A/N: Part 2. Get by with a little help from your friends.
Matthew woke just before 10AM the next morning. He took a minute to lie in bed, contemplating everything. Last night he had hit rock bottom but had somehow crawled his way back out alive, with only a slight headache and a powerful sense of real friends having his back. As the morning after goes, the regret was minimal.
Matthew got up and dressed in a fresh set of comfy clothes-tracksuit bottoms and the biggest woolly jumper he could find-before picking up his pizza box from last night and shuffling into the kitchen, pleased to note that his ankle didn't hurt quite so much.
Jackie was at the table, nursing a cup of coffee. She gave him a tired smile.
"Sup Matthew."
"Sup yourself. Haven't you been to bed yet?"
"Nah. Came home about an hour ago but I have a shit ton of stuff to do today. Oh, by the way, Sienna left you this." She indicated a box of painkillers, glass of water, and a piece of paper.
Matthew sat down beside Jackie, munching on a pizza slice. He offered Jackie the box and looked at the piece of paper. Sienna had written:
"didn't know how you'd be feeling this morning but left you these, just in case. I highly recommend my seaweed face mask ;) See you tonight. Love you so much! Sienna xoxoxo"
Matthew read the rest of the note and chuckled. Elijah had added "I love you too Matthew!", Jackie had added "I love when you make me coffee" and Aurora had added "You're ok".
Matthew took some painkillers and took them with water before making himself a cup of tea and pouring chocolate cereal into a bowl.
"How was your shift?" He asked Jackie casually.
"Fine. But let's talk about last night."
Matthew groaned, but Jackie put her hand up to stop him.
"You ended up in a terrible state, in a filthy apartment on the wrong side of town. You could have been badly hurt. That guy could have been a nutter and taken you down a back alley to be raped and murdered. And that paramedic would be to blame. Hell, if you had broken your leg when you tripped on your way out you'd have had no way of getting anywhere and at the very least you'd be being treated for hypothermia at this very minute. You give me one good reason not to punch Rafael Aveiro in the face the next time I see him."
Matthew sat down beside Jackie. "Because it wasn't his fault?" he said, pointedly.
Jackie groaned loudly.
"Here's the thing Matthew. You're going about your daily life, fine and dandy. Then you cross paths with Aveiro and sparks fly, except rather than hook up with him straightaway, you have this weird slow burn going on. You flirt a little when you see each other, you invite him for dinner with all of us, then he takes you home to meet his grandma and dance in the street when you finally kiss him for the first time like some gross romantic movie. He's the one you turn to when everything goes to hell, and then you only go and assist Harper Emery and the scalpel jockey on hislife-saving surgery. And Rafael is very happy to go along with all this but suddenly his childhood sweetheart appears out of nowhere."
"Jackie, come on, he told me about Sora and said he would need to think things through," Matthew pointed out. "He told me what he wanted."
"Did he?" Jackie asked with a raised eyebrow. "Because from what I've seen, this woman appears out of nowhere and she's his 'childhood sweetheart' who miraculously found her way to him despite the fact he never once mentioned her to any of us before. And he says to you he'll think and let you know, but he just starts texting you less and less over two months without ever giving you a straight answer. Then he disappears completely for a week only to come back with a lousy phone call just to say he wants to be with Sora."
Matthew couldn't say anything for a minute.
"Admit it, Matthew. That was a really shitty way for Rafael to handle the situation." Jackie was speaking in a much softer tone now. "You couldn't see yourself, but it was frightening to watch. As soon as you realised he was getting quiet and the outlook wasn't so good, you started losing weight. And you got so withdrawn which is unheard of. You became a shadow of yourself and there was nothing any of us could do to stop that." Jackie's eyes suddenly filled with tears. "He straight up played you."
A tear dripped down Matthew's own cheek as he remembered how the fear had slowly set in, like dark clouds over the horizon that had got closer and closer until the storm cracked right overhead on the night he had got the phone call that had torn his heart to pieces. He had put on a brave face and a calm acceptance when speaking to Rafael but the minute the call ended he had broken down to his roommates.
But last night had done wonders for him and, despite the painful memories, he could wipe away the tear and speak strongly.
"I agree with you in part Jackie, but last night had nothing to do with Raf. It was my choice to keep quiet about seeing him and Sora together, and my choice to go off with the other man. Raf had nothing to do with it."
"Has anyone ever told you you're too nice for your own good?" Jackie scowled, and pulled Matthew into a tight hug.
"I'm pretty sure I had a hearing about it last year," Matthew grinned, and Jackie laughed.
"What's going on?" said a voice, and they looked up to see Aurora standing in the doorway, yawning.
"Oh hey," Matthew said. "We didn't wake you up did we?"
Aurora shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Hey, is there any of that pizza going spare?"
"Help yourself," Matthew nodded as Jackie stood up and stretched.
"I'm going to take my laundry down to the laundrette and then I'm going to go for a run in the park. Or for a nap under a tree, we'll see when I get there." Jackie grinned at the two of them as she grabbed a bag from her room. "See you two later."
Aurora took her place next to Matthew.
"I'm not going to ask you about last night because you seem to have discussed it to death," she said with a gently smile. "But I'm glad you're alright."
Matthew returned her smile. "Thanks Aurora."
A couple of hours had passed. Aurora had left the apartment and Matthew was reclining on the sofa.
"Matthew!"
Matthew looked up to see Elijah wheeling himself into the living room. Elijah stopped dead. "What is that on your face?!"
Matthew held up a tube so Elijah could see. "Sienna said I could use her face pack. Did you know this stuff is 100% cruelty free, decreases the signs of aging, soothes wrinkles and works as an anti-inflammatory?"
Elijah considered this as he slowly wheeled himself closer. A grin slowly spread across his face.
"What are you waiting for? Let's share the magic..."
A little while later, Jackie walked through the door carrying a bag of now clean laundry. Aurora followed with bags of groceries.
Matthew and Elijah both looked up to greet them and there was a pause as the two women took in the sight of the two men watchingBattlestar Galactica and wearing seaweed face packs.
"You know Matthew," Jackie said, "I was starting to think you couldn't get any gayer."
Later that afternoon, Aurora, Jackie and Elijah were back on shift. Sienna had finished and was now napping on the sofa. Matthew was reading a medical journal when the doorbell rang.
"Uh?" Sienna woke up suddenly as Matthew jumped up to answer it.
"Hey stranger!" Bryce said, in pleasant surprise. "Wasn't expecting you to be in a state of answering the door right away after last night."
"Bryce, I did some things I would rather forget but I was not abducted nor too drunk to not make my way home," Matthew said firmly. "Now apologise for waking Sienna."
"Oh man, sorry Sienna," Bryce said, meaning it. Sienna waved him away, cheerfully.
"Don't worry about it. Someone had to," she smiled at Bryce warmly. "Do you want to come in?"
"Actually I was wondering if Matthew wanted to go for a walk?"
Matthew blinked, and Sienna looked between the two of them.
"Fresh air would do you good, Matthew," she said, giving him a friendly push in Bryce's direction.
Matthew rolled his eyes, but grabbed his shoes and keys.
The two of the strolled along the common. The sun was out after all the rain overnight but the grass was still damp and they stuck to the path. Around them, parents called for toddlers not to run in the mud, and cyclists carefully zigzagged their way around pedestrians.
Bryce had been chatting about a heart surgery he was booked onto in a few days time. It was a major case, and was promising to last a good twelve-to-eighteen hours at least.
"I don't think about time passing while I'm on surgery, but when it's finished I crash. Like, the surgery is over in no time at all and then I suddenly realise I'm bloody starving and have to consume 7000 calories and collapse in a heap somewhere. Twelve or eighteen hours of that I can handle, but what will be interesting is if there are any complications that will make the surgery take longer."
"I'd love to see the state you're in if the surgery takes twenty-four hours," Matthew sniggered. "We'll have to check the store cupboards in case you're asleep."
Bryce laughed, and then grew quiet as he remembered something. "Do you think Dr Mirani ever got over walking in on us in the store cupboard that time?"
"No," Matthew said. "Once, I went into a cupboard for equipment and Raf had seen me and snuck in and surprised me and we got chatting for a few minutes..." Matthew's voice trailed off as he remembered how Rafael had snuck up behind him and kissed his cheek tenderly. But he shook his head and carried on. "We chatted for a few minutes before leaving the cupboard together just as Dr Mirani came round the corner. He didn't say anything but looked between me and Raf and then gave me a really suspicious look and did the 'I'm watching you' gesture before walking away," Matthew chuckled at the memory. "Raf was confused but when I told him why he found it hilarious." The smile had gone and Matthew sighed heavily. "Guess Dr Mirani doesn't need to worry about that from me now."
"Hey," Bryce nudged him gently. "That doesn't mean to say you can't have some fun in a very tough job. Besides, a hospital cupboard is better than some strangers apartment. Not to mention the person you're with would be substantially better-looking." Bryce flipped his hair away from his face and gave Matthew a playful wink. Matthew smiled wryly before growing serious.
"Look, Bryce, you're great. Maybe if I hadn't met Raf when I had...well, I might have fallen for you...that cupboard encounter occupied my mind for a good few days after that...but Bryce, I really don't want you to be a rebound. You deserve so much better. You deserve someone less broken and not so hung up on someone else."
Bryce wrapped his arm tightly around Matthew's shoulders. "Thanks for your honesty, Matthew. You know, I always respected that about you. And in light of what you've just said, I promise I won't let you come onto me, no matter how drunk you are."
Matthew snorted. "Thanks Bryce. Thanks for making me go out for fresh air."
"You want to stop for coffee? If you don't mind me saying so, you've still got some pounds that need replacing."
"Cheers Bryce."
"You're welcome. And for the record? Everyone moves on from stuff in their own time. If you get sad on a night out, you won't bring the mood down if you say something. We'll just have to work hard to bring the mood back up."
Matthew raised an eyebrow. "Did Elijah or Sienna tell you to come over here?"
"No!" Bryce put his hands up. "I saw them at work and asked if you were OK, because you'd just upped and left. They told me about your escapades and mistakes but coming over to see you was my decision. I care about you, we all do. And we will make you happy again if it's the last thing we do."
Matthew thought over the last twenty-four hours and pulled Bryce into a tight hug.
"You're the best. You're all the best. And I think I'm going to be OK."
Bryce rubbed Matthew's back.
"The thing is, Matthew, you said that, like, last week and then last night happened. So I'm gonna have to double check you're telling the truth here."
Matthew laughed. "Yeah. I'm telling the truth this time."