John Dorian's Final Realization

Chapter 14: My Backseat Driver

"S-!" He jolted awake, knocking the side of his head on the plastic handle above him. JD tried to lift his hand to the soon-to-be bruise on the back of his scalp but found it more difficult than usual to do so.

"You alright? That looked like it hurt."

Dorian nodded and scrunched up his face a little. "Yeah. I, uh-... Sorry. It was just a bad dream or something." He smiled apologetically and looked out the window. The sun had begun to set over the horizon and the cars around them on the freeway slowly eased their way forwards one by one. "My head hurts a bit but I'd take this over a car to the chest anyday," he joked lightly. Where was Turk taking him? He couldn't quite remember.

"I'll bet." The other man said. An awkward silence taking it's hold for only a moment until he broke the silence once more. "So, what was it about?"

"What?"

"Your dream."

"Ah." Despite his unwillingness to speak any more about that subject in particular, JD decided his driver deserved to know why he freaked out on him. "It was.. Well, it was about him, I think." When his driver remained silent he took this as his cue to continue. "I only remember bits and pieces, but I think he might've.. Poisoned me or something-? I remember you were there, and then you left because something happened then-.." The pounding of his head made it even harder to concentrate on recalling the fading images. "Everything started to look and feel-.. just really strange. I tried calling you but then he-.. He took my phone. And I can't really remember anything else after that. I just remember that it hurt. Alot." His voice dropped to an almost incomprehensible mumble as flashes of memories came to mind.

The sun had now set and he could see the edges of the moon peeking over the mountain ridge ahead of them. Its white face followed the car as it shuddered along the cracked asphalt.

"When you say him, you mean-?"

"Fratelli." JD's eyes lost their focus for only a moment before readjusting on the cherry car freshener in the air vent next to him. "One thing that bothers me though, is that in a way," he straightened himself in his seat and turned to look at his driver. "It felt real."

"And why wouldn't it?" John's eyes widened at the sight of Fratelli sitting beside him. The older man's fingers tapped lightly on the steering wheel while he kept his eyes on the road before them. "I was there, and you just about had it right."

Dorian instinctively tried to slide deeper into his side of the car's cab but a sharp pinching on his wrists stopped him. He unwillingly tore his eyes away from David, realizing now that his arms were outstretched before him and the wrists of each were bound with zip ties to the worn handle of an old glove box.

"Hey now. Hold on. Don't get yourself all worked up again." Fratelli cut into his deepening panic. "I don't understand how you let yourself get so freaked out by the littlest things. Do you know how much of a pain in the ass it is to haul you around? You swoon more than that woman of yours."

"He's right you know." A new voice from the back seat startled him. His eyes darted around the car's interior trying to find the source of the voice. "You need to calm down, man. And no, don't look back here or the asshole will notice. Just look in the mirror if you need know that bad."