RP Log with geniuscowboy & 1twntyovreighty | Secrets Revealed

[cutandlearn]

Although the shower helped Chris smell better, it didn't really make him overly feel better. He was tired and pale, the stress of the day and what he had been hit with was just taking it's toll. What he needed was sleep and probably a good meal, but his stomach was just upset in general. He still had a lot to work with through with both Rick and Dave. It was never going to be something he could cope with all in one day and come out the other end perfectly fine. Serena obviously thought the same thing, because once their shift signed off, she paid for a salad sandwich for him from the vending machine and he had it cupped in his hand now as they made their way through the corridors of the main hospital towards the Oncology ward. He was quiet. He had been quiet since the end of the shift, but she must have just gotten it. What he wanted was to hold her hand, but he knew that was too risky. His stomach was already in knots about seeing Rick, and he was still expecting his brother to not even be there.

He gestured to a room just up the hall and cleared his throat. "That's supposed to be his room," he offered with a shrug, hesitating for a moment. If Rick wasn't there, it could well just be the end of Chris. He would lose it. More than, even. He went over to the hospital room and gave a small knock on the wall beside the door before peering inside. His footing did stumble just a little in relief when he found Rick still in the bed there and leaned against the door jamb for a couple of moments to indulge in a little of the weight slipping from his shoulders.


Serena stood behind Chris, her hands hovering at his back just in case she did have to catch him. When she was sure he was being kept up by the door jamb she turned her head to check if anyone was watching before she brushed her fingers against his hand in a brief gesture of reassurance. Her stomach gave a sudden nervous flip at the idea of meeting Chris' brother even if the two Deleos were having issues. It was also the idea of meeting him as Chris' girlfriend, not just a colleague. "I'm right here," she whispered loud enough for him to hear.

At the knock Rick had opened his eyes after having drifted off while trying to force himself through an episode of Dr Phil. He really didn't get it. He could not see the appeal of the pop psychologist but then he wasn't exactly an expert on working out familial issues. His face cracked into a smile at the sight of Chris and he found himself letting out a slow breath of relief at knowing his brother had returned, and that Chris would see he was still here. The meeting with Bella was still fresh in his mind, and so was her face. He wasn't sure if he should feel guilty or not for being disappointed he couldn't jerk off to thoughts of his oncologist. Rick's gaze flicked to the face peeking over Chris' shoulder and he quirked an eyebrow. "Cute looking bodyguard, bro."

Even just the comment flared an irrational jealousy up in Chris. The ex factor was still fresh in his mind and he pressed his lips together, only just managing to stifle a growl of annoyance. He even nearly turned around and walked out, dragging Serena with him, but he just hovered in the doorway for a moment longer to fight the urge to kick something. He really was a moody bitch, he realised, and he couldn't even blame hormones. He squished the sandwich just a little and made his way into the hospital room. "Serena, this is Rick... Rick, Serena," he said, figuring he may as well get the formalities out of the way. He was eyeing Rick now, wondering if he really could trust his brother with the secret he was about to share.

Serena gave Rick a small smile before she offered him her hand. "Hi. Sorry for just crashing in on your brother time. I know random visitors are probably one of the last things you want."

Rick's eyebrow was still cocked as he glanced between his brother and Serena, Chris' change in demeanour not lost on him. It made him more than curious and then Eva's words filtered through and he locked his gaze on Serena. "The famous Serena, huh? Now I know what Eva was getting at. He really is protective of you, isn't he? Well, that's okay. I already got my sights set on someone else. You're cute, but blondes aren't really my thing. What's the occasion, C?"

"I told you I'd come back after work. Just didn't point out that after work could mean ten pm. Welcome to my world." Chris sat down in the seat beside Rick's bed, trying not to let things get too akward. Truth was, he needed off his feet, and he needed to figure out how the hell he was going to to work up to this. He was remembering now how tight Eva and Rick had been, and that was throwing him off. "She's our resident..." he added pointlessly and cleared his throat. Then as an afterthought to try and save face, "I'm not protective! How am I protective of her? She'll kick your ass in a heartbeat if you fuck with her."

Serena looked awkward for a moment before she took the seat next to Chris' and held up her fists like she was about to enter the boxing ring. "I might be tiny, but I can hold my own. Just ask Uncle Angry. I'll kick your ass then perform CPR just so I can kick it all over again." She dropped her hands back down. "So that's me. The resident."

"Nice," Rick replied as he shot Chris a wink. "Resident of kick ass? Nice. Very impressive. I'll remember not to mess with you. I got all these women wanting to kick my ass, bro. Makes me wonder if there's something wrong with me. They used to want to grope it. So the fact that you're here now 'after work', does that mean that it wasn't a very good day? You lose a patient, or something? And you are so protective with that growly back off look thing you had going."

Chris just looked at Rick evenly. "Oh yeah, it's been an awesome fucking day," he said sarcastically with a snort as he started to bounce his leg absentmindedly. The sandwich was shoved onto the bedside meal table so Chris could cross his arms, but he uncrossed them pretty much straight away. Those hackles were back up again, and it was something he really needed to work on. For a moment, he just looked at Rick, a small frown appearing on his face as if he was trying to work the guy out all over again. "You perve on her and I'll kill you. Fuck the cancer."

Serena blinked, a heat creeping up into her cheeks. She just took a moment to silently applaud herself for not choosing today as a day to wear a tank top to show off her cleavage. Instead she just wore a t-shirt with a light cardigan over the top. "Chris, come on! He won't perve on me. Will you?" she asked Rick, narrowing her eyes in warning.

Rick let out a low chuckle. "Oh, this is just too good. She's your date, isn't she? The chick you were out with the other night. Does Eva know? Does anyone know? Is that why you two aren't very... you know, touchy? Give me some credit, bro. Bonnie was years ago. I wouldn't mess with another of your girls. Relax, Chris. You're both safe with me, promise. As far as your girl's concerned I'm a priest and will not perve on her."

The look Chris gave Rick left no room for doubt that he didn't believe a word coming out of his brother's mouth. "You want me to just throw her on the ground and ride her in front of you for proof?" He put his hand up and casually flipped his brother off to punctuate his question. "Eva doesn't know. No one knows, and if you tell anyone... anyone... I will be the one pissing off and not coming back. Dave knows, and Aimee knows, but no one else. You can keep screwing me over for the rest of my life, but I won't let you screw Serena over. And just for the record, you did try to mess with Eva, even when you knew there was a chance I had a thing for her. It's beside the point that I don't. Don't give me the bullshit innocent line, I'm not buying it." He sat up in the chair with a small frown again and closed his eyes for a moment. "If there is just one thing I need you to do for me in this lifetime, it's this."

Serena reached out to take Chris' hand and slipped her fingers between his. She knew a little about Eva and Rick, at least enough to join the dots between him needing a doctor and then flirtations ensuing. The hospital grapevine really did work quickly. She and Chris had fought hard to keep off of it, but it felt like it would only be a matter of time before someone caught them. Maybe Rick knowing would be it.

"Hey, hey... your secret really is safe with me. Maybe you don't believe the innocent line, but this I can do. I promise." Rick caught Serena's gaze. "You hurt him, and cancer or not I'll kick your ass."

Chris rested his elbow on the arm rest of the chair and twisted over enough to be able to rub the back of his neck at the exchange going on around him. First time in his life he had heard Rick try and protect his honour like this. It seemed like it was the day for firsts, those which Chris really didn't know how to process. Things were on the line now. The more people who knew, the more they risked being found out. Luckily, he dodged the bullet with Proctor's review. They got as far as Chris sitting down in front of Proctor's desk, the English doctor taking one look at Chris and telling him to take a raincheck. It led to Chris admitting the his brother was in the hospital and why. Proctor seemed to understand. He was more compassionate than Chris had ever given him credit for. "Did the Oncologist see you?" he finally asked quietly.

Serena was willing to take a back seat so the brothers could discuss Rick's cancer, but not before she leaned forward in her chair and held Rick's gaze as they continued the brother-girlfriend stand off. "You run away on him again, and cancer or not I'll rip your huevos off and make you eat them for breakfast. Death is too good for you. You need to suffer like you make him suffer."

Rick blinked at the threat, a small smile tugging on his lips but it didn't quite reach his eyes. It had been a long time - if ever - since a girl had threatened him. At least, not one that was clearly so taken with his brother. Eva was definitely solid on the threat front. He gave a nod to Serena before his gaze locked with his brother's. Serena was a keeper as far as Rick was concerned. It was just nice to be able to actually meet one of his brother's girlfriends. This time the smile did reach his eyes. "Oh, yeah, I saw her alright. She's somethin' else, little brother."

Chris was looking back and forth between Rick and Serena. He didn't know whether to find her threatening his brother hot or disturbing, he was just pretty sure that if Rick was going to run, he would do it, huevos or not. He rested his head on his hand, his fist squishing his cheek up as they finished their exchange, somehow coming to be slumped right down in the chair, but still a little upright to continue a conversation. Serena still had his other hand, too, which was comforting. What he really wanted to do was boot Rick out of the bed and crawl into it hismself to pass out. He was also trying not to think about Dave, more than worried about what the whole cancer thing meant for him. In fact, there was one question in particular Chris was absolutely terrified of asking his best mate, but it was going to have to wait. He looked tiredly at his brother, pulling his lips to the side wryly. "I'm talking about her affect on your cancer, not her affect on your dick," he clarified. "I hope she passively-aggressively told you that you were a knob for the clinical trial and I assume she told you that she wants to take the kidney. Any surgeon in their right mind would. Hell, if we opened a dude up in trauma and found a tumour on his kidney, we'd take it to save his life."

Rick watched as Serena started to look at Chris like she wanted to drag him out of the hospital and tuck him into bed. Maybe even sing him a lullaby. There was a tiny part of Rick that was jealous. He'd never had that with a girl. He'd just had sex and maybe someone to kill time with. There was never anything deeper. Maybe that was half his trouble. Nothing in his life was very deep other than his ability to fuck over his brother. He sucked in a breath and shifted so his cheek rest against the pillow. "She's arranged for someone to keep taking my bloods and there was a CT. Don't worry, she's taking the kidney and once they know if there's damage to the second, they may or may not take that, too. Chemo after the kidney gets ripped out. She more than passively-aggressively told me, bro. Promise. She's ready to kick my ass. I'm not gonna have much of one left by the time everyone gets around to kicking it."

Chris' forehead creased as he listened. "But she was good, yeah? She's supposed to be brilliant in the field, but she didn't treat you poorly or anything, right?" He couldn't help but worry. Rick might be a dickhead, but Chris still loved him and didn't want him to hurt. That was Chris' whole problem right there. He didn't want his brother ever hurting, and he would do anything to prevent it. He leaned over to grab Rick's chart to see if there was any results of the CT, but more than likely Dr Watson had them with her directly. He spotted an annotation in a neat doctor's handwriting, though, stating that Chris was Rick's NOK and medical proxy, if Rick was unable to make decisions himself. He looked up at Rick with a small frown again. That was huge. "I, uh..." he floundered and cleared his throat as he hung the file back up. "Maybe you can talk to Dave about chemo. Assuming he's had it..."

Serena cleared her throat softly as she let go of Chris' hand so she could start to massage the base of his neck lightly with her fingers. She glanced at Rick to see if he was about to respond to his brother's suggestion before she fielded it. "He's had it. He, ah... it was bad."

Rick nodded slightly. "He knows what it's like. He's willing to answer any questions. Jeez, bro, what's with the focus on her professional abilities? Of course she's brilliant. She's putting up with me, isn't she? She's going to do her best. She didn't treat me bad, or anything. She maybe said I wasn't funny, but I let it slide."

Chris let his head drop forward and couldn't stop a small moan of relief escaping when Serena started to work on his tension points. His head and his neck always suffered. Hearing Dave was badly affected by chemo didn't help anything. He couldn't understand why something like that was kept from him. He looked up again to see Rick, even if his head was still dipped a little. "Because maybe I'm trying to get you to focus on the fact she's a really good doctor and not just tits on legs so that you stop thinking about hitting on her and let her do her fucking job of trying to save your life!" he said snappily. He kicked the bottom of the table just to let out some frustration and then found himself just wanting to flip his brother off again. "I will kill you if you die on me."

Serena bit her lip as a lump rose in her throat, but her fingers didn't let up in their massage of Chris' neck. She knew he needed it. Even when he kicked the table she didn't stop.

"She can still look good doing her job!" Rick hissed back. "And I'm stuck in a hospital bed with fuck all to do but think about the fact I might die. Excuse me if I want to have a little something more interesting and less depressing to think about. It's not like I can get it up right now anyway. Plus I know all about the doctor-patient thing. I'm not going to fuck this up, bro. I'm not dying. I won't let you down. Not like that. I can't let you down."

"You might not be if you had just asked me for help!" Chris hissed in return through gritted teeth. "Instead, you go to Dave?! Man, I love him like he is my own brother, but this is my job and my responsibility! Why did you go so freely to him, huh? When my whole life it has been like bargaining with my own blood to just get time with you! Those Thanksgiving promises were just all a heap of shit! You stood there nodding at me, letting me think it was a chance! It would have taken the same length of time to tell me yourself you had cancer and not let Eva do your fucking dirty work! And now Dave! Who clearly doesn't need it, but he'll help you because that's just the sort of guy he is! He is referring you to a doctor who is probably your best goddamn chance of beating this and you just want to dive into her knickers and fuck her sideways!"

Serena dropped her hand and took Chris' in her own again, holding it tightly. She'd never seen him worked up like this before and now she understood just why he became so changed around his brother. She suddenly felt as if she was intruding on a private brotherly moment and wondered if she should get up and go, but she stayed fixed to her seat. Truth was she was too scared to move.

Rick rubbed a hand over his face and let out a frustrated noise. "I didn't go to him! I fucking said that, Chris. I told you that. Or I imagined telling you that. Know how many times I've told you things over the years in my head? It's just fucked up that it never makes it pass my lips. I'm trying to fix that, but I can't do that if you keep accusing me of screwing you over. He came to me, alright? He started a conversation and it just moved into him threatening me to get me here. I just figured I'd seize the chance because you're my brother and I want you with me. I can't do this without you. I really can't." Tears pricked the backs of Rick's eyes and he huffed out a breath. "It sounds easy now, but there was nothing fucking free about it."

A fifteen hour shift mixed with all the emotional knocks Chris had taken that day, it was probably a miracle he wasn't talking in tongues right now. Or sitting there sobbing. The latter was extremely appealling and he really didn't know what was stopping him. Ego, most like. Nothing like sitting in front of your big brother and girlfriend crying like a kid who had his icecream pinched. Still, seeing Rick get overcome again, for the second time in twenty four hours, Chris' own eyes shone a little with unshed tears and he bit down on the inside of his lip to keep hold of his composure. The anger, the bitching Rick out... it was the only coping mechanism he knew. "I-I want to talk to your doctor. There's something she wrote in your notes, I want to talk to her about it," he admitted shakily.

Rick drew his eyebrows together as he watched his little brother and gave a nod of his head. He didn't trust himself to speak for a moment, not sure if he would be the one that ended up in a big ball of tears. "Sure, yeah. Anything you need, bro. I trust you."

Serena gave Chris' hand a squeeze. "Maybe we should go, baby. You can always talk to Dr Watson in the morning, but I think you might just need to rest right now."

Chris shook his head. "No, I- I just want to stay a bit longer," he said quietly, trying once again to swallow the lump in his throat. He didn't really want to just walk away again after another angry outburst at his brother. If anything happened to Rick during the night... it wasn't something he wanted to think about. He glanced at Serena with a faint smile. "We'll go soon. Or you can head home, I'll catch you later. Just a bit longer."

"I'm staying," Serena replied firmly, her fingers still interlaced with Chris'.

Rick felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. "See? Told you she was a cute bodyguard."