Alright guys, here's the third one for you. I would've had this up days ago but my internet was a little shot so I had to wait a while XD Anywho enough of my ramblings. Enjoy!
John stepped nearer to the house, his sub-machine gun in his right hand, should there be any trouble. In his arms, Ian gave a feverish groan, burying his face deeper into his brother's chest.
John looked down at the younger's rapidly paling complexion and picked up the pace. With any luck he'd be able to find help and proper medical assistance or even safety here.
He carefully approached the door and knocked with the tip of his boot. At first there was no answer, setting John off muttering something about "Curse the Rider luck", but after a while, the door creaked open the slightest bit "Who are you?" a hoarse voice came from inside.
"My name is John Rider," John spoke cautiously "my brother and I are agents for MI6" he added quickly, noticing the faint details of a shotgun through the door. "We were out here on a mission when my brother was shot and attained some serious injuries, followed by a rising fever. I would greatly appreciate it if you allowed us to stay in your home for a little while so I can care for his injuries properly" John explained, his voice sounded almost pleading.
The door suddenly swung open all the way, revealing a man around his 60's or 70's, John deduced. He had white hair, accompanied by a shaggy white beard. He didn't look very happy to see a stranger at his doorstep; nevertheless he stepped aside from the door.
"Come in" the man said gesturing inside.
"Thank you so much" John smiled, stepping in and as though a silent pact had been made, the man cast his shotgun aside and John tucked his gun back into its holster.
"Alex, who is it?" a female voice spoke from the depths of the house. In a few moment's time an elderly woman, equally in age as the man, if not a few years younger stepped into view. She wore her white hair back in a loose ponytail, alongside her soft features. Her hand went to her mouth as she set eyes on Ian. "Oh dear, who is this?"
"I am John Rider. This is my younger brother, Ian" John answered looking down at Ian's face "I was hoping I could treat him in the safety of your home."
"Well of course, feel free. The guest room is just this way, dear" the woman said as she gestured toward the staircase a foot ahead of her. She began climbing up and John didn't hesitate to follow. He faintly heard Alex's footsteps behind himself.
Once they had reached the second floor, the woman led John down a hallway past two doors. She turned the bronze knob of the third door and held it open for him to enter. John spotted a small bed as he stepped in and placed his brother carefully onto it.
Ian, having felt the loss of his brother's warmth around him, groaned. "John…"
"I'm here, buddy" John reassured the younger "Just give me a minute, I'm gonna help you out, alright?" He then removed the pouch from his belt and laid it out onto the bedside table. He received no reply from the younger and assumed he was simply too tired to respond.
"Is there anything you need, dear?" the woman asked softly "My name is Helen, by the way."
John smiled despite himself "Helen…that's my wife's name."
Helen returned the smile.
"A steel hanger and a glass of room temperature water and a wet cloth would be useful" John said as he unzipped his pouch and pulled out an assortment of syringes as well as his bottle of rubbing alcohol and cotton balls.
Helen simply nodded and left to retrieve the items.
John returned his focus to his brother.
He quickly peeled off Ian's bloodstained vest, and then removed his inner shirt. He dipped a cotton ball in the rubbing alcohol and cleansed a small part on Ian's upper arm. He then picked up on of the smaller syringes. He tested it, overflowing the formula the slightest bit and then inserted the needle carefully into his younger brother's arm.
"Are you trained?" Alex's voice came from the door "Medically?"
John didn't bother to face him as he replied "Yes. As a senior MI6 agent I am required to know how to treat injuries, chronic to temporary, broken bones to damaged organs." He slowly pulled the needle away as all the contents of the syringe emptied. "This however wasn't meant to be such a serious mission explaining my tools or lack of thereof." He set the used item aside and wrapped the spot in a quick layer of gauze.
"What was that?" Alex asked.
"It was a special formula that boosts the level and effect of anti-bodies" John explained "Especially useful since we want to keep Ian's fever to just that. If he were to take into flu or anything in that severity, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to treat it with what little tools I have on me."
"I see…" Alex muttered. At that moment, Helen re-entered the room, a glass of water in one hand, a wet cloth over the top and a steel hanger in the other.
"Here you go, dear" she said as she walked over and set the items on the bedside table. "Anything else?"
"No, that's alright" John shook his head as he drew another item from his pouch. A small plastic ready made insulin bag.
*He set it aside and picked up the steel hanger which he bent upward till the two ends met, and then bent it over to hook. He then set that aside, picked up the insulin bad, opened it up and carefully poured about ¾ the glass of water into the bag. He took the bent hanger and placed the top hook into the small hole on top of the bag. He then took the hanger (with the bag hanging off of it) and hooked it onto a wall sconce above the bed.
He then attached a stopper to the open end of the bag, inserted a clear plastic tube to it and finally a sharply pointed needle. He carefully set that aside and tightly tied a strip of gauze around Ian's upper arm. Applying pressure to the spot. He then slid the needle into Ian's arm exactly two inches underneath the gauze.
And while he completed the last few steps to creating a makeshift hospital for his younger brother, the couple that stood behind him watched intently. They watched the dedication and determination in those sleep deprived, emotion filled grey eyes as the young man worked.
Finally, when he was finished, he stepped back and watched over the process, making sure he had done every step right. And once he was content that everything was correct, he did one final thing. He took the wet cloth from where he had placed it earlier, and set it gently upon his younger brother's forehead. He ruffled up the dirty blonde hair lovingly before he turned his head to face Helen and Alex, dragging the back of his palm across his forehead to wipe away traces of sweat.
"It's pretty late, and you don't look like you're in any condition to be walking around now, boy" Alex said gruffly "Stay here for the night, we have another…empty room, or if you want to stay with your brother, we'll bring some sheets in to make something on the floor."
"Thank you, but I don't think I'd be able to sleep if I tried" John smiled as best he could "And besides, someone has to watch over him all night" he chuckled dryly, gesturing towards Ian.
"You're such a dear," Helen smiled "Why don't you bring that chair over there near the bed so you can sit, and I'll bring you up something to eat."
"Thank you" John smiled, doing as he was told. Both Helen and Alex backed out of the room, closing the door behind them. He then sat down in the chair and stared blankly at his brother's chest, slowly rising and falling, before he took one of Ian's hands into his own.
He sat like that for a long time before he heard the sound of footsteps coming back towards the room. They however stopped just at the door. John vaguely heard the couple's voices behind the door in a hushed whisper. He decided it wasn't his place to eavesdrop on them, so he simply focused on the feel of Ian's pulse beneath his pinky. But eventually, after a while, the silence pounded in John's ears and he could hear nothing but the whispering of the two behind the door. And of course, his highly trained MI6 ears adjusted themselves to clarify exactly what they were saying. So he closed his eyes…and listened.
"This doesn't have anything to do with James or Scott" spoke the voice of Alex.
"You know you let them in because these two boys, they remind you of them" this time it was Helen.
"They have nothing to do with this. Those boys just needed help and I let them in"
"Alex, you even offered them the boys' room. For god's sake try to treat these two like they mean something to you. Don't make the same mistake with them that you made with our-"
"That's enough. Go give the boy his food and come to bed. It's late."
That was all John heard of the conversation, however his exhausted mind was simply too comfortable in this trance-like state and remained that way until a voice brought him back to reality.
"John, dear?" it was Helen.
John's eyes snapped open and he struggled for a moment to focus on the woman's face. When he did though, he blinked at her "Sorry, dozed off a bit there."
"Of course you dozed off" Helen berated softly as she set the tray off food she was carrying onto the bedside table. "You haven't slept in almost 48 whole hours."
John raised a brow curiously "How did you know? Surely my face doesn't tell that much…?"
"Heart of a mother, dear" Helen smiled.
"I heard you and Alex talking outside the door" John stated softly.
Helen took a deep breath and sat at the edge of the bed close to John. "Yes, we had a little disagreement. Tell me, how much did you hear?"
"About Scott and James and whom I can assume are no longer residing with you considering Alex offered us their room. I can also assume that since you mentioned Alex making some sort of mistake with them, you raised them and from that I can assume those two were your sons. James the older and Scott the younger from the order that Alex mentioned them in."
"That is…" Helen sighed "All correct. I'm not even going to ask how you figured all that out, but yes, it is all true. James was the name of my older son, and Scott, my younger."
"Was?" John furrowed his brows.
"Was" Helen nodded "Alex is not the most emotional or open man in the world, as I'm sure you've already figured out."
John nodded.
"He was the same way years ago with our sons. Not the most affectionate person in the world, and he would often scold Scott for slacking off, not amounting to his brother's perfection…"
John closed his eyes at the familiarity of the story. He reopened them with a deep breath.
"They would have some serious rows sometimes. And sometimes Scott would intentionally go out and do the things he knew his father hated the most. And they always fought. And then one day when Scott was 16"
John shuddered a bit; something told him he wasn't going to like the end of this story.
"After one of their rows, Alex suffered from a mass heart attack. It left him immobile for a long time. It left him unhappy and emotionally scarred. I knew it was wrong of him, but he placed the blame onto Scott. Said that it was his fault they were both unhappy. And that things would be so much better if he just got lost. We all knew he didn't really mean it when he said that-but Scott took it seriously. He did leave that day. He left home and never came back. We haven't heard from him since. Alex says he's probably gone…but I-I don't know" Helen broke off as her eyes glazed over.
And John hated to press on, but he needed to know "And what of James?"
"James was our perfect son" Helen continued "He always was the head of everything and he truly made his father proud-he made all of us proud. He was a soldier, a brilliant one at that. And he had such a bright future, but he and Scott were exceptionally close. They loved one another to no end, and after Scott left home without any traces, any hints or anything as to where he might have gone, it affected James a great deal. The loss of his brother took such an enormous toll on him, and it was almost inevitable to one day have his best friend, a colonel show up at our doorstep to tell us he was gone. He was only 25…"
John's grip on Ian's hand tightened. The similarity to that story as per their own was almost chilling.
And for a second John was so happy that he'd caught his younger brother in the act of leaving home almost three years ago.
"There's nothing to worry about with you though, dear" Helen said, having noticed the movement of John's hand "I'm sure you would never do anything like that. And something tells me you don't have parents to drive you that far either."
"It's not me I'm worried about" John sighed "This one…" he chuckled drying "This one is a whole different story. And yes, you are correct; Ian and I were orphaned two years back."
Helen allowed him time to collect his thoughts.
"Ian's relationship with our parents was somewhat what you described Scott's relationship with Alex to be like" John looked down at his brother's hand in his own "And he has almost gone that far…a few times. I fear for his well being…when I'm not there to stop him from making irate decisions."
"You mentioned being married, does he live alone?" Helen motioned towards Ian.
"No, he's just barely 18" John shook his head "My wife insisted he move in with us. She loves him just as much as I do."
"That's good. I just wish my Scott had it like that. James's fiancé didn't like Scott very much…" Helen trailed off.
"Hm…" John muttered "I'm very grateful as well. I'm not sure what I'd do if they didn't get along, who I'd choose. I love my brother, but I love her too. I have a picture of her…" John trailed off as he reached into his vest and pulled out his wallet. Upon opening it, the first picture that on the right was of Ash, Helen, John, Ian and their parents, Tony and Adrienne Rider. The picture on the left was of John with his arms around his visibly pregnant wife.
He held out the wallet for Helen to see.
"She's beautiful" Helen smiled broadly. "How many months?"
"Less than a month" John smiled "I promised her this would be my last mission before the baby was born."
""Have you thought of names?" Helen asked curiously.
"Well, we were thinking of naming after my parents, Tony if it's a boy and Adrienne if it's a girl" John replied "Helen wanted to wait till the baby is born to see which."
"That's great" Helen smiled "You have such a beautiful life, John. And it's so good to see you making the best of it."
"D'you really think I'm doing alright?" John asked, looking up at her with a bit of a sheepish smile "I'm really nervous about this whole family thing…I mean whether I'll make a good father or not…whether I can keep being the husband Helen needs and if at the same time I can continue to be the brother Ian needs-"
"Honey, look at yourself" Helen cut him off "You haven't slept in days and yet while you are perfectly capable of doing so now, you are sitting next to your younger brother, praying for his safety. You promised your wife to set aside your job to be there with her while your child is born and if you can care that much for those two then I'm sure you will naturally be the perfect father to your child."
"Thanks" John smiled "You know if the baby is a girl I think I'll name her Helen now. Just for you."
Helen laughed.
A comfortable silence came over the two, only interrupted minutes later when Alex stepped into the room with a whole bunch of quilts and blankets, demanding why John hadn't gone to sleep yet.
"Look at you, boy, you're going to kill yourself staying up like this. Go to sleep, rest" he commanded, placing the items in his arms at Ian's feet. "Helen, come, stop bothering him."
John opened his mouth to protest of how Helen wasn't bothering him one bit, but Helen herself put up her palm the slightest bit to stop him. So he simply settled for a "Yes, sir."
"Alex…just call me Alex" Alex corrected.
John nodded.
"You go on, I'll be to bed in a minute" Helen said softly.
Alex took a deep breath, looked once to each person in the room and left.
"You really remind him of our James" Helen smiled turning back to John "It's why he's warmed up to you so fast-well as much as Alex can warm up."
"I really appreciate it" John replied "It's been a while since someone's told me I'm going to kill myself if I don't go to bed."
Helen chuckled. She stood up and headed for the door "Well, I best better go before he comes back."
"Of course" John nodded.
"Go to bed" she said despite knowing better.
And despite knowing he would be up all night at his brother's side, John nodded.
*This part of the story was based on a part from the incredible movie Taken. So just wanted to give that bit of credit to the movie =]
Well, how'd you like it? This chapter was based very loosely on the part of X-Men Origins Wolverine, and for those of you who have seen the movie I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.
But anyway, I just uploaded two other stories a few minutes ago so for those of you who like reading about Ian, one of the stories is called Angels On The Moon and it's a song-fic about Ian. And the other is called In Time and it's a little drabble about Ian's life =]
Review!!