Fake Fan Fiction ❯ Misery ❯ Broken ( Chapter 17 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Kita and Subu-chan 
Anime/Manga: Fake Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Action / Drama / Romance / Police | Type: Shounen-ai | Uploaded On: 02.15.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.2K | Visits: 404 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Fake Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Action / Drama / Romance / Police | Type: Shounen-ai | Uploaded On: 02.15.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.2K | Visits: 404 | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter Seventeen-Broken
A/N- Heh. That was kind of evil, wasn’t it? Another cliffhanger and the shortest chapter this side of the prologue too. Sorry bout that, folks. Promise things are going to come together soon. Hmm, forgot about Valentine’s Day. (AKA Singles Awareness Day for those who have no one to share it with. That’s okay, Hana. You can spend it with us from now on! Subu-chan’s not very romantic! But it’s one time of the year I can have chocolate without getting in trouble!) That can change, Akita. And you’re ever so much better in the romance department, dear? Your idea of a romantic evening is curled up in bed with the latest yaoi book you’ve managed to get your hands on. (That is romantic! Sexy, too.) Ugh. Too much information, Akita. Way too much information!
JJ had had enough of watching Dee and Ryo make eyes at each other nearly an hour ago. Had he ever been that sickening? With a rueful chuckle, he had to admit he’d probably been worse. Bikky was apparently of the same opinion, because he was making retching noises every time Dee whispered something utterly sappy to Ryo. JJ had to fight the urge to join him. It would have made the heavy feeling in his heart easier to bear.
Admitting that Dee was never his had not eased the ache in his chest every time he saw them together. He knew it would take him a while not to want to cringe whenever he heard Dee raise his voice. Just as it would take him a while to get over the gaping hole in his heart where his hope for Dee had once lived. But he was surprised to find the aching void didn’t hurt as much as it had yesterday.
And he knew there was a reason for that, too. Someone who had never rejected him; someone who was always there to support him and make him smile even when his heart was breaking. It always came back to Drake, anymore. JJ sighed and glanced at the clock on the wall. Two hours and counting since Drake and Ted had gone to confront the man they believed had shot Ryo. JJ was about ready to climb the walls and not just because of the two turtledoves cooing at each other on the other side of the room. He’d been unaccountably anxious since this morning.
Bikky had resorted to throwing anything within reach at Dee when the cheery chirp of a cell phone made them all jump. JJ flinched as every set of eyes in the room focused on him as he scrambled to get the phone out of his jacket pocket with his good hand.
“A-Adams.”
“Mr. Adams? This is Clarice Mitchells at Mercy General Hospital. Do you know someone named Drake Parker?”
JJ’s heart dropped and he had to force his next words out around the sudden lump in his throat. “Yes. He’s my partner.”
“You’re listed as his emergency contact. Detective Parker was brought in approximately fifteen minutes ago after sustaining injuries in a fall off of a fire escape.”
“JJ? What is it?”
The cell phone slipped from JJ’s numb fingers and he took off running as fast as his legs would carry him, deaf to Dee’s indignant queries. His shoulder was throbbing by the time he made it to the elevator, but he ignored the pain as he punched the button for the elevator repeatedly, in the vain hope that would make it come faster.
He had nearly made up his mind to take the stairs when the elevator dinged.
JJ shoved inside as soon as the doors opened, ignoring the shocked look from the elderly lady in a wheelchair. He mashed the button for the first floor just as he heard Dee’s voice and saw the dark-haired man come trotting around the corner. But JJ had no thoughts to spare on him as the doors slid closed. All that he could hear were the words “…Injuries in a fall off of a fire escape…” echoing over and over in his ears.
It seemed to take the elevator months to reach the first floor. Every stop along the way was a year he couldn’t afford. When the car at last opened on the first floor, JJ all but vaulted the gurney that two orderlies had pushed in on the eighth floor. He was off at a dead run before they could do more than gasp indignantly.
He made it to the emergency room in under a minute, arriving panting and breathless at the desk where he had signed himself in less than three days ago.
“P-Parker…” He managed to gasp at the nurse, holding his now agonizingly throbbing shoulder. “Y-you have a Drake Parker here?”
The nurse (not the one who had checked him in before) looked at him over her glasses. “Are you family, sir?”
“He’s my partner!” JJ exclaimed.
“O-oh.” The nurse blushed and for the first time JJ was aware of how he must look, frantic and disheveled with his silvery hair wild from the dash down the hall. And then the partner comment, which he had made without thinking about how it might've sounded to her. Funny that it wasn’t the way she was thinking, but JJ didn’t care. If that would get him past her to see Drake, he’d let her believe that. “Yes!”
He was saved by Ted sticking his head out through the double doors. “JJ? I thought I heard your voice. How did you get here so fast? The nurse only just went to call you.”
“Ted-sempai!” JJ launched himself at the redhead. “How is he? Is he all right? What happened? Please tell me he’s okay?”
“Christ, JJ! Don’t make such a scene! Get in here.” Ted grabbed him with a bandaged hand and yanked him through the double doors.
“What happened?!” JJ grabbed Ted’s arm.
“Shit, calm down, you spaz! The arrest went to hell. Rodriguez shot a snitch that came to warn him that we had his brother and started taking potshots at us. He tried to escape through a painted shut window onto the fire escape. He tripped and the railing gave way. Drake grabbed for him to keep him from falling, but the psycho grabbed hold of him and let go of the railing.”
“What??!” JJ’s frantic shout made heads turn.
Ted grabbed his arm and hustled him into a nearby (and thankfully, unoccupied) restroom. “Calm the fuck down!” He hissed. “I caught Drake, but Rodriguez wasn’t letting go.”
Ted was stalling him! JJ pulled free of Ted’s grasp and fled the restroom, desperate to see Drake. No! What if something had happened to him and JJ never had the chance to tell him…
“JJ!” Ted caught up to him. “Slow the hell down!”
“Where is he?” He turned on Ted with a mix of fury and terror that made the other man take a step back. “Where is he?”
Ted’s eyes darted toward a curtained-off room and that was enough. JJ ducked under his outstretched hand and made a beeline for the door.
Ted caught him by the shoulders and shook him. “JJ…JJ-calm down, dammit! JJ, he’s all right! More than half-strangled, but he’ll live, okay?”
JJ struggled free of Ted’s bandaged hands until he could see past him through the small gap in the curtains.
Drake was sitting up in a chair as a doctor put the last couple of stitches in a huge gash on his forehead. He had one hell of a shiner, his left eye swollen nearly shut and a riot of black and purple. There was a thick band of the same colors around his throat. He was shirtless and had a line of discolored and raw flesh across his lean abdomen that was gently being swabbed clean by a nurse.
JJ felt the breath go out of him, his heart settling back into place in his chest. Drake was okay. He would live!
This time he let Ted pull him away from the door, but Ted still hadn’t noticed his new complacency. “Dammit, JJ, would you quit acting like it’s Dee who’s in there! You need to calm the fuck down!” Right about then, Ted realized he wasn’t fighting anymore and let go. “Christ.” He sighed.
JJ stood frozen, stunned by what Ted had just said. “…acting like it’s Dee…” Had he really? When had Drake become just that important in his mind that he outranked Dee? And he did, JJ realized with a sudden surge of mingled dismay and elation. Somewhere in the tangled-up mess of JJ’s emotions, Drake had eased into places in his heart that had only ever been touched by Dee. Awed by that realization, JJ missed more than half of what Ted had said to him.
“I’m sorry, what was that, Ted-sempai?”
Ted sighed and shoved his hair back with a wince, quickly pulling his hand away. “I said that Drake has never been so lucky in his life. When he fell, he hit the level of the fire escape just below us and managed to hang on. I don’t know how he did it. Rodriguez wasn’t so lucky. Drake’s shirt tore and Rodriguez went with it. Forensics is scraping him up from the alley now.”
Ted blinked ruefully at his bandaged hands. “I managed to slice my hands up pretty good getting to Drake before he passed out and joined Rodriguez in becoming pavement pizza. I pulled him to safety just as backup arrived. Better late than never.”
Right about then, Dee arrived, and Ted had to start his explanation over again. By the time he finished, the doctor had emerged from the room. As one, they rounded on him to find out the full extent of their friend’s injuries.
“Detective Parker was very lucky today, gentlemen. Aside from the nasty concussion, he’s going to be living with a very, very sore throat for the next few days. Frankly, I’m surprised that between the blow to his head and the oxygen depravation, he managed to hang on as long as he did. He’s going to be hurting for a while, because he managed to crack two ribs when he hit the railing, but again, he was incredibly lucky. He had to have hit with enough force to have shattered those ribs and driven the fragments into his vitals, but somehow, he managed to avoid that. We’ll keep him overnight for observation, but it doesn’t appear that there’s any internal injury.”
All his breath escaped and JJ, not caring who saw him, sank down to sit on the floor, so relieved he couldn’t even speak.
He sat there numbly as Dee thanked the doctor and then hauled JJ back to his feet. “You ran all the way down here and you’re not even going to go say hello?”
JJ looked up at Dee through tear-filled eyes. “I thought he was dying. I thought Ted was just stalling me and that Drake was dying!”
Dee sighed and ruffled his hair like Drake often did. JJ quivered. “You heard the doctor. He’s gonna be all right. C’mon. Let’s go see him.”
At the door to the room, Dee suddenly shoved a surprised JJ forward. His hand on Ted’s arm stopped the redhead at the door. Ted looked back at him in surprise. Dee nodded after JJ. “Let’s you and me give him a few minutes to reassure himself that Drake isn’t dead. Want a cup of coffee?”
Ted looked skeptically back at the room but allowed himself to be led away.
A/N- not a cliffhanger, though it is intended to leave you wondering. Plan on two more chapters and remember this takes place in the canon just before “Like, Like, Love.” Next chapter will be up soon. The next question is, do you want us to do a sequel? We can, but if you don’t want us to… (NO! Say it isn’t sooo, Subu-chan!!) Calm down, dearest. If they love us, they will come. (And review? *Sniffles* Waah! I think I need a hug!!)
A/N- Heh. That was kind of evil, wasn’t it? Another cliffhanger and the shortest chapter this side of the prologue too. Sorry bout that, folks. Promise things are going to come together soon. Hmm, forgot about Valentine’s Day. (AKA Singles Awareness Day for those who have no one to share it with. That’s okay, Hana. You can spend it with us from now on! Subu-chan’s not very romantic! But it’s one time of the year I can have chocolate without getting in trouble!) That can change, Akita. And you’re ever so much better in the romance department, dear? Your idea of a romantic evening is curled up in bed with the latest yaoi book you’ve managed to get your hands on. (That is romantic! Sexy, too.) Ugh. Too much information, Akita. Way too much information!
JJ had had enough of watching Dee and Ryo make eyes at each other nearly an hour ago. Had he ever been that sickening? With a rueful chuckle, he had to admit he’d probably been worse. Bikky was apparently of the same opinion, because he was making retching noises every time Dee whispered something utterly sappy to Ryo. JJ had to fight the urge to join him. It would have made the heavy feeling in his heart easier to bear.
Admitting that Dee was never his had not eased the ache in his chest every time he saw them together. He knew it would take him a while not to want to cringe whenever he heard Dee raise his voice. Just as it would take him a while to get over the gaping hole in his heart where his hope for Dee had once lived. But he was surprised to find the aching void didn’t hurt as much as it had yesterday.
And he knew there was a reason for that, too. Someone who had never rejected him; someone who was always there to support him and make him smile even when his heart was breaking. It always came back to Drake, anymore. JJ sighed and glanced at the clock on the wall. Two hours and counting since Drake and Ted had gone to confront the man they believed had shot Ryo. JJ was about ready to climb the walls and not just because of the two turtledoves cooing at each other on the other side of the room. He’d been unaccountably anxious since this morning.
Bikky had resorted to throwing anything within reach at Dee when the cheery chirp of a cell phone made them all jump. JJ flinched as every set of eyes in the room focused on him as he scrambled to get the phone out of his jacket pocket with his good hand.
“A-Adams.”
“Mr. Adams? This is Clarice Mitchells at Mercy General Hospital. Do you know someone named Drake Parker?”
JJ’s heart dropped and he had to force his next words out around the sudden lump in his throat. “Yes. He’s my partner.”
“You’re listed as his emergency contact. Detective Parker was brought in approximately fifteen minutes ago after sustaining injuries in a fall off of a fire escape.”
“JJ? What is it?”
The cell phone slipped from JJ’s numb fingers and he took off running as fast as his legs would carry him, deaf to Dee’s indignant queries. His shoulder was throbbing by the time he made it to the elevator, but he ignored the pain as he punched the button for the elevator repeatedly, in the vain hope that would make it come faster.
He had nearly made up his mind to take the stairs when the elevator dinged.
JJ shoved inside as soon as the doors opened, ignoring the shocked look from the elderly lady in a wheelchair. He mashed the button for the first floor just as he heard Dee’s voice and saw the dark-haired man come trotting around the corner. But JJ had no thoughts to spare on him as the doors slid closed. All that he could hear were the words “…Injuries in a fall off of a fire escape…” echoing over and over in his ears.
It seemed to take the elevator months to reach the first floor. Every stop along the way was a year he couldn’t afford. When the car at last opened on the first floor, JJ all but vaulted the gurney that two orderlies had pushed in on the eighth floor. He was off at a dead run before they could do more than gasp indignantly.
He made it to the emergency room in under a minute, arriving panting and breathless at the desk where he had signed himself in less than three days ago.
“P-Parker…” He managed to gasp at the nurse, holding his now agonizingly throbbing shoulder. “Y-you have a Drake Parker here?”
The nurse (not the one who had checked him in before) looked at him over her glasses. “Are you family, sir?”
“He’s my partner!” JJ exclaimed.
“O-oh.” The nurse blushed and for the first time JJ was aware of how he must look, frantic and disheveled with his silvery hair wild from the dash down the hall. And then the partner comment, which he had made without thinking about how it might've sounded to her. Funny that it wasn’t the way she was thinking, but JJ didn’t care. If that would get him past her to see Drake, he’d let her believe that. “Yes!”
He was saved by Ted sticking his head out through the double doors. “JJ? I thought I heard your voice. How did you get here so fast? The nurse only just went to call you.”
“Ted-sempai!” JJ launched himself at the redhead. “How is he? Is he all right? What happened? Please tell me he’s okay?”
“Christ, JJ! Don’t make such a scene! Get in here.” Ted grabbed him with a bandaged hand and yanked him through the double doors.
“What happened?!” JJ grabbed Ted’s arm.
“Shit, calm down, you spaz! The arrest went to hell. Rodriguez shot a snitch that came to warn him that we had his brother and started taking potshots at us. He tried to escape through a painted shut window onto the fire escape. He tripped and the railing gave way. Drake grabbed for him to keep him from falling, but the psycho grabbed hold of him and let go of the railing.”
“What??!” JJ’s frantic shout made heads turn.
Ted grabbed his arm and hustled him into a nearby (and thankfully, unoccupied) restroom. “Calm the fuck down!” He hissed. “I caught Drake, but Rodriguez wasn’t letting go.”
Ted was stalling him! JJ pulled free of Ted’s grasp and fled the restroom, desperate to see Drake. No! What if something had happened to him and JJ never had the chance to tell him…
“JJ!” Ted caught up to him. “Slow the hell down!”
“Where is he?” He turned on Ted with a mix of fury and terror that made the other man take a step back. “Where is he?”
Ted’s eyes darted toward a curtained-off room and that was enough. JJ ducked under his outstretched hand and made a beeline for the door.
Ted caught him by the shoulders and shook him. “JJ…JJ-calm down, dammit! JJ, he’s all right! More than half-strangled, but he’ll live, okay?”
JJ struggled free of Ted’s bandaged hands until he could see past him through the small gap in the curtains.
Drake was sitting up in a chair as a doctor put the last couple of stitches in a huge gash on his forehead. He had one hell of a shiner, his left eye swollen nearly shut and a riot of black and purple. There was a thick band of the same colors around his throat. He was shirtless and had a line of discolored and raw flesh across his lean abdomen that was gently being swabbed clean by a nurse.
JJ felt the breath go out of him, his heart settling back into place in his chest. Drake was okay. He would live!
This time he let Ted pull him away from the door, but Ted still hadn’t noticed his new complacency. “Dammit, JJ, would you quit acting like it’s Dee who’s in there! You need to calm the fuck down!” Right about then, Ted realized he wasn’t fighting anymore and let go. “Christ.” He sighed.
JJ stood frozen, stunned by what Ted had just said. “…acting like it’s Dee…” Had he really? When had Drake become just that important in his mind that he outranked Dee? And he did, JJ realized with a sudden surge of mingled dismay and elation. Somewhere in the tangled-up mess of JJ’s emotions, Drake had eased into places in his heart that had only ever been touched by Dee. Awed by that realization, JJ missed more than half of what Ted had said to him.
“I’m sorry, what was that, Ted-sempai?”
Ted sighed and shoved his hair back with a wince, quickly pulling his hand away. “I said that Drake has never been so lucky in his life. When he fell, he hit the level of the fire escape just below us and managed to hang on. I don’t know how he did it. Rodriguez wasn’t so lucky. Drake’s shirt tore and Rodriguez went with it. Forensics is scraping him up from the alley now.”
Ted blinked ruefully at his bandaged hands. “I managed to slice my hands up pretty good getting to Drake before he passed out and joined Rodriguez in becoming pavement pizza. I pulled him to safety just as backup arrived. Better late than never.”
Right about then, Dee arrived, and Ted had to start his explanation over again. By the time he finished, the doctor had emerged from the room. As one, they rounded on him to find out the full extent of their friend’s injuries.
“Detective Parker was very lucky today, gentlemen. Aside from the nasty concussion, he’s going to be living with a very, very sore throat for the next few days. Frankly, I’m surprised that between the blow to his head and the oxygen depravation, he managed to hang on as long as he did. He’s going to be hurting for a while, because he managed to crack two ribs when he hit the railing, but again, he was incredibly lucky. He had to have hit with enough force to have shattered those ribs and driven the fragments into his vitals, but somehow, he managed to avoid that. We’ll keep him overnight for observation, but it doesn’t appear that there’s any internal injury.”
All his breath escaped and JJ, not caring who saw him, sank down to sit on the floor, so relieved he couldn’t even speak.
He sat there numbly as Dee thanked the doctor and then hauled JJ back to his feet. “You ran all the way down here and you’re not even going to go say hello?”
JJ looked up at Dee through tear-filled eyes. “I thought he was dying. I thought Ted was just stalling me and that Drake was dying!”
Dee sighed and ruffled his hair like Drake often did. JJ quivered. “You heard the doctor. He’s gonna be all right. C’mon. Let’s go see him.”
At the door to the room, Dee suddenly shoved a surprised JJ forward. His hand on Ted’s arm stopped the redhead at the door. Ted looked back at him in surprise. Dee nodded after JJ. “Let’s you and me give him a few minutes to reassure himself that Drake isn’t dead. Want a cup of coffee?”
Ted looked skeptically back at the room but allowed himself to be led away.
A/N- not a cliffhanger, though it is intended to leave you wondering. Plan on two more chapters and remember this takes place in the canon just before “Like, Like, Love.” Next chapter will be up soon. The next question is, do you want us to do a sequel? We can, but if you don’t want us to… (NO! Say it isn’t sooo, Subu-chan!!) Calm down, dearest. If they love us, they will come. (And review? *Sniffles* Waah! I think I need a hug!!)