102- A Walk to Where She Is

The hospital room was quiet, save for the occasional sound echoing in from the hallway. Tau was sitting next to Yechiel at Hakan's bedside, when his phone chimed, resonating like a bell in the hollow room.

Pulling his phone from his pocket, he read over the text.

"Quayleigh?" Yechiel questioned as Tau began to type out his reply.

"Yes."

"Is everything alright?"

"I'm uncertain," Tau replied as he sent his text and put his phone back in his pocket. "She said she was on her way to the police station on Harlowe's orders and was asking for an update."

"Wish you had better news to give her," Yechiel remarked as they watched Hakan sleep.

"How much better would you like it to be? Hakan is alive and time will see him to a recovery."

"Even so, we can't tell her anything about Skye. Her parents have refused to let anyone into see her and the nurses won't tell us anything at all. To be honest, I'm way more worried about her than him at the moment."

"If you would like, I can attempt to go and speak with her parents. Perhaps they will be more willing to speak with someone who isn't connected to the police."

"While I'd appreciate it, for today at least, we should leave them be. I don't want to risk making the situation worse. If she's had a breakdown, it's for the best if everyone around her remains as calm and relaxed as possible. Trying to force her parents into giving us answers could backfire."

"Understandable," Tau replied as a knock came to the door, and an older woman, easily identified as a nurse, given her uniform, came into the room.

"Sorry to interrupt, but it's time for a check in. How is everyone doing in here?" she asked as she made her way to the end of the bed and picked up Hakan's chart.

"He's still sleeping," Yechiel replied as he and Tau stood up and moved out of her way, not wanting to impede her from doing her job.

"Oh, well now, that just won't do," she remarked as she checked the machines and made a couple of notes. "Resting is important, but we can't have him sleeping the entire day away. He should have woken up on his own by now, but sometimes we need to give a little push."

Moving around to the other side of the bed, the nurse stowed the chart on her way passed and set her hand upon his uninjured shoulder, giving it a light squeeze.

"Mr. Kavak, I need you to wake up for me," she spoke firmly, rubbing at his shoulder. "Can you open your eyes for me?" Shifting her hand to the center of his chest, she ran her knuckles against his sternum causing him to shift his head. "Mr. Kavak, come on now. It's time to wake up."

Hakan groaned and struggled to open his eyes.

"Ah, there we are. Morning Mr. Kavak. Welcome back." The nurse lowered her voice and spoke in a kinder manner as she motioned for Yechiel to come closer.

"Hey," Yechiel said, reaching out and taking Hakan's hand.

"Maz…" He coughed, his throat sounding dry.

"Yeah bud, I'm here," Yechiel said taking the cup of ice water the nurse handed to him. "Here, this will help."

Holding the end of the straw to Hakan lips, he took a long drink before pushing the straw out and taking a slow deep breath.

"I'm alive," he muttered even as his jaw visibly chattered, and tears crept into his eyes.

"Yeah, you made it. You're not in working order, but you're alive," Yechiel replied as the nurse went to the closet and grabbed a blanket out.

"Don't go and get the wrong idea now," the nurse said, unfolding the blanket and carefully laying it over Hakan. "You may be alive, but if you ever want to be working order again, I need you to listen to the staff, and not put up a fuss when we tell you to rest up and sit still."

"Not your first rodeo?" Yechiel remarked to the nurse who smirked back at him.

"I've been a nurse at this hospital for near twenty years. I learned a long time ago to lay down the law from the start. Makes it easier on all of us in the long run. You may think we want to keep each and every one of you in here for as long as possible, but I assure you, we want you up and out of our hair probably more than you want up and out of this hospital. So, you're going to do exactly what we say, and I promise to get you out the door as quick as we possibly can. Does that sound good to you, Mr. Kavak?"

"Hakan. You can call me Hakan, and yes. I'll do what you say."

"Well then Hakan, it's nice to meet you. I'm Mira. I'm one of the nurses that have been assigned to look after you in the time to come. You underwent an incredibly long and difficult surgery. The doctors have immobilized your shoulder and arm, but that doesn't mean that you can try and move around on your own," she explained as he turned his head to the right where his found his shoulder wrapped and covered in a metal structure of rods and braces holding it stiffly in place.

"How… how long have I been here?"

"Overnight," Yechiel replied. "You've only been here overnight."

"I know it can be upsetting to wake up and find yourself covered in bandages, unable to move, or do anything on your own, but you need to understand your situation and remain as calm as you can. Moving too much at this point could further the damage to your shoulder and undo everything the doctors did manage to fix," Mira explained.

"No, I get it," Hakan remarked as he reached up and wiped his eyes.

"Good. I'm going to go and let your doctor know that you're awake and he'll be in to speak with you shortly. Meanwhile, I'll be back in a couple of minutes to change out your I.V.'s," Mira remarked before leaving the room.

"Yechiel," Hakan stressed as he grabbed at Yechiel's wrist, "that thing, what happened?!"

"Easy Hakan, remember what the nurse said," Yechiel remarked slipping his hand from his wrist and held it as he pulled the chair, he had been sitting in, closer using his foot. "You don't need to worry about anything right now. I just want you to focus on getting better."

"Right. Recovering," he replied, swallowing as Yechiel sat down. "Good thing I got my transfer when I did."

"Sure is. You'd be at some posh Clairmont hospital otherwise, and what fun would that be?" Yechiel jested, handing him back his water.

"You seem to be handling this well," Hakan remarked causing Yechiel to look over at Tau motioning for him to draw closer.

"I had some help. Dylan and Quayleigh took me in last night, but I'm hanging on for now."

"It's good to see you awake," Tau said, bowing his head towards Hakan.

"It's good to be awake. I was so certain…" he cut himself off. "How's Skye?"

"We don't know. While we were getting you checked in, they took her to the Psychiatric wing. No one will tell us anything about how she's doing. I'm sure she'll get her shit together though. There's no way this is going to keep her down for long," he replied as Mira returned to the room, followed by a tall balding man in scrubs carrying a file.

"Hakan Kavak," the man said as he approached the bed, Yechiel and Tau stepping out of the way. "I'm Dr. Henry Schur. I was one of the doctors who worked to put you back together last night. That was one extensive injury you suffered, and while we did our best, there are still a number of issues that will need to be addressed down the road. For now, though, why don't you tell me how you're feeling? Any immediate pain?"

"No, nothing so far, but I haven't tried moving anything yet. I'm feeling pretty groggy though."

"The grogginess we can address easily," Dr. Schur remarked while Mira went about changing to three bags attached to the machine feeding his IV. "While I want to keep you on the stronger pain medication for the time being, nothing says we can't adjust the amount down a bit to help alleviate the fuzzy brain. We are going to keep you on the antibiotics and anti-inflammatories though so expect to find yourself feeling pretty sleepy again in a bit here. Until then though, I'd like to speak with you about your short- and long-term prognosis, if you're feeling up to it?"

"Yes, of course," Hakan replied before looking over at Yechiel. "Would you mind staying? I'd like someone else to hear all of this too."

"Yeah, whatever you want," Yechiel remarked as he tapped at Tau's shoulder. "Why don't you head on home?"

"Worry not, I'll wait for you out in the hall." Stepping forward and bowing once again to Hakan, Tau remarked, "Do well and recover swiftly," before turning and leaving the room, closing the door behind himself.

Making his way down the hall, Tau found a small waiting room and pulled out his phone before taking a seat.

Several minutes later, Yechiel approached, prompting Tau to return his phone to his pocket.

"Sorry about that," Yechiel remarked as Tau stood.

"Don't be. I'm a stranger to Hakan. I can understand him not wanting me to overhear the details of his injuries or recovery, and based on your expression, I take it that it wasn't good news."

"It was better than I thought it was going to be, but he has a few challenges ahead of himself and it's going to take time for him to come to grips with all of it. He was pretty worn out, so I told him I'd come back later tonight," he remarked as they began to walk down the hall.

"And until then?"

"A walk," he replied leaving Tau to wonder where they were walking too.

Leaving the hospital, they headed west, back in the direction of Dylan's condo, but even Tau knew that to be too far to walk, so he could only assume they were bound for a different destination. They walked along in relative silence, when Yechiel, who had had his eyes to the sky and hands in his pockets, abruptly turned around and stepped in front of Tau.

"You know, you didn't have to wait for me back there. You could have gone home if you wanted to."

"Perhaps," he responded, as Yechiel continued to walk in reverse.

"You could go home now, if you preferred."

"Do you expect me to walk all the way back to my condo?" Tau questioned with the quirk of his brow.

"I'm not that cruel. After what you did last night, I'd at least call you a car."

"How about we get to where we're going first?"

Yechiel smirked and turned back around, returning to an easy pace beside him.

"You really aren't bothered hanging around with me?"

"No. Quayleigh told me not to leave you alone today, and I happen to believe that it's the right decision."

"That's freaking unbelievable. I could have sworn she'd have told you the exact opposite by now. I mean, let's face it, she barely tolerates me, and after the other night, I figured you'd washed your hands of me too. Extenuating circumstances aside," he said, hanging his head and kicking at the sidewalk.

"My toleration of your continued existence has been restored by the generosity of her heart. Quayleigh was the one who gave up our plans for the evening to ensure that you had a place to go where you wouldn't be alone. Again, I just happened to believe that she was right."

"It was her? I half expected to find out that you had paid her off or invited me before you had told her and then she was just being nice out of obligation, and because she is absolutely crazy about you."

"Make no mistake, she seemed pleased to have an excuse to stay at the condo. Our new bed isn't going to arrive until Monday and her twin really doesn't leave much room…"

"Stop! Stop, stop. I do NOT need to hear any more about THAT! I already feel like shit. I don't need to be depressed about my lack of a love life too."

"If you don't feel well, we can take a break or call for a car," Tau said as he grabbed Yechiel's arm stopping him and causing him to turn around.

"That's not what I meant," he replied with a quiet, heavy tone. "Physically, I'm fine. I need to be out walking around. It helps me clear my head. The thing is, when I'm not working, I don't know what to do with myself. And right now, there's this feeling that I can't shake, like a bomb in my chest about to explode. I want to do something. I want to hunt down that bastard responsible for all of this and make him pay! But fuck, Dylan, you should have seen that thing, it was a freaking monster; an anaconda with arms, and its head… I've never seen anything like it. Those pictures did nothing to prepared us for that. I can still smell its breath. I felt the joists of the floor sag when it moved." Yechiel's hands quaked as hugged himself, clutching at the sleeves of his jacket. "His voice, it made my entire body tremble. I can't stop shaking when I think about being that close to it, and at the same time, I'm relieved that it wasn't me."

Grabbing a hold of Yechiel, Tau pulled him in and hugged him tight.

"It's understandable. You are allowed to feel the way you do, but you have nothing to be afraid of."

"You can't know that! You weren't there!" Yechiel shouted as he pushed Tau away from him. "I couldn't stop him! I couldn't do a damn thing and I'm grateful that it was Hakan! I'm fucking relieved that it wasn't me! What kind of a person am I? I'm supposed to be his friend, his partner, and I was completely helpless when it mattered the most."

"Yechiel," Tau began with a sigh, "I do know, and I didn't have to be there. If he had wanted you dead, we wouldn't be having this conversation. He went after Hakan, not you or Skye. You just happened to be there to witness it. You have no reason to feel guilty about not being his target. Try to remember that if it had not been for you being there, Hakan would have died. Skye was in no shape to help him, and no one would have shown up before he had bled out on the floor. It wasn't you, but you had no control over that. You did what you could when you were capable."

"And what's stopping him from coming back and finishing the job because I didn't take action when he was right in front of me, because I was too scared?" Turning around he returned to walking, his pace slightly faster than before.

"His job was finished. Otherwise, he wouldn't have left," Tau replied as he followed a couple of steps behind.

"You say that as if you know it to be a fact."

Tau grimaced. "Given his abilities so far, it's only logical to believe that he intended to leave Hakan alive. Death's servants don't do anything without purpose or reason."

"And how the hell would you know something like that?" Yechiel stopped as he turned and glared at Tau.

"It's simply how I see it. Nothing more," Tau replied as he met Yechiel's eyes with his own, hoping to appear convincing, knowing that he had said more than he had intended.

Tau felt a sense of relief when Yechiel turned around and continued walking. He may have been on edge, but Tau didn't want him to ask questions that he was prepared to answer, especially when feigning ignorance was just as risky as saying the wrong thing. Thus, he opted to change the subject.

"Anyways, where are we headed?"

"To where she is," Yechiel replied as he crossed his arms behind his head. "Harlowe called her to the station for a reason, and I want to know what it is."

"So, you still don't trust him?"

"Ever since Detective Hayden Folsten showed up, Harlowe's been acting different. And when it comes to the MET, I don't trust either of them. Something's been off about this entire situation from the beginning. I hate that Quayleigh got dragged into this because I was the one that noticed the lines on her nails and told Harlowe. I didn't even know I was making a mistake. At the time, I didn't think it mattered. I was just doing my job, but then, it spiraled. I tried to stop it, I really did, but here we are, worse off than when it all started."

"We should return to the condo," Tau stated as they turned a corner.

"Too late for that Dylan, we're already here."