|Eight|

•Week Four• (2)

(Ignore spelling mistakes. I am sensitive.

Also this chapter is kinda just fluff......... So.....)

Jack took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.
I could tell it wasn't working, and I needed to do something to stop his worry. I quickly grabbed his hand to try and show some comfort.

He briefly looked up at me in surprise, but quickly broke eye contact. His hands slightly trembled.

"w-who broke into my room?-"

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to pull away.

I held tightly to his hand, trying to let him know I was there for him. "Jack, it's okay. It's all okay, you're overthinking this."

Jack couldn't keep his breathing even. "But- whoever took it has access to the  poison, and if the killer was in this building, they could be the one that took my-"

My heart sank. He was right, whoever snuck into his room now has dangerous poison. Whoever took it also must have some medical experience, or just dumb luck.

Room 100....

Was the killer a doctor here? No, I don't think so. There wasn't any clues or anything pointing to a doctor.

"Calm down. Just focus on the now, okay? The poison is gone. I don't care who has it now, all I care about is the fact that you're finally safe."

Jack's eyes welled up with tears, but they didn't fall. He looked up at me hesitantly, giving a small smile. 
"But the killer might try to use it on someone.... they're going to murder someone, and it's m-my fault-"

"What?" I slipped my hand out of his grip, and instead sat down next to him on the hospital bed. I pulled him close into a gentle hug.
"It's not your fault, and it isn't Ryan's fault. We can stop the killer, I know we can."

I didn't know what I was saying anymore, I just wanted to help him. I wanted to take his worry and panic away.
Jack and Ryan didn't deserve any of this, I needed to get them away from everything. Somewhere safe they could stay.

That would be nice, but at this point, I couldn't trust anyone.

......... Well, there was one person I knew that could deal with their bullshit.

I sighed, hopefully she'll pick up this time. Maybe with Jack and Ryan somewhere safe, I could find the killer on my own. The idea was dangerous and risky, and obviously stupid, but it was better than them being in danger.

Anything was better than that.

Jack slowly accepted my hug, and soon his breathing began to even out.
I didn't want to call Alba just yet since Jack needed me at the moment.

After several minutes of silence, Ryan woke up. He groggily sat up and yawned, and when he saw the cuddle party that was going on, he immediately jumped onto the bed and snuggled into a comfortable position.

"aaAH!" Jack scooted closer to the side I was on so Ryan wouldn't crush him.

The hospital bed was small, so we were all kind of cramped. I didn't mind, it was sort of healing.... Being with my brothers was the best thing in the world, and after all the shit we've gone through these past couple days, simply holding them closely was all I needed.

Ryan shifted uncomfortably, trying to get in a nice position.

Jack sighed in annoyance. "Ry, you're taking up the whole bed."

"Well, if you'd just get your head off my pillow then-"

"Your pillow? This is my hospital bed!" Jack retorted.

Ryan frowned, showing his signature pouty face. I rolled my eyes at them, but didn't say anything.
I just let them argue their issues out, like I always do.

"These are my fucking blankets, too!"

"I'm cold!"

"Use Adam as a blanket, I don't care."

Ryan turned to me, exasperated. "Jack's being a dickhead-"

"That's not new," I interrupted, which earned a shove from Jack that almost pushed me off the bed.

"-and since I'm cold, I guess we'll just have to start our own cuddle party away from mister 'this is my pillow' and 'this is my blanket'" Ryan said the last part in a mocking tone.

"I don't sound like that!" Jack whined, but couldn't hold back a small laugh.

I shrugged. "Alright." And began to get up, but was stopped by Jack.

"Fine!" He said, grabbing Ryan and I. "I'll share my pillows and blankets, just... Don't leave me right now."

I smiled sympathetically at him. Of course I wasn't actually thinking of abandoning him.

I'd never do that.

At least not right now. What I was planning to do wasn't me abandoning them, it was me protecting them. Alba would keep them safe, and I doubt the killer knew anything about her.

I slightly sighed, looking to my side where Jack and Ryan were trying to see who could fit the most pillow in their mouth.

Yeah, I was doing this for them. Maybe they wouldn't like it, but at this point I didn't care.

~

Once they were both fast asleep, I pulled myself away from their snoozing forms.

I tiptoed out of the room and immediately pulled out my phone, calling Alba.

It rang exactly twice before she picked up. "What's up, Adam?" She asked, surprisingly bubbly.

It took me a minute to find my voice, and when I spoke it was hoarse and broken. "I need you to.... I need you to take care of Jack a-and Ryan."

There was a pause. "What? Why? Is something wrong?"

"Kind of.... They just really need rest and somewhere to stay, and there's no one else I know that can put up with them."

I heard her faint chuckle on the other end. "Yeah, I got ya. Should I pick them up, or...?"

"Yes," I quickly said. "We're at the hospital."

She responded faster this time. "Why?!"

"Calm down, Jack was being 'too careful' but he's fine. I just really need someone to watch both of them."

I could hear her sigh in relief.

"Okay, I understand better now. I'll come pick them up, okay?"

I smiled a little, glad my "plan" was working.

"Great, thank you."

"No problem!"

After we said our goodbyes, I hung up and slipped my phone back into my pocket. I was so glad I had someone I could trust, and hopefully she could keep them from doing something stupid.

And now that that was over with, I needed to visit room 100.

Maybe it was stupid going alone. Well, actually, it was the dumbest thing I've ever done. It could be a trap set by the killer, but since Ryan and Jack wouldn't be there to get hurt, I didn't care.

I walked back into Jack's hospital room to find both of them still softly asleep, and I couldn't help but smile.

They'd understand what I'm trying to do.

I hoped they would.