James had never before been happy to be anywhere near Raul's place nor did he think he would ever be happy to be near it again. But at the moment, it was a relief to be there. It meant he could fucking rest for a little while before dealing with whatever it was he was going to do next.
Or maybe I won't be resting, he thought to himself as he saw Connor, Cooper and Raul all rushing out to meet them. Cooper had his regular phone out and obviously had it on speaker phone because he was yelling at the person on the over line without having it up to his ear.
"That is the most insane thing I have ever heard come out of your mouth!" Cooper yelled angrily. "Why would you even think that we would let him go back there? It took everything in our power to get him to us! You son of a bitch, you're setting him up, aren't you?"
Connor ran over and gave James a hug. "Mark's on the phone," he whispered in James's ear. "He and Jeff want you to go back and help save Tom."
"What?" James said in disbelief. "Tom hasn't croaked yet?"
Raul stretched his arms. "Love's gentle wings saved him Senor Lawson. They kept him from the father above and the devil below."
James rolled his eyes. When Raul talked like that, it meant he had popped some kind of pill that made him way too loopy. "I'd stop that shit right now you fucking idiot, because if another sentence like that comes out of your mouth, it's getting written on your tombstone."
Raul sighed and shook his head. "You're so violent Senor Lawson. Have you ever considered getting into counseling?"
"Have you ever considered not sounding like Elton John trying to sound like Razor Ramon? Because I would really fucking appreciate that."
Cooper handed James his phone. "Tell that parasite that is your ex to fuck off and die, because he's not listening to me!"
"Me? I'm the fucking parasite?" Mark shouted angrily. "Boy, when I see you again, I am killing the fuck out of you!"
James smiled a little bit. There was the Mark he knew and loved. "Marky calm down. What the fuck are you calling for?"
"You need to come back here," Mark said. "Like right now. Tom needs a blood transfusion."
"Uh huh, but how does this involve me exactly?" James was completely confused by why Mark thought he cared about Tom's fate.
"Tom has AB negative blood," Mark explained. "You're the only person I know that has that blood type. The hospital doesn't have enough of it so you need to get your ass back here and donate some."
"You see? You see how fucked up this idea is?" Cooper said angrily. His trust issues with Mark were all boiling over the surface now. "There could be cops or lawyers or maybe he's just got a gun and he's going to—"
"Cooper darling, calm down!" Raul interrupted before Connor and James could silence Cooper with a smack. "Senor Callaway loves your poppa. He would never do anything like that."
"Who the fuck is that?" Mark asked.
"Nobody," James said quickly. He turned off the speaker phone so he could talk to Mark privately. He then walked away a little bit just in case Cooper decided to start yelling again. "Now seriously, what the fuck makes you think I would want to come back there to save Tom's life. I thought me trying to kill him made my feelings about him perfectly clear."
Mark sighed impatiently. "James please, do not be difficult right now. I am on my knees here, literally begging for you to come back and help."
James clenched his fists. He didn't want to fight with Mark but he felt himself quickly going down that road. He was stupid like that. "Oh so you're not dating him, but you're going to beg for me to save him? Is this how it is?"
Mark groaned. "Fine! You know what? I was dating Tom! Or maybe I still am! I don't know anymore! What I do know is that you need to come back and just give Tom some of your blood and then we'll straighten this shit out."
James started to say something in response to that when he heard sniffling from Mark's end. "James please, come back and help Tommy," Jeff begged. The twink was definitely crying. "I don't want Tommy to die! I'll go back to him and you can have Mark back. I'll do anything you want! Please please please just help Tommy!"
James kicked a random rock as hard as he could. "That is not fair Mark! That is cheating! You know he sounds like Connor when he does that!"
"It's not cheating if it works," Mark replied. He was talking very quietly now. "James, I am begging you, if you want to save our relationship at all, then come back here. I haven't even talked to any cops so that's not a concern yet. And if they show up, I'll help you, okay? I'll get you away so you don't go to jail. And I'll try to make sure Matt doesn't provoke you into attacking him, although I can't make any promises on that one."
James could feel his resolve breaking. Mark had that effect on him when he started going off like this. "Marky—"
"Please," Mark said forcefully. "I do care about Tom but I still love you. I may kick your ass still after all this, but it'll be a love filled ass kicking to get out all the frustration and shit."
"A love filled ass kicking?" James repeated.
"Yes damn it. Now please, do this for me. Come back so we can figure out where the hell to go from here."
James sighed. He knew Cooper was going to kill him for this but Mark had just thrown his dignity and pride away by begging like that. Mark didn't do that for just anybody. "How do I know you're not tricking me?" he asked, uselessly grabbing at straws to prevent himself from going back and actually saving a life.
"Come on Lawson. You know me better than anyone else. You knew I was lying about my thing with Tom and you would know if I was lying right now."
Damn it, James knew Mark was right. That was what sucked. "You're lucky I love you," he said with a sigh. "I'll see you in awhile."
"No!" Cooper said in disbelief as James hung up the phone. "Are you serious right now?"
"I'm going back," James said. "Raul, can you get us there on your jet?"
Raul nodded. "Just tell me where to go and I'll have you there faster than any commercial airline could ever dream of doing."
"Let me go get Snoopy first!" Connor exclaimed.
James frowned as Connor took off running towards the house. "Boys, you don't have to—"
"We're going with you," Cooper said reluctantly. He looked ready to smack James. "I don't trust Mark as far as Jeff could throw him."
James shook his head. "It's Matt I'm…well not worried about, but there's a good chance that there will be another Hardy I'll be attacking before the day is over."
Cooper shook his head. "Is this going to be worth it Dad?"
"For Mark, anything is worth it. Now quit being a shit head and let's roll."
….
Mark hung up the phone, a look of triumph on his face. "It worked. The son of a bitch is on his way back."
"Yay!" Jeff danced around.
"I still don't fuckin' like this... what if James is just saying this to make us think he's coming back?" Matt was pacing the floor. "There's gotta be some way to do this that doesn't involve that psycho boyfriend of yours."
Mark glared at the middle Hardy. "The only person who is allowed to call James psycho is me! You already got a receipt comin', don't make it two."
Matt swallowed nervously. "Stupid brother... why can't he have normal blood?" He grumbled, dropping into a chair in an obvious sulk.
"I assume that this means you have a viable donor?" Dr. Ross stood over the head of Tom's bed, scribbling on his chart.
"We hope so." Jeff cuddled against Mark's side and got his hair ruffled for his efforts.
"Hey! Only Tommy can do that!" Jeff pouted
Mark rolled his eyes. Why did I pick this family to get involved in? "Hopefully he'll be doing that to you very soon."
"Good. His body seems to be responding to the O-negative, but I'd like to get some of his own type in as soon as possible." Ross said.
Jeff was chewing on his lip ring, a sign that he was thinking deeply. "James' blood isn't gonna attack the other blood is it?"
"Wouldn't surprise me if it did," Matt muttered "Jackass causes shit no matter what he does!"
Mark opened his mouth to protest, but before the right insult could be formed, Tom spoke his first words since the accident.
"Matt..." He gasped
"Yeah, bro?" Matt replied.
"Shut the fuck up." Tom wheezed between each word.
"Easy, Mr. Hardy. You're still very weak," Ross cautioned.
Tom rolled his eyes back into his head. His mouth moved in a very long insult, but no words came out.
"You have nothing to worry about," Ross told Jeff. "The patient's own blood type is compatible with the donor blood and it is very rare that there is a problem."
"But it has happened, right?" It sounded like after everything Mark had done to get James to come back, Matt was trying to tear it all apart.
"Matty! Imma slap you if you don't stop!" Jeff put his hands on his hips and pouted at him.
"And I'll do a fuck sight worse myself!" Mark growled
"Gentlemen, if you're going to argue, then I'm going to ask you all to leave. I'm trying to keep my patient's blood pressure stable and this isn't helping."
The three stopped yelling at each other long enough to stare at the doctor.
"Perfect. That is the precise amount of noise I want. Anything more is unacceptable."
Matt opened his mouth to protest, but stern looks from Dr. Ross, Jeff, and Mark put a stop to that. Shaking his head in disgust, he left the room.
...
"What the hell is taking so damn long?" James shouted.
"Chill the fuck out," Cooper snapped. "We're not going to get there faster just because you're throwing a temper tantrum."
"For all his money, why the fuck couldn't Raul get a plane with some fuckin' leg room?" James kicked the back of the seat in front of him. It snapped in two and James laughed at the destruction.
"Hey!" Cooper yelled "What the fuck?"
"Oh, please. That guy shits hundred dollar bills." Now that he finally had enough room to stretch out, James was able to get into a semi-comfortable position.
"Whatever. I still can't believe you're actually agreeing to do this."
"Who said I agreed to do anything?" James smirked.
"But you said..."
"All I said was that I'll see him in a while." The knife was out and James dangled it in front of his eyes, mesmerized by the way the sunlight bounced off the blade. "I never said anything about helping."
"Then why are you going back?"
James thought about it. Why am I going back? It's not like I give a flying fuck about Tom! "If it'd make them shut up, I'da promised anything." Anything to make Mark stop begging like that. That was hard for me to listen to.
Cooper rolled his eyes. "You're full of shit Dad. You just don't like the thought of saving Tom because you don't see what's in it for you."
Well that wasn't too far from the truth. He knew Mark was dead set on having him come back, but the more he thought about it, the more he didn't see why having Tom live was going to fix a damn thing. More people in this mess equaled more problems. If a few were gotten rid of, then they would all be better off.
That was what James was now trying to tell himself anyway.
"Snoopy, Daddy just wants an excuse to kill someone," Connor explained to the puppy.
"First of all, I do not need an excuse to kill anyone," James said. "Second of all, I haven't actually decided what I'm going to do yet. I could help his life or I might not. I've officially decided to decide when I get to the hospital."
Cooper shook his head. "So you're telling me that we're flying all the way back to that hospital because you told Mark that you'd come back and he's taken that to mean you're coming to save Tom, but you might not be because you're kind of an asshole like that?"
James frowned. "Okay, now when you say it like that, you make it sound like I'm one of the bad guys here."
Cooper threw up his hands. "I'm done," he declared. "I'm officially done with this shit. I say save him because we're bothering to go back and Mark will bitch if you don't do it, but it's your decision. If you can't be the bigger man and just fucking do something for someone else that is actually considered to be a decent thing to do, then that's your issue."
James rolled his eyes. Great, now Cooper had him thinking that he should just save Tom. Fuck, what the hell was he going to do? He knew what Jeff wanted and he knew what Mark was expecting, but damn it, saving someone's life was not in his nature. His instincts were all out of whack even thinking about doing that. He shook his head and went back to staring at the knife. I'll figure out my move when I get there. Maybe I'll get lucky and Tom will either be fine enough without my blood or he'll croak before I get there. Then I won't have to make a decision.
...
Anger raged through the middle Hardy boy. Matt had not experienced feelings like this since the night he'd realized that Amy was cheating on him.
"What the hell are they thinking getting James involved again! I don't trust that son of a bitch at all!"
He sat down on a bench outside Tom's room and tried taking some deep breaths to calm down.
"Matty?"
"What?" Matt didn't want to deal with people right then.
"Are you mad at me?" Jeff asked, sitting down beside his brother and laying his head on Matt's shoulder.
"Jeffro, I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at myself."
"Why?" Jeff looked puzzled.
"I saw this coming a mile away and I didn't do a fuckin' thing to stop it." Matt groaned
"How could you know?"
"How could I know? How could I not know!!!" Matt shouted, then remembered where he was. "Jeffro, I've been cleaning up your messes since we were kids. The second you told me what had happened between you and Tom, I knew exactly where this was going to go!"
"But why are you so mad?" Jeff couldn't figure out why Matt was being such a butthead over James coming back into the picture. "Imma hurt too and if James..."
"Let me spell it out for you, little brother. I don't trust James one bit." Matt banged his head off the wall. "I never have and I never will."
"So what Imma gonna do?" Jeff sighed
"Maybe this time you can clean up your mess all by yourself." Matt answered "Whatever you decide to do, I will stand behind it, but I don't wanna take the fall again. I'm in enough shit already. I gotta feelin' that Mark thinks I am gonna go something regrettable with James."
"Well, are ya?" Jeff finally took his head from Matt's shoulder.
"What would you do?"
"Matty, let Marky handle James, please. I don't wanna see you get hurt too." Jeff replied "Please?"
"Jeffro, don't..."
"Pretty please with Skittles on top. For me?"
"I'll try, but I can't promise anything Jeffers."
"Yay! I love you Matty." Jeff kissed him on the cheek, then bounded back inside.
Matt shook his head. This was going to be a disaster. He just knew it.
…..
"Have you made up your mind yet?"
"No."
"How bout now?"
"No."
"Now?"
"No."
"Dad—"
"Cooper shut up and let Raul get us to the fucking hospital!"
Cooper sighed and leaned back in his seat. They were off the plane and almost at the hospital now. Raul was driving the rented car and Connor was blissfully playing with Snoopy, completely unaware of the argument that was taken place between Cooper and James.
"Dad come on," Cooper said impatiently. "We're almost there. Tell me what you decided to do."
"You'll know when I know kid," James replied.
Cooper groaned as Raul pulled into the hospital parking lot. This was a bad idea. If James didn't even know what he was going to do, they were all in some serious fucking trouble. Disaster here we come.