Slash, Fag and a Bottle of Scotch - Chapter 4
Fic: Slash, Fag and a Bottle of Scotch
Author: jitterfly
Pairings/Characters: Chandler, Kent, Miles
Rating: 15+
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine ....
Warnings: Slash
Summary: Chandler gets a shocking call ... and the rest is what follows. :)
Chandler ran out of the tiny room, clutching his mouth in an attempt to prolong the expulsion of the vomit he could feel forcing its way up.
He ran round the nearest corridor and frantically searched for the room. Thankfully, this was a hospital, and the architects had been sensible.
As he pushed the door portraying the little man, he burst into the nearest cubicle and released. The contents of his stomach left with such a violent force, he was forced to his knees as all his energy left with it.
When it was over, he raised his head away from the bowl as his thoughts turned back to that image in the room. The picture was as vivid as if he were there and he felt his stomach lurch again.
He threw up twice more before the relief turned to pain as he began dry retching. After kneeling near the bowl for almost five minutes waiting for the retching to subside, he staggered out of the tiny space and stumbled to the silver basin on the other side. He reached out and turned the hot tap on full blast. The tap hadn't been stiff, but it almost took all of his strength. He'd never felt this weak. His hands were shaking, his lip felt like it was trembling and his knees felt like jelly.
After a minute or so of heating up, the steam was finally beginning to rise, and the vapours hit Chandlers face in a merciful relief. He began to take deeper breathes now but his mind was still racing, going over and over the last few minutes. As the world felt like it was about to crush him, he plunged his hands in the steaming water and splashed his face in an effort to stay conscious.
Miles stared at the horrific scene before him as his mind also raced. Thankfully, he was trained to cope in situations like this, but that didn't help much when it was one of your own. He looked about the room, trying to think as his eyes rested on the button included in the 'do not touch' speech. He pushed it as quickly as he could and his voice startled the perplexed surgeons.
"Stop this operation now. We need to preserve all evidence."
The shortest surgeon, the only woman, came to the other side of the glass and pressed her button too.
"We'll need to bring him back round then. We can't leave him under anaesthetic for long."
"That's fine. We'll need to speak with him before this goes any further anyway. Just cover 'im up, yeah?"
"Of course. We'll take him to the ICU. He'll come round there. "
"Thank you."
The masked women silently nodded on the other side of the glass as she released her switch. Miles stared at Kent slowly being covered up again, and then the door. As he tried to decide which of his colleagues needed him more, he left the room, having chosen the DI over the still unconscious Kent. At least Kent had people with him.
As he left the room, he realised he had no idea where he was. He'd never been in this division of the hospital before and Chandler could be anywhere by now. He slowly wandered down the corridor, looking as he went for the tall, thin man, when suddenly the sound of distant running water hit his ears. As he carried on, slower than before, the noise grew louder in the quiet space and eventually Miles had located the source.
He gently pushed the door to the Men's open and entered.
As expected, Chandler was there, standing over a sink with the tap spewing out what looked like boiling water. The steam clouded the man's face somewhat, but Miles could see his eyes were closed and his hands grasping the edge of the silver bowl.
He stood there for a minute, waiting to see if the DI had noticed his presence, but if he had, it didn't show. After another half a minute silence, Miles searched for something to say. He asked the only thing he could think of.
"Are you OK?"
Chandler looked up, startled, but his brain quickly made sense of things and he answered his DS. "Of course I'm not OK."
It didn't go down well. He knew it was a stupid thing to say, but Miles couldn't think how else to start the conversation.
He was going to think of another probably equally stupid thing to say, but the silent pensive DI beat him to it.
"How could they do that to him?"
It sounded so pitiful, posed like a real question. But Miles didn't have the answer.
"I don't know. "
"Miles they…." He made to shout out, but the word got caught and Chandler just could bring himself to say it. He turned back to the sink and let the vapour immerse him for another minute while he thought of what to do.
As if Miles followed his thoughts, he was the next to speak. "You need to go and be with him. Don't make him wake up alone."
Miles thought the DI hadn't heard but a moment later, he reached for the tap and slowly turned it, until the water stopped running.
"You're right."
As they made their way back down the corridor, Chandler could feel his legs still shaking. He tried to walk tall and straight to keep up his composure, but Miles had noticed him wobbling a bit and stood just close enough to steady him, should he need to.
Thankfully, the ICU was one place in the hospital they did know where to go. As detectives, they were always off getting statements, and luckily, a lot of them were from victims, being treated for stab wounds or bullet holes.
Miles turned confidently round the corner and stopped outside the tall double doors. He knocked on the door to be let in and Chandler's eyes instantly fell on the bed housing his unconscious DC. He looked more peaceful this time and for an instant, Chandler could pretend he was just sleeping. But as Miles pulled on his arm and started towards Kent, he was forced to confront reality.
As they each pulled up a chair next the bed, Miles turned to Chandler and spoke with a mixture of sympathy and authority. "We need him to give a statement. We can't do anything to the bastard that did this unless he reports it and lets them take DNA samples."
"Do you think he will?" Chandler didn't want this conversation, but he knew it needed to be had.
"Well, that's where we come in. We have to convince him. Otherwise, all of this has happened for nothing, and they get away scot-free."
As Miles spoke, Chandler's gaze never left Kent. It was almost hard to remember him laughing, even though only yesterday morning they were joking in the DC's kitchen. 'Such a long time ago', Chandler thought. But Miles' words overlapped the memory and Chandler turned to him with misty eyes.
"I can't."
He understood. Not that he wanted to do it himself, but he wouldn't force his boss to have that conversation.
"Ok. "
As Chandler returned his focus to Kent, he startled Miles with his loud exclamation in the silent room.
"Kent!"
Both men looked down at the no - longer unconscious DC, starting to stir on the bed.
"Hey," his voice was weak and croaky. For a moment, everything was a blur to him. As he looked at the concerned faces of his two superiors, he wondered why he was lying down in a hospital room. Then suddenly he remembered. His face fell and he averted his gaze, embarrassed at what they must already know.
And his assumption was only confirmed when Miles lent forward gently and spoke in the quietest voice he'd ever heard from the east end man.
"Kent….. We know what happened."
Chandler snapped up at his words and grabbed the DS' arm, pulling him up and away from the bed.
"Miles, he's only just come round. Do you have to do this now?"
He looked back at the weak man, returning his gaze. "I know. I don't want to, but we have to. Every second lost adds to the chance of the DNA being compromised. I know you're feeling…. Particularly protective…. But we have to do our jobs.
"Fine." Chandler submissively made his way back to Kent and, on getting there, turned his chair slightly and looked in his lap.
"Kent", Miles continued, having received permission, "We know you don't want to talk about it, but time is of the essence. If you report what happened, we can start an investigation straight away and catch whoever did this to you."
Kent looked down, clearly embarrassed. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, a quiet voice spoke.
"I don't want them to know."
Miles looked at Chandler, questioningly but the DI just sat with his hands in his lap, looking down.
"Don't want who to know?"
"Every one." He paused for a second, but carried on. "Everyone at the station will know if I report it. You know how stuff spreads there. I.. I don't want to be a laughing stock."
Chandler inwardly cringed. All he wanted was to reach out to the young DC, his DC. But … he just.. Couldn't. He carried on rubbing his hands, his face lowered all the while this was breaking him inside.
Miles, on the other hand, reached forward without a second’s hesitation. "Kent… Kent look at me."
Kent looked up and it suddenly hit Miles just how young he was. He was always the station baby, and they picked on him maybe more than the others, playfully of course, but as the misty brown eyes me his own, he saw complete youth in them. They radiated it and Miles felt more like a father to him than he ever had before.
He took his hand and gave it a light reassuring squeeze . "Kent. You will never be a laughing stock at that station. As long as I have breathe in this old knackered body of mine, I will personally make sure that anyone who finds out about this for any reason will know how strong and how brave you were. I'd like to see any one of those men go through this and come out the other end like I believe you will. You're the youngest of our team and I know that gives us licence to tease sometimes, but that just means you're one of us. Every one of us would lay down our reputation and our jobs to protect you, and don't think for a second that we would regret doing it. If anyone even so much as looks at you differently after this…" he gave Kent a little smile…" they better start running."
Even though no one saw it, chandler also smiled. To know someone was looking out for Kent, besides him, was reassuring. Especially right now. And it seemed to have worked.
Kent took a deep breath and, after looking at Miles for a second as if gauging his sincerity, spoke.
It was barely audible, but both Chandler and Miles heaved a sigh of relief when they heard it.
"OK."
As if on cue, just then the doctor came in. "Hello Mr.Kent. We need to take you back into theatre to finish and I'm sure you know the sooner the better. Are you ready?"
Kent gave Miles a look reminiscent of a child to a mother, and after an encouraging nod, weakly agreed.
"Ok then," She carried on, "We'll be back to take you down in just a second." After a quick glance at the heart monitor screen, she turned on the spot and left the room.
The three men were silent for a second, not knowing what to say before Kent would be whisked away, but the DC broke the silence.
"Shouldn't you be getting back to work?"
"Are you sure you don't… ", but Kent cut him off.
"Don't stay on my account. I'll be fine, honest. You go. I'll see you later?" The question was aimed at Chandler, and the DI looked up.
"Uh, yeah, sure. I'll come by after work and take you home." Chandler faked a quick smile before getting up and looking at Miles, waiting for him to do the same.
"Alright then." Miles said after sensing Chandler's impatience. "See you soon, Lad."
On the way out, they passed the doctor with a small group of other professionally looking people, returning to take Kent to theatre. She stopped him as they walked. "Did you get permission?"
Miles said nothing, but nodded. After warning the team to take the best care of the DC as possible, Miles and Chandler walked down the corridor and eventually out of the hospital.
As they arrived back at the station after a silent car journey, the anaesthetist back at the hospital counted Kent into a drug - induced sleep.
Author: jitterfly
Pairings/Characters: Chandler, Kent, Miles
Rating: 15+
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine ....
Warnings: Slash
Summary: Chandler gets a shocking call ... and the rest is what follows. :)
Chandler ran out of the tiny room, clutching his mouth in an attempt to prolong the expulsion of the vomit he could feel forcing its way up.
He ran round the nearest corridor and frantically searched for the room. Thankfully, this was a hospital, and the architects had been sensible.
As he pushed the door portraying the little man, he burst into the nearest cubicle and released. The contents of his stomach left with such a violent force, he was forced to his knees as all his energy left with it.
When it was over, he raised his head away from the bowl as his thoughts turned back to that image in the room. The picture was as vivid as if he were there and he felt his stomach lurch again.
He threw up twice more before the relief turned to pain as he began dry retching. After kneeling near the bowl for almost five minutes waiting for the retching to subside, he staggered out of the tiny space and stumbled to the silver basin on the other side. He reached out and turned the hot tap on full blast. The tap hadn't been stiff, but it almost took all of his strength. He'd never felt this weak. His hands were shaking, his lip felt like it was trembling and his knees felt like jelly.
After a minute or so of heating up, the steam was finally beginning to rise, and the vapours hit Chandlers face in a merciful relief. He began to take deeper breathes now but his mind was still racing, going over and over the last few minutes. As the world felt like it was about to crush him, he plunged his hands in the steaming water and splashed his face in an effort to stay conscious.
Miles stared at the horrific scene before him as his mind also raced. Thankfully, he was trained to cope in situations like this, but that didn't help much when it was one of your own. He looked about the room, trying to think as his eyes rested on the button included in the 'do not touch' speech. He pushed it as quickly as he could and his voice startled the perplexed surgeons.
"Stop this operation now. We need to preserve all evidence."
The shortest surgeon, the only woman, came to the other side of the glass and pressed her button too.
"We'll need to bring him back round then. We can't leave him under anaesthetic for long."
"That's fine. We'll need to speak with him before this goes any further anyway. Just cover 'im up, yeah?"
"Of course. We'll take him to the ICU. He'll come round there. "
"Thank you."
The masked women silently nodded on the other side of the glass as she released her switch. Miles stared at Kent slowly being covered up again, and then the door. As he tried to decide which of his colleagues needed him more, he left the room, having chosen the DI over the still unconscious Kent. At least Kent had people with him.
As he left the room, he realised he had no idea where he was. He'd never been in this division of the hospital before and Chandler could be anywhere by now. He slowly wandered down the corridor, looking as he went for the tall, thin man, when suddenly the sound of distant running water hit his ears. As he carried on, slower than before, the noise grew louder in the quiet space and eventually Miles had located the source.
He gently pushed the door to the Men's open and entered.
As expected, Chandler was there, standing over a sink with the tap spewing out what looked like boiling water. The steam clouded the man's face somewhat, but Miles could see his eyes were closed and his hands grasping the edge of the silver bowl.
He stood there for a minute, waiting to see if the DI had noticed his presence, but if he had, it didn't show. After another half a minute silence, Miles searched for something to say. He asked the only thing he could think of.
"Are you OK?"
Chandler looked up, startled, but his brain quickly made sense of things and he answered his DS. "Of course I'm not OK."
It didn't go down well. He knew it was a stupid thing to say, but Miles couldn't think how else to start the conversation.
He was going to think of another probably equally stupid thing to say, but the silent pensive DI beat him to it.
"How could they do that to him?"
It sounded so pitiful, posed like a real question. But Miles didn't have the answer.
"I don't know. "
"Miles they…." He made to shout out, but the word got caught and Chandler just could bring himself to say it. He turned back to the sink and let the vapour immerse him for another minute while he thought of what to do.
As if Miles followed his thoughts, he was the next to speak. "You need to go and be with him. Don't make him wake up alone."
Miles thought the DI hadn't heard but a moment later, he reached for the tap and slowly turned it, until the water stopped running.
"You're right."
As they made their way back down the corridor, Chandler could feel his legs still shaking. He tried to walk tall and straight to keep up his composure, but Miles had noticed him wobbling a bit and stood just close enough to steady him, should he need to.
Thankfully, the ICU was one place in the hospital they did know where to go. As detectives, they were always off getting statements, and luckily, a lot of them were from victims, being treated for stab wounds or bullet holes.
Miles turned confidently round the corner and stopped outside the tall double doors. He knocked on the door to be let in and Chandler's eyes instantly fell on the bed housing his unconscious DC. He looked more peaceful this time and for an instant, Chandler could pretend he was just sleeping. But as Miles pulled on his arm and started towards Kent, he was forced to confront reality.
As they each pulled up a chair next the bed, Miles turned to Chandler and spoke with a mixture of sympathy and authority. "We need him to give a statement. We can't do anything to the bastard that did this unless he reports it and lets them take DNA samples."
"Do you think he will?" Chandler didn't want this conversation, but he knew it needed to be had.
"Well, that's where we come in. We have to convince him. Otherwise, all of this has happened for nothing, and they get away scot-free."
As Miles spoke, Chandler's gaze never left Kent. It was almost hard to remember him laughing, even though only yesterday morning they were joking in the DC's kitchen. 'Such a long time ago', Chandler thought. But Miles' words overlapped the memory and Chandler turned to him with misty eyes.
"I can't."
He understood. Not that he wanted to do it himself, but he wouldn't force his boss to have that conversation.
"Ok. "
As Chandler returned his focus to Kent, he startled Miles with his loud exclamation in the silent room.
"Kent!"
Both men looked down at the no - longer unconscious DC, starting to stir on the bed.
"Hey," his voice was weak and croaky. For a moment, everything was a blur to him. As he looked at the concerned faces of his two superiors, he wondered why he was lying down in a hospital room. Then suddenly he remembered. His face fell and he averted his gaze, embarrassed at what they must already know.
And his assumption was only confirmed when Miles lent forward gently and spoke in the quietest voice he'd ever heard from the east end man.
"Kent….. We know what happened."
Chandler snapped up at his words and grabbed the DS' arm, pulling him up and away from the bed.
"Miles, he's only just come round. Do you have to do this now?"
He looked back at the weak man, returning his gaze. "I know. I don't want to, but we have to. Every second lost adds to the chance of the DNA being compromised. I know you're feeling…. Particularly protective…. But we have to do our jobs.
"Fine." Chandler submissively made his way back to Kent and, on getting there, turned his chair slightly and looked in his lap.
"Kent", Miles continued, having received permission, "We know you don't want to talk about it, but time is of the essence. If you report what happened, we can start an investigation straight away and catch whoever did this to you."
Kent looked down, clearly embarrassed. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, a quiet voice spoke.
"I don't want them to know."
Miles looked at Chandler, questioningly but the DI just sat with his hands in his lap, looking down.
"Don't want who to know?"
"Every one." He paused for a second, but carried on. "Everyone at the station will know if I report it. You know how stuff spreads there. I.. I don't want to be a laughing stock."
Chandler inwardly cringed. All he wanted was to reach out to the young DC, his DC. But … he just.. Couldn't. He carried on rubbing his hands, his face lowered all the while this was breaking him inside.
Miles, on the other hand, reached forward without a second’s hesitation. "Kent… Kent look at me."
Kent looked up and it suddenly hit Miles just how young he was. He was always the station baby, and they picked on him maybe more than the others, playfully of course, but as the misty brown eyes me his own, he saw complete youth in them. They radiated it and Miles felt more like a father to him than he ever had before.
He took his hand and gave it a light reassuring squeeze . "Kent. You will never be a laughing stock at that station. As long as I have breathe in this old knackered body of mine, I will personally make sure that anyone who finds out about this for any reason will know how strong and how brave you were. I'd like to see any one of those men go through this and come out the other end like I believe you will. You're the youngest of our team and I know that gives us licence to tease sometimes, but that just means you're one of us. Every one of us would lay down our reputation and our jobs to protect you, and don't think for a second that we would regret doing it. If anyone even so much as looks at you differently after this…" he gave Kent a little smile…" they better start running."
Even though no one saw it, chandler also smiled. To know someone was looking out for Kent, besides him, was reassuring. Especially right now. And it seemed to have worked.
Kent took a deep breath and, after looking at Miles for a second as if gauging his sincerity, spoke.
It was barely audible, but both Chandler and Miles heaved a sigh of relief when they heard it.
"OK."
As if on cue, just then the doctor came in. "Hello Mr.Kent. We need to take you back into theatre to finish and I'm sure you know the sooner the better. Are you ready?"
Kent gave Miles a look reminiscent of a child to a mother, and after an encouraging nod, weakly agreed.
"Ok then," She carried on, "We'll be back to take you down in just a second." After a quick glance at the heart monitor screen, she turned on the spot and left the room.
The three men were silent for a second, not knowing what to say before Kent would be whisked away, but the DC broke the silence.
"Shouldn't you be getting back to work?"
"Are you sure you don't… ", but Kent cut him off.
"Don't stay on my account. I'll be fine, honest. You go. I'll see you later?" The question was aimed at Chandler, and the DI looked up.
"Uh, yeah, sure. I'll come by after work and take you home." Chandler faked a quick smile before getting up and looking at Miles, waiting for him to do the same.
"Alright then." Miles said after sensing Chandler's impatience. "See you soon, Lad."
On the way out, they passed the doctor with a small group of other professionally looking people, returning to take Kent to theatre. She stopped him as they walked. "Did you get permission?"
Miles said nothing, but nodded. After warning the team to take the best care of the DC as possible, Miles and Chandler walked down the corridor and eventually out of the hospital.
As they arrived back at the station after a silent car journey, the anaesthetist back at the hospital counted Kent into a drug - induced sleep.