Disclaimer: This story is Rated Me, contains spoilers, and I do not own anything except Lexi!
Chapter Two
Blaine had been right, of course.
Ed had been an abusive, manipulative, all around terrible man. It wasn't long after the wedding that his extreme jealousy issues came to surface. There had been times within the first few years of marriage that Lexi would try to meet up with Blaine, only for her husband to almost always show up or to constantly pester her phone with messages of fake meetings and just about anything to get her to either cancel or leave their rendezvous early.
It wasn't until Ed insisted on moving to Miami for his business that things took a very wrong turn. In Florida, Lexi couldn't even ask for a drink at the bar without her husband accusing her of flirting - when honestly, they were at a beach and everyone was nice and clad in skimpy bathing suits. Despite perhaps looking like a materialistic person, she simply took care of herself, and would never cheat. Something he never understood.
And when they both found out she couldn't have children, Ed no longer held back. The real abuse had begun. Lexi almost forgave the times he held onto her wrists too tightly and even when he would grab her arm aggressively. It was when they needed the cops called because the neighbors could hear his yelling and she went to the hospital to treat her injuries that she knew he had taken it too far. The days of black eyes, bruises, and busted lips were over.
Part of Lexi had hoped that when she came back to Seattle that she and Blaine would reunite. Despite the nasty things they both said to each other, he had still been her best friend since the age of eight years old. Endless days of being all each other had weren't going to magically disappear.
When Blaine had finally woken up, it was to the smell of cigarettes. Lexi had began smoking at the age of 15, admittedly because he was the one to introduce her to them. He remembered picking her up from school and telling her it'd make her look cool. Boys will like you - gotta make up for your flat chest. She had obviously gotten tasteful implants since then. Shit, he had been a jerk when they were younger.
"I'd kill for one right now." Blaine groaned.
"I wouldn't give you one," Lexi retorted, putting it out and sinking back into the bed with him, "Let me take you to the doctor, Blaine. I know a good one in town."
Shaking his head, the zombie groaned as he sat up. A good sleep had made him feel better, even if there was a slight tickle in his throat. Doing his best to ignore it, Blaine explained, "I can only see one doctor."
"Then we'll go there."
It had never been a problem for Blaine to explain the whole Team Z dilemma. When you were responsible for most of Seattle's zombies, the speech was pretty much memorized in the back of your head. It had only been Peyton he hadn't initially told, because of not wanting to mess his case up against Mr. Boss. And probably due to his attraction to her. Now, he felt like getting the words out to Lexi was the hardest thing he ever had to do.
"I know you were in Miami at the time, but did you hear about the Boat Party Massacre on Lake Washington like almost two years ago?" He asked.
Lexi nodded, "It was all over the news. Something about Max Rager? I heard there were no survivors."
"There were two," Blaine corrected, "Apparently, Max Rager and Utopium are a nasty combination. Yea, I had started selling U a little prior to that. I was there passing it around like candy...and of course drinking Super Max. It was me and one other person who survived...coincidentally, she's kind of my doctor too."
"Blaine...what happened?"
Frowning, Blaine could feel a lump forming in the back of his throat, as he just put it out there, "That combination turned me into a zombie. I went crazy, somehow survived, and scratched that other survivor and made her a zombie. It makes for an odd relationship between she and I."
Not saying anything at first, Lexi let out a deep sigh and touched Blaine's hand, "Darling...you can't expect me to believe that."
Meh. Better reaction than he expected. With a deep sigh, the brain dealer nodded his head and agreed, "I know...but, you're gonna have to."
Closing his eyes, Blaine opened them back up only for them to be completely red. When he had first met Liv, he had asked if raging out was at all appealing to her. Due to her not seeming interested and clearly not liking him, he dropped the subject and really never brought it up to anyone again. But, the truth was...he loved it. It was an adrenaline high, a sense of power, and he could control it better than he had ever been able to control anything in his life before. It would have let him easily kill his father if he hadn't wanted the satisfaction of making Angus reliant on him. Such a glutton for revenge.
The act though seemed to shock Lexi, who was never very outwardly expressive; but the red eyes were enough to jump and demand, "What the hell, Blaine!?"
"It's okay...I'm not going to hurt you," Blaine put his hand out, making sure they were both on a calm level as his eyes returned to normal, "Just one of the things that come along with being a zombie. C'mon, Lex, you think I would have went blonde voluntarily?"
It had taken about two hours to explain everything to Lexi. And he meant everything. From what it actually meant to be a zombie, to everything that happened with Meat Cute, Shady Plots, and finally Mr. Boss. Even his rejection from Peyton wormed its way in there, because he didn't know how long he had and Blaine wanted to make sure she had the truth.
"It's why I wanted to discuss about giving you my business…" Blaine trailed off.
Taking everything in, Lexi simply reached over and ran her thumb along the span of his neck and gently asked, "You were really almost killed...oh, Blaine, taking on Mr. Boss…"
Blaine snorted, "Stupid. I know. I just wanted to regain power again - I felt on top of the world when I was running Meat Cute, but an operation that large was too risky."
Lexi knew Blaine's upbringing. It didn't surprise her that he would do anything he could to try to be the big man on top. Even if it meant murdering innocent teenagers. It should have been a moment when any sane person demanded he leave, but perhaps she wasn't all up there either. The man in front of her still was her best friend and growing up the way they did, she knew they weren't always on the right side of the law.
"So, you're a zombie again?"
Nodding, Blaine sighed, "Yea, only thing that probably saved my life...for the time being. Sorry - that means no kanoodling. You look great, Lex, but let's admit, you wouldn't pull off the whole white hair look."
Bristling, Lexi held her chin up and warned, "I love my hair, Blaine, don't you dare scratch me."
Breaking out in a smile, Blaine leaned in and gently pecked her lips and winked, "Would never dream of it."
A small comforted smile formed on Lexi's lips, as she felt that familiar sense of serenity when around him. It hadn't mattered what stage of life either of them were in; Blaine always felt like home to her. Even when she was apparently a bratty eight year old and he was twelve - somehow, she was wormed her way into his heart.
Hunching over his knees, Blaine rubbed his face and groaned, "You know...in these few years we haven't seen each other...I want you to know...I'm sorry about our first time."
"What do you mean, Blaine? You and I have always fooled around throughout the years."
"I know...maybe it's the brain I'm on...or that I'm off drugs, but I feel guilty, Lexi. You were fourteen...I was eighteen." Blaine trailed off; feeling a tightening in his chest.
Lexi frowned, as she reached over to take his hand, "I wanted it, Blaine, you don't need to feel sorry over that. Besides...let's not talk about that. I'm worried about you - please let me take you to this Ravi person."
"Maybe this is karma for all those kids I killed."
Lexi had managed to convince Blaine to get in the car so she could take him to see Ravi and Liv. Though just introduced to zombies and the side effects of eating brains, she wasn't sure that his behavior was all the result of the man he had consumed. Having a brush with death and being a doomed man seemed to weigh on her childhood friend - he seemed so lifeless without his usual wit.
"I had read that Angus was one of the Chaos Killer's victims," Lexi brought up, deciding to somewhat change the subject, "Is he frozen too? By this...Major?"
Blaine could hear the coldness in Lexi's voice. Growing up together, with their fathers as friends and business partners, she had had just as much experienced with his dad as he did. She knew everything of course. His mother killing himself, the abuse by the hands of Frau Bader, his father's inability to love, and his grandfather being carted off to a nursing home, where he had to sneak to so Angus wouldn't know.
Seeing the stiffness in her body, he reached over and placed his hand on her thigh, giving it a comforting squeeze, "I negotiated for his body. Had two of my employees torture him to get his money. Then I had him on his knees….and I put two bullets in his skull…."
Amber eyes focused on the road, but Blaine could see the relief. Angus had been a bane to both of them and at times, he knew it was worse for her than it was for him. Lexi's grip tightened around the steering wheel, as she nodded, "Good...he can't hurt anyone anymore."
"You know...we both have daddy issues. But, they say it's the fucked up ones that are the best in bed and I've always been great." Blaine quipped, attempting to make light of the subject.
Rolling her eyes, Lexi glanced over and smiled, "At least we dealt with it together."
Ravi had been alone when Blaine arrived at the morgue with his friend. Liv and Drake apparently had a date night that evening, as she was going to talk to him about finding out the male zombie was an undercover cop. Of course, this fact was still unknown to the funeral home director - who still believed his newest recruit was just a thug working as a double agent for him in Mr. Boss's crime organization.
The British doctor remembered when they had first met Blaine - how wary Liv was of him. She didn't want to leave the male zombie alone with her boss and maybe looking back on it - it was the right move. Despite everything that the brain dealer had did, for some reason Ravi, even to this day; never thought that he'd end up eaten by the other man. Coming to know Debeers in the way he did - it wouldn't benefit him to kill the doctor or the morgue attendant.
Admittedly though, Ravi was more concerned with Blaine's friend. Part of him wanted to be angry. Why was it that the former drug addict had the easiest time with the most attractive women? First Peyton, now this one. Honestly, he didn't understand the supposed charm that easily fooled otherwise strong females.
"Lexi, meet the doctor I was telling you about. He thought I was gonna kidnap you." Blaine introduced.
Lexi's thinly defined eyebrow raised, as a playful smirk pulled at her exotic features, "He is. Oh, please help."
Both Ravi and Blaine seemed to roll their eyes simultaneously as the doctor instead stuck his hand out, "Dr. Chakrabarti."
"Call him Ravi." Blaine added.
Ravi didn't mean to act a bit cold. His nature was telling him to be kind and polite. After all, he didn't know this woman. But, the fact that she seemed on a friendly level with Blaine was enough to make him wary. Lexi may have come from a rich family and seem to be making her own fortune, but she was still close to the brain dealer and that made him worry.
"Ravi," Lexi tasted the name in her mouth, "Blaine said you've been working on a cure?"
Assuming the black haired woman knew about the zombie predicament, he nodded, "Yes. Now, we have a cure. But, it hasn't been tested."
"Neither was the one our little blonde haired friend shot me up with last year." Blaine quipped, pointedly glaring at the doctor.
Ravi's nostrils flared as he stepped away, leaving Lexi with enough time to shoot Blaine a look that said to stop it. Sometimes, the younger woman could be quite maternal with her friend and it reminded him why he used to teasingly call her mom back in the day. Though, the late Mrs. McDonough was beautiful, so she always took it as a compliment.
Rejoining the odd duo, Ravi held up a capped syringe and began explaining, "This is an emergency, just in case, break glass zombie cure. I'm only giving it to you because…" The doctor trailed off, realizing Lexi was standing next to Blaine and curious if she knew the whole story.
"I'm aware of Blaine's...business," Lexi informed the doctor, "I think it's understandable if he doesn't give you his client list, considering everything he's done in the past. You may not want to help him at all if you knew who he dealt brains to and despite the grudges you and your friends hold against him...he's my friend and my concern is his well being."
Trying his best not to show it, Blaine felt a sense of happiness inside of him. Despite everything the two of them had been through, Lexi was still defending him. Perhaps, he should have learned to do that a long time ago, but it was always more satisfying watching her in action. Seeing the one person alive in his life who still cared about him.
And for some reason it eased Ravi - it made Blaine more human...well...you know what he means. Holding the syringe up, he could only add cryptically, "Good luck."
