Rebound Pt. 03

"You reckon that'll scar?" He glanced at my forehead, just above my left eyebrow, where Darius' ring had caught me. I swallowed.

"Yeah. It'll look hot though right? Like, make me look a bit tough." Russell laughed.

"You're probably right." He sighed. "Annoyingly. It would take a lot more than Darius to ruin your pretty face." I laughed.

"True." I said. "Still, I don't think I'll risk it again. Can you remind me next time I start to get carried away with a guy we both know is a jerk?" Russell shook his head.

"I can only try." He rolled his eyes and squeezed my shoulder.

"Hey Russ." I said as he slipped behind the counter and started to help unpack the baking from the kitchen. "Thanks for skipping the lecture." He looked at me softly.

"Aw Nate." He smiled at me. "You really think I'd skip the lecture? I'm saving it for your lunch break."

----

Jude

---

I walked into the Mojo and frowned as I didn't see Nate. Russell nodded and smiled at me half-heartedly.

"The usual?" He asked. "Which... Nate usually makes... uhhh...."

"Quad shot americano." I prompted. "And a cheese scone." He nodded and keyed it in. "Nate ok?" I checked. "Is he sick?" Russell stared at the eftpos machine and didn't meet my eye.

"He's just running an errand for the kitchen." He said. I frowned to myself as I waited for my coffee in silence. I shouldn't be upset, but you know, I'm here at the same time everyday. Couldn't Russell have gone to get whatever the kitchen needed? I thanked Russell absentmindedly as I left the cafe. Well, in his defence maybe Nate didn't quite place the value I had on our daily interactions. And at any rate, I'd see him tonight.

"Back so soon?" Caro asked. I bit my lip.

"Oh really?" I glanced at the time.

"Usually you're down there for 20 minutes." She said, typing away. I leant over conspiratorially.

"Usually Nate's there." I muttered. Caro grinned. She eats that shit up. It actually is kind of nice to have an insane office co-worker who totally gets off on gossip. She raised her eyebrow at me.

"Ah, we're admitting it." She said. "What on earth are we going to do when he's working in the actual office? Surely the fiancé won't be stoked about that." I took a deep breath.

"The fiancé.... and I.... are.... completely unrelated to Nate... not speaking." I said. "Maybe permanently. I'm not sure." Caro's eyes widened.

"Fuck Jude. I had no idea. I'm so sorry. I wouldn't have..." I shook my head.

"You're alright. I started this job at a weird time." I sighed and played with my scone. My appetite seemed to be completely non-existent at the moment. "We haven't managed to talk about it sober." I said. I glanced at Caro. She'd abandoned her work and was looking at me with a horrible expression of love and concern on her face. She stood up and knelt beside me and pulled me in for a hug.

"Aw Jude." She said. "If you need a friend, you know, one who isn't Ryan because god knows he will not be a great person to talk to about this, I'm here. And if you need space, I'm also here." I embraced her back awkwardly.

"Thanks, Caro." I nestled my head on her shoulder when I felt my phone begin to vibrate and with a sigh I picked it up, barely glancing at the number. "Jude speaking."

"Jude Awatere?"

"Yeah."

"Mr Awatere, this is about Denise Lawton. You're listed as her..."

"Denise?! Is she ok?" I sat up and Caro stepped away from me, her eyes even wider and more concerned than before.

"She's had a fall."

"Is she ok? Where is she?"

"She's at the hospital..."

"I'm on my way." I hung up and stood up, my chest beating wildly. I glanced at Caro. "My mum's in hospital." I choked out. "Caro.... I have to..."

"Go." She said. And I ran.

----

By the time I made it there I was... ok. My heart rate was normal and I could breathe, and think again. Enough to call work, and explain properly, and my boss was kind and understanding and told me not to worry about work. Enough to call Levi, who was as distraught as I was, naturally, and also racing to the hospital. We met each other in the ED room and embraced.

"Oh god." He said. "The worst timing in the world. I can't believe this."

"Shhh." I stroked his hair. "I'm here, Lee. She's ok. We'll be ok." Lee pulled away from me and wiped his eyes.

"Thank you." He said. "I know it's so selfish of me to need you right now, but I need you."

"Of course." I said, squeezing his hands. He blinked up at me.

"You mean as much to her as I do." He said. "And this is the worst place and time in the world, but Jude. You're right. It's not fair to you, who I am, what we're doing. And we will separate, and we'll do it properly, sober, and kind, and knowing it's for the best but please.... Please..." His face crumpled. "Please just love me right now." I pulled him back against my chest and we sobbed on each other in earnest.

"Oh Levi." I kissed his head. "You know I'll always love you. No matter what."

----

When we were finally allowed in I could hear Denise from the end of the corridor, throwing a fit about not being allowed to smoke inside. Levi and I smiled at each other and approached the room, where a young volunteer was standing with her arms folded. She glanced up at us.

"Mr Awatere? Mr Lawton?" We nodded and she sighed with relief. "Denise." She said firmly. "You can argue with your sons now. I'm not paid for this."

"Well thank god for that, missy. You're an awful nurse."

"I told you, I'm not a nurse, I'm a volunteer."

"So you'll be a nurse one day."

"Absolutely not." The young volunteer stuck out her chin. "I do this because I'm an awesome human being. I'm not studying nursing, I'm in construction. And my shift was over ten minutes ago." She unfolded her arms and looked at me and Levi. "Good fucking luck." She said, and stormed out. Lee and I laughed as we sat on either side of Denise.

"Mum." Levi took her hand. "Don't bully the staff." Denise rolled her eyes.

"I don't." She said. "I'm very nice to the young Doctor." She looked between us. "You two speaking again then?" Levi shrugged.

"For your sake, mum." He sighed. "Are you ok? What happened? We've been worried sick?" Denise sighed and folded her arms.

"I had a fall." She said. "Which used to mean you got a bandaid and a lollypop bit I guess when you turn 90 they get all fussy about your hips."

"90?!" Levi laughed. "Mummmm." Denise was nowhere near 90. I grinned at her.

"Goodness, you look amazing for 90." I said. She grinned at me.

"I look incredible, age notwithstanding." She sighed and tried to sit up, and Levi stopped her and fussed with the bed. She grumbled, but allowed it, before looking at us shrewdly. "Well, if I knew all I had to do to get us in a room together was fall over I would have done it a long time ago." Levi and I looked at each other.

"Mmm." He said. Denise sighed.

"Jude promised he'll still be my son if you break up." She said. "So I'm glad you two can still play nice." Levi shook his head.

"Mum!" He said. "Are you ok?" She waved him away.

"So are you two biting the bullet?" She asked. "You know I love you both terribly but you're making each other incredibly unhappy." Levi sighed and slumped in his chair.

"Mama, we're here for you. Not to talk about us." She raised her eyebrows.

"And I'm very old and very frail and I want you to both be happy. And you're not."

"Denise." I said firmly. "You're the one making Lee unhappy. He doesn't want to talk about it."

"Well I'm on my deathbed and I do want to talk about it." She stuck her chin out obstinately, the same way Levi does, and I shook my head with a sigh.

"Have you ever won an argument with her?" I asked Levi. He smiled.

"Once, I think." He said.

"You have not." She said.

"No? When I was 15 and you let me go to that party?" Levi grinned. Denise grinned and shook her head.

"Ah, no." She said. "I wanted the house to myself but I knew you'd never want to go if I let you." Levi laughed.

"Mama." He said. "You're so mean."

"Aye." She said. "So. Tell me. How's the breakup?" Levi and I looked at each other. Eventually he sighed and took her hand and I took her other hand.

"Hard." Levi said. "Jude's been drinking a lot. But I know that's because I'm hard to talk to." Denise nodded.

"You get that from your father." She said. I snorted.

"He gets it from you." Denise fixed me with her steely gaze.

"You can't only face your problems drunk, Judey." She said. I sighed.

"No." I mumbled. "It is easier though." I said. Levi scoffed.

"For you." Fair. Denise squeezed both of our hands.

"Ah." She said sadly. "My boys."

----

Nate

-----

"Woah." Russell said. I glanced up at him and raised my eyebrows.

"There are two guys in the doorway." He said. "They're like... bizarro world us where I'm jacked and you're asian." I looked in the doorway and laughed. He was totally right. One of them was tall, and shiiiit he was jacked, and blonde and 'All American' just like Russ. And the other was like... well, bizarro world me was right. My height, the same long dark hair, wearing a t- shirt exposing his arms which were absolutely covered in ink. I laughed as I looked at Russell.

"Freaky." I said. "Ooooh, they're coming in. Bags." Russell rolled his eyes and let me take the counter.

"Nate!" The blonde one grinned at me. I stared at him. I definitely didn't know him. His smile stretched even wider. "Jude's protégé!" He said. "Ryan. I work with Jude, we're so glad to have you coming on board."

"Coming on..." Ryan's eyes widened, and impossibly, his smile did too.

"Oh, don't tell me you haven't checked your email? You're our new intern!" He gestured to the guy beside him who was grinning at me. "This is Sammy, my husband, he used to work here too but he's in the Minister's office now." He rolled his eyes. "Way too smart, kept getting himself promotions.... But anyway we're both off today, I only came in to do some housekeeping and grab a coffee, Jude says yours is better than down the road..." He suddenly cut himself off. "What the hell did you do to yourself?" He said. My whole cover story died on my lips because I was so taken aback by everything.

"Drunk asshole." I said. "I'd love to say I gave as good as I got but..." I shrugged. "Anyway- coffee?" Ryan's face fell as he looked at me and he and Sammy glanced at each other. Oh Jesus. That look. It had been on everyone's face all day. It was why I ran out when Jude was due and made Russell take the counter.

"What, are you just going to hide from him till that heals?" Russell had said. I winced.

"Just until I can think of a good excuse." I mumbled. "Jude's too smart. And he'll say I told you so." Russell's eyes widened.

"He told you so? How much does he know?" I blushed.

"We talk sometimes, when we work." I sighed. "Actually he kind of knew that D was... I mean I told him a bit... anyway I can't face it, please Russ?"

"Yeah, of course."

Ryan and Sammy said nothing except their order and I listened in on them as they talked about their little weekend getaway they were about to go on when Ryan's phone rang. Sammy sighed and leant over the counter, watching me work.

"Nice sleeve." He said. "Warnock right?" I glanced at him.

"Yeah." I said. "You got any of his stuff?" Sammy showed me a Korora on his arm done in the same style.

"And some flames on my shoulder." He said. "I like his stuff." I nodded absentmindedly.

"You're covered then?" I said. He smiled.

"Well... I can usually get away with it in a suit." He glanced at my hands. "Which you can't." He grinned.

"Oh." I looked at my tattooed hands, worried for the third time in a week about them. Yeah. I mean- they all know. But I feel like a fucking idiot. Ugh, why didn't I listen to mum?! Sammy laughed as I muttered that last bit out loud.

"Offices are ok these days." He said. "Anyway, you still got the job." I grunted. "Congrats by the way." He said. "Jude speaks very highly of you." I blushed.

"He's been really kind." I said. "I wouldn't have got the job, only he made my CV look awesome, I have no idea how he did it." We glanced up as Ryan returned with a frown on his face. He glanced at me.

"Saammmmm...." He said beguilingly. I turned away and pretended not to listen as Sammy sighed.

"What?" He asked flatly. I smirked to myself. I had a feeling Ryan could usually get away with murder, but Sammy was clearly not going to fall for it.

"Jude's in hospital with his mum." I heard him say. "He might be out all week. It's gonna put a lot of pressure on the team if I'm away too." Sammy sighed.

"Dammit." He said.

"I know I promised." Sammy took Ryan's arm gently.

"Extenuating circumstances." He said sadly. "But you know what that means." I glanced at Ryan who was turning pink all over.

"Got it." He said. Sammy was grinning at him. I wondered what it meant. Something really juicy. I strained my ears.

"You have to go back now?" Sammy asked.

"I'm already here." Ryan said apologetically.

"Alright. Well. Think about how to apologise properly and I'll see you tonight." Oooh. I smirked to myself as I turned away. Ugh, that was so hot. I glanced at Sammy and to my chagrin he was looking at me, an eyebrow raised. I cleared my throat. "Hmmm." He said as he looked at me. "You're not a very subtle eavesdropper are you." I felt my ears turn pink.

"Uhhhh...." Sammy grinned.

"It's ok." He laughed. "Nice to meet you, Nate. I'll probably see you around a bit once you start. Good luck."

"Thanks." I said hoarsely. He paused as he stood up and gave me a look.

"Hope drunk asshole isn't going to give you any more grief." He said. I almost died on the spot. You know most people really don't pry. Ryan and Sammy seemed like... way, way too open. I swallowed.

"I have an angry flatmate, and angry older brother, and an angry boss when Jude finds out." I said. "I think I'm covered."

"You can add an angry Ryan to that list." Sammy said. "And believe me that guy has one hell of a punch." He winced as he started to walk away, and I waved at him blankly. God. Was that what an office was like? Everybody all over each other's personal lives? Maybe this was a bad idea.

----

I was locking up for the night when I heard someone approaching. I glanced up and swallowed, Crap.

Jude looked up and his face fell as he looked at me. He didn't say anything, he just crossed the distance between us with like two steps and embraced me. God. He actually was the perfect height. His arms wrapped around me and my head fell to his shoulder and I let him hold me tight, feeling a lump form in my throat.

"Oh, Nate." He stroked my hair as he felt my breathing grow unsteady. He let me shudder as silently as I could on his shoulder, gasping for air between muffled sobs and he just held me. When I finally pulled away I noticed his eyes were wet too. He stroked my face gently. His big brown eyes were filled with kindness. "And here I was thinking you were so mean for running out when I came in today." He smiled a little.

"Don't say I told you so." I choked out. His face fell.

"Oh Nate." He shook his head. "Of course not. Oh." He stroked my hair again and I let him. I didn't care how inappropriate it was. It was so nice to be held.

"I heard about your mum." I said. "Is she ok? Are you ok?" Jude smiled and squeezed me.

"Everything's ok." He said. "I'm off for a week, Ryan will take over inducting you." He sighed. "And then one more week before I have to put up with Russell's coffee I guess." I laughed.

"But you get to see a lot more of me." I blushed furiously. Perfect time for flirting, Nate, you're such a catch. But I looked up and Jude was kind of... smirking. He sighed as he let me go.

"I have a feeling you are going to be remarkably distracting." He said, grinning at me. Oh my god. Real flirting. But he was engaged! "Go easy on me." He said, as he approached the lifts.

"What?" I laughed. He raised his eyebrows and... one hundred percent no doubt about it... he checked me out.

"I'm just going in to grab my stuff." He said. "I'll see you next week, Nate." He waved goodbye as the elevator closed and my chest thumped. What... what the hell was I walking into?

-----

The next week

----

Monday

-----

Nate

----

My phone rang as I was unstacking chairs. Fucking Russell. He was late. I picked it up with a sigh.

"What?" I muttered. "Don't tell me you're sick."

"Uhhh.... Not exactly." He mumbled. "Um. I'm... outside." I looked at the door and he raised his arm in greeting. I swallowed. This had a really familiar ring to it.

"Locked out?" I asked quietly.

"No...." He said. "Uh... what was it we agreed on? No lectures and no...." I cut him off and threw my phone down as I marched to the door and swung it open. Fucking moron. I sighed deeply as I took him in.

"Hey." He smiled guiltily.

"Oh for fuck's sake." I embraced him. He held me tight and as I pulled away I inspected his face. "We match!" I joked, looking at the ugly purple bruise on his face. He closed his eyes and winced.

"Yep." He said. He yawned and locked the door behind him as he followed me in. I sat him down and made him a coffee as I continued to open.

"Shona?" I joked. He smiled and shook his head.

"Guess again." He yawned for a second time. "I'm sorry. I know you didn't want any fighting. I just... saw red when I got home last night."

"Well, that'll teach you to try and take on someone with a black belt and three inches on you." I ruffled his hair. "Are you ok?" Russell grinned.

"Exhausted." He said. "We spent all night with the police in the emergency room. I have an assault charge, please don't tell mum."

"What?!" I whirled on him. "You don't?! What the fuck? Did D call the police? What a fucking cunt!" Russell shook his head.

"Darius was in no state to call the police." He said grimly. "I uh.... I actually... knocked him out in the end. Uh.... so then I got scared and dragged him to the emergency room because I thought I really might have killed him, and we ran into some police on the way because I was speeding, and they helped me get him there... and, well, I mean, it was all a bit weird but he was desperately trying to cover for me... so anyway... uh.... Job prospects a bit ruined. I think I'll get off with community service. Him too. We'll both plead guilty."

"Oh fuck Russ." I sat down. "Fucking hell man. You shouldn't be at work." I swallowed. "What about your job placement?"

"I... I guess I'll have to call them." He swallowed.

"Ok. That first." I said. "I'll call in Frank to do the morning, you have to sort your shit out. Jesus." I hugged him again and he winced.

"Ribs." He said. "Please let go."

"Oh sorry." I dropped my arms and pulled out my phone. Frank was pretty fucking mad to be called in early but when I told him it was because Russell had taken it upon himself to beat up my ex he suddenly got really interested and decided he could make it after all. But he wanted all the gory details. That's hospo for you. I sighed as I turned back to Russell, who was half heartedly trying to help with opening- moving like a sloth in pain. I winced. "You knocked Darius out?"

"Only for like a second." He said. He swallowed. "I'm sorry, Nate." I shook my head.

"You're meant to be the smart one." I mumbled. "Can I help with the legal stuff?" Russell bit his lip.

"I'd rather you didn't." He said. "I'll get a lawyer. Darius and I agreed we'd like to keep you out of it."

"But it's my fault!"

"Oh Nate!" Russell stopped what he was doing and embraced me. "None of this is your fault. All you've done is be sweet and kind. You just wanted Darius to be a better person. And you begged me not to do anything. None of this is on you, ok?"

"It is!" I insisted, wriggling out of his grip. "If I hadn't gone and gotten myself beaten up...."