DESTROYED
Chapter 20
SUMMARY: Mark tells the others of the recent developments with Alexi Darling, and they all agree to keep it quiet from Collins (and Angel). Angel wakes up.
Sorry about the delay in getting this chapter up – I've been sick and my muse ran away from me on more than one occasion. I'll do better from now on, I promise.
Mark and Julia entered the hospital through the emergency department entrance and they both looked around at the busyness of the area – lots of bleeding, sick, and injured people and their families or friends were waiting (both patiently and impatiently) for some sort of medical attention, but with only a few medical personnel that were visibly around to attend to their needs. It was a pitiful sight, and did nothing but force Mark to imagine how the circumstances were in which Angel was admitted. A depressing sight, indeed.
Touching her arm to get her attention, Mark nodded his head in the direction of the elevator, silently telling her to follow him, which she did. The plan was that they were gonna inform the others of the footage and the arrangement Mark and Alexi had made, but both were still unaware that Angel had in fact woken up, nor were they aware of the ultimatum that had been placed at Collins' feet – this would only complicate the situation further.
Julia pushed the button and in silence they waited for the doors to open – Mark looked over at her and visibly inspected her, wondering what was going through her mind. No doubt these past few days and weeks had been a real eye-opening experience, and judging by her reaction in the alleyway, a somewhat terrifying experience as well. Never before had she been exposed to such conditions and realities she had once believed to exist in a world that she was so far away from. Now Julia was shown just how close she, and everyone in general, was to it all… suddenly, everything she learnt and had been taught from those she grew up around seemed so irrelevant and even wrong.
"How you doin'?" Mark asked casually. "You look kinda… lost."
"Hmm?" she snapped back from her thoughts and turned her head in his direction. "What?"
"You look scared. Everything okay?"
"I'm not scared," she brushed off with a weak laugh which didn't entirely convince her self nor Mark. "Um… overwhelmed may be the appropriate word."
Mark shifted his weight and adjusted his backpack strap over his shoulder and continued to study Julia's body language which gave obvious signs that something was troubling her greatly, but she feared to say.
"You sure?" he took care and chose his words carefully. Now wasn't the time to excite her further; she was obviously deeply troubled about something. "Wanna talk about it?"
"Nope."
"Okay." He shrugged and was more than willing to let the subject drop. There was tension between them that hindered Julia's ability to confide in him – she'd much rather do that with Collins, and after all, she didn't know Mark all that well… but given that Collins is not in a position to deal with her issues, she knew she'd eventually force her self to say something to Mark… otherwise she'd explode.
The doors finally opened and Mark stepped aside to let her go in first. Muttering a small 'thanks', Julia hurried into the elevator and made sure not to make eye contact with him. Things between them were already too complicated and weird…
Mark stepped in beside her and the doors closed behind him. He then pushed the button for the appropriate floor and then leaned back against the elevator wall as it started moving in an upward direction. More silence. To Julia, that silence was screaming in her ears and slamming into her mind like a sledgehammer… sighing, frustrated, she turned to him.
"I just don't get how you accept this!"
Mark frowned. "What?"
"This! All of it… I mean, you're friend gets attacked… your other friend is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, you caught a confession on tape… how can you be so calm!"
Mark raised an eye brow and the corners of his mouth began to tug into a small smirk… she really did look totally clueless; it was kinda cute in his opinion.
"You're kidding right?" he responded, incredulously.
"I don't get it…"
"Julia, I told you before… there's nothing new here. All we gotta do is survive it. Angel is the best example of a survivor I think any of us know of. And Collins is stronger because of him… we all are. I don't know what else I can tell ya."
Mark reached over and placed his hand on her shoulder and gave her a small, friendly smile.
"I doubt even Collins told you the worst of what we've been through, right?"
"He's kinda secretive, yeah," Julia agreed. "But I guess I know why… he had to hide his whole life from the faulty at school. I was the only one who saw how miserable he was."
"How did you manage that?" it was Mark's turn to question. "How'd you see that?"
"Well, he didn't hide it well. I spent so much time with him and stuff; I mean it was pretty obvious. I don't know. He's just so different here… like I don't know him, but I'm still familiar with him," she paused and let out a small, sardonic chuckle. "I know how fucked up that probably sounds…"
Mark shrugged and shook his head. "No I get it. Trust me, around here you'll find things aren't as strange as they may seem anywhere else."
"I gathered that."
"Then you have nothing to worry about." Mark thought for a moment before adding, "You fit in here more than you know."
Julia seemed to relax a bit more at that comment, as if it was some sort of positive reassurance that she was somewhere safe… somewhere comforting… somewhere where she felt most at home.
"I get it; I do… now," she replied. "Where I'm from… no one understands me. But that's nothing compared to the idea that there are people like you out there who society itself doesn't understand. That's gotta suck."
"Not really," Mark smiled. "Never really cared… I don't think any of them did either."
Just then the elevator came to an abrupt halt causing a slight jerking motion in which Julia was forced to grab the hand rail to keep from falling over, and Mark instinctively reached out and gently grabbed her by her shoulders and she held his arm for extra support.
"Thanks," she muttered.
"No problem…"
The doors opened and Julia regained her composure and gave Mark an affirmative smile, letting him know she was okay, and together they stepped off the elevator and into the corridor. It was going into the evening, and fast approaching five-thirty in the afternoon and Mark was already feeling the heaviness of his eye lids, and trying to resist the force that's pulling them closed. Julia walked quickly a few steps behind him and almost jumped back in shock when she felt his warm hand clamp around her wrist and Mark pulled her forward so she walked beside him.
"So what you gonna do first?" she asked, wanting to know his 'plan of action'.
"Tell them," was his instant reply. "See what they wanna do about it…"
"But what about Alexi?"
"What about her?"
"Didn't you say—"
"Look, we'll just take it a step at a time, okay?"
"Fine!"
Julia decided not to push it further and trusted Mark's judgment over her own when it came to this matter. Staring intently down the corridor, her heart almost came to a complete stop when she saw someone standing by the pay phone come into focus and the recognition of his face became more evident. She stopped dead in her tracks.
"What is it?" Mark asked, confused, turning around when he realized that she was no longer at his side.
"Fuck!" she hissed and looked around for any hiding spot, but it was too late. Professor Devon McAdams was looking in her direction and had already started towards them both. Mark looked back and forth between her and McAdams as he approached confused at Julia's startled and even borderline horrified expression and was slightly amused by it. But Julia was far from amused and became even more desperate for some sort of escape route – there was only one reason as to why he would be there, and it wasn't that hard to connect the dots… Collins' conduct with her would surely be called into question. McAdams didn't look too pleased.
"Ms. Sampson!"
"Uh…" she looked to Mark for help, but he was just blank as to what was going on. She wasn't gonna get any help from him.
"Professor McAdams… didn't expect you here."
"I could say the same thing about you," he replied with a touch of contempt and narrowed his eyes. "But I won't, since I already have a fair idea as to why you are here…"
Silently, she was struggling to keep her cool under the glaring heat of McAdams' eyes that were locked onto her.
"And what idea is that, sir?" she played naive.
"Professor Collins."
With another quick glance at Mark, Julia felt her heart slamming against her chest with renewed force.
"What about him?"
With a frustrated sigh, Professor McAdams shifted his weight and contained the rage he was feeling.
"Perhaps you and I should go somewhere more private to discuss this matter…"
"No, sir," she replied, firmly. "We can discuss this now. What's the problem?"
"There have been allegations made that you and Professor Collins have engaged in an inappropriate personal relationship, and—"
"What!" Mark suddenly burst out, in shock. No way – he didn't just say that! Both of them just wanted to burst out laughing, and were coming close to doing so. Collins and Julia? Wow… that was just a more shocking idea than it was funny, for obvious reasons. "You gotta be kidding me!"
Devon gave him a dirty look. "Who is this?" he asked Julia.
"He's a friend, sir," Julia gained more confidence by the second. Mark would back her up if she needed it.
"And those allegations are totally ridiculous! The Professor and I are just friends is all. To say that anything inappropriate—" she stopped to keep herself from losing control. Now, she was just more pissed off that such assumptions would be made and allegations made against her friend.
"Sir," she started again… this time, slightly calmer. "I assure you, Tom Collins and I are just friends; he's helped me out through some personally hard times, that's all. We consider each other friends only. Besides, he's—!"
"Julia!" Mark quickly interjected, staring her down. She could see the slight shaking of his head and knew what he meant…
Devon raised an eyebrow.
"He's what, Ms. Sampson?"
"He's, um…" she stumbled on her own words. "He's already involved with someone anyway. But again there is nothing there!"
The look on the Professor's face told them both that he didn't really believe her, but he didn't have a choice but to not pursue the issue, given that there was no evidence suggesting any conduct that was unprofessional on the part of his colleague. And that pissed him off. He wanted just one tiny reason to get rid of Collins… he never like him and his totally un-conservative attitude and theories. Instead he just shook his head.
"Ms. Sampson, you and I will need to talk further about this," he warned. "This isn't going to be let go quite so easily."
"Well you do what you gotta do, sir. Waste you're time and investigate. There's nothing there… so whatever vendetta you got against Tom, you can just shove it!" she replied, in an equally dark tone, and stepped around him and walked away. Mark quickly followed, and they both left Professor McAdams standing there, dumbfounded and stewing in his own anger.
"What the hell was that about?" Mark demanded to know as they rounded the corner on their way to find their friends. "Who's he?"
"A professor at MIT."
"Oh. What's going on between him and Collins?"
"McAdams is ultra-conservative. You do the math."
"He doesn't know Collins is gay?"
"Nope. Which begs the questions – why did you stop me from telling him?"
"I just figured that if he didn't know… which apparently he didn't… then it's not your place to say a damn thing about it."
"True…"
Mark eyed her, cautiously. "You okay?"
"What?"
"You seem pretty shaken up that's all."
"I'm fine, Mark. Really. Just not looking forward to seeing the condition Angel's in."
"Yeah, I know. It's pretty bad."
A few moments later, they approached Angel's room to see Maureen and Joanne sitting just outside – Maureen was sleeping, with her head on her girlfriend's shoulder, while Joanne was silently flipping through a magazine, but looked up when she heard footsteps approaching, and smiled when she recognized Mark.
"Hey!" she greeted them, putting the magazine down, but didn't stand up. "Where've you been?"
"Everywhere," Mark replied, dejectedly. "And nowhere. Seriously, long story… I'll tell ya later… Did we miss anything special?"
"Umm… you could say that," she replied and then looked past him at Julia. "Hey… Julia, right?"
"Yeah."
"Hey… Collins has been asking about you."
Julia put her bag down on a chair. "He has?"
"Yeah. You guys missed some action…"
"How's Angel?" Mark remembered his immediate concern. Joanne's face softened and she then seemed saddened… uncertain.
"He woke up."
"What!"
"Don't," she held her hands up defensively. "Don't get too excited… he's asleep again. He could only open his eyes, he couldn't move because of the anesthesia or whatever. But he's stable, the doctors say. Waking up was a good sign."
"How's Collins?" Julia also queried, looking over at the closed door to Angel's room. "How's he doing?"
"Not good," Joanne admitted. "Roger and Mimi came out about five minutes ago… they're down at the cafeteria… apparently something went down with one of Collins' colleagues or whatever… a guy came out of the room a few minutes before them, he seemed pissed off…"
Julia's breath caught in her throat and a sudden urge of anger swept through her body for Devon McAdams and the insensitivity of that son of a bitch for what was going on.
"That fucker…" she muttered. Her anger wasn't lost on Mark or Joanne, and they glanced nervously at each other. She looked up.
"What happened?"
"Roger said something about Collins having to give a speech or whatever… that MIT suspects something is going on between him and you," Joanne told Julia. "Roger and Mimi said he seems pretty shaken up about it… he wants to be alone with Angel for a bit."
"No kidding," Mark agreed. "Roger and Mims are in the cafeteria?"
"Uh-huh…"
Mark thought on the spot for a moment… things were gonna get even worse for Collin and Angel should they know what he and Julia had been through in the past few hours. No… this would have to be concealed from them for now. Well, it's not like Angel could get it anyway, but with Collins it was a different story – he probably wouldn't appreciate this kind of thing right now anyway, even if it meant that Sam and Julian would get what was coming to them.
MEANWHILE, WITH COLLINS
Sitting there alone to scuffle through his thoughts and ponder all the available options… normally it would seem like a no-brainer – he wouldn't leave Angel. But there were broader implications to this problem, too… it would be a chance for Collins to finally move on and put the past behind him, including MIT – for him to return to his home, where he belonged, with his friends and Angel. And maybe it would let him let go of all the guilt and blame for himself that he had inside, that couldn't and wouldn't dissipate on its own accord unless Collins took some sort of action that would basically liberate him of all the bad decisions and choices he had made during the past few months.
He gently toyed with Angel's fingers in his hand, periodically planting soft kisses on them; feeling the tender soft skin between his lips kept the hope lit in him self that Angel would wake up and recover… that he would come back to them all. He wasn't feeling as heavy anymore, and had wanted to spend more time alone with his lover… it was a peaceful, yet somber, atmosphere in that room, where even more machines and breathing aids were attached to Angel's veins and providing him with the only source of life that his own body would otherwise fail to provide on its own.
Thinking about Devon McAdams' ultimatum, there were pros and cons that were prominent for both scenarios. Collins could go to this republican benefit and give this speech that would pander to the conservative contributors, students, faculty, and board members of MIT… and basically lie through his teeth about politics which 1) he didn't care about, and 2) his whole lifestyle and beliefs were firmly antagonistic to… but it would allow him to put his past and his guilt behind him and move forward. Or, on the other hand, he could stay with Angel and lose his job while the board launched an investigation into his conduct with Julia, and thus uncover his whole life and background for themselves and thus make assumptions and allegations that would be false and blown out of proportion. But he didn't care what they thought or did… he'd be with Angel no matter what happened. It was a delicate situation no doubt, and there was no other space in his head that focused on anything else but this particular issue. Collins had promised never to leave Angel's side again, nor his friends, especially for the sake of his career… sure he needed the money, but not at the price that it had cost him a few months earlier.
"You don't make this easy, baby…" he whispered to Angel with a small, saddened chuckle.
"It ain't getting any better… you have no idea what you've done to me. Done to us."
Fingering the edge of the soft bandages that were wrapped around the knife wound on Angel's hand, Collins pouted and thought back to the first New Years they had shared together, when Benny had padlocked the loft and Angel broke through it. The strength yet femininity and good-natured humour of his personality that gave them just that little bit more hope for the New Year… Collins could only pray that there was still that strength, after everything, left in him. Even for Angel, it would be hard-pressed to expect him to be as he was… but who knows with our lovely drag queen.
"You gotta come back, Ang," he continued. "I can't do this without you. I told you I wouldn't leave you again; I promised you… but, I… this is the one chance I got left to get us past all of this. Even if it means leaving your side for just a bit—" he stopped himself before he could be totally convinced by his own argument that going ahead with the speech would be the right thing to do.
"I just… I don't know what to do, you know? I mean… fuck!" he cried out, exasperated. "I have no idea…"
He gently brought Angel's hand up to his mouth and kissed it again, in a seductive manner that had always been a favourite tender moment for Angel… a simple gesture that proved love beyond anything and total devotion. Wanting Angel to respond so badly, Collins kept his eyes locked on his bruised, cut, and bandaged face… which was unflinching – not so much as even a muscle twitching or a flicker of the eyelashes.
"Just give me some idea of what to do. Cause honestly, I'm going insane… going insane because I can't hold you like I used to. Can't watch you dance and sing around the loft with the energy of twenty people. Can't see your smile. Can't watch you and Mimi go crazy over your new clothes… Can't kiss you and feel the same passion back. Can't make love to you. And now that asshole of a boss of mine comes here telling me that the only choice I have with them is to leave your side for a cause that goes against everything I am… everything we are. Things couldn't get any worse, right? Everything's so shitty… and it don't seem to be getting any better, baby."
Collins smirked and sat back, yawning. He was certain that Angel could hear every word he was saying, and that was the only sense of comfort he could draw from this miserable situation. "Well whatever happens…"'
Then, he suddenly felt something grasping gently at his hand, and looked down to see Angel's fingers moving slowly across his skin. Feeling somewhat awakened, Collins' eyes widened and he let out a small gasp and pulled his seat closer to the bed.
"Angel! You awake!"
Of course, no verbal or audible sound could Angel make to confirm Collins' hope, except the single movement of his fingers that still felt completely numb because of the intense anesthesia. Angel's eyes started moving, Collins could see, those his eyelids remained closed. Just six hours out of surgery, any sort of movement would only be viewed upon as a positive step… now just how far the recovery would extend was a different question entirely.
"Angel!"
Not being able to think or understand anything around him, there was no possible way Angel could acknowledge the presence of his lover… and it was taking time. But Collins held his breath and tenderly rubbed Angel's chest, careful not to disturb any of the machines or tubes that gave him life.
"Baby? Open your eyes… come on, something… let me know you're okay…" Collins was almost pleading for some form of communication from Angel, but it was getting him no where. Minutes passed. Angel continued to move his fingers and struggled to open his eyes, but he was definitely waking up.
"Shit…" Collins looked to the door and debated whether to go get a nurse or a doctor or something. Instead, he stayed glued to Angel's side, holding his hand and whispering comforting, soothing words.
"Come on Ang… come on…" he wetted his dried lips and could feel the sweat dampening his forehead under the glare of the fluorescent light. It was at that moment when the room door opened, and in stepped Emily who wheeled in a small tray of medical instruments, and behind her a middle-aged, friendly-looking doctor came into the room. Collins wiped his eyes and stood up, his attention diverted from Angel's progress. The woman doctor smiled at him.
"Hello, Mr. Collins," she greeted. Emily also said a quick hello, but noticed the distressed look on his face.
"Tom, what's wrong?" she asked.
"He's waking up again," Collins told the doctor, quickly stepping aside and ushering her to Angel's bedside.
"He – he moved his fingers, and his eyes!"
The doctor put the stethoscope to her ears and put the end of it against Angel's chest, carefully listening to the heart beat which was at a normal rate, before taking the stethoscope off and taking a small light from her pocket.
"Since when?" she demanded to know.
"Just a few seconds ago," he replied, needing to sit back down before his legs gave out. "I… I saw it…"
The doctor, Doctor Amelia Patterson, carefully opened Angel's right eye with her fingers and shone the light into it, checking for any signs that Angel was indeed waking. For Angel, all he could see was a blur of white light shining in one of his eyes and he couldn't resist it.
Doctor Patterson then did the same with Angel's other eye and gestured for Emily to hand her a syringe. Emily opened the sterile bag containing the needle and attached it to the main body of the syringe which was filled with a clear substance, all the while Collins was keeping a close eye on what they were doing.
"What's happening!" he asked.
"It's medication… kinda the opposite of a sedative."
"You mean it wakes him up?"
"Not exactly. It's a pain manager while not having the depressive effects of a sedative. I'm surprised he's waking up, so don't be surprised if he falls back asleep… the only time we'll really be able to get an idea if he'll make a full recovery is when he awakes. It'll take some time," Amelia explained and tapped the side of the injection before inserting the needle into the end of one of the small tubes that ran into Angel's vein.
"Is he okay?"
"We'll see…"
Collins fidgeted in his seat and watched to see if there was any sort of physical reaction to what the doctor was doing, however Angel's movement remained very limited. The desire to want Angel to see him and respond to his touches and kisses was overwhelming, and it was painful to see such a beautiful soul so restricted and only alive because of machines…
"Well," the doctor spoke. "He's waking up…"
"Can he hear us? Does he know what's going on?" Collins stood up.
"Well I'm sure he can hear just fine… as far as knowing what's going on, I don't think so. He's heavily medicated. His vitals are fine, so just sit and talk with him," Doctor Patterson instructed, finishing up her physical examination of Angel and then turned around to face Collins.
"It'll help him a lot if you do. I'm sorry, I can't give you any definitive answers just yet. Now it's just a matter of waiting to see what happens."
Not able to speak for fear of breaking down, Collins simply nodded and agreed to her terms, knowing that she made more sense then any of his fucked up ideas or logic. But still… sitting there and just waiting was Angel to either live or die wasn't the most pleasant experience.
After the doctor and Emily left, Collins sat on the bed again.
"Ang? You hearing me, right? I'm going no where, k?"
Angel's eyes opened ever so slightly, but could see nothing but a haze of colours mixing together.
"Ang? Baby?"
Hearing Collins voice was the only thing keeping him awake, and his lover could see the effort he was putting in to wake up.
Finally, after a few more minutes of struggling against the medicine and his own body's desires to sleep some more, Angel opened his eyes and let them focus. Collins breathed the first sigh of relief in days and relaxed only somewhat, and stared into the dark brown eyes of his lover, but could not read them as he once used to. Angel was, at this moment, unreadable… who knows what this latest tragedy has done to him.
IN THE CAFETERIA
Mimi, Roger, Maureen, and Joanne stared at Mark and Julia with blank faces, finding it hard to process the information they had just been given. Mark happened to conveniently catch Julian's confession on tape? What the fuck? That kind of thing only happens in really bad movies, right? But apparently Mark had the goods, and…
"Are you serious?" Roger asked, not wanting to believe it. It couldn't be this simple… Sam and Julian weren't the reckless types, they were always careful…
"I called Alexi Darling at Buzzline," Mark continued, and just as Maureen started to get up and protest, he held his hand up.
"She's just a backup. Guys, we got them nailed. I don't see what the problem is."
"Mark, have you considered how dangerous they are?" Joanne pointed out. "I mean, I've dealt with a lot of junkies and drug dealers… when they're cornered… it could make things worse."
"Yeah," Mimi chimed in. "And what'd you think they're gonna do? Roll over and confess?"
Mark had anticipated the hesitation of his friends and they're concerns were justified – Sam can be very dangerous as can Julian (as Angel found out), especially when they are cornered… they lash out and take out those who stand in their way – a common method for many criminals.
"Well I had to do something!" he defended himself. "Look, the cops aren't doing anything. Angel is still in danger so long as they're still out there and they know he could talk if and when he wakes up."
"Mark, you haven't been getting into Mimi's stash have you?" Roger's usual cynicism and sarcasm broke through.
"Hey!" Mimi swatted his arm, though wasn't actually offended. She really was trying to get off, and she was… slowly. Mark rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall, playing with his camera.
"You come up with a better idea, man," he retorted.
"Not saying it's not a good idea," Roger explained. "But don't forget we kinda got the problem of Collins having to be dragged back to MIT, and Angel is barely alive in that hospital room thanks to those assholes. How you plan to deal with that?"
"I don't. I called Alexi just in case we need her. I don't like selling out."
"Well I think it's a good idea!" Maureen exclaimed, suddenly changing her tune. Roger, Mimi and Joanne stared at her, and she stood up and hopped over to stand next to Mark.
"Oh come ON guys! Mark totally went all out and risked himself, we should appreciate him!"
Maureen? Appreciating someone else's efforts? That comment alone was enough to take them all by surprise, including Mark. Noticing the surprised looks she was getting, she rolled her eyes.
"What? You think I don't got a heart?"
"Oh you got a heart alright, honey," Joanne replied, amused. "Just didn't know it expanded enough for anyone other than you!"
Maureen gave her an evil look. "I'm serious! Angel's in trouble and I wanna get the fuckers who almost took him away from us. You know I'm right!"
Mimi chewed on some gum while thinking what could be done… Mark had done good by risking his own life to take that next step in punishing Sam and Julian for what they done. The strange thing was though, they weren't about punishment… this was about saving Angel, not punishing them… but if saving Angel meant finding a way to get Sam and Julian off the streets for good, then that's what they had to go with.
"Why don't we just call the cops or something?" she asked.
"Yeah," Joanne added. "With the bad publicity the hospital has gotten from Angel getting attacked, and with the footage you got, Mark – they'll have to do something."
"I know," Mark agreed. "But Angel doesn't have that much time… Sam and Julian and their gang disappears whenever they want… do you think the city is gonna waste the time and energy giving justice to Angel?"
That was an issue that couldn't be ignored and they all knew it – street justice wasn't usually their forte. After all, our group of bohemians are just content with trying to survive on their own terms without having to worry about someone else's intrusion. Unfortunately now they didn't have that luxury.
"Well whatever we do, it's not like we got a lot of choices here…"
"Yeah, I think we get that Rog!" Maureen dismissed his comment.
"Uh-huh…"
"Guys, shut up!" Mimi snapped. "It's getting us nowhere, you know?"
All the while, Julia had remained silent to their bickering and their voicing of concerns and it was clear just how close this group was. Never before had she felt more like an outsider than she did now... another common quality she shared with Mark. In their own worlds they just looked from the outside to what was happening around them.
"I think whatever we do, we shouldn't tell Collins. Not just yet," she finally inserted her opinion into the mix.
"And your theory behind that is…?" Roger prompted her with more sarcasm, and Mimi nudged him.
"He doesn't need to deal with it now. You say he's got this speech thing to do, right? And that's probably tearing him up cause it means he has to leave Angel. Let's just keep this down for a bit, okay?" with each word she spoke, Julia became more firmer and determined to see this through.
Mimi stood up.
"I'm just gonna… wait here. Just gotta do something."
AUTHOR'S NOTES: in the next chapter, Mimi goes to see Collins and helps him come to a decision. Mark and Roger go find Sam and Julian.
Sorry it took me so long for another chapter, but I lost my motivation for a while. Anyway, new chapter up as soon as possible, thanks for all the amazing reviews. Please not that I was half asleep when I wrote most of this chapter, so I do apologise if some bits don't make sense or you notice any characterization flaws or whatever, I'll fix them as soon as possible.