Sorry about the gap in updating. I was on vacation, then I was ill for a week, then I was suicidal, but I'm better now.
Title: Leap of Faith (Part Six)
Author: fatedtoflames (DJ)
Pairing: Chastine
Rating: PG-13 thus far
Summary: Chas takes the ultimate leap of faith to help John.
Chas woke up slowly, his mind fuzzy from the medication he'd been on. He swallowed hard, his throat dry, and then he realize what had awakened him.
"No…yes, I know it's unheard of, but I'm going to make it heard of. Drop the charges. Drop everything."
Chas forced his eyes open, pushing himself up to a sitting position and looking around. He was back home, in John's apartment…in John's bed.
He'd always assumed John's bed was some kind of sacred portal, that anyone who tried to touch it except John would be struck down by lightening or something. But here he was, laying in John's bed, in just his boxers.
He'd been wearing more than just boxers at the hospital.
He was sleeping in John's bed, John had quite obviously stripped him down…
Stop it, Chas. Stop right there.
"No, I completely understand, sir. I know about department policy. But I will tell you right now, Mr. Kramer will not be testifying."
Who the hell is he talking to? Chas thought, running his hand through his unruly hair. His whole body felt stiff, and his mind wasn't all that clear, but other than that he felt fine.
After falling 32 stories onto cement, it was an odd feeling.
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," John muttered with a chuckle, walking in and sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Have a nice nap?"
Chas nodded. "Um…how long have I been asleep?"
"About sixteen hours. Medication is probably half of it."
Chas looked at the clock- sure enough, it was 8:30 am.
"Want some breakfast, kid?"
Chas raised an eyebrow. "Did you just offer me breakfast?"
"Bacon and eggs. Bought 'em this morning, and I can cook 'em up in ten minutes."
"I'm dead, aren't I? I died, and you're some type of strange John apparition, and wait…is this Heaven or Hell? Cause this is pretty damn scary, but not really torturous…"
John laughed. "No, kid, you're not dead. You should be, but you're not. Now do you want breakfast or not?"
Chas let out a deep breath. "You've got to tell me what happened first. You promised."
John looked down for a few moments, and then he shrugged, reaching for a pack of cigarettes on the bedside table. "We struck up a deal."
Chas gave John an incredulous look. "You struck up a deal? With Balthazar?"
"It was the only option."
"Like hell! He dropped me out a window!" Chas shrieked, and John cringed.
"I know, kid, alright? I know. I was there," he said. "I couldn't tell the police why you were really there. I told them you were working undercover for a private detective friend of mine, trying to uncover a company scandal."
Chas set his jaw in frustration. "And me getting thrown out a window?"
"Corrupt departmental manager. At least he won't be sexually harassing anyone else."
"But John, he wasn't the one who-"
"As of this moment, he did," John said sternly, standing up. "Stay put. I'll bring you your breakfast."
Chas watched him go, leaning back against the headboard. Balthazar was getting away with attempted murder, and John wasn't even going to bother with pressing civil charges against the guy who he was blaming it on. In other words, it was over. And he'd accomplished nothing.
"Some great job you did. Now he'll never let you help," Chas muttered to himself, pouting. "You had to go and get dropped out a window…"
He stood up, shaking his head and trying to clear the fuzziness from his head. He shuffled to John's closet, grabbing John's one and only housecoat and pulling it on. He wasn't about to walk around John's apartment wearing just boxers, even if he got in trouble for touching John's stuff.
He shuffled out to the kitchen, rubbing his eyes sleepily, and he blinked a few times when he saw John at the stove cracking eggs and dropping them into a pan.
"I didn't know you could cook…"
"I can't," John said, looking up at Chas for a few moments. Chas expected a tongue lashing for wearing John's housecoat, but not a word about it left John's lips- he just went back to cooking.
"What's with all this?" Chas asked suspiciously.
"All what?"
"Well, I know you didn't have bacon and eggs here, so you obviously went shopping. You're cooking for me, letting me sleep in your bed, bringing me breakfast in bed, letting me wear your clothes…"
John didn't take his eye off the eggs as he scrambled them. "Kid, why can't you just take the favors without reading into them?"
"Because you don't do favors. That's not a 'John Constantine, badass' thing."
John sighed, dumping the eggs onto a plate. He turned and walked over to Chas, and then he smirked.
"Chas…you should've died today. And if you did, it would've been because I was twenty seconds too late. I owe you at least breakfast."
He went back to serving out the eggs and starting to cook the bacon, and Chas stuttered for a few moments. "John, I agreed to go in there. I knew how dangerous it was."
"I know."
"So…"
"Eat your eggs, Chas."
Chas sighed, grabbed a plate of eggs and a fork, and sat down at the table, beginning to realize just how hungry he was. He was surprised to find out that John could cook- in fact, he could cook damn well.
"So…what now?" Chas asked as John sat down and dropped a plate of bacon on the table.
"Now we follow up on the leads you got me."
"But I thought…"
John smirked, reached under the table, and then dropped Chas's oversized purse on the table, the files still in it.
"I told you we struck a deal. And don't you dare think that you're done moonlighting as Chastity Carmichael."