Our Shot (LAMS school au)

Chapter 42: I'm Fine

(A/N: Finals week is killing me so if I don't get the next chapter out within 24 hours don't worry it's comin)

John's POV

Hercules and Lafayette hadn't arrived yet. After the doctor left with Eliza and Pegs, it was only Alex and I. I had fallen onto a metal bench, and I watched out of the corner of my eye as Alex slowly took a seat about five chairs away. I wondered if he would speak to me.

Apparently it was so, because after only a few minutes of intolerable waiting in silence he spoke. "Hey John," he said quietly, but I resisted the temptation to look over at him.

"Yes?" I responded simply and in a near monotone.

"Can we talk?" He asked quietly.

"About what," I responded quickly, playing with my hands to keep myself from feeling absolutely awkward.

"About us," he responded after a moment.

"I think I want to focus on Angelica right now," I explained quickly.

There was silence for only several seconds. "We're only waiting," he tried to reason, but it seemed we wouldn't be waiting long at all.

We turned around in our chairs when we heard new footsteps. It was the doctor from before, appearing in that same hallway. When he noticed he had our attention he stopped.  I realized he seemed young; the tag on his shirt read Doctor Bashir. "You two can come with me to see Miss Schuyler now," he explained, and Alex stood up.

"I thought only family could see her?" He asked.

The doctor raised a eyebrow. "You're not cousins?" He began curiously, and again turned to the clipboard that was seemingly attached to his hand, "I suppose she must have been mistak-"

"No!" I stood up from my chair as well, shooting Alex a look as well, "We are their cousins, but only... second cousins. Yeah, we weren't sure if you had only meant immediate family before, so we decided to make sure, ya know?"

Alex came and stood directly beside me, nodding. The doctor nodded after only a moment and gestured for us to follow him, which my 'cousin' and I immediately did.

We were lead down the sterile hallway that seemed to go on for a long time in both directions, but we were stopped at a wooden room door. We had been walking so quickly we almost ran into the poor doctor when he abruptly stopped in his tracks.

"Woah!" Alex exclaimed when he almost tripped over my own foot, and the doctor glanced at us disapprovingly.

"Please, try to be quiet," the man sighed, and opened the door for the two of us.

When the creaky door opened, Alex and I looked inside, but only got a view of a white curtain. We could hear the Schuyler's voices in the room, however. When I turned, the doctor had already retreated down the hallway.

When I returned my gaze forward, I followed Alex as he approached the curtain and pulled it open. I saw Eliza and Peggy first; they were sitting on opposite sides of the end of the bed. Then I saw Angelica.

Alexander simply looked on, although I saw him tense up, but I took a step backwards in conspicuous surprise, at least until I rushed to the side of the bed next to Eliza.

Angelica had a black eye, the bruising itself easily covering the entire upper right area of her face of her face. There was a small cut on her chin. The rest of her body was covered up by a thin hospital sheet with the exception of her lower arms and hands. Noticing my noticing, Angelica cleared her throat and spoke. "This is the worst of it," she said jokingly, attempting to wave her hand in a dismissive gesture but it seemed she couldn't manage to raise her arm properly.

A brief look from Eliza told me that she was lying, but I nodded anyway. "Are you alright, Angelica?" Alex asked soon after.

Angelica nodded quickly. "I'm fine," she said.

"You're not fine," Eliza tried to tell her, "Why don't you tell us what happened..."

"I'm fine," Angelica snapped, "I don't even know why you four are here, considering that they said they'll let me go home tomorrow."

Eliza and Peggy both looked dumbstruck, until Eliza cleared her throat and leant in.

"I don't know if you noticed, but you are in a hospital, Angelica, " Eliza began, spitting the last part, "You have been assaulted."

"Can you press charges for something like this?" Alex leaned over slightly and asked me under his breath, but Eliza heard us and turned.

"You can," She said, and then turned back to her sister, "And she will."

Angelica looked indignant for a moment, and then looked down at her lap. "I won't," she responded.

"This is sexual assault!"

"I should never have put myself in that situation in the first place!"

Silence. Tense silence, mostly between Angelica and Eliza, the latter seemingly furious and the first acting exceptionally defiant.

"John, Alex," Eliza began, now oddly calm, "Could you give my sisters and I a moment, please?"

Alex nodded several times quickly, and grabbed my arm to drag me past the white curtain and out of the door. Some very loud conversation ensued inside shortly after we left, and Alex shut the door when we stepped out into the hallway.

I slid down the wall to take a seat on the floor, while Alex remained standing. He leaned up against the wall for a moment, but then returned to his stance and then began to pace. He was nervous about something, I could tell, but the air was not tense as much as it was awkward.

Things had been for a long time, between us anyway, but I had been avoiding him so actively I had barely seen him.

It seemed, however, Alex would not stay silent for long.