The Most Deadly Betrayal
Chapter 3
Mike sat staring at his young partner for several unnerving seconds as he witnessed the rare sight of Steve's implosion. In the three years of being partnered with Steve, he had only seen him this upset a couple of times and had never witnessed it under the influence of alcohol. Steve was, what he considered to be, a sensible drinker. He drank moderately and on the few occasions he had seen his young partner a little the worst for wear from alcohol it was normally at a party or special occasion. He remembered last Christmas specifically when Steve had stayed over on Christmas day and the celebration had got slightly out of hand. The bottle of fine whiskey that Rudy had given him for a present had been consumed a little too readily by him and Steve and Mike had noticed that when Steve got drunk he never got loud or boisterous but instead he tended to get giddy first and then quickly got sleepy afterwards.
But this situation was different. Carefully placing the bottle of wine down beside the couch out of Steve's reach, Mike then placed a supportive arm around Steve's heaving shoulders and spoke this time more softly and with understanding.
"Steve, I understand. Believe me I do but ... That won't make you numb ... Quite the opposite actually. It just makes you feel worse. You'll just end up throwing up, getting a king-sized headache and tomorrow well ... you'll just feel ten times as bad as you do now. Trust me on this, will you I ... I know ..."
Something about the way Mike spoke his last two words caught Steve's attention and dropping his hands away from his face, he turned sideways to stare unnervingly at the older man through tear filled eyes. The way Mike had described the effects of trying to use alcohol to forget, felt personally experienced and he slurred incredulously.
"You ... KNOW?"
Mike swallowed hard and then nodded his head slowly.
"Yes ... That's what I said. You see ah ... after Helen died ... I ... well I guess you could say I went to pieces. Jeannie was in Sacramento with her Aunt Jessica and she wanted to come home. I felt I wasn't ready to look after her when at the time I ... well I wasn't really coping myself very well with what had happened. Then this particular day she ah ... she ran away ... Tried to come home herself ... Can you believe that? Thank God, Jessica found her at the bus depot safe and sound ... I felt it was my fault for leaving her there so long so I went and collected her ... After she went to bed that night, it all hit me I guess. I was all she had left. And she was all I had ... and I'd almost lost her too ... I was going to have to raise her by myself without ... without Helen and that night ... I wanted to be numb too Steve ... So I did what you're doing now but I didn't get numb. I ... I ended up sick as a dog on the bathroom floor for most of the night, crying like a baby while a nine year old girl stood outside the door asking me if ... if her Daddy was ok?"
Steve heard the older man's voice break and could feel as well as hear the pain and upset reliving that memory evoked. He gasped as the story unfolded and his own sadness seemed suddenly insignificant in comparison to what Mike had gone through. Again in a despairing and incredulous tone he spoke again in a slurred voice.
"God Mike ... Jeannie woke up? She ... she saw you ..."
Steve saw the older man's face darken at the memory and saw moisture clearly glistening in his eyes.
"She woke up alright but ... she didn't see me ... Thank God! I told her it was just something I ate ... but my POINT in telling you all this is I've been there Steve and I wouldn't recommend it, let me tell you ... You've had more than enough already, Buddy boy. Please? Just give me the glass and listen to me, will you?"
Steve sighed heavily and looked down at the glass in his hand. He thought of Mike and what he'd been through and without further protest he handed the empty glass to Mike and nodded.
"You're right ... You ah ... you always are ..."
He half smiled as his words came out and then he rubbed at his eyes and face in an embarrassed fashion. Now he felt even worse for causing Mike to relive a particularly unpleasant moment in his life. His head was starting to spin while the pizza that had tasted so good earlier now wasn't sitting so well in his stomach. As Mike turned to place the glass back onto the table, Steve shuddered violently and Mike spotted it out of the corner of his eye and turned back, placing a firm hand on the young man's shoulder out of concern. The colour was draining from his partner's face at an alarming rate and Mike feared he hadn't managed to stop him in time.
"Steve? What's the matter? You alright?"
Steve swayed a little where he sat and struggled to answer.
"I ah ... I'm not sure ... I think I feel ah ... a little queasy."
Mike scowled and held him tighter.
"Well I can't say I'm surprised. You were downing that wine way too fast Buddy boy. You should know better than that! Wine should be sipped not slugged ... Ok, look just sit back and take it easy. I'm going to go and get you some water. You need to re-hydrate. I'll make us some coffee too just in case we need it, alright? Just don't make any sudden movements, ok?"
He leaned Steve back against the back of the couch and watched as Steve barely nodded and laid his head back and closed his eyes worryingly. He could feel the slight tremor running through the young man's body as the alcohol hit his blood stream a little too fast and was causing a sudden imbalance that was knocking him for six. Standing up, Mike leaned over him, not liking what he was seeing at all.
"Are you going to be ok there for a few minutes Steve?"
Again Steve nodded but he was breathing a little too fast for Mike's liking.
"Ok, just relax. I'll be back in a jiffy ..." Mike added quickly as he picked up the remainder of the wine and both wine glasses, making sure he left no temptation behind him and made a hasty retreat towards the kitchen.
Jiffy! There was that word again. How come all of a sudden everyone around him was calculating time in jiffies? How long was a jiffy anyway? Steve's addled and dizzy head was starting to ramble. He shook his head to clear it and instantly regretted the move as the room spun alarmingly and his stomach lurched from the sensation. He wrapped an arm around his stomach in a vain attempt to control the growing urge to expel whatever was still in it, that was building by the minute. Mike's voice drifted down the hall from the kitchen as Steve bravely tried to fight back the nausea.
"STEVE? Where do you keep your coffee again?"
He could hear Mike opening and closing presses and struggled to shout back an answer.
"The press above the percolator " he finally managed but the loud tone he had needed to use only made his head feel worse.
He allowed himself a loud groan as he hoped Mike was sufficiently far enough away not to hear it and tried to follow Mike's earlier instructions to stay as still as possible but his stomach was not obeying those instructions in the least. It churned and rolled and Steve at one point couldn't hold back a sudden gag that caused hot bile to burn the back of his throat. He could hear Mike talking to him from the kitchen, relaying a story of some kind but his concentration was now fully on trying to stop himself from throwing up and causing more embarrassment for himself that he could really do without this evening.
"You remember Charlie Ames, don't you Steve? He was a Sergeant in Narcotics."
Another snippet of Mike's one sided conversation filtered in to Steve but the young man knew that answering could prove disastrous as he gagged again and swallowed back more offending bile. Luckily Mike didn't seem to wait for his answer and continued regardless.
"Got drunk one time ... A retirement bash ... Lee Fleming ... had to drag him out of a bar ... That seedy one over on ... Boy was he drunk! ... "
Only snippets of Mike's story were filtering through to Steve, who now knew he was fighting the inevitable. He was going to have to try and make it to the bathroom and fast. He wasn't even sure if fast was a speed he was going to be able to achieve in his current shaky state but the alternative didn't even bear thinking about. Pulling himself forward as gingerly as he could he pushed himself slowly up on his feet and his stomach heaved again as he righted himself and wobbled precariously. Suddenly getting drunk didn't seem so sensible anymore. Steve barely managed to stop his stomach from emptying there and then and gagging now repeatedly he knew he had no choice but to just make a clumsy run for it.
He grabbed the door frame and pushed his legs forward albeit not in a straight line and eyed up the bathroom door a little way up the hall. He knew it was going to be a close call but he had to at least attempt it. He thought about calling Mike who was still talking and regaling Steve about the aftermath of someone called Charlie Ames' drunken binge but there was no time. So propelling himself forward bravely, he staggered down the hall as fast as his wobbly legs would take him and barging the bathroom door open in his haste and urgency, he practically fell down onto the hard linoleum floor and barely made the toilet bowl with seconds to spare, as the horrendous ordeal of throwing up began.
Mike who had the coffee now percolating and was filling a glass with water to bring into Steve, had just finished his tale of overindulgence in the hope Steve was taking life lessons from his words, when he heard the staggered, almost panicked movements out in the hall and heard the loud bang as the bathroom door was thrown open unceremoniously. He put down the glass in horror and shouted as he headed for the doorway.
"STEVE? You OK?"
As he reached the hallway, he heard the loud unmerciful thump as Steve landed followed by the most horrendous sound of vomiting he had ever heard. Racing up the hall to the bathroom, he froze momentarily as he saw Steve spreadeagled across the floor, his head perched over the bowl and both hands shakily supporting his upper body off the floor. He quickly raced inside and over to Steve, grabbing his midsection to pull him more forward so that he was now fully supported by Mike and better positioned for the task at hand. Steve's shaky hands, now freed from their arduous task of having to try and hold him up, dropped by his sides weakly as the agonizing episode continued. Mike was behind Steve now with one arm wrapped around Steve's midsection and the other hand holding his clammy forehead as he spoke soothingly.
"Alright now ... That's it ... Get rid of it! ... Don't worry now ... I've got you ... You'll be ok ... It's just your body trying to tell you it can't cope with what you just forced into it ... I told you, you drank that wine way too fast ...
Heave upon heave assaulted him and he was barely getting a chance to take a breath between expulsions. Mike could feel every dramatic heave in Steve's diaphragm from where he was supporting him and sympathized.
"Oh God Steve ... You have it really bad ... It will be over soon ... Just hang on in there Buddy boy ..." Mike's words continued until everything Steve had consumed in at least the last half hour had been expelled successfully
After what seemed like an eternity to Steve but in reality was probably closer to ten or twelve minutes, the frightening episode seemed to stop and Steve, drained and exhausted practically collapsed back against the older man, dead weight now in his arms, his breathing labored which only made conversation more difficult.
"God ... Sorry ... Mike ... I ... I couldn't stop it ..."
"Shush now. Don't try to talk. It's alright ... THAT, believe it or not, was probably the best thing that could have happened! "
Reaching over as best as he could under Steve's weight, Mike scrunched up his nose at the sight and pervading odor of what the young man had recently discarded and quickly pulled the flush handle to get rid of it and make their current situation at least a small bit more tolerable.
"Looks like most of the wine you just downed so fast came back so hopefully that's less to metabolize in your system." Mike added, still shuddering a little from having witnessed it and then added in a humorous tone. "Waste of a good pizza though ..."
His quip was rewarded by a weak chuckle from Steve whose breathing was starting to settle and he heard the weak reply that followed the weak laughter.
"Yeah ... Sorry about that ... Especially ... when you went to so much trouble to bring it."
Mike chuckled, trying to see the funny side of their current predicament out of desperation and wanting to hear more laughter from Steve. It was music to his ears after the contrasting, tortuous sickness, upset and angst from earlier. Pushing himself back a little against the wall to support his back that was now protesting taking the full strain of Steve's collapsed weight, he pulled Steve gently back with him without taking him too far from the toilet just in case a new episode began without warning. He knew all too painfully from past, bitter experience that just when you thought you were over the worst, the body had a habit of proving you wrong. As they settled again against the wall and Steve moaned from the sudden movement, Mike chuckled and spoke once more humorously.
"Brings a whole new meaning to being floored by something doesn't it?"
Again Steve started giggling, wrapping his hand around his sore stomach as he did. Seeing that his quick wit had worked again cheered Mike up and he felt that he was finally making progress with the younger man. He also hoped that after such a violent purge that his young partner might feel somewhat better now after the fact and he had a sneaky suspicion that the giddy stage of Steve's drunken episode was now in full swing. Before he could think up another witty remark, Steve suddenly winced and yelped in pain. Sitting up straighter, Mike spoke worryingly.
"Steve? What's the matter? Did you hurt yourself when you fell? Oh God, did I hurt you moving you just then?"
Steve shook his head against Mike's chest to placate the older man and shook his bandaged finger as he spoke, still more breathlessly than he would have preferred to.
"No ... I just banged my sore finger when I fell ... It's ok ... It just smarts a bit ..."
"You let me be the judge of that! Here, let me see it ..."
Grabbing Steve's wrist gently, he eyed up the finger and saw a slowly growing red stain in a straight line along the crisp white bandage.
"Oooh! You have it bleeding again Steve. We had better get another look at that ... Are you sure you didn't need stitches in it?"
"No ... No, it's alright. Mrs. Peterson did a good job on it. It will be ok ... Besides she would have said if it did ... She was a nurse ... Did you know that?"
Mike scowled at Steve's stubbornness over the finger but then heard his partner's last words.
"Who was a nurse?"
"Mrs. Peterson. I didn't know that ... She ah ... told me earlier. I'd say she was a pretty good one in her day too. Even with her hands all arthritic she had a real steady hand, you know? And she has a kind bedside manner ... kind of like you ..." he added, giggling again.
Mike smiled.
"Well now what's that supposed to mean, Wiseguy? "
After a more prolonged fit of giggles that seemed to be harder to control this time and also seemed to hurt the young man's stomach, he replied giddily.
"I just meant you're a good person to have around in a crisis ... or when you have to throw up ... " he added giggling again.
Mike had to laugh at Steve's new found giddiness and found himself infected by the laughter of his partner. Chuckling lightly in reply he added in a feigned warning tone.
"Ok, I'll accept and appreciate that observation but don't you go spreading that around Bryant Street, you hear? I have a tough reputation to keep up you know? I can't have the other guys thinking I've gone soft in my old age, now can I?"
Steve's giggles died away as he struggled to restrain them in order to stop his recently overworked diaphragm from hurting and he replied in a semi-serious tone.
"Don't worry. You don't think I want this mentioned in Bryant Street either, do you? Haseejian would have a field day telling everyone I couldn't hold my drink. My lips are sealed!" Then as another wave of nausea washed over him and Mike felt it palpably from his grip on the young man, he added even more seriously. "At least I hope they are."
It was Mike's turn to laugh as he then tried to soothe and comfort.
"Ok, take it easy now. Let's just stay here for another few minutes and if you feel ok by then, we'll get you back inside to lie down on the couch, ok?"
"Yeah ... Ok ... " Steve replied weakly as the nausea slowly abated much to his delight.
He really didn't fancy another painful episode of vomiting. His head felt light and muzzy but he still had some control over his thoughts more or less so he hoped he at least wasn't so drunk that he would make a complete fool of himself even more than he was doing at the minute. The alcohol had lessened the emotional pain though and at least the embarrassment of his current predicament took his mind off his earlier mortification so he felt this torture wasn't totally in vain before his uncontrollable giddiness returned.
"Did you know she has a cat?"
"Who? ... Sydney? "
"NO! " Steve almost yelled in annoyance not wanting to even hear HER name mentioned anymore. "Mrs. Peterson ..."
"Oh! ... Sorry ... No ... I didn't know that or the fact that she was a nurse. But what has her cat got to do with anything?" Mike asked confused, turning his head slightly to get a better glimpse at the side of Steve's face, wondering and hoping against hope that he hadn't reached the talking rubbish stage of being drunk. He wasn't quite sure he could handle that stage if he had.
"Her cat likes me ... His name is Teddy ... He's a little overweight the poor thing ... " Chuckling again before continuing, Mike rolled his eyes as Steve continued regaling him about his elderly neighbor's cat. "She feeds it too many treats and I don't think it gets much exercise ... All it wants to do is get its tummy rubbed. Mrs. Peterson said ... it doesn't ah ... like many people ... "
Steve stopped mid-sentence and his laughter died away. Mike felt the earlier sadness threaten to take him over again and he quickly replied humorously to stop him sliding back into despair.
"Well I told you before, didn't I? It must be due to that magnetic personality of yours ... Not just the entire female population but even cats find you irresistible, huh?" Mike added grinning.
He waited and watched Steve's reaction and hoped it would have the desired effect. To Mike's relief a broad smile crossed Steve's face and he chuckled albeit weakly.
"Yeah ... yeah you might have a valid theory there but ... I think after today I might just give up on women and just get a cat! What do you think?"
Steve's face looked upwards to judge the older man's reaction and smiled again as he saw the older man return the smile.
"What I think is, that's the most sensible suggestion you've ever made Buddy boy. Look at it this way. At least with a cat, there would always be someone at home who would be glad to see you when you came home from work and they wouldn't mind if you had to work late and miss dinner with them, huh? "
The playful camaraderie was working wonders and because of the excess alcohol in his system, Steve didn't feel quite so pent up and tense. He smiled as Steve giggled at his remark.
"That's a very good point Michael ..."
Spurred on by Steve's reaction, Mike's genius wit gave him another brainwave and he added playfully.
"Also, look at it this way too. You'd never be in the ... doghouse."
A burst of laughter erupted from Steve and Mike joined in as Steve alternated between holding his stomach and wincing and laughing out loud. Seeing how the laughing was also causing him pain, Mike regretted being overly witty and tried to calm him down.
"Alright, alright funny boy. it wasn't THAT funny! You're going to hurt yourself if you're not careful ..."
"Yeah ... yeah it was ... " Steve continued, his giddiness now totally out of control.
"You're one funny man Michael, you know that? You always know what to say to cheer me up. Were you ever in the doghouse with Helen?"
"Are you kidding me? Sometimes I slept in it!" he added which caused Steve to laugh again. "No ... Seriously though, Helen was a very understanding woman. She didn't get mad with me very often and the few times she did I ... well I probably deserved it ... The funny thing is I'd ... well I'd gladly be in the doghouse again if it meant I could have her back in my life even for a little longer."
Mike finished speaking and then noticed that Steve's giggles had stopped and he had gone almost unnaturally quiet. Worried that his words had caused Steve to become melancholic again, he once more leaned his head forward and studied Steve's serious looking expression as his young partner stared down at his lap.
"You ok Buddy Boy? You ah ... feeling sick again?"
Steve shook his head and then spoke emotionally, a faint blush causing a red tinge to manifest in his pale cheeks.
"No ... I was just thinking how lucky I am to have you for a partner ... I ah ... I'm glad you came over Mike ... "
It was Mike's turn to blush and fluster.
"You're not going to get all mushy on me now, are you?"
That made Steve laugh again.
"No ... No, don't worry. I was just trying to say ... well thank you, I guess ..."
Mike smiled and squeezed the back of Steve's neck gently.
"You're welcome Buddy boy. I guess I should be thanking you too though ..."
"For what? Being your partner too?" Steve asked, his eyebrows raised hopefully.
Mike grinned broadly.
"NO ... for making it to the bathroom in time. I would have HATED to have had to clean that up!" he added cheekily as Steve's jaw dropped and he turned and swatted playfully at the older man as Mike laughed heartily.
A/N: Just one more chapter to go! Thanks for the kind words and support ... it means the world to me. Hope this update gave you all a smile after the angst of the previous ones ... ;-)
