He was going to die. There was no doubt of that in Reid's mind. The question was only how he was going to perish? Did he want Caleb to kill him for using, in public no less, or did he want to die from the bullet wound currently causing his leg to spurt blood? The tile floor of the convenience store felt cool beneath him as he pressed down on his thigh, hoping to stop the bleeding. Blood oozed through his fingers, tickled down his wrist and then splattered in fat red drops against the dingy linoleum. He was losing too much blood. Reid's mind cast back to a long forgotten biology test. The femoral artery. A large artery in the thigh, if it had been hit by the bullet currently lodged in his leg, he could die of blood loss long before Caleb got his chance to kill him for Using. His decision was made. He had to stop the bleeding, it was his only hope. There was no way to use his power to heal his wound completely without drawing unwanted attention to himself. From his spot on the floor he could see the surveillance cameras the store used to combat shoplifting, and he could see the other customers cowering against the cooler. There were too many witnesses for a miraculous recovery, but perhaps if he was careful he could Use just enough to change the severity of the wound. He closed his eyes and concentrated. A surge of power flowed through him, and he manipulated the bullet out of the wound on his right thigh. Concealing the bullet with his hand that still covered his thigh; he quickly healed the wound until only a deep gash remained. Still painful, but not life threatening. He opened his eyes and glanced toward the other survivors of this nightmare; no one seemed to be paying any more attention to him than before. Certainly no one was pointing at him and screaming "Witch", so perhaps he'd get out of this with just another lecture from Caleb.
He could hear his mother's voice in his head, "Six inches to the left and grandchildren would have been out of the question." Reid shuddered. Of all the voices to be hearing right now, hers was the least helpful. Why wasn't he hearing his brother's voices instead? If Caleb had been in his head prior to this fiasco, he would have lectured the gunman into surrendering. Pogue would have simply overpowered the thief with his all those muscles he worked so hard to develop. And Tyler…. well, Baby Boy would just have looked at the maniac with the gun, batted those baby blues and the gunman would have handed over the gun, and probably asked if he wanted a drink to go with it. After all wasn't that how Reid had ended up in this fix?
(flashback to earlier that evening)
Reid looked over at his sleeping best friend and wished there was some way to make him feel better. Tyler had been stricken with laryngitis earlier in the week and he was still struggling to recover. His voice would waver in and out, when he was able to speak at all. The raw huskiness of Tyler's voice as he would try to speak pulled at Reid's heart. He wanted to wrap his arms around Tyler and hold him, give him comfort, anything to make him feel better. It was just that he wanted his friend to feel better, that's all.
"Keep telling yourself that", he thought, "maybe someday you'll even believe it." He didn't know why he bothered to try and talk himself out of his crush on Tyler, after so many years of the same internal monologue; you think he'd have the sense to just give up. Tyler was never going to return his feelings; he wasn't capable of seeing Reid as anything other than a best friend and big brother. Reid had tried everything he could think of, short of actually coming out and saying "Please Tyler, do me now" to show Baby Boy how he felt. He flirted, he teased, he'd even touched. Not the naughty touching he thought about late a night when Tyler was already asleep and Reid let his imagination roam, but affectionate touches. Tousling Tyler's hair, a hand on his shoulder, a nudge with his elbow when they sat next to each other. Nothing Reid attempted provoked a response from Tyler. Pogue and Caleb on the other hand, either smirked knowingly or rolled their eyes, depending on the degree of lameness of Reid's latest effort. Either Tyler was incredibly dense, which was unlikely considering the grades he pulled, or he just wasn't interested and was trying not to encourage Reid. So here he was once again swearing off his unrequited love for his best friend.
Reid watched as Tyler stirred in his sleep. He seemed unable to find a comfortable position, and after a few minutes he opened his eyes and stretched. He was still lying in bed, but gave up the idea of trying to go back sleep.
"What time is it?" asked Tyler.
"Just after 8" replied Reid.
"In the morning?"
"Evening"
"Why are you here?" questioned Tyler, his words still sounding husky.
"Are you having memory loss too, Baby Boy?" teased Reid, "It's my dorm room too."
"No, I mean what are you doing in our dorm room at 8 pm on a Friday night?"
"Actually it's Saturday," sighed Reid "you've been asleep since classes let out yesterday. And where else would I be when you're sick?"
"You've been here the entire time I've been sleeping, why?"
Reid smirked, "Someone's got to play nurse for you. Who would give you your sponge bath if I wasn't here?"
Tyler rolled his eyes. He'd come to accept the fact that his best friend was a hopeless flirt, and that he could never be taken seriously. It's just the way Reid was, flirting with everyone, he was incorrigible. It wasn't Reid's fault that Tyler would have done anything for Reid to really mean it, even just once. Sometimes, Tyler thought, life would just be easier if he didn't have a hopeless crush on his best friend.
He sighed and pushed that thought from his mind.
Reid heard the sigh and winced, obviously Tyler still wasn't feeling better.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"You must have done a lousy job with that sponge if I still smell this bad" Tyler said, "I need a shower and something to eat".
"The dining hall is already closed, but I can run out and pick you up something while you shower" offered Reid. "It's still raining, no need for you to go out and make yourself even more sick."
Tyler closed his eyes. There it was again, the real reason his crush would die, no matter how many others Reid flirted with. Underneath the smirking and flirting, his best friend cared about him like no one else ever had. Sighing again at the futility of his thoughts, Tyler opened his eyes and nodded "Yeah. That would be great."
"So what are you in the mood for?"
"You to join me in the shower," thought Tyler. Willing his thoughts back toward food and away from his blonde roommate, he replied, "Anything that won't make my throat hurt worse than it already does."
"How about some of that soup you like from the Chinese place?"
Tyler nodded, "Sounds good." As he started to gather his things for the shower, he suddenly had a wish for something cold to ease the pain in his throat. "Could you pick me up an Icee too?"
"Sure", replied Reid.
"Not the cherry kind, the…"
"I know, Baby Boy," Reid cut him off. "You only like the blue-raspberry flavored ones. I'll stop by the convenience store on Davis Street; they have the blue ones, right?"
"Yeah," answered Tyler, "Thanks."
"No problem, go get your shower, I'll be back before you've had time to miss me."
(back to present)
Tyler would certainly have missed him by now. He would probably have 10 missed calls on his cell. Unfortunately his cell was still in the Hummer, along with Tyler's rapidly cooling dinner. Reid hoped his best friend wasn't too hungry; it didn't look like he'd be getting back to the dorms any time soon.
Of all the bad luck, only he would walk into a hold-up in the middle of a Chinese-and-Icee run.
Reid had called in the takeout order before he left the dorms. Hot and sour soup for Tyler, General Tao's chicken for him, and two orders of Crab rangoon. Because Reid would be forced to share his own order if he returned to the dorms without some for Tyler too, no matter how badly his throat hurt. Better to avoid the inevitable Crab rangoon bickering and just order two, he reasoned.
He smiled to himself as he carried the takeout to the Hummer. Someday he was going replace the regular fortune cookies that came with their order with some of those Adults Only fortune cookies, just to see Tyler blush. Maybe he'd even write the messages himself, he mused. He was still thinking of what to write in Tyler's fortune cookie when he walked up to the Icee machine at the gas station. Had he not been preoccupied with thoughts of naughty fortune cookie messages, perhaps he could have prevented what happened next.
Reid finished filling the 44-ounce cup with the sweet smelling blue slush, and was reaching for a lid when all hell broke loose. A large figure wearing a black ski mask barreled thru the door of the store waving a handgun. "Everybody get down" the gunman screamed. Reid spun around and in his haste knocked the cup he had just filled off the counter. "Shit" Blue Icee was dripping all over the counter. He leaned over to grab a handful of napkins just as the gunman fired.
As a sharp pain speared through his thigh, he heard the gunman scream again. "Anybody else want to ignore me?" Reid slumped against the counter, his hand covering the gunshot, the pool of blood rapidly spreading. The gunman had quickly moved on to emptying the cash register when a police cruiser pulled into the parking lot with its lights flashing. What would have been a simple robbery quickly turned into a standoff with Ipswich's finest.
Having made the decision to Use and partially heal the gunshot, Reid could now focus on getting himself and the other customers out of this situation alive.
The gunman had hunkered down behind the counter, but would occasionally peek over the countertop. It looked like he was getting ready to make a move toward the back of the store, possibly going for the emergency exit, so Reid waited until the gunman positioned himself to scramble for the door. Ignoring the pain still radiating through his leg, Reid closed his eyes and focused. As the gunman started to move, Reid struck out with his power. To the other patrons of the store it looked like the thief had lost his footing in his hurry to escape. He hit his head on the counter, and fell to the floor unconscious. After a few stunned seconds of silence, the cashier quickly moved to grab the gun lying next to the fallen thief. The officers waiting outside witnessed the entire event thru the plate glass storefront and moved to evacuate the former hostages.
One of the officers noticed Reid's still bleeding wound and quickly called dispatch for an ambulance. As he was being strapped onto the gurney for the ride to the trauma center, Reid caught the eye of one of the police officers.
"Can you get my cell phone of that Hummer?" he asked, "I need to let my friend know where I am, and that it will be awhile before I can get back to our dorm." The officer grinned at him,
"Don't worry, Reid, we've already taken the liberty of calling out to the Danver manor. Caleb will be meeting you at the ER".
"Perfect," thought Reid. One of the drawbacks of living in a small town, everybody knew who you were. And who to call when you got in trouble.
Twenty minutes later as Reid was answering questions about his medical history, Caleb came barreling around the flimsy curtain partitioning off the examination room from the rest of the triage area.
"Are you okay? What happened?" demanded Caleb.
That's odd, thought Reid, I was sure his first question would be "What did you do now?"
"I'm fine, and I got scratched by a stray bullet during a holdup the gas station on Davis" he answered as he continued filling out the medical questionnaire.
Reid looked up at Caleb, intending to distract him from further questions. "Do I have any allergies to medicine?"
"You had a reaction to penicillin when you were two" replied Caleb "when you had pneumonia."
"Good to know." Leave it to Caleb to remember everyone's medical history; he really was such a mother hen.
"So are you my ride home after they stitch me up?"
"Reid, you aren't going home, you got shot."
"It's just a scratch; I only need a few stitches."
"He's right" answered a new voice from behind Caleb.
"I'm Dr. Jackson, and once we get your friend here patched up we can release him as long as someone stays with him tonight." After giving Reid a shot of painkiller to help numb the pain, she exited the exam area saying she'd give it a few minutes to work and be back to stitch up his leg. Reid pulled the hospital gown back down as far as he could. They'd forced him into it after cutting away his jeans. Or were those Tyler's jeans? He couldn't remember.
Reid looked over at Caleb; "Tyler is already at the dorm, you can just drop me off there" He sat up suddenly as he remembered something important. "Shit, I left his Hummer and out take-out at the gas station."
Caleb just smiled at him. "Already taken care of, I dropped Pouge off there before I came to the hospital. He's going to drive the hummer back to school. And tell Tyler what happened. I'm sure if I didn't have to turn my cell phone off because of the medical equipment Tyler would have called by now. You're both going to my house for the night."
"He's going to be pissed, I dropped his Icee."
Caleb shook his head, "He's going to be upset that you got shot, you idiot."
"I don't know" said Reid, "he's awful cranky when he's sick. And he really wanted that Icee."
"Is that why you're half blue?"
"What?" Reid didn't think the drugs would kick in that fast, he must have misunderstood.
"The right side of your head is streaked blue. Did someone throw an Icee at you as well as shoot you?"
"Get me a mirror" growled Reid. Caleb went to borrow a mirror from the nurses' station. As Reid surveyed his reflection he could see a large patch of bright blue in his blonde hair. Most of his face had escaped being tinted. However, there was a stripe of blue in front of his ear and the entire right side of his neck now looked like he was turning into a smurf.
"It must have dripped on me after I got shot and fell against the counter. I must not have noticed while I was trying to get the bleeding stopped."
Caleb handed him a damp cloth to wipe the blue off, but despite his best efforts, most of the blue coloring stayed on his skin. As tempted as he was to Use to rid himself of the color, Reid knew he couldn't. The blood loss, combined with the effort to partially heal his wound and the potent painkiller would make Using dangerous. In this state he was as likely to turn himself purple as he was to remove the blue. He let out a big sigh. He was already embarrassed about the skimpy hospital gown, so one more humiliating experience at this point was no big deal. He knew better than to ask Caleb to remove the coloring by Using, he wasn't in the mood for another lecture on responsibility.
He must have dozed off, a side effect of the painkiller, he supposed. The next thing he knew Caleb was gently shaking his shoulder and asking if he wanted to go home.
Reid looked at him in confusion. "What?" he asked sleepily. Caleb grinned and said, "The Doctor put in the stitches while you were knocked out. I signed the paperwork, you've been released."
"Let's go then," said Reid.
"We're waiting for your ride," answered Caleb. Just then, an orderly pushed a wheelchair into the exam room.
After Caleb helped Reid get settled into the car he placed a crutch in the back seat.
"The Doctor said to use the crutch to keep the weight off your leg while it heals."
"I guess I'm finished with the swim team for awhile, too. Coach is going to kill me."
Caleb nodded, "Yeah, no swimming either. But Coach won't kill you, it wasn't your fault."
"Wait, did I just hear Caleb Danvers say something wasn't my fault?" asked Reid. "Can I get that in writing?"
Caleb laughed, "Would the police report suffice?"
Reid had to fight the temptation to doze off again before they reached the Danver Manor. Caleb pulled the mustang as closer to the front door as possible, not wanting to make Reid walk any farther than necessary. He'd called ahead to let Pouge and Tyler know they were on their way, so it didn't surprise him when the front door was flung open as soon as he pulled up.
"Tyler, get back in the house, you're still sick" called Caleb. "Pogue, can you help me get Reid into the house?"
Reid soon found himself supported by Pouge on his left and Caleb on his right. Together they maneuvered the few steps up to the foyer. One inside it was decided that Reid would stay in the ground floor den rather than try to navigate the stairs to the bedroom he usually stayed in at Caleb's. No need to aggravate his injury more than necessary. Reid tried to convince one of them to Use to heal his leg, but the others reminded him that the injury was due to be looked at again in a week by the Doctor who put the stitches in. A completely healed wound would bring too much attention on them.
Giving in to the inevitable, he flopped down on the fold-out couch in Caleb's den. Tyler had pulled the bed out and was now coming into the room, his arms loaded down with blankets. As soon as Tyler saw Reid sprawled on the couch he pushed the blankets into Pogue's arms and went to his best friend.
Wrapping his arms around Reid's neck, he said "I am so sorry."
"For what?" asked Reid.
"It's my fault you got shot. If I hadn't wanted the Icee, you wouldn't have been in the store" Tyler had his head buried against Reid's shoulder.
Despite his earlier grumbling that Tyler should share the blame; he hadn't actually expected Tyler to feel guilty. He glanced up and caught Pogue and Caleb leaving the den, shutting the French doors behind them with a soft click.
"Baby Boy, it's not your fault," he murmured. He ran his hands up and down Tyler's back, in what he hoped was a reassuring manner that would not reveal how badly he wanted to keep Tyler there, pressed against him.
Tyler made no reply, nor did he move away from Reid. He seemed content to sit partially draped across his friend, arms still around his neck and his head on Reid shoulder.
Reid was contemplating what to say next, when he felt something wet brush against his neck.
"Ty?"
He felt it again, something moist and warm, brushing against his skin. He was fairly certain that Tyler was licking his neck. Damn, those were good drugs they gave him at the hospital. But no one mentioned they caused hallucinations. Because there was no way his very straight, very oblivious best friend was licking his neck while draped across his lap. Wait, there it was again.
"Tyler, what are you doing?" he groaned.
"Enjoying my Icee." Reid had forgotten about the blue drink that had been spilled on him in the chaos of the evening.
"Are you planning on sharing it with me?"
Tyler looked up and him and smiled. It was all Reid could do to keep from laughing. Tyler's lips were now slightly blue from dye left on his neck. As he bent his head to press his lips to capture Tyler's he couldn't help thinking that blue-raspberry-Tyler was his favorite flavor.