As usual,
THEMoDePo: yeah, but you know... an hour passes so fast! But you're right, Blaine desperately needs some medical attention! Thank you so much, honey!
Mildlifecrissis: hahaha, I didn't know there was a good way to torture someone but ok ;) I'm glad you're finding it interesting! Hahaha, of course Sam won't stop worrying about Blaine, but Blaine will try anyway. Sorry for being evil ;) Thank you so much, honey!
Darrinia: Cariñín! Sorry to make you cry, but... I'm a drama queen, you know that :) Besotes, guapísima!
Me-me157: Hehehe, you never know ;) Yes, I seem to like poor Blaine getting shot XD So glad you're finding it interesting! Thank you so much!
CHAPTER 7
Time kept unstoppably running and Sam was appalled to see how Blaine's strength seemed to be diminishing by the minute. Even though he claimed to be very cold, he wasn't even shivering anymore, and keeping his eyes open was becoming an arduous task for the injured boy. He was still sitting between Sam's legs, so he could rest his side on Sam's chest and Sam could hold him upright and, at the same time, comfort him as much as possible. But not even Sam's strong and loving arms could make much of a difference anymore.
"No, babe, please, don't fall asleep, stay with me" Sam gently shook him when he saw Blaine's eyelids falling, terrified that if he let Blaine close his eyes, they would never open again.
"Ok" Blaine whispered in response, making a tremendous effort to stay awake for his boyfriend. Even though the only thing he felt like doing was closing his eyes and isolating himself from that cold and painful hell, he felt selfish about leaving his boyfriend alone in it, so he resisted as much as he could.
"Why don't you explain to me why you said yesterday that your week had been that terrible, eh?" Sam told him, trying to keep him talking, his hand half holding, half caressing Blaine's forehead. "You never told me"
"That's easy" Blaine said, slightly smiling. "Because you weren't there"
Sam sighed, trying to stop the tears threatening to appear: he was having enough trouble not to burst out crying from despair without his wounded partner getting all sentimental on him. Sam rested his lips on Blaine's temple in a long kiss meant to show Blaine how much he loved him. That's how he noticed how much Blaine was burning up with fever, and that could only mean one thing: infection. After all, there was no exit wound, so the bullet was still inside of him. But Sam chose not to say anything about it, not wanting to alarm Blaine now that he seemed calm enough.
"I thought you told me you hadn't missed me that much" Sam told him, softly and jokingly.
"I thought you knew me better than that" Blaine joked back, resting his uninjured hand over Sam's heart, in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture, and Sam rested his over Blaine's.
"If it helps, I missed you like crazy too" Sam told him, while caressing his hair with his other hand.
"This is not the reunion I had been expecting, though" Blaine joked, and Sam had to laugh at Blaine's black humor, grateful that he was trying to make light of the situation on his behalf.
"And what kind of reunion were you expecting, you little evil?" Sam asked, trying to keep the light atmosphere, but Blaine wasn't able to answer anymore: a new wave of pain invaded his shoulder, and he could only gasp before his breathing started speeding up. Sam immediately understood what was happening and offered his hand to Blaine, letting him squeeze it as hard as he needed. Sam could only begin to imagine how much Blaine was hurting by the strength on his grip on Sam's hand and in the way his body trembled involuntarily as he tried to control the blinding pain.
When Blaine's breathing started returning to normal and his hand lost the grip on his boyfriend's, Sam understood the pain had lessened a little, and he hurried to show him his support with a long kiss to his cheek. That's when he noticed the wetness on Blaine's cheeks, how a couple of involuntary tears had escaped the corners of his eyes at the terrible pain.
"Oh, love, I'm so sorry you're hurting so much, if there was anything I could do to help it..." Sam told him, genuinely sorry, as he would gladly exchange places with him so he didn't have to experience the pain.
"Don't worry, honey, I'm okay" Blaine told him in a very thin voice, wanting to stay strong for Sam, but he had to hide his face on the blond's neck to try and muffle the sobs he felt were coming, without him being able to stop them, so exhausted and sore and worried about their situation he was.
"Schhht" Sam shushed him, comfortingly, holding his head lovingly and embracing him strongly, not trying to stop his crying because he knew he needed it.
"I'm sorry" Blaine apologized, his breath nuzzling Sam's neck.
"There's nothing to be sorry for, love" Sam wanted to reassure him.
"I want to stay strong" Blaine insisted, as sobs continued shaking his body.
"You're the strongest person I know, B. Look what you're enduring, you're in a terrible pain and you haven't even complained once. Breaking down just means you've been holding on for too long. Believe me, you're totally entitled to lean on me as much as you need to. I'm here for you"
"I love you" was the only thing Blaine could say, his strength leaving him, but there was so much more implied in his words. He wanted to tell Sam how grateful he was, how he admired him for his strength, how proud he was of him, how he was aware Sam was feeling Blaine's pain as if it was his own and yet he still managed to stay strong... He hoped Sam would understand, Blaine thought, as his sobs lessened because of exhaustion and his head once again fell on Sam's chest.
Sam squeezed him carefully and once again kissed his forehead, all the while caressing the hair on the side of his head.
"I love you too, babe" he answered in a whisper, looking at his lover's face and noticing how little strength there was left in him. "Don't fall asleep, sweetie, please"
"Ok" Blaine answered, resolute to please his boyfriend in anything he could. That was the only thing he could do for him.
There were no words between Sebastian and Puck anymore. It seemed there was nothing else to say anymore; they could only wait. And get desperate with each passing minute..
"There's no way they are both going to get out of there" Sebastian mumbled to himself after a while, but Puck heard him alright.
"Why do you say that?" he asked him, kind of reproaching at his friend's lack of positivism.
"Five minutes from now they are going to kill two more hostages. And the one who was wounded could very well be dead now. That leaves what, three hostages? What are the odds that both of them would make it, after we know they were the ones to frustrate their escape?"
"But we don't know anything! Those hostages haven't been killed yet, nor we know about the wounded one. Why do you have to keep torturing yourself like this?"
"Because this is all my fault" Sebastian answered in a guilty whisper.
"What? How can any of this be your fault?" Puck asked, astounded at Sebastian's feelings.
"If I hadn't been so grumpy this morning we wouldn't have argued, and then Blaine wouldn't have felt obliged to go and get the charcoal, and he and Sam wouldn't be in all this mess" Sebastian explained, not able to contain his tears any longer.
Puck stood thunderstruck at Sebastian's revelation for a second, but then didn't lose any time in putting a hand to his shoulder to squeeze it, trying to comfort him.
"That's ridiculous, Seb. How were you to know what was going to happen?"
"The fact I didn't know doesn't make it less true that they wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my sour mood"
"Then it's even more my fault than yours, isn't it?" Puck asked him trying to make a point.
"Why?" Sebastian asked back, not understanding.
"It was me who didn't buy the charcoal, wasn't it?"
"Still there was no need for me to get so cranky"
"Seb, this is not your fault, or mine, or Blaine and Sam's… There's only two people to blame, and they are the ones who are holding them hostages. No one else"
Sebastian nodded at him, though Puck could see he had not really convinced him, and he wouldn't stop blaming himself until both Sam and Blaine were free and safe. If that was possible.
Then they heard the officer in charge telling the others he was going to give the robbers a call before the deadline expired, to tell them they had half of the money they had asked and could have the car whenever they wanted. They hoped the robbers would think it was enough.
The sound of the shop phone ringing took Sam's attention away from Blaine for a second. He closed his eyes and desired with all his forces it was the police telling them they had everything they had asked and everything would be over. But somehow he felt they were not going to be so lucky.
"So do you have it?" Luke asked abruptly the instant he picked up the phone. "...Half of it? No way, that's not what we requested... ...I don't care if it's still a lot of money, I made the terms of our agreement very clear, didn't I?... ... No, don't even bother about the car until it's full of money, and you have one last hour to do that or I will kill everyone... But just so you can see I appreciate the effort you're all making, I'll give you half of what we agreed too. I will just kill one hostage this time"
"No, please!" the officer screamed, desperately.
Sebastian and Puck felt as if an invisible hand was gripping their hearts, making them hurt and stopping them from breathing. They knew what was about to happen, and they couldn't take it anymore.
Sam had heard Luke's part of the telephonic conversation and now he could see him quickly approaching the hostages, aiming with his gun at them, with the intention of killing one of them. Sam couldn't figure out who would be the next victim, so he covered Blaine's head with his hand and squeezed him hard to his chest, covering him with his own body as much as he could, trying to protect him as much as possible without moving him, not wanting to risk another hemorrhage. Then Sam closed his eyes with force, not wanting to be a witness of what was going to happen, but he couldn't shut his ears to the sound of that damned gun firing once again, or to the shout of a very frightened woman, or the grunt of a person breathing his last breath. That's when Sam finally opened his eyes and could see the lifeless body of the teller lying just a few feet from him.
He couldn't believe he had seen two people die in front of him just like that, and his boyfriend could very well suffer the same fate as them. No, he couldn't think like that: Blaine would make it, he would make sure of that. There was no alternative, he had to survive because Sam couldn't live without him. It was as simple as that.
He lowered his gaze to check how Blaine's emotions were dealing with that new murder, and that's when he realized Blaine's eyes were closed and his face had fallen to the side, unconscious at last. Sam cupped his chin to turn his face to him and gently shook it.
"B, B, please, wake up, babe" he gently slapped his face with his other hand to bring him around, but he wasn't rewarded. "Come on, don't do this to me, love, please, open your eyes" Sam pleaded, finally letting the tears fall in desperation as he squeezed Blaine's unconscious body closer to him and he rested his cheek on top of Blaine's head, starting to sob uncontrollably.
With the sound of the last shot still ringing in their ears, Puck and Sebastian just embraced each other and cried.
