He held the cold compress lightly against Solis' skin. He didn't think it was the best idea to take the boy out clothes shopping in his condition. Every few minutes, Solis would fall into another fleeting bout of sleep, clutching his seal plush before inevitably encountering another night terror.
Solis' arm jerked. He smacked the compress out of Ambrose's hand, making the ice pack slide across the floor. Ambrose sighed, standing up and fetching it. He didn't have time to return before the front door jiggled. He instinctively reached for his gun, disheartened to find it wasn't trustily by his side. He'd left it in his car.
"We're home," Keiren announced in a dead-tired voice, and all at once Ambrose wondered why he'd been so on edge.
Maybe it was the near constant sound of police sirens that had stopped only minutes ago, or Solis' nasty bruise that he wished he could do something about. Maybe it was the lingering thoughts of James' burns, or the less than pleasant conversation he'd had earlier with his boss.
Josh was quiet. He gave Ambrose a look out of the side of his eye and went to the fridge, gathering ingredients.
"You two are back early," Ambrose noted, stretching his arms.
"James is at the hospital."
"What?"
Keiren leaned against the door, his face contorted into an agitated expression. "James. There's police cars all around his house. He got taken away in an ambulance."
Ambrose felt all his worries return to him. Was it the burns? Did he hurt himself on his walk home? "What... what happened?"
"I don't know. His neck was all fucked up, though. He was still breathing, so I guess that's good."
"Shit," Ambrose hissed.
He didn't want to leave Solis, but James was his friend. Possibly his best friend. Certainly a better friend than Solis, at least. They'd met two years ago, shortly after James had gone blind, and Ambrose got him a drink at the bar he supposedly worked at - it was more his cover story than anything. He needed to make sure James was okay, and more importantly, alive.
"Would you two make Solis something to eat? He didn't tell me he was hungry, but his stomach's been rumbling. I need to go see James-"
"Whoa, whoa," Josh started, "your cat. We're not really supposed to have animals here at all, bud. What do you want us to do with her?"
Ambrose wasn't sure he liked how Josh was talking to him. He was already on edge and slightly upset, and Josh was not helping things.
"Can't you look after her until the morning? Just for payment for watching Solis."
"We were barely gone an hour," Josh protested, "take your cat-"
"It's okay, Ambrose. Go see James at the hospital. We'll have Lucille." Keiren said, exasperated.
"No," Ambrose held his head up, "I don't think I want her stuck with you." He sneered at Josh, well aware that Keiren would bring it up later and ask why he was being a dick.
Ambrose could've totally fucked Josh right then and there. He could've told Keiren that his boyfriend was actually the hero Midnight, that he was the one who'd fucked over their missions on so many occasions, that he was the one who oftentimes screwed their plans.
No. I'm not vindictive like that. Ambrose shook his head, taking a deep breath. He always had the errant malignant thought - he was a villain, after all - but he tried not to let them seep into his day to day life. He called Lucille, who took her sweet time showing up, lured her into her carrier with quite the struggle, cleaned up her litter pan, and went to say bye.
