You guys are so amazing! Thank you so so much for everyone who keeps reviewing and subscribing/favoriting this story! :D Okay, so this chapter deals with some suicidal themes so if that makes you uncomfortable you may want to turn away now O.o If not then read on my lovelies! ^.^
Aidan was fidgety. No, that wasn't quite the right word. He was more antsy than anything. No, that wasn't it either. He was restless? No...fine! Fuck it! He was fidgety! He couldn't help it, he was anxious and tired of waiting for answers and he was just ready for his shift to be over. It was 9:40, his shift should have been over nearly an hour ago but he was still here, finishing rounds and wrapping up the things he hadn't been able to do earlier. Another car accident had come in while he'd been trying to coax information out of the intern and it had taken over three hours to get everyone and everything organized and moved to their appropriate locations. Now that all that was done, he still had a mountain of paperwork to go through and everything he'd been right in the middle of until that point.
He hadn't seen (or smelled) the intern for a those three hours and the longer he went without at least catching a glimpse of him, the more restless he became. He shouldn't care! God, it wasn't like the kid needed a babysitter or a nursemaid! He was a grown man for Christ sake! So why was it that Aidan felt this overwhelming desire to help him? He'd never been this concerned (obsessed his brain added uselessly) with anyone he worked with so why was this...intern any different?
Because hewas different. Maybe not on the outside but something about him was different and Aidan wouldn't rest until he figured out what it was. That would seem strange to anyone else, a little too interested and just a bit creepy. Aidan didn't care; he was nothing if not persistent and by God he was going to figure out what was up with that kid.
He finished his last chart and dropped it into one of the folders, turning and making a beeline for the closest nurse's station. They were supposed to clock in and out so he would at least be able to see if the intern was still here or not. Shit...it would help if he knew the kid's name...
He came to a stop next to the front desk, a tiny nurse with thick, curly brown hair glancing up at him from behind her glasses. "Aidan." She said, her voice somewhat surprised but still preoccupied with whatever she had been doing on the computer before he arrived.
"Hey." He said, racking his brain for her name. It started with an A...Adrienne? Andrea? Audrey? He shook his head, ignoring name game going on in his brain. "Have you seen the intern around lately?"
(Maybe) Andrea laughed lightly and shook her head. "You're going to have to be a bit more specific, cutie. There's lots of interns in this hospital." With her bright pink scrubs and curly hair, she looked like a character from Annie. Or at the very least Fraggle Rock.
Aidan frowned, figuring he should have clarified to begin with. "Kinda short, big doe-eyes, always kinda looks like someone has a gun barrel shoved into his back?"
"Ohh, you mean Bambi." (Probably) Andrea said, nodding when Aidan nodded. "No, not for a few hours." She looked at the computer screen for a second and shook her head. "It says he's still on the clock but I haven't seen him since about 6 pm."
Aidan wanted to curse and high-five someone at the same time. If he was still on the clock it meant he was still in the hospital but that also meant he could be anywhere. He'd been on this floor all day, he could have easily been called up to another floor or shoved behind a desk to do someone's grunt work. The fact that Aidan could barely smell that strange earthy scent that clung to the younger man like a second skin only helped to strengthen that idea. And with the way things had been going all day, Aidan wasn't sure his patience or his reserve could take it if he didn't get some answers tonight.
"Oh wait!" (More than likely) Andrea said suddenly, her eyes widening behind her glasses. "I saw him go to the elevators about 45 minutes ago, he kinda looked like he was in a rush." She finished with a shrug and Aidan felt something twist in his gut. He couldn't place the feeling or why it made him feel like he wanted to throw up but he knew that he needed to find said intern soon. They were on the ground floor and the elevator meant there was no where for him to go but up.
He said a quick thanks to (Definitely) Andrea and turned on his heel, making a straight shot to the elevator and pressing the button. Another nurse called after him but he ignored her, stepping into the empty car and closing the door. The air smelled like trees and wind and something else. Hopelessness. On a whim, Aidan pushed the button for the top floor, hoping he was wrong but fearing he was probably right.
OOOOO
The elevator bounced to a halt at the top floor and Aidan had already pried the doors open by the time the car stopped completely. He stepped out onto the roof, a cool breeze ruffling his scrubs slightly. For a minute he couldn't see anything or anyone, nothing but an empty roof and no sign of the intern he'd been searching for. There was an open helicopter pad in the center of the roof, glowing red lights surrounding it in a large circle all around. Air vents and generator boxes provided good cover for anyone who was trying to hide but Aidan couldn't think of why the kid would be hiding on the roof of all things.
Something caught his attention then, a distant smell that was nearly carried away by the breeze. He stepped out further onto the roof, freezing when his eyes landed on the siloette of someone standing near the ledge of the roof. No, not near the ledge. On the ledge. If Aidan had any reason to breathe, he was pretty sure his breath would have caught in his throat at that moment.
The intern had his back to him, one hand gripping the flag pole to his left, his focus on the street below. It was windy up here, enough to make the flag pole tremble with each gust, and it visibly shook the younger man every time. He didn't seem to care though. He didn't seem to be all that concerned with much of anything other than looking over the edge.
Aidan took a step forward, weighing his options carefully. He could rush forward and tackle him away from the ledge (he was much faster than humans) but the force of the impact could cause a lot of damage to the intern if he wasn't careful. Then again, so could jumping off the roof but he didn't really want to think about that.
He didn't make it very far before the younger man's head snapped around, his large brown eyes leveling on Aidan. The vampire stopped; he was sure he hadn't made any noise, in fact, he was very cognizant of that issue in futile attempt not to startle the precariously perched man on the roof. "Stop!" He shouted, his voice shaking in a mixture of anxiety and fear. He was terrified of being up that ledge so why did it look like he was about to jump? "Stay where you are! D-Don't come any closer!"
Aidan held up his hands in the universal sign of surrender and also to show him that he didn't have anything. "I'm not going to hurt you..." He said evenly, taking a hesitant step forward. "I just want to help."
"Help?" Tears flooded the younger man's eyes and he shook his head violently. "You can't help! There's nothing you can do to help!"
"Okay," Aidan took another step forward. "Look, I know how you feel. I've been in your position before, when you feel like you have no way out? Like the entire world has turned its back on you? But trust me, this isn't the answer. This is a permanent solution to a temporary problem..."
"Tempo-" The younger man didn't finish before he let out a sharp bark of laughter, glaring up at the sky like it had scorned him. "A temporary problem? This isn't a temporary problem! This is a life sentence! Its not something that's just going to go away with counseling!" He voice cracked and now he was shaking but it had nothing to do with the wind or the flagpole. "You don't know anything about me! You have no idea what I'm going through!"
Seeing the frantic look on the intern's face, he tried a different tactic. "Okay, okay, you're right. Then we'll just talk, alright? Nothing wrong with talking, right?" He took another step; the closer he could get to him, the easier it would be to get him off the ledge.
The younger man shook his head, his entire demeanor reading defeat and hopelessness. "Talking won't help...nothing will help..." Then, almost inaudibly, he whispered, "I'm a monster..." Tears were streaming down his face now, splattering in dark blue blotches on his scrubs. He turned his face skyward, glaring at a moon that just a little less than full. "I can't do this anymore...I can't do it..." Then, before Aidan could say anything else, he let go of the flagpole and toppled over the edge of the building.
"Shit!" Aidan heard himself gasp and he was moving before he brain caught up with the motions. In a split second, he'd crossed the roof, nearly tossing himself over the ledge as well, and caught the intern by the back of the shirt.
The intern bounced awkwardly and looked up in startled confusion. Then, realizing he wasn't plummeting to his death anymore, he began to struggle and thrash in Aidan's grip. "Let go of me! Let go!" He growled in a tone that sounded more animal than human. Aidan thought it was just his imagination.
He kept a firm grip on the side of the ledge, his other hand tangled in the younger man's scrubs and he struggled to hang on. Vampire or not, its hard to hang on to someone who's flailing around like a 180 lb fish on the end of hook. "Stop thrashing!" Aidan snarled, his fangs digging into the inside of his lip. He couldn't help it; blood brought them out obviously but strong emotions were the next quickest way to make them appear. And this kid was literally a cesspool of strong emotions right now.
"Let go!" He cried from below again and Aidan ignored him. With a quick burst of strength, he jerked him back over the edge and onto the roof, far enough away from the ledge that he wouldn't try again without having to fight his way past Aidan. Then all hell broke loose. There was a strong and surprisingly painful punch to his jaw that sent him sprawling and Aidan was shocked that anyone other than a vampire had enough strength to punch like that. Most human punches barely even registered on the pain scale for him, let alone enough to knock him off his feet. "Why did you do that!" The intern cried, his voice filled with a mixture of anguish and rage. "Why did you pull me back!"
Aidan was on his feet then, easily dodging another punch (he wasn't up for that again) and catching the younger man's arm, pinning it to his side effortlessly. The younger man lashed out with the other arm, which Aidan managed to catch as well. He struggled violently in the vice-like grip, fighting tooth and nail to get free, and it reminded Aidan of a caged animal that was willing to chew off its own leg in order to get loose. Hell, he was pretty sure the intern would try to chew his arm off if given the opportunity.
"You should have let me go! You should have let me fall!" The younger man cried, still fighting against him with almost inhuman strength. Aidan could keep him pinned for now but it was getting harder to maintain his grip so he did the next best thing. He sat down suddenly, catching the intern off guard and dropping them both to the ground. The distraction was just enough and he managed to loop his arms around the wirey young man, pinning his arms to his sides and effectly cutting off his movement.
The intern made some kind of horrible sound, somewhere between a sob and a scream, and Aidan felt his stomach wrench. He didn't know him, didn't even know his name, but something about the young man in his arms reminded him so much of himself that it shook him to his core.
"Why did you pull me back?" The younger man sobbed, all the fight leaving his body and leaving him shaking and breathless in Aidan's arms. "Why couldn't you just let me die...I'm a monster...Why did you pull me back..." He didn't struggle anymore, he didn't try to break free, he just sat there and cried like there was literally nothing in the entire world to live for.
That sick feeling in his gut twisted again and Aidan shook his head, loosening his arms just enough that the hold resembled a hug rather than a death grip. He refused to let go, not if it gave the crying, trembling young man in his arms another chance to jump, but he couldn't stand the cries either. "I'm sorry." He breathed and he meant it; it was the second time that day he'd apologized to the younger man and actually meant the apology. Most of the time he would apologize and the words would fall from his mouth meaningless and hollow. But he meant it with the intern.
"I'm so sorry..." He didn't know what he was apologizing for now but it seemed like the appropriate thing to say. He wasn't sorry for saving him, he was sorry for whatever had driven him to this point. He was sorry for whoever or whatever had driven this young man up onto fifth story of hospital and made him feel like there was no way out other than to jump. He was sorry because he'd lost count of how many times he felt like that himself. He was sorry because, in some pathetic kind of way, he wished someone had said they were sorry when they made him. "I'm sorry..."
Poor thing :( There will be lots of talking (and answers for Aidan's sake lol!) the next chapter so be prepared! Loves! :D
