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Chapter One Hundred-Sixteen
Point of View: Narrator



"PLEASE!! PLEASE!! Oh my God, make it stop!!"

Nick was biting his hand as hard as he could, blood was leaking around his teeth onto the pillow below, staining it. The anesthesia from the surgery to remove the bullets and repair the damage done internally had worn off completely now and he was just on regular pain killers. The nurses were rushing to get an IV into him with morphine attached to the other end, but they weren't quite moving quickly enough.

Tears streamed down his face, "Why the fuck does it hurt this much?" he sobbed, his voice squealing like a twelve year old boy's might.

He gripped the pillow with his balled fist, his eyes squeezed shut as tightly as he could as the nurses jabbed his arm with the needle. Nick peeked out his eyes as they taped it in and started hooking up the morphine pump. He waited until they'd gotten it set up and handed him the little button thing for it and then he asked, "Can I see Zoe?"

They looked at each other.

"Please?" he asked.



Zoe had stayed up all night trying to get to Nick. She was napping now, and Kayla was flipping through the TV channels. Leave it to Beaver was on TV Land, and that’s what she ended up leaving the channel on. She watched as Wally and The Beav meandered through their latest adventure, and thought for possibly the millionth time in the past two decades how much Justin Timberlake resembles Eddie Haskell.

A nurse knocked and came into the room. "Hello," she said tentatively.

Kayla looked up, "Hey," she said.

The nurse inched closer. "Is she awake?"

Kayla looked at the bed. "Does it look it?"

"We -um- we... There's another patient... asking... to see her."

Kayla's eyes widened, "Nick? Nick's asking to see her?" She stood up, "I'll go."

The nurse hesitated. "I can't... he's... he wants to see Zoe."

Kayla frowned, "I'm his girlfriend..."

"He wants to see Zoe."

Kayla sat back down, angry. She folded her arms across her chest. "So wake her up then," she said.

The nurse frowned.

Kayla rolled her eyes. "Zoe," she said, nudging her aunt. Zoe's eyes slowly blinked open, "Nick needs you," Kayla explained.

Zoe sat up at the sound of Nick needs you. “What’s the matter,” she gasped.

The nurse was wringing her hands, “The anesthesia wore off,” she explained slowly. She stepped over to the wheel chair Christopher had left in the corner and hesitated, “He’s… he’s in pain, and he wants to see you.”

Zoe glanced at Kayla, then back to the nurse. “Can my niece come?”

“I’m sorry,” the nurse said, shaking her head.

Zoe’s eyes were sad. Kayla’s were angry. “I’m sorry, honey,” Zoe said. She inched to the edge of the bed and the nurse helped her move awkwardly into the wheel chair. Zoe patted Kayla’s knee gently. “Baby girl, you know I have to go make sure he’s okay.” Zoe looked into Kayla’s eyes. “It’s gonna be okay.”

“Why isn’t he asking to see me?” Kayla asked, tears filling her eyes.

Zoe’s eyes softened. “He probably doesn’t know you’re here.”

Kayla felt the tears crossing her cheeks. “Yeah, that’s true.”

“I’ll tell him you’re here.”

“Okay.”

The nurse wheeled Zoe through the hallway, leaving Kayla with Wally and The Beav. They wove their way through the halls until they reached the room and the nurse carefully backed Zoe in. Nick was in tears still, despite the morphine having been in effect for about ten minutes. He was clutching the sheets. Nick’s arm was violently shaking as he balled his fist around the fabric, his eyes screwed shut, teeth clenched.

Zoe broke away from the nurse the second she saw him like that and quickly moved as close to the side of the bed as she possibly could without crawling on board with him. “Oh God, honey,” she whispered, “You poor thing.”

His eyes opened just a little bit. “Make it stop,” he begged.

“What hurts?” she asked.

“Every fucking thing.”

She kissed his forehead.

He stared into her eyes and bit down on the pillow instead of his hand. She reached for his hand, two half-moon shapes were bleeding on the back of it. She looked at the nurses. One of them quickly sprang forward to bandage his hand up. Zoe ran her hand through the top of his hair as the nurse worked. She looked at the machine and spotted the morphine drip. “Hey, they’ve got you on the good stuff, at least.”

Nick nodded into the pillow, his mouth full of it.

Zoe smiled at him sadly, “You poor thing,” she said with the slightest of laughs in her voice. His eyes shifted curiously. Zoe rubbed his biceps gently. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Nick slowly stopped shaking, and the tears stopped falling. It was impossible to tell if it was Zoe or the morphine that calmed him. But either way, everyone in the room was relieved to see him slowly drift asleep.



Desi caught up with Brian in the parking lot. Brian was pacing around the backend of his Jeep, his fists balled around his cell phone and his eyes shut. His heart was slamming in his chest. He wanted to protect Nick, but he didn’t know how. He wanted to put a hedge of thorns and brambles completely around wherever Nick was… He imagined the scene at the end of Sleeping Beauty when the evil witch turns into a fire breathing dragon and battles Phillip.

He didn’t even know where to send the fire breathing dragon if he had one.

“You cool man?” Desi asked, coming around the corner.

Brian whipped around and pointed at Desi square in the chest. “You,” he said, “Why the fuck did he call you?”

Desi blinked in surprise at Brian’s language. Brian was so obviously not the type that swore frequently that the word carried extra weight tumbling out of his mouth. “I- I guess because we were once friends, room-mates,” Desi stuttered. “Maybe he thinks I still have the apartment.”

Brian stared at Desi.

Desi hesitated. “I told Leon I was helping you.”

Brian closed his eyes. “You what?”

“Just before we came here yesterday,” Desi muttered, “I – I went and saw Leon, and I told him I was helping you guys.”

“Why would you do that?” Brian asked, wincing and smacking his forehead.

Desi shrugged, “I felt obligated to let him know.” He looked at his hands. “Leon wants to kill Nick,” he said quietly, “And he’s gonna do anything in his power to make sure he succeeds.” Desi looked up at Brian.

“We gotta figure out who to tell this to,” Brian said. “At least Nick is safe now, wherever he is. The state will protect him…”

Desi laughed.

“What?” Brian asked.

“The state will protect him?” Desi asked, “Like they have done such a great job so far?”

Brian frowned.

“Brian,” Desi said, “You need to warn the place, wherever Nick is, and make them up security. I guarantee you Leon knows where he is already.”

“How would Leon know?” Brian demanded, “I don’t even know where he is.”

“I don’t know how he knows, but I just know Leon,” Desi said., “And he wouldn’t have left if he didn’t know. He would’ve bided his time until he had a target.”



Kayla was bored. She felt like wandering around until she found Nick and Zoe. She stared at the second episode of I Love Lucy that she’d watched since Zoe left. Leave it to Beaver had ended and now she was on the later half of an hour of Lucille Ball.

Lucille Ball always reminded her of Nick. She’d read an interview once where Nick said he’d been born at the same hospital as Lucy. Plus, she could totally picture Nick doing half the crazy shit that happened on the show.

Her cell phone rang and she answered it, “Hello?” she asked.

“Hey babe, it’s me,” Leon’s voice was velvety smooth.

Kayla dropped the phone.