For the Sake of Saving Us

"Stop being obtuse."

"Says the guy who just used the word obtuse." Jack snarks back, re-crossing his legs as he leans back in the chair, running his hands through his hair as he trains his gaze back onto the sound board in front of him.

"I just don't see the point of messing with it."

"Just change the line, see how it sounds. I'm not asking you to keep it."

"But then I have to change the tempo. If we keep going at this rate then we'll never finish this album in time."

"We've got months. This will take half an hour, tops."

Alex's phone rings before he can argue with Jack anymore, Marky's name and the Glamour Kills logo flashing onto his screen when he looks and he holds a hand up as he gestures that he's going out of the room to take the call.

"Hey bro. I don't mean to be rude, but I'm in the middle of a jam session so can I call you back in like, an hour?"

"Alex, man. You gotta come here." Marky sounds in a panic, out of breath.

"What?" He laughs, despite the confusion, "Are you drunk?"

"It's Poppy."

Alex feels his face drop and the humour goes from his voice, "What about her?"

"She's in the hospital."

"She's what?!" Alex immediately panics, "Marky-."

"She was attacked."

"What? Who the-."

"Rick."

"How the fuck did he find her?" Alex feels like he's dreaming, like everything that's been said in the past five minutes, is his brain completely fucking with him.

"We're in Chicago. He followed her back to my apartment. Jumped her once she got inside."

"Oh shit. How is she?" Alex would ask for more details later, but for now, he had to calm his racing heart.

"She's beat up. They think he might have broken her leg, a couple ribs. Something is wrong with her shoulder too, I don't-. They're still looking her over right now."

"You really think I should come?" He can't make any sense of why Mark seems to have rung him first, especially after all the shit that had happened between him and the girl a few months back.

He still cared, but she had family that were so much closer than he was.

"It can't do any harm. I'm worried about how this is gonna affect her... Mentally."

"I'm not sure I'm the one to help with that, Mark. I'll send Jack. I'll ring her Mum, pass on your number."

"I need someone with me that won't make light of this, that can handle this. The police are involved and I need someone here who can talk some sense into her. She listens to you. I'm scared she'll back out somehow."

"But it's not like we've talked in the last, what, month-."

"Forget all that crap. Look, she's not speaking to her Mum, and as much as I know I should ring her, I know she won't want her here, not at the moment, and Jack, as much as he means well, just, no. I need you here, man, I can not deal with this alone."

"Fine, yeah, okay. I'll see when I can get a flight out. Oh fuck, I just- Keep me updated, OK? Tell me she's going to be OK?"

The thought of his, no not anymore, not his, but Poppy, broken, beaten in a hospital bed, wrenches at his heart in a way nothing else can.
Despite all the shit he's said, and how she's blatantly ignored him, his love for her? Yeah, it was never going away, he was pretty sure of that by now. He'd spent months trying to drown the feeling with strong spirits and meaningless fucks.

-----

It's a rush to explain to everyone why he's just ordered Matt to purchase him a one-way ticket to Chicago as soon as humanely possible, and maybe he tells a few white lies as to why Mark says only he can go see the girl.

Jack ends up a panic, Rian having to basically yell to catch his attention and calm him down, to regulate his breathing and stop the pacing.

Her cousin doesn't understand his need to see her for himself or why he can't go along as well, but he tires of the argument quick enough, just as long as Alex promised to keep him updated.

-----

It's not a long fly time, between LA and Chicago, but as they hurtle towards their destination, Alex minds constantly drifts to how Poppy had looked when Rick last got his hands on her, the scratches and bruises on her face, the faint line of fingers across her throat, and the array of discolouring on her arms from where'd he'd grabbed at her.

As far as he knew, she'd never been hospitalised because of him, turning his worry into despair over how bad her injuries must be for her to require a stay.

-----

"I don't think you're understanding me here. I need to see her."

"As I've said, Mr... Gavscarf, was it? We have a strict relatives only policy with patients in those wards."

Alex doesn't get angry that often, but the mix of exhaustion and anxiety is beginning to take it's toll on him and all he wants this nurse to do is allow him through the doors to the corridor where he knows Poppy is.

The flight had been... testing. He'd been put on standby, unable to buy an actual ticket. The first flight out had been full and it had been two hours until the next one was due to depart. Thankfully on that plane, there'd been a few extra seats and he'd squeezed into coach last minute.
He was squished, typically, in a middle seat, the guys on each side of him bustling business men, their entire time spent tapping away at an annoying pace on their laptops.

He'd never been more glad to arrive in Chicago.

"Alex..." Marky suddenly appears, looking worse for wear and gestures him through, "Sandra, this is the fiancé I was talking about."

"Well, why didn't he just say?! Silly boy. Go through."

Alex tries to wipe the gob-smacked look off his face as Marky grabs his arm and pulls him through onto the quiet ward, "Just go with it, yeah? They think I'm her brother."

"What?" Alex is just fucking confused now, following after Mark as he marches past more nurses stations until he stops outside a semi-private ward.

"It's the only way they'd let me stay. Just, don't fuck up." Marky doesn't move from his spot, running a hand over his tired eyes, "I gotta warn you, she looks, worse, than she did when it happened. The bruising, it's just..."

"Is she, awake?"

"Occasionally, but never for long. Twenty minutes or so. She was asleep when I left her." He shrugs, "She's in the right-hand bed. I'll leave you with her. You want a coffee?"

"Yeah, black." Alex offers a small smile, "Thanks."

Marky heads back the way they came, leaving Alex to try and collect himself and walk quietly to the curtains pulled across the right bed.

Poppy is nothing but a mess. There's no nicer way of putting it. Her face a mish-mash of colours, her lip swollen, a butterfly stitch over her left eyebrow and on her cheekbone. Her right is similarly swollen and blue. Her left arm is in a sling, hugged to her chest.
There's a breathing mask tucked under chin, and Alex wonders if her ribs are damaged like Marky had suggested.

"How much of a mess am I in, for you to be here?" Alex flinches at the gravely voice, meeting Poppy's eyes, one of them barely opening against the swelling, "I'm guessing I don't look so hot."

He tries to ignore the fact she's trying to make light of the situation, taking the seat by her bed, "How are you feeling?"

"Morphine is amazing. " She tries a smile but quickly pulls it back with a whine of pain.

"This isn't a fucking joke."

She blanches and tears fill her eyes and Alex just gives in. He couldn't deal with this. He thought he might handle seeing her like this, convince himself that the bruises would fade and the bones would heal, but it's the other damage he couldn't stand. Not so long ago, she wouldn't have let him speak to her like that, she'd have snapped straight back, made him leave, but the fact she'd flinched like he was going to hurt her himself - that felt like a stab to the heart.

This was months of shit she didn't deserve, all coming to a head with this. With that insignificant smudge on the earth deciding he was going to fuck with her just one more time, for whatever sick pleasure he got out of it.

He had to have known this time something would happen, that when he attacked her so violently that she wasn't just going to take it without a complaint, and that worried him more than anything. His first opinion of Rick after he realised what was happening was that he was a guy who had gotten power mad and felt the need to take it out on Poppy - this was just proof that he clearly thought about these things before he did them.

The only consolation of this whole thing, was at least he would be put away for a while, enough time for Alex to convince Poppy that she needed to get a restraining order of sorts, because if he ever saw him anywhere near her again, he would not be responsible for his actions towards him.

And Alex wasn't a violent person.