AN: Hey everybody ! I just wanted to say that I thank you for all the traffic on my story, it's been really crazy lately and it means so much to me that you read the story! I know this chapter is so late and I am kicking myself. School recently started back up and it's been hectic for me. Also, this chapter isn't short ! So it took me longer to write. As I enter double digits with the chapters expect the clouds of connections become clearer.
IN OTHER NEWS! If you read the entire story, at the bottom you will get a surprise. See you at the bottom!
Disclaimer:I don't own Big Time Rush. I only own the writing and the ideas from my head.
Chapter Ten: Severed Ties and Shady Lives.
My eyes slowly adjusted to the familiar bright white walls that peered over me. I knew where I was, I was here every other day.
At this point I'm surprised that my mail isn't sent here, I'm in the hospital more then I'm at home or on the bus.
-x-x-x-x-
I used the ball of my palms to push myself to sit upright. The pain of my stitches swarmed through my body as I bravely winced at the ache. The events of the previous day played back and forth in my mind, and I pushed the thoughts out of my mind. I cracked my neck and as I did I caught a glimpse of a woman sitting next to my hospital bed flipping through an out-dated magazine. Her long red curls framed her face nicely and her blue eyes were intent on reading an article.
I didn't know how dry my lips were, until I ran my tongue over them. I opened my mouth to say something , but my throat was too parched. I outstretched my arm to reach the light pink pitcher on the night stand, but accidentally knocked it over.
Water flooded on the floor and my eyes grew wide. The woman picked up her purse and pitcher and simultaneously ran to the bathroom to get some paper towels. When she dabbed the floor I was able to croak out an apology.
"I'm sorry." I said, apply pressure to my aching throat. Her clear blue iris' quickly looked up at me.
"It's okay sweetie." She said as she pours some apple juice into a cup. "They brought this for you, while you were asleep."
My fingers wrapped around the plastic cup as I gave her a puzzled look. I pressed my lips to the jagged mouth of the cup and tilted it back into my throat. The lukewarm fruit juice tasted like heaven as it slid down my throat. I let out a slight moan and through my head back once the cup was empty. With a smile the woman took the cup out of my hand and placed it on the side table.
"Excuse me." I almost whispered. "Who are you?"
Her face lit up and cracked a sweet smile. "Oh honey, I'm Mrs. Knight. Kendall's mom."
My eyebrows furrowed together. "If your Kendall's mom..." My voice trailed. "Where is Kendall?"
Her expression instantly deflated. Her hand found a place on my leg, which was covered by the paper thin sheet of the hospital blanket. "Kate, you lost a lot of blood. You needed more blood then the hospital had, and they couldn't get more for a week because of your rare blood type."
I was following so far, but this didn't tell me where Kendall was. "O negative."
"Right." Mrs. Knight nodded. "If you didn't get your blood on time, you would've bled to death."
"But I didn't." I spoke calmly. "I mean, I'm conscious. I am conscious aren't I?"
She smiled a week smile. "Yes sweetie you are conscious. But luckily, Kendall had his dad's blood type, not mine."
"O negative?" I inquired. Her head nodded slowly.
"O negative."
"So, where is he? How much blood did he give me?" My face became heated and water began to blur my vision.
No. Kate you will not cry, especially in front of Kendall's mom.
I blinked back my tears as her hand removed itself from my leg, and the sudden warmth was replaced by cool air hitting the sheet, transferring to my skin.
"He gave you as much as you needed, Nobody else had a compatible blood type, So Kendall wasn't about to let you die. And I am proud of him for that." Her voice shook as I saw that her eyes were the ones that were welling up with tears. I wanted to lean over, and give her a hug. But with my stitches, I couldn't move far if I tried.
"How much blood did he give me?" I reiterated. Mrs. Knight used the back of her hand to wipe a tear and dabbed her face.
"Four pints." She simply stated. My jaw dropped.
"Four pints?" I shouted. The sudden gasp for breath hurt my incision, which was a nice way of putting it. Mrs. Knight's hands went up in an attempt to get me to calm down. When you donate blood, you only donate one pint. Kendall donated four times that, and it was dangerous to his health to do that.
"Kate I don't think you realize how seriously you needed blood." She mediated. My voice immediately calmed. "You needed six pints, and the hospital only had two. He did what was right. He's laying in a hospital bed and as soon as they get some more blood in, tomorrow he will get some. Kendall is a little woozy, but don't worry. He's going to be fine by tomorrow."
For the second time in five minutes I felt like I was going to cry. "Mrs. Knight I never ever would've asked that of Kendall I never would've wanted to put in him a hospital bed."
Her hand stroked the side of my face. I shut my eyes as her cool hand ran over my heated face. She had a mothers touch, which was a touch I greatly missed.
"I know, honey, trust me I know. I know you would never want to hurt Kendall or any of the boys."
My eyes quickly shot open. All this time I was pining over Kendall I didn't even notice my own boyfriend wasn't in the hospital room with me.
"Where are the boys? Carlos, James, Logan where are they?" I questioned as my breathing slowly returned to normal.
"They're with Kendall's sister, Katie. Getting her something to eat in the hospital Cafeteria."
I breathed a sigh of relief. James was here, James did care.
"Kate, honey, please take a nap. Get your energy back." She helped me slightly lean forward and fluffed my pillow for me.
So this is what family did for one another.
I gently shut my eyes as I laid back down. My dreams swept me away, and I fell asleep with a smile on my face.
-x-x-x-x-
"Stop it your going to smother her!"
My ears were awake before the rest of my body. I determined that the voice came from Mrs. Knight and the whining voice that followed to be Katie's.
"She's fine she's not even conscious" Katie replied, setting the final bear in the crevice between my side and my arm.
The muscles in my arm convulsed a twitch as I cracked my eyes open. My eyes danced from bear to bear as what seemed like thousands of get-well-soon bears were surrounding me.
"M-mama Knight?" I voiced as I tossed my body onto my back, and regretted it immediately. The pain from my stomach had dulled, but hadn't completely evaporated. I winced as I pulled my arms free of the chrysalis of blanket I was in.
A chrysalis that Kendall's mom tucked you in. One filled with love.
Never did I think I'd be thinking those words. But Kendall's mom was a god-send for me. And after every obstacle he put in my way, it's about damn time he gave me something back in return.
"I know honey, James went a little crazy with the bears." She said as she leaned over me adjusting several stuffed bears that had a variety of injuries. Scanning the crowd I saw an array of broken legs and black eyes.
"James?" I inquired. As she moved a fairly larger bear out of my way and revealed a James Diamond who glanced sheepishly towards me. "James, you know flowers would've been just fine." I mustered up a laugh, which pulled on my stomach muscles. The wince in my face returned, a friend that will be visiting a lot for the next few days.
"I know, but, I saw them and I couldn't say no." James shrugged. "All thirty seven of them."
"Thirty seven?" I mouthed, words escaping me. "How much did that cost?"
"How much did it cost? That's not important! He made me carry the darn things! They doubled my height and made me temporarily blind." Katie whined. I shot a suspicious glance towards James.
"What? I had ten of them, they deserved special care." He motioned towards the ten that nearly engulfed my head.
"Awwwww. James." I felt the blood rush to my cheeks. James rose from his seat and placed a hand on my forehead.
"You deserve it."
My arms found a place behind his neck and pulled him down to my level. Our noses pressed together as he said "You will always deserve it."
James pressed his lips against mine and my body melted into his. His hand grazed the side of my face as a shiver rolled down my spine. My fingers were soon interlaced with strands of brown hair.
"Ew, child here." Katie reminded as James pulled away from my grasp, The sudden lunge of cool air entered my mouth where his was just pressed. James' cheeks was flushed as he ran a hand through his hair. A proud smile cracked on my face.
My attention was solely on the brunette in front of me, but the inharmonious sound of a door latching pulled my focus elsewhere.
"Kendall!" Mrs Knight hollered as she ran over to help her son. Aside from looking slightly pale he looked able-bodied, and felt that way too.
"Mom, I'm fine." He insisted as his eyes met mine. My legs swung over the side of the hospital bed and fell on the ice floor. Chills ran up my legs as I proceeded to shift my weight onto the floor. When I was firmly on my feet the pain from irritating my stitches waved through my torso. I hunched my back over and continued to make my way to Kendall. I was determined to get to him.
"Kate, lay down." He insisted as his arm found it's way along my back. I shook my head.
"I'm fine, I don't need to be on bed rest." The familiar wince graced my face again as I attempted to straighten out my back. That didn't happen.
"Seriously, Kate, lay down." Kendall said as he stood over me trying to lead me to the bed, I shook myself out of his grasp.
"No Kendall we need to talk." I said in a hushed tone. Every one who wasn't in earshot looked at each other in confusion. "You didn't have to do that for me. I would've gotten blood, you could've gone into a coma or worse."
"What you mean like you were?" He responded in a similar hushed tone. My eyes trailed away from his, knowing he was right. "You needed blood Kate. You got it. End of."
He tried to turn towards his sister, but my hand grasped his wrist. His skin was cold and clammy, which through me off.
Kendall's eyes pierced through my body. I swallowed a sense of fear and retracted my hand. He leaned down and whispered into my ear, "When I told you I loved you I meant it. I will not let you die."
My breathing slowed as his face receded away from mine. His face looked as stern as it did before, but looking into his eyes I could see a softness that wasn't there before. Before he said the words "I love you" .
I turned around fought my way back onto my bed. Mrs. Knight helped move the stuffed bears so I could get into my chamber. James gave me an uneasy look to what had just happened with Kendall.
As my eyes were fixated on James again, another click of the door pulled me away from my gaze.
"Kate." Carlos huffed in an out of breath tone. He and Logan stood with their palms on their knees gasping for air.
"Are you guys okay?" I questioned raising an eyebrow.
"We...called Gustavo." Logan stated. "Told him...everything."
"About the stabbing?" James chimed. The exasperated band mates nodded.
"He got...in touch with Cleo." Carlos mused as he took a sip from one of my water bottles on the side table.
"He did what?" I shouted. I hadn't even had the balls to call Cleo on her cellphone, or text message her. The only conversation we'd had in years had been over email or video chat.
"She's...on a plane. To LAX." Logan finished. Standing perfectly erect with his hands placed on his back. "We had to run here...her flight...got in... fifteen minutes ago. He called last night... after we called him straight after Kate... got to the hospital."
My mind reeled. Cleo? Coming to the states? The farthest she'd ever been out of England was Wales, and I wasn't even sure if that was a country.
"Wait, what are you saying." I said, trying to clarify what I'd been told.
"He wanted to protect her, and you." Carlos explained, finally having caught his breath. "She's coming on tour. Your going to meet your sister."
-x-x-x-x-
I refused to see my sister.
Correction, I refused to see her while I was in the hospital. The first time I see my sister in over ten years shouldn't be in a hospital bed.
Cleo arrived yesterday and I hadn't had any visitors, much to their dismay. Kendall was released late last night after being deemed of full health. The rest of the band was seeing to Cleo, she was bound to be shaken up from being torn from the only place she'd ever known as home. And sure as hell confused why I wouldn't see her.
"Doc, when can I leave?" I whined as he poked at my stitches. His hand was covered in a latex glove which felt completely unnatural against my skin. Then again stitches didn't exactly feel natural on my skin either, so I let it go.
"You've made a miraculous recovery, Kate." He stated as he wrote some illegible words on my progression sheet.
"Your a great doctor, Oliver." I smiled. Oliver had been popping in on me every two hours since I was crowd-free as he put it. His last name was Brayseck. But like I gave a damn.
"Don't call me Oliver."
"Don't call me Kate."
Oliver sighed to himself as he continued to jot down some things on a separate piece of paper, and looking over a few more. I raised my eyebrow as he flipped from page to page.
"You've made quite a few miraculous recoveries lately. Twenty-seven hospital trips in Michigan since the age of six?" This time it was his eyebrows who were on the move. I shrugged it off like it was nothing. I just wanted to get the hell out of here.
"I bruise easily."
"Stomach pumpings, stitches, the only planned surgery on here was your tonsil removal when you were twelve." He eyed me with an intense gaze. As if there were more to me then met the eye. Everything he was reading was true, I did have my stomach pumped about five times in my life and the gagging sensation is tough to fight when your eight. Mom never forgave me for ruining her favorite shoes.
"I bruise easily and I am not a very smart girl. I jump off of things I'm not supposed to and eat things I know I shouldn't. Aren't my medical records supposed to be private?" I snapped.
"Yes but–"
"No buts! Doc I really want to get back to work. Please. I'm in here enough." Thee years of high school drama was about to pay off.
My eyes filled to the brim with tears as I put the back of my hand against my mouth. Oliver leaned forward to coddle me as I used my free hand to wave him away. "I'll be okay." I choked out. "Cleo is here, in California, and I won't have to wait another...eleven years to see her again." Fake tears streamed down my face and I took a shaky breath.
Oliver ran a hand through his balding hair. "Given, the circumstances." He started. My eyes were now puffed and I turned slightly to look at him. "Your blood levels are almost back to normal, the last pint your body can regenerate on it's own." He turned to me with a smile. "I'll release you. Your stomach is healing nicely but you must lay off of the spicy foods and chew properly."
Did this guy think I was that hungry all the time I didn't chew? Then again with all the crap food here the first burger I get my hands on will be crumbs in the matter of seconds.
I nodded. I'd agree to anything at this point. I hand bedsores rising on my lower back and thigh.
"You can't perform for the next ten days. No vocals. No anything. Being on the tour bus will be fine, as long as one of the older boys constantly checks on your stitches. Whatever town your in in ten days you go to get your stitches removed. Got it?"
I nodded eagerly. "Logan wants to be a doctor, he'll do it, and force me to go to a doctor, I promise." I assured.
Oliver nodded as he turned towards the door to get the release papers.
"Ms. Reid, Tell Cleo I say hello."
"Call me Kate."
-x-x-x-x-
Three hours later I was being helped up the steps to the tour bus to Cincinnati. Gustavo wanted the band to be on the road as soon as possible, time was money. Even though I couldn't perform, I would be able to sit on the side stage and cheer. That was an important job right?
"One more step." Logan informed as he assisted me up the steps. I had my jeans back on and a mid-drift top. The loose material didn't cling to my stomach, and well, it looked damn good.
When we reached the top of the stairs I froze, looking at the layout of the bus. Everything was exactly the same. The cereals were discombobulated on the counters, unmade bunks, and magazines varying from Rolling Stones to Guitar Edge Magazine. This moving bus was home to me, and although it smelled like corn dogs and after shave, I wouldn't want it any other way.
As I basked in the glow of the trashed bus, as magazine was lowered to reveal a young girl. A young girl I knew as Cleo Reid.
"Cleo?" I asked in an exasperated tone. She immediately put the magazine next to the others and ran up and embraced me. She smelled like apples and cinnomen, completely different from the aroma of the bus, but a nice accent to my vanilla scent. Which even after a couple days in a ratty hospital bed I managed to smell like a vanilla bean stick.
"Kate! I thought it would be bloody ages since I'd see you again!" Her English accent was as prominent as her brown curls that fell just above her breasts. Her eyes were hazel with dominant gold specks as a result for a non-dominant gene in her conception. Her skin was fairly pale from not getting much sun back in Britain, but then again so was mine. Days of sunshine was rare in Michigan aswell.
"I, I just can't believe you're here." This time my eyes began to prick with real tears. I ran palms over both sides of her face.
"Stop it you! You're going to make me a right mess you are." Cleo laughed as she whiped tears from her own mess. The boys looked at each other puzzled. Jake had a british accent, and I accidentally slipped into mine a few times. But Cleo's was dominant and used more slang words then they're used to. I had a feeling I'd be playing translator for awhile.
Aside from my pale features and her dark, we looked like we were sisters. Her facial structure was similar to mine, her cheekbones were high and her shoulders were flat. Even the way she stood was like me. Well, given when I'm not hunched over from her boyfriends psycho stabbing.
The thought of the stabbing gave me chills, and I began to sway as my knees began to give way.
"Kate!" James shouted as he caught my frail body. "Baby are you okay?"
I craned my neck to look at him behind me, I nodded in response. The simple touch of him made me feel better. It didn't matter with what part of the body it was, it was always comforting.
"Here, sit down." Cleo insisted as she pushed aside some magazines off the sofa.
My muscles relaxed as the weight of my body released under my feet. I let out a sigh of relief as the bus started to move. I pulled up my mid-drift top to expose my stitches, and to show Cleo just exactly what Jake had done to me.
"Logan can you get me a cold rag to clean it with?" I questioned politely. He nodded and insisted on doing himself. As Logan crouched infront of me I sucked air through my teeth. The rough texture of the rag didn't glide very well on my wounds.
"I'm sorry, Kate." He said as Kendall shot an uneasy glance in my direction. His face had regained most of it's color since the last time I saw him, but I didn't have time to worry about our relationship right now. I have my sister sitting next to me, who I haven't seen since I was, oh, six?
"J-Jake did that?" She stuttered as her face wore a look of horror. I followed her gaze to the wound Logan was cleaning. I nodded again, figuring it would be better then answering her verbally.
Yeah, your psycho boyfriend stabbed me like I was a beach ball.
"I, I broke up with him." Cleo announced. I my neck snapped around so fast I could've sworn I had whiplash.
"Cleo you've been dating since primary school." I reminded her. The boys exchanged a perplexed glance as I rolled my eyes. "Elementary school." I clarified.
"Ohhh." They said in unison. I shook my head as I turned to look back at Cleo.
"I know, but he tried to kill you Kate. If he loved me he wouldn't of even laid a finger on you. Eve though we were separated when we were babs I would never date anybody who would fly thousands of miles to intentionally hurt you. Stupid bloke." Cleo twisted her body to look at the guys who were looking like deer in headlights for the third time in five minutes. "Bab or baba means young child. Bloke refers to a male."
"Ohhh." They repeated. Cleo and I shook our heads at each other.
The rest of the night went smoothly. Cleo and I got to know each other and the boys a bit more as we played a get to know the people your stuck on a moving bus with game. An unofficial game, but still a game.
Towards the end of the game Cleo went to the bathroom to change into her pajamas. I slowly made my way to my bed to retrieve my sleeping clothes. By the time I walked past the bathroom door I heard Cleo's voice, talking to another voice.
"Yes, I did everything you said." Cleo said. I pressed my ear up against the door to get a better listen. "You said you wouldn't hurt her if I did what you said. You can't go back on your word!."
There was a pause.
"Yes, Jo will be at the concert in Cincinnati. But I don't see what that has to do –"
There was another pause.
"Oh, I see. Yes, I will make sure Jo gets the serum. Alright. I'll call you shortly before we arrive at the venue."
And then, I heard something I never thought I'd ever hear.
"Bye, Seth."
AN: Well, what did you think? I was considering cutting this chapter down two scenes but now I'm glad I didn't. What do you guys think Cleo's plan is? Her motive? Tell me in the reviews!
I promise you guys a surprise and here it is! I'm sure the name StainedRosePetal doesn't shock you. She's been mentioned in several of my chapters. And guess what? We're writing a story together! Yes a full-fledged story. It's on our co-authored account called StainedVanity and the story is called Behind Closed Doors. Two chapters are currently up and I would love it if you guys would give a quick read to them!
– Ketaura.