All or Nothing

Chapter Four

Beep. Hmm?

Beep. What's going on?

Beep. And what the hell is that beeping noise?

Green eyes slowly opened and Elena frowned as her eyes looked around the room that she was in. The beeping was coming from one of the monitors standing next to her.

Where am I? She wondered as she forced herself to sit up, wincing at the stiffness of her muscles. Suddenly, the events from before flashed through her head. "Ben." She gasped, wondering if he was alright.

"Still asleep. So is Sue." A voice remarked from the doorway of the room. Reed walked in with a small smile on his face. "How do you feel?"

"Sore." Elena replied before asking, "How is everyone?"

"They're all fine." Reed assured her quickly, noticing the worry that was evident on his friend's face.

Elena fell back against the pillows on the bed with a sigh of relief, her face relaxing slightly. "What exactly happened?" She asked after a moment, looking back at Reed again.

A guilty look crossed Reed's face. "I honestly don't know. The cloud just…started accelerating. Ever since I woke up here, I've been going over the calculations multiple times and there was nothing indicating that something like that would have happened."

Elena sighed, knowing that Reed was probably blaming himself for what had happened. "Don't worry, Reed. If what you said before was the truth, then everyone is fine. No one was permanently maimed."

"Though I think some of the personnel here were afraid of being murdered after a certain short tempered woman was shouting at them since they wouldn't allow her entry into the building." Reed remarked dryly after a moment.

"Short tempered woman….Jess?" Elena blinked rapidly. "How the hell did she know we were here? And where is here, by the way?"

"We're at one of Victor's private medical facilities. However, I honestly don't know the answer to the first question." The scientist responded, still slightly scared from the dark looks that Jess had sent him when he had checked to see what all of the commotion had been about. "She did leave though after the man she came with forcibly dragged her away before she murdered anyone. However, she did manage to leave you that first." He nodded to the nightstand next to the hospital bed.

On it was a mini bouquet of roses and a note that was lying next to her.

Elena arched an eyebrow in amusement as the roses. It was an inside joke between the two from back when Elena had surgery on her arm.

Jess had visited her at the hospital and Elena had joked about how you were supposed to bring the patient flowers. Jess had replied that the only time she would ever get Elena flowers would be for the redhead's funeral.

Elena assumed this meant that Jess wanted to kill her.

"How the hell did she get here though?" The woman whispered under her breath confused before sighing and shaking her head. It was best not to think about it too much because she would have only become more confused if she tried to figure it out. Jess was an enigma, most of the time.

Sometimes, the redhead wondered how the heck they had become friends anyway. To this day, it still puzzled her.

"I'm going to go check on Sue." Reed told Elena, who nodded.

"Alright. See you in a little bit." Elena replied and Reed left the room.

Sighing, Elena grabbed the note Jess had left her and opened it while silently wondering if she should be scared about whatever it said.

The note was short and simple, two things that Jess definitely wasn't. It said "Get better soon! Love ya, Jess".

"Reading a love note from your boyfriend?" Elena heard someone remark, causing her to look up at Johnny who shut the door behind him.

"What are you doing in here?" She questioned with an eyebrow raised. "And why are you shutting the door?"

He flashed her a mischievous grin. "I'm hiding from the big guy."

"What did you do?" Elena asked with a raised eyebrow, looking at him amused.

"Me?" He looked at her innocently. "Nothing." However, his snicker at the end of "nothing" gave him away. "So…what does he look like?"

"Who? Ben?" Elena looked at him as if she thought he seriously needed his head examined.

Johnny rolled his eyes. "Not Benji. Your boyfriend."

Elena furrowed her eyebrows confused. "Boyfriend?" She echoed, wondering what the hell he was talking about. She hadn't had a boyfriend since…yeah, he was definitely not someone she wanted to think about otherwise she might commit a murder.

It was Johnny's turn to look at her as if she was stupid. "You know, the one who left you the flowers." He arched an eyebrow. "Jess, right?"

Elena blinked. "You saw the note?"

"Earlier when Reed dropped it off, yeah." Johnny replied.

A second later, Elena fully processed what Johnny had said before. Jess? Johnny obviously hadn't been around when Jess had caused the disturbance earlier. Especially if he thought Jess was a guy.

A smirk crossed Elena's lips as she decided to play along. If Johnny thought Jess was a guy and her boyfriend, then why should she correct him? It would give her and Ben something to laugh at for a while. She silently wondered what Jess would say once she told her that someone thought she was a guy. "What about him?"

"What does he look like? I bet he's butt ugly." Johnny remarked smugly, causing Elena to arch an eyebrow.

This was going to be fun, she could tell. "Definitely not."

"But, of course, he's incomparable to my devilish looks." Johnny grinned, winking at the redhead.

"Of course." Elena replied amused. "He would win hands down."

"Come skiing with me and I'll make you forget all about this Jess guy." Johnny flirted, winking at Elena which actually caused her cheeks to redden.

"No thanks." Elena stated, shaking her head exasperated with the man. There was absolutely no way possible to get him to stop flirting with her, even when he was under the delusion that she was dating someone else already.

"Come on." Johnny complained. "This place is boring, plus," His grin came back. "If you come with me, we'll be off where no one can see us."

"Sounds like the perfect invitation to getting murdered by a serial killer, a.k.a. you." Elena responded. "Now can you please get out so I can change my clothes?"

"I can't watch?" Johnny stuck out his lower lip in an attempt at pouting. Unfortunately for him, the door to the room happened to open right at that time. Also, to add to his bad luck, was the fact that the person was Ben.

Elena's older brother looked at Johnny, his eyebrow twitching. "Are you serious, kid?"

Busted. The redhead thought amused, wondering if she was going to have to hide a dead body after all.

"Uh, hey big guy." Johnny laughed nervously. "What's up?"

"Last chance." Ben stated, glaring at him more out of annoyance than actual anger.

"Gotcha." Johnny smirked. "So Benji, did you know that your sister has a boyfriend?" Elena blinked alarmed, wondering where Johnny was going with this.

Ben looked at Elena with an eyebrow raised. "Damn it Elena, I thought you were smarter than agreeing to go out with the likes of him." He stated frustrated while pointing at Johnny.

"Wait, what?" Elena stared at her brother. "You have got to be kidding me."

"I should be the one saying that! I thought you hated the guy." Ben remarked, crossing his arms and looking at his sister disappointed.

"Standing right here. Just saying." Johnny remarked, grinning in amusement. He silently wondered why Ben had automatically assumed that he had been talking about himself.

"Ben!" Elena stated exasperated, not sure if she should be laughing or shouting at her brother for his obvious moment of stupidity. "I am not dating Jonathan Storm and never will, okay?"

"A little harsh, don't you think?" The blonde remarked, frowning. As before, he was ignored. Being ignored was really starting to annoy him. He crossed his arms childishly and turned his head away from them. "Fine. If you guys don't want to talk to me, I'll just leave." Still no response. "Seriously?"

"You're not?" Ben questioned surprised. "Oh, good." He smirked. "I knew I raised you to use your head."

"Once again, can hear everything you're saying. Just letting you know." Johnny remarked.

"Oh, I thought you left already." Elena said, looking at the blonde with a blank face. She did her best not to laugh at his expression.

"Since I'm clearly not wanted, I'm going to go skiing with that hot nurse instead." He smirked. "She clearly recognizes a good thing when she sees it."

"Then why would she agree to go with you then?" Elena smirked.

Johnny rolled his eyes and went toward the door. "See you guys later." He winked at Elena before walking out, shutting the door behind him.

Elena smiled slightly, shaking her head amused. There were times when Johnny was annoying, and then there were the times when he was just plain amusing. However, 'annoying' and 'amusing' often ended up blending together into downright 'irritating'. This time, however, was not the case.

"What's the guy's name?" Ben questioned once Johnny had left the room, taking a seat in the chair next to Elena's bed.

"Jess." The redhead stated dryly, silently taking satisfaction in the surprised look that appeared on her brother's face as he was rendered speechless.

Ben blinked several times as he stared at his younger sister. Finally, he managed to regain the ability to speak. "Jess as in that spitfire friend of yours? Jessica? That Jess?"

Elena laughed. "That would be the one. Though I wouldn't call her Jessica to her face, she hates being called that."

"But its her name." He stated bluntly, arms crossed.

"And she hates it, hence 'Jess'." Elena rolled her eyes at her brother. Of course there was a reason that Jess hated being called by her full first name, but there was no way in hell Elena would tell anyone what it was.

Finally fully recovered from his surprise, Ben arched an eyebrow at her. "Why does Blondie think your dating Jess?"

"Because he's an idiot?" The green eyed woman guessed with a shrug, silently wondering the same thing. "Don't ruin it by telling him the truth, though. I want to see how long I can drag this out."

Ben shook his head. "Whatever, as long as you don't involve me in this I don't care."

Elena shrugged. "Fine with me, but make sure you refer to Jess as a guy otherwise game over."

Ben rolled his eyes at his sister. "Fine, now hurry up and get dressed. We have some matchmaking to do."

Matchmaking? Elena's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "What do you mean?"

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Elena was glad to be back in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Looking out from the little patio space they were standing on that overlooked the small area, she had to admit that the area was beautiful.

She glanced at Ben and Reed. Despite the fact she was usually against matchmaking, she had to admit that it would be great if Sue and Reed really did get back together. However, she didn't have much hope that it would actually happen. I mean, this is Reed we're talking about, after all. He's a great guy but…not exactly the best at admitting how he feels. Hence the reason Sue had broken up with him originally.

Nonetheless however, Elena really did want the two back together.

"How long was I out?" Ben inquired looking at his friend, who looked over at him.

Reed sighed. "Three days. I was worried about you." He looked at Elena. "Both of you."

"Maybe that's why some of your hair has gone grey." The youngest of the three replied, her eyebrow raised in a teasing manner and her eyes glinting with mischief.

"Maybe." Reed stated, humoring Elena before looking back at Ben. "How are you feeling?"

"Solid." Ben replied, still grinning slightly from what Elena had said. The grin faded away to a serious look as he studied Reed. "How about you?"

Reed shook his head and turned his attention back to his laptop. Elena frowned. "I don't know. I just keep going over and over the numbers."

"Reed." Ben stated as he crossed his arms. "Even you can't compute every little thing."

"Yeah." Elena agreed, mimicking her brother as she crossed her arms as well. "It was a freak accident. It's not your fault. If anything, blame nature."

Reed shook his head, not willing to accept that there wasn't something that he could have done that would have prevented the whole thing from happening. "I should have done more, run more tests-"

Ben stepped closer to Reed and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Like Elena said, it was a freak of nature. Last I checked, you don't have a crystal ball. Let it go." Reed frowned as if he was considering Ben and Elena's words. However after a moment, he returned his attention to his laptop causing Elena to sigh and Ben to shake his head.

A thought pops into Ben's head as he notices Sue who was down on a lower level patio. He nudged Elena slightly and nodded towards the blonde woman. Looking at him in confusion, Elena wondered what Ben was trying to tell her.

Ben hid a groan at Elena's cluelessness before he turned his attention back to Reed and said, "You go through something like this, makes you appreciate having the right woman in your life." Elena's mouth opened in a silent "oh", causing Ben to sigh thinking, now she gets it.

Reed gave the man a small smile, saying, "Yeah, you and Debbie are perfect."

Ben let out an annoyed sigh. "Reed, I'm not talking about Debbie."

Reed followed Ben's gaze to Susan, who was currently unaware of the attention being brought to her. "What? Come on. She's got a good thing with Victor."

The redhaired woman shook her head, knowing how dense her friend was to the fact that Sue obviously still had feelings for him. "Victor, the guy who would sell his own mother for the right price." She stated with an eyebrow raised.

Reed looked at his two friends and said, "He's smart, powerful, successful-"

"Well maybe you should date him then." Ben retorted, interupting Reed before the man could go through the long list of qualities Reed had been about to go into.

"Ménage à trois." Elena couldn't help but murmur under her breath at the random thought that had trickled into her head as a result of her brother's retort. She suddenly shuddered. "Okay, bad mental images. Note to self: buy mind bleach."

Ben leveled her with a look. "One, your not even supposed to know what that means." Elena gave him a look that said she was no longer a child and was indeed an adult, despite the fact that the only reason she knew what it meant was because she had taken French for four years in high school. "And two," Ben looked at Reed, "did that cosmic cloud thing loosen a few of those screws in your head?"

Reed looked at Ben with a resigned look on his face. "Guys, he'll give her the life she deserves. She ended up with the right guy. Things worked out for the best." With that said, Reed walked off leaving an exasperated Ben and Elena.

Ben threw his arms up in the air annoyed. "Do I have to do everything myself?"

The redhead arched an eyebrow. "I assume I suddenly became chop liver or something?"

Ben rolled his eyes before beginning to walk away, "Just bring Egghead to the dining hall in an hour." He called back to her before disappearing back into the building.

Frowning, everything soon became clear to Elena when she saw Ben appear on the patio below, talking with Susan. A smirk crossed her lips. This could be fun, she thought before going off to find Reed.

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Elena glanced at the time and saw that she had an hour before the time she had promised to meet Reed for dinner in the dining hall. Taking out her cell phone that she had finally gotten back from the security at the facility, Elena hesitated before hitting a button on her phone and putting it to her ear. Seconds later, a furious voice picked up on the other line.

"Took you long enough!" Jess growled. "The stupid people at that fucking hospital wouldn't tell me what had happened or if you were okay!"

"I'm fine, Jess." Elena rolled her eyes, knowing Jess well enough to know that the cause of Jess's anger was because the woman had been worried, not that Jess would ever admit to that fact though. Also, Jess hated being told what she could and couldn't do, hence her anger towards the employees at the facility. "Calm down."

"I am calm." Jess retorted in a slightly calmer tone. "See? This is the face of a person who is perfectly calm."

"Considering I can't see your face…" Elena trailed off, rolling her eyes. She heard Jess let out a long sigh on the other end.

"Are you really okay?" The ravenhaired woman questioned quietly.

"If I wasn't, would I be able to talk to you right now?" Elena questioned, doing her best not to roll her eyes again since she knew her friend had honestly been worried.

"Probably not." Jess remarked. Elena heard a voice in the background but couldn't make out the words being said. "I've got to go. Try not to get killed by a hippolatamus, 'kay?"

Elena blinked confused. "Hippo-what?" What the hell was a hippolatamus?

"It's a hippopotamus that has a mustache and fangs, among other things."

An amused look appeared on Elena's face. "I'm concerned about the future sanity of your students."

"Sanity is overrated." Jess replied matter-of-factly. "Now I've really got to go."

"Talk to you later." Elena remarked, still trying to figure out how the hell Jess had come up with the word hippolatamus.

"Yeah…oh, and I'm glad you didn't die." Jess stated the last part in an upbeat tone, causing Elena to laugh.

"Thanks."