Chapter Thirteen

"What do we have?" a doctor rushed out from the automatic doors leading to the actual emergency room.

"Twenty-eight year old female fell down the stairs at home. No obvious broken bones, no breathing difficulties, remains unconscious," Ava rattled off.

"Let's get her in Exam One," the doctor said.

"Exam One's occupied, sir," another orderly said.

"Then get the patient out. Put them in one of the cubicles. He wants her in Exam One," Ava argued.

"Sure," the response came back.

Rocky mouthed a silent 'thank you' to Ava who just nodded.

He led Bastian over to a couple of empty chairs in the waiting room where Bastian sat. Jagger wasn't far behind and he did the same.

"She's gonna be fine, bro," Rocky said encouragingly.

"I just don't know what happened," Bastian said, shaking his head.

"I think maybe she---" Jagger started, but seeing the look in Rocky's eyes, stopped.

"I'm sure she just lost her balance, B, she'll be fine. Ava will take good care of her," Rocky reassured him.

Bastian and Jagger sat while Rocky stood in silence as they waited for news.

"Mercer, I need you to draw some labs on the patient in Exam One," the doctor said.

"I'm on it. Just the general?" she asked.

"Yes and let me know if or when she regains consciousness."

"Yes sir."

She walked over to the room Cris was in and knocked on the door, not knowing if she had regained consciousness. Opening it, she sighed, seeing that Cris was still out.

Closing the door behind her, she pulled up the stool next to the bed and sat there a minute.

"God, Cris, what did you do?" she whispered to herself.

She heard a slight moan, then studied Cris's face. She seemed to be rousing for there were signs of pain on her face.

"Cris?" she tried. "Cris, can you hear me?"

"My God, did I just get hit by a train?" Cris groaned.

Ava smiled. This was definitely the Cris she knew.

"No, doll, you just had a nasty fall. We're gonna get some blood from you just to make sure everything's okay," Ava explained.

"Where…where am I?" Cris didn't seem to recognize her surroundings.

"Cris, you're in the hospital. Rocky and Bastian brought you in."

"What about…what about Jagger? Where's…where's Jagger?" she asked.

"Who?" Ava was confused.

"Can I see my cousin?" Cris asked.

"As soon as I draw your blood and the doctor sees you, yes, I will send him back," Ava answered.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Now, let's get this blood drawn."

Five minutes later, Ava was done and she left the room, leaving Cris to her thoughts.

"Dr. Adams," Ava started. "Miss Garcia is awake."

"Thank you, Mercer. You can bring her family back. I'll be in to examine her in a second."

"Yes sir." Ava answered.

With that, she made her way out to the waiting room to tell the guys the good news.

Bastian was still sitting with Jagger and Rocky was on the phone when Ava walked out.

Rocky saw her first and motioned for her to join him.

"Hey, what's the word?" he asked.

"She's awake," Ava began, then, seeing Rocky's raised eyebrows, she couldn't help herself. "What?"

He gestured for her to walk with him.

"What's going on, Rocky? Something you need to tell me?"

Rocky sighed.

"Did you draw blood?" he asked.

"Always do."

"I need you to do me a favor. Under the radar, so to speak."

"What's up," she was sympathetic.

"I need you to see if she has Morphine in her system," he said, running his hand over his bald head as he often did when he was upset.

"What? Cris?" she was shocked.

"I think she might be using again. Do NOT say anything to Bastian or Cris, though. If you could just do this for me, it'd be great. I'd owe you big time."

"Aight," she said, shaking her head. "What happens if you find out she is?"

Rocky sighed again.

"I haven't gotten that far," he admitted.

"Well, if it comes to it, if you need help, you know all you have to do is ask," Ava offered.

"Thanks."

"She awake?" Bastian had located them and joined them.

"Yes, yeah, she's awake. And Dr. Adams has said that you may come back and see her," Ava answered.

"Great, so can we go?" Bastian was eager to go see Cris.

"Sure, I'll walk you back," turning to Rocky, she added, "and I'll do that thing you asked."

"Thanks again," he replied.

"What thing?" Bastian asked.

"Oh, Rocky just asked me to make sure Cris got extra special attention, that's all," Ava covered.

"Oh, Ava, I know you'll take good care of Cris regardless. Shall we?" Bastian gestured.

"Most definitely. I know she'll be glad to see you."

Rocky watched as Bastian followed Ava back into the emergency room to where Cris was.

Once he was alone again, he started thinking. He hoped in his heart that Cris wasn't using again. But those actions, the reaction she'd had to Johnny being in the house, he couldn't shake them.

"God, Cris, tell me you're not. Bastian couldn't take it if you were," he said to himself under his breath.

Cris was sitting up in bed when Ava and Bastian entered the room.

"You look better," Ava commented.

"Thanks," Cris replied.

"How do you FEEL?" Bastian asked, putting emphasis on the last word.

"I feel like I've just been hit by a Mac truck, but other than that, I feel fine," she smiled.

"Hey, Ava, could you, um, give us a sec?" Bastian asked.

Ava was quick to pick up on the look Bastian was giving her. So was Cris, unfortunately.

"Sure," Ava answered.

Closing the door behind her, Bastian turned back to Cris.

"What now, Bastian?" she asked, not wanting to get into this right now.

"I just want you to talk to me, Cris. I just want to know what's going on."

"Nothing is going on, Bastian. Nothing ever was going on. Not until…" he cut her off.

"Not until Jagger showed up. Shit, Cris, the boy's only been in town less than 24 hours and already you're in the hospital because of him," Bastian argued.

"Whoa. Hold it. First off, THIS," she gestured to the hospital room she was in, "is not his fault. Secondly, the shit that went down at the house, was not caused by him. In fact, none of this shit is because of him," she retorted.

"Oh really? So you mean you DIDN'T pull your gun on Lance, which brought Johnny around, because of Jagger? And all the shit that put you in here wasn't because of Johnny? I'd say your definition of 'not his fault' needs to be revised," Bastian argued.

"Fine, whatever, do we have to do this now? Here? Can this wait 'till we get home?" she was starting to get a headache.

"No, damnit, this CANNOT wait. What's with you all of s sudden, Cris? It's like you've turned into this completely different person since Jagger came to town."

"Jagger, Jagger, Jagger. Blame it all on him, right?" Cris started to get out of bed. She wasn't going to listen to this.

"Cris, stop, you're not going to get better if you try to leave."

"Oh, so now you're worried?" she threw her hands up in the air. "NOW, now that I'm trying to leave; now that I'm not trying to hear the BULLSHIT you're telling me, now you want to be concerned. Well guess what, Bastian Morgan, you can go to hell."

She had gotten dressed as she was yelling and had no sooner put her hand on the doorknob than she collapsed again. Bastian managed to catch her inches before her head would've hit the linoleum floor.

Ava rushed in the door. Seeing Bastian holding Cris, she quickly grabbed Cris's feet and helped him get her back on the gurney.

"What the hell happened?" she practically yelled.

"We were talking," Ava raised her eyebrows, "okay, yelling. She was getting upset and got dressed and was going to leave when she collapsed, AGAIN."

"Bastian!" she yelled at him.

"What? I needed answers," he replied.

"Out! Now! The last thing Cris needs right now is to be upset. And if that's what you're gonna do, then you need to leave," Ava explained.

Just then Dr. Adams entered Cris's room. Seeing Cris unconscious once again, he looked at Bastian.

"Sir, I need you to leave. My patient needs to remain calm, and, according to the patient next door, that is the last thing she was a moment ago. So, I'm sorry, but I have to ask you to leave," Dr. Adams repeated.

"With all due respect, Doc, this is my only family that I have, so if you don't mind…" Bastian started, but Dr. Adams cut him off.

"Son, I DO mind. If you don't want any permanent damage done to your only family member, then you will leave and let me do what it is I need to do to fix her," Dr. Adams stated matter-of-factly.

Ava had stepped out a few moments into the exchange between Dr. Adams and Bastian. She immediately went out to get Rocky.

Seeing him, she walked over to where he stood and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Rocky, you need to come back here, now," he could hear the urgency in her voice.

"What's going on?" he questioned.

"I need you to get Bastian out of there," Ava said quickly.

"Why? What aren't you telling me, Ava?"

She sighed, knowing Rocky knew her too well. He could always tell when she was hiding something. It came from the fact that they had a romantic past. Sometimes she hated it.

"Cris is unconscious again. I let Bastian in there to talk to her, to see her, and they got into an argument. She went to leave and with her heightened stress level, she fell unconscious again," Ava shook her head.

"All right. I'll get him outta there," Rocky agreed.

They both walked to the back to Cris's room. Once there, they could both see the argument between Dr. Adams and Bastian.

"I'm not going to leave my cousin. She needs me."

"What she needs, young man, is to recover from her injuries. And with you arguing with her, that does not help. So, if you don't go willingly, I WILL have security escort you out," Dr. Adams replied.

"Bastian, bro, let the doctor do what he does. Ava's here, she won't let anything happen to Cris. But right now, man, it might just be best to let Cris recover," Rocky agreed.

"I'll go. But only because I prefer going on my own compared to going in cuffs or with an escort," Bastian conceded.

Ava mouthed a silent 'thank you' to Rocky when Bastian wasn't looking. He nodded before walking out behind Bastian.

Once outside Cris's room, Rocky looked at Bastian.

"What the fuck are you thinkin', bro?"
"Can we wait until we get to the waiting room at least?" Bastian asked.

Rocky remained silent until they walked to the other side of the automatic doors.

"So now you wanna explain yourself?" Rocky was slowly stewing.

"Why does it matter?" Bastian retorted.

"Why does it…what? How the hell can you ask me that question. You know I care about Cris just as much as you. What the fuck's going on, Bastian?"

"Where's Jagger?" Bastian tried to change the subject.

"Don't pull that 'change the subject' bullshit on me right now, aight?" Rocky retorted.

Bastian spotted Jagger standing outside and began to walk in that direction.

"Bastian, where…? What the fuck?" Rocky walked after him.

He caught up to Bastian as he approached Jagger, who was smoking.

"Hey, man, you got an extra?" Bastian asked.

"You don't smoke," Rocky commented.

"Rocky, do me a favor and fuck off, okay? I don't need your shit right now," Bastian retorted.

"Fuck off? Your fucking cousin is once again unconscious because of your ass, and you act like not a damn thing's goin on. You don't smoke, yet you asked Jagger here for a cigarette. You won't talk, but you wann pick a fight? And with me, of all people, someone as close to you as a fucking brother? What the fuck?" Rocky was both pissed and confused.

"You know what I think? I think everyone here need to get off my fucking case! You, Ava, that damn doctor," Bastian rattled off on his fingers. "Plus, Cris is fuckin' pissed at me for God only knows what reason. Then she starts to leave and passes out again in my fucking arms practically. So excuse me if I need something to calm my damn nerves, and the only thing I can find is a GODDAMN CIGARETTE!" Bastian yelled.

"You know what you need to fucking do? You need to calm your ass down! 'Cause Cris ain't gonna get better on her own, bro. She's gonna need some help, some family support. And you're the only one that can give it to her. 'Cause you're the only fucking family she's got!" the more he thought about how fucked up the situation was, the more pissed he got.

Bastian was sick of Rocky trying to tell him what he needed to do. He finally reeled back and punched Rocky in the jaw.

Rocky's head reeled back from the impact and he stood there stunned for a moment before laying into Bastian.

Jagger watched as the two men in front of him went at one another with their fists. He stood there, smoking his cigarette, letting them battle it out.

"Bastian, what the…" Rocky tried to get out, but Bastian landed another blow.

"Leave my family problems out of this, Rico! Leave Cris out of this, hell, leave everyone I ever fucking cared about out of this! Just go back to turning wrenches at some hole-in-the-wall garage and get out of our lives!" Bastian was yelling.

Jagger could tell what Bastian had just said had hurt Rocky in a way he hadn't thought possible. What he wasn't expecting was that Rocky had reeled back with all the strength he had and caught Bastian's jaw as well as his stomach in a one-two punch. The blows sent Bastian to the asphalt.

"Take it back, motherfucker," Rocky seethed. "Take it back."Bastian stared at Rocky in awe. He'd never before seen Rocky like this. He realized he'd gone too far and broke down.

"Rocky, man, I'm…" he broke and let the tears fall.

"Bastian, bro, it's okay. I know you didn't mean the shit you said. I know you're just upset over the shit going on with Cris. But, man, you've GOT to get your shit together, 'cause you ain't no good to her like this," Rocky replied.

Jagger watched as Rocky became the "older brother" figure to Bastian, who let his walls down and openly weeped, if only for a minute. God, he missed those days between him and Lise. He swore then and there to avenge her death, no matter how long it took.