A Drugged Nightmare
This chapter has been prompted by Georgia May and GleeGeneration23 with the combined request of Jason falls into a diabetic coma after somebody repeatedly spikes his drinks at a late night party. Will Robbie tries to find the person responsible?
An actual chapter posted on time, I know, crazy right? I hope you all enjoy, I feel particularly proud of this chapter as I love how it all came together, hopefully you all feel the same way.
"I thought you said he'd only had the one?" a terrified voice cried, the person who to it belonged kneeling by a prone form, checking for a pulse with shaking hands.
"He had! I saw him drinking it for crying out loud, he never got any more!" was the sharp reply. And although this person's voice wasn't shaking like their companion's it held a steely tone which aptly showed the fear he was feeling.
"Could he have gone and gotten another? The party's been going on for a couple of hours now, there's no way you'll have seen everything."
"Yeah... I guess, it just doesn't seem like him," the second person, a male sighed, running his hand through his hair, glaring at the curious bystanders, all of whom looked like they wanted to get closer though they were stopped by the boy's furious stare in their direction. "Please tell me you've found a pulse or something. He is-"
"Yeah, yeah I got it!" fingers pressed to the sensitive spot where a weak pulse was being felt by the kneeling teen, brushing long locks away from her face with her free hand. "He's still breathing, thank God!"
Before anymore could be said the whining of incoming ambulance sirens hit the partygoers ears, with the huge vehicle tearing round the corner less than a second later. Screeching to a halt, a couple of paramedics jumped out of the ambulance, instantly rushing to the pale boy lying on the dewy grass.
"What happened?" one asked the two teens who were throwing anxious glances to their friend as he was placed on a stretcher and checked over.
"I don't know, he.. he was fine, he wasn't drinking loads... I saw him like two minutes before and he was acting out of it, I should have noticed, I should have said something," the blonde cried, on the verge of tears, not comforted as she should be when her companion pulled her into a tight hug.
"You've done so much already," the paramedic said with a smile, her eyes warm and full of comfort. "A lot of people would have just panicked, calling us when you did has helped more than you could ever properly imagine. Now you said that your brother is diabetic which is probably the cause of his collapse, especially when you take into consideration all the alcohol flowing round here. Now we believe he's fallen into a diabetic hypoglycemiac coma-"
"A coma?" the girl gasped, eyes going wide as the words sunk in.
"With the right treatment he should be just fine and it'll be easy enough to bring him round again," the paramedic soothed. "We're getting him connected to a glucose drip in the ambulance to bring up his blood sugar, and once that's done we can get him rehydrated."
"Can we come with him? Please, those two are brothers and me and him, well, I just really need to be there."
Biting her lip as she fought an internal battle, the paramedic eventually nodded and motioned the pair forward. "Its not really protocol, especially for people who aren't related, but I'd rather not risk you driving down to the hospital in the states you're in."
With a grateful smile and word of thanks, Robbie Roscoe and Holly Cunningham made their way to the hospital, praying to anyone that would listen that Jason would be okay, that after all this, nothing else would go wrong.
}}}}}}}
"Woah, watch it J!"Holly said with a small laugh as Jason stumbled past her, draining the final bit of his drink.
"I'm sorry Hol, so sorry!" Jason slurred, whirling to face the younger girl and almost falling to the ground at the quick movement, gripping Holly's shoulder to catch his balance.
"It's okay, you have fun yeah?" The teen laughed as Jason moved away, wrapping his arm around another girl's waist and starting to dance.
"I've never seen him so out if it," Sadie, a small brunette said cattily as she watched Jason in the centre of the room.
"Me neither, he's not normally a drinker," Holly said, frowning with confusion. "And I thought he was only having the one."
"Well that's obviously not happened, maybe your break-up hit him harder than he was letting on."
"Maybe. Well he's a big boy now, he'll be able to deal," Holly said, her voice turning cold as she watched him getting closer to his dancing partner. She wasn't jealous, her and Jason were long since over, he could move on with other people, it wasn't a big deal, it just wasn't.
}}}}}}}}}}}
"How is he doctor?" Sandy asked wringing her hands as she made her way to Doctor Lannister when he left Jason's hospital room. Although the rest of the family remained in their seats, they were all clearly focused on what he had to say.
"After carrying out some tests we can confirm that Jason did fall into a diabetic coma caused by hypoglycemia, he should be fine and we're increasing his glucose levels now, as well as getting him rehydrated. Such a drop in his blood sugar levels can only be explained if Jason consumed a vast quantity of alcohol-"
"But he didn't," Robbie said with certainty. "Jase knows he can't drink loads, and never has more than a couple of beers, it doesn't make sense that he would drink as much as you're saying he is."
"I'm not saying anything," the doctor said, keeping his voice calm so not to anger Robbie any further, the teen looking ready to snap with any wrong word said. "But at a party anything can go wrong, and Jason's drink appears to have been... sabotaged."
"You mean he was spiked?" Sandy asked, eyes wide as the realisation of just how much danger Jason could have been in if he hadn't been found earlier hit her.
"His blood alcohol levels are too high for him to have just had one beer like you've told me, it could have been spiked with anything if he left it for even a minute. The tests also showed that there's a tiny bit of gbl in his blood, which is a common drug used when spiking drinks. The amount in his system normally wouldn't have had such an effect on him, but paired with his diabetes, well it had an almost lethal result."
Robbie found himself unable to speak, let alone even listen as the doctor began asking the others questions. Jason, his brother had been spiked. He wasn't in hospital because of a stupid accident, no he was here because someone wanted him to be.
And Robbie was going to make them pay, he was going to find whoever had done this and he was going to get his brother the justice he deserved. But first, he needed to ask around, otherwise he was never going to find the bastard who had done this to his twin.
}}}}}}}}}}}}
The music was already at a deafening level as more and more people arrived at the small house, some more drunk than others. Having only just arrived themselves, Jason and Robbie were still fairly sober and chatting lightly to a number of friends.
"I'm going to the kitchen Rob, Holly's just arrived and I really am not feeling up to making awkward small talk with her."
"Alright you pansy, you go and avoid the ex," Robbie laughed, smirking when Jason only flipped him the bird and left to go to the kitchen, instantly catching up with a curvy redhead before even entering. Robbie's attention on his quieter brother soon dropped the second a shot of vodka was placed into his hand and he took it, wincing as the burn hit his throat.
The next hour passed in a blur, with Robbie only consuming more and more alcohol as time went by. He vaguely noticed Jason moving past him, a lot less steady on his feet than he was before he entered the kitchen, though Robbie didn't take it in as he dipped a blonde into a kiss, hands travelling southwards.
}}}}}}}}}}}
When Jason had left to go to the kitchen had to be the moment he was spiked, it was the only time he had been out of Robbie's sight, and he had been acting differently to when he had left the living room. But the kitchen had been almost as packed as the living room had been, which didn't really narrow down who could have done this to Jason, hell Robbie didn't even know who had been in there with him.
But he did know that Jason had been talking to someone. He could remember the moment Jason had started talking to another girl, she had been short, vibrant strawberry hair that shined in the light. She was in his brother's biology class, though Robbie had never even spoken to her, hell he couldn't remember her name, but he knew he must know it.
Furiously wracking his brain, Robbie tried to place the face with a name. He know he had the girl on facebook, but the lack of wifi in the hospital made it pretty hard to check, and Robbie tried to hold in his annoyed groan as he only kept coming up blank.
He was tempted to ask Holly, the young girl had been beside herself ever since Jason had been found, lying pale and motionless in the garden out front, even refusing to leave when Cindy had insisted; luckily Sandy had been okay with Jason's ex not leaving, even giving her a tight hug when Holly almost burst into tears not even half an hour before. In her current state, Robbie doubted Holly would even know who he was talking about, let alone be able to give him a name.
Robbie couldn't believe it, he'd already reached a dead end and he hadn't even started, all he knew was that the girl's name started with M, and that was hard enough on its own. As Sandy asked another question on her youngest's current condition, Robbie couldn't help but list the people in his year that names began with M, in case it did anything to help jog his memory.
Molly.
Melissa.
Mandy.
"Mindy Salters," he found himself breath as the name finally slotted into place, unable to stop the small smile from gracing his lips. He was finally getting somewhere, maybe he'd find the bastard who had done this to Jason after all. Without a word to his confused family, Robbie hurried down the hospital corridor, not stopping till he was outside, breathing in grateful gulps of clean but unsterilised air.
"Robbie? Are you okay?" Holly asked as she rushed through the double doors close behind the older boy. He briefly explained his suspicions to her as he messaged Mindy, hoping that she'd be able to help, if she couldn't, well Robbie had no idea what he'd do next.
}}}}}}}}}}}}}
"Thought Danny was coming tonight?" Jason asked Mindy as they crossed over the kitchen threshold together.
"Still is, but he couldn't get any cover at work so he'll be here later."
"How will you cope?" Jason teased his friend. Danny and Mindy had only been going out for a couple of months but were already completely inseparable, with one always came the other, and Jason felt odd seeing only Mindy, the young girl looking slightly lost herself.
"With alcohol probably. And a lot of bad dancing," the short girl laughed, taking a swig from the wine bottle she had in her hand before offering it to Jason, who only shook his head. "Right, forgot you couldn't really drink, sorry."
"Don't be, I'm completely happy here with my lone beer can," Jason said airily, only getting an arched brow from Mindy in response. "Fine, it sucks big time."
"That's better J," Mindy said with a laugh. "I mean I'd give you some of my drink, but well, for your health, I probably shouldn't."
"Get stuffed yeah?" Jason laughed, knocking her gently with his shoulder. "If this is how you treat Dann- hey watch it!" Jason found himself almost being knocked off his feet as someone unceremoniously shoved past, coming face to face with a sneering Finn.
"Maybe you shouldn't be in my way," he scowled, fists tightening and fully gearing up for a fight.
"Me? You were the one who just barged straight through," Jason replied hotly, though he backed down at Mindy's touch, shrugging off his annoyance at the young Scouse lad, fully prepared to get back in the mood for the party.
He hadn't been talking with Mindy for a lot longer, ten minutes at best, before he noted just how often she was looking at her phone and then the doorway. "Danny here?"
"Yeah, just arrived a few minutes back," she replied with a dreamy smile. "Talking to some mates though and he doesn't want to leave them."
"Then you go over and say hi to him," Jason said with a smile, knowing in a second that Mindy felt bad about leaving him and that was why she hadn't said anything before. "I'll be fine, you go yeah?"
"Thank you!" she smiled, practically skipping out of the full kitchen, giving Phoebe a small smile as her classmate entered said room, though Mindy wasn't stopping for conversation, desperate to see her boyfriend and to give him a welcome kiss... and maybe a little more.
}}}}}}}}}}
"Where are you going now?" Holly yelled as she followed after Robbie at a trot, his long strides too quick for her to keep up if she kept at a walk. Mindy had only been with Jason for a maximum of half an hour, and he certainly hadn't been acting weird when she'd left to go see Danny.
"To find Phoebe, you heard Mindy, she was in the kitchen too and something must have happened then," Robbie called over his shoulder, jogging up the garden pathway and knocking furiously on the door.
"Won't this be a bit... awkward?" Holly couldn't help but ask as the pair waited at the McQueen's doorway. "I mean have you even spoken since you broke up?"
"Don't matter," Robbie shrugged, because he wasn't interested in stupid, petty teenage going ons anymore, no he was focused on something more important, and if getting the answers meant having to talk to his ex, well it was just something that had to be done, and something Robbie was willing to do and all, if it meant he got the answers that he so needed.
}}}}}}}}}}}
"Alright Jase?" Phoebe asked as she clocked one of the only people in the small kitchen who she actually knew, making a beeline for him.
"Yeah yeah, I'm good, you?" Jason replied, nodding his head to the beat of the music from the other room, taking a step away from a couple next to him who becoming just a little bit too passionate for his liking. "After you know..."
"After?" Phoebe asked, frowning in confusion at what Jason was hinting to, taking a swig from her cider as she did. Like her current companion she wasn't a big drinker and wouldn't be having a lot more through the night.
"You know. You and Robbie, look what he did was dead cold and I told him he was being an arse-"
"Woah, hold it Jase," Phoebe couldn't help but smile, partly in amusement but also because she couldn't help but feel touched at just how caring her classmate was appearing to be.
Even when she and Robbie had been dating the pair hadn't been particularly close, sure they had the occasional conversation but it was never anything major, so it was a nice surprise to see that Jason did seem to be genuinely concerned about her wellbeing. "I'm well over it okay? So stop being such a sap and get another drink down you! I'm not here to mope and get all depressed and you're not going to bring me down, so lets go to the living room and have some fun."
"Sounds good," Jason couldn't help but laugh, moving to leave the kitchen though he was quickly blocked by Finn, smile dying on his face right there at the glare the younger boy was shooting him and Phoebe.
"You finished with one Roscoe so you're starting with another?" he leered at Phoebe, smirk only growing as she glared. "Hoping to get the full set one day? Everyone says you're a right prude, but that's just a front isn't it?"
"Finn leave it," Jason warned, his tone steely as he tried to push the boy away, though it was almost impossible as Finn kept on trying to get forward, not caring for Jason's personal space one bit.
"You're just a little slag, willing to get with anyone as long as they breath, you're just a -" Finn was cut off by Phoebe jumping forward and smacking him clean around the face, effectively shutting him up.
"That was a warning, next time you won't get back up," she snarled, feeling Jason wrap a wrist around her to make sure she didn't try to lunge for Finn again.
"Crazy bitch," the Scouse lad shouted, though he did leave, pressing a hand to his reddened cheek and wincing.
"Are you all right Pheebs?" Jason asked, taking a swig of his beer as he guided the shaking girl to the garden, sitting down on a small bench, away from the curious partygoers.
"I'm fine, or I will be," she replied with a weak smile, pulling her hand through her hair and effectively ruining the elaborate hair style it had been in just seconds before-hand. "Can we... can we just stay out here for a little?"
"Course we can, if you want I can take you back to yours now? I won't leave you alone."
"That's really nice," Phoebe said with a grateful smile. "But it's fine, I'm not going to let Finn O'Connor ruin my night. I just need to calm down is all."
Phoebe and Jason stayed put for a good ten minutes, lightly chatting until the former felt comfortable enough to return to the party. She couldn't help but notice the precarious way Jason swayed when getting up, or the way he staggered back, but her mind was still on the recent altercation with Finn, and she didn't pay it mind as she would normally have done.
No, instead she was focusing on making herself a strong drink, because after tonight she really needed it.
}}}}}}}}}}
"And that's it really," Phoebe shrugged, wishing she could help Robbie out more, but completely unable to. "Jason went back into the living room, and then not even twenty minutes later he'd collapsed."
"Do you think he could have been spiked after that? When he'd left you? I mean, there doesn't seem to have been any other time someone could have done it," Holly said, sharing a wondering look with Robbie.
"He'd definitely been spiked when me and him went back into the house," Phoebe said, her tone sure. "He was all over the place, I thought the blood had just rushed straight to his head, or that he'd drunk too much, but it makes sense that it was whatever he'd taken taking effect."
"But when could that have happened?" Holly asked, voicing the question currently running through Robbie's head, as he tried to piece together the night's events for what felt like the 50th time in just a few hours. "Jason was never alone which must mean-"
"He was spiked when he was with you or Mindy," Robbie realised, eyes wide as he realised the man-hunt was growing to be even more impossible than he first thought. If someone had spiked Jason when he was with either girl, it was likely they had done it completely under the radar without them noticing. There had been at least a hundred people there last night too, no way would Phoebe or Mindy remember every single person they walked past when they were with Jason. It was an impossible task when sober, remembering those details when there had been a fair amount of alcohol in you, well that was just ridiculous.
There had to be something he was missing though, something just out of reach, that would connect the dots and give Robbie that final little push. The answer was in touching distance, he knew it, it was just hidden.
Going over both girls stories, Robbie practically groaned in frustration, there had to be something, there just had to be. And then it hit him.
"Finn. Finn was there too."
Both girls had mentioned the young schoolboy, both had said Jason had been involved in an altercation with him, the second more extreme than the first. Finn would have had plenty of chance to slip him something without alerting anyone, the question was why?
But Robbie could get the answer to that later, first he had to find Finn and get him to confess. Not even bothering to answer Phoebe and Holly's confused questions, Robbie ran out of the small house and didn't stop till he reached The Hutch, startling a few customers no doubt as he barged through the door, red-faced and a look of steely determination in his eye.
"Robbie?" Tony asked, eyes wide as he took in the dishevelled appearance of the teen in front of him. "What are you doing in here? Get out!"
"Finn? Where is he? I need to speak to him," Robbie panted instead, ignoring Tony's attempts to shoo him away. "It's urgent!"
"He's not here," Tony replied, sighing as he realised Robbie wasn't going to leave till he got answers and now. "He's at the garage where you said you were going to meet him."
"The garage?"
"Oh don't tell me you forgot, he left ages ago, said you wanted to talk to him privately, to get the air sorted between you both."
Before Tony could say anymore Robbie had run out of the restaurant, mind spinning. Why would Finn tell Tony he was meeting with Robbie, and at the garage at that, especially when he knew that Jason would be in the hospital... and so would the whole family.
Finn knew Robbie would figure it all out, would slot all the pieces into their respective places, and this meeting in the garage, well it was going to be a final showdown between the former friends. Feeling a lump in his throat, Robbie finally slowed to a walk when he hit the Dog car park, trying to make as little noise as possible as he got closer to the garage, he didn't want to let Finn know he was here.
With a surprisingly steady hand, Robbie pushed open the main door and to little surprise came face to face with Finn. The gun in his hand, well that was a shock.
}}}}}}}}}}}
This was it, tonight was the night. Taking a steady breath, Finn checked his appearance in the mirror one final time before leaving the spacious flat, yelling a farewell to Diane before the door had closed shut behind him.
For the fifth time he re-checked his pocket to make sure it was still there, tonight wouldn't go to plan if he forgot the bloody stuff, because this was it, this was the night Finn was going to get his revenge on Robbie.
That bastard had practically egged him on to attack John-Paul, but when the older teen had found out what had happened between student and teacher, he had threatened to go to the police, only stopping when Finn had taken care of it.
Ever since then the atmosphere between the former friends had been tense at best, and everytime Finn saw Robbie's, judging and scowling in his direction, his blood would boil. The young Roscoe thought he was so much better than him, well Finn was going to show him, and this party was going to be just the beginning.
But he wasn't going to go straight for the kill, no that was too simple, he had to be smart about this, affect Robbie and really freak him out before he got his revenge.
It was why he'd chosen to go after Jason first, the twin's were closer than close, Robbie seeing his brother in such a bad state would no doubt rile him up the wrong way, and it wasn't like he was doing anything major, a double shot of vodka and a hint of gbl was more than enough to have a huge impact on the studious Roscoe, and was more than enough to embarrass Robbie when he would no doubt trying to get with a random girl.
But then Jason had collapsed. With his diabetes his body couldn't process the alcohol or the drugs and less than an hour after Finn had slipped the stuff into his drink he was being raced to hospital. And Finn would have felt guilty, he would of, but the look on Robbie's face as he knelt by his motionless brother, well it more than made up for it.
It was wrong he knew it, Jason could be in serious danger, but in reality it just meant his plan had gone that bit better, because he hadn't just embarrassed Robbie, no, he'd hit him where it would really hurt.
But Finn knew he couldn't do what else he had planned, he just didn't have the time. Robbie was smart, he'd figure out that Finn was responsible for putting his brother into hospital and go straight for him, maybe even report him to the police, and Finn couldn't get sent down, he just couldn't. This meant he had to end it with Robbie and now.
And this found him at the Roscoe's garage not even twelve hours after Jason had collapsed, pacing the cluttered floor, a gun gripped tightly in his hand. Robbie was going to find him here, and then he was going to sort it, and in this final blowout, he was going to come out on top.
}}}}}}}}}}}}}
"Right, I think we need to stay calm," Robbie said, not taking his eyes off the gun that Finn had lifted when the older teen had entered the room. "We don't want anything stupid to happen now do we?"
"Have you always been so patronising?" Finn sneered, taking a step forward. "Now close the door mate, don't want anyone interrupting us do we?"
"You know, I'm oddly okay with that."
"Close the door Robbie!" Finn yelled, brandishing the gun, his eyes flashing. Without further hesitation, Robbie closed the door without taking his eyes off of Finn or the weapon in his hand. He had to stay calm, the younger boy was completely unhinged, if he could just keep him from getting antagonised then maybe someone would find them before it was too late.
But who was going to even come by? All his brothers were going to be at the hospital for hours, he couldn't stay here for the whole day! God, he was so screwed.
Although he hadn't done anything to merit an attack, Finn still lunged with no warning and cocked the gun, giving Robbie little to no time to react, though he managed to jump out of the way in the nick of time, but he wasn't quick enough. The bullet grazed his arm, and it took all his restraint to not collapse as pure pain worked through his whole body.
"Ahh fuck!" he yelled, pressing his hand to the wound and wincing as the pain shot through him. Finn lunged to attack him again, though Robbie was ready for this one and managed to hit the gun out of the Scouser's hand, it flying across the garage floor, luckily without firing off once more.
But this didn't stop Finn, instead his fist came flying towards Robbie, hitting him square on the jaw and causing him to fall to the floor, head spinning.
In seconds Finn was towering above him, gun back in hand, whilst Robbie tried to scrabble to his feet, though he was stopped when the younger boy placed his foot on his chest, pressing down hard and making it difficult for him to breath.
"I'm sorry mate, but you see why I have to do this," Finn said softly, mouth set in a firm downwards line. "This has to end you see, and I am not going to let you be the one to walk away victorious, I can't you see it just-"
Finn was cut off as he was hit across the head by a spanner, flying across the garage floor and landing in a motionless heap as Holly stood above Robbie, her makeshift weapon clutched tightly in her hand as she looked towards Finn, breathing a sigh of relief when she realised he was out cold.
"How... how did you even know we were here?" Robbie asked, getting to his feet with a wince.
"Well I didn't know where you were going exactly, but I knew you were looking out for Finn. I just went to the Hutch and Tony told me that both of you should be here."
"Well thank you," Robbie said, feeling completely relieved. If it hadn't been for Holly then God knows where'd he be right now, probably six feet under.
"I wasn't going to leave you with that lunatic alone, he had to be stopped and now he has been. First drugging Jason and then almost killing you!"
"Yeah, you don't know the half of it," Robbie muttered as Holly grabbed her phone, already dialling for the police. She hadn't been talking to them for more than a moment when his own mobile began ringing.
"Robbie? Yeah, it's Joe," the elder Roscoe said, and Robbie couldn't help but hold his breath. Had something happened with Jason? Had he gotten any worse? And if this was just a simple catchup call, how the hell was he going to explain this whole sorry mess? "It's about Jason, he's woken up mate! He's going to be all right."
"Really? That great," Robbie couldn't help but smile, glad that it was all going to be okay.
"Yeah, he'll be out of here in a little so we were wondering if you could help us out at the garage later today, there's a lot to do. We'll be down in a couple of hours."
"Yeah about that," Robbie said slowly, looking around at the garage and all the destruction that lay near. "We really need to talk about something, and you're not going to like it."
Guest – Thank you for telling me that the Roscoe's have been added to the character tags, I hadn't realised! What I will probably do, is tag the character when they have a chapter quite centered around them, but it will change for each chapter, like the summary does! So for example this chapter is quite Robbie-centric and he's been tagged, but if the next one isn't, then I'll remove him and tag one of the others!
I got a lot of reviews for my last chapter, so thank you all very much, they were so nice to read and all put a big smile on my face! Hope you all continue to enjoy!
Next Chapter – Joe did actually die in the council flats when they were demolished. This is his funeral – prompted by buttercrisp and an anon on tumblr