Hi, everyone! OMG! I AM SO SORRY IT'S TAKEN SO LONG TO UPDATE THIS! It seems like whenever I write a multi-chapter fic, I get so caught up in my one-shots that I forget to update. . But anyhoo, I really hope you like this new chappy! It's taken me over a month to complete! PLEASE R&R! :D
Chapter 10: Stay with Me
It was late in the evening at the Knight home, and the boys were getting ready for a boys-night-in. An all-night monster movie marathon was starting soon, and they were really excited. Most of the movies were probably going to be corny and fake, but they were going to watch them anyway for lack of anything else to do. Carlos popped the popcorn, James fluffed the cushions on the couch, Logan fixed the few bowls of chips, and Kendall put the TV on the right channel.
As the four of them settled in to watch the first movie of the night, which was called Grizzly Park, Mrs. Knight and Katie walked into the room. Mrs. Knight had her purse hanging from her shoulder, and her car keys in her hand.
"Boys, Katie and me are heading to the grocery store to pick up a few things. We'll be gone for about an hour, so be good and don't make a mess with the popcorn." she said.
"Okay. Bye, mom." Kendall said, giving a small wave as his mom and little sister walked out of the room.
The four boys continued enjoying the corny horror movie playing on the TV as they heard the minivan outside crank up and drive away. They never could have anticipated the terror awaiting them…and that terror started about half-an-hour later with the sound of glass breaking.
The guys were startled when they heard the sound of glass breaking. All four of them were there in the living room, so what had made that sound? After they exchanged a puzzled look, Kendall got up off the couch and walked out of the room, heading for the kitchen where the sound seemed to have came from. The blonde boy got the shock of his life when he was met by the sight of a man dressed all in black with a ski mask covering his face (your typical burglar outfit), and he had a gun in his hand.
Kendall didn't have time to have much of a reaction before the man raised his gun and fired. Kendall instinctively ducked as the bullet hit the wall just inches away from him. His feet almost slid out from under him as he turned to run back down the hallway to the living room. Before he got back to the living room, his three friends were already up and coming to see what was going on.
"Kendall, what-" Logan asked, but was cut off by the frantic blonde boy.
"Run! Everybody run!" he yelled as he ushered (or more like shoved) his friends down the hall.
Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the man starting after them, gun in hand. The first thing on Kendall's mind was getting his friends and himself to safety. The second thing on his mind was 'What the hell is this guy doing here?'. Kendall herded his friends down the hallway to his bedroom where he then shoved them all into his small closet, and slammed and locked the door.
"Kendall, what the hell is going on?" James asked harshly.
"I don't know! This guy just broke in and he's got a gun!" the blonde boy answered.
Suddenly, there was a loud banging at the door as the man outside tried to break it down. Kendall and James both pulled their precious boyfriends close in an attempt to keep them safe. All four of them were now scared and confused. Without warning, another gunshot echoed through the house, and the bullet ripped through the door, leaving a small hole in the wood. Luckily, the boys were sitting so two of them were on each side of the closet, and the bullet missed all of them. As the noise died down, they heard a set of footsteps walking away from the closet.
"I think…..I think he's gone." Carlos whispered in a small, scared voice.
James scooted over to the door and peeped through the hole made by the bullet.
"I don't see him." he said.
The four of them sat there for several more minutes in fearful silence, listening closely for any sounds from outside. When they heard none, James disentangled himself from his boyfriend's grasp and scooted over to the door again.
"What are you doing?" Carlos asked as James reached for the doorknob.
"I'm gonna go see if the guy's still here." James answered.
"Are you crazy? What if he's still out there?" Carlos gasped.
"Don't worry; I'll be fine." James said.
Even though he couldn't see two inches in front of his face, James could tell that his boyfriend was scared.
"Please be careful." the smaller boy said.
James nodded and gave his boyfriend a kiss before carefully opening the closet door and poking his head out first to look around. When he saw nothing, he crept out and quietly closed the door behind him. The three other boys waited in tense silence for a few minutes, not daring to breathe while their best friend was out there possibly with the seemingly crazed man somewhere in the house. They were all expecting to hear another gunshot, and the tension was killing them. After about five minutes, Logan could stand it no longer. The brunette boy let out a sigh of frustration and crawled forward to the door.
"Logie, what are you doing?" Kendall asked as Logan twisted the doorknob open.
"I'm gonna go check on him." Logan answered, "I can't just sit here anymore."
He quickly opened the door and crawled out before Kendall could protest, which he knew he would. He closed the closet door behind him and walked across the bedroom, carefully peeping around the door before proceeding cautiously down the hallway. With every step he took, his heart started pounding harder. He clenched and unclenched his fists, trying to ready himself for whatever might happen. The thought crossed his mind to call out for James, but when he tried, his voice died in his throat.
He proceeded down the hall and into the living room. Nothing. He then walked across in front of the front door and into the dining room. Still nothing. That is, until he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He whipped his head around and his heart froze. There was the man dressed in black. Logan could see him through the doorway, creeping around the corner. Praying that the man hadn't seen him, Logan hurried over and pressed his back against the wall next to the door so he was out of sight, at least for a few seconds. His mind started racing for something to do. He could try to take the man, but the man was noticeably larger than himself and he had a gun. Not a good idea.
Logan was broken out of his thoughts when he caught another movement, but this was that of James, who was in the kitchen, heading towards the door…..and into the same hallway as the armed man. Just as James stepped into the hallway, Logan heard the distinct sound of a gun cocking. He just knew the man had his gun pointed at his best friend. His body reacted before his mind caught up, and he just jumped out into the hallway so he was between the two of them.
In the closet, the tense silence was suddenly interrupted by a loud gunshot that made the two remaining boys almost jump out of their skin. They both reached for the doorknob at the same time, and they stumbled out of the closet, running down the hall to see what was going on. The first thing they saw was the man in black with his back facing them. The man whipped around, and quickly realized that he was outnumbered. He sprinted into the dining room and used the handle of his gun to break through the window before climbing through and running off into the night.
After the man fled, Kendall and Carlos looked back to their boyfriends standing a few feet in front of them. As soon as Kendall saw Logan, he knew something wasn't right. There was a look of shock on the brunette boy's face, and he had a hand pressed against his stomach. He slowly removed his hand, and Kendall's heart froze when he saw a crimson stain marking the once perfect white t-shirt Logan was wearing. The brunette boy glanced down at the stain, and he instantly started swaying on his feet. Kendall rushed forward and caught him just as he started to fall forward. Worry coursing through him, Kendall gently lowered Logan to the floor. He couldn't believe what was happening; Logan had just been shot for no apparent reason!
"James, go get some towels or something to stop the bleeding! Hurry!" Kendall ordered as the crimson stain on the front of Logan's t-shirt started growing larger.
The pretty boy just stood there in shock for a few seconds. He couldn't believe what was happening, either. One second, he was just walking out of the kitchen, and the next, one of his best friends was getting shot right in front of him. Shaking these thoughts from his head, James rushed down the hall to the bathroom to get some towels.
Kendall turned his head back to Logan, and his worry increased. The brunette boy was coughing and struggling to breathe, and his eyes were flooded with pain.
"K-Kendall…..it h-hurts." he whimpered.
Trying to keep his own fear at bay, Kendall nodded and held Logan's bloody hand comfortingly.
"It's gonna be okay, baby. It's gonna be okay. Just breathe." he whispered, then looked up to Carlos, who was standing in same spot he'd been in when all this started, a look of confusion and fear on his face, "Carlos, go call 911! Now!"
The smaller boy nodded quickly and ran into the kitchen where the phone was. Just as he disappeared into the other room, James returned with a couple towels in his hands. He quickly knelt down at Logan's head, and handed the towels to Kendall, who took them and wasted no time in pressing one of them firmly against the bullet wound in Logan's stomach. The brunette boy whimpered in pain when the towel was pressed against the wound. Fear and pain flooded his senses. He felt like crying, but the pain was so intense that he couldn't, if that was possible.
"The ambulance is on the way. They said they would be here in about ten minutes." Carlos said as he re-entered the hallway.
"Ten minutes! Why so long?" Kendall asked, obviously getting more frantic and concerned.
"I don't know; that's just what they told me." Carlos answered.
"M-maybe we should move him to the couch so he'll be more comfortable until the ambulance gets here?" James suggested.
"Would that be okay, Logie? You wanna move to the couch?" Kendall asked softly to the bleeding boy on the floor.
Choking on his breath, Logan nodded. With that, Kendall eased one arm under Logan's shoulders and another under his knees, then he carefully lifted him off the floor. Logan whimpered softly in pain, and rested his head against his boyfriend's shoulder. In all this confusion and pain, he felt safe in Kendall's arms. The blonde boy carried Logan the short distance down the hall to the living room where he gently lay him down on the couch. Almost as soon as he was laid down, a huge clap of thunder startled them all. Rain instantly started to downpour outside, pounding heavily on the roof.
"Shit!" Kendall cursed under his breath; the rain would surely slow the ambulance.
"Don't worry, Kendall; they'll get here." James said, placing a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder.
"I have a right to worry, James! When it's your boyfriend laying bleeding on the couch, maybe then you'll understand!" the blonde boy snapped.
He instantly regretted it, sighing heavily in frustration as he dragged his hand across his face.
"I'm sorry. I just…." he sighed.
"It's okay. I know how you feel." James comforted, remembering how scared and worried he was when Carlos had been hurt months earlier.
"K-Kendall." a small voice interrupted them.
Their eyes dropped to the small form on the couch, and Kendall instantly dropped to his knees at his boyfriend's side.
"Yeah, baby?" he asked in a soft voice.
"I'm s-scared." Logan said, his voice barely a whisper.
Kendall bit his lip as tears prickled at his eyes.
"I know. I am, too. You just stay strong, okay? Everything' gonna be okay." he comforted as he gently stroked his boyfriend's hair.
He leaned over and placed a brief but loving kiss to Logan's lips.
"I love you." Logan whispered.
"I love you, too." Kendall answered with a small smile.
He smiled, but in the back of his mind, he was more worried than he had ever been before in his life. He knew that if the storm got much worse, it would slow the ambulance, which could spell death for Logan, and that was something Kendall just wouldn't be able to stand. If he lost Logan, he wouldn't be able to go on. The brunette boy meant everything to him. He was the love of his life. He was his life. He couldn't loose him. He just couldn't.
The four of them sat there in the living room, not saying a word as each minute stretched by agonizingly slowly. Kendall kept glancing up at the clock on the wall nervously, as if trying to will the minute hand to move faster. Five minutes turned into ten, which then turned into fifteen, then twenty. By the time thirty minutes had gone by, Kendall felt like jumping out of his skin with worry. Where the hell was the ambulance?
The blonde boy sat on the edge of the coffee table right by Logan's side, holding the brunette boy's hand securely but gently in his own. His knee bounced nervously up and down as he tried to keep his anxiety from boiling over. He felt like crying every time he looked at Logan's face. The smaller boy's skin was pallid, and his brow was almost constantly furrowed in pain. At one point, Kendall gently lifted the towel from Logan's abdomen to check on his wound, and his stomach wretched at what he saw. Almost the entire front of Logan's white t-shirt was stained with blood, which soaked through significantly into the towel. As he gently replaced the towel, Kendall felt a small squeeze to his hand. His eyes instantly darted to Logan's face.
"Yeah, sweetie?" he asked softly.
"I'm th-thirsty." Logan stammered.
Kendall nodded and got up from his seat on the coffee table, making his way to the kitchen. He returned a minute later with a bottle of water in his hand. Almost the second he set foot back in the room, all of them were surprised when they suddenly found themselves in darkness. The storm had knocked the lights out.
"Just great." James groaned in the darkness.
"Instead of whining, why don't you go get a flashlight?" Kendall said, "I think there's one under the sink in the kitchen."
Sighing heavily, James got up out of his seat, accidentally bumping shoulders with Kendall as he walked out of the room. A few seconds later, they heard a dull thud and James whispering 'Ow! Shit!'.
"What happened?" Carlos called through the darkness.
"I ran into the door-facing!" James called back.
The three other boys couldn't help but giggle at this, even Logan. A couple minutes later, James returned, shining a flashlight in front of him. He set the flashlight down on the coffee table, pointing it straight up. The flashlight was large, and it illuminated the whole room dimly but nicely so they could see. Now that Kendall could see, he scurried over and knelt on the floor next to the couch, and unscrewed the cap from his water bottle.
"Here." he whispered as he carefully lifted Logan's head with his hand.
He placed the rim of the bottle at Logan's lips, and tilted the bottle up slowly so a small amount of water trickled into his mouth. The cool liquid went down smoothly and it soothed Logan's parched throat. He drank the water until he felt his stomach start to rebel, then he turned his face away to signal that he was done. A small amount of water spilled and ran down his pale cheek, but Kendall quickly wiped it away with the clean corner of the towel.
"Thanks." Logan whispered, giving Kendall a weak smile.
"You're welcome." Kendall smiled back, placing a light kiss to his boyfriend's forehead.
Across the room, Carlos smiled as he watched his two friends being so loving and tender with each other. But his smile vanished when he shifted his gaze over to his boyfriend sitting in the chair in the corner. His eyes had adjusted well to the darkness, and Carlos could clearly see that James looked to be on the verge of tears. Almost on instinct, Carlos got up and walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. James looked up as soon as he felt the contact. Carlos motioned with his head toward the door way, and James followed him as he stepped out of the room. The two of them made their way down the dark hallway to the kitchen.
"What's wrong?" Carlos asked as soon as they were out of earshot of their two friends.
"Who says anything's wrong?" James asked defensively.
"James, I saw your face in the living room. You looked like you were about to cry. What's wrong?" Carlos explained, placing a comforting hand to the taller boy's arm.
James sighed and stared at the floor for a few seconds.
"This whole thing is my fault." he finally said.
"What are you talking about?" Carlos asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.
"Right before Logan got shot, the guy was pointing the gun at me. Logan jumped between us. He saved me, and now he's laying on the couch bleeding. This is all my fault." James explained, fighting back tears.
Carlos' heart went out to the distressed boy in front of him.
"James, this wasn't your fault. You didn't make this happen. And I know Logan doesn't blame you." he comforted.
When James continued to stare at the floor, Carlos pulled him into a loving hug, gently running his hands along his back. Usually, James was the one to do the comforting. He was the tough pretty boy who never got emotional. It felt different for Carlos to be the one doing the comforting, but it certainly wasn't unwanted. James lay his head on the smaller boy's shoulder, and just let him hold him.
"Why don't we go back in the living room; I think I've got an idea that'll help cheer everyone up and pass the time." Carlos suggested after a couple minutes.
James nodded and pulled back, wiping at the few tears that stained his cheeks. He and Carlos exchanged a brief kiss before heading back down the hall to the living room. When they re-entered the room, they saw Kendall sitting on the edge of the coffee table, Logan's hand clasped in his own.
"I've got an idea to help pass the time." Carlos announced as they entered the room, "Why don't we watch a movie?"
"Carlos, this is no time to watch a movie." Kendall snapped.
"Actually…." Logan piped in weakly, "….a movie sounds really nice."
"Oh. Well, what do you wanna watch?" Kendall asked, changing his mind.
"How about…..I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry?" Logan suggested.
"That sounds great, but how are we supposed to watch a movie when the lights are out?" James said from his seat in the corner.
"We can watch it on my laptop. It's got a three-hour battery." Logan answered, his two sentences interrupted briefly by a cough.
"I'll go get it." Carlos said as he walked out of the room.
He returned a couple minutes later with Logan's laptop in his arms. Kendall scooted off the coffee table to sit in the floor, and Carlos set the laptop down where he had been sitting. He then picked out the movie that Logan had suggested from the shelf next to the TV, and placed it in the laptop's CD drive. A couple of clicks later, the movie started to play across the small screen.
The movie really helped to lighten the mood, and even Logan giggled a little at the funny parts. He couldn't laugh too hard, though, because if he did, an excruciating pain would shoot through his abdomen. The four of them remained gathered there in the living room, enjoying the movie for over an hour before they all began to feel sleepy. They had all been through a traumatic evening, and the dwindling adrenalin was leaving them tired. Less than fifteen minutes later, all four of them were fast asleep. Even in sleep, Kendall and Logan's fingers remained intertwined.
None of them knew how long they had been asleep, but sometime later, Kendall was awakened by flashing lights. At first, he had no idea what was going on, but things instantly clicked when he peeped his eyes open and saw the distinct red-and-blue lights flashing through the window and off the walls. The ambulance! Kendall was awake and alert in a second upon realizing this.
"Logie? Baby, wake up. The ambulance is here! You're gonna be okay now." he said in a hushed but excited voice as he gently shook the boy's shoulder.
He received only a weak moan from Logan, which worried him. He didn't have time to shake Logan again before he heard a loud, persistent knock at the front door. The loudness of the knock roused James and Carlos as well, and the two boys caught a glimpse of Kendall as he raced out of the room to the front door.
Relief flooded through Kendall when he opened the door and saw three paramedics standing there, ready to tend to the task at hand.
"Please, come in. He's right in here." Kendall said urgently, not bothering with any formalities.
He led the paramedics to the living room where they immediately set to work. Kendall stood back so they had room, as did James and Carlos.
"It's about time they got here. It's been hours since I called 911." Carlos whispered.
"We are so sorry about that. The storm is really bad out there and several trees are down, and we had to keep taking different routs to get here." one of the paramedics said, not taking his eyes off his work.
Through the hecticness of the situation, Kendall kept his eyes glued to his boyfriend's face, and raised an eyebrow when the boy began to stir.
"Kendall? What's going on?" Logan moaned weakly in a scared, confused voice.
"It's okay, baby, the paramedics are here and they're gonna take you to the hospital." Kendall explained.
The blonde boy wanted nothing more than to just reach out and take Logan into his arms, but he resisted the urge so the paramedics could finish prepping him for the trip to the hospital. They worked quickly, and Logan was ready in just a minute or two. They had him strapped to one of those yellow backboards, and had an IV in his arm.
"Can we go with him, please?" Kendall asked as the paramedics carefully lifted Logan up between them.
"There's only room for one more person in the back of the ambulance, but two of you can ride up front." one of the paramedics answered.
Kendall, James, and Carlos followed them out the door and out to the waiting ambulance. Logan was quickly but carefully placed in the back, and Kendall got in with them. James and Carlos got in the front. It was a tight squeeze for them and the paramedic that was driving, but they managed.
The entire ride to the hospital was tense and somewhat scary. Rain was still pouring outside, and it just pounded the roof of the ambulance. The two paramedics in the back were constantly working on Logan, holding pressure on his wound, checking his pulse and blood pressure, and several other things that Kendall had no idea what they were. While the blonde boy sitting in the corner of the ambulance was relieved that they were finally on the way to the hospital, he was still so scared on the inside. Was his beloved Logan going to make it?
A/N: Well, there it is! I really hope you liked it! *super snuggly panda huggles to all who did* PLEASE REVIEW! :D