And I'm back with chapter twelve. I hope you guys enjoy this one

November 21st

"Excuse me?" The nurse behind the counter looked up from her magazine to see a young man standing in front of her. He seemed nervous, glancing around. It wasn't after too long that he noticed her looking at him.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, mm…" He cleared his throat, "Could you tell me where Seth Mckinnion's room is? I'm a friend of his."

"One moment please…" She told him in a bored drawl. She thumbed through a few papers, scanning over the names. The young man began to fidget a bit, glancing over his shoulder at the people in the waiting area, "Third floor, room three fifteen."

He jumped slightly and turned back to her, "Uhm.. Sorry, could you repeat that?"

"Third floor, room three fifteen," She replied a bit more haughtily, speaking slower for his sake, "Thanks…" He murmured and jogged to the elevator. He weaved past a couple people exiting and pressed the button to his floor. He heaved a quiet sigh of relief that no one needed to use the elevator at the same time.

He tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the elevator to reach his floor. When it finally did, he didn't even wait for the doors to fully open. He slid through and jogged in the direction of the room he was looking for, glancing at the room numbers as he passed them.

"Three ten… three eleven… three twelve… three thirteen…"

"Darren!"

He stopped and looked in the direction of the voice as he kept jogging ahead. It was Seth's mother. He smiled at her and waved. She embraced him briefly, and pulled away, placing her hands on his shoulders, "I'm glad you came by, Seth will be glad to see you."

"Is he all right?" Darren asked.

She nodded, a small smile on her face, "Yes. He's a bit groggy from the pain medication, but he's coherent at least. You can go in and see him," Darren nodded. He thanked her and moved for the door. It was then he noticed Darren's father. The man was sitting in a nearby chair, leaning forward with his knees on his elbows, his fingers laced together in front of his mouth. He was looking none too happy.

Darren paused for a moment when their eyes met. The man definitely wasn't happy.

Darren quickly looked away and went in to the room, shutting the door as quietly as he could behind him. He could already hear the steady beating of the heart monitor his friend was hooked up to. Seth was in bed, a wet rag folded over his eyes. His left arm was in a cast already, his right arm surprisingly fine, seeing as the last few times he had seen his friend; it had been in a sling.

"Mom? … Dad?" Seth asked groggily, stirring. He slowly raised his hand and lifted the rag off of his eyes, at least enough to peek from under it. He smiled for a brief second, "Hey Darren… How's life?"

Darren shook his head, a smirk pulled at his lips. Seth was the only person he knew who could act so casually while lying in a hospital bed, beaten and bruised. He took a seat in the chair to the right of the bed.

"I should be asking you that… No offense man, but you look like crap," Darren said, chuckling lightly, trying to lighten his friend's mood.

Seth fully took the rag off of his eyes now and turned his head to look up at his friend, a deadpan expression on his face, "You have such a way with words… I feel myself getting better already," He said monotonously.

Darren laughed lightly, "Hey, I'm supposed to be making you laugh. It's the best medicine after all."

"People with broken ribs would strongly disagree," Seth replied with a smirk, turning his head to stare up at the ceiling.

Darren tipped his own head back to look up as well, "What happened? Get hit by another car?" He asked.

"That… Could be a bit more believable than what happened," Seth said with a sigh, "Remember that guy I told you about? Russell Thrush?"

"Angry guy?"

"Yeah."

"Then yes."

"I guess he finally got fed up with me running away from our "rematch" or whatever… Him and his stupid goons, Terry and Shaw chased after me. Caught me, and I got the shit kicked out of me… Figuratively of course," Seth winced at a sudden stinging pain in his left arm, but he gritted his teeth and dealt with it as he had had to all morning.

"That dude did that to your arm!?" Darren asked, glancing over at Seth and his arm, "Do you know where he lives or what?! I'll kick his ass myself!"

"Chill…" Seth stated calmly. Darren did, at least long enough for his friend to continue, if he was that is, "Russell wasn't the one to mess up my arm… That's a whole other story I don't want to get in to," Seth grew quieter as he talked. Darren answered him with a simple 'whatever' and he reclined in his chair, "I was conscious when a couple people came to my rescue, and I vaguely remember seeing Russell fall to the ground with tazer probes in his back, so I think he'll get what's coming to him."

Darren sighed, looking down on his friend, "You are way to forgiving… Or too lax, I can never tell…"

Seth shrugged, "It's my nature I guess… I try not to get worked up over things," He really tried. He knew all too well what would happen if he did fret over anything that stressed him out in even the slightest way. Anything that got his adrenaline pumping…

"In all honesty, I wish getting hit by a car is what had happened… It would've saved my parents a Lot of arguing…" Darren glanced down toward the door. He could see movement outside of the room's window.

"How long have they been at it?" Darren asked, looking back up at the ceiling.

Seth was quiet for a moment. Darren knew he was just holding his tongue, seeing as the heart monitor was still beeping, "I've been in here since yesterday. Unconscious for a few hours by the words of the doctor, conscious for a few hours and in some pain… So, I could've missed some of it. But I can feel the tension…"

Seth grimaced, "When my mom isn't babying me like it's my first time ever going to the hospital and my dad isn't glaring at me like I just kicked an animal to death, they're having some heated debates… Tch… Bloody hell, this sucks…" He heaved out a sigh.

"Hey hey hey, don't go getting all emo on me, okay?" Darren said, reaching over and patting his friend's shoulder. The one that wasn't injured, "You allowed to eat solid food or what?" He asked out of the blue.

Seth gave him a strange look, "I've got a bummed arm, not a broken jaw. I can… but what's that got to do with anything?"

Darren grinned widely, "Well, then your best friend Darren saved your butt from the horrors of hospital food!" From inside of his jacket he produced a paper bag from Pizza King, "To go bag! Jalapenos and extra pepperoni's courtesy of Pizza King!"

Seth slowly slid back in his bed so that he could lean against the wall. He looked at the bag with a smile, and he raised his arm to wipe away and an imaginary tear, "Hehe… This certainly makes up for you turning my room in to an ice box," Darren chuckled sheepishly and handed over the food to his friend. Had he really made the room colder? He could've sworn he was keeping his powers back.

Seth took the baggy and brought out one of the slices, lain on a paper plate with aluminum foil around it to keep it hot. He unwrapped it and strangely enough there was no steam like there usually was with pizza from his favorite shop. He picked it up and it was somewhat cold to the touch. He bit it…

His shoulders slumped. He frowned around the first bite.

"What?" Darren asked seeing his friend's sudden change in demeanor.

Seth pulled away from the slice, "Ehh… It's cold…" He murmured dejectedly.

"That's it?!"

"The Jalapenos aren't even spicy… And I'm not sure how that's possible…" Seth said. He took another bite out of it, "But, I've eaten enough hospital food to know that I shouldn't complain… Still good anyone," It was Darren's turn to deadpan. He shook his head, unable to believe Seth…

"I'll know better than to let a human icebox like you carry my pizza from now on," Seth said, chuckling lightly. He set down his slice and held out his fist to his friend, "Thanks."

Darren relaxed in his seat and bumped fists with his friend, "That's what friends are for."

"I've been out of commission for a while," Seth stated as he ate, "Anything happened in your life? You never did answer my question."

Darren chuckled, "Well…" He paused. There was important news, dire news. The city was already in shambles and he was bound to find out eventually. But, then again, things were looking up. Seth actually looked a bit happier, not much all things considered, but he was better, "I met this cool girl." He thought it'd be best to save the darker news for another time.

Seth jerked forward, nearly spitting out his food. A jolt of pain shot through his broken arm and the young brunette dropped his pizza grasp his arm. He groaned in pain with a mouthful of food. Darren moved quickly and put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "Oi! Get a hold of yourself! What happened?!"

"You … You met a girl? And talked... mm… to her?" Seth asked, having yet to swallow his food. He did so, and grimaced, "Ohhh! Ow ow … That felt like it went down the wrong pipe… Ow," He groaned.

Darren punched Seth's shoulder lightly, "Jackass…"

"What? It's genuine curiosity. You can't talk to girls to save your life!" Seth said with a smirk and Darren lightly punched his shoulder again.

"Neither can you!"

"But we're not talking about me, are we?" Seth retorted, on the verge of laughing. He winced. His hand went to hold his ribs, but stopped short, "Ah… Dammit… Don't make me laugh."

"Your ribs too?!" Darren asked in shock.

"Some are bruised, a couple small fractures and one is broken… Yeah, my ribs too," Seth said, leaning his head back against the wall.

"Damn…"

Seth smirked, "Heh… Don't worry about it… Tell me more about this girl you met," He goaded.

Darren leaned back in his chair, "It was actually yesterday. I was just walking around while my mom was busy at work. I went to get a slice of pizza from Pizza King when I hear this awesome voice… I mean, damn it was awesome. I see a crowd, I go to check it out," Seth comments that the story could've start from there, but Darren retorted that the buildup was needed. Seth shrugged his shoulders, "Anyway. I go to check out the street performance and there was this girl jamming on an acoustic guitar. She was really good man…"

"And… You talked to this girl?" Seth asked.

Darren slowly started to nod, "Actually, yes. It took all of her performance and then some to work up the courage to do it… but, I really wanted to talk to this girl. Just when she packed up her guitar to leave I finally walked up to her and talked with her… I offered to treat her to a slice of pizza."

"Oooh, romantic," Seth jeered, "Milkshake too? Fries? Oh, I'm sure that would've wooed her, for sure…" Seth continued on and Darren punched his shoulder with a little more force.

"Don't get snarky when people are trying to tell you a story," The black haired young man said and Seth laughed, apologizing.

"She said her name was Sonia Blackwell… She's nice… Cute too," Darren said, smiling to himself.

"… Get her number?" Seth asked after a moment of silence. The silence continued…

"…Shit."

"Pfft… Mhmm.. Bahahaha! Ahahah – Oooh! Oh… Haha! Oh my ribs! Haha – Ow!"

Outside Seth's Hospital Room...

"You're being totally irrational about this!"

"I'm being plenty rational! You know the dangers of keeping him around! We've already moved three times because of him! We cannot afford to move again! I do love him! He is my son, but this cannot keep happening!"

Seth's mother and father were in a rather heated debate. They talked in harsh whispers so that Seth could not hear them, or anyone else for that matter. They didn't want to leave their son's side, not with all that was going on now not only in his life because of what happened, but also with what was happening in Jump City…

"We can't kick him out! That is too far!" Seth's mother replied, shaking her head vehemently, "It's not happening!"

"Magnolia!" He hissed, shooting up from his chair and standing at his full height, "You know what people think about supers! You hear it every single day!" He put his hand on her cheek and she stepped back away from him, "I do not want to do this! I want to protect him! But, his safety versus our lives, our lives win out!"

"Without him, there is no us!" She hissed back, "Only you!" She jabbed a finger in to his chest and he winced, "You're only thinking of you! If you wanted to protect your son, you would help him!"

"How?" He was close to screaming. He was red in the face, "How in the world am I supposed to help him? The only way to help him is to move! That's how we've helped him in the past, and we can't do that! We could try and defend him against the hundreds, maybe thousands of people in this city that hate anyone with even remotely superhuman abilities! That's one option!"

"I would go with that option!" Seth's mother stated.

"But we can't! Not unless we want to be homeless on the streets in the next town we live in! Christ, Magnolia… It has to be done!... I – I just don't see what else we can do. The fight happened at his school. Do you know how many kids must've recorded the fight? That boy he fought… Russell! He'll be going to court undoubtedly and he'll be using Seth's name! People are going to find out!"

"Well Micah," Magnolia said, "It isn't happening now. I refuse to let you do this! So, we're going to think about this! We are going to protect our son! Because I swear if you do anything rash I will -"

"Excuse me please!" A Nurse slid past them and went in to Seth's room.

"Seth!"

"No more laughing fits, you need to rest," the nurse stated, fluffing Seth's pillow for him, "I don't have to tell you this, but your ribs took a beating."

"Mhmm…" Seth answered. He sighed, "Sorry for the scare."

"I work in a hospital, child, things like this happen constantly so don't worry yourself," She said with a kind smile, "Get some rest. Oh and young man, "She turned to Darren who was looking sheepish, "Whatever funny jokes you have up your sleeve, save them for when your friend heals up."

Darren nodded silently.

"Visiting hours for friends is almost over too," She said and Darren nodded again, "I'll come back to check on you later."

With that, she left the room. Darren and Seth were both silent for a few moments.

"You and funny jokes? Tch… Never though I'd hear those three words put together," Seth said with a smirk. Darren punched his shoulder yet again. Seth reached for his remote.

"I'm gonna watch the news for a bit..."

Darren's eyes widened, "Wait, Seth wait!" But it was too late. Seth turned the TV on.

And that's all for this chapter folks! A lot less action, but I think that this chapter was pretty good. We got see how Seth ended up after his beating, and next chapter we're going to move things along a bit more. Expect some more Helen and Everard, Ms. Irons too.

Until Next Time!