A Hard Day's Night

by illman

A series of missing scenes for the episode Slither.

Title: A Hard Day's Night

Author: hexicode aka illman

Fandom/pairing (if appropriate): Simon & Simon, no pairings

Summary: A series of missing scenes for the episode Slither.

Rating: All ages

Warnings: Nothing you wouldn't see on the show.

Disclaimers: The characters and settings aren't mine. No profit is being made, this is for entertainment only.

A/N: Obvious spoilers for episode 4x17 - Slither.

Rick dragged a trembling hand over his face as he eyed the clock on the wall opposite. Nearly forty-five minutes had passed since A.J. had been wheeled through the doors at the end of the hallway leading to the ER after their arrival by ambulance, leaving Rick behind to wait for any news of his brother's condition. What was taking the doctors so long? Shouldn't they know something by now?The wait was only adding to the already serious case of rattled nerves that Rick was experiencing. He couldn't get the images out of his mind - A.J. flipping out on them at the restaurant, the expression of abject terror on his face as he had brandished the plastic knife at Rick. But it wasn't the threat of violence that had terrified Rick, it was the utter lack of recognition on his brother's features when he'd tried to talk him down. It had been a stranger staring back at him. It hadn't made it easier though. The moment he realized that A.J. was way beyond reasoning and that he would have to physically overpower his own brother was still crystal clear in his mind. He could still feel a remnant of the same chill that had run through him back at the restaurant in that dreadful instant of realization.

The struggle that had followed had seemed endless. He was no stranger to physical altercations, in their line of work it was inevitable, but going up against A.J. had been a whole different ballgame. Sure there had been squabbles between them when they were growing up, but as the older brother, he had always easily had to upper hand. Now that they were both grown men, it was different and the stakes were so much higher. A.J. would never forgive himself if he hurt someone, even while drugged out of his mind. Rick needed to render him unconscious fast, if possible without inflicting injury. Once he had gotten a choke-hold on his brother, he had known what he needed to do, but it had taken all the determination he had in him not to relinquish his hold on the body struggling in his grasp. He had actually been relieved when A.J. had finally stopped moving. He remembered releasing his hold on A.J., checking his brother's pulse as he sat up, still yelling for someone to call ambulance.

Someone must have been listening because it wasn't long until he heard sirens in the distance, approaching rapidly. The entire time while he waited for the ambulance to arrive, he spent crouched at A.J. side, checking his brother's pulse and breathing every few seconds, not liking one bit how the beat under his fingers was racing.

It was only after the paramedics arrived and Rick told them what he suspected happened that he took his eyes off A.J. long enough to notice that Phoebe was nowhere to be seen among the small crowd of onlookers that had formed around them. He swore under his breath, but the sight of the gurney carrying his brother disappearing out in the direction of the door, chased any thoughts of Phoebe from his mind. He jogged to catch up with the paramedics loading the gurney into the back of the ambulance. Their entire attention appeared to be focused on A.J. as they tossed back and forth medical jargon that Rick only understood fractions of and hooked his kid brother up to various monitors. Without a word, Rick climbed in after them, just before the third medic shut the rear doors. Seconds later, they were on their way. Squeezing into the furthest corner of the vehicle as to not be in the way, Rick's eyes remained glued to his brother. Suddenly, just when he had allowed himself to relax a fraction and really breathe for the first time since all this started, his brother's formerly too still body started jerking violently - back arching and limbs flailing. It was like a punch to the gut, only so much worse because this was his brother, his brother who had been drugged, his brother whom he had choked to the point where he had lost consciousness. This was all his fault.

That was the one thought his mind kept repeating, until the frantic beeping of the heart monitor A.J. was hooked up to suddenly changed into persistent and high-pitched whine. He didn't need to understand what the paramedics were saying to know what that meant. Their voices were lost on him as silver spots danced across his field of vision and even the shrill sound emitted by the heart monitor was drowned out by the ringing in his ears.

He must have zoned out for a moment then, because the next thing he remembered was the paramedics pushing the gurney out of the ambulance. For an instant, he stared after them, uncomprehending, but then he jumped out onto the pavement and ran after them. He was shaking like a leaf and his knees nearly buckled more than once, but he managed to keep up with the gurney carrying his brother until they disappeared behind the ER doors where a resolute nurse stopped him from following.

About twenty minutes into the wait, two uniformed police officers had shown up. As it turned out, the restaurant owner had called them. They wanted a full statement, but Rick was in no mood to oblige them. He said as much without mincing his words as his worry about A.J. discharged itself in the form of anger. In the end, he phoned Downtown Brown using a nearby payphone. He very briefly outlined what had happened, before he, at Town's request, handed the receiver to one of the uniformed policemen. Whatever the detective said to him Rick didn't hear, but it must have worked, because they left without bothering him again. That left him, once again, alone with his fears and the gnawing feeling of guilt as he waited for news on his brother's condition.

"Mr Simon?" A man's voice interrupted Rick's non-too-cheerful thoughts. He looked up and saw a small, rotund figure of a man in a white coat.

Rick got up. "Yeah, that's me, Rick Simon."

"I'm Dr Hargreaves," the man introduced himself. The two shook hands. "How's my brother?" Rick asked before the doctor had a chance to speak.

"Your brother Andrew is stable, at least for the moment," Dr Hargreaves replied.

Finally, one bit of good news. Rick released a breath he didn't realize he had been holding.

"Can I see him?"

"In a few minutes, yes, but first there are a couple things I'd like to speak to you about." Hargreaves led the way to a tiny, windowless office, that looked like it had started life as a supply closet. He motioned for Rick to sit down in a chair opposite a desk littered with files and then took a seat behind it.

"Your brother was exposed to a massive overdose of phencyclidine, commonly known as PCP or angel dust. That is what caused all his symptoms - the psychosis, the vastly elevated heart rate and the seizure, among others. Since there is no anti-dote, all we can do is treat the symptoms and wait for the drug to leave his system. Right now, he is stable, albeit heavily sedated. We'll take him for a CAT scan later in a little while."

"Why the CAT scan?" Rick interrupted with a bad feeling that this was not something he wanted to hear.

"To be frank with you Mr Simon, we are worried that between the seizure, the overdose and the cardiac arrest your brother suffered, there might be some brain damage."

Rick felt sick. A.J. brain-damaged. The words seemed to make no sense. It took him a few moments before he could even speak. "What kind of damage are we talking about?" he finally managed.

"That's difficult to tell at this point. There might not be any, but I want you to be prepared in case there is. The CAT scan will tell us more, but we won't know for certain until your brother wakes up and we can assess his mental status. That however won't be for several hours as the sedative he's been given needs time to wear off."

Any further questions Rick might have had were forestalled when Hargreaves' beeper went off. The doctor glanced at the display before getting up.

"I'm afraid duty calls once again. I'll have one of the nurses take you to see your brother."

oOo

Everything hurt. Pain was the first thing A.J. was aware of before anything else could register. It was a deep, dull ache that seemed to emanate from every part of his body, but most especially from his head. Whoever had beaten him up this time, they had done a thorough job of it. Except this didn't feel like the result of a beating, this felt like he had been put through a meat grinder - twice. Going back to sleep seemed like a really attractive option right about now. A.J. was about to yield to the pull of oblivion when someone shook him by the shoulder, unleashing new waves of pain across his body.

"Go away," he muttered, still only half-awake, to whoever it was who wouldn't let him sleep. They however were persistent and shook him once again. A.J. tried to turn away, only to find that he couldn't. Something or someone was keeping him pinned down. Alarm won out over leaden fatigue and he opened his eyes only to find himself staring up into the concerned face of his brother. It figured, whenever there was trouble, he could count on Rick to be involved.

oOo

The nurses had eventually given up on their efforts to chase Rick away from his brother's bedside. One of them, a young, pretty nurse, had even taken pity on him and brought him a cup of coffee. Any other day, he would have flirted at least a little bit with the woman who had so obviously taken a liking to him, but not tonight. Or rather this morning, for it was 2 a.m. by now. A.J. had slept through the CAT scan which, to Rick's great relief, had revealed no sign of brain damage. Still, he wouldn't be reassured until he had seen for himself that his brother was all right. Too fresh were the memories of the previous day's events and the part he had been forced to play in them.

Several times now in the past hour or two, A.J. had shown some signs of waking, moving his head restlessly on the pillow. Once or twice, he had even opened his eyes, only to subside again into drugged sleep moments later.

Rick was fighting against the urge to doze off, exhausted after the day they'd had when a low moan coming from the bed rendered him instantly wide awake. A.J. was moving restlessly, or trying to anyway as his movements were severely restricted by the restraints securing him to the bed.

"A.J.!" Rick gently shook his brother's shoulder, trying to bring him 'round.

The answer was somewhat slurred, but Rick had no trouble understanding the two words.

"Sorry, can't do that," he apologized softly and shook A.J. shoulder once again with a bit more force. A.J. tried to turn away from Rick and onto his side, but the restraints held him on his back. An expression of panic crossed his face and his eyes flew open while he still feeble struggled to move.

"A.J., it's okay. Just calm down and lie still," Rick told him,not sure if he was getting through to A.J. at all when the other man's eyes darted back and forth in increasing panic. Finally, they settled on Rick's face. Rick could swear he saw a faint smile ghost across his brother's face before a confused frown took hold on his features.

"A.J., you with me now?" Rick asked, trying hard to keep his tone level, despite the rising feeling of anxiety he felt when all his brother did was stare at him. Rick's thought were whirling off in a thousand frightened directions at once and he reached out to press the call button to summon a nurse when his brother's groggy voice stopped him.

"Rick?"

"That's right," he said, a smile spreading over his features.

"I'm sorry," A.J. said. "I really am."

"What are you talking about?" Rick was genuinely taken aback. The whole time, he had been so wracked with guilt that he hadn't even considered how things must look from A.J. side of the bed.

"At the restaurant, I did attack you, didn't I?" A.J. asked, frowning uncertainly.

"That wasn't your fault, you were drugged with PCP," Rick replied, opting for the simple version, for now.

"What about Phoebe?"

"I don't know," Rick admitted. "They probably got her." He shrugged.

"We have to..." A.J. began, trying to sit up, but breaking off when he realized that he couldn't. Rick tracked his brother's gaze to the restraints circling the younger man's wrists.

"They are just a precaution," Rick explained softly. "Let me get a doctor to check you out."

A.J. only nodded.

oOo

"Everything checks out fine, Mr Simon," the doctor, a young, harassed looking intern, declared after giving A.J. what the detective recognized as a basic neurological exam. "Given that your CAT scan earlier tonight also came back clear, I don't think you need to worry about any lasting ill effects. But, to be sure, I'd like a neurologist to check you out tomorrow morning."

"Is that really necessary?" A.J. asked. He hurt all over and all he wanted was to go home and get some sleep.

"Well, I..." the intern began, obviously flustered.

"Just bring me whatever forms I need to sign to get out of here. Please?" A.J. interrupted him, not missing the look Rick gave him.

The intern muttered a response before beating a hasty retreat.

"A.J., are you sure feel up to going home?" Rick asked, his tone clearly voicing his disagreement.

"Look Rick, I'm beat, but I'm okay. I just want to go home and get some rest." A.J. rubbed his temples, hoping to soothe the pounding headache behind them. "Besides, we need to find Phoebe."

"That can wait," Rick argued. "Look, Town knows what happened. He'll be all over it. There is no reason you can't stay here until that neurologist says you're fit to leave."

"Since when are you so keen on following medical advice?" A.J. snapped, not understanding his brother's insistence.

"Oh, I don't know," Rick retorted angrily, "Maybe since I had to listen to your doctor tell me that you might be brain-damaged. Or maybe it was watching you have a seizure and flat-line in the ambulance on the way to the hospital!" Rick was practically yelling at that point. With one last look at A.J. he stormed out of the room, leaving his shocked and bewildered brother staring after him.

oOo

Rick was less than half-way down the hallway when his anger waned as quickly as it had risen and he was starting to feel bad for going off at his brother like that. It wasn't anything to do with A.J.,he knew that much. All the worry, guilt and stress of the previous twelve hours had just finally caught up with him. Not that it was any excuse. Rick sighed, buried his hands in the pocket of his jeans and turned around.

oOo

A.J. was stunned by Rick's outburst. It wasn't the anger that had left him speechless, he knew his brother had a temper. They both had. No, it was the realization how serious his encounter with mind-altering substances had been. He only remembered freaking out at the restaurant, or at least he recalled enough fragments of it to know he had completely out of control. It seemed surreal looking back at it now, but, and he wouldn't say this to anyone, it scared him. He knew, knew without a shadow of a doubt, that if that knife had been real, he would probably have seriously injured or even killed his brother. Knowing himself capable of that, even if it was under the influence, was hard to stomach. Now, with the added knowledge of how close he had come to suffering permanent damage or death, he couldn't imagine what the whole incident had been like for Rick.

A.J. might be the one hurting physically, but he didn't doubt for a moment that it had been an emotional roller-coaster for Rick, to say the least. He understood his brother's need for space and was willing to let him have it, for now at least. He was still determined to go home though. Getting back to work would be good for both of them. The sooner they found Phoebe, got the scum-bag who had dosed him and closed this case, the sooner they could put it all behind them.

oOo

When Rick re-entered his brother's hospital room, he wasn't surprised to find A.J. sitting on the bed, dressed in his street clothes, save for the shirt that the paramedics had ripped in their efforts to save his life. The reminder made Rick swallow hard, but it didn't make him change his mind.

"A.J. listen, I'm sorry. I..."

A.J. raised his hand to stop him. "No apology necessary," he interrupted his older brother. "But for what it's worth, I'm sorry too. I didn't realize..."

"Let's just say that yesterday didn't go as either of us had planned," Rick interrupted A.J. in turn. "You ready to get out of here?"

"Definitely."

The End