Complications Who: Darcy and Patrick When: midday Where: Hospital, Patrick’s room
It was quiet in the room minus the hum of machines, but Patrick wasn’t as hooked up to them as Lochlan had been. Darcy had tried being in there, but she couldn’t. So she went to the room with the grumpier of the two cousins, sitting at the foot of Patrick’s bed, knee pulled up to her chest, watching him sleep.
He wasn’t asleep for very long. It was easier when no one was in the room but he was so much more on edge now that he noticed when the door creaked open and shut. He’d tried to ignore it and find some refuge in sleep again, but the smells got to him. It was different, but still familiar. Something he knew, something he knew he knew but didn’t know what it was. Giving up on sleep altogether, he opened his eyes and saw Dary there at the foot of his bed. “...You always stare at people when they’re sleeping?” He asked, snappier than he would have been if everything wasn’t hitting him all at once. Stupid fucking sounds, stupid fucking smells, stupid fucking vision...and the pain meds the nurse had given him recently were already starting to wear off again, which wasn’t helping.
“Only when they almost die,” Darcy said, voice quiet. She was very much unlike herself. Normally Darcy was a force of nature, loud, making a scene, but instead she was quiet, reserved. Seeing Patrick like he was had her thinking of the O’Reillys that hadn’t made it, more of her immediate family than she’d liked to admit.
“I didn’t almost die...” He protested, closing his eyes as he sighed. She smelled half like Eily, half like something else, and it freaked him out that he could discern enough between the two of them just by smell. It wasn’t good. It was scary as hell but he wasn’t going to mention that. “Nobody died, right? So why’re you staring at me like you think I’m gonna keel over any second?”
Darcy made a face. “You haven’t looked in a mirror lately have you? You need a bath,” she said. After a moment she leaned forward reaching for his hand. “You’re sure you’re gonna be fine?”
It was really difficult to stay surly around Darcy. She was little still, really young, and Patrick could see she didn’t look like herself. He softened a little when her hand touched his and nodded. “You bet, Kiddo. I’m gonna be fine, cross my heart. You don’t need to worry yourself over me.”
Darcy took his hand, holding on to it and nodding with him. “Eily was scared.” Patrick was doing fine, Darcy could see that, but she’d seen Eily upset. She wasn’t clueless. And now Darcy was scared. She didn’t want to be controlled by her family, but she didn’t want them gone.
Fuck. Why did she have to bring that up? He’d known Eily was upset but hearing it again, like this, really sucked. “I’m gonna be fine,” He said again, a little gruffer than before, and turned his eyes toward Darcy. “I ain’t going nowhere. You guys aren’t getting rid of me yet, you’re stuck with me. So just...don’t look like that,” He said, wanting to gesture to all of her, all the sad that he felt coming from her, but he just stayed stationary.
Darcy nodded, straightening her shoulders. She was trying, just because he said so. He knew what she looked like. Weak. Sad. It was time to be a grown up. “I’m sorry. I know. I couldn’t get rid of you if I tried.”
Great. Now he felt guilty because he’d forced his cousin to put on a good face for him when he shouldn’t have done that. It was just hard for him to sit here and watch the girls look this way. They didn’t usually look like this and he didn’t like seeing it, especially projected toward himself. “You’re damn right you can’t get rid of me. I’m gonna be just fine...Lochlan is too,” He said, even though he’d not seen Lochlan since before Patrick himself arrived at the hospital. “Talk to me about something else...” He said, hand going to his face to cover his nose again over the onslaught of new scents. He shut his eyes, trying to block out some of the crazy senses and regain some focus. He already felt guilty enough, he didn’t want to snap at her again.
“Liam said he’d be your nurse. So you could you know...be nice to him.” Darcy suggested, watching Patrick. He was off. She wasn’t sure what it was, but he wasn’t him at the moment. She was staring at him, trying to determine what was going on with him.
“...Who the hell is Liam?” He asked, voice deeper though her mention of a boy’s name had Patrick pulling his hand away from his eyes. “....Because if you’re hanging around with some punk ass kid, I need to know about it.”
Darcy gave Patrick a solid Look. "Are you really going to do that? Dictate that part of my life?" she dared, one eyebrow raised. "And if you have to know, he's the guy I bought at the auction." Which she was sure was going to go over well. Actually she was surprised that Patrick hadn't yelled at her for the auction yet, or the part where Avery bid on someone at good five years older than her because it was probably obvious that had been Darcy's idea.
“Jesus, Darcy...” Patrick covered his eyes again with his hand and slumped a little into his bed. “I want to know who this boy is, what kind of boy he is...Not just that you bought him at the auction...” Which they could get to later. He forced himself to breath through his mouth because his nose was not cutting it right now, not with all those extra scents involved, and turned his eyes on her again to show how serious he was.
“Really? I was thinking I wanted to know about the sweet young thing that bought you,” Darcy said, countering what he said. She waited a breath before smirking. “He’s nothing like you or Lochlan.”
Which didn’t make Patrick feel any better. He didn’t know if he trusted someone who wasn’t anything like himself or Lochlan. “...Look, Kid. You don’t get to smart-mouth off at me, not while I’m in a hospital bed.” Yeah, maybe he could use it to his advantage for a little while, even if it was low. “...When I’m out of this place, I want to meet him.”
Darcy rolled her eyes. “You just said that you weren’t dead.” She gave him a look before letting out a sigh. “Are you going to threaten him? Or knock him around? Because if that’s the case then the answer is no.”
“I’m not dead, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still in a fucking hospital...” Patrick grumbled again. Was he going to make a promise that none of that was going to happen? Absolutely not. “The kid will get what he gives. If he’s an asshole, I’ll know. If he isn’t, I’ll know too. I want to meet him, Darcy.”
“Patrick, please,” Darcy put on her sweetest face. “It’s massively impossible for him to be an asshole. Why do you have to meet him?” That was how she’d gone as long as she had without a boyfriend. “You’re not gonna meet Avery’s date are you?”
“I’m gonna meet everyone’s dates,” Patrick said, thinking that sounded like the best idea he’d had all day. It was normal, a definitely normal thing for him to do, and maybe it would help get him back on track after all these strange side effects he was experiencing. “I want to meet him Darcy. Sometime, I want to meet him. And I’m not going to let up until I do.”
Well at least Avery was going to have to suffer through this as well. “But I like him Patrick. And that’s just asking for one of you to hate him. I’m not putting him through that. That’s just cruel.” And it was a sure way for her to lose all her chances with Liam.
“You think we’re gonna hate him just because you like him?” He asked, covering his eyes again and breathing through his mouth once more. This was awful, just plain awful, but he was trying to keep it together for this conversation. “I just want to meet him, Darcy. I wouldn’t be doing my duty as family if I didn’t.”
“Yeah well the last time some family did duty of meeting a guy who wanted to take me to a school dance they got in a fight in the parking lot.” Darcy made a face. “You can’t yell at him or threaten him. He’s not that kind of guy. If you threaten him he’ll avoid me on principle.”
“Then maybe he’s not the right guy for you, if he gives up that easy...” Patrick said, shaking his head as he slunk further down in the bed and closed his eyes again. He needed to get his mind together. It was getting harder and harder for him to keep from snapping at her simply because everything was so loud, everything smelled so different and it was just overwhelming.
“You’re fucking kidding me. If he showed up after threatened him, you’d say the same thing. I’m eventually going to start dating properly and not just sneaking off when you aren’t looking.” Darcy rolled her eyes.
“Well, if you’re dating properly, then that fucking boy would have the balls to show his head around us,” Patrick said again, voice gruff and demanding when he did. Annoyed, he sighed heavily. “Was he raised with no manners or something?”
Darcy glared at Patrick. “He hasn’t even taken me out yet. You can’t go judging based on that.”
“I can go judging based on him not meeting us,” Patrick said seriously, looking back at his cousin after a moment. “You need to understand, Darcy...You’re important to us and we wanna keep you safe. We wanna make sure you’re taken care of...and we’re gonna damn well do it, whether you like it or not.”
“You don’t want to keep me safe, you want to keep me locked up so I turn into Avery,” Darcy said shaking her head. “You haven’t had a chance to meet him.”
“No, Darcy, I want to keep you safe,” He said with heavy emphasis, hands back over his eyes as he continued to breath through his mouth. “Why won’t you just fucking believe me when I say that?”
“Because safe means being locked in a cage,” Darcy mumbled under her breath so he couldn’t hear her. She glanced at him again then went for his hand again, holding on to it.
“Does not mean being locked in a cage,” He said, not even aware she’d whispered it. It sounded as clear as everything else he’d heard today.
She glanced up, one eyebrow raised. “Did you hear me?” she asked, moving closer, more along his side.
“Yes, I heard you. You were talking. Why wouldn’t I have heard it?” He asked, looking back at her now because he was extremely confused.
She didn’t stop looking at him strange. “Because about I dunno, six years ago I perfected whispering under my breath so you couldn’t hear me. And now you can. Are you okay?”
“...Well maybe you didn’t actually whisper it. Maybe you were louder than you thought, Darcy, I don’t know...” He said, shutting his eyes again. “Can you get the nurse to come in here and give me more goddamn medicine?”
Darcy eyed him harder. “I did whisper it. I know I did.” She looked at him again, trying to determine what was wrong with him. “Does your shoulder hurt?”
“You didn’t, Darcy,” He said, his tone harsh and quickened with agitation even though he felt guilty the second it left him. “Please, Darcy...just bring the nurse in here. Shoulder hurts, hell yeah it hurts...and they’re giving me crap ass medicine that keeps wearing off faster than it should.”
She watched him again. “Alright I will go get the nurse. But if it’s Liam you have to be nice,” Darcy insisted before getting up. She squeezed his hand once then left the room headed to find the nurse.
Patrick grumbled something that wasn’t really a word or a sentence, more just annoyed sounds. He settled in the bed again, arm thrown over his eyes, breathing through his mouth while he waited for whatever nurse came. Hopefully it wasn’t Liam. He wasn't ready for Darcy’s little friend to see him this way.