chapter 23

Third POVTwo days later, “I never really got to thank you for what you did for Rory,” Phoebe’s voice draws Keenan out of the deep thought his mind has cast him into in the last half hour and he gives her space to seat on the seat close to him.Rory had gone back to Taylor's home to patch things up with her, after waiting at her gate and getting no response. He could have left when he saw the cloud forming. He knew he needed to leave, but he had to stay because he had told Taylor he wasn’t leaving until he got the chance to talk to her.He never got the chance to talk to her and so he didn’t leave... At least not until he lost consciousness.Keenan had brought Rory to the hospital after finding him unconscious in the heavy rain outside of Taylor's home, where he suspected Rory had gone after he came to the hotel and realised he was gone.After Rory got admitted and they run tests on him. They found out that the exposure to the cold had weakened his heart and therefore caused it to stop functioning. He has been placed on life support ever since then, with chances of his survival being very low. Keenan has been doing his best to be by his friend’s side ever since, bringing in all his resources to help speed up the search for a heart donor for Rory.He has been searching on his laptop and also calling all the numbers on his contact lists, just hoping to get some lead on the donor, but none has worked out and after trying for hours, he gives it a rest.He scoffs in much disbelief, “Can’t say that did much good. Rory is still not okay and no contact I’ve made in the search for a heart donor seems to work.”“Well, at least you are trying and for that thank you.” She takes his hand into hers and squeezes it in reassurance and a spark goes through both their bodies and they stare into each other’s eyes. He remembers when those emerald eyes were his shining light and reason for living, but they no longer are. He looks away and clears his throat awkwardly, trying to ease off the silent tension that seems to build up between them in the room.When Keenan lifts his eyes, he sees Jack at the door. Jack’s eyes are murderous as he stares at them, especially at Keenan. Keenan unlocks his hand from Phoebe’s and she frowns at this reaction, but he nudges his head to the door and she follows his eyes to see her husband, Jack, as well. She gets up from beside Keenan and goes over to Jack and Keenan continues his search on his laptop.When Rory regained consciousness and Keenan talked with him. He let him have some time with his mom and sister, while he walked out of the hospital into his car and just as Keenan start the car, Phoebe gets in with him.His brow rises in confusion at her sudden intrusion of his private time. “What are you doing?” He demands immediately.“Getting in the car with you.” She replies with the most obvious remark.“Listen alright?” He begins, his tone getting edgy and uncertain, “you are pregnant and your husband might not be okay with that he wi–”She cuts in, giving him no time to finish his words. “Will understand. Besides, this is for Rory, not me, and I know you are going out in search of a heart donor and you will not stop me from following you.”Keenan rolls his eyes and sighs in defeat. Phoebe had always been stubborn since the first day he met her, and once her mind was made up, it would not change for anything in the world. That was one reason he had fallen for her back in college. “Fine! Fasten up your seat belt then.” He instructs, and she obeys, doing exactly that.The ride is long and unending as they move from private hospitals to public hospitals and all around the state and find nothing.“Promise we’ll call you as soon as we get any lead.” Dr Frank, one of the family friends assures Keenan as he shakes his hand and he nods at him.“Any luck?” Phoebe asks, sticking her head through the window like a little child as she sees him approaching the car.“Said to call back,” he tells her, opening the door of the car and getting in. “here you go.” He hands her the pack of French fries and a vanilla ice cream she had earlier requested.“Thanks.” She says happily, pulling open the ice cream cover, “Jack won’t let me have any of this, he thinks they’ll harm the baby.” She whines out her complaints.Keenan only chuckles at her cuteness, “It’s obvious he cares about you and the baby.” He says, understanding Jack's reasons for wanting to keep his wife and his unborn baby safe.“But I need some of these things, I crave them like I crave sex and I know he cares, but he doesn’t have to treat me like an invalid though,” She tells him and picking up the spoon and taking the ice cream to her mouth.He chuckles, remembering how he had been through this same phase with Taylor when she was pregnant with Reign, her whining and complaining at every little thing. “I get what you mean.” He agrees with a soft smile.“How do you know I’d like the flavour?” She asks after a while of silence as they drive off.He smiles and shrugs. “Pregnant women crave the same pattern of food. I went through the same thing when Taylor was pregnant with Reign.”Her eye narrows confusingly, and he finds it cute. “Your baby with Taylor?”He shakes his head. “Reign is Rory’s baby.” He answers and then immediately figures that maybe he shouldn’t have said that. “I was keeping her secret just like she asked me to. But I told Rory the truth already.”Excitement mixed with more confusion covers her face as she exclaims, “Rory has a baby. That means I’m an aunt?!”He glances at her and smiles widely. “Yeah,” he nods and keeps his eyes focused on the road.After boiling for almost ten minutes, she speaks up, and he looks at her. “Jack knew this?!” she asks with an almost painful face.He shrugs casually, wanting not to go back into the discussion. “Maybe. Maybe not, Taylor didn’t tell me much.” He doesn’t want to begin a discussion he might not want to be involved in, mostly as it involves Jack and her.“He kept it away from me. I am his wife,” she points out the one reason, and he agrees with her on some level of trust that should exist in a relationship, but judging without hearing both sides would be unfair.If Rory was Reign’s father, then the probability of Jack knowing is high because he’s Taylor’s brother, and if he knew and didn’t tell her, then she wasn’t sure she’ll be able to get over it.“She’s his sister. Taylor has made him swear or something.” He tries to find the best excuse to give.She scoffs, “I wonder what other things he’s keeping away from me.” She mutters to herself in a grave–horror voice.“Don’t assume things,” he advises, “it’s not wise or healthy, at least not for your condition.”They arrive at the hospital and as they walk into the waiting room where the rest of the families are supposed to be, they only see Jack in the room.Jack has been tensed and uneasy the past four hours pacing around the waiting room when he came out and saw no trace of Phoebe, his wife around. He asked around as well if anyone had seen her, but no one saw her and he immediately became nervous and worried about his pregnant wife and hadn’t gotten himself ever since.As his eyes catch the sight of Phoebe in the room, relief pours through his face, but when he sees Keenan also standing beside her, his eyes flare up and hot in fury.“Where have you been, Phoebe?” He demands, his tones aggressive and commanding.She walks to the seat and drops the bowl of ice cream and French fries on the seat and casually sits down as well. Jack's eyes do not leave her a bit, “Out.” She casually responds.“Out? For four hours, and with him?” He points to Keenan and Keenan knows better because her act and reply seem to have stirred up what he knows as jealousy.Phoebe also notices this and feels thrilled that at least he feels half of how she feels about being kept in the dark. She really can’t shake off the thought that Jack may have known and didn’t think to tell her all the while they were married.“Jack, it’s not–” Keenan speaks, but Jack rudely cuts him off.“Please shut up, no one’s talking to you.” He snaps abruptly as he shoots a glare at him.“Watch your mouth, Jack!” Phoebe snaps and Jack just clenches his teeth and looks from Keenan back to his wife. “What’s wrong with you?”His face darkens in clear displeasure. “What’s wrong with me? You have been gone four hours without a single word, call or message and you show up here with him, not bothered with explaining, flaunting things he probably bought for you in my face and you ask what’s wrong with me?!” Jack explodes, losing the last bit of control he had.As the levels of dispute increase between the two couples, Keenan thinks it best to excuse himself “I should leave two of you to sort out your misunderstanding.”Jack rubs his hand over his face in one quick motion. “You know what? Why don’t you just stay? My wife fancies your company more than mine!”At the heat of his word, Keenan speaks up, “Listen, kid, you need to learn to trust your wife or at least learn to show her some god damn respect!”Jack steps up towards him, “And you need to learn how to stay the fuck away from other people’s women.” And spit back at him in disgust.Phoebe gasped in disbelief and Keenan's teeth grits hard as he tries to control his growing fury and rage at Jack’s audacity. His hand balls into a fist and he launches forward “Keenan please don’t!” Phoebe shakes her head and although all he wants to do now is to step on her words and beat the senses in her husband out, he convinces himself that fighting will not end this and he sure as hell doesn’t want anyone dying by his hands.Keenan looks to Phoebe as he releases his fist, and pain looms on her face and she stares quietly at Jack like she doesn’t know who just spoke. A tear runs down her cheek and she races out of the room.“You are a dick!” Keenan hisses before walking out of the room.Another two days later...The door opens and Alian walks in with the grocery bag in her hand. She sees Vary’s eye fixed on the TV, which has ugly Betty on it. Alian wonders when Vary became a fan of the show she keeps her thoughts to herself and takes the grocery bag into the kitchen and sorts the items into their rightful places and when she returns to the parlour, she notices Vary hasn’t moved nor had a change of expression and she walks over to her and she takes a seat close to her.“Vary,” she calls, gently touching her shoulder, and Vary jumps as she returns to consciousness. Alian withdraws her hand and gives Vary a sorry and concerned eye.“Don’t you think this might be more than you can handle alone?” She suggests.Vary adjusts herself on the couch partly because of the physical discomfort and also from the emotional one, “What do you mean?”At first, she thought it was normal, and that Vary was going to shake it off like most things, but she admits she has never seen her best friend go through such torture before. Not with Drew or even when she’d fallen out with Levi in the past, but this is consuming her in a bad way and it doesn’t take a genius to see it.Vary is now the shadow of her old self and the life she once carried into the room is now dead. Four days did this to Vary and Alian wonders what four weeks would do to her.“You are more unconscious in thought most times than you are conscious.” She puts out her worry to her friend, “counselling might help.”She smiles to herself, knowing she needs more than counselling. She needs rehab. “No, the only thing I need is Keenan.” She replies, “He hasn’t called or checked up on me and it’s four days already. I get he isn’t obligated to, but it doesn’t harm to try.”“Maybe thoughts of his best friend still struggling for life have occupied his mind.”“I know,” Vary sighed knowing sue was being selfish, but she can’t help it. “I just didn’t think it would be this hard to stay away.” Vary admits, hating how she has allowed herself to fall into this depressing state.She thought going away from him and removing all of his contacts from her would help her get over him, but these past four days have been worse than the three weeks she spent with him. It is hard moving on, but she knows he would never fight for her because he didn’t love her.“You are in love with him, Vary, it’s normal,” Alian assures her after a small laugh, “Why not call, him?”Vary bites her lips, “I deleted the one I had to have his number.” Keenan had left his number on the phone he gave her, call but she had deleted it because she thought she’ll never need it again.Three days ago, news about Rory, Keenan's best friend's state of health was all over the TV and internet with the probability of him dying being very high. Vary knows Keenan probably feels devastated over this, knowing how much he cared about his friend and now, more than ever, he might need someone that he can count on.“Then go to him. He’s probably at the general hospital.” .Â