Title: The Truth
Category: TV Shows » Revenge
Author: And The Moment's Gone
Language: English, Rating: Rated: t
Genre: Angst/General
Published: 03-16-12,
Chapter: Prologue, Words: 1,766
Warnings/Spoilers: If you haven't seen through 1×13 (Commitment) then stop reading now if you don't want to be spoiled. I have played a little fast and loose with the events of certain things in 1×14 (Perception) and there is no reference to any thing past that. If there's anything you don't understand, please don't hesitate to ask.
Summary: While the floors underneath our feet are crumblin', the walls we built together tumblin', I still stand here holding up the roof. 'Cause it's easier than telling the truth…
Official Disclaimer: All Revenge characters and plots belong to Mike Kelley and ABC. I do not hold stock either the man or the company. Emily Thorne, Nolan Ross, and any other character featured are NOT mine. The title and summary comes from the Kris Allen song The Truth and I don't own that either.
11:56 pm
Thursday, August 25th, 2011
Southampton, New York
The call came on a Thursday night, so close to Friday morning that Nolan couldn't tell the difference.
It had been a mildly uneventful evening, spent with a recovering Jack at his home for no reason other than he didn't feel like going to whatever charity event was being hosted by an up and coming socialite. Emily had texted him from the party, threatening violence due to his absence, but he simply reminded her that her engagement party was a little over a week away, and that she didn't get to demand a public audience until then. He'd sent Jack home early when the pain meds had gotten the better of the man, then Nolan himself had played Grand Theft Auto until he could no longer keep his eyes open.
"Whatdyawant?" Nolan rolled to his side to check the clock by his bed, wishing he'd been awake enough to look at the caller id.
"Hey man," the voice on the other end was tentative, and Nolan could just barely recognize the drawl. "It's Declan." Nolan must have grunted, because Declan took a breath. "There's been an accident - you need to get to South Hampton Hospital."
Nolan sat up then, rubbing his eyes and a hand through his hair. He accidentally popped a contact out and didn't bother to try to figure out where it landed. "Jack?" He asked quickly. After the incident with the tapes he could have sworn that Emily had removed the man from Victoria's crosshairs.
The younger man took an audible breath and then mumbled something to someone on his end of the phone. "No," he said softly. "Emily." Nolan cursed as Declan began rambling about a car accident. "Just get here."
Nolan hug on up the kid and made a mental note to apologize later. He shouted for Big Ed even as he threw his covers off of his legs and reached for the first article of clothing that he could find. He'd just pulled his pants over his hips when Ed entered the room, scanning for the reason for his boss's distress. "Emily was in an accident." He announced, blindly reaching for something to cover his torso. "- need to get the hospital."
Even though he was missing a few words, Ed nodded. "I'll get the car." He flipped on Nolan's bedroom light as he left the room, reminding the computer wiz that he needed shoes.
12:38 pm
Friday, August 26th, 2011
Southampton, New York
The emergency room at South Hampton was one of the most relaxed that Nolan could honestly say he'd ever seen in his life. Then again, in peak season, the doctors and nurses were more prone to see the results of alcohol-induced stupidity than true casualties. Nolan wasn't the least bit surprised, when Ed dropped him off and circled to park, that he was able to just walk up to the intake desk and someone directed him to where Emily had been taken.
Declan seemed to be waiting for him in the doorway of the hall that the helpful nurse had pointed him toward. The kid looked shaken, but fine, and Nolan was a little glad that he wouldn't have to make that phone call to Jack. "They've moved her into the OR." Declan offered quickly, "Everyone's in the waiting room, but they won't tell the Grayson's anything."
If it had been any other night, and he had been in the hospital for any other event, Nolan would have honestly laughed at that statement. Instead he rotated his wrist and continued to follow Declan down the hall. "Why not?"
"They're not family." It was something that Declan had heard the surgical nurse say half a dozen times before he decided that he was going to wait for Nolan in the hall. It had been the nurse, after looking over Emily's chart and a handful of papers that had been in her wallet, that had asked if there was a way for Nolan to be reached. While it had confused some, Declan had dutifully pulled out his cell and dialed. When Nolan reached the end of the hall, the younger man slid past him to open the door first.
Suddenly Nolan wished he had put some thought into what he was wearing. While comfortable and within arms reach after he had gotten off of the phone with Declan, his MIT hoodie and the tattered pair of jeans he lounged around the house in made him feel even more like he didn't belong coupled with the Hampton's elite. And there were plenty of them in the room, lounging about as if this were a continuation of the dinner party that they had just attended. The entire room turned the second Declan let the door slam behind them and Ashley squeaked his name in surprise.
"Mr. Ross?" On the far side of the room Daniel and his father seemed to be unsuccessfully grilling a scrub clad woman, and the way that she froze them out when Ashley said his name was almost comical.
It was a shame that Nolan didn't have time to appreciate the true satire that had become his evening. "What happened to Emily?"
"You're Nolan Ross?"
He resisted the urge to snap at the woman, choosing instead to bite his lip and take a deep breath. "Didn't we already establish that?" He questioned harshly, "What happened to Emily?
"There's been an accident," the woman phrased carefully.
"You mean this isn't a garden party?" His next breath was deeper and he looked at the badge hanging from the pocket of her scrubs. "Nurse Hardtman, is there any way possible that I can get you to stop telling me things that I already know and get on the things that I need to?"
"She left before the rest of us did." Daniel stated after a moment, while the woman was trying to regroup. "They found her car flipped over on Montauk Highway. Her seatbelt was off and her car had apparently gone over a few times."
"We're going to skip over the reason why you weren't with her," Nolan looked around the room and realized that Declan was back in Charlotte's arms, the heiress curled into her boyfriend's lap. He turned back to the woman. "What's going on?"
"From what the trauma team could see, she hit her head and neck in the crash and her lung collapsed." He exhaled when he realized that this was probably less then routine for the woman. "The surgical team has already started assessing the damage and making the proper - "
Nolan ran a hand over his head and noted quickly that Ed had made it into the room. "Then what do you need from me?"
It wasn't until her lips had started moving that it hit him. "You were listed on an advanced directive that was found in her personal affects as her next of kin."
The expletive that escaped his lips was slightly louder than he intended it to be - and Nolan was fairly certain it wasn't English. "Of course she did." He muttered harshly, running his hand over his hair again. "What do you need from me?" He repeated.
Nurse Hardtman gestured to a clipboard that she had most likely set down before Nolan had entered the room. "There are a few informed consent forms that need to be signed." She offered up, handing him a pen. "Just a formality really, saying that you know the situation and are allowing us to do what we need to to save her life."
He autographed the lines that she pointed out carefully, his eyes scanning the document automatically. "Yeah," he muttered; "Whatever she needs."
After dotting a period next to his last name on the form that allowed South Hampton to contact her personal physician for a medical work up, the nurse reached for the pen. "If you want to have a seat, we'll let you know as soon as we have something."
Nolan damn near bit a hole in his lip as he nodded, immediately pulling his iPhone from its holster. "Damn it Emily. There are things you warn a person about." He said to himself, scrolling through his contacts as he searched for the number to his lawyer. Daniel was watching every movement he made from where he left him, but he honestly didn't care. "I don't know either," he barked to the room. Nolan hit call and held his cell to his ear. At quarter after one in the morning, he wasn't expecting the man to answer the phone on first ring, but it was a message that he needed to make sure he left. "Dawson, Nolan." He started, finally noting just how many Grayson's were staring at him at the moment. "I need you to come to the Hamptons as soon as you hear this." Nolan took a deep breath and turned to face the corner, dropping his voice. "Now." He tapped the end button idly and debated asking Ed to attempt to find him some drinkable coffee.
He settled for a Mountain Dew and his laptop, choosing to sit on the floor on the side of the room opposite from Queen Victoria with glasses that he could have sworn he broke years ago perched on the bridge of his nose. He has various responses from trauma surgeons and specialists from around the world that he'd contacted inquiring about the possible outcomes of the turn of events that Emily's life had taken, and he deleted the ones that state that chances are she'll be fine in favor of the ones that tell him the truth.
He doesn't want to admit that luck could possibly on their side.
It's not until six in the morning, five hours after his initial call, that he got a text from his lawyer asking for authorization to take the NoleCorp jet from California or a recommendation on alternative travel. Nolan responded without thinking, knowing that Dawson has worked long enough to understand that whatever the fuck gets you here fastest means the jet is acceptable. A flight-plan from the jet's pilot shows up in his inbox ten minutes later and he forwards it to his personal assistant in the city to make sure there's a car waiting for the man when he lands, driver optional.
His eyes scanned the room, noting that half of society had gone back to their homes and Queen Victoria with them, before he double checked the NoleCorp pre-market trading numbers and fired up his search engine.
Just an idea that was thrown around. What does everyone think?