Jimmy stared at his phone after his Mom had ended the call. Franklin had returned to the garage and was grabbing Michael beneath his shoulders as the doctor grabbed his legs.
"Is he...is he dead?" He was afraid to ask but he knew he had to.
"No, I got his heart started again but I need him inside where I can work easier" the doctor replied as he struggled to carry his end of the larger man.
Jimmy pushed the door open that connected the garage and house to make way for the men. He stared in shock as he got his first glimpse of the damage done to the inside of the home before numbly following the two men carrying his father to the living room.
Lester was slowly making his way across the garage, trying to avoid all of the blood, when the door crashed open behind him, bouncing off the wall and causing him to stumble when he turned suddenly.
Trevor took two steps into the garage and froze at the sight of blood but no Michael. His eyes slowly moved towards Lester and the shorter man shrunk back at the rage he saw there.
"Where...is...he?" Trevor growled out the words. Lester's eyes quickly darted towards the open door leading inside and he shuffled out of the way., hesitating before finally following Trevor through the doorway.
"Uncle T!" Jimmy's face looked as if he didn't know whether to be relieved or afraid at the sight of his unofficial uncle.
"James." was Trevor's form of reply as he didn't even look towards the boy but kept his eyes focused on the couch until he came to a stop beside Franklin, looking down at the man who was still motionless.
Franklin didn't say anything, didn't seem like a good idea. Trevor looked like he was going to kill someone and he didn't want that someone to be him. The doctor was the only one who hadn't backed away and that was because he was so focused on what he was doing that he hadn't looked up to see the crazed man that had entered the room.
Franklin watched as Trevor's breathing intensified, he half expected him to be breathing fire soon. He tried to control his movement but still twitched when Trevor suddenly jerked away, stopping only to let out a roar as he punched a hole in the wall and stomped back out the way he had came.
Franklin didn't realize he had been holding his breath until the man disappeared. He jumped when Trevor's head suddenly reappeared inside the doorway. "You just gonna stand there all night homeboy or are you going to help me kill the scum that did this?"
"Uh...yeah dawg...just uh...just give me a second and I'll be right out" Franklin said as he glanced back and forth between him and Jimmy.
"I'll be outside...waiting" Trevor gave Franklin an irritated glare to get his point across.
Franklin walked over to stand beside Jimmy, awkwardly putting his hand on the young man's shoulder. "Listen man...your Dad...he's tough...he uh...he's going to be fine." They stood there together, watching the doctor work in silence before Franklin finally spoke again. "Listen I gotta head out before Trevor comes in and drags me out. You gonna be ok here?"
Jimmy didn't look up but nodded. "Yeah...yeah I'm ok. Mom's on her way, I called her a couple minutes ago."
Franklin patted him on the shoulder before heading towards the door, pausing when he heard Jimmy's voice again.
"Hey Franklin? Thanks...for being here."
"Yeah man...we family and that's what family does" Franklin replied before glancing one more time at the man on the couch and disappearing through the door.
"About time" Trevor hissed as Franklin climbed into the vehicle.
"Shut up T. I just wanted to make sure the kid was ok before we left. Seeing his pops laying there in all that blood...that's tough man" Franklin shook his head.
Trevor was silent but let the subject drop as his truck tore away from the De Santa home.
"Do you even know where you're going? We don't even know where this Weston punk is" Franklin finally spoke as they raced along the streets. There was no reply from the other side of the truck. "What about a plan? You got one of those?" Franklin grabbed the door as the brakes squealed in protest and they came to a sudden stop.
"If you're gonna yap all night while I'm trying to think then you can get out now before I throw you out in pieces" Trevor suddenly held a switchblade in front of Franklin's face.
"Whoa whoa whoa...calm down dawg" Franklin protested with both hands in front of him, a slender defense against the older man. "I didn't mean nothin' by it...I was just tryin' to be prepared."
"When I come up with a plan...dawg...you'll be the first to know" Trevor replied with a sneer before he closed the blade and stuffed it back into his pocket.
Franklin sat back in his seat, deciding it was safer to stay silent and just go along for the ride until Trevor decided to share whatever was going on inside that head of his.
Amanda was shaking as she drove herself to the house that she had lived in for so many years. She was afraid of what she was going to find when she entered the home. She could hear the fear in her son's voice when they had spoken and it gripped her heart in terror. She had said and done SO many things to Michael over the years and he had done the same to her. But she was the one who had left and hadn't come back. He had left her dozens of voicemail's and text messages, begging her to come home and give them another try, promising he'd change. She had ignored every single one and it had been months since she had left. She knew that Tracey had visited him a few times to make sure he was ok and Jimmy had communicated with text messages but had refused to actually talk to him or go see him. He had still been furious with his dad and had wanted her to be the one to go over to the house tonight to pick up things for him. She regretted that she hadn't done that now. No kid should ever have to find their parent like Jimmy had apparently found his father tonight. She wasn't a religious woman, but she found herself whispering a prayer, begging for her husband's life to be spared. She had been so angry with Michael and had thought that she could have found a much better life without him, but the truth was that she had missed him terribly these past few months. She would never have admitted that had anyone ever asked. In fact, she would have lied through her teeth and said that they were the best months of her life and that she finally felt free.
She silently shook her head as she pulled into the driveway, wondering how she had even gotten here. She didn't remember any of the drive over and that shook her a bit. She took a moment to try to compose herself before she had to go into the house. There were three vehicles outside but she only recognized Franklin's. She assumed one of the other two must be the doctor that Jimmy had mentioned. She was glad her son hadn't been alone until she had gotten there.
Amanda slowly got out of the car, feeling like she had aged at least 10 years in the last 20 minutes. She could see light spilling out of the open garage door so she made her way towards it, stopping in horror when she stepped inside. There was blood everywhere, Michael's blood. So much that she was convinced that when she walked into the house, she was going to be told that he hadn't survived. She leaned heavily against the wall for a moment, feeling like her legs were going to give out beneath her. Her world had closed around her for a moment, but she was suddenly aware of voices coming from the house and made her way towards the door, trying to avoid as much of her husband's blood as she could.
She was shocked to see the condition of her house. It hadn't occurred to her that whoever had attacked Michael had destroyed her home as well. She followed the voices into the living room and no one even knew she was there until she audibly gasped. Nothing could have prepared her for that moment when she saw the condition of her husband. She sank into the nearest chair for a moment because her legs just couldn't hold her anymore.
"Mom!" Jimmy exclaimed when he noticed her, running over to wrap her in a hug that was rare for them. Lester averted his eyes as soon as he made eye contact with her and the doctor never even looked up.
"Don't worry, he's uh...he's fine, he just...he looks worse than he is" Jimmy rambled unconvincingly, avoiding looking at her when he said it. He moved quickly to help her stand when she reached for him.
Amanda slowly made her way over to the couch, not even aware of the tears that had made their way down her cheeks. How could this battered man be Michael? HER Michael. She could barely recognize his once handsome features, now bruised and swollen beyond recognition. She knelt down by his head, careful to stay out of the doctor's way as he worked on Michael's side. She couldn't see the injury, but there was a lot of blood so she knew it was bad.
"I'm here baby," she whispered in Michael's ear as she touched his hair with her trembling hand. She couldn't even run her finger's through it because it was knotted in so many places with blood. She gently stroked her finger's over his hair instead, smoothing it away from his forehead.
Jimmy felt like he could barely breathe. It was like someone was taking their hands and squeezing his neck until he could barely get any air to pass through. He bent over at the waist, putting his hands on his knees, trying to calm himself into deeper breaths. He wanted to be strong for his Mom, not be someone else that she needed to worry about. Not that she would have noticed at the moment, Her head was buried into the arm of the couch, just above where his father's head rested, as she sobbed.
He couldn't believe this had happened. He knew his Dad lived a dangerous life, but he had never REALLY expected it to catch up to him. As a kid you kind of just always feel like your parents are invincible, especially your Dad. Especially when your Dad is Michael DeSanta. As much as he hated the man his father was, he also never doubted that his father would protect him. He never really thought about what would happen if Michael was gone. He supposed that was why he had always felt so free to tell his Dad exactly what he thought of him, never concerned because he always felt like at some point everything would come full circle and it would be like none of it had ever happened. But this time he might never get the chance for that to happen. He had said some terrible things to his father...he hadn't actually spoken to him for months. Michael had left him a lot of voicemail's but he had always just rolled his eyes when he listened to them and then deleted them. He wished more than anything that he hadn't done that now. If his Dad died and he was never able to hear his voice again, those voicemail's would have meant everything to him.
He turned away from everyone else as he felt the tears welling up in his eyes again. His Dad was invincible right? He had to be alright. He had to be.
Trevor had been racing through the streets for the past half hour and not even he was sure where he was going. He needed to feel like he was doing something or he would go crazy. Well, crazier than he already was anyway. His hands tightened around the steering wheel until his knuckles were white as he thought about how Michael had looked laying on that couch. If someone hadn't told him that the man was still breathing, he would have been convinced that death had already found him. They'd been through their fair share of death defying stunts and narrow escapes, but this one didn't feel right and that pissed him off. If ANYONE was going to kill Michael, it would be him and ONLY him. Even when the man was unconscious and totally unaware of everything going on around him, everything was STILL about him. He let out a low audible growl and saw Franklin glance towards him slightly, trying to do it in a way that Trevor wouldn't notice.
"If ya got somethin' to say then just spit it out Frankie," he said as he rolled his eyes.
"Naw man, I just..." Franklin trailed off before starting again, "I was just thinking that maybe we should start with figuring out where Weston is right now and go from there."
"You think I haven't thought of that? You think I'm stupid or somethin'?" Trevor gave Franklin a wild eyed look as he began to swerve wildly on the road.
"No man, no! That's not what I'm sayin'!" Franklin protested. "I was just gonna say that maybe Lester could help us track him down and save us some time."
"Oh...right right right right" Trevor rambled for a moment as he dug in his pocket for his phone, continuing to swerve as he half stood in the vehicle. Finally pulling his phone out, he dialed Lester's number and impatiently waited as it rang.
"C'mon ya little prick, I ain't got all night" he yelled into the phone.
"Uh...hello?" Lester answered after a moment of silent hesitation on the line.
"Lester! Finally you imbecile...you going to help us track down this snake Weston or are you still babysitting?"
Lester heaved a dramatic sigh, "You're lucky that Michael's on his death bed right now or I wouldn't have even taken your call" he mumbled as he shuffled out to his car to grab his laptop.
"I"m lucky? I'm LUCKY?!" Trevor roared, "you listen here you little prehistoric pint size cripple of a prick, that's my best friend laying there and you have the nerve to open your trashy mouth and say I'm LUCKY?"
Franklin cringed as Trevor's spit flew everywhere as he yelled. He held on to the door handle a little tighter as the vehicle just kept on accelerating.
"Uh maybe I should talk to him man," he hesitantly interrupted Trevor's tirade. "I mean just so you can focus on driving and stuff," he hastily added when Trevor's head whipped in his direction, staring him down for what felt like minutes but in reality was just a few seconds. If looks could kill, SOMEONE would be dead right now and Franklin would prefer it to be Lester and not him. Silently Trevor handed the phone over to him, spit dribbling from the corner of his mouth that was locked in something that resembled an animal baring it's teeth in a fight.
"Lester...uh listen man," Franklin finally tore his stare away from Trevor's slightly frightening face and focused on the road in front of him. "We on the road but we don't really know where we're s'posed to be headin'. Think you could do your computer magic and find us a location for him?"
There was silence on the other end for a bit. "Uh...Lester? You there man?"
"So help me if that little pest of a human being hung up, I'm turning this car around and killing him before I kill Devin Weston," Trevor screeched as he slammed on the brakes and the tires squealed in protest.
"Tell him not to get his panties in a bunch," Lester mumbled irritably.
"Uhhh how 'bout I don't and we just get down to business" Franklin replied, glancing nervously over at Trevor before giving him a thumbs up. He was relieved when Trevor seemed to relax slightly and the car started to move forward again.
"I'm looking Franklin, I'm not some little genie that just snaps their fingers and this stuff pops into my head. There's actual work that needs to be done. Work that you people wouldn't understand becaus..."
"What's that s'posed to mean...you people?" Franklin was getting irritated himself now.
"Settle down Franklin, I meant you people as in you, Trevor, and Michael...you guys are all brawn and expect the brains to be magical. Which I am...but it takes time." Lester replied and Franklin didn't have to see the man to know that he rolled his eyes. "Aha! Gotcha. You can run, but you can't hide from me!" Lester practically chortled.
"You got somethin'?" Franklin asked seconds before his phone beeped. He pulled it away from his ear to see that he already had a text from Lester. He checked to make sure it was an address before hanging up as Lester babbled on about something.
"We got it Trevor. Weston's as good as dead. Let's stop at Ammunation and pick up some stuff before we head out there." Franklin shook his head as Trevor howled in excitement.
Back at the house, Lester was mumbling about someone hanging up on him and ranting about ungratefulness as the doctor was finishing stitching up the last of Michael's deeper wounds. He was obviously used to dealing with people who were unable to go to a hospital for various reasons, because he had a whole setup that he had brought with him. He had Michael hooked up to fluids and had even brought bags of blood for a transfusion, correctly assuming that his patient would have lost a lot of his own blood.
Amanda didn't want to know how he got a hold of any of that. She shuddered as she watched it pass through the little tube into Michael's body, hoping that whoever it came from hadn't had any diseases. She had been wiping the blood away from her husband's face while the doctor had worked on his chest, sides, and stomach. She had carefully avoided his eye though, it still looked hideous, although the swelling had gone down. The doctor handed her a gel cold pack and she gently laid it across the colored lump and held it in place. Now that most of the blood had been cleared away, she could see some of the features that she loved the most about her husband. At least his strong jaw was relatively undamaged, give or a take a bruise here or there. His nose had tape stretched across it, she assumed to hold things in place. His bottom lip was split and looked painful but there was nothing much that could be done about that right now. The doctor had given her some sort of ointment to put on it though. The deep gash on his forehead was going to need stitches but that had to wait until the doctor finished working on the more severe injuries. That would probably be next on his list.
She let her gaze travel down her husband's body. His right wrist had bruising and lacerations from the handcuff being so tight and his left hand had little splints on two different fingers that the doctor had to set. There had been a deep knife wound in his left side that had taken most of the doc's attention. That was probably where most of his blood was lost. He had several more cuts across his chest and stomach that had also bled a lot, a couple of them needing stitches because they were so deep. His right side was deeply bruised and the doctor had mentioned that there were a couple of broken ribs. He had laid a couple of ice packs there but had said that he couldn't wrap the midsection unless Michael woke up and could sit up at some point.
She hated that he had said it as if there was doubt that Michael would wake up. Why couldn't he have said WHEN Michael wakes up...that would have eased her mind a bit. She just couldn't believe this was happening. Part of her felt terrible that Michael had been here alone and had apparently been here suffering for some time. The doctor mentioned that it looked like his side wound had bled for a day or more. That meant that her husband had been laying on the cold, hard garage floor...not knowing if anyone was ever going to find him. She hated that. Hated that he must have felt alone and probably hopeless. However, she was also relieved that the kids hadn't been there. What if Michael's attackers had decided that the way they could hurt him the most was to harm his kids? Or even her? In spite of everything that had happened between them over the years, she knew that Michael would rather die than let anyone hurt her or the kids.
She stood up to move as the doctor approached to sew up the gash on the forehead. "Thank you...for everything you're doing to help him." she said to him as she stood there wringing her hands nervously.
He barely spared her a glance as he continued his work. "Oh don't worry, he'll be paid for his efforts" Lester interrupted sarcastically.
"Is he...will he be ok?" she asked the doctor, unsure if she wanted to hear the answer.
He sighed as he stood after completing his task. "He seems to be stabilizing, however it's difficult to say with any certainty unless he wakes up. If he regains consciousness, then I would say that recovery is very probable."
Amanda hadn't heard the man speak the entire time he'd been here and was startled by how deep his voice was. "I don't even know your name..." she said softly.
"Let's just stick with doctor" he said with a smirk as he gathered up his equipment.
"People don't exchange names when you deal with the kind of people he deals with," Lester offered as an explanation.
Amanda glanced at the doctor with a raised eyebrow. "Well, thank you doctor...I can't tell you how much we appreciate everything you've done."
He simply nodded and began to walk out the door. "Wait!" Amanda called, "you're not leaving are you? What if something happens? What if he needs you?"
The man glanced at Michael before replying, "I've done everything that I can do right now. Your husband's vitals have stabilized and we've attended to his injuries. At this point it's a game of wait and see. Lester knows how to get a hold of me if something comes up that requires my assistance, but as of right now I would suggest just keeping an eye on him, getting some rest yourselves, and just wait." With that he disappeared out the door, leaving her with Jimmy and Lester as they all stared at each other and then at Michael.
Amanda sighed as she sat down at the other end of the couch, one hand resting on her husband's legs, which had somehow made it out unscathed. She watched through half closed eyes as Lester shuffled over to the chair and settled in, while Jimmy sat down on the floor and leaned against the other end of the couch by his father's head. This was going to be a long night.