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He should have been there with her.
He should have gone to Ashley’s apartment with her. She could have gotten Ashley to safety while he dealt with Wesley. Maybe the case would have been over and done with by now. Maybe he could have talked things out with her, confessed the truth to her.
Instead, here he was, sitting in a hospital waiting room.
Ashley was also in the waiting room, though she wasn’t fangirling over him, a rather significant departure from her usual demeanor around him. Still, Logan figured that Ashley was more worried about the woman who was practically beaten within an inch of her life than starry-eyed over him. Had this been any other occasion, he would be grateful for it in a more obvious way. Instead, he was currently grimly thankful for her awareness of the situation. Had she not called for help when she did…
But his partner wasn’t out of the woods yet.
Beside Ashley, a man who looked like a deranged hobo was silent as he looked ahead. Logan could almost grasp his name in his mind, but it was currently eluding him. Like Wesley was. However much he wanted to chase Wesley down now, he had somewhere more important to be, and here he was.
“I really can’t thank you enough for helping save my life, Contra.”
Ah. Hobo-man’s name was Contra. Logan vaguely recalled his partner introducing him in the office, during his latest drunken bender.
Why did he have to go on that bender in the first place? Had he been sober, he would have been able to think better. He wouldn’t have fought with her, pushed her away. He would have been there for her.
She wouldn’t be fighting for her life now.
Ironically, this spiral he was now in was the sort of thing to make him drink. But wasn’t that what caused this? His drinking, his usual bartender, the fact she had tried to be there even at his worst-
“Logan?”
The man in question looked up at Ashley, who was looking directly at him.
“How… How are you holding up?”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry about me.”
“Actually, I think there’s plenty of things to worry about right now, and you’re one of them.” Hobo-man – sorry, Contra – said bluntly. “You’re in a spiral of self-blame. You think that if you were there with us, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Ashley looked like she was about to stop him from talking, but Contra continued.
“You were drunk when she introduced us last night. She asked me to wait outside while she talked to you after she introduced us. You guys had a fight. I was right outside, I could hear it.”
If Logan had a clearer head right now, he’d have told Contra it was something he wanted to work out with her now. If Logan had been drunk, he’d have told him to mind his own business. Unfortunately for him, he was neither – he was still slightly hungover from last night, and the rush to the hospital from his apartment when he saw the news about what happened did not help it.
Contra looked at Logan, as if waiting for him to say something.
“… Sorry I called you a deranged hobo.” Logan finally said, saying the first thing that came to mind after what felt like minutes of silence, though in reality it had only been half a minute.
“It’s fine. Like I said, that’s fair.”
Ashley didn’t know what they were talking about, but opted not to pry. It seemed like something they had to hash out on their own. Neither of them needed her stepping in, and it seemed like they were handling it alright anyway. She caught herself thinking this, and realized she was trying to distract herself from the tension and uncertainty of not knowing what would happen now.
Thankfully for all of them, the tension was broken when a nurse walked over.
“Excuse me, are you T.S. Logan?” She asked, clipboard in hand and a tired expression on her face from a long graveyard shift. She was relieved when she was met with a nod.
“I am, why do you ask?”
“It’s good you’re already here, even if we didn’t get to contact you ourselves. You’re listed here as the emergency contact of Miss-“ She stopped talking to stifle a yawn. Thankfully for her, she didn’t have to continue that sentence as Logan immediately understood what she was saying.
“How is she?”
“I have some good news and bad news. The bad news is she’s going to take a long while to fully recover physically. It’s possible she’ll need to see a therapist to help with the other scars the experience may have left her.”
“And the good news?” Ashley asked, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
“She’s awake. We can only allow one visitor at a time for now, but for the most part, she’s stable for now.”
The trio shared an exhale of relief. Ashley and Contra didn’t know her nearly as much as Logan did, but being rescued by a person and being trusted to help said person with something serious had a way of getting that person endeared to you. Still though, both of them looked at Logan, thinking the same thing.
“Go talk to her.” Ashley said first.
Contra nodded. “I’m certain she would prefer to see you before she sees us.”
Logan wanted to decline and say they could go ahead. He was hoping she would wake up, but he didn’t think as far as what he would say to her now. The last time they talked, he said some things he shouldn’t have. How would she react seeing him now? Would she hear him out? Would she hold what he said against him (not that he thought he didn’t deserve it)?
Would she want to talk at all?
Might as well rip the band aid off now rather than wait for it. If she didn’t want to talk, at least he would know already.
He nodded a thank you to the two, stood up, and followed the nurse to her hospital room. The nurse knocked gently on the door before opening it and peeping her head into the simple room with white-grey walls, a side table, a chair, and a TV that was currently off.
“You’ve got someone to see you, Miss.”
Logan couldn’t hear what she had said, if she said anything at all. The nurse moved out of his way so he could step inside.
From here, he could see how beat up she was. The first thing he noticed was how tired and exhausted she looked.
He couldn’t blame her for it.
He saw black and blue bruises littering her skin, made more visible by the white hospital gown she was wearing. He saw the cast on her arm, and how it limited her movement as she tried to sit up in the bed.
He then saw her looking at him.
For a moment, they said nothing, both of them trying to find something to say. He wanted to apologize, to comfort her, to tell her he lo- did she want to hear that from him?
She broke the silence as she smiled at him. It was that small, tired kind of smile, but it was genuine anyway. Coming from her, it seemed like an “I’m happy to see you” smile. It was inviting him to talk to her, and she didn’t seem to be holding what he said against him. On the contrary, she also had an apology in mind (she was biting back a confession herself, finding it a weird time for it).
“Hi Logan.” She looked from him to a chair in the room, inviting him in.
He smiled and stepped into the room, closing the door behind him as he moved the chair to sit next to her.