Diamond in the Rough

The ringing doorbell wakes her from a pleasant dream, half-asleep she glances at the alarm clock on her bedside unit and feels panic rise in her chest. It's gone two-thirty in the morning and someone is at the front door. Fiona pulls on her robe and grabs the baseball bat she had tucked away in her wardrobe. Quickly she goes downstairs and turns on the hallway light. Whoever is waking her at this time of night better have a damn good reason. It comes to her that it may be some addict or drunk trying to seek shelter for the night or some burglar who is waiting to pounce on her and ransack her home. Even if the person's intentions is to rob her, she won't go down without a fight.
In one fluid motion she opens the front door, the bat poised and ready to hit whoever is standing on her doorstep. Fiona drops the bat and puts her hand to her mouth.
Jem is standing there, holding his ribs and leaning against the railing. He's covered in blood and by the looks of things, it's his own.

"Hey, sweetheart" he says before collapsing.

Freaked out, she calls an ambulance.

Doug literally runs down the corridor and grabs one of the nurses who is leading a patient to one of the treatment rooms.

"I'm looking for James Coughlin" he says breathlessly.

The nurse gives him a blank look and tells him to report to the booking in desk.
Doug urgently looks around the busy waiting room, drumming his fingers on the chest high desk as the receptionist finishes a call. He repeats the name and she checks on the computer.

"Doug!" Fiona says loudly, walking quickly towards him.

"Hey. What's going on?" He asks, full of concern and worry."How's Jem?"

"I don't know. They've taken him to the x-ray department. He's been attacked" she replies, her nerves bunching up.

"Shit" Doug runs his fingers through his short, scruffy hair. He had been in bed when she had called.

"I've never seen so much blood"

Doug leads her to an empty seat and takes the seat next to her.

"He'll be alright. You know our Jem" he says confidently.

"Exactly. What's he gotten into, Doug?"

Doug tells her that he has no idea. He doesn't even want to begin to guess why someone decided to beat the shit out of him. It surprises him that Jem allowed it in the first place.

"Thank you for coming" Fiona says.
She's on the edge of her seat, scared and worried.

"Don't worry about it. Did he say anything?"

"A couple of words. That's it and then he keeled over. He looked such a mess" She rubs her hands together and realises that Jem's blood has dried in from when she was holding the wound on his head.

"I'm gonna see if I can find out what's going on. I'll be back in a minute" Doug says and walks off to find someone.

Five minutes later he returns.

"Well?"

"They're stitching up his head. Come on" he motions towards the double doors that lead to the treatment pods.

Jem is sitting up on the hospital bed, topless and badly battered. His chest and ribs are angry shades of purples and reds. Deep gashes are over his lip and bridge of his nose, his left eye completely closed and badly bruised. A deeper cut over his eyebrow is crusting over while the nurse stitches the laceration on his head.

"You okay?" Doug asks as Jem winces.

"Fuckin peachy" he replies sarcastically.

"What has the doctor said?" Fiona asks quickly. Jem spits out a mouthful of bloody saliva into the vomit bowl that's in his lap.

"A few broken ribs" the nurse begins."His left eye is just nasty, cracked jawbone and cheekbone. The rest is just deep cuts and lots of bruising. We need to keep him in for obs because of the head injury"

"Like fuck you are" Jem replies and grabs his jaw. He has to admit he's really fucking sore.

"Hey. You just got worked over. Do as you're told" Doug scolds him which the nurse chuckles at.

"So, what happened?" Fiona asks.

"A few guys jumped me" Jem answers and gives Doug a look that says he'll fill him in later.

"Have you called the police?"

"No way" Jem tries to sit up and winces, clutching his bandaged ribs."No cops"

The nurse cuts the last piece of thread and wraps a bandage around his head and puts on sticky stitches to the gash over his eye. She says she'll come back with something for the pain.

"You could have been killed" Fiona protests."You could be lying in the morgue right this minute"

"I'm alright. It looks worse than it is"

Fiona mumbles something in frustration.

"Maybe you can talk sense into him" she says to Doug and walks off, mumbling something about getting some air.

When the coast is clear Doug takes this opportunity to find out what really happened.

"Who did it?"

"Alex Colazzo and three of his buddies. Fuckin dead men" Jem vows.

"Christ" Doug rubs his face "What they hit you with?"

"Metal poles. I swear when I get outta here they're headin' for the harbour."

Doug nods. Normally he wouldn't condone such violence, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"I'll take care of it"

"You fuckin better. No pussying out on me, right?" Jem groans and touches his jaw. He's sure he's missing a couple of teeth.

"Right" Doug agrees and gives Fiona a warm smile when she returns with a bottle of water. "I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"

Jem nods and waves him off as the nurse returns with a syringe of morphine. Soon he won't be feeling anything.

"Where's my t-shirt?" He asks, trying to look around for it.

"You're staying right where you are. At least for tonight" the nurse says.
Jem shakes his head in disapproval.

"Please, just for me" Fiona grabs his hand and gives him a sympathetic smile. Like a charm it works and he agrees to stay the night and promises it will only be for one night.