God…Deakins was right… Bobby thought miserably, pushing his plate away gingerly with his right hand, slipping it back into the sling. Jesus, that hurt. His arm was supposed to be kept in the sling in order to heal properly, but he wasn't about to let one of those young nurses spoon feed him. Although, on second thought, it could bring a certain closeness and present opportunities for things sorely lacking in the last few months…
He leaned back, his head lolling back even further, trying to relieve the queasy feeling before he threw up again. He'd thrown up violently earlier in the day, and it had hurt unbelievably, just about as bad as when his ribs were first broken. Luckily he hadn't done any real damage, just strained them a little more. And he hadn't torn anything in his face. The pisser was, he wasn't even halfway full; he didn't think he'd ever feel full again. But right now he didn't care, he just wanted to not be sick. Then it happened again.
An hour later Bobby lay back in his bed, his ribs hurting bad, but at least he wasn't throwing up any more. He'd been given some anti-nausea medicine and only time and putting some food in his stomach again would tell if it was working. But he was not happy. Here he was, two days from being released, and he couldn't hold anything down. That could seriously delay his return home. They wouldn't send him home if he was throwing up and couldn't eat. God damn it! It was always something. To top it off, his stomach was empty again, and he was hungry. He couldn't seem to get full.
That was something else he could thank that guard Sanders for. That prick messed him up, more than he'd ever know. Sometimes, just for the hell of it and to mess with Bobby even more, he'd withheld his whole meal, or sometimes a portion of it. (sorry, Goren, looks like they forgot your meal tonight, I'll have to speak with them about that.) Which was one of the reasons Bobby had lost weight in jail. And why he was always hungry. Add that to the list of things to get even with that guard for. That broken jaw won't be anything compared to what Bobby was going to do to him someday. That was on his "to do" list. And if he went to jail for it, well, at least it'd be for something he actually did.
On a more pleasant note, or at least he hoped it would be, something else he planned on doing was visiting Luke. He wasn't sure Luke would be receptive to a visit from him, but he had to thank him for saving him. When Eames got here, he'd have her walk down there with him. He thought about that, and chuckled. She would hate that. She still didn't think Luke deserved any commendations for his part in the attack on Bobby.
Later that evening"So, Friday night then?" Lewis asked.
"Yeah, bring lots of money!" Bobby told him.
Lewis grinned. "I don't know why I bother even playing you…"
"Because I'm a poor civil servant, and I could use the money."
"Yeah, Bobby, like I believe—" Lewis stopped, watching as Alex came through the doorway. "Hi, Detective Alex," he said shyly.
"Hi, Lewis." Alex was always glad to see Lewis. He'd always been a great friend to Bobby, and he was pretty taken with Alex.
"Well, uh, guess I'll be seeing you Friday night then, Bobby," Lewis said.
"Don't leave on my account," Alex told him.
"No, I, um… have to go," Lewis stammered. "See ya, Bobby. Bye, Detective Alex."
Bobby nodded as Lewis left, then grinned at Alex. "Think he likes you, Eames."
Alex ignored that. "What's Friday night?"
"The day after I get out of here," Bobby answered. He still figured on getting out then. "It's also Poker night."
"Are you still throwing up? You know they won't let you out of here if you can't keep anything down."
"I'm aware of that, Eames. I'll be fine."
Alex looked at him, with both his arms still in slings. "And even if you do get out how the hell can you manage with--"
"I'll manage," Bobby said simply.
"You know, you keep saying that. But how will you manage on your own? You can barely move, your ribs are so messed up. And you can't move your arms—"
Bobby was exasperated. "I know all that! But what the hell am I supposed to do? Hire a babysitter? I'm damn sure not staying here. I've been locked up now for 5 months! And I want out!"
"I know that. I'm just suggesting you hire a home care nurse or something."
"I'm not an invalid."
"Bobby…"
"Besides, in case you've forgotten, I've got some major legal bills mounting. Not to mention hospital bills, of which my insurance will only cover so much. And I had to have a bondsman put up the money for my bail. Look, I'm not pleading poverty or anything; Joe is giving me a big break, but it's not exactly pro bono."
Alex suddenly felt a little bad, wondering if she'd embarrassed him. "I'm sorry, Bobby… I shouldn't have—"
"It's okay Alex. Maybe I can talk Lewis into coming over periodically if I need something."
I could stay with you, she thought. Then, Oh my god! Where did that come from? He's your partner, for god's sake! Thank god she hadn't said it out loud.
"Eames? Eames!"
"What? Oh, sorry. Just thinking."
"I was saying, would you like to take a little walk with me? They want me to start walking a little."
"Sure, where we going?"
"I thought maybe we'd take a little walk down to Luke's room, see how he's doing."
Alex sighed. Seeing how Luke was doing was not high on her list of priorities. Technically he had saved Bobby, but she still had no use for him. As far as she was concerned, he had gone to Bobby's cell with the express intent to harm Bobby, to beat the living hell out of him. The fact that the format turned out to be not to his liking didn't change the intent. She could not forgive that.
"Trust me Bobby, you do not want me there."
"C'mon, Alex, he did save me…"
She wanted to argue the point, but finally agreed. "Alright. We can walk all you want, but I don't want to be there in his room any longer than we have to be."
She watched as Bobby struggled to get up off the bed. Much as she wanted to, she didn't offer to help, knowing it would only make him mad. After a lot of grimacing and struggling, he finally made it up on his own. He was sweating profusely, but then grinned.
"Ready?"
She continued to watch him as he moved slowly out of the room, then caught up with him.
"You are truly something else!"
He smiled his beautiful smile, and they made their way slowly to Luke's room. Outside his door, Bobby stopped, wondering again if Luke would even let him in his room. But he plunged ahead.
"Would you knock?" he asked Alex. She did. There was no answer.
"Again," Bobby said, "louder."
After knocking again with still no answer, Bobby went tentatively into the room. He could see Luke lying on the bed, on his stomach, IV still attached. Bobby winced a little.
"Hey, Luke."
"What the hell do you want?" Luke said, turning his face to him.
"I, uh, I just wanted to thank you for stopping—"
"Well don't bother!" he snarled. "If I'd had known it was either me or you, it damn sure would've been you!"
"C'mon, Bobby," Alex said, her hand on his shoulder. "Told you this was a waste of time."
But Bobby didn't move. "Luke, I'm sorry this happened—"
"Not as sorry as me. If you're done, could you leave me alone please and get the hell out." He turned away.
"Look, Luke, I'm trying to tell you—I'm sorry this happened to you, I know it was meant for me. But you showed some integrity, you knew it was wrong and you couldn't let them do it to me."
"Wish I had now," Luke whispered. "You know when I went with them guys I hated you, you were the guy who sent me up. I wanted to hurt you really bad. I saw what they were doing to you, tying ya up with that duct tape and gagging you and hurting you. I thought it was so funny, we all did, when he put that stuff in your nose and you couldn't breathe and started choking." He stopped for a moment and tears welled up in his eyes. "Then I got scared, I knew that's what he was going to do, kill you with that stuff. It would have been horrible, it freaked me out… I...I never wanted to kill you, or fuck you with that damn broomstick, that was more than getting even, I just wanted to hurt you some, and I tried to tell them that. I never…figured they'd do it to me…" Now the tears overflowed.
There was an awkward silence for a moment, then Bobby said, "Look, I really appreciate what you did. If it helps any, when it's time for your parole hearing, I'm going to speak on your behalf. I'll tell them what you did. And if there's anything I can do to help you, I will. Just let me know."
Luke just nodded.
"So how are you progressing?" Bobby asked.
Luke looked down. "Not so good. They…they're going to have to do more surgery. They said they didn't know if I'll ever be…okay. Or normal." He looked up at Bobby and whispered, "I… I'm ashamed to admit it, but I…I still wish it had been you."
Bobby closed his eyes for a second as that sank in. "Yeah, well, I guess I can understand that. You've been through an extremely tough ordeal, one that wasn't meant for you, but for me. It's uh, normal to want to transfer the pain to another, to the one for whom it was originally intended."
Luke stared at Bobby, at Bobby's injured face, his taped ribs, both arms in slings, and couldn't imagine all the pain he had been through. How could he be so understanding, when he, Luke, had gone there and helped do that to Bobby? "I'm so sorry. If I had realized…"
Bobby shook his head as if to clear it. "It's okay. Take care, man. Seriously, if I can help... with anything. I hope...good luck with the surgery. And let me know when your parole hearing comes up, okay? I'll try to help."
Luke smiled wanly. "Guess that won't happen for a while now. I've got more charges pending now because of my part in the attack on you. I'm going to be in jail for a pretty long time."
Bobby nodded, and he and Alex left. Bobby seemed a little down. Alex was wishing they'd never gone to see Luke, but realized he'd have never gotten it out of his system if he hadn't at least spoken to Luke.
"Do you still want to walk a little?" Alex asked, as they headed back to his room.
"No. Actually I'm getting kind of tired." And a little sick he thought miserably.
When they got back to his room, there was a tray of food waiting on the table, a nighttime snack. Bobby knew what it was, and groaned. It was back to Jell-o and broth.
"So just how do you manage, with your arms all bound up?" Alex asked curiously.
"Simple. I cheat." And he painfully took his arm out of the sling again. "See? And that's how I'll manage at home, too."
Alex sighed. "So I guess you never plan on getting better?"
Bobby didn't answer, as the phone began to ring. He picked it up, using his right arm again painfully.
"Goren." He still spoke like he was on the job.
"Bobby? It's Joe. I've got some news."
"What?" He didn't know whether to be excited or worried.
"It's your trial. They've moved the date up. We've only got two more weeks."
Bobby took a deep breath. Two more weeks…and then the beginning of what could be the return to normal everyday living. Or possibly the start to a whole new and much more dangerous way of life.
tbc