#I couldn't help but give Declan a shout out in this one

[emjenenla]

Something in the air’s not right today Part Two [The Raven Cycle Fanfic]

Part One | Part Two

Gansey is not having a good day. Set somewhere in the vicinity of BLLB and TRK. Part two in Adam’s POV.

Trigger warnings for panic attacks and a brief mention of child abuse.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Raven Cycle. Title from “Papercut” by Linkin Park.

Here’s part two. This story is now set a little more firmly around the vicinity of Blue Lily, Lily Blue. This part is a bit shippier than part one, but I still wouldn’t describe it as shippy. I realized towards the end that you could probably read it as Adam/Gansey if you wanted too, so if that’s your thing, knock yourself out.

As school cafeteria food went, the food at Aglionby was pretty good. However, since there seemed to be rule that school food couldn’t actually be good, the food at Aglionby was just perpetually disappointing as opposed to inedible the way the food at Henrietta’s public schools was. Not that Adam was in the position to have an opinion, however, if left to his own devices he would never shell out the money for lunch at all, something that a certain someone had taken it upon themself to fix.

“Do you know where Gansey is?” Adam asked, sticking a spoon into a cup of yogurt he and Ronan were both pretending Ronan hadn’t bought specifically for him.

Ronan shrugged carefully unwrapping the greasy wax paper around one of the two panini he’d bought from the lunch line. He took a big bite out of the corner of one half of the just vaguely congealed sandwich and nudged the other half across the tray towards Adam without looking at him or the food. “I dunno,” he said with his mouth full. “Haven’t seen him since third hour.”

Adam took the offered half a sandwich and nibbled off the corner, being careful not to look at Ronan. This was the way that he and Ronan had been sharing lunch for months. Ronan would buy twice as much food as he actually needed and then Adam would eat the extra so it wouldn’t go to waste. It drove Gansey mad. Everytime it happened Adam could see him biting his tongue to keep from asking the big, dreaded question, “What is the difference between Ronan’s charity and mine?” He hadn’t actually asked yet, for which Adam was thankful because if he did Adam would be forced to start to fight to hide the fact that he had no good answer to that question. He and Gansey hadn’t been fighting recently, and Adam would do anything to make sure it stayed that way. The fact that they’d lasted this long told him that Gansey felt the same way.

“He has history fourth hour,” Adam said, swallowing before he spoke. He was always careful about stuff like not talking with his mouth full. Ronan could get away with it, but Adam would end up looking like trailer trash. “Maybe they talked about something interesting and got caught up in a discussion with the teacher.”

Ronan snorted. “Not likely,” he said. “That class he’s taking is specifically about modern history. Gansey hates anything that happened after the sixteenth century.”

“How do you know that?” Adam asked.

“How do you not?” Ronan snorted. “It’s one of his favorite topics when he’s not rambling about Glendower. You should have heard the night he spent an hour and a half discussing why it's much more important for people to know about Savonarola than Watergate.”

Adam’s heart leapt the way it always did when he realized one of the Aglionby boys knew something he didn’t. “Who’s Savonarola?”

Ronan shrugged. “You think I know?”

Adam forced himself to keep from running to the library right now and looking the information up. He reminded himself that he was a senior, if he hadn’t needed to know who that was before now, he would be fine. “Fine, but where’s Gansey?” he said.

Ronan shrugged. “Maybe he missed a meeting this morning and is catching up on it.”

“What do you mean, missed a meeting?” Adam asked. “I didn’t think he had any morning meetings.”

“He doesn’t usually, but he might have today, I don’t keep an eye on his schedule,” Ronan polished off his half of the first sandwich and moved on to the second, pushing half towards Adam again. “He overslept this morning. We got here just as the five minute bell was ringing.”

Adam had been wondering why Ronan and Gansey were almost late for first hour, but he’d assumed Gansey had been dragging Ronan out of bed not the other way around. “Is he sick?”

“Don’t think so,” Ronan said, his mouth full again. “I think he just overslept.”

Adam was just contemplating how likely Gansey oversleeping with no underlying cause was when Matthew bounced over, holding a cup of chocolate pudding and plopped down next to Ronan, chattering about some kind of news that had nothing to do with Adam. With Ronan firmly distracted, Adam had to reside himself to the end of the conversation at least for the time being.

~~~~

Gansey turned up again just before sixth hour chemistry which he and Adam had together. Adam and Ronan had parted ways at the door to the classroom which had left Adam alone waiting for Gansey and worrying.

Gansey ducked into the classroom just before the bell rang, his head ducked low and his books hugged tightly against his chest. He half fell into his desk without looking at Adam.

“Where were you during lunch?” Adam asked. “Ronan and I were looking for you.”

“Nowhere,” Gansey said, his head still down. He sounded like he was breathless and was trying to hide it. “I had something to take care of.”

“Okay,” Adam said, trying to decide whether or not to push. “Are you ready for this quiz?”

“Quiz?” Gansey repeated without lifting his head. “What-what are you talking about?”

“The quiz in this class,” Adam said. “Ms. Woods told us about it last week. Remember?”

“Oh, yes,” Gansey said after a moment. “Yes, I remember.”

“Please tell me you studied,” Adam said. Chemistry and Gansey didn’t mix very well, and while Gansey might have been able to dredge up a passing grade without studying, the chances of him managing to actually fail where high enough to make Adam nervous.

“Yes, I studied, I just-” Gansey dropped his pencil and it rolled across the floor to rest under the radiator. He dove after it, cursing in foul enough terms that Ronan might have been proud. When he returned to his desk his hands were shaking visibly and he still wouldn’t look at Adam.

“Gansey, is everything-” Adam began but then Ms. Woods began handing out the quiz sheets and there was no more time to talk.

Gansey didn’t so much as look at him for the rest of the class

~~~~

Ronan was waiting for Adam by his locker when school got out. “You don’t work until late tonight,” he said. “Come over to Monmouth. Blue’s free too. We’re going to watch a movie.”

“I have homework,” Adam said more because he felt like he had to raise some kind of objection than because he actually didn’t want to go.

“You can do it while the movie’s on,” Ronan said. “Come on; it will be fun.”

“Fine,” Adam gave in and followed Ronan out of the school. “Where’s Gansey?” he asked looking around for their friend.

“He said something about meetings,” Ronan said with a shrug. “He’ll be back at Monmouth probably in a half hour or so. If not Noah will probably be happy to use my phone to spam call him.”

Adam thought of Gansey’s shaking hands as he rescued his pencil from the floor and how crushed he’d looked when he’d handed his chemistry quiz in. He wasn’t sure how Gansey would react to being spam called today. He wondered if he should point that out, but Ronan was already talking about something else and the moment had passed.

~~~~

“No, let’s not watch that,” Noah moaned looking at the DVD Ronan was holding up. “Let’s watch something fun!”

“This is fun,” Ronan said looking a little offended.

“I’ve seen that movie,” Blue said. “It’s all fast cars and explosions. Let’s watch something that actually has a plot.”

Adam tried to ignore their minor argument by focusing on his calculus homework. The assignment would have been so much easier without all the background noise. He should have done the sensible thing and just gone back to St. Agnes. He was never going to get ahead if he continued running around doing things for fun when he was supposed to be working to better himself.

The argument broke off with the sound of an old Mustang pulling up in front of Monmouth. “Gansey’s back!” Noah chirped. “He’ll be able to settle this argument.”

Ronan grumbled, mostly because they all knew Gansey would never watch a plotless action movie voluntarily so Ronan’s choice was officially out of the running, but didn’t make any outright complaints.

It took a surprisingly long time for Gansey to get upstairs, though that was probably because they were all used to him racing up the stairs like he had fifty million infinitely more interesting things to be doing (which was usually true). Finally reached the top of the stairs and let himself in.

“Hi, Gansey!” Noah waved. “We’re going to have a movie night! Well, movie afternoon as the case may be, but whatever.”

The look he gave them was a sort of disappointed blankness, like he really wished none of them were there at all. Adam had to be imagining it; he had never known Gansey not to want them around, if only so he had someone to ramble on endlessly too.

“Gansey?” Adam ventured.

Gansey’s gaze focused on him. His face spasmed for a moment, like he was trying to put on a more positive expression and failing. “Why aren’t you at work?” he asked.

Adam jumped. He had never heard Gansey sound so cold before. “I don’t work until late tonight,” Adam said. “Is there something wrong with that?”

“No, no, there’s not,” Gansey said. His voice was sharp and horrible and wrong. He barely sounded like himself. “There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not like you could have told me you had plans, but I guess my life revolves around you people anyway, so what does it matter?” He threw his messenger bag onto his bed and the contents spilled across the bed, the beloved journal sliding off the comforter onto the floor. Gansey didn’t even seem to notice.

Vaguely, Adam was aware of Noah fading away into nothingness and Ronan beginning to protest, but mostly he was numb. Adam had expected to fight with Gansey again, but he hadn’t expected it to be like this. He’d expected a blow-out about bills or tuition of one too many meals slyly bought. He didn’t know how to deal with Gansey like this.

Blue stepped up to the plate before Adam could even begin to figure out what to say. “We didn’t mean it like that, Gansey,” she said. “But you seem kind of upset. Did something happen today?”

“No!” Gansey snapped. That was even more out of character. Gansey got annoyed at Adam all the time, but never at Blue. “Nothing happened today! Everything’s splendid, thank you very much!”

Adam did not think he’d ever heard a less convincing argument.

“I’m going to take a shower,” Gansey said, turning away from them. Adam heard him take a deep, noisy breath through his teeth. “You all can carry on with whatever you were doing.”

None of them so much as moved until the bathroom door slammed behind Gansey. None of them moved when the water started running. None of them moved as time dragged on and on. Even Ronan, who had been seconds from diving headfirst into a rage didn’t move as the true weight of what had just happened crashed down on him.

Eventually, however, without saying anything, Ronan got up and went into his room. He came back carrying another DVD case. He took the DVD out and put it into the player. As movie began Adam realized it was a Disney movie.

“What movie is this?” he asked.

“The Lion King,” Ronan said without looking over. He was staring at the screen with almost single-minded determination. “It was one of the only movies we had as kids which Dad had bought instead of just dreaming a copy. It was always Declan’s favorite.”

Adam wouldn’t have thought of Declan Lynch as the sort of person who had ever enjoyed Disney movies, but that and wondering what Niall Lynch’s dreamed copies of Disney movies were like helped distract him until the shower finally turned off. It was a long time after the water had turned on had started. Normally Adam would have been jealous of Gansey’s ability to just take a shower without calculating just how much each drop of water would cost him, but today that was the last thing on his mind.

Finally Gansey opened the bathroom door and came out. Adam almost wished he hadn’t, because Gansey’s eyes were red with tears.

Gansey looked at them for a minute, then his head dropped and he looked away. “I’m sorry about before,” he whispered. “I have no excuse.”

That was the worst part. Ronan would have had an excuse, Blue would have had an excuse, even Adam would have had an excuse, but Gansey didn’t even try to come up with one. He was just going to take whatever they threw at him without even trying to explain why.

They teased Gansey about his clothes and his car and his habits and his obsession with Glendower. Ronan poked and screamed at him when he was in a bad mood, Blue scolded him and he and Adam had fought on a hundred different occasions, but something like this had never happened before. The things they did never seemed to touch him. The real world couldn’t hurt Richard Campbell Gansey III. It had never occurred to Adam that Gansey could have a bad day, that he could resent their presence, that he could want or need time alone to put himself back together. In some ways he had not seen Gansey as human enough for any of that.

Adam slowly unfolded himself from the floor and walked over to Gansey’s closet. He gathered a pair of Gansey’s pajama pants and the yellow sweater he wore so often. It was hideous, but Adam was also pretty sure if was one of Gansey’s favorite articles of clothing. It didn’t matter how ugly the sweater was, if Gansey liked it he probably would find it comforting and that was what mattered right now.

He carried the clothes over to his friend and Gansey looked away more if that was possible. He was afraid Adam was going to be angry. The realization cut Adam to the core. It had never occurred to him that Gansey might think that they were going to get in a fight now when he was so obviously upset. He’d never thought that Gansey didn’t understand that.

Adam pushed the clothes into Gansey’s arms and Gansey glanced up, his eyes wide with surprise. There were pretty prominent dark circles under his eyes, and Adam remembered Ronan mentioning that Gansey had overslept this morning. Adam knew that Gansey had insomnia, but they didn’t discuss it very often. Ronan would mention in passing that he and Gansey had gone to the gas station to by orange juice at three am and gotten weird looks, but Adam didn’t know exactly how bad Gansey’s insomnia was. How often couldn’t he sleep? Did he take medication? How much sleep had he actually gotten last night?

“Take your contacts out and put these on,” Adam told Gansey, indicating the clothes. “You look really tired.”

Gansey finally met his eyes for the first time in the conversation. He looked confused, like he couldn’t quite figure out why Adam wasn’t screaming at him. “Okay,” he said after a moment, obviously deciding it was best not to comment.

Gansey retreated into the bathroom to change and Adam returned to his place on the floor next Ronan. His calculus homework was completely forgotten, and he didn’t think he’d be able to get back in the right frame of mind to complete it for a while yet. Blue snatched the remote from Ronan and moved to start to movie again. Ronan lunged for it and she stopped him by planting her foot against the side of his face.

The bathroom door opened. “Come sit down, Gansey,” Blue called. Gansey hesitated just long enough for Adam to wonder what was stopping him before he moved across the room and sat down on the couch next to Blue.

“I really am sorry for snapping at you,” Gansey said after a moment. He was staring down at his hands and not looking at any of them. “And for scaring Noah away. I didn’t mean any of it.”

“Gansey, it’s fine,” Blue soothed. She patted Gansey’s leg and Adam looked away feeling like he was intruding on something private. “You’re allowed to be frustrated every now and then; we’re not going to hate you forever because of it. And Noah will turn up again; he’s not going to vanish into the ether just because you had a bad day.”

Gansey didn’t reply and Adam wracked his brain trying to figure out what the right thing to say. It was obvious that Blue was doing the same thing. Thankfully, it was Ronan who saved them all by shoving aside Blue’s foot and snatching the remote back. “Alright,” he said with an air of finality. “Now that that’s all take care of, let’s get back to this movie.”

For a few minutes they watched the movie in silence, then Gansey’s collapsed against the armrest of the couch looking like he was going to fall asleep. Blue pulled his legs up onto the couch as well and after a minute’s consideration, Adam reached out and pulled Gansey’s glasses off. Ronan got up and stalked across the room. A moment later he returned and dumped Gansey’s comforter onto their nearly asleep friend in his characteristic type of caring.

“Go to sleep, Gansey,” Blue said. “We’re going to order pizza soon; we’ll wake you when it gets here.” She was rubbing Gansey’s foot and again Adam felt like he was seeing something he shouldn’t. Was there something going on there, or was he just reading too far into it?

“Wait,” he said, his mind catching up with Blue’s words. “We’re ordering pizza?”

“Of course you’re ordering pizza,” Noah said. “You can’t have a movie night without pizza!” He was sitting on the arm of the couch just above Gansey’s head.

“When did you come back?” Blue asked.

Noah just grinned and didn’t reply.

“Yes,” Ronan said when it became obvious Noah wasn’t going to relent and say something. “We’re getting pizza.”

Ronan actually got up and went to get Gansey’s phone which seemed like a weird workaround of the whole cellphone thing. Adam certainly hoped that Declan didn’t check the phone bill to see if Ronan was using his phone for things like ordering pizza while still ignoring calls, but after a moment Adam had to admit that wouldn’t actually surprise him knowing the Lynch brothers.

“Okay,” Ronan said, coming back. “What do we want?”

~~~~

When the pizza guy pulled up Ronan paused the movie and Blue and Adam handed over their parts of the bill. Ronan gathered the money and retrieved his wallet from Chainsaw’s beak. He made no move to wake Gansey or find the other boy’s wallet. Ronan and Gansey were less diligent about paying for their own portions of food than Adam and Blue were. This was partially because Ronan and Gansey were both so rich that an order of pizza was no object and also because they lived together and were always buying each other food and groceries. This would not be the first time Ronan paid for Gansey’s food and it wouldn’t be the last; Gansey would do the same.

Ronan went downstairs and returned a minute later with his arms full of pizza boxes. Adam got to his feet and went into the bathroom to find napkins, paper plates and cups. When he got back, Blue was trying to wake Gansey. Adam looked away to give them some privacy and crossed over to where Ronan was laying out the pizza.

“Is that garlic bread?” Adam asked noticing the smaller box. “I didn’t know we were ordering garlic bread.”

Ronan gave him a look. “I paid for it myself. If that bothers you, you don’t need to eat it.” Then he took a plate from Adam and began loading it up with pizza and garlic bread. Adam sighed then filled his own plate, avoiding the garlic bread.

When he returned to the couch, Gansey was sitting up and leaning sort of heavily against Blue. The comforter was wrapped around his shoulders and he looked like he was seconds from falling back to sleep.

Ronan came over and handed Gansey a plate of pizza. Gansey blinked at it like he wasn’t sure what to do with it. “Eat,” Ronan said, not unkindly. “I know you didn’t eat breakfast and who knows where you were for lunch. You need something in your stomach.” Gansey nodded blankly and after a moment he picked up a piece of pizza and began to eat.

Adam moved to sit on the couch next to Gansey and tried not to make it awkward as Ronan plopped down on the floor and started the movie again. Gansey took a bite of pizza, chewed and swallowed then said quietly, “I really am sorry for yelling at you. I didn’t mean to-”

“Gansey,” Adam said as gently as possible. “It’s fine. I’m not mad. I can tell when something else is going on.”

He hoped his words would serve as an invitation to talk about what Gansey was so upset about, but Gansey didn’t rise to the bait. “What I said was still uncalled for,” Gansey said. “I didn’t mean it.”

“No one thought you did,” Ronan said, banging his head back against the couch. “No one hates you, Dick.”

Gansey didn’t look much happier but he went back to eating without complaint so Adam figured the crisis had mostly been diverted. He took a bite of pizza and tried not to think about how good the garlic bread on Gansey’s plate looked. He turned away to see Noah watching them with a strange, sad expression on his face.

“Is something wrong?” Adam asked.

Noah grinned, but his eyes were still sad. “Nothing new,” he said and turned his attention back to the movie.

So there’s some Noah angst randomly at the end. No idea where that came from but we’ll go with it.

Hopefully everyone’s in character. I’ve only ever written Adam and Ronan through Gansey and Declan’s undeniably distorted POVs and I have next to no experience writing Blue and Noah. I also hope that the ending doesn’t drag. I was originally planning to write the last scene in part one then decided not to write it. Hopefully I shouldn’t have ditched it in this part as well.

[curiousconch]

Exit

Chapter 6 of Ricochet (An Open Heart AU)

Catch up here: Series Masterlist

Chapter Synopsis: Heather is taken hostage, but by whom? And she isn't alone. Rafael and Bryce set tries to find the missing link.

Pairing: Rafael Aveiro x MC (Dr. Heather Song) | Bryce Lahela x MC (Dr. Heather Song)

Words: 1.4k+ | Genre: Crime, Suspense/Thriller, Romance

Rating/Warnings: Mature (16+) / violence, language

Author's Notes: Thank you so much for taking time to read this series. Please let me know if you want me to include/remove you in the tags list. Also, disclaimer: Majority of the characters are owned by Pixelberry, except the main character Heather Song and an OC Jordan Anderson.

Heather was due for another week in Johns Hopkins. So even though she didn't feel up to it after last night's fiasco, she forced herself to pack her clothes from the washer and clean out her temporary room.

She snuck glances to Bryce's bedroom door, trying to muster up the courage to face him and apologize. She was drunk last night. Drunk people make the lousiest mistakes, especially when that person is an emotional wreck. Long kept secrets of the heart creep up to the surface, often loaded with regrets like ticking time bombs inevitably blowing up the next morning.

In the end, she decided not to tell him her impassioned speech about nothing good ever happens after 2am, a reference from their shared favorite sitcom. Instead, she washed and cleaned and packed, and when the time came, left without a single word. She thought it was best to leave him be, giving them both space to process what they've just revealed. They'll just deal with it after she's done with her commitments in Maryland.

So she booked a car. And with one silent goodbye, she stepped out into the empty hallways. Her steps felt heavy against the carpeted floors, feeling more and more rueful with each. She was about to turn to the elevator bay when the fire exit flew open behind her.

Before she could turn around to see, an arm grabbed her by the waist while a piece of cloth covered her mouth and nose, muffling her shouts for help. Her head began spinning almost immediately. It wasn't long before she completely blacked out.

***

When Heather came to, she only saw darkness. Her immediate reaction was to scream, only to whimper after realizing she was gagged. Panic rose within her chest, as she struggled to think straight. She tried to blink to no avail. She was living in a nightmare, and she badly wanted to wake up. So she had two choices - either be a victim or be a survivor.

She chose the latter.

With that, she began to assess her surroundings, using her limited capabilities. She could tell that her eyes were covered, and by the tingling pain in her wrists behind her, she knew she was tied up. Strangely, her ankles were free. While most of her senses were restrained, those that weren't became magnified.

Her back felt the hard floor, she banged her head against it, confirming her theory.

Concrete? Uneven. Unfinished?

She tried to stand up, her legs felt weak, almost like jelly. She tried another time, and succeeded on kneeling. She balanced herself and used her legs to stand up, one after another.

She heard the sound of plastic rustling in the wind, and the cold night air brushing against her face.

Seems like I'm somewhere cold. Is that wind coming from large windows?

All of a sudden, she heard voices. The sounds were inaudible, but she observed intense shifts in the faint conversation.

Two voices, another room? Are they arguing?

She tried to direct herself towards the voices, taking caution not to make a noise. The volume gradually increased, aiding her to understand the conversation clearly enough.

"You're one hour late and you didn't bring enough."

"Such a whiney brat. Did you get that from juvy?"

"It's a mystery why someone haven't punched you and your perfect teeth."

"Some guy already did. But you? I bet ten grand you wouldn't. You're just a piece of shit without my funding."

"Right, without your pockets lined with cash, what are you?"

"Uh, free man with lots of connections?"

The words didn't make sense to her, but the voices that threw them around sounded familiar. She strained to get closer, trying to think who they could possibly be. Before she could hear more, she stumbled, her body making a noisy thud as it quickly planted on the ground. She felt something hard scrape against her cheek, a warm liquid trickled after, then pain.

Blood.

She shifted her head sideways, her legs dangling over something she couldn't quite figure out from the thick fabric of her jeans. Then it moved.

She gasped and retrieved her legs, her mind racing.

Who is it? Bryce? Rafael?

Her anxiety rose as she struggled with the mere possibility that she wasn't the only one kidnapped. The danger of the situation suddenly becoming more grave.

Then the body elicited a groan, a sound similar with her failed attempt to scream earlier. She heard it grumble once more, and then again. It was in the third time that Heather finally figured out who the voice might belong to.

Senator Ed Farrugia's.

Like a bucket of ice, a bone-chilling realization came to her. If they went all this way to hostage the senator, what's gonna stop them from killing her?

Her panicked thoughts were invaded by the sound of steps approaching. In an instant, she felt that she was shoved upright in a sitting position. The same person grabbed her by the collar and dragged her body back to where she came from, making her bare feet blister and bleed against the rough surface. Her face touched edges of plastic as her body followed the steps of her attacker. She tried to swallow her screams in an attempt to preserve energy, but the hairs at the back of her neck gave her fear away. She was then banged against a wall, followed by silence.

A set of steps receded, probably of the person who just dragged her back to her original place. This was quickly replaced by another set of steps, producing a distinct tapping. Different shoes, different person. First one seems like running shoes, this one sounds like leather.

Without warning, her hair was pulled backwards, making her wail beneath the cloth in her mouth. She smelled the scent of cigarettes.

"You just won't go down without a fight, eh? Well good for you, doctor. This will be all the more enjoyable."

Finally giving in on her fears, she shivered. She knew that voice anywhere. It was a sound so despicable that she hated it ever since the first time she heard it. The one man who mocked her, brought her down since her intern year. Arrogant, ambitious and immoral. All the curse words in the world couldn't describe this person. It belonged to a man she never wanted to see, hear, nor be in the presence of ever.

It was the greatest scumbag of all time.

Declan Nash.

***

Rafael was in full blown recon mode for Senator Farrugia's disappearance when he learned that Heather was also missing. Elijah called in to check if she has contacted him for the last 12 hours, he wished she did, but he told him no. When he got off the phone, the conference room he was in suddenly felt crowded.

"Dr. Song is apparently missing too," he reported to the rest of the team working on the Farrugia case. "Let's find where and when she was last seen, and start from there. I have a hunch she's going to lead us to the senator." He called IT to extract Heather's phone logs and location pings before he stepped out for a moment to process this new information. He found himself slumping in the fire exit stairwell, feeling an urge to punch the wall.

When he was about to act on it, his phone rang. It was ADA Lahela.

"Have you heard?"

"Yes, I just got off the phone with Elijah."

"And Senator Ed?"

"Yes, we're trying to find leads for the past 3 hours since we were notified."

"Okay, have you checked her phone records?"

"IT is working on it now."

"Okay. She supposedly left the condo around 4am this morning. I heard her leave. That might be a good starting point."

Rafael made a mental note.

"I'm going to meet Perry. He's in the front and center of this thing. I'll let you know as soon as I come up with anything." Raf heard Bryce say, after which the line ended.

He felt like an idiot, a sinking feeling of regret drawing him in. But he couldn't wallow in it now. Not until they find her.

There's time for that later. Right now, Heather needs me.

Fired up with resolve, he went out of the desolate stairwell and worked. He immediately followed up on Heather’s phone logs and available electronic records. He also called up field agents to go down at Bryce's complex for a copy of CCTV footage for the past 24 hours.

Once the instructions were handed over, he focused on Travis Perry. He helped himself to a cup of black coffee, willing his mind to stay sharp. He pored over Perry's file, searching for anything they may have missed.

He sighed, pushing back his emotions to the back of his mind. It's quickly becoming one of the longest nights of his life.

Author’s Notes 2: When I wrote this, I thought of merging this with the next. I just felt that they're best read together. So instead of combining the two, I've decided to publish both chapters simultaneously. Both is packed, I know, even I got dizzy writing it. But I hope you'll enjoy the roller coaster ride as much as I did. Appreciate it if you could share your thoughts!

Taglist: @ramsey-lahela @eleanorbloom @choicesficwriterscreations

[curiousconch]

Escape

Chapter 8 of Ricochet (An Open Heart AU)

Catch up here: Series Masterlist

Chapter Synopsis: Heather attempts to escape her captors. But will she succeed?

Pairing: Rafael Aveiro x MC (Dr. Heather Song) | Bryce Lahela x MC (Dr. Heather Song)

Words: 1.5k+ | Genre: Crime, Suspense/Thriller, Romance

Rating/Warnings: Mature (16+) / violence, language

Author's Notes: This chapter took me too long to complete, since I hit a creative block. Grateful for @eleanorbloom for giving me tips to overcome it (thank you! 🥰🥰🥰)

Thank you so much for taking time to read/comment/reblog this series. Please let me know if you want me to include/remove you in the tags list. Also, disclaimer: Majority of the characters are owned by Pixelberry, except the main character Heather Song and an OC Jordan Anderson.

Heather held her tears at bay. Frankly, all she wanted was to let herself go.

But she can't. She didn't want to give her captors the satisfaction of seeing her break. When Declan Nash removed her blindfold, he thought it was enough to pulverize her will. Heather was determined to prove him wrong.

"I'll pick up the second dose. Start on getting rid of the pretty doctor first," she heard Nash say to the other man, right before he left.

She watched closely as another man approached her, his features slowly revealed by the dim light surrounding them. The hair at the back of her neck stood up when she recognized the face of her kidnapper.

Jordan Peter Anderson, the Edenbrook janitor. Pete, as he was mainly known.

Suddenly, it all made sense. That's how he had access to her things, how he can easily know her home address, her schedule, all details of her life without suspicion. He was just another face in the sea of people that came in and out of the hospital. A fairly common and trusted face, at that.

She just wondered how Declan was connected to him. She wanted so much to find out. But now, she had to focus on preventing herself from whimpering as Pete violently dragged her to sit on a chair. He tugged her wrists free before slamming them on a metal table. She instantly winced with the impact.

That was when she saw the back of her hand, where an IV cannula was attached to an exposed vein.

What the hell was he planning?

She found the answer sooner than she thought.

She followed his movement with her eyes as he picked up a syringe from a nearby table. It was filled with a clear liquid.

"I take it you're familiar with potassium chloride, Dr. Song?" The janitor sneered as she gazed in terror at what he was holding.

She knew. Potassium chloride overdose can cause cardiac arrest when administered via IV, and in overdose, was fatal. Her mind raced with comprehension.

He's out to kill. He's not going to spare me. This isn't just a game. Her mouth went dry, refusing to accept the possibility that she may not live another day.

Her hazel eyes can only stare at the man who was about to murder her. For a moment, she was filled with helplessness, the tiny semblance of hope in her quickly dwindling out.

No! I'll overcome this. This won't be the end of me. She willed herself to think. Heather Song is one hell of a woman and she won't come down without a fight.

When he was just a single step away from her, inspiration struck.

As he reached for her, she leaned her head back, waiting for the perfect timing. Once he was near enough, she braced for impact and gave him a headbutt. He fell down to the ground, howling in pain. Heather took the opportunity to flee, liberating herself from the chair.

As she tried to take off, a struggle ensued. She was instantly dragged backwards, the force nearly knocking her out. She felt a sharp prick on her neck before she turned and kicked the man on the groin.

He wailed. Heather didn't wait for him to recover and ran for her life, fear and desperation egging her on. Her bare feet heavily hit upon the concrete floor, as she removed the gag from her mouth.

"HELP! Someone, please help me!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, sprinting. Her bruised arms pushed back against the plastic tarps and navigated the narrow corridor blindly.

Soon, she saw an open threshold nearby. She decided to aim for it. When she was almost there, someone grabbed her from behind, making her scream. She strained to break free from the hold, only to be pulled back again.

"Heather," a voice urged. "Heather, it's me!"

She recognized the speaker, making her stop in her tracks. She turned around and looked back into the dark brown eyes of the man in front of her.

Rafael.

At the sight of him, an overwhelming sense of relief flooded her being. She leaned onto him, feeling his strong presence encapsulate her in a tight embrace.

As the panicked adrenaline to fight for her life slowly dissipated, a rush of tears stained Heather's cheeks like an overflowing dam. So she clung to him, convincing herself that she wasn't imagining him and that her whole ordeal has ended.

"It's okay, love. I'm here, you're safe." Raf whispered, his lips kissing the crown of her head.

But she wasn't.

She felt her knees begin to buckle, her whole body shook. There was a sharp pain in her chest, while her vision of Rafael slowly blurred.

The last thing she could remember was the gentleness of his touch, before her world whirled and faded into darkness.

***

He can only watch the helicopter that airlifted Heather to Edenbrook Hospital. When she was found, a syringe was stuck on her neck, and the paramedics suspected a type of poisoning. Her sudden collapse and the  unknown nature of what caused made the situation urgent, so the response team decided it was best course to fly. 

Even though he yearned to accompany her as she fought for her life, he was hastily denied that right. Rafael seized that away from him, taking it upon himself to stay with her instead.

He wanted to be the first person she sees when she wakes up, to hold her hand, to assure her that she will never have to face horrors like this anymore. But fate wasn't on his side this time. It never was. 

So Bryce chose action. He first called in ahead to give Dr. Ramsey the few details they have on hand. He couldn't bring himself to follow her to the hospital. His mind dictated that he wasn't useful there. Instead, he made himself useful somewhere else. 

And there he was, standing in the middle of the crime scene as he hang up his phone. 

Here is where I can help Heather, he thought. I have to find what was in that syringe. It might be her only hope. 

His tired eyes scanned the floor, trying to pick up any detail that may be valuable. He walked around looking down, flashlight in hand, determined to find just about any kind of clue. 

He winced when he saw blood. Heather's. His chest tightened, anger rising within him. That fucking sicko, I swear I'm gonna give him hell. 

Bryce continued prodding around until he heard a soft jingling noise, making him stop. It felt like he just kicked something. He knelt down and found a torn plastic case and a clear glass bottle. He put on his rubber gloves and picked it up, reading the label. Realizing what it was, he quickly dialed Sienna's number and waited for her to pick up. 

"Bryce?" he heard a familiar voice on the line, but it wasn't Dr. Trinh. 

"Jackie?" he felt an immediate pang of worry, hearing the frantic exchange of voices in the background. But he quickly shook the feeling away. He had to focus.

"I found something that might help Heather. There's a bottle of potassium chloride where she was taken, it's empty. I think that's what the suspect injected Heather with."

"Gimme a second," Jackie said. Bryce waited as he listened to Dr. Varma ask for Heather's blood workup from a nurse. "Her potassium levels are elevated, and she's in cardiac arrest. This makes sense, Lahela." 

"She's in cardiac arrest?" A lump in his throat formed, his grip almost slipping from the bottle he was holding. 

"Yes. But we're trying to get her out of it. Your intel's gonna help us figure the rest out," Jackie said, and he sensed her hesitation before he heard her next words. "She'll pull through. So quit yapping and get your ass over here."

The line went dead. 

It took him five minutes to scale down the building, get into his car and hit the road.

***

The environment in the ER was charged by the frantic beeping of the machine, signalling Heather's ongoing cardiac arrest. 

"We've got suspected hyperkalemia," Jackie sprinted to the doctors surrounding Heather's limp body as she got off the phone. 

"Of course," Dr. Ramsey nodded, as he referred to the latest lab results. "A potassium chloride overdose would've caused her coronary infarction. It may have also caused her temporal paralysis, making her lose consciousness. Do we have her weight?" 

"Yes, Dr. Ramsey," Sienna dictated Heather's latest weight to the senior attending, allowing for him to compute for the correct dosage for the prescription. 

"Calcium bicarbonate for the IV, Kaley please," the male doctor handed a piece of paper where he scribbled the dosage needed. 

"Don't we need to do haemodialysis?" Jackie stood beside him, as she prepared a tourniquet and tried to find a vein where the saline solution can be injected. 

"No, we aren't too late, the potassium haven't bound to the cells yet. Watch out for other symptoms though," Like a well-oiled machine, Heather's mentor gave instructions rapidly, taking the lead role in her treatment. 

The nurse went back with the prescription and Jackie setup the insertion. As the liquid began to flow, they waited and watched the heart rate monitor overhead. 

It took a few seconds before the beeping slowed down into a steady rhythm. There was a collective sigh of relief.

Heather Song just narrowly escaped death. 

Tags: @eleanorbloom @ramsey-lahela @choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics