actually is, just remember that."
Joe, Bessy, and Brian entered the hospital room and were all smacked dead in the face with reality as they looked at Skylar.
"Oh my god." Bessy whispered then immediately rushed to her side, "Skylar, I am so sorry." She kept saying over and over again kissing her forehead.
Brian remained in the corner staring in disbelief. It wasn't until Joe dragged Bessy away to call the sitter to check on Milana that he moved to the chair next to Skylar's hospital bed.
As he sat in the room alone with her, he grabbed her hand and rubbed it gently bringing it to his lips to kiss repeatedly. "Baby I'm so so sorry I let this happen. I'm sorry for everything I said last night. I love you so much." Brian said leaning his head down and doing something he hadn't done in years, he prayed to God.