1/23 Instance: Final Shot

[Slarti]

Current timeline

Bobby licked his lips, trying to cover his discomfort. It was so depressing in the medlab... and really, what did you talk about after you ran out of faux male-bravado greetings. He shifted in the chair and looked around the room, eyes landing on a lone, straggly red feather someone must have missed under the bed. "Man, y'know you didn't have to go to such extremes to give me mousy feathers," he joked, ramping up a grin.

Jay grinned weakly at Bobby. "Someone's gotta think of d' mice in all dis." He managed hoarsely. "Ah mean, dey must be sufferin'. What with y'all neglectin' 'em." He tried to give Bobby a mock glare, the effect ruined somewhat by the mask. "Bad Bobby."

"Neglect?! Are you questioning our parenting skills? Low, man. Low." He laughed, then grinned again, less forced this time. "I could just bring them down here to play with uncle Jaybird. That'd liven up your day."

"Will if dey chew through my wires - give Hank somethin' to do at least." Jay grinned. "However did y'all cope when Ah wasn't around to donate a bed?"

Rogue looked up from her book as she heard Bobby practically squeal a word and she smirked a little. After a moment she sighed and put the book down, scooting the chair over so she could more easily take Sam's hand, smoothing his hair from his face. She listened to the muffled voices of her friends for a moment, glad Jay was feeling well enough to have conversations still, before starting to tell Sam about work that day.

"Heeheeee, give Hank his heart attack for the day." Bobby sat up and gently flicked a wire. "Gotta keep the old man awake, after all. Don't want him taking after Chuck." He leaned a little closer, dirty smirk in place. "Well, we get by. Y'know, mice, gerbils... fun in various situations."

Jay stared at his best friend, then shuddered. "God, Ah'm so gettin' d' PETA on your ass. An' den sendin' d' bills for my therapy." He coughed, swallowing. "Though Ah didn' tink y'all swung for the furries, man..."

"I know! Surprising, huh?" Bobby's grin was fairly ear-to-ear now. "It's always us quiet ones." He winked, then tilted his head to give Jay what he hoped was a provocative look.

"Mmm. Offers off y'all and Darren. Ah'm gonna have to set up a threesome date." Jay smirked back - then started coughing, pulling down his mask before he clogged it with blood and phlegm. Oh sexy.

Rogue smoothed the gown at his shoulders a bit and reached over to get a drink of her water, glancing up at the monitors as she turned. ...Why was his heart rate slowing? And why was the oxygen trying to work more? She frowned and stood up to look at them better, then moved to Sam's side, brushing her fingers over his face, "Hey, darlin'. Good deep breaths, right?"

She pressed a kiss to his forehead and sat on the edge of the bed to take a sip of the water, checking his IV drip casually, trying to ignore the feeling in the pit of her stomach. "That's it, Sam. Love ya so."

HIs grin slipped a little at that. Bobby jumped up and frantically looked around and found some tissues. Where, where, where -- there! He offered them to his friend, reaching over and giving his shoulder a squeeze.

Uuuurgh. Taking the tissues, Jay carried on coughing, his chest rattling as he struggled to breathe. Finally the fit subsided and he pulled the mask back on and dumped them into the bin, leaning back on the pillows and wheezing heavily. "Oh man..."

Bobby rubbed his back a little, patting just above his featherless wing. That looked so... wrong. He moved away and sat back down, giving Jay a weaker smile. He had no idea what to say.

His heart rate slowed steadily and her eyes flicked up to the monitor as she watched the numbers drop. That was not good. "Um. Hank?" The door was open...Hopefully he was around. And then the numbers stopped dropping. She dropped the glass as her heart rate soared. "Hank!" The steady beep from the monitor made her shake as she tried to run from the room to find him, "McCoy?!" God, please no...

Hank hummed along with the Quartet for the End of Time. Ah, music. Nothing better to calm the savage Beast. Focused on the images of virus strains laid out before him, it took him a moment to register the warning tone from his patient monitor. "Oh dear."

His empty chair spun as he sprinted down the hall.

Bobby frowned, looked up at the sudden flat tone from the hall and Rogue's raised voice. "Um..."

Jay looked up, pale face going even whiter, if that was possible. His hand gripped the sheet. "Bobby...please tell me dat's jus' a test or...or somethin'..." His own heart monitor started picking up.

Rogue nearly ran into Hank as he came running towards her. She stumbled to the side and let him go past her to get to Sam quicker and she followed him quickly into the room, standing at the end of the bed, gripping the frame as she felt hot and shakey. She kept her eyes on Sam's face as tears spilled over her cheeks, her chest rising and falling in quick, sharp breaths, her heart pounding faster than it ever had. "Oh Gawd."

"I dunno, Jaybird." He turned his head, listening, and only heard more noise. "I'll go check, okay? I'm sure it's just an equipment glitch, or something..."

Hank fairly set Rogue aside to get to Sam. He double-checked the monitors quickly and> then got to work on Sam, searching manually for his pulse. Really, going to extraordinary measures to resuscitate him was pointless, when he no longer had functional lungs. He went through the motions, however, just to be sure.

Jay chewed his lip under the mask as he waited, hands clenching in the bedsheets. He knew Sam was bad, but he wasn't that bad, right? He wasn't...well, he was going to survive till the cure, right? Miracles and all, only strangers died of this, not people he knew...

He glanced for Jillian and caught the faintest blue shadow. Ah don't wanna die...

Rogue pried herself away from the bed, pressing her back to the wall as she watched Hank work, hoping and praying that he would be able to fix it. He was Doctor McCoy... He could do anything. Right? She took in a long shaky breath and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to stay as calm as possible. He couldn't leave her. How many times had he said he wouldn't? Her eyes never left Sam's face. He was her life.

Bobby stopped in the doorway, watching Hank work on Sam, watching Rogue cling to the footboard. "Fuck," he muttered, sighing heavily and leaning against the doorway. He let his head fall against the door frame.

Hank stepped back and turned off the monitor. The tone cut off with a strangled beep. "Ah..." He put his hand on Rogue's arm. "I'm sorry, my dear."

Rogue shook her head at him and finally didn't fight the sobs. "No. No.." She looked back at Sam and brought a hand up to cover her mouth, shaking her head again. "Gawd, no." She didn't even register that Bobby was in the door as she slid down to the floor, one hand clinging to the bed as she cried.

"I..." Hank let her go and moved around the room to turn off his various monitors. He was never good at this... "I'll give you a moment. I must... paperwork." He looked up and caught Bobby's eyes, then moved past the younger man. Time of death. He must record it accurately. Yes...

"Fuck." Bobby went into the room and crouched beside her, putting his arms around her. "I'm sorry, Anna."

Rogue turned into him immediately, clinging as she sobbed. Why Sam? Why did he have to leave her? It wasn't fair. Her hands fisted tightly in Bobby's shirt as she shook. Maybe this was all a bad dream... She let go of Bobby and pushed away to try and stand, feeling like her legs wouldn't hold her if she weren't careful.

She looked at Sam and let out another choked sob. "No, damnit!" She slowly walked her way to the side of his bed and sat clinging at the covers, afraid to touch him. She didn't want to feel the coldness that would be setting in.

Jay didn't like how the monitors had suddenly stopped, how all he could hear was sobbing. He hated that he couldn't get up, how he was suddenly feeling very, very cold and very frightened. He curled up a little, like he had with Jill and shutting his eyes. Ah don't wanna die...

Bobby stood and followed her, hovering nearby but not sure if he should touch her again. His shirt was already wet. Again. "Anna, why don't you sit over here?" He pulled her chair over, the sound shocking in the silent room.

Rogue shook her head, not able to answer him as she bit down on her lip hard enough to taste the faint metallic of fresh blood. She didn't even look at Bobby, eyes still all for Sam. Hell, she wasn't even sure what he said. All she knew was that she didn't want anything but to wake up from this. She finally put her head on Sam's chest and felt hers grow even tighter at the lack of a heartbeat. "He's really gone..." Nothing was worth anything without him.

Kingdom has crumbled. Broken... Broken little doll.

"Yeah." His voice was soft, gaze falling on Sam's face. Damn. He edged the chair closer to her, but since she seemed pretty oblivious he backed toward the door, then back to Jay's room.

He closed that door behind him and smiled at Jay a little.

"...He's died, ain' he?" Jay's voice was barely above a croak, his own throat tight. "Sam...he's gone, yeah?" He couldn't look at Bobby as for the first time since he first contemplated it, the real possibility that he wouldn't live through this hit him.

"Yeah." He pulled the chair closer, but then decided against that and sat on the edge of his bed. Bobby took Jay's hand. "I'm sorry."

Jay squeezed Bobby's hand, drawing in a shaky breath - which made him wheeze again. "No, no reason, Ah ain' dead yet, right?" He made a visible effort to pull himself back together.

Bobby felt a lump grow in his throat and pulled Jay into a hug.

Jay gripped Bobby as tightly as he could, burying his face in the guy's shoulder - as much as he was able, the mask in the way - and sobbed weakly, unable to hold it back. God only knew what he'd do if he didn't have Bobby and Darren...

Rogue climbed up to lie along side Sam, arms wrapped as much as they could around him, head on his chest, still sobbing. Never put Roguey together again.

[steyn]

well this is crudtastic. First I watch a depressing movie, and now this as well?

[tears~fall~like~glass]

!!!

Awesome job, btw!

[Edited on 1/23/2010 by tears~fall~like~glass]

[stjohn]

Oh man... Paws is going to be sooo pissed you guys killed her boy...

But seriously guys... good job... Gonna be weird... Think it's going to change the mood of the school with the first death...

[puppygirl]

sad guys, porr Sam and Jay and everyone else with the virus really

[Ult_Sm86]

Nuuuuu!

[Starfish]

That was really awesomely played, everyone. Very well done and touching.

[Elfdame]

Really, really well written with everyone's points of view intersecting ... I read it out of linear order but still found it touching.