Let's Try Something New (Thomas, Ryan)

[Ryan Andrews]

"I'll be as careful as I possibly can be, trust me. I wouldn't to do anything that would only hurt him more." He said and then started to make his way toward the front door. He noticed that nobody had shut it so it was wide open. In this case, it was a good thing so they would only have to get one door open. And that was the door to Thomas's truck. They could probably put him in the back seat, that was the good thing about extended cabs, somebody could simply lay in the backseat comfortably. But they would have to get the door open for it he figured that Jeanette could do that part and she could put him in there feet first. He then decided that he'd need to plot out a course to the hospital in his head. They could probably just go straight and they'd have a clear path to the hospital. He'd park right next to the doors for the emergency room. Sure he knew that you really were not supposed to do that but he figured that they could bend the rules for a case like Thomas. He carefully made his way down the steps and then stopped at the truck. "Ok, Jeanette, if you can get the door open you can put your part in first. Once we get going I'll leave a message for Thomas's dad at the real estate office telling him what happened." He said and then looked at the house, he half expected to see Alex watching the out of his bedroom window but the blinds were still tightly drawn on all of the windows.

Thomas felt himself being carried but he was really focused on his surroundings too much. He was basically just trying to stay awake now he knew that he should be very awake because of how much sleep he'd gotten yesterday. And that fact that he wasn't that awake was a signal to him that there was some definitely wrong. He wished that he didn't have to be carried like this but he knew that there was no way that he'd be able to walk at the moment. He noticed that they were by his truck now and he wished that they'd taken Ryan's car over here. Since it would be a lot easier to get him into that then his truck. As soon as all of this was over he definitely was going to apologize to Ryan and Jeanette for having to go through all of this.

[Jeanette Panagiotou]

She looked to Ryan and nodded gently. She was glad that they could easily get to the front door. She used her foot to swing the front door shut behind them then they continued on to the truck. She looked up at Ryan and nodded gently. "Right, I'm going to sit in the back with him." She said gently as she cradled his legs into one arm and reached a shakey hand out to the door and opened it before she carefully eased him into the truck crawling in herself.

She looked to Ryan and sat down easing his head into her lap. She looked down at Thomas and brushed a hand over his cheek gently. "Thomas you need to stay awake if you're feeling sleepy. I could care less if you're coherent, but don't go to sleep." She said gently looking up at the Dehart house then to Ryan. She wasn't just scared senseless she was worried about Thomas.

[Ryan Andrews]

He should have figured that she'd want to be in the back with him. It didn't bother him, in fact it was probably a good thing because she'd be able to keep Thomas awake. "Ok, well we'd better get going then." He said and then quickly got in the truck and started it up. Luckily for him Thomas had left the keys in the ignition. He really hadn't driven trucks that much but on a few occasions he'd driven Thomas home. He slowly backed out of the driveway and dug his cell phone out of his pocket with one hand. He quickly punched the numbers for the real estate office into it, it was the worlds easiest number to remember because the number spelled out sell. He heard the secretary and asked his to transfer him to Thomas's dad's office. It rang a few times before he answer. "Um, hi this is Ryan. Thomas kind of got beat up by Alex and now we're taking him to the hospital...I see..?..ok well I guess that I'll see you later then." He said and then looked back to where Jeanette was. "He said that he'd stop at the house first and make sure Alex wasn't destroying it and then he'd be over to the hospital as soon as he could be." He said and wondered what was different about Thomas's dads voice, it just seemed different. Sure he seemed worried but there was something else he couldn't put his finger on.

Thomas looked at Jeanette and opened his mouth to speak before he closed it. He'd realized that he didn't have the energy to reply to her by talking. So he moved an arm slightly, he'd been attempting to reach for her hand but he just couldn't do it. That was what was so frustrating to him, it was taking forever for him to even understand things and he'd lost all of his energy to even do a simple thing as take her hand.

A few moments later Ryan was pulling up to the emergency room entrance. "I'll go in and get somebody out here." He said and then got out of the truck and took off toward the doors. He hadn't even shut the door in his rush to get there. Just fifteen seconds later there were running out to Thomas's truck.

[Jeanette Panagiotou]

She nodded softly as she looked at him. She listened to him talk to Thomas's father. She looked at Ryan's reflection in the rearveiw mirror as he explained then looked down at Thomas. She wondered what he was going to say, but then the movement of his hand caught her attention. She watched it for a minute then she realized that he was trying to reach for hers. She smiled and took it into her hand and brushed her thumb over his knuckles. She gave it a gentle squeeze to ensure him that she was there.

She looked up to the hospital as they pulled in. She looked Ryan and nodded her head gently. She was starting to have problems holding back the tears. One slipped, but she quickly wiped it away before Ryan returned. She opened her door as a doctor and some nurses rushed out with a stretcher and she got out not letting go of Thomas's hand. She helped get him out and lay him on the stretcher. She followed the stretcher until one nurse had to grasper her arm and pull her away. She watched as they led Thomas away into the ER.

She brushed a hand over her arm as they crossed over her chest. She didn't like being in hospitals. She had had enough of them in her experience. The uncomfortable surrounds just added to her and she finally lost a bit of that composure. She brushed away the tears, but they kept comming. She didn't let out any sobs though. She wasn't sure she had the breath for it. She sat down in a chair and covered her face.

[Ryan Andrews]

Ryan hadn't went in with Jeanette when she'd followed Thomas into the hospital. He had known that he needed to move the truck away from the entrance and it had taken him about five minutes to find a parking spot. The parking here was probably a lot worse then the mall, then again everybody was in a hurry too so he'd have to stop for people about five times. When he did manage to find a spot he quickly parked the truck and ran toward the entrance again. Once he was inside he looked around for a moment and found Jeanette. He felt really bad for her, he knew that she must be severely worried right now. He was too, but Thomas was her boyfriend. He noticed that she was covering her face which meant that she was probably crying. "Jeanette, if there's on thing that I know about Thomas is that he's a fighter. He was always trying to beat the odds before. He'll get through this, after all he's got you." He said and then looked around for a moment just as an idea came into his mind.

"Listen, I know of another waiting room that is a lot less crowded then this one. Nobody really goes in it because it's a lot smaller then this one. But it's really quiet and it would probably a lot less stressful in there." He said and then looked around, he hated hospitals but he wasn't going to leave. Not when he didn't know what was going on with Thomas. Even after he found out about that then he still wouldn't leave because it wasn't like he needed to be home. He'd stay in here as long as he had to, sure he knew that if he decided to spend the night here that he'd have to go home tomorrow and check on things. But after that then he would come right back here. could hear the sirens for an ambulance and it sent a chill down his spine. He'd never been in the hospital himself but he'd known plenty of people who had. And he knew a few people who had came in here and never came out again. At least, not when they were alive.

[Jeanette Panagiotou]

She jumped at the sound of his voice and she looked up at him as she brushed tears away. "This is my fault. If I hadn't tagged along then you could've helped Thomas hold him down without worry about me." She said choking back some more tears as she tried to wipe her eyes dry. She looked up at him and nodded gently at his suggestion. "Whatever." She said shakily. She stood up looking around. She saw the doctors and nurses rush a stretcher with a person in it and she heard them saying something about a car wreck and her mind instantly flashed to her own accident and what little she remembered hearing and seeing as the doctors rushed her to the ER in Athens. Her mind came back and she sway a little, but she steadied herself putting a hand out to brace it against the wall.

[Ryan Andrews]

"If you wouldn't have came then Thomas probably wouldn't have tried so hard to get things through Alex's head. Since you saw how Alex was, he can put even the most happy and confident person down. Especially when he really knows you and since he likes to bring hurtful things up." He said and then looked at Jeanette, in reality none of this was their fault. It was Alex's fault because he'd been the one who had deliberately hurt Thomas. He was about to say something else when he saw her sway, he hoped that she wasn't going to pass out or something. Because that was just what he needed right now then he'd be all alone and he'd really get to thinking about things. "I really don't feel like hearing the conversations of other people right now." He said and then waited for Jeanette to get up. He knew that it probably would be a long time before they heard anything. And he was trying to prepare himself for the long wait.

It then hit him that Thomas probably wouldn't be able to express his fear for hospitals and doctors. Since it was clear that he couldn't really speak right now. Not to mention it took him a long time to move which meant that he'd have to lay there in fear. He knew that the last time Thomas had been in there after he'd gotten into that car accident by himself that he'd actually started to hyperventilate. Not to mention, he'd fought the doctors and nurses and they'd ended up holding him down in order to do the simplest things. "I wish that there was a way we could get to him. But the odds are that he's having a million different tests done on him now." He said and then sighed, the only thing that was keeping him from breaking down right now was the fact that he was surrounded by people and he wasn't one to cry in front of people.

[Jeanette Panagiotou]

She looked up at him and frowned softly then looked to the ground as she brushed back a tear. "Still though. I never imagined he would be so hostile." She said gently running a hand over her shoulder where a series of scars from her accident sat. She sometimes had phantom pains on her entire left side from the accident. Especially when she was in a hospital.

"Let's go find that room, please." She said shakily as her hand rubbed over her left collar bone as the phantom pain penetraited her. She didn't say anything though because she didn't want to both Ryan about it when he's already worrying about Thomas. Most of the time the pains came along with an anxiety attack, but she managed to take something to prevent them.

[Branden Devereaux]

"I never knew he was getting so bad either until I found out that Thomas was drinking again. Since he hadn't for like..six months and then to find out he was again was a little bit of a shock to me." He said and looked at Jeanette, before he realized that probably wasn't the best thing to say at the moment. But it was true, once Thomas had finally confessed that he was drinking then he knew something was wrong. Since if he would have been drinking for fun, like he did most of the time. Then he wold have seen him at the parties but he hadn't even though on a few occasions he'd looked for him at them. He just really hoped that after this things would be different but he highly doubted that. But he did know that from now on he was going to try and make sure that Alex didn't try and hurt anybody else. But he couldn't prevent everybody from being hurt.

"Ok, well right this way then." He said and then made his way across the crowded waiting room and down a hallway before entering a small room about halfway down the hallway. As he had thought, there was nobody in here even though there was a t.v. going. It was showing the news though and he wondered how people could watch something like that in a hospital.

((Short but my muse is kind of done for the night.))

[Jeanette Panagiotou]

She looked up at Ryan at his words. The thought that Thomas had stopped drinking around the time that she had the accident with her father perked her mouth into the soft curve of a smile, but then he said that Thomas had started drinking again. She looked down at the hall in thought then looked back to Ryan. She followed him through the hallway and she felt a little bit better being in a secluded waiting room. She walked over to a couch and laid down stretching out to watching the TV. She had to give her mind something to think about other than the fact that Thomas was in the ER laid up in a hospital bed or something to that extent. Her hand reached back up to her collar and she rubbed where the phantom pains continued to bother her.

She glanced to Ryan then looked back to the TV. She hated watching the news in hospitals. It just added to the stress hearing about horrible things and what not, but she needed to get her worried mind off of Thomas for at least a few seconds. She realized that Ryan hadn't said a thing about the fact that she had mentioned her accident in her outburst at Alex. She understood why he hadn't yet though. He either a) forgot, b) didn't want to say anything to bother her further, or c) he was still contemplating asking her about it.

[Ryan Andrews]

"I don't know about you but I hate watching the news so I'm going to change the channel on them. It's not like they'll care anyway. Not to mention I'm hoping that we will not have to stay in here that long." He said and then walked over to the t.v. and changed the channel to a channel that played nothing but music. That way he wouldn't have to deal with watching the news and hearing about everything that happened. Although he knew that he'd probably stat worrying about things and he'd go off into his own little world. But he just couldn't help it, there'd just been too much stress in his life and he didn't know how much more of it he could take. But he knew one thing, he did not want to lose it in front of Jeanette. It was just so hard to keep everything under control though. He just wanted to go somewhere and curl up and not come out again until everything was better. He watched as Jeanette rubbed her collarbone and a look of concern appeared on his face. He didn't think that Alex had gotten close enough to hurt her but he really couldn't be sure of that.

"Are you alright? Because if Alex hurt you then I will make sure that he pays for it." He said as he hoped that Alex hadn't hurt her because if he had then it would be the last straw and he wouldn't be able to take it anymore. It wasn't that he liked hurting Alex but sometimes it seemed as if it was the only thing that worked.

[Jeanette Panagiotou]

She looked up to him and nodded gently. "I don't mind, anything would be better than the news." She said gently looking to him then back to the tv. She watched as he got up and changed it to a music station. She closed her eyes and sighed taking a deep breath to keep her calm. Her hands rubbed her collar for a little long as the fatom pain started to spread from that area to her side as well. She rubbed her side for a moment, but then she heard Ryan.

She lookedup at him confused at his question, but then she realized why he had asked. "Oh, no, Alex didn't hurt me." She said gently that part was the truth, but this next part she didn't really want to say, but she wasn't going to let Ryan worry about her as well as Thomas. "I'm fine, really." She said gently as she continued to rub her side for a few minutes trying to get the pain to subside there as well as up in her left collar bone. She looked to the tv for a moment then started to rub her shoulder and collar.

[Ryan Andrews]

He relaxed a bit when she said that Alex hadn't hurt her. It meant that she was safe and that he'd actually done his job. But Thomas had gotten hurt and he didn't even know how he was. And he was about two seconds away from barging up to the nurses station and demanding them to tell him where Thomas was. And if they refused to bring him there, then he could just sneak into the area. It really wasn't that hard to sneak around in the hospital. As long as it wasn't one of the high security floors anyway, those you really couldn't sneak onto. "Good, because I know that once Thomas knows that then things will go a lot smoothly." He said and then a thought occurred to him which made him turn very pale for the second or third time in just a day. "My god, he can't tell them where it hurts, how he's feeling, nothing. Since I'm sure that he probably can't talk, not to mention he's probably too scared to even try to do so. That's it, I'm going to find out where he is!" He said as the same look came on his face that was there when it was an all out sprint to the finish line at a cross country meet. But just as he was about to storm out of the room Thomas's dad walked in and he stopped in his tracks.

"If you were going to go storm the nurses station at the hospital Ryan, then you might as well sit back down. Since he's getting a ton of scans done on him right now. Not to mention he is kind of in and out of consciousness which is why they're trying to figure things out so fast." He said before making his way over to a chair and sitting down. "He did whisper the word Rynette though and it took me this long to realize that me meant you two. So I knew that I had to find the two of you and I figured this was the first place I should look." He said and then looked at the two of them, Thomas had just told him a few days ago that he was going out with some girl named Jeanette. And he hadn't been expecting this was the way that he'd meet her. "Alex really did a number on him but not anymore...I put him in a mental hospital about ten minutes away from here. He didn't put up a fight since I think he knew what was happening and he'd given up." He said and then sighed, if it had been up to him then Alex would have been in one of those a long time ago. He then looked over to where Ryan was, he needed to apologize for Alex. "He told me that he brought Greg up, and I'm sorry he did that. He was a good kid, he was in my office a few days before his death and I didn't even know he was sick. He just say there and played with that little blue toy car of his." He said and then wondered if it was a mistake to say that.

Ryan listened to what Thomas's father said. He was still worried about Thomas but at least Alex would finally get the help that he needed. He heard what was said about Greg and he had to fight to keep the tears back. "Little blue car?" He said and then dug around in the pocket of his jeans before he pulled a small toy car out. "He..gave it to me the day that he died. He told me that he didn't need it anymore." He said quietly before looking at the ground.

[Jeanette Panagiotou]

She was about to go chase after him when she realized that he was about to storm into the nurses station, but then Thomas's dad walked in and she froze where she was for a moment. She looked away and sat up on the couch then pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her knees and laid her head down on her knees looking at Mr. Dehart for a moment before she burried her face into her knees to keep herself calm. The music on the tv helped to keep her calm.

She looked up to Mr. Dehart at the mention of Greg. She looked over at Ryan and saw his expression. It made her want to go over and comfort him, but she knew how it was when you were trying to hide how you really felt. She looked back to Mr. Dehart. "How much longer will we be waiting?" She asked gently yet her voice still sounded a little shaky. Her green eyes looked at Thomas's father then looked down at her knees hoping it wouldn't be much longer till she saw Thomas. She could slowly feel the walls of the waiting room creeping closer and closer. She was starting to wish they had stayed in the hallway waiting area instead of in here, but she wasn't sure she would be able to take in the whole hospital scean without having some kind of panic or anxiety attack.

[Ryan Andrews]

"We shouldn't be waiting that much longer. Since they were just about done with everything when I left. We could probably go over to where he was before right now. Since I'm positive that they'll let the two of you through if you're with me." Mr. Dehart said before he stood up and looked over to where Ryan was. He could tell that he was upset not to mention he still hadn't put the car away yet and he was just staring at it. He made his way over to where Ryan was and then put his hand on his shoulder briefly. "You made his life be a happy one. But I'm sure that Thomas is wanting somebody around him right now. Since once he gets his strength back then somebody's going to have to make sure he doesn't try and get out of the hospital. Since if you remember he tried that the last time. And he might have succeeded if it wasn't for you keeping him in." He said and then his eyes wandered over to where Jeanette was. "I do have to admit, when my son told me he had a girlfriend I didn't think that it would be one like you. Well, at least you don't have a nose ring like the last one did. Seriously, he picked a good one this time and I think that he'd probably listen to you more then anybody else." He said as he began to make his way out of the room and down the hallway, he knew that the two of them would probably follow him.

Ryan listened to what was being told to him but he couldn't get rid of the sad feeling. He heard what was being said to Jeanette and he managed to smile a bit. He could remember the last girlfriend that Thomas had and she had even scared him a bit. Luckily their relationship had only lasted a few days. "Jeanette, I really don't want to go there by myself. But if you want to stay down here for some reason I'll stay down here with you." He said even though he knew that she would probably want to go with them to wherever Thomas was. Because he needed all of the comfort he could get right now since he could understand the fear the he probably was feeling. Since he probably was wondering what was happening to him and where everybody was. He just hoped that he would end up being alright.

((I'm tired so I'm off to bed))