Chapter X
23 June 2015
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP! Dave slammed his hand down on the alarm clock by his bed and groaned. He really shouldn't have gone out the night before but it after the day that he had had it had been worth it. That and the conversation between him and Aidan had turned out well. Although he was a little taken back by the teddy bear comments, it had been nice to feel…well…wanted. Ryan did always seem to be on his case about him whining about no one taking an interest in him. Getting back to the task of getting himself out his bed he rubbed his eyes and looked at the alarm clock.
"5:30 in the fucking morning," he mumbled groggily. To make up for taking off yesterday afternoon and leaving Aidan to deal with his work load, they had agreed to meet early in the morning to start the day an hour early. A quick text to Santana the night before also made sure that she would be there to let them into the office. Normally she would show for quarter to eight but to get her their for seven had seemed like a trial in of itself. She didn't want to leave Brittany's side but between Arty and the hospital staff she finally got out of Toronto General around eleven that night. Staggering naked towards the bathroom, Dave grabbled with his slowly awakening mind to get the shower up and running but he had forgot to turn the hot water down, so that when he stepped into the shower he screamed, his mind was now fully awake, as he scrambled to turn the hot down and cold up. When he had finished scalding himself and changing he glanced at the clock and groaned to himself. Fuck he was running late to get down to the Streetcar. Grabbing his pack he slung it over his shoulders and raced down the stairs two at a time and managed to race towards the block and get on without much difficulty. Finding a seat he sat down, sighed and pulled out his phone. Two text messages had come in, one from Santana and the other from Aidan that stated pretty much the same thing: rushing out the door should see you in the lobby.
The trip had remained uneventful and Dave looked out the windows to see that finally it was going to be a nice sunny day. After the deluge that had struck the city yesterday it was amazing that anything had survived, but those were the perils of living off of Lake Ontario. Getting off the Streetcar at Carleton and Younge, he moved with purpose towards the stairs that would take him to the subway station that existed underneath the street intersection above him. The ride along with subway still remained uneventful as Dave read the advertisements that hugged the walls of the subway car.
When he arrived at King Station he disembarked and glanced at his watch. Quarter to seven it told him and he continued to bound up the stairs two at a time to make sure that he wasn't late for the other two. Moving through the doors of the building he ran not just into the two of them but also Greg Marsh waiting by the elevator banks.
"Ah good morning Dave," Greg called out as Dave joined them, "Aidan was telling me all about the gong show that both you and Santana had yesterday. Glad to hear that your friend is doing alright. Scary thing to loose a child before it comes to term."
Glancing at Dave when they entered into the elevator car, he winked at Dave, which caused Dave to blush again. Santana's eye caught the wink and blush and brought her eyebrows together in annoyance. Great, she told herself, another queer in the office and this one is connected to the boss. Tapping her foot, she glanced at the floor indicator and almost cried from joy when the car came to the tenth floor. She reached for her keys in her purse making sure to unlock the doors first before swiping the key lock at the front door. Dave turned on the lights by the door and Greg waved goodbye to them when he came to his office.
Sitting behind her desk Santana typed in her password to her terminal but looked at Dave and Aidan move away towards their cubicles. She noticed them quietly talking to each other and Aidan laugh at something Dave had said. Shaking her head she opened up the email account and began to flip through the emails that she had missed the day before.
While Santana sat quietly perusing her emails, Dave and Aidan walked into his cubicle. Dave stated that Aidan should grab a chair while he began to go through the files that they would have to deal with for the day. Thankfully there were not many due to Aidan's diligence the day before, so the morning passed by quickly as they made calls and checked the TSX and other stock markets to insure their clients were continuing to make money.
-x-x-x-x-
Kurt sat in the hotel restaurant and absent mindfully played with the pieces of fruit that still managed to exist on his brunch plate. He really did not have much of an appetite since the events of the day before and sighed into his coffee mug when he sipped the hot brown liquid. He had wasted the night before flipping through the variety of channels on the television in his room while he sipped chilled white wine. The old adage of their is nothing to watch on a Monday night continued to hold true even north of the border, he had told himself. When he had finished the bottle he had gathered the courage to see if Blaine wasted to talk to him but when he got to the singer's room all he could hear was raucous laughter of two male voices and a laugh track. Realizing that he couldn't bring himself to knock on the door, he walked away telling himself that if Blaine wanted to spend the night alone with his television, then their was nothing that Kurt could do at all.
He was in the process of moving the pieces of fruit into something that resembled a rainbow when he was interrupted by a incoming text message. Reaching for his phone, he opened up the text and noticed that Arty was telling everyone that Brittany was going to be okay, she should be released from the hospital sometime soon and that filming would happen at one of the Pride party's happening on the Thursday of the week. The news really didn't help his attitude cheer up anymore and in his mind he could see the articles being written up about the problems that plagued the filming of Blaine's breakout video. He was about to put his phone away when he reached for the text app and quickly typed out a message back to Arty requesting to see Brittany to see if she was alright.
He motioned over for a waiter to bring him the bill and got a message back saying that it would be great for him to come over and what room she was in at the Toronto General. Throwing a twenty down on the bill he grabbed his satchel and moved towards the exit.
When he arrived at Brittany's room, he threw his hands up and Brittany clapped to see her friend again. Arty waved from his chair beside her bed and motioned for him to come over. Hugging her, Kurt found a chair and quickly sat down opening up his satchel he pulled out a small stuff teddy bear for the patient and listened to her coo over the soft plush toy.
"So why the change in the venue?" Kurt asked to Arty once Brittany had finished with assuring Kurt that she was okay and ready to leave the hospital.
"I know that is sounds kind of a cliche but with the way the shot was going their was no way that everyone was going to be happy with it," Arty responded back running his hand over Brittany's, "The biggest issue was that Blaine needs an audience to really bring out the best in him."
Kurt could hear the soft sound of sarcasm come from Arty's mouth. Kurt still remembered the fighting that had gone on between Blaine and Arty. It was funny he had told himself that only Dave had managed to get the two of them to stop yelling at each other.
"Well I cannot wait to hear about what you have in mind for the new shoot now," Kurt responded trying not to sound somewhat disappointed. To him their was no real way for him to get Blaine alone.
Uncomfortable silence fell upon the scene until Brittany gripped Arty's hand and looked right at Kurt.
"Kurtsy," she started, "did you know that Dave was here in Toronto?"
Her question took Kurt back. He really had not really thought about their confrontation that had happened within the rain.
"No I didn't, I never really thought about him since prom," Kurt heard himself say. It wasn't the full truth but it worked for the situation. True he had thought about Dave every now and then, but that had been in conjunction with seeing a big jock looking guy at the bars or when he was strolling around Chelsea. He had never really thought about him at all.
"Well it was nice to see him again, I am glad that he looks okay," Brittany continued to prattle on, "although he still seems heartbroken and sad."
Arty's eyes opened wide and he seemed to stammer something that Kurt did not hear but his wife still continued on. In her mind she had been quiet way to long and now was the time to finally say something.
"I think I know why," she continued on, "ever since Quinn got the jocks and some of glee to go after Dave and Santana for winning prom king and queen because she didn't. Dave looked really sad that day because it was like that someone that he really wanted to care for him just didn't care enough."
Arty tried desperately to make something coherent but his words still could not form in his mouth. Kurt narrowed his eyes and looked intently at Brittany. He was about to say something but the three of them were interrupted by a nurse and doctor coming into the room. The medical pair stated that Brittany was ready to leave and asked if she needed any help on the way out of the hospital. Arty jumped to the reply and stated that she didn't glad that Brittany was finally not bringing up the past. Kurt moved aside as Brittany was helped out of the bed and he removed himself with the doctor from the room while his friend got changed. While he waited and saw the doctor continue to walk down the hall, he flipped open his cell phone and sent a text to Blaine.
Hey, when you get a chance I need to talk to you about a couple of things - K
Kurt hit send and placed the phone back into his front pocket. He leaned up against the corridor wall placing one foot also on the wall while he crossed his arms. What was Brittany talking about, Dave being heart broken and being gang beaten. Prom to him still was a total blur mostly thanks to the wonderful hand of Puck. It had been Puck who had managed to spike all of their drinks while the parents had been looking elsewhere. He remembered the first couple of drinks but then nothing really much afterwards. He could through the fuzz make out saying something to Quinn about Dave and Santana, but nothing seemed to stick together. He remembers hearing yelling from people when he had Blaine help him stagger out of the school towards the parking lot filled with limousines. That was basically were he stopped remembering things.
But still what was Brittany going on about, he asked himself. His thought was interrupted when the door to the room opened and Brittany walked out with the help of the nurse. Arty wheeled himself right behind the two of them. She smiled again when she saw Kurt and asked if he was coming with them to Santana's workplace?
"Um…I hadn't really thought about that," Kurt said perplexed at where Brit's thought process was going.
"Santi asked me to come and visit her at her work if I could, I can right?" she replied and asked in her quiet voice towards Kurt and the nurse.
"I can see no major issue with it and all, just don't overly strain yourself young lady," came the nurse's response. Brit smiled and after allowing her husband to move himself in front of her, she held onto the handles of the chair for stability and pushed him towards the elevators and freedom from the hospital.
She stopped when they got to the elevators and looked at Kurt; smiling she looked at him and asked again if he was going to be coming with them.
Trying to negotiate out of it was not likely since really where did Kurt have to go and all. Blaine wasn't answering him and the prospect of wandering around Toronto all by himself didn't even register. Finally agreeing to go with them he added that maybe they should all go back to the hotel and get freshened up.
"Kurt, that is best thing I have heard all day," Arty smiled as the doors to the elevator opened up.
-x-x-x-x-
Dave's stomach growled loudly, taking him by surprise as he was bent over his desk looking at figures. He glanced up at the clock and was surprised to see that it saying twelve-thirty. Jeez, he told himself, better get lunch. Standing up he leaned over the cubicle wall and asked Aidan if he wanted to catch something to eat from the food court on the second floor.
"Sure, let me just finish up with this file," Aidan replied, winking and smiling at Dave. Really, he has to stop doing that to me, Dave told himself, but still it was nice to see that someone liked him.
Closing the file up and handing it to Dave for his inspection, Aidan stood up and pushed his chair back under the desk. Waiting for Dave to walk around the partition they walked towards Santana's desk to see if she wanted to join them. While not a long walk for them, Aidan did take the time to get a better look at the backside of his boss.
Damn, he thought, he really looks good in everything he wears. Leaning against Santana's desk, much to the chagrin of the desk owner, Aidan overheard that Santana would not be joining them as she had made plans. It sounded cold to his ears, but m'eh she was under a lot of stress with nearly loosing her friend just the day before. He noticed Dave smile and wave good-bye. Catching up to him they came to the elevators and wanted for a car to come up.
"Looks like both cars are coming up to this floor," Dave remarked. God this was getting somewhat awkward for him. It was day two with his assistant and he had been doing all he could not to look at the guy like he was a piece of meat.
"Uh yah," came the measured reply from Aidan. Seriously its going to take everything for me not to try to touch him in the elevator, he told himself. His thought was interrupted by the sound of the elevator bell going off and the first of the two car doors opened. They walked into the car and as the doors were closing the audible chime of the second car doors opening could be heard as Dave and Aidan's elevator doors closed.
Emerging from the second car came the trio from the hospital. Kurt's idea to freshen up had been a wonderful thing and they all felt a lot better when they walked through the office doors. Scanning the name plates of the two offices that they passed by, Brit let out a squeal of joy when they walked under the archway to see Santana sitting at her desk.
Santana looked up and smiled flashing her perfect teeth, not noticing Kurt standing right behind Brit and Arty. Pushing her chair out from under her, she raced around the desk and bear hugged her friend. It was then that her smile and eyes dimmed when she saw Kurt standing there looking around cubicle farm.
Fucking perfect, just mother fucking perfect, she told herself as she could feel tears from Brit fall onto her neck. It was all she needed now was a showdown between Dave and Kurt in the office.