Rating: PG-13 for coarse language and adult themes and slash references
Disclaimers: See Chapter 1
Author's Notes: Well hopefully this chapter is up quicker than I got the last one up!! I promised my friend I would let you know about her stories. They're Harry Potter stories, but I think they're great, especially one but that's because I'm in it and I have the best boyfriend in the world! Anyway they're by Orli-anon, so if you want to check them out, I'm sure she'd be grateful.
NOTES 2 MY REVIEWERS!
Chapter 8:
Charlie's eyes shot open. 9:22. Great. His Mom and Wayne had both left. He lay there for a minute, thinking, but he was stunned to hear strange noises from the bathroom. He leapt out of bed and skidded down the hall.
"Katie?" He asked, knocking on the door, getting a pained 'yes' sound in reply.
"Are you alright?" he asked, not at all surprised when she snapped back at him, something along the lines of 'does it sound like it?', but he couldn't be sure.
"I'm coming in." Waiting for a second before opening the door, Charlie saw Katie hunched over against the wall, clutching her stomach. She looked up into his concerned face and immediately felt guilty. She shouldn't have brought him into any of this.
"That's it, we're going to the hospital. No arguments." Charlie helped her up and supported her out to the couch.
"Damn it," Charlie exclaimed, hitting his forehead in frustration. He didn't have a car at the moment. Kneeling down in front of her, Charlie placed a finger under Katie's chin and tilted her face upwards a little to face his.
"I'm gonna hafta call Adam, we don't have to tell him much, and I know we can trust him not to tell anybody ok? We don't have any better choices," Charlie told her gently.
Katie closed her eyes and nodded resignedly. Charlie was right, and the pain was slowly becoming unbearable.
"Adam? It's Charlie. Look, I uh, need a favour."
Ten minutes later, Adam was knocking on Charlie's door.
"Are you gonna tell me what's going on?" He asked Charlie as he stepped inside the room.
Ignoring Adam's question. Charlie walked over and helped Katie up. "Could you give us a hand?"
Adam grabbed Katie's right arm and pulled it around his shoulders, and together he and Charlie walked her down to the car.
"I still wanna know what's going on, Charlie," Adam stated as they drove to the hospital.
"I know, and I promise we will tell you, but do you think that you could wait until Katie's in a reasonable kind of way? Because I'm still not entirely sure of what's going on myself."
They pulled up outside the hospital and took her to the Emergency Room.
"How can I help you?" The young nurse smiled at them.
Charlie motioned to Katie. "She's in pain, she was beaten yesterday afternoon."
The nurse's smile immediately dropped from her face. "Uh, ok, um... Dr Harrison!" She called, stepping out from behind the desk. Her name tag read, 'Olivia Brooks'.
"Olivia, what can I do for you?" Dr Harrison appeared.
Olivia blushed profusely. "The young lady over there, she was physically abused yesterday afternoon, she's in pain."
Dr Harrison turned to Charlie. "You brought her in?"
Charlie nodded. "Yeah."
"Ok. I'm Josh Harrison," he stuck his hand out and Charlie shook it.
"Charlie Conway."
Josh smiled. "Let's go find out what's wrong with your friend." He knelt down in front of Katie.
"I'm Dr Harrison, I'm gonna see if I can find out what's wrong with you. Can you tell me your name?"
Katie looked up into Josh's face, her mouth open, ready to say 'Katie', but he beat her to it.
"Katie Gold." His eyes met hers, a silent understanding passed between them, one which Charlie didn't fail to notice.
Adam noticed the sudden change in Charlie's mood, and he thought, although he wasn't certain, it had something to do with Josh.
"Where does it hurt?" Josh asked Katie gently.
She grimaced and pointed to her abdomen., wincing as he pressed his fingers to her skin.
"How much does it hurt? Scale 1-10."
"9," she gasped as he came across a particularly tender spot.
"What is it?" She asked.
Josh looked at her seriously. "You have some internal bleeding. You're going to need to go into surgery, as soon as possible."
Her eyes widened and she glanced at Charlie, whose eyes were also wide. Was that fear she could see in his eyes?
She turned back to Josh. "I'm ready as soon as you are, JT, but I need to know that I'll be able to see my friends." She gestured to Charlie and Adam. "And I want - no, I'll need a private room. You know money's not an issue."
Josh smiled. "Ok. The surgery's pretty standard, as you know, not too many risks. You'll have to stay overnight, and you'll have to take it easy."
Katie nodded. "JT, promise me one more thing."
"What is it?"
She took a deep breath. "Promise me that nobody will call anyone in my family. I don't want any of them to know--"
"-- because your dick of a father will find out. I promise, nobody will be called." He kissed her forehead. "I'll see you soon, I just have to get you admitted."
"Thanks," Katie smiled as best as she could as he walked off. "Charles, talk to me. I'm really not in any condition to play games, so tell me. What's wrong?" She took Charlie's hand as he sat down next to her.
"It's nothing," he sighed, playing with her fingers.
"If it was nothing you'd tell me." Still getting no response, she raised her other hand to his face and forced him to look at her. "Don't try and pull this 'you're sick and I don't want to bother you' bullshit ok, because I'm not going to buy it." When he STILL wouldn't say anything, Katie sighed and turned to Adam. "Adam, if anyone can talk some sense into him it would be you, so could you let me know if he spills his guts?"
Adam smiled. "I'll try my best to get it out of him for you."
She laughed but ended up coughing in pain. Turning again to Charlie, her face fell at the sight of him fighting back tears.
"Oh Charlie," she whispered, wrapping her arms around him.
Embarrassed, he pulled away.
"Hey, it's okay," she whispered to him.
Shaking his head at her, he spoke angrily. "No, no it's not okay. Your father, somebody who is supposed to love you, and protect you from stuff like this, he's the one who did this to you! You're sitting here, trying to get me calm," he shook his head gently, his anger dissipating. "It should be the other way around." He shrugged, his eyes focussed on the floor. "I'm scared," he whispered.
Katie's eyes filled with tears. "Of what?"
He struggled. "Of losing you," he admitted. "Of everything. I -- it's just that -- I don't know anymore." He went to stand up but stilled when Katie's hand covered his own.
"I'm scared too. To be honest with you, I'm scared shitless. No matter how many times I've been in this situation, it scares the shit out of me. And I could swear to God that it scares me more each time. You'd probably think I'd be better with you and Adam, and JT here but it scares me even more. It scares me because I don't want you to be embarrassed or ashamed, but I'm scared you will be. I'm scared because I'm rambling--"
"We're not embarrassed or ashamed, we're worried just worried about you. And Charlie's afraid that he's gonna lose you," Adam spoke gently. "Hell, so am I. And everybody who knows you would be feeling exactly the same way if they knew."
Katie's tears welled over and streamed down her cheeks. "Thank you," she managed.
Josh walked over again, this time with papers in hand. "Hey, everything's gonna be fine," he reassured her. "You only have, like, 8 months until you turn18. Then you can go away to college, get the teaching degree you've always wanted, get the hell away from your father for good."
She sniffled a bit and smiled. "Damn you. You always say the right thing."
Josh raised his eyebrows. "Of course I always say the right thing. I'm a doctor," he claimed proudly. "Now," he said normally, "I need you to fill out a couple of details."
He handed her the sheets and she filled in the information he hadn't known. She handed them back to him and he glanced at one of them. "This is the third time you've had internal bleeding?"
She nodded, "Believe me, it doesn't get any easier with experience."
"So he hasn't hurt you this badly for a while, that's a definite improvement." He flicked through, making sure there was nothing they'd missed. "That's it. You've been admitted. And, luckily for you, I get to assist in your surgery, so I'll hold your hand as much as I can, and if you're lucky I may even tell you about my latest relationship."
"But I won't hear it, and I want to," she stated.
"You'll be going into surgery pretty soon," he said as he walked off, ignoring her feeble attempt at a protest.
Charlie just sat there, trying to process all this new information.
"Please don't be angry at me," she said to him.
"I told you, it's not possible for me to be angry at you. I just wish you would've told me--"
"I didn't want you to feel sorry for me. The last thing I want is anyone's pity. I just want to be treated normally. And don't look at me like that, I know JT knows. But he treats me normally, especially when I'm like this." She stopped to take a breath. "Charlie, I need you. I want to wake up and see you there, in the chair next to my bed, with my book, on your lap. But while I'm in surgery, can you go to my room and get my book and my diary for me? My book should be somewhere on my desk, you know what it looks like," she smiled in remembrance. "My diary is on my bed, under the mattress, somewhere up near where my pillows are. Can you get them for me please?"
"Of course," Charlie replied without hesitation. "I mean, if it's okay with Banksie here."
"Yeah, no worries here," Adam nodded.
"Ok, sorry to break up the party -- Ow!" Josh exclaimed, Katie had punched him in the shoulder. He glared at her for a second before continuing. "They're ready to get our favourite little Crouching Tiger wannabe ready for surgery."
"I guess I'll see you soon," Katie said, hugging Adam quickly as a thank you for getting her there, before hugging Charlie more intimately, not unnoticed by Josh.
"I'll be in that chair," Charlie replied before Josh supported Katie down the hall.
Disclaimers: See Chapter 1
Author's Notes: Well hopefully this chapter is up quicker than I got the last one up!! I promised my friend I would let you know about her stories. They're Harry Potter stories, but I think they're great, especially one but that's because I'm in it and I have the best boyfriend in the world! Anyway they're by Orli-anon, so if you want to check them out, I'm sure she'd be grateful.
NOTES 2 MY REVIEWERS!
Chapter 8:
Charlie's eyes shot open. 9:22. Great. His Mom and Wayne had both left. He lay there for a minute, thinking, but he was stunned to hear strange noises from the bathroom. He leapt out of bed and skidded down the hall.
"Katie?" He asked, knocking on the door, getting a pained 'yes' sound in reply.
"Are you alright?" he asked, not at all surprised when she snapped back at him, something along the lines of 'does it sound like it?', but he couldn't be sure.
"I'm coming in." Waiting for a second before opening the door, Charlie saw Katie hunched over against the wall, clutching her stomach. She looked up into his concerned face and immediately felt guilty. She shouldn't have brought him into any of this.
"That's it, we're going to the hospital. No arguments." Charlie helped her up and supported her out to the couch.
"Damn it," Charlie exclaimed, hitting his forehead in frustration. He didn't have a car at the moment. Kneeling down in front of her, Charlie placed a finger under Katie's chin and tilted her face upwards a little to face his.
"I'm gonna hafta call Adam, we don't have to tell him much, and I know we can trust him not to tell anybody ok? We don't have any better choices," Charlie told her gently.
Katie closed her eyes and nodded resignedly. Charlie was right, and the pain was slowly becoming unbearable.
"Adam? It's Charlie. Look, I uh, need a favour."
Ten minutes later, Adam was knocking on Charlie's door.
"Are you gonna tell me what's going on?" He asked Charlie as he stepped inside the room.
Ignoring Adam's question. Charlie walked over and helped Katie up. "Could you give us a hand?"
Adam grabbed Katie's right arm and pulled it around his shoulders, and together he and Charlie walked her down to the car.
"I still wanna know what's going on, Charlie," Adam stated as they drove to the hospital.
"I know, and I promise we will tell you, but do you think that you could wait until Katie's in a reasonable kind of way? Because I'm still not entirely sure of what's going on myself."
They pulled up outside the hospital and took her to the Emergency Room.
"How can I help you?" The young nurse smiled at them.
Charlie motioned to Katie. "She's in pain, she was beaten yesterday afternoon."
The nurse's smile immediately dropped from her face. "Uh, ok, um... Dr Harrison!" She called, stepping out from behind the desk. Her name tag read, 'Olivia Brooks'.
"Olivia, what can I do for you?" Dr Harrison appeared.
Olivia blushed profusely. "The young lady over there, she was physically abused yesterday afternoon, she's in pain."
Dr Harrison turned to Charlie. "You brought her in?"
Charlie nodded. "Yeah."
"Ok. I'm Josh Harrison," he stuck his hand out and Charlie shook it.
"Charlie Conway."
Josh smiled. "Let's go find out what's wrong with your friend." He knelt down in front of Katie.
"I'm Dr Harrison, I'm gonna see if I can find out what's wrong with you. Can you tell me your name?"
Katie looked up into Josh's face, her mouth open, ready to say 'Katie', but he beat her to it.
"Katie Gold." His eyes met hers, a silent understanding passed between them, one which Charlie didn't fail to notice.
Adam noticed the sudden change in Charlie's mood, and he thought, although he wasn't certain, it had something to do with Josh.
"Where does it hurt?" Josh asked Katie gently.
She grimaced and pointed to her abdomen., wincing as he pressed his fingers to her skin.
"How much does it hurt? Scale 1-10."
"9," she gasped as he came across a particularly tender spot.
"What is it?" She asked.
Josh looked at her seriously. "You have some internal bleeding. You're going to need to go into surgery, as soon as possible."
Her eyes widened and she glanced at Charlie, whose eyes were also wide. Was that fear she could see in his eyes?
She turned back to Josh. "I'm ready as soon as you are, JT, but I need to know that I'll be able to see my friends." She gestured to Charlie and Adam. "And I want - no, I'll need a private room. You know money's not an issue."
Josh smiled. "Ok. The surgery's pretty standard, as you know, not too many risks. You'll have to stay overnight, and you'll have to take it easy."
Katie nodded. "JT, promise me one more thing."
"What is it?"
She took a deep breath. "Promise me that nobody will call anyone in my family. I don't want any of them to know--"
"-- because your dick of a father will find out. I promise, nobody will be called." He kissed her forehead. "I'll see you soon, I just have to get you admitted."
"Thanks," Katie smiled as best as she could as he walked off. "Charles, talk to me. I'm really not in any condition to play games, so tell me. What's wrong?" She took Charlie's hand as he sat down next to her.
"It's nothing," he sighed, playing with her fingers.
"If it was nothing you'd tell me." Still getting no response, she raised her other hand to his face and forced him to look at her. "Don't try and pull this 'you're sick and I don't want to bother you' bullshit ok, because I'm not going to buy it." When he STILL wouldn't say anything, Katie sighed and turned to Adam. "Adam, if anyone can talk some sense into him it would be you, so could you let me know if he spills his guts?"
Adam smiled. "I'll try my best to get it out of him for you."
She laughed but ended up coughing in pain. Turning again to Charlie, her face fell at the sight of him fighting back tears.
"Oh Charlie," she whispered, wrapping her arms around him.
Embarrassed, he pulled away.
"Hey, it's okay," she whispered to him.
Shaking his head at her, he spoke angrily. "No, no it's not okay. Your father, somebody who is supposed to love you, and protect you from stuff like this, he's the one who did this to you! You're sitting here, trying to get me calm," he shook his head gently, his anger dissipating. "It should be the other way around." He shrugged, his eyes focussed on the floor. "I'm scared," he whispered.
Katie's eyes filled with tears. "Of what?"
He struggled. "Of losing you," he admitted. "Of everything. I -- it's just that -- I don't know anymore." He went to stand up but stilled when Katie's hand covered his own.
"I'm scared too. To be honest with you, I'm scared shitless. No matter how many times I've been in this situation, it scares the shit out of me. And I could swear to God that it scares me more each time. You'd probably think I'd be better with you and Adam, and JT here but it scares me even more. It scares me because I don't want you to be embarrassed or ashamed, but I'm scared you will be. I'm scared because I'm rambling--"
"We're not embarrassed or ashamed, we're worried just worried about you. And Charlie's afraid that he's gonna lose you," Adam spoke gently. "Hell, so am I. And everybody who knows you would be feeling exactly the same way if they knew."
Katie's tears welled over and streamed down her cheeks. "Thank you," she managed.
Josh walked over again, this time with papers in hand. "Hey, everything's gonna be fine," he reassured her. "You only have, like, 8 months until you turn18. Then you can go away to college, get the teaching degree you've always wanted, get the hell away from your father for good."
She sniffled a bit and smiled. "Damn you. You always say the right thing."
Josh raised his eyebrows. "Of course I always say the right thing. I'm a doctor," he claimed proudly. "Now," he said normally, "I need you to fill out a couple of details."
He handed her the sheets and she filled in the information he hadn't known. She handed them back to him and he glanced at one of them. "This is the third time you've had internal bleeding?"
She nodded, "Believe me, it doesn't get any easier with experience."
"So he hasn't hurt you this badly for a while, that's a definite improvement." He flicked through, making sure there was nothing they'd missed. "That's it. You've been admitted. And, luckily for you, I get to assist in your surgery, so I'll hold your hand as much as I can, and if you're lucky I may even tell you about my latest relationship."
"But I won't hear it, and I want to," she stated.
"You'll be going into surgery pretty soon," he said as he walked off, ignoring her feeble attempt at a protest.
Charlie just sat there, trying to process all this new information.
"Please don't be angry at me," she said to him.
"I told you, it's not possible for me to be angry at you. I just wish you would've told me--"
"I didn't want you to feel sorry for me. The last thing I want is anyone's pity. I just want to be treated normally. And don't look at me like that, I know JT knows. But he treats me normally, especially when I'm like this." She stopped to take a breath. "Charlie, I need you. I want to wake up and see you there, in the chair next to my bed, with my book, on your lap. But while I'm in surgery, can you go to my room and get my book and my diary for me? My book should be somewhere on my desk, you know what it looks like," she smiled in remembrance. "My diary is on my bed, under the mattress, somewhere up near where my pillows are. Can you get them for me please?"
"Of course," Charlie replied without hesitation. "I mean, if it's okay with Banksie here."
"Yeah, no worries here," Adam nodded.
"Ok, sorry to break up the party -- Ow!" Josh exclaimed, Katie had punched him in the shoulder. He glared at her for a second before continuing. "They're ready to get our favourite little Crouching Tiger wannabe ready for surgery."
"I guess I'll see you soon," Katie said, hugging Adam quickly as a thank you for getting her there, before hugging Charlie more intimately, not unnoticed by Josh.
"I'll be in that chair," Charlie replied before Josh supported Katie down the hall.