Help is Round the Corner, Chapter 5

[goblover.livejournal.com]

Title: Help is Round the Corner
Rating: R cause yeah
Warning: Is there character death, is there? Is there.
Pairing: I admit to Chip/Ryan. Anything else...hah
Notes of importance: The first half is a flashback, the second half should come after Chapter 4. Hopefully it's not too difficult to maneuver your way through.

Comments are loved and loved and named George and kept forever. :D?

Chip had just finished up Swing Vote. After that time spent filming in New Mexico, he was anxious to go see his family (and go somewhere freakishly cold, as he put it). So they took a family vacation. Completely spontaneous.-Selfish-They didn’t tell anyone, just packed up and took off.

 

He turned off his phone. It was a bad decision on his part. After the four day vacation they had, he came back home and finally turned it on.

 

There were messages on his answering machine from Jeff. Well, not really from Jeff but…

 

He drove to the hospital in 45 minutes flat. Yes, he sped but no one caught him so it was like it wasn’t as bad. After trying his best to keep it together at the desk, he was directed to where Jeff was being…housed.

 

The room wasn’t white, like Chip expected. It was a blue. Light blue, with a sheen to it like it had just been painted.

 

There was Jeff, sitting on the low standing cot in the room. Nothing but that uncovered pillow to his name. He sat, head in his hands. His fingers slowly interlaced through his hair like he was checking for lice.

 

He wasn’t even wearing his own clothes, Chip wondered where those had gone. Whatever product Jeff usually kept in his hair looked like it had been scraped and processed out by now.

 

Damn, they worked fast.

 

He wore a pair of clean white cotton pants with an elastic waistband. They hung right on his hips. His matching shirt was on the floor, he had quickly shed it once he started getting hot-Chip had figured.

 

He did look pretty hot and sweaty. (Chip paused at the thought of calling Jeff pretty hot, and how that wordplay was just frightening now.) Even though his head was down, Chip could tell it was tinted red and the beads of sweat seemed to roll down his forehead and cheeks, eventually falling to the floor because Jeff couldn’t be bothered to wipe his own face.

 

He looked back to where the nurse was once standing. She was gone. No explanation, nothing at all.

 

He couldn’t figure out why Jeff was there. It had to be a mistake, it had to have been. Maybe they ran out of beds, or he needed the private room.

 

He hated to make assumptions and all but…that sign back there said psychiatric something-or-other. He should have paid closer attention.

 

He went to turn the doorknob. It was locked. Quickly he looked around for a way to unlock it as red flags went off in his head. Then he remembered something about a key. He opened his hand and found a key inside it.

 

He unlocked the door and placed the key inside his back pocket.

 

Chip finally turned and walked through the door. Jeff didn’t even raise his head to the sound of the door opening and closing.

 

He must have been used to it.

 

Chip stood there, he clenched his fists as he tried to think of something to say.

 

He settled for clearing his throat when nothing came to him.

 

Jeff didn’t react.

 

“Jeff, hey it’s me. It’s Chip. I’m here.”

 

For ten whole seconds, Jeff didn’t move. He didn’t even blink. And then he slowly lifted his head to look at Chip. He stood up and held out his hand to touch him. Chip grabbed it instinctively and held it. Jeff leaned close and squinted his eyes, gazing into Chip’s eyes.

 

He wanted to make sure he was real.

 

“I’m here, I’m here Jeff.” Chip’s other hand ran through Jeff’s hair.

 

He watched Jeff lean back. His eyes darted back and forth and he turned his head slightly. His legs kicked out from under him, as he tried to reposition himself further from Chip. He ran a hand through his short, surprisingly shaggy hair and cocked his head back at Chip. For a couple seconds, Chip was fooled by the brightness in his eyes.

 

“You came.” Jeff smiled.

 

Welcome back, awareness.

 

“Chip.” he hiccupped a giggle down. “Chip you came.”

 

“Of course I came.” Chip bit the side of his lip as he watched him. 

 

Jeff stopped to put the shirt that was on the floor back on. Why he did that, Chip didn’t know. Other than the fact that the room was freezing, but Jeff didn’t seem to notice that at all. His body was reacting like the opposite was true, anyway. Jeff stood in front of Chip, looking at him with a confused stare as he angled the shirt in front of him.

 

“What took you so long?” he joked as he pulled the shirt over him.

 

“I was out Jeff. I’m not-“

 

“You were out?” Jeff scoffed. “Like at the grocery store.”

 

“I was on vacation.”

 

“Oh, that’s nice.” Jeff tilted his head to the right and smiled hugely, letting his eyes drift upwards as he squinted hard.

 

That was his stage smirk, not his real one. Oh, he was in deep.

 

“I guess?”

 

“You weren’t here.” Jeff’s voice tried to stay faux-cheerful. Sarcastic was a better word, it always was with Jeff.

 

“No I wasn’t.” Chip crossed his arms and waited.

 

“You weren’t here,” his smile faded.

 

“What’s going on?” Chip stepped closer to Jeff.

 

“Don’t leave me again,” his voice dropped and started to crack right at the end.

 

“What’s-” Chip looked around the room.

 

“I had severe migraines,” Jeff started, walking and pacing the room as he talked. “And like an idiot- I went to the hospital. Because I was trying to get over that whole doctor thing of mine and- looks like that ain’t gonna be cured any time soon.”

 

“What’s happening, why are you in this room?”

 

Jeff stared at him for a full minute before responding.

 

“What’s it look like? I got locked up in the psych ward.”

 

He didn’t look angry right then, just scared. Of everything.

 

“What?” he gaped.

 

“There were marks and shit, they don’t trust me.” Jeff tried to brush that comment away as best he could.

 

“What?” Chip wasn’t going to let that go by, just like that.

 

“You’re here, Chip.” Tears appeared in Jeff’s eyes.

 

Jeff started to break down.

 

Chip looked at him, trying to decide between consoling him and confronting him on his earlier words.

 

“Yeah, yeah I’m here baby.” He walked over to him, holding him as close as he could.

 

“You came to me.” Jeff mumbled into Chip’s shoulder.

 

“No you did.” Chip spoke softly into his ear.

 

Jeff sighed and closed his eyes, pressing hard against Chip’s body. Chip held onto him and stroked his hair as he waited for him to settle down. It seemed to be working. For a few minutes there, Jeff was calmer than he’d been in months.

 

Chip walked him over to the cot and sat him down. He held him there, whispering to him things that he thought might help. He couldn’t think of anything really good though. Nothing that would make Jeff change, or fix him. Chip would rather fix him.

 

And then Jeff stopped breathing. Nothing more than a few seconds, he was holding his breath. Chip didn’t even think Jeff knew what he was doing.

 

“Who was that?” Jeff sat up instantly.

 

“Who was what?” Chip struggled to add as quick as he could.

 

Jeff clutched Chip’s shirt and pulled him close. He looked from side to side as his breath picked up.

 

“Like right fucking…” Jeff jumped off of the bed and walked to the opposite corner of the room, tracing the air.

 

Chip’s arms reached out to grab Jeff and pull him back down, but he was already gone.

 

Jeff turned, a partially fearing-but ultimately gleeful expression residing on his face. He looked in Chip’s eyes.

 

Chip’s arms dropped. Jeff’s expression faded.

 

“Nothing,” Jeff nodded his head. “Never mind, it was stupid.”

 

He turned back to the corner, running his hand along the crease where the edges met. He breathed heavily and pushed his body forcefully into the corner, quickly crashing to the floor.

 

Chip jumped off the cot. He slid to where Jeff was and wrapped his arms around Jeff’s back.

 

It took him awhile to get Jeff back to full consciousness. When he did, Jeff looked up at him.

 

“Hey,” he said.

 

“Hi,” Chip replied.

 

Jeff’s thumbs skimmed the surface of Chip’s knees and Chip unintentionally broke out into a full smile.

 

“Ready to take me home?” he grinned as he looked closer into Chip’s eyes.

 

“I have to know why first.” Chip played idly with Jeff’s hair.

 

No matter how many times he felt Jeff’s hair in the past, he was always surprised how soft it actually was.

 

“Why…” Jeff drew out. “What?”

 

“Why do you come to me, Jeff?” Chip shrugged like it was simple enough.

 

“What do you mean?” Jeff got up off the floor.

 

“I mean, why do you come to me? It’s a pretty easy question.”

 

“Heh. That’s what you think.” Jeff pointed at him with a laugh.

 

“If you’re sick,” Chip got up, clutching the wall for stability. “I mean like-”

“What like- Am I crazy?” his eyes flitted around the room like someone could hear his admittance.

 

“No, no.” Chip held out his hands at him, like he could stop Jeff from misinterpreting him. “I mean-shit um… when you’re actually sick-”

 

Chip laughed. “It’s a rarity but you do get sick like everyone else in the world. I’m the one who sees you, who takes care of you when you refuse to see a doctor. When you’re depressed, I’m whose house you go to. When you’re-When you’re passed out in a fucking gutter, and incredibly thankful that those guys who robbed you when you were passed out left you enough change for you to make a phone call- I’m who you called.”

 

“Fucking ghostbusters, man.” Jeff chuckled.

 

Chip didn’t smile. “Take me seriously, for once Jeff. I have to take any threat of yours seriously so could you at least give me that?”

 

“Fine,” Jeff raised his hands and dropped them quickly. They made a sound when they hit his thighs. “Fine. You wanna know why it’s you? Because no one else gives a fuck okay?”

 

“Of course they do-” Chip was shocked, Jeff and him had gone over that hundreds of times but it never changed his reaction. “How could you say that?”

 

“I’ve been here for fucking days, all right?” Jeff’s hands shook. He didn’t acknowledge it at all. His hands darted up his palm, almost touching his wrists as he talked. “They should keep me for twenty four hours tops unless they’ve got a reason-or-”

 

Jeff stopped himself.

 

“-Or maybe because no one wants me?” Jeff shrugged as his eyes widened in mock-discovery. “Hah. You wanna watch something? Here.”

 

Jeff practically ripped the phone out of Chip’s pocket before Chip could realize Jeff was sticking his hands there.

 

“I’m calling Ryan. What are the chances he’ll pick up?”

 

“From my phone?” Chip shifted his eyes away from Jeff. He stuck his hands in his now-empty pockets.

 

“Huh, answering machine.” Jeff caught Chip’s glance and jutted out his lips for a half second, making a face before screaming into the phone. “I’m going to fucking kill myself. Have a good life, asshole.”

 

He flipped the phone closed violently and held it out in front of him like a trophy. The ends of his face started to curl up.

 

Oh fucking hell, he was smiling.

 

“Want me to call Greg and do the same thing or have I proven a point?”

 

“Just because he didn’t answer-“

 

“It’s always like this okay? Like-Like a-Like-” Jeff stuttered. “It’s a fucking sensor. No matter where or from-it’s like they know. I have to fucking ask people to put up with me if I want to see them. If I want any sort of interaction at all, I have to fucking lose any shred of um, self-preservation I might have left and throw it out the window because I have to fucking beg.”

 

He threw the phone across the room. It hit the wall and shattered.

 

“That was-”

 

I’ll get you a new one.” Jeff waved his hand in the air.

 

“It doesn’t matter to me,” Chip tried to offer.

 

Jeff continued with his previous thought. “It doesn’t have to be that way with you Chip. You like—I don’t care if you’re acting the part all right? I know its like- you feel obligated or something. You, hah, you think you fucked me up a long time ago but…”

 

“I’m not acting the part.”

 

“I don’t even know how-why you feel responsible for me.”

 

“It’s not that I feel responsible for you, Jeff.”

 

Jeff paused before asking. “Is it because you think I’m some fucking liability?”

 

“No,” Chip stated right away, as clearly as he could.

 

“Because years ago I walked fucking in on you and Ryan and that means I’m going to tell on you guys?” Jeff threw his arms in the air. “Well, guess the fuck what Chip? I haven’t done it yet so why should it even be a question of that?”

 

“Did I ever say it was that?” Chip struggled to keep up.

 

“That is it, isn’t it?” Jeff nodded.

 

“No!” he yelled out.

 

Jeff didn’t understand, he couldn’t. He wouldn’t let himself grasp the concept that someone actually did care about him. That killed Chip just a little bit.

 

“Really?” he drawled sarcastically.

 

“Jeff, I love you. I would never do that to you.”

 

“Jesus Christ Chip,” he laughed bitterly. “Let me mean something to you.”

 

“You mean everything to me.”

 

Jeff shook his head in disbelief.

 

“But you wanna know why I go to you? You-You really want to know?”

 

“Ye-” Chip started.

 

“You’re all I have left okay? That’s it. There’s nothing else. I just-fuck I want you so bad and like—” Jeff stopped himself. “I mean, not that way. Not sexu—You’re what stops me.”

 

“Jeff…” Chip tried to say something else, but nothing came out.

 

“It’s like I have to check with you, you know?” Jeff was amused by his own words. “You’re like my parent. You and Patty….fuck, forget that.”

 

He waved his hands, cutting off that thought.

 

“Forget that fucking metaphor,” he barked a laugh. “You-Your existence makes me realize that…”

 

Jeff calmed down, hitting a more serious note. “Like there’s still fear there. That I can’t go through with it sometimes cause I stupidly figure that…”

 

He took a breath.

 

“That it would upset you. In some dumb fucking part of my brain I’m afraid I’ll let you down. No matter what shit I willingly put myself through, there’s still a part of me that stops. For you. Because I thought I mattered to you.” Jeff nodded. “I deluded myself into thinking you were there for me when I was just a fucking bother.”

 

“Jeff, stop.”

 

He wouldn’t.

 

“And no matter how much I push you in the other direction, no matter what I’m doing I just- Sometimes I need you more than you think and I wish you knew that.”

 

“You’re telling me right now!” he screamed.

 

“How much do you think I need you?”

 

Chip calmed down and tried to figure out if Jeff wanted him to respond to that.

 

“I think you need me pretty damn badly.” He answered levelly.

 

“Okay so times that by a million.” Jeff looked at him, hard.

 

Chip looked away, suddenly very uncomfortable with how Jeff was acting.

 

“Get me out of here.” Jeff used his most serious voice, dropping to an octave rarely used by him.

 

“Jeff…” he shook his head lightly.

 

“Get me out of here.” Jeff said more forcefully than before.

 

“No wait, Jeff.” Chip started to back away from him.

 

“How hard does this have to be? Get me the fuck out of here.” Jeff yelled.

 

“Give me a minute!” he shouted out, emotion ruling his voice.

 

Chip could easily see Jeff going off on that.

 

“Oh a minute, you need a fucking minute to decide my life here. Don’t mind me, I’ll sit here on this fucking cot of comfort that I’ve been spending my days on, waiting for you to save me. Take your time.”

 

But he stayed silent. Like he knew what was going to happen almost. His breath quickened, gearing up for the words to come. Jeff was probably thinking of more ways for Chip to bend to his sickly will. Or he was crying along with Chip.

 

“I think-” Chip grabbed the edges of his shirt as he looked away from Jeff, not daring to look in the eyes. “I think you might need this more than you need my help.”

 

“What, you think I need to be locked up in this room the rest of my life? Fuck that, I need out. I need out now. Come on Chip.” Jeff tried to laugh. “Stop messing around. I don’t like it here.”

 

His tired attempt at amusement died on his face just as soon as it showed up.

 

“What’s that look for?” Jeff was afraid. This time he let himself show it.

 

“Chip,” Jeff let a mad giggle erupt from his mouth. He walked closer to Chip, latching onto his arm and shoulder. “No oh no no no Chip. You have-you’ve got to get me out. We’ve went over this- you’re the only one who could-cares.”

 

“Jeff, I can’t provide this kind of care for you. I don’t have the-this stability."

 

“Fuck stability, I need you.”

 

"Jeff, no. I have a family.”

 

“I love your family!” he exclaimed, trying to smile.

 

“I-Patty.” Chip motioned to nothing.

 

“I love Patty too, come on-” Jeff kept patting him on the arm. “Sign a paper. I can’t be here forever.”

 

“Where’s your family?” Chip grabbed onto Jeff’s shoulders and jerked them, making sure he was facing him as he talked.

 

Jeff batted Chip’s hands away and then proceeded to mirror the action, placing his hands on Chip’s shoulders in the exact position.

 

It wasn’t out of mimicry or something. It was out of desperation.

 

He wanted to be normal so bad. He’d catch what he could and hold onto it with all his might.

 

“Fuck my family, you’re my family.” Jeff nodded eagerly.

 

“I’m sorry, I don’t-” Chip shrugged out of his touch.

 

“Jeff, come on.” He bounced up and down. “Let me out.”

 

Jeff didn’t realize he had said his own name right then. Chip did.

 

“You need to stay here.” He shook his head and walked backwards.

 

“What? No, Chip. Don’t leave me.” Jeff grabbed onto his forearm.

 

“Why?” Chip asked incredulously, pulling his arm out of Jeff’s grasp.

 

Jeff’s mouth fell open. He closed it quickly.

 

He didn’t have an answer.

 

Jeff held up his index finger as he looked away, indicating for Chip to wait until he thought of something. Chip had his own flashbacks to moments on the Green Screen show when Jeff was challenged with a difficult task. That finger always went up.

 

He covered his mouth with his other hand.

 

“They-um-they beat me.”

 

It looked like Jeff was smiling into his hand. Chip could still see it.

 

Chip sighed and rubbed his eyebrow. And because it was on the tip of his tongue, and he wasn’t thinking anything else.

 

Slowly he drew out-

 

“New Choice?”

 

Chip watched Jeff crack after his remark. Each individual fiber of his face snapped on its own and dropped just a part of his carefully placed expression. Soon- though Chip had never thought it possible-Jeff was just a quivering shell, whose only noticeable feat was standing on his own and attempting to breathe.

 

He shut the door behind him. He never said a goodbye. Chip left the key on the desk. He waved a goodbye to the nurse who had brought him there, and that was it.

 

Chip didn't see the whole collapse. He wasn't there for Jeff’s lucky fall into the pillow on the cot. He missed the bits of unadulterated crying. And of course he missed Jeff’s eventual fooling of the entire hospital staff (or mass hypnosis maybe?) that he didn’t belong there and got out with not even a bill to pay.

An edited version of the whole ordeal became Jeff’s famous bar story of how he escaped from the looney bin. Only told when drinking. And nobody thought much of it, they always assumed it was a joke.

If that didn’t just destroy Chip every time he heard it, he didn’t know what did.

 

One time he confronted Jeff about his use of the story. Jeff told him that he lost his right to care when he left him in that room.

 

Chip didn’t realize how much that room destroyed him.

 

--

 

Within the ease of two minutes standing on his own, Jeff had fully reverted back to his fake normal self. He tried to laugh it off.

 

Like he didn’t just try walking out into the ocean. Like being dripping wet and partially covered in sand was something that was purely accidental.

 

What didn’t change with him, was the look in his eyes. It hadn’t changed from the moment Ryan had pulled him out of the water. While Ryan thought about it some more, Jeff had probably had that look for a long time and Ryan just never noticed it. Or thought much of it.

 

“My mouth was full of sand there for a second.” Jeff chuckled lowly.

 

“Uhuh?” Greg responded distantly.

 

“I was choking on it and everything.”

 

“That’s great.” Ryan looked away.

 

“I think my lungs are coated in sand now.”

 

“You should fix that.”

 

“Yeah,” Jeff shoved his hands in his pocket and moved up to walk ahead of them.

 

They walked back into the house. Patty took one look at the three of them and made a face. Not disapproving as much as confused.

 

But something happened when Jeff reached Patty. It was like he couldn’t keep up the act. And she was staring at him in particular. Jeff shut down.

 

It wasn’t like he hadn’t been there before, it just always seemed worse when it snuck up on a person like that. There he was, being fake happy and normal like the rest of the world and then a switch flipped. And he couldn’t even function.

 

If ever there was a time that Jeff could remain absolutely still, this was it.

 

“Ryan. Jeff, do you-?” Patty looked at each of them. “Do you boys need a shower or something? Change of clothes?”

 

“We’re fine.” Ryan scratched at his eyebrow.

 

Greg cleaned off his glasses for the eighth time.

 

Jeff didn’t speak.

 

“Jeff,” she pushed him towards a bathroom. “Go take a shower, I’ll find you some clothes.”

 

He rocked back on his heels but stood his ground.

 

“Jeff-” she tried to look at him, but settled for looking at Greg.

 

“I’ll take him.” Greg nodded and took Jeff by the hand, guiding him into the bathroom and turning on the shower. Ryan followed for the most part, stopping at the bathroom door.

 

Patty looked at Ryan as he gnawed on his fingernail, waiting for Greg to come back out. Patty took off, saying something about something-or-other. Making an excuse not to wait with him.

 

A minute or two Greg walked out of the bathroom and closed the door behind him with a sigh.

 

“That’s going to-” he looked back at the closed door. “Fucking hell, what are we going to do?”

 

“With him?” Ryan sucked air through his teeth. “Dunno. What we always do, I guess.”

 

“What, you want to hit him again?” Greg asked, voice dripping in spitefulness.

 

“Let someone else handle him.”

 

“Oh, like let Chip handle him? Hm, should work out real well.” Greg held a finger to his lips. “Wait, he’s dead. So no, then.”

 

“That’s your stance? Sarcasm?”

 

“Eh, I don’t know if it qualifies for sarcasm, but hey.” Greg smiled. “It’s been working for me for…oh, forever? I like it. You do too, admit it.”

 

Ryan shook his head and smiled. No matter what, they’d always drift back to that. They almost started to laugh about it when Patty walked back to them.

 

“Does he um-” she looked at Greg. “Do any of you have like-”

 

She stumbled over her own words some more before taking a breath and starting over.

 

“Clean clothes,” she forced out. “Do you need them?”

 

“I have some stuff in the car,” Greg hooked a thumb behind him, even though his car was clearly not behind him.

 

“Me too,” Ryan added.

 

“How about Jeff, I mean-Does he have-”

 

Greg burst out laughing.

 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Greg quickly recovered. “Sometimes I think Jeff has two pairs of pants and like five shirts. We’re lucky he owns a suit at times. I um-never mind. Hah.”

 

“So that’s a no?” Patty managed to decipher Greg’s crack at Jeff. Easy thing to do.

 

“Definitely a no.”

 

“Well, my dad has some stuff and…”

 

Both of her hands went over her mouth to partially obscure her words.

 

“Some of Chip’s clothes are in my car. I just-I don’t know if he could handle that. Or if I could or…”

 

She let out a quiet gasp, almost announcing the fact that she was going to cry in a second or two.

 

“Don’t even worry about it,” Greg gently rested his hand on Patty’s shoulder. “I’ll just dart back in there, grab his clothes and we’ll toss them in the dryer for a bit. How’s that sound?”

 

Patty nodded. Greg went in, grabbed the clothes, and they all walked to the laundry room. Greg gently put the wet clothes into the dryer and put in a lint sheet like it was automatic. Ryan realized right then who did the laundry between Greg and Jennifer.

 

Within a few seconds of pressing the on button, they all held audience to the loud clunking noise coming from inside the machine. Ryan quickly opened the door to the dryer and leaned his head in as he sifted through the clothes.

 

Before he pulled his head out of the machine entirely, he backed his arm up and out, raising it in the air as he showed them all the noisemaker. He stood back up and spun open the cap of the metal flask and shook it a bit. He held it against his hand and tried to pour something out.

 

Greg and Patty watched in horror.

 

“It’s empty…” Ryan twisted close the cap and set the flask aside.

 

Patty looked to the floor and shook her head. She turned and walked out of the room, calling for Taylor. Ryan leaned his head out of the room to watch Patty pick up Taylor and swing her into the air, hugging her close.

 

Greg stepped past Ryan, begging off to his car for the change of clothes he mentioned earlier. Ryan waited around a couple of minutes before doing the same.

 

They both seemed to think Jeff was capable of handling things on his own.

 

With their dry clothes on, Ryan and Greg stood in the kitchen once again, drinking coffee and pretending that everything was fine. Like it was just another day of them shooting the shit, with nothing else better to do. Ryan dried his hair off with a dishrag and when he was finished, he tossed it to Greg. Greg took a lot longer to dry his hair, something Ryan made fun of him for.

 

Greg’s smile faded when he looked at the clock.

 

“It’s been twenty minutes, should we do anything?” Greg squinted as he took another sip out of his cup before setting it on the counter.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Like extract him from the shower because he couldn’t do itself. Jeff was a grown man, above all else. At the very least he could work through that shit.

 

“I mean, like what if he’s-” Greg stopped himself. “Fuck!”

 

Greg pushed his hands against the counter to make his running start go even faster. He ran to the bathroom door. Ryan followed. Greg slammed the door open, partially using his body to do so.

 

Ryan stopped at the edge of the door, not bothering to look inside. He just—whatever it was, he didn’t want to see it.

 

Greg pulled a sopping wet Jeff out from behind the door, towels pressed against him. Greg let go of his hold on Jeff and looked over at Ryan.

 

Jeff’s partly covered body hit the wall and slid down, effortlessly dropping to the floor. He ducked his head.

 

In shame? Probably.

 

“I don’t know how I timed that out, I just felt it.” Greg walked closer to Ryan, half amazed but mostly frightened of whatever just happened.

 

“What?” Ryan started to feel that level of concern hit his body and he reacted accordingly.

 

He didn’t look at Jeff.

 

Greg took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

 

“He had a bottle of Draino in his hands, trying to--summon the strength to open it. He must have found it under the sink, I don’t know. But-But he was in the shower so he was wet, and his hands were slippery and-” Greg cut off, his attention held once again by Jeff. Greg clapped his hand over his mouth as he watched him.

 

Ryan cleared his throat. Greg clutched onto Ryan, dragging him further away from Jeff, shifting his attention to him.

 

“Can you take him?” he asked quietly.

 

“Do I want to or am I going to?”
 

Greg exhaled sharply, finally putting his glasses back on. “I don’t think I can be around him if he’s going to be like this.”

 

“So he’ll just hang out at my place then?” he shrugged.

 

“I think…” Greg looked down at the carpet. “I think besides that little-your tolerance level goes above and beyond mine, and I think that’s a good thing.”

 

“I’m not so sure about that.” Ryan looked back at Jeff.

 

He was keeping a firm grip on that too expensive to be anything else than soft towel.

 

“I mean,” Greg amended. “I mean that he can’t break you.”

 

Jeff looked about five years old there, touching the towel against his cheek every now and then like it was his favorite blanket.

 

Shit. The kids couldn’t be around him.

 

He wasn’t going to have Jeff repeat what he did with Chip, seamlessly infiltrate the family setting-worming his way in until he became a part of them that could never be severed.

 

He sure as hell wasn’t letting any of his kids get attached to Jeff like it seemed Chase had.

 

No one could be around Jeff.

 

Not if they wanted to survive as they did.

 

“I’ll be right back.” Ryan said as he pulled out his phone.

 

“Uhuh,” Greg said, completely distracted by watching Jeff.

 

Ryan turned to watch him from afar. There wasn’t going to be much of him left soon, was there? He cared, he did. Not enough to make a dent in what Jeff had become, but still.

 

He could give it a try, for Chip. Of course he could.

 

“Pat? Can you do me a huge favor?” Ryan nodded as she responded. “Yes, but did I mention I love you?”

 

It wasn’t the perfect plan, but it would have to do.