A/N: Hello everyone! I missed you all... I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while... I had to update my other story first because I try to alternate between them so that they both get updated fairly often. BUT NOW I'M BACK! Yay! :D
MyLittleRobin is my wonderful muse!
Ghost woke up early the next morning, having not been able to sleep most of the night anyways. He laid in bed, thinking things over. He was worried about Roach. Roach didn't cry unless something was really making him upset. And it took a lot to make him upset enough to cry. He was also curious about this... Charlie person. Who was he? What was his relation to Roach? He really wanted to get Roach out of those restraints. He knew how much his young friend hated them, and he felt bad for him. But he still wanted to know why Roach tried to kill an innocent person. The Roach he knew would never try to do something like that, but obviously he wasn't thinking straight. Maybe his being captured and tortured had a larger effect on him than they first thought.
Frustrated at his lack of understanding of the recent events, he got out of bed and got dressed. It took him a while longer than usual because of his broken rib and hurt hand, but after about 15 minutes he was ready. He slowly moved through the halls, opting to skip breakfast as the thought of food made him want to puke. Broken ribs were a pain- literally. Instead he went to the rec room. He was surprised to see several of the Ghosts already in there, along with Toad and Archer. He entered the room and unceremoniously plopped onto the couch, immediately feeling the emptiness of Roach's presence. He never realized how much time he spent with Roach- until he was gone. Well, technically not gone but he certainly wasn't here.
Archer saw him come in and quickly left the room. He wondered why for a moment, then decided that he didn't care. A few minutes after he left, the two captains came in, together as usual. They pulled two chairs up and sat down. Then captain Price noticed his bandaged right hand- from last night when Roach bit him.
"What happened to your hand?" He asked, nodding in his general direction.
He looked down at his hand then back at Price, wondering if he should even bother to try and make something up. He was saved from having to give an explanation when Archer rushed back into the room, med kit in hand. He rolled his eyes and shot him a glare. He knew this was going to happen. Archer was worried last night about his wound getting infected, but it wasn't even that big. Roach hadn't bitten him that hard, although it had taken a while to get the bleeding to stop. Archer mentioned something about there being a lot of harmful bacteria in the wound because of the fact that Roach had bit him. He always tended to make a fuss over the smallest things, which was good and bad- depending on the situation. In this case, it was just annoying. But at least he knew his friend cared about him. It'd be pretty bad if your team's medic didn't care about you. Archer sat down beside him and grabbed his injured hand, pulling it into his lap to clean the wound and change the bandages. He growled and pulled it back, shooting his friend an annoyed glare.
Archer crossed his arms and said, "Are you really not gonna let me clean it? Do you want it to get infected and kill you?"
Ghost rolled his eyes.
"I thought we already established that I'm not going to die?"
"You won't if I clean it so it doesn't get infected." He replied as he took his hand again and started unwrapping the bandages.
This time Ghost let him. He knew Archer was going to clean it at some point, even if he had to chase him around all day bugging him about it. Archer would do that, too. He was extremely stubborn when it came to making sure his patients were properly cared for, even if their injuries were only minor ones. As he finished unwrapping the bandages, Price walked over and stood beside the couch, looking at his hand.
"Are... are those teeth marks? What the hell, Ghost?"
Ghost sighed. He didn't want to tell the captain what happened because it would probably just get Roach in more trouble than he already was. But Roach was already locked in a room, tied to his bed. What more could they do? He'd have to tell them what happened eventually, might as well get it over with.
"I went to see Roach last night because I had a bad feeling. When I got to his room, he was awake and he was pissed." He said, deciding to leave out the part where Roach was crying. He paused for a moment then continued, " His wrists and ankles were all torn up and he hadn't even been awake that long! There was blood all over the bed sheets! He kept yelling about that perimeter guard being a horrible person and not a real perimeter guard. I tried to get him to shut up because it was the middle of the night and everyone was asleep... and he bit me..."
Price sighed. He knew Roach hated restraints, hell, all of them did. But he didn't want him killing innocent people, especially not the ones who patrolled the area everyday to make sure they were safe! Not to mention the fact that they weren't even on their base. It was the Ghosts' base and they needed to be careful. Even though they were close friends with the Ghost team, that didn't mean they could just go around killing off their guards. It was a miracle that the guard... Mark Thompson had survived. Roach was frighteningly accurate when it came to dealing with knives and most other weapons. If Ghost hadn't been there, Mark would have been dead and gone within seconds. But still, Price wasn't going to let Roach leave his room until he apologized to Mark and proved that he had his head screwed on straight. But he still had the uneasy feeling that there was something he had missed, some vital detail that could change everything in the span of a few seconds...
"He's fine now, though. I cleaned him up last night after I sent Ghost out." Archer said idly as he cleaned the wound on Ghost's hand with peroxide.
Ghost winced when his hand stung and reddish- white foam bubbled out of it. Archer applied the peroxide to it a few more times to make sure it was clean before wrapping it in fresh bandages.
"Okay, let me see how your broken rib is doing."
Ghost gave an annoyed sigh before taking his shirt off and allowing Archer to unwrap the bandages surrounding his abdomen. He applied different amounts of pressure in certain areas, asking if it hurt every once in a while.
At one point Ghost got tired of it and said, "Of course it hurts, dumbass! It's a broken rib, did you expect it to feel wonderful?"
Archer's only response was a one finger salute. He wrapped his ribs again, then watched him take some pain meds before he seemed satisfied that his patient would survive. He gathered up his medical supplies and left the room, presumably to put them away. Ghost sighed in relief as he watched Archer's departure. He liked the guy- just not when he was injured. But, on the other hand- he was a bitch to keep in the infirmary. Roach was the same way, that's why they were usually handcuffed to their beds when they woke up there. Roach could easily get out of them, if he had the energy to do so. Ghost didn't like being tied to anything, but was unable to get out of handcuffs because unlike Roach, he didn't have a collection of bobby pins in his hair. Not that any of them knew about Roach's collection. They knew he had a stash of them somewhere, but none of them knew the exact location.
The events of last night drifted into his thoughts and he wondered if Roach was okay. What if he freaked out again? What if he tore up his wrists and hurt himself? His concern grew until he couldn't ignore it any longer. He got up and started toward the door, but a hand on his shoulder halted his progress.
"Where do you think you're going?" Soap's voice boomed behind him.
He turned to glance at him over his shoulder and said, "To make sure Roach hasn't killed himself trying to get out of those restraints."
Toad giggled at the way he had decided to make his thoughts known. A few of the Ghosts chuckled, but stopped when they realized he was serious.
Soap shook his head. "You need to leave him be for a while. He's probably asleep anyways. Remember? Archer said he sedated him and that was at like... what, 3:00 in the morning...? It hasn't even been 6 hours yet, he'll still be asleep if you go check on him now."
Ghost hesitated. He didn't really care if Roach was still asleep or not, he just wanted to make sure he was okay.
"We're going to see him later anyways, Ghost. You might as well wait until we all go." Price said from his chair.
"Why are you going to see him?"
"Well, I was a bit curious as to why he tried to kill an innocent person," He replied sarcastically. "I also need to get him to apologize to that guard... Mark, was it? He's not leaving that bed until he does."
"But he'll never apologize. You know how stubborn he is. Do you plan on keeping him there forever, then?"
"Stubborn as he may be, he will apologize, even if he has to stay in that bed for a month. Besides, he's hurt. Laying in a bed can't do him any harm."
"Yes it can. He's claustrophobic." Ghost pointed out.
"Being tied down doesn't bother his claustrophobia."
"But being in a locked room does. What if he has a panic attack? What are you gonna do then?"
"Technically, when he leaves that room is his decision. All he has to do is apologize, then he can leave."
Ghost snorted. "Yeah, right. Like that's gonna happen."
"Are you really going to defend him when he tried to kill an innocent person? A guard, no less? I know you don't like having him locked up like this, hell, none of us do. But you need to start thinking logically. He tried to kill someone, Ghost."
"Yeah, he did. But you lot are treating him like an insane criminal. He just got back from being captured and tortured. He probably had a flashback and thought he was killing someone else. I can understand why you locked him in a room, but aren't the restraints a little much?"
"He's only in restraints because if he's not, he'll pick the lock and get out! And if he doesn't have anything to pick the lock with he'll bust the door down!"
"You mean to tell me that he's gonna bust a door down with his leg injury, a broken arm, several broken ribs, a broken nose, and a whole bunch of minor wounds?" Ghost asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms.
Price glared at him for a few moments before growling, "Until he apologizes to Mark, he's staying in that bed."
Ghost sighed in frustration, then pulled away from Soap and left the room.
Meanwhile...
John was ecstatic. Everything was falling into place perfectly. He smiled as he walked through the winding halls leading to Gary's room. He figured he'd go pay him a visit. He was bored and this was also the perfect opportunity to mess with him. It'd be even more fun because Gary was in the same building as his teammates, but they couldn't help him. Well, more like wouldn't. They thought he was crazy. He smirked in delight at the mere thought of it.
He reached his destination and skillfully picked the lock before entering the room. Gary was still in the bed with restraints. He was also asleep but appeared to be waking up. John quietly walked over to the hospital bed and sat in a chair beside it. After a few minutes, Gary's eyes fluttered open. As soon as he saw John, his eyes widened in alarm and he struggled against the restraints, drawing in a breath to scream. John clamped a hand over his mouth, and although it didn't prevent him from screaming, it muffled the sound quite a bit.
But he didn't expect Gary to bite him. Gary bit down as hard as he could and felt the copper taste of blood in his mouth, although he knew it wasn't his. John yelled in pain and instinctively recoiled, trying and failing to bring his now injured hand with him. Gary refused to let go and John did the only thing he knew to do- he smacked Gary as hard as he could. Gary's head snapped back from the force if it and he finally let go, John's blood staining his teeth. A large red handprint immediately began to form on his cheek and John regretted hitting him so hard. Not because he had hurt him, he couldn't care less about that, but because his teammates would notice and most likely get suspicious of him. Leave it to Gary to mess everything up.
He glared down at Gary and growled, "I'll be back for you later."
Gary was still too shocked from being hit so hard to respond. Blood ran slowly down his face, coming from his broken nose. Apparently hitting him had triggered a nosebleed.
John quickly put the chair back in its original position and made sure everything in the room looked normal before slipping out the door and locking it once again.
Gary laid still in the bed. Everything hurt. His head, which already had a severe headache, was pulsing in time with his heartbeat. His entire body ached from the continual effort of trying to escape the restraints. Tears shone in his eyes, having arrived when John slapped him. His nose stung horribly and he thought he felt something wet trailing down his face, but was unable to lift a hand to check. Something ran down the back of his throat and he tried to sit up but the room swayed and he felt nauseous. He laid back down and started coughing as more of the thick substance ran down his throat. Coughing soon turned into choking but the only thing he could do was lay there and endure it.
Suddenly there was a sound at the door and he started shaking with fear. John said he would be back later, he must have come back. But why would he be back so soon? How long had it been since he left? He expected John to enter the room and was surprised to see Archer. He gasped, trying to catch his breath, but only ended up choking more. His vision flashed red for a moment- that probably wasn't a good sign... His throat burned from the blood running down it and the choking. It was difficult to breathe. His throat felt like it was on fire.
"Oh my God, Roach!" Archer gasped when he saw blood running down the lower half of his face.
He dashed to his side and immediately started unbuckling the restraints that held his wrists. As soon as they were undone he made Roach sit up. He heard the younger man groan in pain as his broken ribs were jostled in the process. He made Roach tilt his head forward and pinch the bridge of his nose before running from the room. He ran to the hall closet and grabbed several washcloths, then sprinted to the bathroom and got them wet. He hurriedly wrung them out before running back to Roach's room.
Thankfully, Roach was still in the same position he had left him in. He set the washcloths on the bed beside Roach's leg and grabbed one. He put it under Roach's nose and held it there, trying to help stop the blood flow. Roach gasped in pain and flinched. His broken nose already hurt really bad, and he sure as hell didn't need someone touching it. Memories from when he got captured flashed through Roach's mind. He still hated the smell of chloroform. He shuddered just thinking about it. He quickly pushed the memories aside, knowing Archer was just trying to help. His breath came in ragged, wheezing breaths that sounded just awful. He needed to catch his breath, but every time he inhaled deeply his ribs exploded with pain that made his vision blur. Between the need to breathe and the pain in his ribs, he wasn't sure what to do.
"Shhh, it's okay. Just breathe," Archer said calmly.
He was worried. The previously white washcloth under Roach's nose was covered in blood. If he didn't already know it was white, he would have said it was red if someone asked him what color it was. He looked up at Roach's face and immediately noticed the bright red handprint that stood out all the more because the loss of blood had made him pale. How had that gotten there? Roach couldn't have done it, and even if he could have, he wouldn't have slapped himself. That would be idiotic. He could already see dark bruises starting to form. He quickly switched out the now dark red washcloth for a clean white one, glad that he had thought to bring more than one. He decided to take care of more urgent matters for now and deal with the handprint later. He already had a suspicion as to who had done it, although he couldn't really say he blamed them. But that didn't mean it didn't piss him off.
"Calm down, you're okay."
Blood was all over everything by now. Roach's shirt and chest were covered in it, as were the bed sheets. He would have to move Roach out of here to get him cleaned up. And he also didn't want him to freak out. He could already tell Roach was getting uncomfortable. His bloodshot eyes darted around the room, seemingly searching for an escape. He fidgeted uneasily on the bed, probably because his ankles were still in the restraints and he no longer liked being in this room because of his experiences here. Not to mention he was claustrophobic and the door was locked. He didn't like that at all.
Archer was extremely relieved when the blood clotted and stopped flowing. He removed the washcloth from Roach's nose and carefully wiped the rest of the blood from his face. Usually Roach would've resisted. He didn't like people messing with his face. But he was currently too busy focussing on trying to breathe and silently willing the pain to go away. He had always hated taking meds but he would kill for some pain meds right about now. Vaguely he felt Archer unbuckle the restraints that held his ankles. Thank God.
"Alright, I'm gonna take you to the rec room and get you cleaned up. You think you can walk?" He asked, concern evident on his face.
Roach turned slightly and the room swayed sickeningly. His stomach lurched and he felt bile rise in his throat. He attempted to say "no" but his voice refused to work, probably because it was irritated. So he just shook his head, which made the room turn upside down. He felt like he was high on something, although he had no clue what.
"Of course you can't. I'm sorry for asking stupid questions, you just scared the shit out of me." Archer sighed as he stood up and slid an arm under his knees while the other supported his back.
Roach immediately tensed up and vehemently shook his head in panic, making the world spin. Oh God he felt like he was gonna puke...!
"It's okay, I swear I won't drop you this time- as long as you sit still." The last part of the sentence was added jokingly, but Roach was still scared shitless that he was gonna be dropped.
The walls looked like one big blob of color to him and he didn't realize that they were in the rec room until he was gently lowered onto a soft surface- the couch. He heard someone talking but wasn't able to understand a word of what they were saying. The pounding in his ears from the terrible headache he had drowned everything out. His eyes gradually slid closed and he was almost asleep when a hand on his head nearly caused him to jump off the couch- efficiently waking him up.
"Sorry Bug, but you need to stay awake." Archer muttered as he set some supplies down on the floor beside the couch.
He grabbed the bag of ice from his pile of supplies and wrapped a washcloth around it so it wasn't too cold for Roach. He leaned forward and gently placed the makeshift ice pack on Roach's cheek- where a horrific bruise was already beginning to form. The hand print was still clearly visible and he wondered just how hard someone (*cough* *cough* ...John) had hit his young friend. Roach flinched away from the contact and whined when he felt something cold touch his bruised cheek.
"Shhh, it's okay. It'll make you feel better." Archer said, holding the ice pack in place despite Roach's attempts to move away.
Roach seemed to settle down some after a few minutes and he reached for the bottle of pain meds that sat by his feet. After taking two pills from it, he helped Roach sit up and gave them to him along with a glass of water. He was a bit worried that he would, as usual, refuse to take them but his fears disappeared when Roach swallowed them down without the slightest bit of hesitation. That only showed how truly shitty he felt. He usually avoided any and all types of meds at all times, but if he took them without even hesitating, that's when you needed to worry.
He looked at Roach's blood stained shirt and sighed. Between blood covering them and Archer cutting them off all the time, he was running out of clothes to wear. He slid Roach's shirt off of him and tried not to stare at the hundreds of scars that marred his body while he cleaned the blood away from his neck and chest. He listened to Roach's breathing for a few moments and sighed. It still didn't sound good- at all. But there was currently nothing he could do about that.
It didn't take long at all to clean him up- mostly because there wasn't much to clean. All he had to do was wipe the dried blood off of him, give him pain meds, and put an ice pack on his cheek. Roach was dozing lightly when the rest of the 141 ran into the room looking flustered. Archer wasn't surprised, he knew that they would be looking for Roach, but he was too busy dealing with him to tell them that Roach was fine and... well... hadn't escaped.
"Roach! Archer? Why is he in here? What the fuck?" Soap asked, concern showing on his face.
Roach woke up when he heard yelling, which had made his headache way worse than it had been. Although the pain meds had helped, they didn't completely numb the pain and as a result, his head still hurt. As did everywhere else, but at least now it wasn't as bad. He groggily opened his eyes and searched for the source of the disruption. He found it when his eyes landed on the rest of the 141, all of whom were standing in front of Archer. They looked angry, all except for Ghost, whom looked sympathetic.
"The only reason he's out here is because I had to bring him here. When I went in his room to check on him he had a nosebleed and was laying there choking on his own blood. And I'm pretty sure that Mark guy went to visit him earlier." He said, leaning forward and removing the ice pack from Roach's cheek for a moment to show them the large bruise that occupied the space below it.
There were several gasps of shock from the assembled group of men. Ghost rushed forward and sat on the edge of the couch beside Roach, eyes immediately roaming over his body, searching for other injuries. After finding none, he turned to Soap and Price, eyes flaring with anger.
"I told you tying him up was a bad idea! He could have choked to death laying there like that and he wouldn't have been able to do anything about it!"
"Alright, look. I know he could have died and that would have been awful. But he didn't. And as soon as Archer's done with him, he's going back to that room and he's staying there until he apologizes."
Disbelief ghosted across Ghost's (hehehe...) face. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. Roach could've died in that room, tied down like that and Price was gonna send him back in there and put him in restraints again?! He knew Price was hard on them sometimes, but damn. He was rarely this harsh to any of them.
"What the bloody hell are you talking about?! You do realize that if Archer hadn't gone to check on him when he did, Roach would be dead right now? And with that knowledge, you're going to put him back in there and tie him down again, all because some idiot wants an apology from him?!" He roared, blood pumping through his veins at a furious rate. He was absolutely livid.
Roach sat there listening to their conversation. He didn't like where it was going. He didn't want to be put in restraints again, but he sure as hell wasn't gonna apologize to John for anything. They'd have to kill him before then, which he knew they wouldn't do. There was only one solution. Run.
Price slowly stalked toward him, only stopping when he stood directly in front of the younger man.
"Yes, I am going to. You know why? Because 'some idiot' was nearly killed by him. And I say that idiot damn well deserves an apology for nearly being murdered, especially since he did absolutely nothing wrong!"
Roach was busy gathering his energy to get up and leave. Unbeknownst to anyone else in the room, he slowly sat up, barely managing to suppress groans of pain as he did so.
"Are you trying to kill Roach or something?! What if he gets another nosebleed and dies this time? What the fuck are you gonna do then?!"
"He's not going to die because now someone will be with him at all times. If something like that happens again, someone will be with him to deal with it, so therefore he will not die."
Now was a good time to put his plan into action (NOT). He launched himself from the couch and didn't even make it five steps before he keeled over and emptied the contents of his stomach onto the floor. Sometimes life really sucked.
A/N: Omg that was a really really really REALLY long chapter. I hope you guys appreciate this... it took me forever to write this out. Please review! This story isn't that popular... and it kinda makes me sad. My other story has over 110 reviews and it makes me happy, but then I look at how many reviews this story has... and it makes me a bit sad. Oh well. I'll try to update again a.s.a.p! Love you guys! :)