Tip Two - It's All About Who You Know

Tip Two

He knew it was morning when he heard Katie informing Emma to kick him awake, "He NEEDS to call someone" she hissed trying, but failing, to be quiet, "You can't just let this strange guy stay on your couch until he's well enough to kill you!"

“He isn’t going to kill me,” Emma whispers back. “Just let him sleep, he needs to heal and I don’t think kicking him out the first moment he wakes up will help him get any better.”

“You are just asking for trouble the longer he stays,” Katie replies, “You’re lucky he didn’t kill us when we were sleeping,”

“I’m awake,” he says softly, he opens his eyes and looks at Katie, “I’ll call someone to get me.”

Katie’s eyes lower, as if she was ashamed that he heard her. It didn’t make sense to him though. He knew last night she was against this. He knew last night that there wasn’t any chance of her allowing him to stay any longer then was needed. So why now would she act as if she was ashamed of him hearing her talk?

“If you need more time,” Emma sits up and gives a worried smile, “you can stay longer”

“It’s ok” he smiles at her, “I should call someone.” He slowly sits up. Emma nods as she gets up and walks out of the room, probably to get the phone. He looks at Katie. She was staring at him, but he couldn’t figure out what it was she was thinking. It put him off a bit. He was use to being able to read someone but he wasn’t even sure what she was feeling let alone thinking. Her face was just a blank mask. Emma returns a minute later and holds the phone out. He takes it, “Thank you.” He eyes the clock. Josh wouldn’t be awake, hell, any normal day and he wouldn’t even be awake at this time. He dials the phone and puts it to his ear.

 

The ringing just wouldn’t stop, for some reason it just kept going on and on. The dream he was having sure as hell didn’t have anything to do with ringing. Finally it stopped, but muffled talking replaced it. And then he was being shaken, “Josh, Josh, wake up” He mutters as the last of his dream fades away. Damn… why did the good dreams never end? He opens his eyes and looks up at his new fiancé. “Josh, it’s Alec” he couldn’t help but notice how worried she looked. Josh sits up and takes the phone from her.

“What time is it, sweety?” He asks with a yawn.

“7:30, and he’s not calling from his cell phone.”

Josh puts the phone to his ear, “Hello?”

“Hey, sorry to call so early, hope I wasn’t interrupting something.” Josh hears the laughter in Alec’s voice. Well, at least Josh knew Alec wasn’t in serious trouble.

“No, not bothering anything except sleep.” Josh yawns again, “Which we just started doing a couple hours ago.”

“I hope that’s because she said yes and the evening was great, not because she said no and you two fought all night.” Alec laughs, it’s cut short as he starts to cough. Josh sits up fully awake now.

“Are you ok? You sound hurt.” Josh grabs his pants and start to pull them on.

“I left my phone and wallet in the car when you dropped me off. I got caught in the rain and had to find shelter. I know it’s early… but can you come get me, please?” His voice sounded forced. There was something wrong with this whole situation, Josh just couldn’t figure out what it was.

“Where are you at?” He pulls his socks and shoes on.

“Fifth and Harper, fourth on the right if you’re coming from Main” he winces. Voices are heard in the background and Josh hears Alec’s voice lower as if he’s moved the phone away from his mouth. “I told you I wasn’t stalking her, I make note of where I am, it’s always best to know your location.” Another voice chimes in but it’s too soft for Josh to hear what is being said. The first voice speaks up again and Josh hears the word rob. “I’d pick one with more to take if I was robbing anyone…” Alec coughs again. There’s a loud clank.

“Alec!” Josh stands, “Alec! What’s going on?” shuffling is heard on the other end. It’s quiet for a minute before Alec’s voice comes back onto the phone.

“Hurry, please,” Alec’s voice is soft and pained and then the line went dead.

“Alec!” Josh had never heard him sound that way before. He hung up the phone before grabbing his shirt and pulling it on. “I’ll be back,” he leans in and kisses her.

“Make sure he’s safe,” she says as tears slide down her face. She was just as worried as he was.

 

 Josh arrives outside of the blue town house ten minutes later. He was surprised he wasn’t pulled over for how fast he had been going. He climbs out of the car and grabs his bag. From the way Alec sounded Josh knew there was a chance he would need it. He hurries to the door and knocks. A teenage girl with black hair opened the door. “I’m looking for Alec. He called and said he needed a ride.” Josh could tell she was scared and he wondered what was going on.

“He’s…” she swallows “This way,” she hurries into the house and down the hall. Surprised by her quickness it takes Josh a moment before stepping into the house, closing the door, and following after her. She stops in a friendly looking living room. Another girl with brown hair is pacing the room nervously. Josh looks at the couch to find Alec. His skin was pale. The loose bandage on his shoulder is deep red from blood. His eyes were closed and his breathing short. Pain was written all over his face, which is what frightened Josh the most.

“Alec,” Josh hurries over and kneels by the couch. He takes Alec’s wrist and checks his pulse. It was weak, “Alec,” Josh opens his bag and pulls out a few items.

“Josh,” Alec’s voice is quiet. Josh looks up to find Alec’s eyes on him. “Hey,” Alec smiles, “I’m sorry about taking you away from Melissa.”

“She’s worried about you, kid” Josh pulls the bandage off of his shoulder. The wound was deep and red. It wasn’t very long but by the looks of it, it was probably infected, and it was going to need stitches. “What happened?” He starts to clean the wound.

“Jumped,” Alec winces in pain, “They tried to rob me… I didn’t have my wallet, so they weren’t too happy when they got nothing from me.”

Josh eyes him. He wasn’t sure if he was lying or not. It seemed logical and yet… something was a little off about it. “Your chest is bruised.” He pulled out more items from his bag. The cut on his shoulder had to be handled first. “They kick you too?” He wiped down the area around the wound and then got the needle ready. 

“What are you doing?” The black hair girl sat up, upon seeing the needle. With her outburst the brown hair girl looks over.

“I need to stitch up his shoulder.” He looks over his shoulder at them. “If not he’s going to get infected and get very ill and will probably die.”

“But… won’t that hurt?” the black hair girl looks at Alec.

“Not nearly as much as letting it stay open, and I didn’t bring anything to give him to dull the pain.” Josh looks back at Alec, “Ready?” Alec nods.

“You’re a doctor?” the brown hair girl moves closer to them.

“Yes. My name is Dr. Crawlington. I’m an ER doctor at Jersey Medical Center” He gets to work stitching up the wound on his chest. Alec flinches before laying still. Josh wasn’t surprised. Alec had been through a lot worse and this to him was probably nothing. Both girls watch him as he works, and it isn’t until one of them gasps that Josh notices how shallow Alec’s breathing has become. Josh looks up at Alec. His eyes were closed and his breath was coming in quick, little bursts. “You need me to stop?” Josh asks afraid that maybe this was too much for him.

“Can’t breathe” Alec manages to gasp out. Josh moves and looks at his chest. Carefully he places his hands on the bruising. He gently searches for the source of his trouble.

“You are bruised badly, they may have cracked a rib or you might just be feeling-“ he pauses, “Your lung collapsed.” He digs in his bag knowing he was not carrying the right stuff to treat this. “I’m going to need a few things,” he looks back at the girls. Both nod though they were obviously both in total shock. He doubted either of them was use to this kind of thing and even more, they didn’t know anything about him or, if he guessed right, about Alec. Chances were, he hadn’t even told them his name. To Alec a name was an important thing and wasn’t something to be given out lightly. He listed off what he would need from them before turning back to Alec. He heard the girls hurry out of the room as they collected what he requested. “Just relax” he said calmly, not that he thought Alec was going to panic. He wanted to be sure Alec knew that he was going to help. Though, he understood now why he was not supposed to work on close family or friends. He was pretty sure he was more panicked and worried than Alec was.

 

By the time Josh was done Alec was almost asleep. His body ached more than when he first came into the house and though he knew Josh probably just saved his life, again. He wished he could just take back calling him at all. He lies on the couch his eyes close as Josh speaks to the girls. He had to admit he was surprised Katie even agreed to go get the items Josh needed.  He thought for sure she would have called the police. He listened to them talk about Josh’s work, and about Melissa. They then switched topics as Josh started asking them questions about themselves. Josh offered to pay the girls for taking Alec in. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t think about offering them that, though the way he was feeling now he was surprised to be thinking at all. He tried to tone them out, all he wanted to do was sleep, but the noise kept coming and finally he just gave up. After awhile Josh gently shakes Alec. “We should go” he says softly, “Can you walk?” Alec opens his eyes and nods. The last thing he wanted to do was be carried out of here. Slowly he sits up, making sure not to push against his chest too much. Josh carefully grabs his arm and helps him up. They walk to the car, Katie and Emma following behind. “Thank you again,” Josh talks to the girls as they walk to the car and he helps Alec into the seat. “It really means a lot to us.” He turns to face the girls. Both nod.

“Thank you,” Alec smiles at Emma, she was the one who deserved the thanks. Emma looks at him and her face turns red. She looks away and mutters a no problem. He grins. Josh closes the door and walks around to the driver’s seat.

“I should take you back to my place for the evening, to keep an eye on you.” Josh starts the car and backs out of the driveway.

“No,” Alec lays his head back and closes his eyes, “Let’s just get me home so I can sleep and you can go back to Melissa.” He smiles, “I’m sure she’s looking forward to celebrating more with you.”

“She was worried about you when I left.” He stops at the stop sign and looks at Alec.

“Tell her sorry,” Alec turns his head to face him, “You were the only one I knew to call.”