A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone! Sorry it took so long to get this out. I had finals and graduation and all kinds of crazy stuff going on. I'm going away next week as well but there will definitely be a chapter up shortly after I get home, maybe even before I leave if we're all lucky!
Disclaimer: I only own the OCs.
The morning after he kissed me I spent running errands. I had been up all night, tossing and turning, thinking about that damn kiss.
The natural solution? To keep myself so busy that I have no time to think about it.
The story of my life? The bank I'm in gets held hostage.
And such is my luck that the person I'm trying to forget is making the hostage negotiations.
So much for a normal week.
Honestly, this is getting ridiculous. There are 11 hostages, including myself, scattered around the room. The three hostage takers are standing in the center of the atrium of the bank, talking in hushed tones. The sleazy guy next to me is not bothering to hush his tone as he tries line after line.
I mean, really? We are in the middle of a hostage crisis right now; is it really the time to talk yourself up?
"I'm right in line to be the next CEO of the company," Sleazy shot me what I think was supposed to a dazzling grin; it wasn't. "It's quite a big deal, you know, to be this high up…"
Sleazy was cut off by a ringing phone. One of the hostage takers picked up the phone and began speaking into it. He spoke only a few sentences before putting it on speaker. And then Don's voice fills the room.
"You're gonna have to give me something to go off of here," Don's voice sounded more annoyed than anything. "My boss ain't gonna ok anything until we have some proof all your hostages are safe."
The one by the phone pointed at me. I squeaked and pointed at my chest. He nodded his head at one of his buddies, who walked up next to me and yanked me up.
Phone guy takes the phone off speaker and holds it against his chest, muffling the noise. "Name?"
"Declan," I said softly.
He nodded shortly, handing me the phone. "Got a last name, Declan?"
"De Luca," I took the phone from his hand and pulled it toward my ear as his eyes widened and he shouted in Italian to his boys to meet him by the desk on the opposite side of the room.
"No funny business," He warned; I nodded. "You give me that phone back when you're done." He stomped over to the others.
I lifted the phone to my ear. "Err…hi?"
Don swore loudly. "What are you doing in there?"
My eyes narrowed and I practically hissed back, "Yes, because when I woke up today, I thought to myself 'hmm, what should I do today?' and being held up at the bank seemed like fun!"
He ignored my jibe. "Is everyone ok?"
"Yeah, they have us all sitting down. There's 11 of us, three of them. They speak to us in perfect English but to each other in Italian."
"Anything else?" He pressed. I glanced over at them; they were busy talking, not paying any attention to me.
"They haven't taken anything," I told him.
"What?"
"They haven't taken any money. They haven't tried to open the safe or used the clerks to open the tills."
"Thanks Dec, toss the phone back ok? Keep an ear out for what they're saying."
"I just got used to Delk and now you wanna call me Dec." I glared at him through the phone.
"Stay safe Dec," I could practically hear him smirk as I pulled the phone away and looked over at the hostage takers. Phone Guy came right back and grabbed it from me, shooing me back over to Sleazy. I scowled as I took my spot and the phone went back on speaker.
"That enough proof for you?"
"Certainly helped grease the wheels,"
"Good, now you can do what I ask. $10 million and a tracker free chopper is Part 1. You can call me in an hour for Part 2." And the connection died.
Why is it so freaking cold in here? I have goosebumps all over my body right now. Outside, it's nice and warm, like shorts and t-shirt warm. In here, it feels like it's about to snow. Even the hostage takers look like they're freezing and they've got all black pants and shirts on with ski masks.
"I'm going to kill him," I muttered under my breath, trying to rub my arms to stay warm. Sleazy shot me a look, which I ignored, until the phone rang again and I was forced to look in his direction to see what was going on.
"You got my stuff yet?" Phone Guy asked.
"We're workin' on it," Don said dryly. Phone Guy seemed to take this as an appropriate answer. "You got your Part 2 worked out yet?"
"I want my boy back," Phone Guy said.
"Your boy got a name?"
"Joey Antreu," Phone Guy said. "You get him here to me in 4 hours, with the ten mil and the chopper. Once we get in the chopper, you get your hostages."
"Joey Antreu is a known terrorist," Don said slowly. "You know as well as I do that that's above my power."
"Well find a way to make it in your power, or your hostages are gone." He slammed the phone down.
3 hours and 58 minutes later, and the phone rang again. Once again, Phone Guy answered. He exchanged a few tense words and then shouted, "Time's up!"
And then hell broke loose as NYPD came busting in just as Phone Guy fired a shot in my direction. Sleazy and I jumped apart, in separate directions, as the gun fire continued.
We weren't the only ones ducking for cover. As soon as the shots started, all 11 of us had threw ourselves to the ground and covered our heads.
"Clear," Don shouted and I popped right up in time to see the four hostage takers being escorted out of the building. Officers and EMT's flocked toward everyone.
Don walked right to me. "You ok?" I nodded and he held out his hands to help me up, throwing my arms around him as soon as I was standing. He wrapped his arms around me. "Sorry 'bout the cold. Bank's got an automatic heating system that won't let it go above a certain temp; somebody figured freezing them out might work as well as sweating them out." I shivered in his arms some more and he sighed. "Monroe's gonna kill me."
"We'll probably end up dying together," I muttered into his chest as he held me tighter. His chuckle vibrated throughout him as I inhaled his clean, masculine scent.
"Hospital time," He told me, pulling away. I scowled; he knows how my last trip there went. I opened my mouth to protest but he cut me off. "No but's; let's go."
Sleazy leaned around the officer who was questioning him. "Hey, now that we've made it out of this alive, I think it's really been a bonding experience for us. I would love to take you out to dinner sometime,"
My jaw dropped as Don howled with laughter. "She's good," He tossed his arm around my shoulder, leading me out of the bank. "Was he doing that the whole time?"
"All freaking day!"
"You really do have terrible luck."
Sleazy and the others ended up at the same hospital Don took me to. Don spent his time doing the paperwork he owed, while I tried to stay as close to him as possible in order to be as far away from Sleazy as possible. Don's presence did not deter Sleazy from continuing the lines he had used all afternoon so when they finally called me back, I jumped at the chance to get away from him. Literally, jumped.
The nurse led us over to a room, took my vitals, and told us that a doctor would be in shortly, all before turning on her heel and practically running out of the room.
"Long as she doesn't bring Sleazy in, we're all good," I muttered, leaning back against the bed.
"Sleazy?"Don laughed, continuing to text.
"He's been hitting on me all day!" I defended.
Don's blue eyes darkened but his tone was light and teasing. "Want me to go beat him up?"
"Nahh, I told him I had a boyfriend already. I think he thinks it's you."
"Wonderful," Don said dryly. I smiled cheekily, something that was wiped off my face as soon as the doctor came in.
"Declan De Luca?" My eyes widened at the familiar voice and Don looked confused.
"James!" I faked a smile of delight. "How have you been?"
"God, what happened to you?" He asked, coming over. He ran his fingers through his short, dark blond hair.
"I was held hostage in a bank today," I admitted.
James laughed; man, I forgot how funny his laugh was. "Typical Declan,"
Don laughed loudly; I turned to glare. "What, that was funny?"
"Is this your boyfriend?" James failed in trying to hide the bit of hurt in his tone.
I wish. Ahh, stop that brain! I smacked my forehead, only to receive weird looks from both of them. "Sorry," I smiled sheepishly.
James laughed softly as he picked up my chart, while Don merely shook his head, as if realizing that my craziness can't be helped. "Hey, your amnesia isn't on your chart!" James exclaimed.
Fuck, where can I go from there? Don's sending me a confused look and James is looking right at me. Keep cool, Declan; you got this!
"That's—because—because I got my amnesia in Italy!" I invented on the spot. "Remember, I came back from spring break and didn't remember anybody! They must not have sent it over!"
James nodded. "Right, right. Ok, then," He looked at the most recent page. "Well, the good news is that your stitches from Tuesday seem to be healing nicely." I grinned brightly. "The bad news is, I want to keep you here overnight…"
"NO!" I cried. "Please, James, just let m go home. I promise to call if anything feels even slightly wrong, and I'll stay in bed all night and I won't do anything strenuous; please just let me go home!" I begged.
James hesitated. "Well, I guess it would be ok…as long as you have somebody stay with you. I'm not letting you leave alone." He stuck my chart in the container by the door. "I'll go get the discharge papers ready."
I shot Don a hopeful look. He sighed. "Fine. But you're explaining this amnesia thing to me."
A/N: Definitely not the best or funniest chapter, but still good, I think. Next chapter, things kind of speed up a little. We have two weeks until Declan's event and a week after that is Danny's wedding, so we're getting the ball rolling on this even thing starting next chapter. We have the amnesia story coming up and some other fun stuff, so let me know what you think of this chapter and we'll go from there!