Summary: Gabriel works at a mental facility in Los Angeles. Meeting Blaine Anderson has stirred some ghosts of his past.
Main Characters: Gabriel O'Brien, Joey O'Brien, Damian Fernando
Warnings: Well, I've rated this M just to be on the safe side. I guess there's gonna be talk about suicide. I'll make sure to give warnings in the particular chapters. Also, bad language because Gabriel can't hold his tongue at times.
This is a spin-off of my story NO REGRETS but it will not feature Blaine or Kurt (except for very short scenes). This story is supposed to give some background information on my OC Gabriel which I don't want to tell in all length in No Regrets. I know that FF Net is not the right place for original stories but since this story is based on No Regrets I hope you don't mind.
Of course you can read this without reading No Regrets, but if you're planning to read No Regrets I advise you to read that first and then return to this story when you've reached chapter 35.
I borrowed the adorable Joey from White Blank Page, a story by the adorable normallyweirdm! Thanks for making Joey Gabriel's younger brother! He's absolutely perfect for the job! ;)
To all you wonderful guys who are faithful readers of No Regrets, I hope you enjoy this little spin-off. Please let me know!
Wildcat
It was after midnight when his phone rang. By the sound of the ring tone Joey knew it was his brother calling.
Of course. Gabriel would never call at daytime or early evening. It was only in the middle of the night when he had a rough time finding sleep and had already spend hours twisting and turning and fighting his demons unsuccessfully.
It was only when he got desperate for distraction because he couldn't stand being alone with his thoughts any longer.
Still, despite the late hours of their chats Joey wished his brother would call more often. The last time they spoke was almost two weeks ago and Joey had started staying awake himself, wondering if his brother was okay and constantly checking if he had his phone nearby.
Now Joey grabbed for his phone on his nightstand and answered it while rubbing his eyes.
"Hey G!"
"Got a minute?"
Gabriel's voice was calm but Joey noticed the slight tremble that told him his brother had been crying. It was clear to him that this would take more than just a minute. He expected to be talking for the next two hours at least.
Sometimes they wouldn't even talk. Sometimes even when there was nothing to say they'd just stay on the phone, taking comfort from each other's breathing, knowing someone was out there. Joey knew that as long as he heard his brother breathing, at least he was still breathing.
"Sure." He reached for the lamp on his nightstand and blinked at the sudden flash of light. "You're alright?"
"Yeah, kind of," Gabriel replied, sounding a bit miffed. "It's this boy…"
A boy in Gabriel's life? Wow. This was news. Clearly, Joey had missed something.
"You're seeing someone?" Joey's cheerful voice raised an octave.
A low chuckle was the answer. No. There was no new romance for Gabriel.
"Stop peeing yourself at the possibility of me dating someone, Kermit. How's your own love life processing? Have you finally asked Cathy out? Or do you rather want to wait yet another two years?"
"So who's this boy then if he's not a possible love interest?" As usual Joey quickly avoided talking about Catherine because his big brother would only make fun of his poor attempts at romance.
"He's..." Gabriel paused to let out a deep sigh. "I met him at work."
"So he's a patient?" Joey's spirits dropped below zero. Nothing good could come out of this.
"He came in a week ago," Gabriel confirmed, his voice throaty. "He's in my care."
"Tell me about him." Joey knew that Gabriel couldn't really talk about the patients that were in his care in that mental facility. As an orderly he was bound to confidentiality. But Joey knew enough by now to question the integrity of that facility.
"His name's Blaine. He's only seventeen."
Joey listened up. Never before had Gabriel mentioned a patient by name. He'd always come up with those cute or annoying nicknames for everyone, depending on whether or not he liked that person.
"He's always singing." There was a smile in Gabriel's voice. "When he's conscious, that is. I call him Wildcat, 'cause he was all claws and teeth when he first arrived. Broke my nose."
"HE DID WHAT? Oh, my God, Gabe, are you okay?"
Joey sat up with a start and had his feet out of his bed before he knew what he was doing. It wasn't like he could just run over to Los Angeles now that he worked in Ohio. He missed being able to just get into his car and drive over to his brother's in a minute.
"Relax, it's just a broken nose. You don't need to start jumping around your place in panic, little frog."
"You know as much as I do that a broken nose is a serious matter and..."
"Joe, stop it, you're not the doctor our parents wanted us to be. You're just a plain cute little nurse like me, so stop it, alright? I didn't call to talk about my stupid nose. It already bugs the hell outta me that the guys at work think it's hilarious to call me Nose Guy. I mean, seriously? Can't they come up with something more creative?"
"Okay, go on," Joey stifled a yawn and rubbed his neck. "What about your wildcat then? I mean you scowl at me for weeks when I just so much as step on your foot. This boy can punch you in the face and you don't mind?"
"Well, yeah..." Gabriel's voice turned soft. "You know, he looks a lot like Damian. I mean, he's not an exact look-alike but... he's close."
Joey felt his throat constrict. He hadn't heard Damian's name coming from Gabriel's lips in a long time.
"What's his treatment?"
"Dr. Nolan put him into the darkroom as soon as he got here," Gabriel said and added with a deep sigh, "He's been in there for a week now."
Joey shivered. He climbed out of bed and unconsciously turned on all the lights in his apartment. He remembered the time when Damian had been in the darkroom. He remembered Gabriel telling him about the crying and pleading. About the screams. About everything.
"What are you going to do about it?" Joey asked his brother in a hushed voice, pacing his bedroom.
"What can I do?" Gabriel asked in defeat.
"The usual," Joey suggested. "Mess with his pills. Make sure he gets enough food and stays strong. Talk to the parents and recommend treatments that sound promising but are in fact harmless."
"What if the usual's not enough?"
"You said the boy's strong?"
"I can't say for sure. I can only hope."
It was the first time for almost three years that Gabriel actually cared about someone. Whoever this boy was he was making Gabriel feel something again. This thought terrified Joey.
"Gabriel... are you sure you wanna do this again? Please, don't invest too much of yourself into helping this boy." Joey couldn't hide that he was worried. Of course he was worried. He didn't want to talk Gabriel out of caring about someone but nobody could blame him that he was scared that his brother got too involved into someone else's life.
What if it all went awry again? What if this time it would push Gabriel over the edge?
What was the chance that he was actually able to help this boy anyway?
"If I don't help him through it, nobody will."
"And who's there to help you through? You need to think of yourself!" Joey insisted. "You need to finally quit that cursed job and move on! Staying doesn't do you any good!"
"Yeah, you're right."
To his utter surprise Gabriel agreed with him. Joey raked a hand through his unruly dark brown hair and let out a huff. "I must have misheard you. Did you just say I was right? Did you just agree to something I'm preaching you for three years now?"
"Look, the day Wildcat gets out, I'll quit," Gabriel promised. "When he goes, I go."
When he goes, I go.
A chill went down Joey's spine. Go where, Gabriel? After all, three years ago he'd been close to following Damian, too.
"I think I can come to L. A. this weekend," Joey pondered, biting his nails, and stopped his pacing in front of the mirror on his closet. He had a picture stuck on it, showing himself with his brother Gabriel and his best friend Damian. Happy times. Long gone.
"What for?" Gabriel's voice sounded a little bit pissed. Joey knew that Gabriel didn't like it when he fussed over him like a mother hen.
"To see if you're lucky and that boy's punch got your nose straight."
Gabriel started to laugh out loud and whined in pain at the same time. Yeah, a broken nose hurt. "Geez, Joey, you wanna kill me?"
"Don't worry," Joey replied with a grin. "You know I couldn't kill a fly."
"I remember a time you killed off your goldfish."
Joey could practically hear the mischievious grin on his brother's face. "I was three!" Joey exclaimed. "And you told me it was okay to feed them chocolate milk!"
"You were four and should've known better than to do what your big bad brother told you to do. Like the one time I told you to bite into your own foot and you did." Gabriel snickered. "You limped for a week!"
"How on earth did you become a nurse, Gabe? Seriously. How?"
"I still wish I had filmed that and sent it to America's Funniest Home Videos," Gabriel went on teasingly.
"I'm gonna kill you on Saturday!"
"Really? Can't wait."
Joey resumed pacing his room and biting his nails. He would have to beg Hannah to change shifts with him so he could fly to L. A. on Saturday morning. She would understand. She knew that he needed to take care of his big bro. Gabriel didn't have anyone else.
When Gabriel spoke up again casually after a moment's time there was a smirk in his voice, "So, about Catherine..."
With a groan Joey slumped face-forward on his bed.
The day Blaine was brought in was the day Gabriel was on his way out.
This time for real. He had finally quit his job.
He had told Dr. Nolan to go fuck himself.
Well, not in person, unfortunately. That doctor was hard to track down in this building. But Gabriel had stood in front of his office door and let out a tirade of curses.
Then he had kissed his colleague Jenny goodbye. Literally.
Her job was to make out with patients. Jenny loved making out with gay men. She was a strange girl. But they were living in a strange world. Who was he to judge?
Instead he had made out with her every now and then. In exchange she wouldn't be too insistent on her patients, those poor souls who were in the process of being turned straight.
The last step of getting out of this cursed place was seeing Sienna, the receptionist. He slammed his keys and cards and name tag on her counter. "I'm outta here! I quit! You'll never see this happy face again!"
"Really?" Sienna barely looked up from working on her crossword. "Are you sure you wanna leave, Gabriel?"
"Watch me!" With a grin he turned around and called back over his shoulder. "You'll miss me, Sinner! This is your last chance to beg me to stay! Not that I'd care but it might be fun to see you down on your knees."
"I definitely won't miss being called a sinner every day." Sienna's soft chuckle followed him the short way down the hall towards the exit. He already imagined the happy yell his brother would let out when he told him on the phone that he'd quit. Joey would be so enthusiastic about it. At least there was one person he could make happy with this decision.
His determined walk was stopped by the glass door which led to a security vestibule, an entry area for personnel where one door must be closed prior to the opening of the other door. He was flexing his arms impatiently. This two-door entry system always bothered him because it took ages to get out.
This time he had to wait because there was a small group of people just coming in. It was a blonde young woman in a mint colored business suit and matching pumps, her nose up high. She was followed by a tall broad shouldered guy with shortcut blond hair who was pushing a kid in a wheelchair. The dark haired teenager was probably sixteen or seventeen years old and from the daze in his eyes Gabriel could tell that he was heavily drugged.
The woman with the perfectly styled flowing hair turned to the reception. "Valerie McVaughn. I bring Blaine Anderson by order of his father, Richard Anderson."
Gabriel could tell the moment when the boy realized something was wrong. He started squirming in his seat and spoke up in a drawl due to his sedation. "Wait, Val, where're we? Don't wanna... lemme..."
"Stay put," the giant growled and pushed the boy harshly back into the seat.
The boy took in his surroundings and could sense that this was no place he'd like to stay put in. With one quick move that surprised everyone and definitely astounded Gabriel, the boy leaped off the chair and stumbled through the hall. He could hardly walk by his own but he was determined to escape and made his way back to the glass door and banged with both hands against it. "Out! Lemme out!"
It didn't take a moment's time until the giant was with him and took hold of the boy's arm.
"No, no!" The boy started yelling and tried to shrug out of the big guy's vice grip.
"Blaine! Behave!" The blonde snake hissed at him like a heartless person would talk to a dog.
"No, no! Wanna go back home!"
Gabriel could tell that they were doing it all wrong. Couldn't they see that the boy was just plain terrified? Again the boy named Blaine tried to wriggle his arm free and cried out in pain when he almost dislocated his arm.
"Let go of him before he's hurting himself," the woman called Valerie told her companion in a tone that made clear that she was used to giving orders.
The moment he was free the boy ran. But there was nowhere to run. He stopped short next to a big green plant and leaned against the wall to keep himself on his feet.
"Blaine, we don't have time for this," the cold-hearted woman said with a strict voice. "Don't make such a fuss! You don't want me to tell your father about this, do you?"
With an exasperated sigh Valerie addressed Sienna. "I guess we need some help over here."
Sienna had already pushed the right button because two orderlies came down the hallway to join in the fun. Gabriel couldn't help tensing up at the sight of them. Of all people it had to be Jason and Erik on duty today. Gabriel despised those guys for good reasons.
A loud buzz of the door told him that he was free to pass through, but Gabriel found that he couldn't move. He was frozen to the spot, paralyzed by watching the scene in front of him.
"Gabriel? You can go." Sienna's voice startled him out of his trance and he reached out to push the now unlocked door open. He shouldn't care about what was happening to this boy. After all this was none of his business. Not anymore.
The boy backed to the wall, reminding Gabriel of a scared kitten, his hazel eyes heavy with sedation drugs, but still too much aware of the threatening guys now surrounding him. Jason and Erik were edging in on the boy to catch him and get him along the hard way.
"Wait up!" Gabriel couldn't help but move to the scene. "Let me give it a try."
Jason and Erik stopped and shrugged at him.
They stepped away and Gabriel walked towards the boy, slowly and with his hands raised. "Ssh, it's alright, boy. Don't be scared, nothing's gonna happen to you, kitty, relax." Gabriel didn't bat an eye upon this lie. There were a lot of bad things going to happen to this boy, but Gabriel didn't want to have it start with two big guys fighting the poor boy down.
Blaine had his back against the wall, his chest heaving with panicked ragged breaths. Gabriel approached him cautiously. "There you go, good boy. Let me show you the way. We'll have a nice walk down the hall, alright? C'mon."
Gabriel reached out to take the boy by his arm when something flickered up in the boy's eyes. Gabriel saw it coming but he was too slow to react. The boy let out an unhuman cry and smashed his fist right into the young man's face.
Gabriel stumbled backwards and almost lost his balance. A fierce sharp pain went right through his skull and for a moment he couldn't see anything but white spotsdancing in front of his eyes.
His colleagues rushed past him to tackle the boy down and before Gabriel knew it he was yelling, "Don't hurt him! Don't hurt the boy! Geez, he's only scared! Leave him alone!"
Erik and Jason had the boy down within seconds and etherized him with a cloth. Jason picked the limp body up and sat him down into the wheelchair. Along with the blonde woman and her companion they moved towards the nearest elevator.
Business as usual.
"Come here, Gabriel." Sienna was with him and steered him towards a chair. She had a first aid kit and tended to his nose. "Oh dear, I believe it's broken. I'll call an ambulance to get you to a hospital."
"Thanks," Gabriel muttered, although talking was rather painful now. "Can you give me my keys back, please?"
"What for?" Sienna pushed the long blond curls out of his forehead to have a closer look at his nose.
"I'm staying. I take back my resignation."
"But... Gabriel. You just got attacked by a patient. If that's no reason to quit I don't know what is."
"See, I can't quit. With a broken nose I'm gonna need money to pay for medical bills."
"Sue the father," Sienna suggested dryly. "You can certainly assume that his family has money."
Gabriel started to shake his head, then groaned in pain and made a mental note not to move his head. "I'm staying. At least for now."
There had been something in the boy's eyes that had Gabriel fascinated. Behind those hazel eyes there was a sharp mind and a strong determination. This boy was a fighter. He was a wild animal that should never be tamed.
Gabriel couldn't allow this facility to break him.
But it wasn't just the facility.
Gabriel could tell that the blonde woman was up to no good. It was always a bad sign when the parent or legal guardian so obviously didn't really care about the kid's well-being. He was fairly certain that this Valerie would demand the worst kind of treatments for the poor fellow. Gabriel couldn't let that happen without sneaking around in the shadows and interfering.
"I'll be back tomorrow," Gabriel told Sienna with a firm voice.
"You think that's a good idea?"
"No, but when did I ever have a good idea?" Gabriel chuckled and winced at the pain in his nose again. "Call me crazy."
He would take care of that wild cat.
This was the last thing he'd do.
And it wasn't for the fact that the boy had dark curly hair and beautiful hazel eyes and plush lips and reminded him of the ghost that haunted him for all this time.
Maybe this time he could make it right.
A VERY HUGE THANK YOU to normallyweirdm and StormsInNeverland for the inspiration and the motivation to write this! I appreciate your love and enthusiasm for Gabriel! This wouldn't have been written without you guys!
There are more chapters to follow! A lot of them are going to be flashbacks into Gabriel's life before Blaine. ;)
Thank you for reading! Reviews and thoughts are very welcome! :*