A/N: Sorry for the wait.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"How's it looking, Doc?"
"Well Mr. Shapiro looks to be responding well to the medicine and you guys brought him here on time. I do hope he isn't the scapegoat in your next mission," Doctor Doty joked.
"Let's hope not," Jade chuckled.
"How's Tori?" Andre asked.
"Ms. Vega is fine as well. Just a minor sprain. Good thing you wrapped her ankle so it wouldn't spread."
Andre and Jade high-fived.
"Good call."
"Thanks, good makeshift cast."
"Can we visit them?" Beck asked.
"Sure. He's in the same room as last time."
"Thanks, Doctor Doty!"
They made their way to room 516 and knocked on the door.
"Come in," Tori answered.
They opened the door and stepped inside.
"Hey Baby, how's the leg?" Andre asked.
"It's ok. Just need to keep it iced for a few days and they gave me crutches to walk easier."
"Just take it easy for a few days, Vega. I need my partner in crime back on the field," Jade smiled.
"Hey, where's Cat?" she noticed the redhead wasn't with them.
"She uh. She'll be here later," Beck said.
"Still a bit shocked about the Evan thing?" Tori asked.
"Something like that," Jade said.
"Poor thing. Robbie will be disappointed though if he wakes up and she's not here."
"I'll bet. Has he woken up yet?" Beck asked.
"Nope. When I got here, he was sleeping."
"What was the total damage?" Jade asked.
"Two bruised ribs, but nothing broken. Someone likes him upstairs, don't you think?" Tori lightened the mood.
"Definitely. Maybe he's got some things he still needs to do," Andre suggested.
"You mean like confess his undying devotion to a little friend of ours?" Beck brought up.
They all exchanged glances.
"Can we just call out the elephant in the room already?" Jade begged out of impatience.
"Alright, alright," Andre chuckled. "But Lil' Red isn't even here. So much for that."
"She's not here because she's shaken up about all of this. I would be too if my boyfriend turned out to be the guy I was supposed to arrest." Jade glared at Beck.
"Don't worry babe, I'm a good guy," he chuckled.
"Cat's going to drop by when she's ready. She wouldn't just do that to her friend," Jade reassured them.
After a while, Cat arrived at the hospital. The guys left to do some report at the station with Trina while Jade stayed to accompany Tori and Robbie.
"Cat, you made it!" Tori smiled when their redheaded friend walked in.
"Hey, Tori. How's the leg?" she hugged her friend.
"Minor sprain but I'll be ok after all," she gave a thumbs up.
"And how's…"
"Bruised ribs, lost a couple pints of blood, but he'll be alright."
"Oh."
"He'll be fine, Kitty Cat, don't worry," Jade assured her.
"All right, well I gotta do some paperwork for Doctor Doty on Robbie and me," Tori started to get up.
"Here," Jade handed her crutches over. "You need some help with the paperwork? I remember a few things from Robbie's to fill his out."
"Actually yeah, that'd be great. It might take a while though because I need to take another x-ray and pick up some medicine."
"Eh, we've been sitting here for hours. I need to walk around," Jade said getting up. "Cat, you coming? Or do you mind watching Robbie?"
"I think I'll watch Robbie. It's my turn to stay anyways since I couldn't come earlier."
"All right, we'll be back in like an hour and a half. Probably get something to eat. Want anything?"
"Whatever you guys get, I'll have the same."
"Sure thing. See you guys in a bit."
Once Jade and Tori left, Cat sat closer to Robbie's side.
"De ja vu, huh Robbie?" she told his sleeping body. "You're such an idiot," she told him. "You were supposed to stay in the van."
She tried so hard to get mad at him, to try and hit him softly, but she couldn't. She broke down, right beside him. He may have been lying right beside her, but she felt so alone.
She cried herself to sleep, resting her head on the edge of his bed.
~.~
It wasn't until a few days later that Robbie was released from the hospital. He was wrapped in a bandage to protect his ribs and allow them to heal correctly.
He was welcomed back to the station by many familiar faces. But not the specific face he wanted to see.
"Hey man, welcome back."
"Good to have you back."
"You look good."
"Nice work, bro."
Sincere words, but it didn't matter until he saw her.
He waited all day in the lab, white noise taking over anyone who spoke to him, any monitors or machinery he had to work on, and any emotions he was feeling.
Then, at the stroke of midnight, after working to distract himself, she stepped through those doors. She spotted him in Tori's office.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"You look good."
"Thanks. You too."
"I wasn't the one who got shot at… again," she shyly smiled.
Then he got to the point. "H-have you talked to him yet?"
"Y-yeah I did. He was at the holding cell for a while so chief could question him."
"I'm sorry, Cat. I know he meant a lot to you."
"I-I'm sorry too, Robbie…" she frailly replied.
"Cat, you have nothing to be sorry about."
"Then why do I feel so horrible?"
"What do you mean?"
"I-I talked to Evan earlier."
"Yeah, I know. Did he say anything to you? Want me to teach him a lesson?"
"No, Robbie…" she stopped him from getting up. "We did talk, and we talked about everything."
"Ok?" he was unsure of where this was going.
"Robbie…" she began to tear up. Eventually, she broke down in front of him, allowing her tears to freefall down her cheeks. He wanted to hold her and comfort her, but at that very second when her guilty eyes met with his pleading ones, he understood.
"Cat, you can't."
"I'm sorry Robbie."
"You're sorry? Cat, he messed you up. Hell, messed me up, and you're going back to him?!"
"Robbie, he's going to change. He learned his lesson," she tried to reason.
"But he lied to you. He hurt you," he said through gritted teeth.
"I can learn to forgive him for those."
"Why the hell would you be with someone like that! Whereas you can't see that I would never lie or hurt you?!" he yelled.
"YES YOU HAVE!" Cat said at the top of her lungs. "YOU LIED AND HURT ME TOO!"
Robbie fell silent, waiting for her to explain.
"You hurt me more than Evan ever did. At least he told me he loves me," Cat mumbled. Slowly, she limped towards the door.
"I'm sorry, Robbie."
She closed the door, leaving his world colder than it ever was. In frustration and anger, he swept the papers and gadgets on the desk to the floor, banging his fists on the walls, yelling and grunting all his pain and sorrow within the confines of the boxed room.
In hysteria, he dug through the drawers, hastily looking for a particular item. And in the back of the bottom drawer, he found it. Turning around, peering through the window from the office to hers, he stared at her one last time. His true love was no longer his - or rather, she was never his to begin with. Cat was right. And Evan still won. Robbie had nothing else to live for. Cocking it, he placed the stone cold muzzle on his heated temporal lobe.
"I'm sorry, Cat." He whispered his final words. Closing his eyes, he shed a tear and pulled the trigger.
~.~
In a sudden jolt, he opened his eyes, tears already formed and falling. Robbie awoke from that lucid dream. He was drenched in sweat. Because of his weak ribs, his breathing was staggered, his mind in a haze. Did he really dream about it? Was it really too late? It wasn't until he noticed a minute later that she was there beside him fast asleep, her head resting nest to his hip.
Softly, he caressed his trembling hand over her red locks.
"I'm sorry, Cat. I love you," he whispered. It wasn't the same as saying it to her out loud, but he was desperate to hold on. He let the tears fall and stain his hospital gown. He wouldn't dare to let that dream become a reality.
"I'm not going anywhere."
After a day or two, Robbie demanded he be released because he had work to do. He hadn't told anyone about his horrid nightmare, and didn't dare to follow its events.
He arrived at the station with Andre and Beck, the guys insisted on picking him up. He was greeted with an array of familiar smiles and hello's. Just like that dream. He shook it off when he saw her with Jade, Trina and Tori in Chief's office. They all saw him and smiled. She even waved. That should account to something, he hoped.
"So, what's the aftermath?" he asked his buds.
"All the guys are in cells here. Chief wants to talk to them before sending them off for real. But they're separated," Andre said.
"Trina's doing so much paperwork, she's not even finished yet," Beck added. He picked up a huge folder and handed it to Robbie. "This is just about the Sebastian guy. Uh… Evan's uncle."
"Uncle," Robbie repeated. "So Evan and Tony are the relatives."
"Yep," Andre confirmed. "Turns out he only covered working for a maple syrup conglomerate for the past 2 years. One of the other guys, Eli, he owned the conglomerate and was already in on the heist that he let Evan's file show that he was still working. It didn't matter about the money because he's been doing side jobs and stealing since then."
"Makes you wonder what else he's been lying about," Robbie chuckled.
"Especially to Cat," Beck subtly brought it up. Although it wasn't smooth enough because it became awkward.
"How is she?" Robbie asked.
"A little bit shaken. But she's toughening it up," Andre said.
"What?"
"She's pretending not to be hurt," Beck shared.
"That's not healthy," Robbie commented.
"And you not telling Cat how you feel is healthy?" Andre quipped an eyebrow.
"I get it," Robbie said annoyed.
"Don't have to be so crabby about it," Beck kidded.
"Not now, Beck," Robbie glared.
"Anyways," Andre butted in. "I'm about to talk to Evan in the interrogation room. Robbie, you want to feed your frustration out of your worst enemy?" he suggested.
"As a matter of fact, I most certainly do."
The guys stepped into the room with a dreadful looking Evan handcuffed to the table.
"Mr. Smith. Thanks for joining us today," Andre said. He examined Evan's file once again before handing it over to Robbie. Evan looked flushed, no sleep or good done to him in the past 48 hours. He and Robbie made no eye contact yet. In fact, Robbie sat at the bench next to the door while Andre stood near Evan and did the interrogating.
"So, Evan. What were your plans exactly for the heist that night?" Andre asked.
Evan didn't speak.
"Now, we can certainly do this either way you want. I'm not going to throw out the good cop bad cop chizz with you. I'm not even going to give you the easy way hard way cliché. I'm asking you and you're going to answer," Andre demanded. These were the times when Andre was very intimidating. His usual quirky nature was over looked, and his strong physique showed he meant business.
"Other than the obvious? We were going to take some money and run."
"Run where?"
"Canada."
"Did you expect all three of you to make it?"
"We hoped."
"And what about the rest?"
"What about the rest?"
"Your uncle, the other guys we caught..."
"Can't really do anything if they've been caught, right?" he smart assed Andre.
"So you would just leave everyone who's been in on this heist at the very end?" Andre questioned.
"What else could we do? Risk going back to get the others that survived?"
"If they're important to you."
"No chizz they're important."
"Then why wouldn't you go back?"
"Because we might get caught. How stupid can you be?" Evan grunted.
"Not as stupid as the one in the jumpsuit," Andre narrowed his eyes.
"Of course they were important to us, but what are you going to do? I was doing my job, and that was to finish the heist."
"Do your job and not care that other people get hurt. Some character you are," Robbie scoffed.
"Excuse me?" Evan darted his attention to the door.
Meanwhile, Jade and Cat were talking in a hallway while coming back from getting coffee in the kitchen.
"Hey Cat. You seen Andre?" Jade asked as she stirred her coffee.
"No. Actually, I was going to ask you if you knew where Robbie went. I wanted to see if he was ok," she replied.
"You seem really normal," Jade wasn't convinced.
"Thank you?" Cat giggled.
"Cat, cut the crap," Jade said. "It's me, you're best friend."
"Jade, I don't know what you're talking about," she played dumb.
Jade stopped walking and pulled Cat aside.
"This whole deal with Evan and Robbie and the heist isn't fooling anyone that you're fine with it. All the chizz aside, job aside and excuses aside, you can be honest with me. I'm your best friend and I know it's killing you."
Cat fiddled with her coffee cup for a second before facing her best friend.
"Of course it's bugging me. Evan being in on the heist, him lying to me. Robbie getting hurt again trying to save me… But what next?"
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know where to go with all this except dumb Evan, which I did."
"What about Robbie?"
"What about Robbie? He's just a friend."
"Really? After all this?"
"Robbie's only ever showed me he was a friend. I don't know…"
"Hey girls," Beck walked up to them.
"Hey Beck, what's up?" Cat asked.
"If you see Tori or Rob, tell them the hospital needs to do a follow up on their visit sometime next week," he handed Cat an envelope of the necessary forms. He kissed Jade on the cheek and began walking the opposite direction.
"Sure. By the way, have you seen Robbie?" Cat hollered before he left.
"Yeah, he's in the interrogation room with Andre."
"With who?" Jade asked her boyfriend.
"Evan I think." With that, he walked off.
"Whoa. Robbie and Evan in the same room. I gotta see this!" Jade mischievously grinned.
"No, Jade. We're not going to butt in there."
"Why not?" she whined like a child.
"Because. I don't even know if I'm ready to face either of them yet."
"But you just wanted to see Robbie a minute ago."
"Now… I don't know if I want to."
"I still think we should go and talk to them," Jade crossed her arms and pouted.
"I don't know," Cat sighed. "I just don't know."
Robbie sighed and got up. He turned his body to face Evan.
"What did you say?" Evan said through gritted teeth.
"You heard me." He took a few steps forward, standing at the other end of the table.
"I heard you. But if you repeat that again I'll make sure I do more damage to that rib of yours," Evan tested him.
"You're pathetic, Evan," Robbie shook his head.
"I'm pathetic? At least I've got the balls to take freaking risks. Who's the crappy character now?" he spat.
"Then what the hell is this, dude?! You think I felt like getting shot at for fun or damaging my rib cage because I was bored?!" Robbie yelled in anger.
"Hey now, you two better calm down," Andre sternly said.
But they didn't listen.
"All the damn bullets in the world won't ever compare to what kills your freaking soul, Robbie!" Evan responded just as loud. "Stop getting angry about Cat!"
"I'm angry because you're such a huge dumbass for doing that to Cat! She doesn't deserve it! She doesn't deserve you!"
"I'm just gonna sit over there," Andre awkwardly spoke, walking to the bench where Robbie had previously sat. He knew Robbie and Evan would get at it and figured it would be healthy if the two just yelled it out.
"She doesn't deserve you either, you scared as chizz little wussy."
"Whether or not I missed my chance, at least you had a chance."
"I never had a chance with her."
"Yes you did. You had a chance to be with Cat, and you blew it. You freaking blew it! If I ever had that chance I would never hurt Cat. She's the most important person in my life."
"But you freaking did dude. You hurt her more than I did, and you did it not knowing you ever did."
"What are you talking about? I would never lay a finger on her."
"God dammit!" Evan slammed his hands on the table and stood up. Since he was handcuffed, he couldn't move. "You're the bigger dumbass for not seeing how she really felt! I may have been the one to win her over, but she was never mine to begin with. She never belonged to me, nor will she ever belong to anyone because she wants nobody but you."
Robbie was dumbfounded. "No," he shook his head in disbelief. "No she doesn't."
"Really? How stupid and blind could you be? She always talked about you, went out of her way for you and cared for you more than she ever cared for me or anyone else. What I would give to have her look at me just once the same way she looks at you."
"Whoa."
"Uh huh."
"Wow."
"So glad I convinced you to watch them behind the glass." Jade and Cat stood on the other side of the one-way mirror to the interrogation room. Yes, they heard all of that.
"This is just too much," Cat sighed, leaning against the wall, rubbing her temples.
Jade leaned against the wall, mimicking her friend. She patted Cat on the shoulder in comfort.
"You know that stupid game that the guys always play during our stake outs?" Jade brought up.
"That would you rather game?" Cat softly asked.
"Yeah."
Cat nodded.
"Remember that question Vega asked them? Always lose or never play?"
"Uh huh."
"Let me ask you this: tell that special someone you love them and risk losing them or never tell them how you feel and suffer inside?"
