Life is Fluid Part II

Chapter 16: The Detox

Erin lets out a sigh as she kneels over the toilet, everything from dinner coming up with no signs of stopping. She had just had soup in having not felt good earlier, knowing this would probably happen. Sure enough, middle of the night and her head was looking inside a toilet bowl as she sat on the floor with everything coming up out of her system.

"Are you okay?" Hank asks as he hands her a washcloth, having just made it damp with a bit of cold water. He had heard her vomiting, coming out of his room to the bathroom immediately. He was not about to leave her side once tonight in knowing what she'd be going through. He also knew she could not be quite trusted around the house by herself just yet. "It's about time you had some more gravol. What if you go back to bed, and take some with a bottle of water?" 

"I need something to make me feel better," she comments as she takes the washcloth, wiping the remains of what she had just thrown up off of her face before tossing it to the side in the sink. She would normally rinse it out herself, but she had no energy or want to really do anything right now. "Are you sure that I am allowed gravol? I am not supposed to be having any drugs. I thought this was a detox that you were putting me through."

"A detox from whatever drugs Bunny has been feeding down your throat. I am just trying to make you better!" Hank takes a deep breath, knowing that had come out stronger than he had anticipated. He knew it was not right to put the blame solely on Bunny's shoulders, even if it was her influence as to why Erin had resorted to these tactics. You were not supposed to be confrontational when helping someone so they could trust you. Why did he always seem to forget that when it came to Bunny? 

"I know, Hank. I am sorry for being such a pain in the ass all the time..." She then slowly stands up off of the floor, making her way past her boss and the father figure in her life to go back to her bedsroom. "You should expect this by now. This is truly who I am deep down. This is who I have always been. I am bad news, Hank." 

"We both know that's not true. We both know that's the drugs talking right now." He then makes his way into her room, holding out a couple pink gravol pills along with the bottle of water that had been previously sitting on her night table. He had placed it there when they had gotten home, happy to see she had tried to drink some since it was there. "You are an amazing person, Erin. Please take these and take care of yourself, please..." 

"Does an amazing person get their best friend killed? Does an amazing person attract the attention of a stalker and predator like Gregory Yates so her friend is in his line of fire? Does an amazing person get their boyfriend kidnapped because she's so drugged up that she cannot be on the scene? Does an amazing person almost get that same boyfriend killed by that predator? Derek was about to kill Jay because of me!" Hank takes a deep breath as he kneels before her, taking her hands into his. He had to keep reminding him this wasn't the true Erin he knew before him. She wouldn't be saying these words. It was all because of what she was going through. They just had to get through the next 24 hours.

"You saved him, Erin. You walked in there, got them to release him, and fended off both attackers so he could walk out of there and be okay, Erin." Erin chuckles as that was the easy thing to believe. But it did not explain why Jay was in a hospital bed that night, and she knew that was partially due to her.

"Be okay? That's the point. He is not okay right now. He is in a hospital bed in pain because of me!" Hank shakes his head no, knowing beyond anything that was not true. He should have set the initial buy up better than he had. He should not have allowed Jay to go into the other sector of the airport. Everything about the airport and initial kidnapping was on him. However, what happened at the house, and the fact they would be okay, that was because of her.

"You saved his life! You made sure they did not kill him when that was their plan." She shakes her head as perhaps everything had worked out, but not the way it should have. 

"I should've done something sooner, Hank. I should have known he would figure out the files were fake. I should have went after Derek while they were checking the files." Hank shakes his head no, having read Jay's full statement and Erin's before leaving the district. He felt confident in what they had written everything would check out with IAD - as long as he could keep Erin's drug relapse off the books. 

"You spook him, the guards get the advantage and one of them shoots Jay while you focus on Derek." He looks back at her hands which hadn't left his grasp. It was like she holding onto him as a lifeline right now. "You did everything by the book, Erin. You have nothing to blame yourself for." 

"What about Nadia?" Hank takes a deep breath, knowing that still stung more than anything. How was it fair that a girl trying to turn her life around and beginning to do so got killed due to a chance meeting?

"That was not your fault, either. That was all due to Gregory Yates." Erin finally accepts the gravol, taking it with a bit of water as she finally allows herself to make eye contact with the man before her.

"How do I convince my heart that is the truth so I can move forward?"