Wednesday

8:06 PM

2.346 inches

Stay with me, stay with me...

He needs you, Ethan… He needs you…

Just a few more steps… Hang on, please, hang on…!

Norman Jayden entered the hotel almost running, his whole body sweating, his hands trembling frantically and his legs making their run to the desk as he held Ethan Mars' body in his arms, making sure he wouldn't fall, his arms and legs drastically wounded and bleeding.

As soon as he got in, the woman behind the desk widened her eyes and gasped.

"Oh My God…!"

"Please, Rachel, I really need your help here!" Norman called and headed for his room, number 106, second floor.

"Bu-But, Mr. Jayden…!" She started, not really knowing what to do or say, but seeing he didn't give her attention she could do nothing but to follow him.

"W-What happened? I-Is he-"

Jayden hurried up, a sudden bad feeling bursting inside him. They reached for his door and as soon as Rachel opened the door, pale as a paper in face of the bad explained situation, Jayden got in and laid Ethan in his bed, anxious: The man was burning with fever!

"Quick, get me every medicine I have at stock! It's all in the bathroom!" He told Rachel, who hurried up to the bathroom, as he removed Ethan's shirt.

He felt bad just by looking at it. Ethan's chest was heavily burned and his arms were deeply cut, not to mention a few glasses still buried under his skin. Rachel approached him and placed the medicine on the bed side table, picking up the ointment and slowly covering his burn wounds with it. Jayden picked up the disinfectant and the cotton, slowly disinfecting his fucked up arm. Thanks God Rachel was here to help, he would have surely freaked out if he was alone.

Her being here, however, didn't change the fact that Ethan moaned in pain because of how hard Jayden pushed the cotton against his wound.

"Oh, shit, I'm sorry…!" He apologized, not really sure if Mars could actually hear him. That was when Rachel spoke.

"Norman, shouldn't we… Shouldn't we call a doctor? He's in a really bad shape and-"

"No." He answered "We don't have time for that. The doctor will surely want to keep an eye on him for a while and that can't happen…!"

"But… What's really going on?" The woman exclaimed, still trying to understand.

"I'm afraid I can't really tell you, I'm sorry."

She didn't ask anything else after that, only staying around to help the man. They bended his pants in order to disinfect his leg wounds, gave him a pain killer and an anti-fever and covered his arms and chest with bandages. It was around 8:47 PM when they finished doing all they could.

"Are you sure we shouldn't call an ambulance?" Rachel asked for the last time.

"I'm sure. Thank you very much, Rachel. You gave me a hell of a help!"

"Anytime. Just..." She hesitated "Tell me when he wakes up."

"Leave it to me" Norman said and she left him alone, Ethan still unconscious.

He stared at him for a few seconds, making sure he was breathing, and got up. He went to the bathroom, washed his face and stared at his other self inside the mirror, thinking, remembering…

Shit, what had he done to himself? He stared right into his eyes, his light green eyes, his once cheerful and full of life eyes now full of guilt and regret, of hurt and sadness. His face looked even paler, he knew that, and as much as it hurt to admit Tripto was killing him he just knew how fast his life would meet its end. ARI and Tripto, all a part of a master plan ready to bring him down along with his brilliant career. The worst part of that was that he really didn't care about losing it all. He had nobody and had no reason at all to keep up with his life.

That is, until he met Ethan Mars.

Such determination in the man's eyes made he think back. Ethan Mars was a role model to be followed, a father like the world had never seen before. He needed to keep up, he needed to stay in line in order to help this man! It was his duty, his responsibility!

Especially after the Butterfly trial, he was sure he was the only one willing to do it.

Jayden entered the car, ready to leave the power station and give Ethan some aid. The architect was at the back seat, unconscious. Blake just stared at him.

"What are you waiting for?" Norman said, nervous "Come in!"

"Why should I? You two get along nicely, I wouldn't be needed. "

"Stop talking nonsense and get in the fucking car!"

"You're the one who's treating him as if it was your job!" Blake screamed. The policemen stood away, watching without actually hearing anything "You're no doctor, Norman! You're supposed to find the killer and track him down not to baby-sit a man who's wounded!"

"This man is our only hope of tracking down the killer! We have to help him!"

_"'ve had enough of your bullshit, Jayden! Trying to steal the glory only for you, uh? Great job, looks like you did it!" He screamed and slammed the car's door.

Jayden sighed. What a twisted fuck.

But he didn't care. He didn't care about what Blake would say, he didn't care about what anyone would say! He would stay still and help this man as best as he could, he would fight for his son's life and more than that he would fight for himself! That's what he wanted to do!

That's what John would have done…

He rested his head in his hands only to find himself floating into his dark and corrupted mind, trying to forget these eternal scars left inside him. He needed to work, to find this fucking killer as fast as he could!

Ethan was still sleeping when, at 9:06 PM, Jayden felt his cell phone ring.

"Norman Jayden?"

"Of course it is you, lunatic." Blake's voice answered.

Norman closed his eyes tightly. His head was aching so much, the ARI still held against his face, and to hear Blake's voice didn't make it any better.

"What is it?"

"Ah, nothing really… Just would like to know if you guys already had your fun?"

"Go fuck yourself, Carter!" Norman cursed and, before he could say anything else, added "I've got news on the case."

"And so do I! That's the reason I wanted to know you guys already did what you had to because if you did, this may leave you a little... Troubled…"

"What do you mean?"

He heard Blake's laugh at the other side of the phone.

"Ethan Mars' wife just left the station…" He said, a big grin lighting his sarcastic face "I'm sure you'll love to hear what she just told us."