Frenemies
Characters: Reece and Meg Setting: The clinic, late.
Over twenty-four hours had passed since Meg had been brought down to the clinic, unconscious, shirt soaked through with her own blood and barely breathing. Even with Cal’s intervention, there were a few hours where it had been touch and go as to whether she’d make it through the night; the amount of blood she’d lost combined with her low weight making it an uphill battle despite the stab wounds she’d received thankfully missing any major arteries or internal organs. Thanks to the doctor’s efforts though she did make it through and as the day moved on, her pulse grew stronger and her breathing less laboured and while the colour had yet to fully return to her skin, by the evening it had at least lost it’s unsettling pallor. She still hadn’t woken up though and while Cal hadn’t seen that as a bad thing given the extent of her injuries and the painkillers he had given Meg to keep her as comfortable as possible, he hadn’t wanted her left alone and so had a sent a message asking for someone to come and sit in with her while he got some much needed sleep.
Reece didn’t know what to do with himself. He’d heard through the grapevine of what had happened. A scuffle, people hurt and very gone Susanna. It wasn’t an ideal situation for him, not at all so it was no surprise when he moved his tired self towards the clinic on a break from work, following where Cal’s message pointed, winding up standing outside of the room she was in, looking at her. “So you’re still with us huh?” he asked.
If Meg had been awake, she would have undoubtedly said something sarcastic in response to that but she didn’t even stir at the sound of Reece’s voice, her body uncharacteristically still and looking even smaller than usual stretched out on the narrow clinic bed, dots of red on the bandages that peeped out from beneath the sheet and a bruise on her cheek the only real colour in the small room.
When she didn’t answer it explained plenty and Reece hesitated for a moment before moving into the room properly. He watched her head tilted to one side before sitting in chair pulled up next to the bed. “Jesus,” he murmured, but it didn’t sound like a swear word, more a half there prayer. When was the last time he’d done that. The kid was a pain in his ass, but she was barely here, so much that he was reaching out to touch her fingers gently.
Her own skin still cool to the touch, it was perhaps the warmth of Reece’s hand against hers that had Meg’s fingers twitching slightly in response. It certainly wasn’t intentional but something inside her clearly latched on to the fact that there was someone there and after a moment or two, her fingers started to curl around his.
Reece looked down as she started to hold his hand, smiling a little. “Definitely still with me kiddo.” He squeezed her fingers, trying to be reassuring. “Come on doll.”
It might have been the pet name that was the final straw, that there was enough of Meg aware enough to rankle at being called doll, or it could have just been that enough time had finally passed and it was simply the pull of a warm touch and a familiar voice. Whatever it was it worked, her grip on Reece tightening as she began to stir, expression tightening with pain as her movements pulled on Cal's carefully applied stitches.
Reece felt bad that she looked like she was in pain, but he didn't let go yet. Instead he waited for her to join the land of the conscious.
Her brain still sleep addled, a feeling only made worse by the drugs running around her system, it took a while for Meg to open her eyes and when they settled on Reece, her gaze was still a little unfocused. The hold she had on his hand was strong though and she was able to shift to look at him better though she quickly wished she hadn't when the move sent pain blossoming through her shoulder. "Owww," she croaked. "That really fucking hurts."
"I'm not surprised. You look like hell," Reece said, tension slipping out of his shoulders as she spoke. He didn't even like this firecracker of white trash, but he'd found himself worried about her health. Maybe it was just because he was tired of seeing people die. Yeah, he was going with that.
"So do you," Meg countered, attempting to find a more comfortable position and frowning when she discovered that there really wasn't one. "I got stabbed, what's your excuse?" Shifting again caused another flare of pain and she screwed her eyes closed as tears sprang to them, not wanting Reece to see her cry.
"I always look like this, so hah. Glad you didn't break your fantastic sense of humor that I love so much," Reece said and rolled his eyes. Why was he here again? He watched her wince and squeezed her hand. "Stop moving. Just lay there and tell me what happened?"
As much as she rankled at being told what to do, she wasn't so stubborn that she was going to ignore good sense when she heard it. She groaned a little at his question and rolled her eyes behind their lids. "Ya sound like a cop, it don't suit you," she said, voice lacking some of its usual bite. "Go ask Suzie if ya want answers, I don't wanna talk about it." And she really didn't, the parts of her memory that weren't fuzzy on the details were all too vivid.
That sent Reece's face to ashen. "Rumor is, Susanna isn't here anymore. Her room's empty and you're the only one still down here." While he wasn't as trusting Susanna anymore, it was a shock for her to just be gone. "So fill in the blanks for me."
“Well I ain’t gonna cry over her going,” Meg said, a faint wobble in her voice the only real sign of her relief at hearing the older woman was gone. “Bitch got more than enough outta me last night.”
Reece thought about that. "Guess I'm not either." Their last interaction had been strange at best. And he'd been left feeling uneasy about her. And worried. "What do you mean?"
"What I mean," she said, opening her eyes to look at him. "Is that if she just wanted to kill me, I'd be dead. Bitch got the drop me, she coulda opened my throat with that knife and I woulda been a gonna, just like that." She let out a shaky sigh, trying and failing to ignore the cold feeling that crept over her as she thought about what Susanna's face had looked like, the tone in her voice as it had rung out through the spiritual room. "She didn't though, she wanted to fuck with me, watch me bleed, make it hurt..."
She closed her eyes then and took another breath that shook with the effort of trying to keep her emotions in check. "I ain't no stranger to violence, not by a long shot but that, she...I was scared Reece."
It took everything in Reece not to throw up. Everything. Susanna, the one he'd willingly jumped into bed with, the one he worried about, was like that. Meg was thoroughly capable of being full of shit, but she was hurt and hopped up on pain medicine. That was hard to lie through. One hand went over his mouth as he swallowed back bile, not able to speak until he was sure he wouldn't lose his last meal. He squeezed Meg's hand, trying to be there and not even sure why. "Payback." That had have been her motive. "Sorry 'bout that."
Meg really hadn't needed Reece to point that out but was oddly grateful for the obviousness of his statement as it pulled her back from dwelling on what had happened. "Ya reckon?" she replied, managing to sound incredulous in spite of herself. His apology had her turning serious though and her eyes flicked open to lock with his, her grip on his hand as tight as she could manage with the pain in her shoulder. "You ain't got nothin' to 'pologise for Kentucky so you shut up alright?"
"She was spiteful," he said shaking his head. He knew that min even if he hadn't seen it. He could tell and this was just proof. The idea that she'd wanted Meg to suffer freaked him out though. That she'd wanted to draw it out. He'd been in bed with that. "Pretty sure I got plenty. But I wear guilty well."
"She was sadistic," Meg corrected, scowling a little. There was something in Reece's expression that stopped her carrying on though - she knew enough of what had passed between him and Susanna to figure hearing the truth about her wasn't easy. "And you and me both, I ain't hardly an innocent party most've the time. Still, you got nothing t' pologise to me for."
The word made Reece's stomach churn more. "At least she's gone now," he supplied. It wasn't much but it was all he had. "And maybe you ease up on being crazy."
Meg flashed him a sardonic smile. "I hate to break it to you Kentucky but I ain't ever been the poster kid for 'emotional stability'," she said, gently pulling her hand free and rubbing her face, wincing as the movement pulled on her stitches again.
"You're gonna get yourself killed doll," Reece told her, letting go of her hand and leaning back in the chair. "And I'm tired of people dying, so don't do it."
“I ain't lookin' to get myself killed, not no more," she said quietly, the admission one that she wouldn't have normally let slip for all the truth there was in it. Her defences were down though and for all that things had been largely antagonistic between her and Reece, there was also a weird kind of kinship that had grown between them. "If I wanted that, I coulda just let Susanna do her thing on me."
"You don't seem to be lookin' to stay healthy either," Reece pointed out, but he didn't harp on it. It was good that she was far less suicidal than he'd thought she was. "Just cut it out. Suck it up, do good and get yourself the hell out of here."
Eyebrows creeping up towards her hair line, the look Meg gave him was one of disbelief. "I thought you weren't lookin' to take up parentin' any time soon," she said, faint annoyance washing through her voice. "I don't need ya tellin' me what to do Kentucky and I sure as hell don't want it."
"It's not parenting. It's being a big brother. Guessing you never had one, but I did and I was one. I'd do the same to my younger sister." Reece smirked slightly. "I'm not, I'm telling you what you should be telling yourself. You know I'm right."
"Is that what it is?" Meg asked, looking distinctly unimpressed even as her tone lost it's aggravated edge. "Cause from here it just looks like you being a smug son of a bitch and lemme tell you, it ain't a good look."
"Smug son of a bitch is just my personality. This is me telling you what you need to hear. We call it tough love," Reece said. "Suck it up. Things blow. Shit's fucked up, but someone out there has decided it ain't your time yet so it's time to be a big girl and make the most of it."
"This pep talk of yours can't wait til a time when I've not just been stabbed? Ideally one where I can walk away flippin' you the bird," she replied. "Cause your heart might be in the right place but you ain't tellin' me jack I don't already know. I just ain't willin' to think this place is the golden fuckin' ticket some folk do." She paused for a second before adding. "And I felt that way before gettin' stabbed before you think of sayin' something clever."
"The point is to get you when you can't walk away," Reece told her. "So what if it's not the answer to everything it ain't prison and given how no one needs to stay I'm set to stick around and do what I gotta to see that through. Think on that."
"Think on that?" Meg said. "Wow, you're totally missin' a trick not bein' a motivational speaker with lines that." She shook her head, hating how much effort it seemed to take, and closed her eyes again. "I get it alright? And I'm tryin' to work on it, there's just been...stuff."
Reece waited a breath. "Stuff?"
"Yeah, stuff. A whole shitty list of it where getting stabbed is just the most recent," she said in what would have been a snap had she not sounded so tired.
"Okay. Then make it stop there. I know all about getting dealt a shitty hand, but I'm trying not to fall into that again." Not that his current track record was spotless. Sure, he hadn't been locked up yet, but he did just sleep with a sadist.
“Believe me, I’m tryin’,” Meg replied, frustration creeping into her tone. “‘s kinda hard when the world keeps shittin’ on you though.”
"You're really taking that stance?" Reece said. "That doesn't sound like you at all."
Something in her snapped at that and before she had a chance to remind herself just how much it was a bad idea and was going to hurt, she sat bolt upright , glaring at Reece with eyes that were just a little too bright. "Fuck you Reece," she said, voice cracking on his name as pain slammed into her back and it took a moment before she was able to speak again. "You don't have the first fuckin' clue about me so don't you dare sit there and judge me!"
Reece didn't move. He raised one eyebrow, watching her. "Not judging you, I'm actually giving you credit." He nodded to her, how she was sitting up, despite everything. "You won't take shit from me, but you'll take the card the the world's shitting on you? Tell the world to fuck itself and be better than it. Make lemonade out of fucking lemons." He paused and reached up to guide her back. "And lay back down before you start bleeding again."
Proving that she did in fact have some kind of self-preservation, despite wanting to, Meg didn't struggle as she was pushed back against the bed though as soon as she was, she was quick to bat Reece's hands away. "Anyone ever tell you you're confusin' as fuck Kentucky?" she asked with a frown. "You either play the cards you get or you fold, life don't give you a new hand no matter how much you might want one."
Reece looked around and shrugged. "This place sure as hell looks like a new hand. Even if it doens't pan out, it's a step above prison." He sat back in his chair and watched her. "You think you're the only unlucky person out there and you're wrong. I'm in the same boat, but you don't see me trotting off with a death wish do you?"
"No, I don't think I'm the only unlucky person there is," she said, too tired to muster the anger she wanted to put behind the words, not even bothering to reply to his earlier comment. As far as she was concerned, if Reece wanted to see things that way, that was his prerogative - it just wasn't going to change how she saw things. "Hell I know I'm not, look what happened to Mojo. Don't mean you know what it's like to be me, where I came from. I got my reasons for what I did, maybe they ain't great but they're mine and for someone who says they ain't judging, you seem to be doing a lot of it so why dontcha just shut up 'cause you don't know shit."
Reece listened to her go through her speech then sat back. Mention of Mojo had him tensing up, but that was it. "Alright. I'll shut up. But my guess is you'll be thinking on it later."
Meg scowled a little but didn't say anything - her head had started to ache along with all the pain still coming from her back and shoulders so she really wasn't interested in arguing the point. Instead, she just let her gaze drift up to the ceiling, not really focusing on anything. "Can you tell a couple of people I'm down here?" she asked after a minute or so of silence. "After you go I mean." She wasn't sure how long she'd need to stay in the clinic and didn't fancy another stint of involuntary isolation.
Reece was expecting silence, maybe her falling asleep again, but that had him glancing up at her. "I can. Who do you wan me to talk to?"
"Mojo, Kyle 'n' Adam," she replied, not really having to think about. "Only other person I'd want already knows I'm here."
Reece nodded and made a mental note of who she wanted. "The other one being me?" He ventured, not sure who else she would mean. Maybe Cal.
Meg looked over to him, a faint smirk pulling at her lips even as exhaustion set about softening her expression. "The other bein' Brady but i's sweet ya think I like ya that much."
"I didn't think you liked me, but I was willing to be surprised." Reece made a face then settled back in his chair. "Rest. You need it."
"I never said ah didn' like ya Kentucky," she said, accent getting thicker as she started to fall asleep. "You'r jus' an 'noying dick sometimes, a lotta the time..."
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Reece said, smiling to himself as he propped his chin on one hand, watching her. He’d stick around until Cal came back, just in case she woke up screaming.
“You would,” Meg replied, huffing in amusement as her eyes fell closed and after precious few moments, sleep slid over her like a blanket.