The waiting room of the most expensive hospital in Domino City was entirely empty as Kaiba crossed and re-crossed his legs in mounting impatience. As soon as he had arrived, he had insisted on escorting Joey to the hospital's most exclusive room, the room where Mokuba had stayed last year when he had undergone his tonsillectomy.
Seeing a doctor hurrying towards him, Kaiba fought to rearrange his features into a look of casual nonchalance, "So, what's the news on Wheeler?" The doctor's eyebrows pulled together in an expression of concern as he took a seat next to the young CEO, "With regards to the fracture, we've put his arm in a cast and it will heal in time." After a moment of hesitation, he added, "It may not be my place to say Mr Kaiba, but I hope you've punished the perpetrator of this violent act. They've put Joey in a great deal of pain." Forcing himself to maintain a neutral expression, Kaiba nodded at the doctor, "Believe me, the man in question is most certainly suffering."
Nodding grimly, the doctor brought out an x-ray from the folder balanced on his knee, "When determining the extent of his injury, we decided to take an x-ray of his arm. But the results were quite shocking. Can you see all those little lines on the bone? They indicate breakages that were not splinted and which healed poorly. I cannot speak definitively about Joey but in the majority of cases, this x-ray would indicate that the patient had been a victim of systematic abuse."
By this point, Kaiba's mind was reeling. Systematic abuse? Wheeler? No. It couldn't be true. Wheeler was nothing if not a fighter. He had fought tooth and nail to save Serenity from blindness and had been prepared to risk everything to protect Yugi from harm. Only then did Kaiba realise that he had never once seen Joey fight to protect himself, only the people he loved. Before he knew it, Kaiba was on his feet, "I need to see Wheeler. Now."
Bursting into Joey's hospital room, Kaiba saw the puppy he had injured staring miserably out of the window, "I hope Serenity is ok. She'll be wondering where I am." Turning to face his guest, Joey's face crumpled visibly, "Oh, I thought you were the nurse."
Seeing Kaiba move towards him, he flinched and his uninjured hand shifted to hover protectively over his ribcage, "Haven't you done enough damage already?" His voice was uncharacteristically quiet and lifeless, "And you can take the medical costs out of my wages. I'm no charity case."
Kaiba wavered uncomfortably. He wanted to tell Joey that it had been a mistake and he was truly sorry. He wanted to tell Joey that he admired that way he put everyone's needs before his own. He wanted to tell Joey how he would do anything in the world to regain his trust. But he was fettered by own pride and his words were lost in a sea of uncertainty.
Instead of the intended apology, a question rose to his lips, "Who was hurting you?" Joey's eyes hardened, an invisible wall coming up between them, "That's no concern of yours, Kaiba." His body had hunched in on itself and he suddenly looked like a child. Kaiba felt his heart twist and once again he fought to keep his face from revealing the emotions that threatened to overwhelm him.
"Fine with me. I don't care anyway, mutt. This envelope contains compensation for your injury, and any resulting emotional distress." The envelope contained a cheque to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars. But Joey didn't even look inside. Instead he threw the money at Kaiba's feet, "Did you honestly think you could throw money at me and I would forgive you just like that? You haven't a clue. I'm not one of your corporate flunkees. I'm your…" But he never finished his sentence. Instead, he jumped off the bed and ran out the door.
Cutting him off at the hospital entrance, Kaiba crossed his arms and adopted his coldest expression, "You're my what, Wheeler?" But Joey simply shook his head.
"As your employer, I order you to answer!" Kaiba's frigid façade had begun to crack and his eyes had taken on a somewhat manic look as he demanded an answer from Joey.
But Joey shook his head yet again, anguish carved into his features, "It isn't… I'm not… You're not my employer anymore. I quit." He attempted to dodge past Kaiba but Kaiba continued to bar his way, a foreign note of hysteria colouring his typically deadpan voice, "No, you can't. If you quit then I'll make sure no one employs you and Serenity will be forced to live on the streets." The threat was way below the belt and he knew it.
For the second time that day, Joey sent Kaiba a look of pure betrayal. "Fine." All the fight seemed to have gone out of him and his voice returned to the limp, lifeless sound from before, "Have it your way." And with that, he limped off into the distance.
Exciting news – just finished planning the rest of the chapters for this fic (should be 12/13 in total) and can't wait to get on with writing them up! If you've stuck with this fic so far then thank you, hopefully it's been an enjoyable read.