Right Through Me

T W E N T Y S I X

"Leo!" Lina shouted the instant him, Jareth and Steer entered the clinic. She rushed over to him and engulfed him in a big hug, nearly on the brink of tears. She let him go and looked him over. "God, how are you? Have you made a full recovery?"

"Thanks to you," he laughed. 

"Alright, enough of this little reunion. We came to discuss something with you," Steer jumped in, pushing his long, brown locks out of his face. "Over lunch. Get your coat, it's gonna take a while."

* * * * *

"How long do you plan on laughing?" Jareth asked, chopping away on his medium-rare steak, Leo enjoying his barbecue burger and Steer with a Greek salad. 

" Are you guys kidding me?" Lina finally choked out, wiping her mouth with her napkin and staring at the three. "There is no way, no way!"

"We're not asking for much, Lina," Steer pointed out.

"Yeah. Alright. Shut it, salad boy," Lina joked. "I'm serious guys. I already work a ten hour shift at the clinic and then I go and work for Donovan, your boss."

"Look, after what you did for Leo it really made the rest of us realize that we probably need a doctor for our club," Jareth explained. "Look, we get ourselves in a lot of trouble, you know how many times we've been shot?"

"Once," Leo said.

"Three times," Steer chimmed in.

"These guys are pansies," Jareth started, pointing to himself. "I've been shot six times, nearly died the last three times."

"That is nothing to be proud of," Lina pointed out. "I'm sorry guys but there's no way this can work."

"It worked for Donovan," Leo pointed out, the three of them wiggling their eyebrows at her. "Shall we ask Donovan for his permission? Should we get Donovan to come and ask you? If he was here, you probably would've been like, 'Oh, Donovan! Yes, I will do anything for you! I love you! Please stick your co--"

"Alright, alright! Stop it!" Lina screeched, stopping him in the middle of his mocking. "What's with you guys?"

"We know about your little--" Steer began, raising his hands. "Love-hate relationship you've got going on."

"Love-hate? Are you guys fifteen? There's nothing going on between us," Lina denied. "I'd like to see you guys mock Donovan like you're doing to me."

"He's not here so we wouldn't know," Steer said, taking a bite of his salad.

"Oh, Donovan!" Lina gasped, the three turning their heads, their faces pale and Steer choked on his salad. "You guys are idiots. I'm not doing it. There's no way in hell you guys could possibly pay me enough to be your club doctor. I can barely handle Donovan."

"Well, we do have a price set," Leo said, passing a slip of paper to Lina.

"Yeah, right, I'm sure it's noth--Oh, my God!" Lina gasped mid-laugh, reviewing the amount written on the paper. "You guys have this much money?"

"Yes, we do  a lot of jobs," Steer said.

"Okay, will it make you feel better if I think about it?" Lina told them, sliding the paper back over to Leo.

"Show them the money and they always change their minds," Steer muttered.

"Now, is that anyway to talk to someone who has saved your brothers countless times?" Lina snapped. "If I hadn't done what I had done that night Leo would've easily died and not to mention Donovan and his Gladiator business."