Hostage - Chapter Three

Title: Hostage

Author: GalaxyDuster (aka Sara)

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own the regular ER characters... obviously.
Spoilers: References to 13x18 - Photographs and Memories. (This happens the next day.)
Content Warning: Nothing more than your standard ER gore; drugs, violence.

Ray sat up slowly, letting his eyes adjust to the dim light in the exam room. He could see the faint outline of his attacker, who was still standing in front of the door, knife clutched tightly in hand. Chris's eyes moved quickly around the room, as if he wasn't sure exactly what was going on or what was going to happen.

"Don't stand up," he warned, pointing the knife in Ray's direction.

"I'm not going to stand up," Ray assured him, placing both palms on the floor. He sat in what felt like somewhat of a protective manner, with his knees drawn up, and tried to look as non-threatening as possible.

"Good. That's good," Chris replied. He bit his lip, looking anxiously over his shoulder at the window of the exam room. It was covered effectively by drawn blinds. Nobody could see in; and the two of them could not see out.

"So, uh, now what?" Ray asked quietly. He wasn't sure whether or not he should engage the other man in conversation, but he didn't know what else to do.

"Now you better hope they pass some freakin' medication under this door, like in the next five minutes, or I might just have to take it out on you!" Chris snapped.

Ray nodded, but he said nothing more. Clearly, conversation was not the way to go, he thought.

"God, I need it so bad!" Chris whimpered, rubbing his free hand up and down the opposite arm. He continued to shake. "What the hell is taking them so long??!"

"They're just trying to figure everything out," Ray muttered. "They're upset."

"Upset? Upset?" Chris knelt down and shook the tip of the knife angrily, just inches from Ray's face. "I'm the only one who needs to be upset right now! Everyone else just needs to give me what I want – before I go off!"

Ray slowly leaned back from the deadly edge of the knife. He contemplated kicking the other man, but decided it would be too risky. This guy had already murdered one person today; he could probably do it again with little provocation.

"They're running out of time," Chris growled, standing up straight again. He bounced lightly on his heels, looking restless. "I'd better get something soon, doc. I'd better get something real soon."

Neela stood back against the admit desk, watching helplessly as the police milled around the outside of the exam room, talking amongst themselves about how to handle the situation. Nearly five minutes had passed since the door to Exam Three had slammed shut, and nobody knew what was going on inside.

"… Dr. Kovac will be passing morphine sulfate for injection and a sterile syringe under the door…" one police officer was muttering into his radio.

Neela watched as Kovac rounded the end of the corridor quickly with the medication in hand. He looked calm and collected, she thought. It was more than she could say for herself at the moment.

Abby stood at her side, her eyes wide and alert. Neela was grateful for her friend's presence, even though it did nothing much to calm her nerves. She felt tears spring into her eyes again as Abby wrapped a secure arm around her shoulders.

"It's gonna be ok, Neela," Abby said gently.

"That man in there has already killed once today," Neela whispered. "What's to stop him from doing it again? He's not thinking rationally. He's trapped in a corner. He's…" she couldn't speak anymore. She felt herself starting to cry and she simply wasn't able to stifle it.

Abby tightened her grip. "I know what good friends you and Ray are," she said quietly.

Neela shook her head. She let out a single, forlorn laugh. "Friends. That's an interesting choice of words." She looked down at her shoes.

But you… you're the best friend I've ever had.

Abby searched Neela's face with curiosity. "An interesting choice of words?"

Neela sighed heavily, sniffling back some of the tears that had begun again. "I don't even know how to explain it," she laughed humorlessly.

"It's something more?" Abby asked, sounding surprised.

"I guess you could say so, yeah," Neela said. She closed her eyes and imagined the last time she had looked at Ray's face – before she had quietly slipped away from Sam's party the night before. He'd been drinking a beer, she remembered.

He was drinking more than he used to, lately.

"Well," Abby said, smiling a little before she could stop herself, "That's definitely news to me. All this time, I thought you were with Gates."

"It's complicated," Neela murmured.

I just need some time…

Maybe there wouldn't be any more time, she thought. Neela felt her entire body begin to tremble as she realized that this could be it; now there might never be another time to tell Ray how she felt about him. Until this moment, in fact, she had never realized just how deeply her feelings really ran for him.

She was in love with him.

It hit her like a ton of bricks as she realized it, as she truly recognized the feeling for what it was. Everything had been leading up to this, she thought. It had been there all along. She was sure of it; now more than ever.

Neela watched as Kovac briefly chatted with the police in front of the door to Exam Three. Then he bent over and slid a plastic bag under the crack of the door, quickly pulling his fingers back once it had been delivered. He and the police held their positions, listening intently for any noises from within the room.

"Maybe this is all he needs," Abby said hopefully. "Maybe this will help calm him down."

At that moment, Tony Gates walked into the admit area. "Hi, sorry I'm late…" he said, stopping suddenly to look around the room at all the commotion. He walked up to Neela and Abby, scratching his head. "Hey, Mayday... what's going on?"