Jack was facing a dilemma. His friendship with Kim was at the point of him being chatty with her at school without Brody, or gossips, going into suspicious rage. Despite this freedom, they still spent very little time together and he was feeling like an addict, wanting more time with her. Time when he did not have to watch himself every second for fear of betraying his emotions. Solution came unexpectedly easy. He was once again at the hospital with his grandfather, having brought him for a treatment, when he was spotted volunteer supervisor, Deborah.
"Ahh, Young Mr. Brewer. Here with your grandfather?"At his nod, she continued, "You spent so much time here, you might as well work here, eh?"
Deborah was wrestling with removing one empty water bottle for the fountain near the waiting area and Jack immediately went to help her. It went much easier for him and in no time, the bottle was replaced.
"Now, if I was twenty years younger and had about thirty more pound of muscle..." she laughed motioning to more bottles in her cart.
He went to help her with replacing all the bottles and ended up signing up for volunteering. He wasn't allowed to deal with patients yet - there was training to complete - but he could help around as a volunteer orderly. Surprisingly, there was a lot of small manual labor tasks to do.
He was glad to help. And if it so happened that his schedule coincided with Kim's, then Deborah would not tell. Although she did wink at him, making him blush.
He also made further inroads with the Wasabi Warriors. He and Jerry had a standing agreement to meet up at least once a week at Pepito's where Jack helped Jerry and Jerry sometimes had parts or services for the bike. Jack was surprised how easily he fell into friendship with Jerry. With Jerry, Jack could be goofy and they both could obsess over bands and sports shoes and it was as easy as breathing.
Milton was still wary of him, but one hallway chat with Brody and Kim, and Milton stopped giving him the cold shoulder. It actually culminated with them sitting together in English and Jack was relieved to have a friendly person there. Milton was wicked smart, but literature - at least the fiction - was not his favorite. Jack was more inclined to disagree, but he was helpful to Milton in deconstructing the stories, themes, archetypes and plots. Milton, his mind organized and logical, took to the idea of structure of the stories, and characters, as if they were scientifically definable entities with their internal logic and it was a much easier going for him after that.
Brody acted like Jack was just a friendly new acquaintance. He seemingly trusted jack. To make matters worse, Brody asked him to watch Kim's back in case Frank and other Dragons tried to do something. At first, Jack bristled: he did not need reminders to be protective of his friends. But then he realized that it would put him in direct confrontation with his dojo-mates (a worse misnomer ever). He appreciated that Brody made him think on it, but there was nothing for it. Kim was important...
He just didn't expect that he would be delivering on his promise so soon.
He was at the hospital, restocking water fountains and generally being on hand for heavy lifting. Every hour or so, he and Kim would meet by the main entrance to check with each other and chat. Today's topic was Kim's one and only time being in a beauty pageant. She was once crowned as the Pearl of Seaford. She told him of the reason to participate in the pageant - something that Kim otherwise thought to be a relic of time past - was to show up some snooty people of the private school. He laughed at her impression of the haughty girl Clair and her unique way of speaking. It was when she told him of her talent piece that he had the biggest laugh.
it was probably because he was a little (a lot) distracted by Kim's blushing and smiling face that it took him a second to recognize a commotion behind the doors leading to the ER section. Loud shouts, sound of things falling, cursing. Kim ran towards the sounds and Jack followed her.
There was a clearly unwell and belligerent guy, shouting and lunging at anyone who came close. He had that unhealthy greenish-gray hue to his skin, but his cheeks were flushed and eyes were glazed and blood-shot. His entire frame looked too thin, but he had a knife in his hand and he was too deranged to be reasoned with. Kim saw that one nurse was somewhat boxed in between the strung-out guy and a patient on the gurney and made a move towards them. Jack pulled her back.
She whirled around on him and he had to pull her even closer and spoke forcefully, "Kim, he is armed and too strung-out. Let security deal with him"
Her eyes showed understanding, but also defiance, "That's Lizzi and behind her is Mr. McDonnell. I'd hate if something happened to them."
He sighed. Of course, she was loyal. He nodded and then turned them around, "Stay put. I mean it." Her eyes flared up again and he resorted to playing dirty, "You'd hate it if something happened to your friend. And I could not bear it if something ever happened to you. Please, Kim." They usually avoided any reminders of his crush on her, but Kim was uniquely flustered by it and he used it.
Before she could recover to respond, he turned away and accessed the situation. At the moment the guy was turned away from him and Jack silently got behind.
"Hey!" he whispered. The guy jumped around to face him and aimed his knife, his movements too uncoordinated and leaving an opening. Jack grabbed the knife wrist, squeezing hard and pulling it towards himself and to the side, just as his other hand punched the guy the stomach. The forward motion of being pulled by the hand and the sudden lack of air, made the guy stumble and fall.
It was done in less than half a minute. And really, the guy was hardly an opponent. It was obvious he was a drug addict and has been one for a while.
Jack, the knife now in his hand, turned to Kim, "Do you think security will call the police?"
Kim was looking at him with something akin to wonder in her eyes, making him feel taller and stronger. Before he could even blush or rush to her and kiss her, Deborah said loudly, "Oh my god!" He looked away from Kim to her. "Jack! You are a life-saver!"
Jack forced himself to smile. This was the last thing he wanted. "Uhm, really, its not a big deal. He was hardly a threat. Security would have-"
"Security is just Walter today and he would have called police and waited for them to come" Deborah said dismissively and Jack had to agree. Walter was close to retirement and hasn't been in shape in at least twenty years.
The guy on floor made a whimpering noise and Lizzi and Kim actually went to help him up on the gurney. Together they strapped him with restraints and it was then that Walter finally showed up.
There was a commotion of a different kind now. ER resumed running as usual and Walter attached a handcuff to the attacker, securing him to the gurney. Kim, who stepped away from the action looked up at Jack. She was feeling too much at the moment. This incredible guy was her friend and he just put himself out there to save her. Because he couldn't bear if something happened to her.
He looked right at her and smiled. Kim felt like she was going to faint.
Police showed up and as was the protocol, they were to leave a uniformed guy with the attacker, while he was treated. She tried to be polite through the necessary interview, until Deborah put a stop to it and just told them one story from her would suffice.
Her parents, when they learned of it, were so grateful to Jack that they invited him to their house. Of course, his parents were also welcome. Kim was pleased; this was a legitimate reason to see him and she did not feel guilty over it.
Brody had quite the opposite reaction. Kim arrived back at her house and turned her phone on, because it was a policy to keep personal phones off while on shift. It came to life with pings and sounds of all sorts of alerts. It seemed like everyone on her contact list called, texted or twitted at her. Brody more than others.
She called him first, "Why the hell do I get texts and messages, with pictures, of you being held by Jack?" Brody said as a hello.
Kim walked into the living room with the phone and put it on speaker to check the rest of her notifications. Sure enough, there were somewhat blurry shots of her being held tight by Jack right when he told her how much he could not deal with her being hurt. His hands were on her, they stood very close, her face upturned towards his and all in all it looked very dramatic. It looked like like they were two seconds away from a kiss.
"Have you seen the rest of it?" she bit out. "He stopped someone with a knife and a hankering for drugs."
There was a bit if silence, "I guess I underestimated him. He knows how to throw a punch."
There was something in Brody's voice that sounded suspicious to Kim, "Yeah, but he still is not Kai."
"Uhm... Their styles seem different for sure. Kai gets the bad rep and Jack gets the glory. Bad boy and a hero."
She swore she heard some vague accusation in Brody's voice, "Brody, it was an eventful day and I am beat. You have something concrete to tell me or are you just gonna be weird about the fact that my friend helped take down a druggie?" She did not mean to be short with him, but she felt absurdly protective of Jack at the moment.
"I am not weird! Its just... the pictures... Come on: it does look suspicious..."
"Uh-huh... So, in your mind, I get to work in the hospital, deal with cranky people and their stinky business, and then - when it's my coffee break - I get to be all suspiciously cuddly with my friend while a violent person wields the knife five feet from me?"
Kim did not wait for him to say anything, so she hung up on him. He called back a few more times, but she didn't pick up. Better to let them both cool off over night. Instead she checked the rest of her messages.
It was all about the incident in the hospital. It seemingly blew up from one Twitter post by a bored ER patient. It was a triptych of pictures: Kim and Jack looking all intense; Jack pulling the guy's hand with knife towards himself, his other hand balled in fist; and the final one of Jack standing over the guy on the floor, the knife hanging by the blade from Jack's fingers. She would admit, it looked both awesome and melodramatic. Perfect for the post.
She was contemplating what it would mean for them (her and Jack, her and Brody, her in general), when her phone rang again. It was Grace and she could not ignore it, because Grace could just show up at her place.
"I am alive," she said and it must have taken some wind out of Grace's sails, because she sputtered.
"Oh, right. It must have been scary as hell."
"It really is overblown, Grace. The guy had a knife, but he was so out of it, he probably would have hurt himself before he could do any damage."
"Well, its a good thing that Jack was there at any rate, right?" Ahh, good old Grace. A good gossip was a good gossip, after all.
"Yeah... Sure."
"Come on, Kim. You gotta admit, he looked good doing it. Even in that awful gray hospital polo, which is at least three sizes too big on him." It actually fit him across the shoulders, it was big everywhere else. Not that Kim would ever say that out loud.
"Grace, I wasn't paying attention to how he looked. There was a sick unstable person in the room full of other sick people and my co-workers," Kim said forcefully to stop that particular topic.
"Of course, sorry. But, how come you did not tell me that he also volunteered with you?"
Why indeed? Because she was ridiculously pleased by that? Because she suspected, and Deborah confirmed, that it was because of her? That she now went to the hospital with a pep in her step and took extra effort to look good? Even in her standard scrubs?
"It's a fairly new thing. You know that tons of people sign up and then, after couple of weeks, it fizzles out? So, I didn't think much of it. Maybe he is trying to boost his resume."
He probably wasn't. He was obviously smart, accomplished athlete with international accolade and she got an impression that he did not need to rely on scholarships.
"Ok," Grace was clearly not buying this, but Kim wasn't giving her much to go on. "So, how'd Brody take it?" Grace was good at this, Kim had to admit.
"Fine. Glad I am Ok."
"I didn't think you'd answer me, actually. Thought that Brody would be with you, all concerned and such."
Dammit! It would have been a smarter option on Kim's part. Now, Grace would start... "You are right though. He's on his way now. I just answered thinking it was him." It wasn't a good cover-up, but it'd do. "Ugh, bye Grace. See you at school."
She finally hang up and ignored the rest of the calls reliving the moment in Jack's arms, which now lived on forever thanks to lazy snap by a bored person.
Jack was blissfully unaware of these developments and his own digital notoriety.
"Jack, sweetheart," his mom was at the door when he walked in. She put her hands on his face and clucked her tongue. He smiled carefully at her, surprised, and moved past her, into the sitting area, where his dad and grandfather were lounging. Dad had a tablet in his hands and that was the first inkling that Jack got. His mom followed him. "You did a good thing, Jack, but—"
"What?"
His dad showed him the tablet and Jack stared at it slack-jawed. "Oh for the life of..."
Jack fell on a chair and closed his eyes for a moment. As always, Kim was there, this time the image of them in partial embrace with her bright eyes trained on him intently. He suddenly felt more tired than ever. Mom sat next to dad and curved into the crook of his arm. His grandpa chucked.
"I'm glad to see my skills as a wing-man are still topnotch." Jack groaned. "Not to worry. You really haven't done anything wrong. In fact, most call you a hero."
Jack smiled feebly, "And? What else do they call me? And have you heard from Kai about this?" He wasn't too concerned about Kai as he was with the rumors that were going to spring from this incident.
"Never mind that. Kai is Kai. Nohting will change that. Unless, of course, you turn out to be just as underhanded as him."
"But I am. Kim is involved and I am-"
"You were there to protect her. For the second time, I might add. I think it still makes you a hero."
/
Stupidly, he hadn't expected any major change at school. There was. Everyone stared at him as he walked the halls the next day. He overheard an administration meeting on whether or not to throw an assembly in his honor. Mr. Kreitman, who had no idea how that would make Jack feel, made an announcement at the beginning of class. In a skirt and top barely appropriate for a nightclub, Lindsay spent the entire break sitting on his desk, rubbing his shoulders, and congratulating him. He was called out of Government to talk to the Journalism class as they studied the effect of social media on news dissemination. Kim was biting her lips, trying to avoid direct looks at him and being exceptionally cute, but, he decided, it was wasn't sufficient inducement to suffer all this attention.
He ran into Kim in the hallway and mock frowned at her, "If we just waited like I suggested we should, then none of this would have happened."
"Boo-hoo, I am sorry people think you are a hero. How you must suffer," she said sarcastically, but her lips and eyes were smiling and he only shook his head.
"Well, you aren't the one, who got Lindsay's hands all over her-"
"Lindsay got her hands on Kim? That I gotta see," Brody said jovially as he stepped up to them. He made as if to wrap one arm around Kim, who chose that moment to open her locker and search for something. Brody's arm fell to his side. "Jack, bro, I hear I have to thank you again for helping Kim out." His tone was the same jovial tune, but Jack swore he saw the tension around his eyes as he assessed Kim and Jack in turn. Kim closed the locker door with a bang and turned to Brody with a carefully blank expression. "Ahh... Thanks, man."
Jack shook the outstretched hand, "It really wasn't such a big deal. We could have waited for the security to deal with the guy. But, Kim correctly pointed out that the guy was too close to some older, sicker, patients..."
Brody's eyes darted to Kim, who was resolutely not looking at anyone, studying the cover of her notebook. "Sorry, Kim. I was a jerk. I know it was a stressful day to you all. I just wish I was there to keep you safe, but I am glad that Jack could help you out."
Jack's heart swopped low and then lodged itself in his throat. It definitely looked like they had a fight. He wasn't proud of the surge of adrenaline and hope that flooded him at that moment. Brody was jealous and was making mistakes...
Kim finally looked at him and gave him a small nod. Brody's entire frame relaxed, and he smiled at her, "So, see you tonight?"
"I am not sure, Brody. I have to spend some time with my family. And they want to meet Jack too," she looked at her boyfriend pointedly and it was obvious she was expecting some objections from him.
But Jack underestimated Brody. The other boy only nodded in acceptance and smiled at her, "Of course. I'll call you then."
He left and Kim closed her eyes and sighed deeply.
Jack wished she did not have even one moment of sadness or stress in her life, but also wanted her to be single. He wasn't sure which desire outweighed.
By far the biggest change was at lunch. Jack was prepared for Brett to ask him to sit with the cool kids, but he miscalculated. Jerry simply latched onto him and dragged him to the table with Milton, Kim and Julie. Soon, everyone who ever remotely talked to Jack before, followed suit and it was a large group that settled in the middle of the lunch room. Even Frank and Co. succumbed to the lure of fame and Jack nearly cursed out loud the poor drug addicted guy, who decided to attack when he and Kim were on duty.
Kim was grinning as she sat down and Jack admitted the scene was hilarious. Frank and Ryan (large boy from Dragon dojo) hadn't gained control of their expressions yet, wrinkled brows and open mouths; Grace was using a carrot slice like a baton and talking at Brian (Dragon's own nun-chucks specialist) about football, and Jack himself probably looked angry, because he was sandwiched between Donna and Lindsay. Every time he tried to move away from one, he was almost bumping into another. He resolved to sit as still as possible to avoid any and all touching.
It was the gym class that he realized the full extent of his newfound fame. The coaches of school teams showed up and acted like the scouts of the big clubs. Jack was made to perform various impromptu tasks and before he knew it, he had tryouts to attend. Including for basketball team. He would never admit it, but he really wished he made the team, if only to see Brody's expression.
He was no better than his rival, it seemed: he wanted to best Brody on his turf.
A/N: Brody is a good guy, but he does get jealous and makes stupid mistakes. Jack is getting his cocky groove back. He sees some issues between Kim and Brody. Thought? Still believable?
