The Disbanded: Divided We Stand-Chapter 42

By MyNameIsCAL

---Max's POV---

Chuck and Kerry go on and on about Europe as we eat dinner. It was a good distraction for me though. If it weren't for them, my mind would have been somewhere else, worrying.

"So Mike and Eli? No one else from the team wanted in?" Chuck asked.

Ted shook his head. "Barry and Will have their families. If it wasn't FBI business, then Barry didn't want in. He needs the money. Will wanted to come, but his wife wouldn't let him. To them, this looks like a suicide mission."

Chuck frowned. "Ah, well of course Barry would think that. Will's wife always had so much control over him. He should bring her along with us."

"Kerry knows how to shoot a gun," Ted replied. "I don't think Will's wife can."

"Ah, true," Kerry chuckled.

Our attention turned back to the food.

"So you're telling me you cooked this?" Chuck addressed Iggy.

"Yes, I did," Iggy nodded.

Chuck laughed. "Well this has to be just about the best barbequed food I ever had."

"Thanks," Iggy smiled.

I glanced at Fang. He had surprisingly eaten everything I had put on his plate.

"What're you smiling at?" he murmured.

I shook my head, trying to suppress a smile.

"I eat because it makes you happy," he said. "And when you're happy, well I guess I'm happy."

Fang was smiling now.

Before I could say anything back, he leaned against the table, his face now pained. He coughed a few times. Everyone fell silent.

"I'm…Fine," Fang insisted.

Gazzy, out of everyone, looked the most concerned.

Fang checked his monitor and then closed his eyes. He took a few deep breaths.

"Is he ok?" Gazzy sounded like he was a kid again, back when we were rescuing Angel for the first time.

That's when the beeping started. "Fang…"

"You need to get me to a hospital."

"What?"

He dropped to the floor.


---Max's POV---

"He had a heart attack."

I stared at the doctor.

"He's going to be fine," the doctor added quickly. "And he was lucky you got him here fast."

"Can I see him?" I struggled to speak.

The doctor nodded. "Just a question first. Has he been under a lot of stress lately? I know he already had another condition."

Gazzy almost killed him a few days ago. Fang wasn't his calm usual self anymore. In fact, Fang probably hid a lot of his feelings and pain from us. "Yes, he has, I suppose."

"I think it would be a good idea to put him on some medication. It'll reduce the chances of him having another heart attack. It won't interfere with the other medication he's already taking. Well, I'll have to discuss it with him later, I just thought you should know."

I barely comprehended any of that. "Oh, alright."

The doctor started to lead me to Fang's room.

"Ted, c'mon." I motioned. "You waited all this time."

Fang looked awful. They had tubes up his nose and everything. The doctor left, closing the door behind.

"I told you that I'd be ok," Fang joked.

Ted laughed and I tried not to smile. "Damnit, Fang. You scared the shit out of me."

Fang sighed. "Yeah, I figured."

"I'm really glad that you're ok," I smiled, trying not to cry.

Fang's eyes met mine. "Me too."

"You should rest now. I can talk to you in the morning."

"You should go home and sleep."

I shook my head.

"Well, you oughta tell everyone I'm ok."

"I will."

Fang gave me a half smile.


---Gazzy's POV---

"Gazzy go to sleep."

I shook my head. What if it was my fault that Fang had collapsed? I had to take some kind of responsibility.

"I'm sure Fang is fine," Ella assured me.

The phone rang. I reached it first. "Hello?"

"Gazzy?" It was Max.

"Yeah, it's me."

"He's going to be ok," she told me.

"What happened?"

It took her a minute to reply. "He had a heart attack."

Oh, crap. That had to be my doing, or at least partly my fault if not all of it.

"Gazzy, I know you think it's your fault," Max started, "but It's not your fault, so promise me you won't get all worked up about it."

"I'm sorry," I said anyway.

Max sighed. "It's alright, Gazzy. Ted is coming home now. I'll stay here overnight. Tell everyone that Fang's going to be ok."

"Don't worry, I'll tell them," I promised.

"Thanks."

I hung up.


---Iggy's POV---

Ella came into the room. Sat on her bed.

"What's up?" I yawned.

"Fang had a heart attack," Ella answered.

I sat up. "A heart attack?"

"Yeah, I didn't believe Gazzy at first, but he seemed really upset about it," Ella explained. "And then I realized why he was so upset. He thinks it's his fault."

"His fault? Why?"

"Ig, he almost killed Fang the other day," Ella said.

"Oh."

I got the feeling she was rolling her eyes at me.

"I worry about Gazzy and Fang," I confessed.

"Why's that?"

"Fang is…Delicate," I wasn't quite sure how to explain it. "And Gazzy is mentally unstable. They're both on the verge of breaking. I don't know what I'm trying to say, but they'd be a lot worse off without us, I think."

"What ever happened to all of you?" Ella asked.

She knew the whole story already, I guess she just never understood why we had turned against each other like that.


---Fang's POV---

"I'm gonna hold you all back," I said to Max.

"Don't say that," she responded.

"I'm not what I used to be." I let out a breath. "I don't know how much longer I can go on like this."