It's a Withered Life in a Boisterous Summer

"Y-Yes..?" She unconsciously tried to fix her slightly messy hair with her fingers as she stood up to face the doctor completely. The man's presence was making her stomach hurt. "Of course, no problem... I... We... don't have to step out, do we?" She really didn't want to leave Lochlann, not even for a second. She was getting anxious.

She was cute, Aiden mused. Far too cute for the likes of that deranged water horse.

“Not all the way, but the doorway would be preferable,” Aiden said. He pulled something out of his pocket, walked over to the IV bag and injected it. Lochlann glared at him the entire time and gripped Addy’s hand as tightly as he could, but whatever Aiden put it seemed to make Lochlann even more woozy than he already was because he started to relax and collapse back into the bed.

“Miss Cross, there’s been some concern regarding your boyfriend’s history,” Aiden would start once they were standing in the door way. “This is his fourth hospitalization in the last year and a half. We’re going to have to pump his stomach and keep an eye on his breathing and heart rate until he finishes detoxing, and then we’ll need to keep him here for a day or two for observation and a suicide watch.”

Aiden flipped a page on his clipboard, frowning. He reached out and touched her on the arm, very gently, a gesture of concern.

“Given his history and his ah…condition,” there was a note of disgust when he said condition. It wasn’t clear if Aiden was referring to Lochlann’s species or his self-abuse. “…we wanted to check in with you to make sure that he hasn’t harmed you.”

When Addy was finished answering, Aiden would have looked behind her when the heart monitor flat-lined. Lochlann wasn’t dead—he’d just ripped the wires off him and was stumbling towards the window.

Aiden sighed.

"Please be gentle on him... Do what it takes to make him better... Just... I think suicide watch is a bad idea. Can't I fill in instead?"

Aiden's face softened. Of course, he wanted Lochlann to stay, because Aiden had sort of been hoping to steal his life but...

"You're his emergency contact," Aiden said. "If you sign the waiver, we can release him into your custody I still won't be able to release him for another day or so. We can't sedate him so we'll need to keep him awake for the procedure and he doesn't cooperate well as it is. "

He removed his hand when she flinched, trying to respect her space.

"Why would he harm me? "

"Because of what he is," Aiden said. He couldn't exactly release that kind of information without a huge breach of privacy, but he was more than a little surprised that she hadn't been warned.

"I don't unders--"

Lochlann had just about made it when he realized he hadn't pulled out the IV all the way and it tugged painfully. His breath was coming in short gasps and he was sweating and freezing all at once. His chest hurt again and his legs were starting to give out underneath him, but he had to get to that window.

"Lochlann stop! We're staying!"

And then Addy was there. Because she was hugging him, he went limp in her arms and for the hundreth time that night he collapsed back onto the bed because she made him.

"Addy, please," he begged, his arms wrapped around her, his face buried in the crook of her neck and her shoulder. "I don't...I can't be here, Addy. I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."

He didn't realize that was the first thing he said when they'd woken him up back at the apartment. He only knew that he'd fucked up, and he didn't want to be hurting her.

While Addy kept him in place, Aiden worked to get him hooked back up. Lochlann was blissfully distracted by holding her; he was moments away from sobbing himself.

Aiden leaned over, slipped his card into Addy's pocket, and whispered in her ear. "I'll be back for him in ten minutes."

"Addy I want to do this for you," Lochlann whimpered. "But...I can't. I just want to go home with you and pretend this never happened."

His brief stint of movement was exhausting him. He was shaking against her and his hug was starting to lose some of it's force. He hurt. He really wanted a drink. He really wanted to just go home, pull Addy up against him like he had the night they were drinking, and sleep.

"Loch, just the procedure... Just that. Let them treat you, you don't have to be observe by suicide watch 'cause I'm here. We can go the day after tomorrow."

He groaned. He was starting to go limp against her, his head resting against her shoulder, and his hands had dropped to her sides. It was too much. He couldn't do it.

"I'm so sorry, Addy," he said. "This...this hasn't happened before. I swear. This has to be a mistake. I didn't overdose. it's just a mistake. They'll realize it's a mistake and we can go home. Tonight."

He couldn't calm down, even with her fingers in his hair, her body so close to his. The only relief he had was that she was here, that she was safe, and that she was alive.

"Lochlann please... I'll be with you, I promise. They'll make it fast if you agree, and we're seriously gonna go home right after that. You'll be fine... I'll be more assured if you let them treat you, Loch..."

"Fuck," he said. His voice was broken. His breathing was still uneven and slow.

He wanted to do this for her. He really wanted to go home and he wanted Addy to be there, and he didn't want her mad at him. If she moved him, he was going to collapse into the bed--he wasn't even able to sit up. Fuck. Fuck.

"I'll give you anything in return... Just please give this one to me..."

She was breaking his heart right now. This would be less complicated if she wasn't here--he would have made it out the window, he would have been able to make a break for it, dive in the ocean and--

--and what? he wasn't sure. the future didn't matter.

But he wanted Addy in his future, and that wasn't going to happen unless he let this happen. He swallowed.

"I thought you'd seen me at my worst that day in the shed," Lochlann whispered to her. "I'm so sorry you have to see me like this. Addy I hate this. I don't...I can't think here."

In many ways, he was an animal. His whole fear of this place was instinctual. He couldn't rationalize his way out of this--it was fight or flight and he couldn't do either. Most of it was the drugs--it'd take him a long time to come out of this.

"Addy I will do this but please, please forgive me, I'm so sorry," he was still trying to hold onto her like it might help.

"How can this be a mistake..? Your heart stopped..."

"It has to be a mistake, Addy, that couldn't have happened," Lochlann whispered. His head was still on her shoulder, his arms at her sides. He was trying to hold her back as much as he could, but he was so exhausted.

He could not wrap his head around the idea that he'd overdosed at all. He was stubborn, fighting the thought, because if he'd OD'd then maybe he might have a problem, and if he had a problem, he might need help. He couldn't remember a time in the last year he hadn't needed something to drink or a pill to just function. But, Lochlann didn't think about that, because he knew he wasn't an addict, so he was okay. It was just a mistake.

"It's okay... Don't think, just trust me, please."

She kissed him on the forehead and Lochlann whimpered. He was an absolutely horrible friend. He shouldn't have let her see him like this. He'd have to be more careful in the future.

"I do, Addy," Lochlann whispered. "Addy, I lo-"

Aiden chose that moment to walk back in with a small cart. He shut the door behind him and gave them both a smile. Lochlann couldn't see it because he was clinging to Addy again.

"The good news is," Aiden said. "That we can do this in here."

He explained to them briefly how this would work. Normally, gastric lavage wasn't performed in poisoning situations anymore, but given the amount he'd consumed and his metabolism, they were going to go ahead and do it as a precaution. They would intubate him to protect his airways since his breathing was still a concern, and then he would slide a long tube into Lochlann's stomach, have him lay on his side, and remove the contents of his stomach.

"The bad news..." Aiden said. He was standing behind lochlann, who had refused to remove himself from Addy and thus wasn't looking. Aiden made a pantomime motion to the white bands on the bed. They were going to have to tie him down. With anyone else, it'd be a last resort, but Lochlann had bit and kicked too many people for Aiden to want to risk it.

The pointed glance he gave Addy indicated that he wanted her to do it.

Lochlann was listening to her heart beat and when it sped up, his grip on her tightened, but he was still weak enough that when she let him go he went down easily.

He'd closed his eyes, taking a small breath, relaxing under Addy's touch and then--

Lochlann jolted, looking up at her, his eyes wide.

"Addy, no," he pleaded. He was too sluggish and when he went to move his other arm to try and untie the other one, he inadvertently gave her the perfect position. She was straddling him and Lochlann was suddenly worried that his body would chose this exact moment to get turned because holy crap Addy was straddling him and he'd dreamed about her from this angle but it had been an awkward dream and

now his chest really hurt "Addy please no"

he squirmed "Please don't do this"

he writhed "Addy, please, please stop"

But he did not bite her. He did not kick her. It was the most subdued he'd ever been, even though his breath was still coming in short bursts again and he felt like he might pass out at any moment.

By the time she was done, Lochlann was gasping for breath and covered in sweat like he'd just undergone something much, much worse.

"Lochlann, you'll be fine, I promise,"

He closed his eyes and swallowed, but his fingers were curled into tight fists, he'd gone pale, and his body was rigid.

"Please be careful, doctor."

Aiden gave her a reassuring nod, but he was already working, numbing the area.

"Addy," Lochlann whimpered. He snapped his eyes shut and said, "Please don't go."

Then, he couldn't talk, because Aiden had started to intubate him.

"So," Aiden said, making small talk while he worked, trying to lighten the situation. "Adelene, are you a student at the academy? What are you studying?"