At the Bottom of Everything - Chapter 12
Title: At The Bottom of Everything, Chapter 12
Fandom: Skins, Gen 2.
Characters: Naomi, Cook, Emily, JJ, Katie, Effy, Pandora, Karen, Thomas
Pairings: Naomi/Emily, Naomi/Cook friendship.
Warnings: Spoilers for 4x08, set right after the last scene. And warnings for everything that is Skins: drugs, alcohol, swears etc...
Summary: "And I'd rather see you in a party dress than in a hospital gown." - Pandora Moon, Don't Be Down
Disclaimer: I do not own Skins, sadly.
Fanfiction.net: www.fanfiction.net/s/5892031/1/At_the_Bottom_of_Everything
Chapter 1: Chapter 2: Chapter 3: Chapter 4: Chapter 5: Chapter 6: Chapter 7: Chapter 8; Chapter 9; Chapter 10 ; Chapter 11
A/N: What? The LEAST I could do was give you guys two chapters. Also, the previous one was pretty short and I'm still afraid of baseball bats, and you know...strap-ons and stuff. Anyway, I already have a pretty good idea for the two next chapters so that shouldn't take too long. I am, however, back home with my parents, my sleeping schedule has thus been disturbed. Apparently,no, it is not okay to go to bed when the birds start singing in the morning and only wake up for lunch. Also, yes - one must exercise every day.So I have to get used to that.
Chapter 12
**
“And I’d rather see you in a party dress, than in a hospital gown”- Pandora Moon, Don’t be Down
Emily stuffed her hands in her pockets as she strolled along the hospital’s corridors. She allowed herself to chuckle for a moment at her girlfriend and Katie’s reactions. The two of them really didn’t realize how alike they could be, it was pretty ridiculous of them not to get along properly.
Things had been a lot better since Katie moved in with them, she reckoned, but then again she couldn’t really tell. It wasn’t like she had spoken much to Naomi then; she had only been able to appreciate Katie’s honest support. Surprisingly, her sister hadn’t tried to convince her to leave or to engage in a violent bitch fight with her girlfriend. Katie had instead been patient and for the first time since Emily could remember, she had let her do what she wanted and had tried her best not to interfere.
Of course, Emily had caught the occasional disapproving glare every time she came home late after a night out with her new “friends” or Mandy; they really were just some random people she could go out with to take her mind off things. She never cared about them and she knew they didn’t care about her. Except for Mandy, Mandy cared and Emily had just been using her, using her to test how far she could go on hurting Naomi before one of them broke down. Testing how much it took for either of them to finally fall apart.
But they had both been unbelievably stubborn, refusing to break or to leave. Emily hated herself now for pushing them, for testing how strong they really were. She had almost broken them for good, if Naomi hadn’t come back to pick up the pieces, she would have lost everything and as much as she refused to admit it part of it would have been her fault for straining them so much.
And Katie knew, she always knew what she was thinking. And she didn’t say anything just glared and sometimes shouted at Emily for being too wasted or fucked up and about how Mandy looked like a fucking baby-eating giant and that, really like, she was just a bitch - but she wouldn’t say anything. Emily sometimes wished she did, wished she would slap her again just so she could feel something again.
Emily could feel herself drowning in the painful memories but anything seemed pretty bleak now, as she walked by the white hospital walls. Cook was hurt, Freddie was fucking dead and Effy seemed irrecoverable. Yeah, anything next to that seemed insignificant now and she would give anything to get her mind off her worries.
She was snapped out of her thoughts as she caught two police officers talking to a doctor to her left. She saw a couple of nurses roll a bed across the corridor in front of her, pulling it inside the room directly to her right. She chanced a quick glance at the man in the hospital bed and felt her breath catch in her throat.
She had barely seen him back at the house, but the view stirred the same sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach she felt before, this had to be him. His eyes were swollen shut now, she could see a few suture points around his face, and his jaw looked broken. One of his arms was embodied in plaster as well, there was a tube coming off the other probably allowing the morphine to flow into his veins.
She didn’t realize she had been staring until one of the nurses nudged her on the side: “Excuse me, Ms.”
She was about to move over to let her pass when a thought crossed her mind.
“How is he doing?” she asked, she didn’t really care whether he lived or not. But she felt like she needed to know anyways, she needed to know that somehow he was worse off than Cook like he deserved, she couldn’t bear the thought of this man walking upright from this hospital in a couple of days while she couldn’t even tell if her friend was ever going to wake up. “I’m, hum, an old patient of his. I was just - I heard he was here and I was visiting a friend in the hospital, so I thought...”
“It’s okay, sweetheart.” The nurse smiled up at her before looking back at the unconscious man lying not too far from them. Emily thought she saw a flash of something like disgust run by her eyes but they quickly returned to a nice composed state. “He had quite a few injuries, but it seems that the young man who fought with him only used his fists. He had quite a remarkable strength though.”
Emily had to conjure up all her strength not to smile at that, Cook could be pretty strong indeed.
“He had a broken nose and jaw and a few other broken bones. It seems like he received a pretty hard blow on his left eye though, he’ll be partially blind...”
“Oh.”
“There was some other less important but equally permanent damage in other regions of his body, but I am afraid I do not have the freedom to discuss that with you, sweetheart.” She smiled apologetically at her.
“Thanks.” Emily choked out before the nurse left, hurrying to attend some other patient.
She saw one of the officers approach her then, an imposing look on his face.
“Miss, were you an acquaintance of his?” He tilted his head towards the man in the hospital room.
“Euhm, I’m a friend of Effy Stonem’s, Emily Fitch.” She figured the best thing to do was to be honest with the Police, lies wouldn’t help Cook’s fate and she was determined to do anything in her power to avenge Freddie and help Cook retrieve his well deserved freedom. “I was there the night it happened, I mean, I got there after the police. I gave my statement already.”
The officer nodded at her. He didn’t move though, as if he expected her to say something more.
“Can I... Can I ask you, how is the case going? I mean, you know - Cook, he shouldn’t be punished for this. It was self-defence, he can’t go to jail for that, right?” She tried to remain calm but she could feel herself getting slightly agitated. The officer looked at her for a moment before responding, he seemed to be weighing his words.
“It seems like it’s self-defence, yes. From the evidence we have gathered up to now. James Cook was indeed beaten with Dr.Foster’s baseball bat; we have been able to match the blood samples. He, however” he nodded at the room next to them “seems to have been beaten only with fists. Your friend Cook is a pretty strong bloke, I must say. He did some serious damage with his hands. But by the looks of it, Cook acted entirely in self-defence. He’ll have to get a good brief with his previous charges, though.”
“What about Freddie? Aren’t you going to lock this man up for that?”
“We’re still gathering evidence, but we found his bloody clothes in the house. And, it seems, there might be... It seems Foster owned an empty piece of land not too far from his house. We suspect that...he might have buried his body there. Our men are still looking.”
Emily swallowed hard, looking down at her feet. She murmured a small thanks under her breath. She tried to gather her strength not to cry, it wasn’t time for her to break down. Not now, not yet. Not while Naomi still needed her.
When she looked up, the officer had returned to his work mate and they both left after dismissing the doctor. She heard them saying something about sending another officer up to look out for Foster, make sure he didn’t run.
Emily dared herself to look into the room, at the man who had caused them all so much pain. She was startled when his eye darted open to meet hers. She thought she felt her heart lodge in her throat as she composed herself, willing not to show any sign of fear.
“You’re the other twin. You’re a friend of Elizabeth’s.” He said, staring straight into Emily’s eyes. It sent shivers down her spine, and the chilling feeling in her gut returned. There was something incredibly wrong in his eyes, an emptiness, something that she just couldn’t place and it scared her to the very core. But her anger was stronger so she forced her body to appear composed and calm, allowing her feet to inch a tad closer to the bed.
“And you’re John Dickhead Fuckster.” Her voice was cold. He didn’t flinch though, instead he smiled.
“Doctor Foster.”
“Oh, I don’t think you’re still a doctor, John, in fact I don’t really think you’ll be anything at all from now on, will you?” He didn’t look down.
“I did what was best, for her. I think... I think she’s something I’m proud of. Yes, she’s something I can be proud of. I found a way to protect her; they didn’t deserve her. No, they didn’t. They were killing her. She needs someone better than that.”
“Better than what? Better than someone who would die for her? Die for his friend? For the people he loves?” She didn’t know whether she meant Cook or Freddie, but she didn’t think it mattered. “What, you thought she deserved someone like you?”
His look was almost hopeful, she could see the desire in his eyes and she had to fight the urge to hurl all over his bed.
“They were nothing.”
“You are nothing.” She could taste the venom in her mouth as she spoke. “You know. I’ll tell you something, John. Freddie loved her. Cook loved her. And the two of them, they fucking loved each other. And you know, when people love each other it doesn’t really matter whether they’re gone or not. You can still feel them around, I know Cook can still feel Freddie close to him. ‘Coz he is, you know, he’s with Cook and his sister and his dad. But you wouldn’t understand that, would you? No, I didn’t think you would. Thing is, John. Effy loved Freddie too. And she needed him. And even if he’s gone, he’ll always be there with her and that’s something you can never take away.”
She turned around to leave, looking back at him one last time.
“One last thing, before they send you to your shared cell where - hopefully -some huge twat will fuck you over. You killed Effy. They didn’t. If she’s dead right now, if she’s dead inside like she appears to be. If she can never come back to us, to herself. That’s on you, John. You killed her. They didn’t.”
**
When Emily got back to Cook’s room, she couldn’t help but smile. The fucker was finally awake and currently having some sort of wrestling match on his hospital bed with her very own girlfriend. She heard Naomi shout something that sounded like she would chop his fucking balls off and stuff them down his throat if he ever pulled that kind of fucking shit ever again, punctuated by faint punches on his healthiest arm.
She saw Cook laugh, his particular loud laugh that just filled an entire room with its resounding sounds. He ruffled Naomi’s hair, infuriating her beyond belief as she shouted at him some more about how irresponsible he was and how he should never scare her like that again. But the blonde couldn’t fight a smile off her face and couldn’t stop it from growing even wider once Cook suggested some non-lezzer willy-waggle.
Naomi wrestled with him as he appeared to have regained part of his strength. Emily saw Katie laugh on the other side of the bed at the ridiculous scene in front of them. She seemed to be trying to keep her distance from them but was forcefully pulled in the wrestling by Cook and he ruffled her hair too, shouts of “Katiekins! You’re here - ya? Wanna join in the willy-waggle, roommate?” echoed by Katie’s indignant cries of help and anger.
Emily couldn’t help but chuckle at her friends’ unlikely playfulness. She felt something grow inside of her, fill in the emptiness her recent encounter had left within. It was hope, hope that maybe - just maybe - maybe they could all heal one day. Yeah, they would be okay. They had to be.
**
Chapter 13
A/N: I had a conversation with my friend trying to decide what should happen to Fuckster, the idea of Tiny still very welcome. But yeah, we figured he should be blind from one eye and lost any function on his genitals. And like, other stuff. Just so you know, that's what's really going through my mind. Even though part of me feels sorry for torturing someone like that, he deserves it. Tiny is lonely.Jesus, I feel like I'm a terrible person lol