Hope you guys enjoy. Thank you ever so much for your wonderfully kind comments/thoughts/reviews. They brighten my day when I see what you guys have to say. With a sick dad and I myself feeling less than great the last few days, you guys all make it better. :D Thank you!
Chapter Seven
Jason returned to his penthouse, right above Elizabeth. As if that thought alone wouldn't haunt him…
He grabbed the file that was sitting on his desk and made his way to the kitchen. He had a feeling what he was about to read, was going to require more than a few beers to get through. Taking the whole case with him, he made his way back to his couch and tried to prepare himself as best he could.
Not sure if he should be thankful or not but there wasn't a single picture, X-rays there were more than enough but thankfully, after fanning through the pages, there didn't look to be any pictures.
Popping the top off the first beer, he set aside the X-rays to look at later. Chronologically, it began when Elizabeth was six months old. A broken tibia, a broken clavicle, humerus, radius, femur, patella, numerous broken ribs…deep tissue bruises, a fractured skull, a pubic injury with sacro-iliac dislocation…the list didn't seem to end. Some bones had been broken more than once. The most concerning of all the injuries, was supposedly a donkey had kicked her in the upper left quadrant of her chest, causing some heart issues…
Hundreds of papers listing the sheer and completely baffling amounts of abuse and with every eight or so pages, Jason drank another beer. Four hours into it all, he had to go back for another case. On any given day, he had 2-3 beers when he got home, just to unwind. The twenty-four he had already drunk should have put him on his ass but the only thing he felt was nausea and he was almost sure it was the reading material that was causing it not the alcohol…
Blurrily trying to look at the clock, he realized he had been sitting there for nine hours. He was surrounded with beer bottles and yet, nothing could take away the horrors he had just read about. Stumbling his way to the door, Jason almost face planted when he jerked it open.
Johnny raised an eyebrow as he watched his normally unshakable boss sway. "Something I can do for you boss?"
Mumbling to himself, Jason took a moment to get his thoughts in order. "I need some help…Can you lock that file up in my safe and help me pick up all the…" Before he could finish, he seemingly tripped over thin air, sprawling half in the hallway, half in the penthouse.
Any other situation, he would have laughed but Johnny saw the haunted look in Jason's eyes. There wasn't a single thing to laugh at. "Sure, just let me get you up to bed then I'll take care of everything down here. Do you want to get a shower before you crash?"
"Johnny, if I get in the shower, I might never get out. I'd have to bleach my brain to get rid of this repugnant soup. I just don't get it Johnny, we, we are supposed to be the 'BAD' guys but we wouldn't ever do anything like that…" Jason said, the lump growing larger in his throat.
Johnny had been with Jason through a lot of things, bullet wounds, stab wounds…he had never seen his boss so…he'd swear his friend was almost laid complete open. He was raw and taking a quick glance towards his face, he'd swear there were tears in his eyes.
"Okay man, come on, let's get you in bed. Try to sleep this off; you are going to have a hell of a hangover come morning."
"You know all the doc's said I wouldn't ever dream but I think I'll have nightmares for the rest of my life…Read the file, you and Francis will both need to know what is going on…well what went on. Johnny…thanks for this." Jason said before rolling away. If he had tried to do this on his own, he'd be liable to end up with another head injury…
Johnny just nodded his head. There really wasn't anything to be said. Whatever Elizabeth went through, was obviously causing his boss a lot of pain. He tucked Jason in before making his way down stairs.
56 beer bottles…Pulling his cell from his pocket, Johnny called Sonny, "Hey, boss…umm, you might want to get Doc up here. I just put Jason to bed but he consumed 56 beers…I'm not prone to hysteria but he might be dancing with alcohol poisoning. Or if not Doc, then maybe we need to talk to Ms. Johnson. Sonny, he was swaying in the doorway and when he pointed over his shoulder, threw himself off balance and landed on his face…"
He heard his boss sigh before he said, "I knew I should have told him to wait to read that file…I'll go get Epiphany and see what she suggests but I fear Jason will need to be taken to the hospital. That stupid, stupid man, umm, go sit with him, we won't be long, but I don't want to take the chance that he asphyxiates before we get there."
Before Sonny even finished speaking, Johnny was quickly making his way back upstairs. When his phone beeped, signaling the end of the call, he shoved the thing in his pants and pushed the door open.
"Jason, man, why are you not sleeping?" He asked.
"The damn room is spinning like crazy, eyes open, the room spins, eyes closed, I see all the damage…lay down, feel like I'm going to puke, sit up, feel like I'm going to puke…I don't think it really matters at this point."
"Boss man is grabbing Ms. Johnson, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you may need to go to the hospital. I'm not sure you have any blood left in your alcohol stream…"
"Ehh…it is what it is." Jason said, trying to shrug his shoulders but the movement was nothing more than an aborted lift and just as quick a drop.
Both men stood and sat in silence but it wasn't more than five minutes before Epiphany and Sonny rushed into the room.
"Mr. Morgan, alcohol doesn't fix anything. I hope at the end of this, you'll have learned your lesson. Whether you like it or not, I want you to go to the hospital. You need to have blood and urine samples taken. I'm going to suggest that you have your stomach pumped or they can give you 15ml of ipecac syrup and 1-2 glasses of water, that should be enough to get you vomiting and should clean your system of some of the alcohol. You'll need to be given IV fluids and probably vitamins and glucose to regulate your system…"
"What if I don't want to go to the hospital?" Jason asked.
"You aren't getting a choice. You did this to yourself…" Sonny began. "Yes, I know, this…Jason, you can't help keep Elizabeth safe if you are dead!"
"That's low man, even for you. Fine…who's taking me, since I can't drive myself?" Jason asked, a little petulance bleeding into his tone.
"There's our regular grump. Come on, I'll take you. Start planning how you are going to explain this to your parents, because we both know they are going to ask if they are at the hospital."
"DAMN IT!"
When all he heard was a round of laughter, Jason began pushing himself up, without much success. "Laugh it up assholes…"
Johnny took position under Jason's left shoulder, trying not to jar him any more than he needed to. "Can someone grab a bottle of water and maybe line a garbage can so he has something to use if the need arises?"
As Johnny worked his way down the stairs, Sonny moved off to grab what was needed before meeting back up. "I'll meet you guys at the hospital soon, I'm going to make sure Epiphany makes it safely back down to her apartment and then let Lily know I probably won't be home for a few hours."
As the two men made their way out of the penthouse, Sonny turned back to Epiphany. "Sorry about that. Jason…If you ask most anyone, he's cold and unfeeling but that couldn't be further from the truth. He actually feels too much."
"How does that work, his being a guard and all?"
"OH! Jason…he isn't a guard, he's my…enforcer." Sonny said, blushing just the tiniest bit.
"Well…then…why?" Epiphany asked, more confused than she could remember being.
"He's the most methodical and detail oriented person I have ever met. Since his brain injury changed everything about him, it's like it took the man of Jason Quartermaine and merged him into this new person. He is deeper, talks less, some say feels less but that isn't really true, he just thinks ten, twenty, hell a hundred steps ahead of everyone else. He can find loopholes and discrepancies in anything. Jason Quartermaine was going to be a doctor, this man, is smarter and single-minded…"
"Wow…" Epiphany said, unsure how she could form a comment. "Well, ready to be my escort, I'm sure you'd like to get going so you know how your friend is doing."
Offering his arm, Sonny escorted Epiphany home.
"Let me know how everything goes, if you need a nurse, if he doesn't want to stay in the hospital, I'd gladly off mine and Elizabeth's help."
"Thank you, I appreciate that and I am sure Jason would also. That man hates being in the hospital, so he'll be working on being released as soon as possible. Good day."
"Good day." Epiphany said as she closed the door behind herself.
XXXXXXXXXX
