This is a one shot suggestion sent in by vanshikaethira06ve for Natasha's birthday about Kyle being sick or injured. This is about Kyle closing up Angelo's alone when an armed robber comes in wanting all the money from the tills. Kyle refuses to give him the money as he doesn't want Brax to be mad at him for giving into the robber, and ends up getting hurt when he misjudges the guys intentions.
Surf Club - Angelo's
"Why don't you shut this place up after these customers have finished? We've done pretty well today and I reckon the takings will more than make up for it. It would give you a bit of an earlier finish as I know this would be your first one for a couple weeks now." Brax says to his brother and manager of his restaurant.
"Yeah, okay. Although, I don't think it would make too much of a difference as it's starting to get quiet already." Kyle says as he glances around the room, seeing another table leaving for the night.
"Do you want me to stick around and help out with anything?" Brax asks.
"I have shut this place up by myself before you know." Kyle lightly smirks.
"I know, I was just making sure you didn't need any help before I head off." Brax says as he grabs his phone from the bar before putting it in his pocket.
"I'll be fine. I'm going to make a start on the taking while I wait for the rest of the customers to go, then I'll set up for the morning. Do you still need me to open up tomorrow?" Kyle asks.
"No, it's alright, you take the morning off. I may need you to close again tomorrow night but I'll let you know when you come in for your shift. I'll also see how you go tonight, maybe you'll prefer opening shifts to closing." Brax says.
"I'll be fine here closing tonight and tomorrow if needed. I haven't closed up for you for a couple weeks now, so I don't mind as it's also part of my job. Plus I'll still be home about midnight which isn't as bad as it could be." Kyle says, having got home a lot later than that when it's been busier.
"Alright. Just give me a call if you change your mind. I'll turn the sign around while I'm down there, so don't worry about needing to do that." Brax says before leaving for the night.
After Brax had left, Kyle made a start on the takings, finishing up just as the last of the customers left. While his staff tidied the last of the glasses up and cleaned the tables down, Kyle put the takings away before helping set up for the morning. He let the rest of the staff leave once they'd finished as all he had to do was finish a few things off before locking up and heading home.
A while after his staff went home, Kyle got a slight fright as he heard someone stomping up the stairs step by step and thought it was actually Heath coming to complain to him about something. But then he looked at the time on his phone and realised he would have gone home long ago and he would be the only one left in the Surf Club. Then a big stocky guy came into view, briefly stopping at the entrance before walking further into the restaurant.
"You shouldn't be up here, we're closed." Kyle says, a bad feeling suddenly washing through him.
"Yeah, I saw the sign." The guy grins, a pretty toothless grin at that.
"Then get out." Kyle says, not sure what to make of the guy.
"I don't think you should be the one giving me orders." The guy snarls, pulling a gun from the back of his waistband. "Empty your cash into this bag, and I want all of it." He orders, chucking quite a large duffel bag over to the bar.
"Nah, I'm not doing that." Kyle scoffs, slyly glancing at his phone, which was just out of reach on the bar.
"I said empty your cash into this bag!" The guy shouts, causing Kyle to startle, even more so when the guy points his gun to Kyle's head. "Put the money in that bag or I'll shoot you. Either way I'll be walking out of here with the money."
Kyle thought about giving the guy the money instead of causing a fuss, but then he thought about how angry Brax would be with him for giving in so easily. His brother had put a lot of effort into making Angelo's a reputable business, and he would be so mad if all of that was to go down the drain from one robber.
"The money isn't kept here overnight. The owner takes it with him when he leaves to deposit it first thing in the morning. Looks like you're out of luck here." Kyle shrugs.
He didn't know what else to do. Even though it was just one guy by himself, he was a lot bigger built than Kyle was, and he was also armed. Kyle had thought about trying to get closer to his phone without being suspicious, so he could call for help, but he knew that would never work as he'd have to reach up to grab his phone. He couldn't even make a run for it with the guy standing close to the door.
"You really think you're a smart guy, don't you." The guy hisses, taking large steps towards Kyle before stopping again.
"You don't threaten me. Guys like you are all talk. I bet you've tried other bars and restaurants in the area, and all of them turned you away as well. I can't see any other reason for you trying a smaller restaurant like this when there's others that bring in more profit." Kyle taunts.
He couldn't stall the guy any longer. He knew he was making him angry and that wouldn't get either of them anywhere. Then he decided to make a grab for his phone, managing to get a grip on it before a loud gunshot ran through the air, an eerie silence following. Kyle wasn't expecting the guy to run out of the restaurant after that, not after making it clear he was leaving with the money.
"Ah." Kyle grimaces as he clutches his stomach.
Glancing down at his hand, he saw it was covered in blood. He collapsed to the ground in pain and weakness, unable to get his head around what actually happened. His phone had fallen to the ground near him, reaching out to grab it, he grimaced in pain again, finding it too much. His fingertips could just about touch the edge of his phone, but he knew it wouldn't be enough to pull it closer to him.
"Kyle!"
"Casey?" Kyle frowns, glancing over to the doorway where his brother was standing before walking over to him.
"I was down in the gym and heard a gunshot up here then some guy ran past the gym. I thought Brax might have been shot, I didn't know you were here." Casey says.
"Yeah, I gathered that as you're just standing there." Kyle scoffs, hissing from the pain.
"Right, yeah." Casey says, kneeling down next to him to help put pressure on the wound before pulling his phone out. "Just hang in there, yeah?"
"Yeah." Kyle mutters, already feeling a lot weaker.
"Ambulance." Casey says down the phone as soon as someone answered. "Angelo's restaurant in Summer Bay. You need to come quick, my brothers been shot and is bleeding pretty heavily. Okay, just hurry." He says before hanging up.
"Watch it Case, you sounded concerned then." Kyle smirks.
"How about you focus on not bleeding to death rather than making jokes." Casey says, although he couldn't help but smile. "I guess we haven't really spoken since you broke up with Tamara. I never got to tell you that I was okay with you two being together, and you didn't have to break up because of me. I was just jealous that she loved you." He says, knowing he had to keep Kyle awake and talking.
"It wasn't working out between us, not since her memory came back. She realised she still had feelings for you and was confused on who she really wanted to be with… I broke up with her so she could be with you, but then she said she was leaving." Kyle breathlessly says.
"Well I guess we can now focus on working through things ourselves without having the whole 'who's dating Tamara' thing." Casey says.
"What were you even doing here so late?" Kyle asks
"I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd get some stuff done in the gym before you locked up for the night." Casey says, noticing Kyle's eyes were starting to become droopy. "Who was that guy?"
"I don't know… He said he wanted the money but I wouldn't give it to him…" Kyle mutters, feeling like he just wanted to sleep. "I went to grab my phone and then he shot me."
"Right." Casey sighs, noticing Kyle's eyes were becoming more shut with each second that passed, so he slapped the side of his face. "You need to stay awake. The ambulance will be here soon and Brax will kill the both of us if I let you die on his floor."
"Yeah right." Kyle lightly smiles.
"Paramedics!" Casey hears them shout out.
"We're up here!" Casey shouts back, seeing them come into view moments later, rushing over to him.
"What've we got?" The older one of the two asks him as he takes over from putting pressure on the gunshot wound.
"Uh, he's my brother, Kyle. He was shot about 10 minutes ago maybe, and he's getting worse. I tried keeping him awake but I was struggling now." Casey says, moving out the way for them to get to work on Kyle.
"Okay, that's great. We've got it from here." He replies.
Northern Districts Hospital
"Casey, what the hell happened?" Brax as him and Heath walk over to the youngest Braxton.
"I was in the gym sorting some stuff out when I heard a gun go off. A man ran past the gym, so I went up to Angelo's to see what had happened, and Kyle was bleeding out on the floor. He said the guy was basically trying to rob the place but Kyle tried stopping him, and ended up getting shot." Casey briefly explains.
"Is he okay?" Heath asks.
"The doctor said he's doing well and there was no serious damage. I came to wait for you while he gave Kyle some pain meds." Casey says.
They continue talking for a little while longer while they wait, wondering if they would have known the guy that tried robbing Angelo's or if it was just some random guy who thought he'd try his luck. Once the doctor came out and told them Kyle would make a full recovery, they went into his room to see he was still awake. He was looking pale from the bloodless, but they knew that wouldn't matter as he was at least alive and doing well.
"How're you feeling?" Heath asks.
"Better than earlier. The pain meds help." Kyle replies.
"Case said someone tried robbing Angelo's, that's why you were shot?" Brax questions.
"Yeah." Kyle lightly nods.
"Did you recognise him?" Heath asks.
"No, I'd never seen him before." Kyle says, trying to think of if he had but his mind was pretty groggy from the meds he was on.
"Why didn't you just give him the money?" Brax asks.
"I thought you'd be mad if I did. I didn't think he was being serious about shooting me." Kyle sighs.
"He could have killed you!" Brax shakes his head.
"I know, I just thought… It doesn't matter." Kyle mutters, knowing he'd been in trouble if he tried arguing against his brother.
"Now you know that if someone tries robbing the place and threatens to shoot you, they're probably not messing about and you should just give into their demands." Brax says.
"Yeah, I know." Kyle says, hoping he wasn't about to be lectured.
"Least you're going to be okay though, 'ey." Heath says, slyly nudging Brax to lay off him.
"Yeah, you got lucky." Brax says. "Don't expect to be on a close again for a while, not at least by yourself. Thought you said you'd be fine by yourself?" He lightly jokes to lighten the mood a little.
"Yeah well I guess I got lucky that Casey was down in the gym else I'd probably be dead right now." Kyle says, glancing over at him.
"What's this between you two?" Heath asks. "You're saying Casey saved your life, but all you've done for months is try to kill each other."
"We've cleared the air. When Kyle was busy dying on me, he was trying to crack jokes and then we just had a quick chat. We're going to be working through some things but things are looking good now." Casey says.
"Cracking jokes while on death's door?" Heath scoffs.
"Well Casey was just standing there looking at me when he realised I wasn't Brax, and then sounded concerned when he called for an ambulance, it wasn't like him." Kyle lightly smiles.
"I guess that concern was a waste of my energy. Still haven't managed to get rid of you yet." Casey smirks.
"Going to take more than a bullet to get rid of me." Kyle says.
"Yeah, I guess it will." Casey nods.
"Right, now everything has been sorted and we know you're going to be okay, you can rest up." Brax orders all of his brothers. "Are you two going to head home or stay here?" He asks them.
"We'll head home and come back in the morning. I'll also go and check Angelo's and properly lock up as I'm sure Casey wouldn't have done it before they left." Heath says.
"I tried my best." Casey shrugs. "The main doors were shut, it was just locking up the gym and Angelo's properly."
"Okay, we'll do that on our way home. See you tomorrow." Heath says.
"See ya." Kyle mutters, glancing over at Brax as he takes a seat in the chair besides the bed.
"Get some sleep, the doc said you're going to need it once the adrenaline wears off." Brax says, seeing Kyle roll his eyes. "It's either that or listening to why it was a stupid idea questioning an armed robber."
"Fine, I'll get some sleep. But you should be grateful that I didn't let some guy get away with all the takings." Kyle says.
"Nah, he just got away with an attempted murder charge instead." Brax says. "The police will want to talk to you at some point, just get some sleep first." He says, Kyle falling asleep within minutes.