Leon coldly walked past the now dead squirrel and towards his sisters' room. The guard that was stationed there made to step in his way eliciting a hiss and baring of teeth from Leon. "Get out of my way." The guard at first stayed put as Leon tensed, ready to do whatever he needed to get past the mammal before with a quick glance up, the guard moved out of his way.
Not questioning why the sudden change, he opened the door to his sister's room. As he walked in there were mammals surrounding her bed, her shirt had been cut off of her and areas of her chest fur had been shaved to place large pads on her right shoulder and left side, along with the smaller sticky circles with wires leading away from all of them. He walked in just in time to hear the sound of a building high pitched tone. When it stopped, he looked at Meredith to try and figure out what was happening. To him it was almost like he was watching the scene outside of himself. Perhaps a bad dream.
As he looked at her, her paw finger moved to a machine to her right and when the other doctor said "Shock," Meredith tapped the button and his sisters body went rigid for a moment before relaxing.
Meredith watched the monitor for a few moments and visibly relaxed. "Sinus rhythm." Her paw left the device when she finally noticed Leon had come in. "Leon, you should wait outside, I'll be right out." When he didn't move she looked back at the other doctor.
"Go ahead Meredith, I think we can handle it from here." He was prepping an intubation setup with one of the nurses, as another nurse held Elizabeth's muzzle, keeping her in a position that would prevent her from swallowing her own tongue.
Meredith nodded, removing gloves that Leon hadn't even noticed he was wearing. As she walked over to him she gripped his arm firmly but at the same time gently and pulled him towards the door, against his resistance as he kept trying to see his sister until the door shut behind them. The sound of which seemed to snap Leon out of the stupor he had entered. "What just happened."
Breathing in deeply she slid her paw into his. "Your sister was poisoned as you know. For this one there is no antidote. We just have to keep her alive until the poison works its way out. We can speed that up with IV fluids. But we didn't know until her symptoms had progressed. She wasn't breathing for a little bit there, and we had to shock her back into a good heart rhythm. That's what you just watched us do. Now she is back into what is ok but before you came in she also had a seizure so we don't know if there was any damage to her brain."
Every doctor at some point in their career has to have difficult conversations with patients or their family. She has had to tell parents that their children had passed, or children that their parents had passed. Spouses the same. It was never easy, but when you are telling someone that you cared about that a family member may not be ok, this was new and much harder to do. "The doctor is going to keep her in a coma for a few days. This should help us to protect her from further damage, and she will be monitored for more seizures. She's stable Leon, but not out of the woods. Security will be stepped up, no new nurses and another guard will be set in her room with her."
Leon nodded; his posture stiff as he digested the situation. Relying on his training to remain as calm as he was rather than breaking down into the anger that he felt. The squirrel had been covered with a sheet while a hippo from the ZPD talked with the tiger about what had occurred. The hippo looked over at Leon and Meredith before nodding at the tiger and approaching them.
"I'm going to need a statement about what happened." His booming deep voice felt like a pressure in Leon's ears.
"I cornered her, she faked being innocent. She knew she was caught and tried to get away, we found the empty vial of poison she used in her pocket. Chomped down and now she's dead." Leon gave the hippo a cold stair. "And my sister might be next thanks to that filthy rodent." A bit of his speciesist upbringing showing itself in his anger. It wasn't that be believed that any species was better than another, but in the heat of anger his mind fell back on old ways.
He caught the flinch from Meredith whom was standing next to him, it was a loosening of the grip on his paw that he felt more than saw. It registered in him as a feeling of regret before he sighed. "I'm sorry officer. That was the short version, perhaps tomorrow I could come to he station and give a proper statement? Unless you feel you need to arrest me."
The hippo had given him a gruff look at the terse level of the skunk's statement. "Tomorrow than." Turning to head back to a tech that had arrived to process the scene and help the medical examiner take the body of the squirrel away once pictures were taken.
Leon had an overwhelming need to leave, he wanted out of the hospital. He turned to Meredith who at this point was giving him a look of concern and perhaps disappointment. "Meredith I'm … " She released his paw with her own. "Not here." Leading the way back to the elevator Leon could tell by her posture that she was tense. As they road the elevator down he searched for a way to apologize for what he had said to the officer.
Meredith was in motion the instant the elevator door opened, nearly marching her way out of the main door and then waiting for Leon to follow her away from the hospital before she turned around on him, ears back, tail strait. "What the hell Leon?"
"Look Meredith, I didn't mean what I said. I wont excuse it or try … "
"Not that Leon. You just chased down a random nurse and cornered her in my hospital and then, and then … now shes dead Leon." Her eyes were locked on his searching him for some reaction. "I know you aren't from here but that is not how things are done."
"And did what we find change how my sister was treated?" His voice stern.
"No it did not. It was already too late to make any difference. But … "
"I see and if someone had listened to her in the first place about that nurse could it have?" He asked again, his voice still stern.
"Maybe, I don't know. But you didn't know for sure it was her. We have other squirrels on staff, your sister could have been wrong, you could have been wrong." Her paws were open wide. "What if you had hurt her and she wasn't what you thought she was?"
"I knew she was guilty of something Meredith." Leon said confidently.
"How the hell could you know that. She was just standing there." Meredith was stressed, overly so and at the end of what she could take all at once. The last couple of hours were well outside of anything she would normally have to work with.
"Tells, the way she stood, the way she kept eyes just on that room when we walked out. The fact that all of the other nurses continued to do their work except her. End of the day Meredith, I was right. As far as her being dead, that was her decision not my'n and not by my paw. She had a cyanide capsule in her cheek. She would have been far more use alive."
She shakes her head, and her paws hug her chest. "How can you be so cold about this? A mammal is dead."
"She tried and might still succeed in killing my sister. I would have been her next target" Staring her directly in the eyes as he took a step closer. "You know what, perhaps you should know. I'm dangerous Meredith. I've been an assassin more times then I want to think about, I've been ordered to retrieve intel in any way necessary. Probably why she was so quick to chew open that capsule. I'm not a good mammal Meredith." He started to see some realization dawn on her as her eyes widened, her ears now pinned to the top of her head. "Its probably better for you if you don't associate with me." He takes another step forward and then steps around to her side, "safer for you too."
Meredith stood still, shaking as a jolt of fear went down her spine causing her to shiver as he stepped to her side. She had never asked what it was that he did, she just made assumptions. Conveniently ignoring all the things sitting in front of her form where he was from, whom he supposedly worked for, then the kidnapping, and now this. It was the last words he said to her that had her lift one ear, and the more she thought about it the more she relaxed. When she finally turned to follow him however he was already out of site. "Leon … "
Leon had walked quickly and quietly away. Taking the first side road off of the main road that the hospital was on. He should have known better, there was no place for a mammal like himself to settle down. Who could care for a mammal like him. Meredith hadn't said it, she didn't need to, there was blood on his paws. Perhaps not this time, but in the past. Oh he could say he was just following orders, but how many times had excuses like that been used. In the past these things never bothered him, he did his duty, he did it well. Now though, he thought was there any possible redemption for him. "Not likey," he said to himself as he came to a stop. He had, at some point, walked the distance from the hospital back to that bar they had all gone to. The Tavern, same as before and comforting in a way.
Walking into the establishment there was no live music this time, a couple of mammals were at the bar but otherwise it was a slow night. He found a seat at the bar at the far end, away from any of the other patrons. The bartender excused himself from the chat he was in with a couple of regulars and came down to where Leon had sat himself.
"Ahhh Leon, good to see you again Lad" Mike smiled, his smile dropping some when he got a better look at the skunk. "Rough day eh?"
Leon laughed, "Rough is one word for it." Looking up at the Irish Setter, "Can I get a whisky, don't really care what. Neat please."
"Sure thing lad." Pulling a cup and putting it on the bar in front of Leon, he turned around and took a bottle from a back shelf and then deftly poured a double into the cup in front of the Skunk. He raised an eyebrow when the skunk picked up the glass held it up to him for a moment and downed the cup. Once the cup touched the bar Mike poured again. "Just slow this one down laddy. I'll check on you in a bit." Putting the bottle back he left Leon to himself for the moment.
Leon nodded and only sipped at the second glass. The burn in his throat from the whisky a welcome feeling. He noticed that Mike was keeping an eye on him, like any good bartender would. Focusing forward Leon could see his reflection in the mirror behind the bar, and honestly, he didn't like what he saw. It wasn't that dislike that most people have seeing a flaw in their own physical appearance like a little extra weight, a splotch of fur color that didn't make sense. What he saw that he didn't like was the entire mammal. The more he sat and stared the more disgusted he became. Eventually choosing to look down into the amber liquid in his cup, that mysteriously was getting less and less.
When the cup was empty, he sighed looking at the empty bottom of the cup. Even bringing it up to his lips for that last drop in it before he waved a couple of paw fingers at Mike to get his attention. The bartender slowly made his way over, in a relaxed walk. Picking up a tall glass on his way and filling it from a hosed tap with water and putting it in front of Leon. "Water first my boy."
Grumbling a bit Leon picked up the cup of water and downed it quickly before putting the cup back down and glanced at the empty whisky glass. "One more please Mike." He was starting to feel the effects of the first two rounds as Mike huffed and poured another.
"Do ya need me to call someone for you Lad?" Putting the bottle away. "I could give Meredith a call if you'd like."
That got Leon's direct attention as he looked up at the dog. "No." Sipping the glass, "she won't want to see me anyways."
"Ahhh is that what this is about? Mind if I give you a bit of advice?" Mike said lightly and in a friendly tone.
"Yes, actually." Leon grumbled.
"Too bad, you're drinking in my bar you get to listen to an old mammal talk. I've never seen her look at another male like she did you. She's a woman worth fighting for if there ever was one. Good family too."
"Yah, probably, but I'm not." Sipping the whisky as he fixed the dog with a direct glare which to Mike's credit didn't even cause a flinch.
"Get yer head out yer ass boy. You remind me a bit of her father years ago. Thinking he wasn't worth shite." He was calm in voice but stern.
"You don't know me, you don't know what I've done." He growled.
"You know what … you're right." He noted a slight slur in the skunks voice, mentally deciding that the skunk was cut off. Lucky the more he talked the more distracted from the drink he had in front of him he got. "You hold yourself like a soldier." Noting he got a change in look at saying that. "Yah, that's what I thought. Me, Tom down there and Bob" leaning his head towards the mammals he had been talking to. "Same unit. We've seen some crap didn't we boys." Looking down to them they both nodded while making noises of agreement. "You got a choice though, you can get the fuck over it, or you can't" Standing up strait from where he had been leaning against the bar. "Think on that." Then he walked away before the skunk could speak up again.
Leon just continued to glare at him for a moment before facing forward again. "The hell do you know" he whispered under his breath as he took another sip from his cup. His head was starting to feel a little fuzzy, and he lost track of how long he had been sitting there again. Until he felt a paw on his shoulder form behind him. Spinning around quickly he recognized the female in front of him as he swayed on his seat. "Meredith?"
"How much did you have to drink Leon." Concern in her voice, she had been trying to call him for the last two hours, but he never picked up. It wasn't until Mike called to tell her that he was here and getting a little bit tipsy. When he spoke, she could smell the whisky on his breath causing her to scrunch up her muzzle. "Damn it Mike." Giving the male a glare that actually caused him to step back a bit, getting a laugh from his friends, that then earned them a glare from him.
Leon looked at his cup, there was still a little left. "Come on Meredith, get up here and have a drink with me." He held the cup up to Mike before turning back to Meredith.
"I don't think that's a good idea. Come on Leon let's get you out of here." She started to loop her arm under one of his to help him down from the chair, but he spun out of it.
"Why, its nice here" he tipped the cup back and downed what was left, and the bar started to spin a bit. "Oh … ok maybe it's a good to call it a night." Laughing he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He pulled out a few bills all 20 buck bills and put them on the bar. "Mike … good night"
Meredith finally got him to almost stumble off the chair as he tried to stand and put his wallet away. One arm under his arm and along his back, here other paw pushing against his chest to help stabilize him. She knew he was in good shape but he was heavier then she expected and she had to push harder to keep him up strait. As they started to move down the bar and towards the exit Mike spoke up. "Remember what I said lad."
Leon smirked, "I will." Smiling at the bartender he wrapped an arm around Meredith's shoulder and walked with her, though a little heavier against her then he would admit. Once they were outside, she steered him towards this hotel. "Meredith, I didn't think you'd want to see me again." His voice jovial in a drunken way.
"You mean after the way you talked to me, and then just took off. Why would you think that?" her voice dripping in sarcasm.
"Yah, after that." His voice dropped into a somber tone.
They walked silently, right up into the hotel and to his room. He fumbled a bit for his keycard but couldn't seem to get a good stance to stabilize himself and reach for the keycard. Meredith had to reach into his left pocket to fish it out and open the door. Once they got inside she shuffled him around so they could get through and she deposited him on his bed.
"Why did you come get me?" He wavered a little as he sat, but he still managed to meet her gaze with his own. "You could have just left me, sent the ZPD to come pick me up."
Meredith just laughed a sarcastic laugh. "Do you really think that little of me? I came because I was already looking for you. I came because I actually care about you Leon, and you don't just dump someone you care about on someone else. Leon we all have a past." Sitting down next to him on the edge of his bed. "I'll admit what you are scares the hell out of me, watching what you could do and the types of mammals you are involved in scares me. But I've seen what you can be. Like at dinner tonight or all those mornings we've had coffee and talked." She could see tears in his eyes. This was another side of him that she was starting to see. The vulnerable side he had kept hidden for only he knew how long.
"Meredith, I don't deserve this." Looking down at his paws. "I'm stained."
Meredith reached up and pulled his gaze up to her own using a paw under his chin. "Almost everyone is redeemable. You have the capacity to be, but you have to decide to, and you have to change how you use what you can do." Managing a smile at him. "You don't have to be that Leon any more."
"Meredith … I'm sorry." His eyes still watery as he looked up to her.
"I know Leon," She leaned forward and wrapped him in her arms. "Next time, just talk to me ok."
"Ok." He wrapped his own arms around her breathing slowly. She smelled nice like the last time he was this close to her, that smell of citrus and cinnamon. It was relaxing and unique like her.
"Your sister was right you know, you are an idiot." Chuckling.
"She told you that?" He managed a chuckle as he sat back up.
"Yah, said she wanted me to watch out for you. Not that she needed to ask." She stood up and helped him out of the jacket he was still wearing. Locating his phone in one of the pockets, the battery was dead. That explained why he didn't pick up. She put the jacket down on a chair and pulled her own jacket off which got a funny look from Leon. Choosing not to say anything she plugged his phone in for him. "Before I came, I got an update. She's still stable."
"That's good?" Leon asked almost afraid of an answer.
"Yes that is good." Meredith responded. "Now, I'm not leaving you alone tonight. You've had far to much to drink and I don't like where your head is at. NO funny business." She said giving him a smirk as she slipped out of her pants and shirt, under which she wore a pair of women's tight-fitting boxers and a sports bra. After which, blushing a bit, she walked around to the other side of the bed. "Well come on, you can't sleep in that."
Leon had been staring, and due to his current level of intoxication didn't even attempt to hide it. When she told him to basically do the same as she had just done, he stood on shaky footpaws and removed his own shirt and pants. Leaving him in a pair of boxers. With his back to her she could see how well he was healing. The fur was short, but she could see the reemergence of the tell tail white stripes against the black fur on his back. The muscles and his backside did cause a flutter in her belly, but she pushed that aside as he climbed into the bed, keeping a very respectful distance between them.
After a moment of him lying on his back and staring at the ceiling he thought to himself, at least the room didn't feel like it was spinning anymore. A moment later he felt motion on the bed and her warmth along his side, and then the weight of her head on his shoulder. Gently she rubbed her cheek and chin against his shoulder and neck before yawning. "Goodnight Leon."
Smiling he wrapped his arm around her and did the same to the top of her head, gently rubbing his scent against the area between her ears before he whispered gently into one of them. "Goodnight Meredith." When he fell asleep it was restful and calm.