Happy Halloween! (I don't ever do anything for Halloween so that was probably a little uncalled for... :/ Oh well!) Anyway, I hope you enjoy this next update. I hope it's alright because it was kind of hard to write (and I also apoligise for the number of small cliffhangers on a few of the chapters. They're irresistible).

Drugged: Chapter 10

Cal almost collapsed. His head felt fuzzy and he could feel his palms sweating. He couldn't quite believe what he was seeing... or hearing. He didn't want this to happen, but Connie warned him about it when she'd come back from her office after her's and Cal's altercation. He heard Connie ask again.

"Ethan, can you squeeze my hand, please?"

Cal watched and waited, but there was still nothing. There hadn't been for quite a while, and Cal felt sick.

He wanted to make everything better. He thought everything was alright - well, apart from the fact that Ethan was most probably going to die - but this just made everything worse.

When Cal had been holding Ethan's hand and talking to him soothingly while Connie and Zoe were trying to research experimental drugs to help Ethan, Cal thought nothing of the fact Ethan's hand went limp and his grip loosened. He asked Ethan if he could squeeze his hand, but Ethan didn't react. Cal had replayed what Connie had said to him but refused to believe it had come to that stage. So, he inspected Ethan's face for signs of life. Sure enough, Ethan was looking at him. He was awake. He had to test Ethan's movements, so he asked Ethan to move his arm. Ethan didn't. He asked Ethan to move his leg. Ethan didn't. Cal saw a tear slip down Ethan's cheek, and Cal feared the worst. He did a pain test. He pinched the back on Ethan's hand, but there was no reaction. Cal looked into Ethan's eyes, they showed his desperation, his need to move. Another tear slipped down his cheek.

Ethan couldn't move. He couldn't feel. He was paralysed. It was as Connie suspected.

Cal didn't want it to be true. He watched as Connie asked Ethan to do something for a third time, he watched as Ethan didn't move. All Ethan did was look desperately at Cal, before closing his eyes - making another tear slip down his cheek. Cal wiped it away sadly, feeling his own eyes gather with tears. This whole experience must have been a living hell for Ethan, and all Cal wanted to do was free his little brother. He would take his place if he could.

Then Connie pulled Cal aside.

"Look, Cal. Zoe and I were unsuccessful in our search for an experimental drug -"

"- you should have searched harder then!"

"Even if we were able to find one, it's much too late. He's had all the symptoms. Weakness, rapid and slow breathing, slurring, unconsciousness, he even had a seizure! And he had to be incubated. Now he's got something that only happens when this progresses, Cal. I'm really sorry. I don't think there's... I don't think he has a lot longer left."

Then Cal finally broke.

He collapsed onto his knees - too weak to stand - and cried into his hands. Screaming to himself on the floor. He wanted to stay strong for Ethan, he wanted to keep all of his tears at bay, but Ethan looked like he was sleeping, even though he couldn't move anyway, and Cal just needed to get it out. Everything had gone horribly wrong. All Cal wanted was for everything to go right again. For him and Ethan to laugh to work and get along really well. There probably wasn't any chance of that happening ever again.

He felt arms wrap around his body, dragging him upwards. Cal allowed himself to be pulled from the floor, but he was too weak to hold himself upright. He leaned heavily on them, still crying with pain and anguish, sobbing hard. They tried to lead him out of the room, but his feet were rooted to the spot. He buried his face into the man's shoulder, sobbing loudly. He realised, through his tears, that he was being held by Iain. He would usually value his pride but there were much more important things than one man's pride. In this very Resus room, Cal's brother was dying. That was enough to forget your pride and everything else around you.

He didn't care that people were listening to him. He didn't care that they were probably watching him. All that mattered was Ethan.

A day ago, everything was alright. Ethan had left the house feeling happy as Larry, ready to go for his shift. Cal remembered they'd joked about Cal not being able to cook toast for toffee (he had - although it obviously never happened before... - burnt it. Then Cal was having a brilliant time at home, watching box sets and relaxing. Then he'd fallen asleep on the couch, only to be woken by his ringing mobile. That was when everything went wrong for him.

He wished he could go back to the day before when Ethan was at home, not when he was dying in front of his eyes. Ethan was in so much pain, he'd been through so much in such a short period of time. Not he was paralysed, when he was walking and feeling hours before. Ethan was trapped within himself, and Cal could almost feel the pain and sense of hopelessness and loneliness Ethan would have been feeling.

He continued crying into Iain's shoulder, feeling his heart practically crumble within him. Every piece fading away until there was nothing left. His gut was twisting uncomfortably and his lungs felt constricted. He made a few strangled screams, before crying even harder.

But there was something that made him stop crying. There was something that made everything go silent.

The long and drawn out beep of a hospital monitor.