Why Don't We One Shots

Voices Pt. 2 - Jachary

Jack drives like a madman, zipping through the late night traffic of LA. Who knew a city could be this alive at 4 AM? He gets to the hospital, running inside, his heart pounding out of his chest.

"Excuse me," he says, startling the half-asleep nurse at the check-in counter. "Did you admit a Zachary Herron to this hospital today? I'm his boyfriend, Jack Avery."

The nurse gives Jack a sympathetic smile, and Jack knows then and there something bad has happened. "Follow me," she says.

Up to the fourth floor, the elevator rises, and Jack couldn't help but think of Zach. He wonders if he came up the elevator too, or if he got too nervous and took the stairs.

If he was even alive.

At this moment, Jack had no idea what was going on outside the metal doors of the elevator. He didn't know how many lives were saved tonight in this hospital, or how many were lost. And he couldn't help but wonder where Zach's fate had fallen.

"Room 27H," the nurse says, stepping aside to let Jack in first.

Jack fights back tears, looking down at his love. An oxygen mask around his nose, his beautiful face pale and ghostly instead of the rosy cheeks Jack loved so much. A heartbeat monitor was beeping quietly, steadily, beside Zach, an indication that he was alive. Barely.

"What...what happened?" Jack croaks out, looking to the nurse for an answer.

"Intoxication," she replies. "Too much to drink. Someone found him passed out behind the wheel of a car, no keys in the ignition. Our guess is that he drank too much and then was going to drive home, but he passed out before he had the chance. Bartender called 911 after closing around three in the morning. We pumped his stomach and he's slept through everything. Not a peep."

"Okay," Jack says shakily, looking at the nurse through tears. "Thank you."

"It's what we do," she replies humbly, and Jack catches the name Christina on her name tag. She turns to leave, but before she does she stops herself, a hand resting on the doorframe. "You were extremely lucky. Given the amount of alcohol he consumed and his age, if he'd been in that car much longer he might've died."

Jack nods, and Christina smiles softly, knowing he understood. Knowing that Jack wouldn't let it happen again. She leaves the two in the quiet of the heartbeat monitor, slowly, steadily, beeping.

"Oh Zach," Jack sighs, taking a seat on the edge of the bed and taking Zach's hand in his own. "What have you done?"

Zach's fingers twitch, but he doesn't stir. Jack keeps talking to him.

"You couldn't just ignore them. The voices in your head. They only want to hurt you Zach, and you can't let them." Jack pauses to wipe the tears threatening to spill over. "You have to stop listening to them, Zach. I can't lose you. I'm scared to lose you. I would lose the love of my life, the one who makes me better, the one who's there to catch me when I fall. I can't lose you. It would hurt too much. I love you too much to lose you. I don't think I could do it. I don't think I'm strong enough to do it, to do anything, without you."

"You don't think you're strong?" A quiet voice questions. Jack looks up to reveal brown eyes looking back at him. "I think you're strong. Stronger without me, I suppose." Zach sighs.

Jack smiles softly. "Is that what the voices tell you?" In anyone else's world, talking about Zach's 'voices' would make him sound crazy. But Jack understood. He always did.

Zach nods slowly. "Sometimes I believe them. Tonight was one of those times."

Jack shakes his head. "Baby, you've got it all wrong."

Zach scrunches up his nose. "What?"

"You are the one who makes me stronger. You make me better. You make me happy. I couldn't do it without you, babe. I wouldn't know how."

"And here I thought I wasn't good enough for you," Zach says, breaking down himself. "I don't deserve you."

"I don't deserve you," Jack says, climbing up next to Zach, brushing his hair out of his face. "And yet God put us together. Isn't that crazy? Doesn't that mean something?"

Zach nods, and Jack knows he finally got through to him, finally made those voices in Zach's head shut up. "It means we were supposed to meet, it was written in the stars for it to happen. It means we love each other, and we always will."

"That's right," Jack says, kissing Zach softly. "I couldn't be strong without you, Zachy."

"Glad to be of service," Zach replies, back to his old self, minus the voices inside. And once more, that tiny whisper comes through.

I knew you wouldn't forget about Jack. You never will.

~