Author's disclaimer: Falling like Dominoes? Huh? I'm a completely different otherhawk. Honest.
Timeline that I'm going to include in every chapter from now on. If I remember.
1. 'Something more than it should be' (Chapter 10) Rusty is ten, Danny is twelve
2. 'Four Day Interlude' (Chapter 5) Rusty is ten, Danny is thirteen
3. 'Remember the first time' (Chapter 4) Rusty is ten, Danny is thirteen
4. 'View from the outside' (Chapter 12) Rusty is eleven, Danny is fourteen
5. 'Walk before you can crawl' (Chapter 2) Rusty is twelve, Danny is fifteen
6. 'Other Nightmares Parts 1 and 2 (Chapters 8 and 9) Rusty is twelve, Danny is fifteen
7. 'The more things change' (Chapter 1) Rusty is thirteen, Danny is fifteen
8. 'Life Lessons' (Chapter 7) Rusty is fourteen, Danny is sixteen
9. 'The lies we live' (Chapter 3) Rusty is fourteen, Danny is sixteen
10. 'This is our decision (to live fast and die young)' (Chapter 6) Rusty is fourteen, Danny is seventeen
11. 'Such a perfect day' (Chapter 11) Rusty is fourteen, Danny is seventeen.
Judy had been on shift for barely an hour and until the kid was brought in it had seemed like it was going to be a dull day. Which, for Paediatrics, was more than a little unusual, but she wasn't going to complain. A nice quiet time was exactly what she was looking for. She'd done a stint in the emergency room the other month, and she'd made the mistake of thinking that being a nurse in the paediatric ward would be less stressful. Yeah. Just before Christmas? She was completely crazy.
The boy – around thirteen, maybe fourteen at a pinch, dark haired, and if his face wasn't screwed up with pain she'd probably have said that he was destined to be a real heartbreaker - he was wheeled in a little after twelve, Dr. Ross and his entourage trailing in his wake. That was all perfectly normal. What was a little less than normal was the kid walking behind them, clearly trying to make sure that he wasn't noticed. A blond scrap of a thing, obviously a few years younger than the patient. Little brother, she decided, seeing the worry and the fear written on his face, and she wondered why he hadn't been told to stay downstairs in the waiting area. That would be the normal procedure. She was about to say something when he noticed her looking and shot her a wide-eyed and imploring look and something made her keep her mouth shut. That was also the first time that she noticed the dark bruise on his cheek and the swollen lip.
The bed was wheeled into place, and Judy stepped forwards to join the throng.
"Now," Dr. Ross was saying. "The important thing in a case of severe abdominal pain is to get a detailed history of symptom progression. Of course, normally in the case of a minor we'd be asking the parent, but unfortunately there is no-one here for this young man at present."
The boy in the bed mumbled something.
Dr. Ross frowned. "What was that?"
"Rusty . . . " the boy said, louder and blondie immediately stepped out from the curtain he'd been hiding behind and ducked past several surprised-looking doctors and made his way to stand by the head of the bed.
"Right here, Danny." he said gently and the patient – Danny – immediately, and with startling speed, reached out a hand and grabbed his wrist.
"Don't leave me." he said urgently. "Please."
"Young man, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to wait outside." Dr. Ross said firmly.
Blondie – Rusty, she corrected mentally - turned to the doctor and for a second Judy wondered if she'd been mistaken about him being the younger brother. Because his eyes looked so much older than any kid she'd ever known. "He's been feeling ill for five days now. A pain in his stomach that just kept getting worse, and he's been really tired, and he had a slight fever for the last two days. He wouldn't go see the doctor. But then he collapsed and I called an ambulance." The child's voice was entirely steady
Danny seemed to hear something else though. "Not your fault. I'm stubborn."
Rusty said nothing but Judy watched him squeeze Danny's hand tight.
"Yes, well, I'm afraid you need to wait outside." Dr. Ross sounded at something of a loss.
Danny and Rusty both glared at him. Clearly that wasn't going to happen.
"Dr. Ross, perhaps just this once, seeing as there are no other family members present, the boy could stay for the examination?" Judy found herself suggesting.
"He does seem to be keeping the patient calm." Kathleen - one of the other nurses - added, in that tone of hers that seemed to remind all doctors that she'd known them back when they were interns.
Dr. Ross sighed. "All right. Just this once."
While the doctors did their poking and prodding and exchanged glances and 'Hmmm's, Judy watched Danny and Rusty talking to each other, quietly, in unfinished and even unspoken sentences. They leapt from topic to topic without rhyme or reason that Judy could see, covering the exact chemical composition of Cap'n Crunch, something to do with Danny's art teacher and a Lamborghini and whether or not elephants had eyebrows. She exchanged a long look with Kathleen as she scribbled down something on the chart. These kids were something else.
"Now, Danny," Dr Ross said genially when they were done, looking down at the admitting forms. "I see here that your parents are out of the country, is that right?"
Danny didn't answer but Rusty nodded.
"And your Uncle is looking after you?"
"Yes." Danny managed to say. "Uncle Harold." Judy got the impression that the shot that the paramedics had given him for the pain was wearing off.
"I'm afraid that we haven't been able to reach him." Dr. Ross frowned, reading off the notes.
"He's in work. Doesn't like to be disturbed." Danny said and immediately looked as though he regretted it. Judy made a mental note.
"I see." Dr. Ross sounded vaguely disapproving. "Well, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you a few questions."
"Sure." Danny nodded vaguely.
Dr. Ross smiled. "Now, how old are you?"
"Fourteen." Danny answered. His hand was still clutching Rusty's.
"And would you agree with the account that your brother gave of your symptoms?" the doctor continued.
The boy tensed minutely. It looked almost as if he was trying to cover some instinctive reaction. "Yeah."
Dr. Ross seemed to see it too and frowned. "Nothing else to add?"
"No. Rusty knows what he's talking about." He turned and smiled softly at the younger boy.
"I see." Dr. Ross raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. "Have you ever been in hospital before?"
Danny closed his eyes and shook his head, but he didn't seem to have heard.
"Danny, I know it hurts, but you need to help me to help you." Judy could hear the sympathy in the doctor's voice, but it didn't really help.
Rusty stepped forwards and raised his head. "He's never been in hospital before, he's not on any medication, no known allergies, no major illnesses and he's had all his vaccinations. Oh, and no family history of anything in particular. Anything else?"
Well. That was the most comprehensive medical history she'd ever heard from an eleven year old.
"Are you certain of all of that?" Dr. Ross asked with a slight hint of startled incredulity in his voice.
"Yes." Rusty said simply.
"Okay, then." Dr. Ross nodded briskly. "Danny, we think that you have appendicitis. We're going to take you into surgery tomorrow morning, provided we get your uncle's consent. In the meantime, try and get some rest."
Danny nodded weakly and the doctor swept off.
The boys exchanged glances. Rusty spoke first. "Did he seem a little – "
" – yeah."
"Are you – "
" – slightly. Don't – "
" – Not as long as you want me here."
Judy exchanged another incredulous look with Kathleen. Oh, boy. The next few days were going to be interesting.
The first time she chased Rusty out of the ward and back to the waiting area, Judy was more amused than anything else. The boy had hidden himself well, standing perfectly still against the wall, the curtain and the shadow concealing him. If Danny hadn't happened to half wake up as she was passing and immediately, and seemingly instinctively, turn to smile at something she couldn't see she'd probably never have known.
"He asked me to stay." he said quietly, looking up at her desperately.
"I'm sorry. It's hospital policy." she said, surprised to find that she really was sorry.
He didn't say anything else and she asked the nurse on the desk to keep an eye on him.
The second time she was less amused. It seemed as though the ward staff were no match for a determined eleven year old. The best she could say was that he didn't seem to have any intention of actually waking Danny, in fact he seemed to be content to just stand and watch over him and she suspected that he'd been there for quite a while before she'd noticed. But still, rules were rules and she walked him back to the waiting area.
"He asked me to stay." he repeated but this time he didn't seem to expect it to make any difference.
"Your brother is going to be just fine." she promised, hoping that a healthy dose of reassurance might do the trick.
He just looked at her for a long moment before he walked over to one of the benches and sat with his legs pulled up to his chest.
The third time he was easier to spot. He was sitting with his back to the wall and he was plainly in the process of dozing off.
She walked up to him. "Hey." she said quietly, being careful not to wake Danny.
To her surprise Rusty jumped violently before he seemed to focus on her. He gave a resigned sigh. "I'm going, I'm going."
"No." She held up her hands. "It's visiting hours now. You can stay. You've got two hours."
He smiled at her, suddenly and sweetly and she found herself smiling back. "Thank you." he said, sincerely.
"Here." She dragged a chair over for him. "You might as well get comfortable."
He smiled at her again. "Thank you." he repeated and turned to watch Danny sleep.
"He really is going to be all right." she told him, after a moment.
"You said." His voice was distant.
"The two of you must be very close." she tried.
"Uh huh." He nodded but didn't look round.
"Oh," she suddenly remembered. "We managed to reach your uncle."
That got a reaction; she could see him suddenly tense. "Is he here?"
"Not yet, apparently he's tied up in a meeting and won't be able to get here for at least an hour." She hadn't been that impressed when she'd heard that news, but, well, it was none of her business.
Rusty relaxed and she found herself wondering. "What happened to you?" she asked, trying to make it seem casual.
Then he did turn to look at her, an expression of sheer bafflement on his face. "Huh?"
"Your face." She put a hand up to her own face and indicated the cheek and the lip.
"Oh!" his hand flew up and he rubbed at the bruise ruefully. He grinned. "Danny was trying to show me how to do wheelies." he explained. "It was something less than successful."
Judy relaxed. Because when he'd seemed so worried about his uncle showing up she'd been worried that they might be looking at an abuse case, but she prided herself on her ability to read people and she was sure that no child could lie that well. "You fell off?" she asked, sympathetically.
He shook his head. "Steered straight into a wall and took a header over the handlebars."
She winced in sympathy. "Ouch."
"I'll get the hang of it." he smiled, and then turned back to Danny. "Just need a few more lessons."
Nodding she left him to it and went off to answer Brucie's mother buzzing for the third time in fifteen minutes.
The uncle finally arrived with twenty minutes left of visiting time and immediately demanded to see whoever was in charge. It took Dr. Ross ten minutes to convince him that Danny was in the best possible hands and that the hospital staff knew what they were doing. Judy was slightly less than impressed with the man.
When she escorted him onto the ward Danny was awake but Rusty had vanished altogether.
"Oh!" she exclaimed in surprise. She would have put money on needing to chase Rusty out again once visiting hours were over.
The uncle looked at her irritably. "What?"
"Sorry," She smiled apologetically. "I was just surprised to see your other nephew was gone."
He frowned. "I only have one nephew."
Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of Danny shaking his head frantically and she found herself contrasting the child – whoever he was – who wouldn't leave his side and the uncle who wouldn't even leave work early to see his hospitalised nephew. She bit her lip. "I must have been mistaken. Sorry."
She made to return to her duties and as she left she heard him address his nephew. "Well, Daniel, quite a pickle you've landed yourself in. I'll talk to the people in charge; see about getting you a private room. I must say, I don't care for this at all. Feels like a public spectacle."
Well, a private room would only make it harder for them to keep Rusty out. She shrugged to herself. Good.
As Judy started her shift the next day she made a point of talking to Susan who'd been on at night. "So, anything interesting happen?"
"Well, we've got a ghost." Susan said cheerfully.
"What?" Judy blinked.
Susan nodded seriously. "Uh huh. No kidding. Blond kid, about that high . . . "
Ah. Rusty. She sighed. " . . . bruises on his face, right?"
"Yeah." Susan grinned. "You saw him."
"Sure I did." She nodded in frustration. "Must have chased him off the ward three times yesterday."
"Same last night. Well, we kind of stopped after a while. I mean, the other one seemed to sleep much better when he was there, and he wasn't disturbing anyone or doing any harm." "
She raised an eyebrow. "He smiled at you, huh?"
Susan had the grace to look embarrassed. "Yeah. Cute kid."
"A real little charmer." she agreed. "Have you seen the uncle?"
"No. Talked to him on the phone this morning though. Apparently he's been in touch with the parents and they're not cutting their holiday short."
Her eyes widened. "You're kidding."
"Wish I was." Susan sighed and clucked her tongue.
"Poor kid." It wasn't right, but there was nothing they could do about it. As long as there was a relative there, and the boy was being taken care of – which he fairly clearly was – there was no real case to answer.
"Yeah. They took him down to surgery half an hour ago, so we finally managed to persuade his friend to go to the waiting area." She paused thoughtfully. "I only hope he's called his parents at some point. They must be going out of their minds."
"Guess it's only a matter of time before someone calls the social worker." They'd need to find out who he was and send him home. Sad story all round.
It wasn't until her break that Judy saw Rusty again. She took advantage of her time to step out onto the balcony for a quick cigarette and was shocked to see that not only was Rusty smoking, but there was a tidy pile of cigarette ends in front of him.
"That's very bad for you." she said immediately and disapprovingly.
He looked at the cigarette in her hand and said nothing.
She flushed. "That's different, I'm old enough."
Rusty sighed and again she was struck by how old he seemed. "It's either this or I'm asking the doctor every five minutes if he's heard anything. And all he'll say is that I'm not a relative. And I already know that."
She was both sympathetic and helpless. "I'm sorry. It's – "
" – Hospital policy." He cut her off. "Yeah. I know." He reached into his pocket, pulled out another cigarette and lit it.
"You're far too young to be smoking." She couldn't help it; he was. He really, really was.
"I know that too." He grinned at her and suddenly looked like a kid again. A cute, charming little kid.
"Well, aren't you just a know-it-all." she smiled.
He shrugged. "Sometimes. When it annoys Danny."
"You're not his brother." she stated.
He took a long drag on his cigarette. "I never actually said I was."
"You never denied it." she pointed out.
"No. Well. I wanted to stay for as long as possible." He kept looking over her shoulder, back into the ward and she realised that he was waiting for Danny to be brought back.
"We shouldn't be letting you stay here at all." she said quietly.
He didn't look at her. "Gonna call security? Because I've seen your security guards and I think I can outrun them."
"You can't stay here forever." she pointed out with a wry smile.
"He asked me to stay. He wanted me to stay." His voice was low and insistent and utterly unchildlike.
"Do you always do what he wants?" she asked, amused.
"If I can? Yes." he said, entirely unexpectedly.
She laughed ironically. "And would you jump off a bridge if he wanted you to?"
He grinned. "We did that. Last month."
And there was nothing she could really say to that. Except: "He will be all right."
"Yes." Rusty said quietly but the hand that was holding the cigarette was shaking and for a moment she thought he was going to cry. She almost wished that he would; she knew how to comfort crying children. Hesitantly she reached out to put an arm over his shoulder but he flinched out of the way, dodged her arm, stubbed out his cigarette and was through the door before she even had a chance of registering what was going on.
She stared after him and resolved to track down the hospital social worker as soon as her break was done.
The fourth time that she chased Rusty out of Danny's room coincided with her next break. Danny had been returned from surgery and Rusty had immediately gone to his room, seemingly entirely unbothered that he was unconscious and would remain that way for the next several hours.
"Come down to the canteen with me." she invited. "You know you're not going to be able to sneak back in for at least another twenty minutes; you might as well get some hot food in you."
He smiled at her. "So you admit you can't keep me out?"
She shook her head in mock sorrow. "Well, we've had no luck so far. You're a good friend."
The smile faded. "Maybe."
"Want to talk about it?" she offered gently "Come on, I'll buy you dinner."
"Nah," He shook his head, bright again. "Danny says that the gentleman always pays."
"Then Danny's been watching too many movies." she said, firmly.
He followed her happily enough and picked out a bowl of pasta and some green jello with rather more enthusiasm than the hospital canteen usually warranted. And to her complete amusement he did insist on paying. She let him, tolerant of male pride at any age.
"So, do you want to talk about it?" she asked gently, when they were seated.
He stared down at his jello. "I was scared."
She must have looked puzzled.
"When Danny collapsed." he explained. "I was terrified."
"Of course you were. Anyone would be." she reassured him. Because that was normal.
He didn't seem to hear her. "I should have made him go to the doctor's earlier. If I had, would he be better now?"
She shook her head. "We'd have had to operate anyway. It didn't make a difference. And remember? He said it was his choice not to go."
"He doesn't always do what's best for him." he muttered and she was almost certain that he wasn't talking about this.
She carried on as though she hadn't heard. "And you called the ambulance, remember? And you told Dr. Ross everything you knew. You did everything right. You're a good friend to him."
He shook his head uncertainly and she wasn't totally certain that he was fully aware that he was talking to her. "I was frightened. I'm frightened of so many things."
She paused cautiously. "Like what?"
"So many things." he repeated, and frowned to himself.
She was more than a little relieved to see Michael, the social worker approaching. She could leave it all in better hands now.
"Rusty, this is Michael. He'd like to chat to you for a while. Now, I'll leave you two to get better acquainted." As she stood up she couldn't help but notice the look of betrayal in Rusty's eyes.
Judy didn't see Rusty for the rest of that day, and Michael assured her that he'd convinced the child to call his parents and get collected. Apparently there was no real trouble at home; the boy was just concerned about his friend. Michael figured that that kind of childhood loyalty was harmless and, well, just plain cute. So she was able to take her day off with a completely clear conscience. Which made it even more painful when she came back to hear that Rusty had been back less than twenty minutes after Michael told her that he'd gone home.
"Just appeared back in that room like magic." Susan told her with a certain amount of awed glee in her voice. "And we haven't been able to shift him for any length of time since."
"This is just ridiculous." she moaned. "Can't you call his parents?"
"Maybe. If we knew his name. But he won't say, and neither will Danny. And Danny still seems to do better when he's there."
"You've not been trying too hard, have you?" she deduced.
"He's a cute kid, and he's not doing any harm." Susan shrugged. "And Danny's uncle only drops by for about ten minutes a day. Kid's bored out of his mind. Why shouldn't we let his friend stay?"
Just because she couldn't exactly give a reason didn't mean that it wasn't a bad idea.
When she went into Danny's room for the first time, it was visiting hours and she hung in the doorway to watch Rusty reading to Danny – who looked pale and drawn from pain, but still a hundred times better than he had done - from what looked like a Harlequin paperback.
"As the dread pirate captain clasped her to his breast – "
Danny frowned and interrupted. " – Wait his breast?"
Rusty paused and read back. "That's what it says."
"Huh." Danny's frown deepened. "And breast? Not breasts?"
"We haven't got to that bit yet." Rusty rolled his eyes and looked supremely bored. "Give it time."
"It'll be Christmas before you get to the good stuff." Danny grumbled.
"What good stuff?" Rusty muttered.
Danny looked thoughtful. "Think I'll still be here for Christmas?" he asked, as though being in hospital at Christmas would be the best gift ever.
"Maybe." Rusty said hopefully before continuing to read. "As the dread pirate captain clasped her to his breast she felt a strange feeling within her chest. As though a thousand caged butterflies were begging to be set free."
"Butterflies." Danny said flatly.
"Yep." Rusty agreed.
Danny sighed. "Couldn't you have found something else to read?"
"It's this or a magazine on fly fishing." Rusty said with a shrug.
Danny sighed deeper. "Carry on."
Choking back a laugh, Judy stepped into the room. The two looks that were immediately turned on her were far from friendly.
"I just need to check your vitals." she said, glancing over the chart. Everything looked good; Danny was recovering nicely.
"You called social services." Danny said, glaring at her.
Oh, boy. "I had to."
"No you didn't." Rusty frowned. "You're not calling them now just because it's visiting hours. So if I'm allowed to be here now, why does it matter that I'm here the rest of the time?"
"You can't just stay here." she pointed out.
"He's not staying tonight." Danny said. "So there's no more problem, right?"
Rusty turned to glare at Danny. Danny glared back. There was something going on that Judy didn't think she had a hope of following and she really didn't want to get between it.
Finally Rusty sighed, and looked away. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. People stay overnight in hospitals all the time, without someone there to hold your hand."
"I don't hold your hand." Rusty said flatly, and Judy blinked because she'd seen him do exactly that on several occasions.
"Figure of speech." Danny waved a hand dismissively. "But the point is, there's no problem, right?"
She nodded slowly. "No, in that case everything's fine."
"Good." Danny smiled broadly and nodded at the chart. "So how am I doing?"
"You're doing well. How do you feel?" she asked.
"Not too bad." he said. Rusty made a disbelieving noise. "What?" Danny asked with a slight smile.
Rusty shook his head. "They took a piece of you out. There's a piece of your body in a jar somewhere. How can that possibly be not too bad?"
Biting her lip, Judy backed out of the room and left them to it.
The rest of that day passed in a blur, filled with crying children unwilling to be in hospital two days before Christmas. Still, she made a point of checking in with Danny a couple more times. And she didn't see Rusty once, which was good. But when she got in the next morning, she was immediately told that Rusty had spent the night, same as normal. And there was a 'normal' now. And they'd lied to her.
She stormed into Danny's room and was brought up short by the sight of Dr. Ross sitting talking to him. And Rusty was there too, and apparently the doctor saw no problem with this.
"And so it looks like you'll be going home today, young man. That's good news, isn't it? Just in time for Christmas. You must be looking forward to being back with your parents." He'd forgotten, she could tell. Stupid, patronising fool.
Danny looked at the floor. "They're still on this trip, sir. Last minute attempt to save their marriage."
And she might not know them that well, but she just knew that he'd said that in order to discomfit Dr. Ross. And by the looks of things it had worked nicely. He looked positively mortified. "Oh. Well. I'm sure that they're flying home, since you're ill." She shook her head frantically at him and his eyes widened. "Oh. Well. Christmas, anyway. That will be nice, right?"
"Sure." Danny sounded slightly glum. The doctor left, probably in search of easier patients.
"You lied to me." she said, staring at Rusty, as soon as he was gone.
"Only a little bit." he answered, with an amused smile.
"This isn't a laughing matter." she said with a frown.
"We're going to be out of your hair today, and you'll never see us again." Danny pointed out.
She paused for a long moment. "Well, on the basis that you'll never see me again, and to satisfy my curiosity, why don't you want to go home for Christmas like everyone else round here?"
They exchanged a long glance. "Because I'll be at home being miserable with my uncle and Rusty gets to spend the day with his dad." Danny said bluntly.
Right. She shook her head. "Christmas should be for family." she told them gently. Childhood friendships. They'd learn soon enough.
"Right." Rusty smiled crookedly.
Danny sighed and turned to him. "My uncle will be coming to pick me up soon. You'd better disappear."
"Okay." Rusty nodded and then hesitated. She got the impression that they wanted her to leave, but this time she was determined that she would wait to be sure that he wasn't hanging around. "I won't see you, so . . . Happy Christmas, Danny."
"Happy Christmas, Rus'." Danny smiled, a little sadly. "And thanks. For staying. Must have been difficult."
Rusty grinned. "It was easy."
And she looked at the yellowing bruises on his face and she was almost amused that he could lie so well.
So, did anyone else find the ending of that quite startlingly depressing? Or was it just me?