Summary: Sebastian gets shot and Kathryn deals with the fallout.
Chapter 14: Repercussions
"Sebastian! Sebastian...oh god!" Kathryn screamed as they collapsed to the ground. At first she didn't know what happened. One minute he was standing in front of her smiling the next his limp body fell into her arms.
Kathryn cradled him in her lap as the rain continued to pour down on them. As Sebastian's eyes struggled to stay open he murmured "I didn't do it. I love you...Kathryn...I...you're bleeding...you..."
She looked down at her pale dress and noticed the blood. It took her a moment to realize it wasn't hers. Pulling a shaky hand from Sebastian's back she nearly started to sob when she saw that it was covered in blood. "It's not mine" she whispered. As his eyes started to close again she screamed "Sebastian! Look at me, you have to look at me!" Looking around suddenly she screamed out to the driver who was quickly making his way over to them "go get help! Now, now!"
As he took off back to the house Kathryn looked down at Sebastian. In the back of her mind she wondered who did this but it was not the time to worry about that. That would come later. Instead she focused her attention on Sebastian. Gently she stroked his face promising him "you're going to be ok. I'll make sure of it." However as she told him she knew it was more for her benefit then for his. She couldn't bare to think about the possibility that he might not come out of this ok.
Sebastian took hold of her hand as his eyes began to shut again. As they did Kathryn started to cry and didn't notice when several of the wedding guests including Edward and Blaine approached her. "Dear lord what happened?" Edward yelled over the rain as he knelt down beside his son.
Kathryn looked up at him and shook her head "I...I don't know...it happened so quickly."
One of the guests called out "call an ambulance!"
The driver told them he had and it would me there momentarily. Moments later Annette appeared still in her wedding dress which was now soaked. Her hand immediately flew to her mouth as she saw Sebastian. Collapsing to the ground next to him she started to sob "oh god Sebastian." Looking up at Kathryn in her blood covered dress she asked accusingly "what happened to him?"
"He was shot" Edward explained to her.
"You..." Annette whispered as her eyes locked on Kathryn's.
However before she could say anything more the ambulance arrived along with several cop cars. The paramedics forced everyone away from Sebastian so they could work. Reluctantly Kathryn pulled her hand away from his as she stood back on trembling legs watching them work. She was shaking so badly partly from cold but mostly from fear.
"Miss...Miss we need to talk to you about what happened" a middle aged police officer carrying an umbrella instructed Kathryn. "Were you here when it happened?"
She didn't bother to look at him only nodded mechanically as she watched the paramedics load Sebastian into a stretcher. As they brought him to the ambulance she said "I have to go with him."
"We'll take you to the hospital but first we have to ask you some questions."
"I can't" she snapped at him "I have to go."
"You're not going anywhere with him" Annette hissed at her through tears. Looking at the paramedics she said "I'm his fiancee I'm going with him."
Kathryn quickly pulled her away by the arm "like hell." Pulling Annette closer to her she said "he left you. He told me."
Annette pushed her out of the way "I'm going."
"No I'm going" Edward said coming between the girls. "I'm his father." Touching Kathryn's arm he told her "go talk to the police, tell them what they want to know. If anything happens I'll call you I promise."
He didn't give her time to answer before he climbed into the ambulance with his son. Kathryn stood still in shock as she watched it drive away. She barely noticed when Annette glared at her and said "I have to get to the hospital."
"Kathryn come on you have to get inside" Blaine said as he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her towards the house. "You're shaking...Sebastian wouldn't want this..."
Finally Kathryn looked up at him and without a word walked back to the house with Blaine and the cops. As they got to the door she turned to him suddenly "Blaine go to the hospital. I need you to make sure she doesn't go near him."
He looked at her skeptically "are you sure? Maybe I should stay."
"Go"
* * * * * *
"They've taken him into surgery to try to remove the bullets. They don't think there is any damage to his spinal cord but he's still not responding."
Annette who had been playing with the cross around her neck asked "do they think..."
Edward knew what she was asking "they're not sure but they're hopeful he'll recover. Now I have to go sign some papers. Blaine do you have Kathryn's cell phone number?"
Blaine pulled a slip of paper from his wallet and handed it to him. "Thanks" he muttered as he turned and headed back down the hall.
"I guess he never liked me very much" Annette commented softly as she watched him disappear through the ER doors.
"What makes you think that?" Blaine asked sarcastically. Annette only glared coldly back at him while he shook his head and asked "what are you doing here?"
"You know what I'm doing here. I love Sebastian."
"Yeah which is why you've been screwing with his head for weeks right?"
Annette flinched obviously surprised by the accusation. "I-I had my reasons."
"Not very good ones."
"He was fucking her!" She screamed making several nurses standing a few feet away turn and look at them. Annette paid little attention as she continued "he was cheating on me for weeks with her. Anyone else would have dumped him on the spot but I love him Blaine more than anything and I know he loves me."
Calmly Blaine said "he might of, he doesn't anymore."
"Oh what now he's in love with Kathryn?" She shook her head scornfully "I think we both know what a joke that is."
"If I recall he said as much at the church. You remember right before he walked out on you? He's through with you Annette so why don't you just go home."
"I second that" Kathryn said as she appeared suddenly still dressed in her stained dress but wearing a black coat over her shoulders. Her dark hair was still wet but was pinned up.
Annette turned at the sound of Kathryn's voice and immediately pulled away from her spot against the wall. Without a word she walked up to Kathryn and slapped her hard across the face. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do that. This is all your fault" she said slowly pronouncing each word.
Kathryn recovered quickly from the blow and muttered "you stupid little bitch" before lunging at her. However Blaine quickly interfered and pulled her back. Pushing him away she hissed angrily "this is all my fault? I should kill you for what you've put us through these last couple of weeks."
"You deserve it and so much more. What did you think I would do Kathryn, just turn the other cheek while you screwed my boyfriend behind my back? Did you really think I would let you take him away so you could use him and hurt him like you've done a hundred time before? No way, I wasn't going to stand around and let you ruin what we have but now it might be too late. Because of you and your boyfriend Sebastian might not make it."
Kathryn flinched at the thought but she wasn't about to back down. She was Kathryn Merteuil for Christ sakes, no one fucked with her let alone some little Kansas hick. Calmly Kathryn stepped closer to Annette wearing an expression of pure ice which made the petite blond take a step back. "If this is Christian's doing then yes I played a part but then so did you. You and your little English friend are the reason he found out about us to begin with. As much as I didn't want to I was going to walk away from Sebastian and marry Christen. Think about it Annette, if wasn't for your jealousy and pathetic broken heart you could be married to Sebastian right now and this never would of happened. However you went too far in sending Christian those photographs and now Sebastian is paying for it."
"That's not true-"
Holding her hand up to silence her she coldly replied "save it, I don't have time for you and your pathetic ramblings. I need to be with Sebastian and if I were you I would stay the hell away from him or else I might just be forced to tell the police all about your little scheme."
"And they would care because..."
"I don't know, blackmail, extortion and I'm sure I could invent a few more reasons. I won't hesitate to have your ass thrown in jail so do as I say and fuck off. I'm going to see Sebastian." Before Annette could reply or argue Kathryn pushed past her and disappeared past the ER doors.
* * * * * *
The following morning Sebastian awoke in pain and unsure of where he was. God he ached all over but especially his back where he felt a sharp, uncomfortable pain. Looking around the small room painted in a drab shade of blue he tried to asses his surroundings. To his left he could hear a steady beep coming from several machines that he figured out he was hooked up to. Sebastian let out a sigh when he realized he was in a hospital. He despised hospitals, everything about them really but judging by the fact that he could barely move it was probably a good thing he was there.
His memory was fuzzy as he tried to recall how he got there. He remembered the wedding, it was raining. Then Annette and... that tape. As soon as he thought back to that wedding gift a rush of memories came flowing back to him. Annette's betrayal, the wedding and...Kathryn. At the memory of Kathryn he suddenly had the need to get up but as he tried to sit up a shot of pain hit him causing him to collapse back down. It was then as he looked around the room that he realized he wasn't alone.
Sitting in a big wooden chair with an ugly orange cushion attached to it was Kathryn who was sleeping soundly. At the sight of her he relaxed slightly and smiled. Who would of thought princess Kathryn would sleep in such peasant like conditions. She must really care about him after all.
Although he was tempted to wake her and ask he what happened he decided against it. It could wait, by the looks of it she was probably in need of some sleep. As he watched her intently he recalled the last time he saw her running to him in the rain. She looked happy to him before but in that moment she did. After that everything was fuzzy. Sebastian remembered falling and being in excruciating pain. And Kathryn he remembered looking into her face and seeing how scared she was. He recalled seeing her hands shake so he held on to one, trying to make her feel better.
"No!" Kathryn screamed as she awoke suddenly with a jolt.
"Kathryn" he called to her softly his voice still sore and dry from lack of water.
Immediately she looked over at him and her expression slowly changed to a smile. "Sebastian...you're awake." Kathryn got up and moved to his bedside. "I thought you wouldn't...are you ok?"
Picking his hand up he let it grab on to hers "well I don't think I'll be going on my morning jog but I believe I'll live."
She smiled faintly "you don't jog. How long have you been awake?"
"Not long"
"Why didn't you wake me?"
He smiled at her "you looked peaceful. What were you dreaming about?"
Kathryn frowned and looked away "it's not important."
"Yes it is" he pushed "what was it?"
"I was watching it happen again. You got..."
"Shot" Sebastian finished for her. "It's starting to come back to me. Was it who I think?"
She nodded solemnly "I think so."
"How did he find out?"
Kathryn's face narrowed in anger as she told him "Gwendolyn sent him the video and pictures. Apparently she was holding on to some copies. God I'm such an idiot, I actually believed him when he said he wouldn't hurt you."
"Maybe you wanted to believe him" he told her quietly. "I take it that's how you sent me a copy." Sebastian smiled "you know it probably would have been a hell of a lot simpler if you just showed me the picture in the first place."
"Where's the fun in that?" Kathryn asked giving him a wicked smile "I guess I couldn't resist screwing Annette over one last time and I wasn't really sure how you would react."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know I thought you might just marry her anyway and then you never met me so I thought..."
"Yeah I guess I couldn't resist getting a little revenge of my own. You know I think you would have been proud."
Kathryn gently caressed his face and said "oh I am, Blaine told me all about it. It's good to see a little of the boy I remember coming back."
"He was always here. He has always loved you Kathryn."
"Mmm not always. I can remember a few times when-"
"Even then" he interrupted her. "Even at your worst when I thought I hated you so much I couldn't see straight I still loved you Kathryn. It never went away and it never will. The question is can you forgive me for everything I've put you threw these past few weeks?"
Kathryn said nothing she only leaned down and kissed his lips softly. He took it as a yes as he eagerly kissed her back. Forgetting for a moment about is condition she let her hand touch his chest making him groan slightly. Immediately Kathryn pulled away. "Oh sorry, maybe we shouldn't..."
"Fuck that" Sebastian muttered as he pulled her mouth back to his. He let his hands get lost in her silky hair as her tongue slipped past his lips.
After a few moments Kathryn pulled away smiling "you need to get some rest."
"No I don't I need you" he whined playfully.
"I promise you'll have plenty of time to play with me later. But now you have to sleep so you can get the hell out of here."
He raised his eyebrows skeptically "since when did you turn into Florence fucking Nightingale?" Kathryn jabbed his stomach making him wince. "Ow there's the bitch I remember."
"I'm going to go home and change. While I'm gone I want you to sleep."
"Fine" he sighed as he closed his eyes.
Kathryn headed for the door but before leaving she called out "oh by the way I'm using your car." She didn't bother to look at his reaction as she walked out of the ICU smiling. Turing down the hallway she saw Blaine approaching her.
"I take it by that smile of your face our boy is all right."
She nodded "he's awake and besides some pain he should be ok."
"Good. I'm not sure if this is the best time to bring it up but Annette has been hanging around."
Kathryn rolled her eyes "figures. Well I warned her so now she's fair game."
"Speaking of which, what are you going to do about Christian? I mean since it looks like Sebastian is going to be ok aren't you worried he might come back to finish the job?"
Kathryn had of course thought of this along with what she was going to do to Annette last night while she waited to find out about Sebastian. As it usually does a plan came to her that would help her kill two birds with one stone. Smiling confidently she told Blaine "I'll handle Christian and Annette. Right now there's something I have to take care of. Do me a favor and make sure she doesn't go near Sebastian."
He nodded "all right. Are you going to tell me what you're up to?"
Kathryn only smiled as she walked away and headed down the hallway. As she suspected when she past the waiting room she noticed a large, muscular man sitting among the empty chairs trying to look inconspicuous. Right away Kathryn recognized him as one of Christian's men.
Approaching him with her cool, confident strides she stopped in front of him as he immediately stood up. "Take me to him."
"I don't think-"
"Now" she said with just the right hint of malice "or I will alert that cop over there who you are."
Getting the hint he nodded and headed out of the hospital with Kathryn following behind. As they stepped out into the afternoon sunlight she wasn't surprised in the least to see a town car waiting in the parking lot. Walking up to it she waited for the well muscled man to open the door before sliding in and taking a seat across from him.
With his usually confident smile Christian said "hello sweetheart. What can I do for you?"
"We need to talk."
- to be continued (Please Review)