Broke Our Promises • •

[John-Paul Calloway]

Everything was black inside JP's head. Nothing stirred in there for two and a half weeks. He didn't dream of the craziest things, or even go through the most mundane things in his mind. It was just an endless darkness after the car tossed his body through the air like a ragdoll. Doctors had seen worse, but they had also seen much better. JP was stuck in a melancholic limbo in both his unconscious state and the reality his body was resting in. All anyone could do was wait. Wait to see if he would heal from the trauma he went through. His brain needed time to heal from swelling and bruising that were less sinister than initially thought, thankfully, but the rest of his body was a mangled mess of bruises, scrapes and breaks. He didn’t know what the file at the foot of his bed read, but it listed three cracked ribs, and explained that the cast around his left arm was for a broken elbow, while his left leg had a fractured tibia. He was banged up pretty bad, but a car against the human skeleton would do that to a person.

JP was clueless though. He had no idea that he was in hospital. He didn't know that he was in a bed with nurses checking his vitals around the clock, and tending to his every need. Drips and drugs were keeping him alive and out of excruciating pain, and he slept through it all because that was deemed best for his recovery. Eventually, doctors began to lessen the meds they were pumping through him, and they expected him to slowly wake up on his own. Then they might start to evaluate if there had been any long term damage, but they were optimistic there would be little, if any. During this time, no one had come from JP's family. They had been notified, of course, as his next of kin and emergency contacts, but his mother and father never made the journey to see their son, even when things were a little scarier about his condition. If JP could talk then he would have told everyone that this wasn't a shocking revelation. His parents weren't the type to worry about anyone but themselves. Still, his room was full of flowers, gifts and cards from the theatre world. He was a modest star, and people who worked with him liked him. News of his accident had shaken them, and if they couldn't visit they had sent get well messages and gifts from London and wherever else they might have been.

Time moved slowly for those waiting to hear anything. He didn't improve suddenly, or have a grand moment of awakening. There was a twitch here and there, a flicker before he slipped back into the deep, dark, abyss he had slept in for over two weeks. JP had to do this on his own. There was no other way about it. His first conscious thought was that the taste was terrible, dry and stale, and then he coughed weakly, choking on the tube held in his mouth as a precaution against the worst of the worst. Then his eyes opened. Well, one did. His right was still slightly swollen over, purple and blue with a nicely healing cut along his cheek bone where he had hit the road. JP was too weak to move, but he coughed again, noticing now that something foreign was in his mouth and he wanted it gone, so he reached up with his free hand, covered in wires and grips, to try to pull at it. He was still groggy, unsure of where he was and what had happened, but he was acting on impulse and clouded thoughts.

• • •

TAGGED! Coty Adelaide Cosette Hale
WORDS! 645!
OUTFIT! Aching Actor!
LYRICS! Forgive And Forget - - - You Me At Six
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Coty Adelaide Cosette Hale]

It was all her fault and Hale knew it. She was the reason JP was full of tubes and wires and stuck in a hospital bed comatose. She was so stupid thinking she could try and make it up to him, show him she wasn't so bad, all things considered. There were a hell of a lot worse out there than a little thief like her. She was a dime a dozen, even if that was a bald faced lie. She was worth a fortune, even if she never broke into another museum, house or bank again. Her forgery skills were so top notch some people still didn't know they were the proud owner of fakes. She was good but not just because she had the skills. She was the best because unlike the rest of the forgers in the world, she didn't put her initials in her work anywhere, she didn't need to. Unlike most of the people in her extremely small circle of forgers, she didn't have that male ego getting in the way. In her line of work, it actually paid to be dick-free. But none of that mattered with JP laid out on a hospital bed with more tubes and wires coming from him and into those ever beeping machines.

She had barely left his side since the ambulance took them both away. She had claimed to be his fiancé and begged to go with them. As distraught as she was, they believed her words to be true and let her settle into the back with one of the paramedics working hard to keep JP alive. Hale had tried to keep quiet while the man did his work and his partner drove them but it was hard to keep the sobs in and Hale knew she'd failed a dozen or so times. The man she had been sitting next to had been intent on his job but the woman driving the ambulance looked at her with pity. Hale knew she'd probably seen the same scene a hundred times though she didn't know if it ever got easier; probably not. It had been easy enough to switch one of her rings to the right finger and just claim she was far from traditional and hadn't wanted the same old boring diamond for her engagement ring. She also made a mental note to start wearing a diamond ring, that it could come in handy.

Hale hated herself for being able to compartmentalise and think about a dozen things all at once. Even in that quiet room, waiting for the doctor to come get her and tell her about JP's condition, she was counting out the exits, keeping time with the security rotations and how many nurses were on the floor, where they were all stationed and how many at any given time were actually at that nurses station. None of it in her mind were enough, it would be too easy to swipe a card, enter that room behind the desk and to the right where all the medications were held and walk out with half the narcotics on the floor. Luckily, Hale was a woman with finer tastes and preferred her thefts worth a hell of a lot more money if she fenced them. She wasn't doing much of anything though. She even said she would try to cut back. She couldn't promise to stop, it was in her blood and she wouldn't deny that. But put it out there that she would consider it at least. Hale spent the days JP was in his coma slipping away whenever a friend stopped in and sleeping, as best she could, in the most uncomfortable chair in the existence of chairs just so she could be there when he woke up. Because he had to wake up. There were no ifs. So she was there, pretending like the arm of the chair wasn't digging into her hip when a noise different than the ones she'd become used to made her open her eyes. Relief at seeing JP moving around swept through her and she was up on her feet and leaning over him in a second. Lightly she pulled his hand away with one of her own even as she reached for the call button. "Shh, don't do that JP. You'll just hurt yourself. The nurse is coming." She said softly before hitting the button again and again until the nurse rushed in.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || John-Paul Calloway
Words || 744
Clothes || Freaked Out Frenchie
Music || Write This Down --George Strait
Notes || <3

[John-Paul Calloway]

JP was somewhat used to spending his time alone. He wasn’t going to be surprised if no one was around when he woke up and realised exactly what had happened after he had walked away from Hale that fateful night. More often than he cared to think about he had wondered about who would be there if he found himself in trouble or suffering with his health. Unfortunately, he always found himself coming back to the same opinion that he would be completely and utterly dependent on himself and no one else. His parents had relied on him and everyone else had simply turned out to be a terrifying disappointment to the young man, who had grown up far too fast for any little boy with big dreams. He was jaded, that much was true, but life had offered very little to change his perspective. Getting hit by a car was actually something JP would probably laugh at in all honestly when he was a little more alert, less doped up on pain meds and not just waking up from a medical coma. If anything bad and unlucky could happen in life he was pretty certain it would happen to him. He worked hard to find a crumb of success, but then it was like something wanted to just come along and bite him hard and remind him that he was merely a puppet who had someone else – someone greater and far more important – pulling his strings.

Fate wasn’t kind to him, but JP wasn’t the type to blame everything on some different cosmic being. He knew if he wanted a better life that he had to work for it, so he did. It was just a complete kick in the teeth when something good turned out to be a lie. JP was all too used to his reality being twisted and warped. The truth was never what it seemed, and people had this tendency to deceive him in some way or another. He felt foolish for believing them, for falling for it time and time again. He thought himself smarter than that. He had known from a young age how manipulative and conniving humans could be; he saw it in his own parents. Nevertheless, he had grown up with a tiny part of him still longing to see the good in everyone. How it had come back to sting him. JP was hurt by everyone who he had ever allowed himself to grow close to, and before the car hit him he was certain that no one else should be allowed to know his intimate secrets, or see the skeletons he kept hidden in the darkest shadows of his closet. Once he understood why there were tubes in his throat and machines monitoring his every organ, he was extremely likely to feel exactly the same way. There was very little chance that this brush with death would be a life changing experience for him. JP wasn’t about to see how much he could have missed out on; he already thought the gods or fates were cruel and twisted for taunting him with what he could have and then snatching it so quickly from him time and time again. This would be no different to the wizened actor, who was frankly tired of these dramatic moments in his life. He longed for quiet already – for boredom and simple routine.

He couldn’t help but glower when he saw Hale, but the effect was probably lost considering the state he was in, both physically and mentally. JP was still completely clueless as to where he was and what was happening, but he could remember enough to know that he was still incredibly angry with everything that had happened between himself and the one time professor. If it were at all possible, he would have been out of that bed and gone in a heartbeat, but as it were, he was weighed down with wires and casts. The nurse came and fidgeted over him, checking vitals and fussing like he was some man child. She left to get a doctor, and JP found himself still wanting to get the tubes out of his throat. He coughed around them, wheezing and hating the taste in his mouth. It was stale and thick, something disgusting like he’d never experienced before. Even though his drug haze he was feeling mad.

• • •

TAGGED! Coty Adelaide Cosette Hale
WORDS! 734!
OUTFIT! Aching Actor!
LYRICS! Forgive And Forget - - - You Me At Six
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Coty Adelaide Cosette Hale]

Hale spent every waking moment there at JP's side or close enough that she could be in the room when the doctor came in. She was about the right age and the doctors and nurses just seemed to assume she was his girlfriend and didn't bother her. In fact, one gave her a pillow and a blanket because she'd fallen asleep in the uncomfortable visitor's chair and was using her coat as a blanket. It was all her fault and Hale was torn up inside over it. She knew he would be mad at her, furious even but she had never thought it would be that bad. Truth was she expected him to run out of her apartment, she expected him to storm away, get his feelings about her in check and maybe see why she hasn't told him. While he'd known her, she hadn't done anything serious, aside from that one trip to Monaco but that hadn't been her fault either. She itched to get to the life, even try bringing JP into it with her. They weren't harming anyone, things were insured and when they weren't, they hadn't belonged there in the first place.

Otherwise she kept to the usual low-key things, picking pockets because she didn't want to draw attention to herself. She missed the life, it had been all she had ever known and if it turned out that she couldn't keep both JP and all she'd ever known, well, then she was going to watch him from afar. She couldn't give it up. She picked his damn pocket every single time they were together. He had to have known deep down something was a little off with the French art professor. Her cousin hadn't given it up and it kind of pissed her off that she'd taken the coward's way out. Sure, he was taking some seedy jobs here and there but their entire life had been cloak and dagger. Nothing they did was ever above board, they were thieves for Christ's sake! But it was all she'd ever known and it was all she had ever wanted from life. When the family went dark with work like that, it had been the hardest decision to make to go clean. It had felt so wrong to attend classes like a normal person, even if she was still checking out the exits and the cameras. She went all her time at school never actually being seen on camera. She had cased all the buildings, all the surrounding areas so she wouldn't be caught on camera. It was how she'd been trained and that kind of skill didn't get dull.

Her feelings on her life hadn't changed after JP's accident, she was still who she'd always been but they did make her think. Hale questioned whether or not she could bring someone into her world or if she would have to forever hide that part of her life. Or if it were possible, have someone who knows what she does and never says a word of it to the outside world. It didn't always work, bringing people in but the whole family had learned after the disaster of 1883 that when you tried, you didn't give your real name until much later. Felix was shipped off after he'd tried to bring a woman into the game and she'd run to the police the second she'd left his sight. Hale didn't want that happening again, and not just because she wouldn't do well in prison but because it wouldn't just break her heart, her family would take a particularly rough hit, too. She knew the rules and she'd tossed them aside for JP and now he might never speak to her again, or worse, run to the police. Hale took a moment as the nurse puttered around to wipe her eyes, knowing JP would only appreciate the tears if he forgot everything that happened between them. "I'm sorry." She whispered once the other woman had left.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || John-Paul Calloway
Words || 668
Clothes || Freaked Out Frenchie
Music || Write This Down --George Strait
Notes || <3

[John-Paul Calloway]

There was pain and stiffness beneath the sedation. JP could feel its heaviness in his limbs. His whole body felt like the muscles had atrophied, and more than anything he wanted to feel that satisfying crack of the spine. Even when he was so far gone on morphine and still muffled with whatever else they had pumped into him, he knew it was not going to be so simple. The light in his room was too bright, and JP could hear something buzzing, which he was sure was the fluorescent strips that flooded the ceiling. No where needed this much light. He had never been on a tanning bed, but this must have been what it looked like. His head was heavy, stuffed, and he was starting to understand just how much pain his body was in. He wanted to sleep, go back to that empty space where nothing existed; not his pain, not this conflict with Hale, and definitely not the emotions and grief of his past. It was impossible though. Everything was uncomfortable from his head right down to his toes.

He couldn’t say anything to Hale because of the tubes in his throat and the struggle it was to breathe. JP wasn’t sure if there was anything to say that he hadn’t said already. He closed his eyes and turned his head away as much as he possibly could – which wasn’t much at all – and wheezed around the ventilator tubing until the doctor came in with the nurse from moments before. After checking the folder, talking between themselves, and JP ignoring as much as possible, he finally felt hands on his body, moving him gently but still enough to make him wince. The doctor sounded a long way away as he spoke about taking the tubing out and letting JP sit up in bed if he felt up to it. JP didn’t feel up to anything, but the tubing gone would be a good thing. He wanted a drink, anything to rid him of the horrible taste and feeling that came from days and days of unbrushed teeth. Overall he felt less than human right now, no better than a puppet as someone else’s hands pulled at the strings that had kept him alive. There was no blue fairy turning him into a real boy, just a coughing fit to prove he was alive, along with the excruciating pain that came with having broken ribs. The nurse fiddled with the drip stand by his bed, but JP didn’t hear her talk about pain management or tell him about the button he could press for more morphine if he needed it. He was too busy learning how to breathe again.

JP realised only one thing in the moments that followed his lungs compensating to the sudden shock of having to work all by themselves. It was like a few weeks with assistance had allowed his body to forget how it had survived for the previous thirty-one years. What he realised was how much he hated being dependent on other people. His whole life JP had been independent, managing by himself as his parents failed miserably at the task of raising a child. Now JP needed support. He needed the nurse to adjust his pillows, the doctor to reposition his broken limbs, and there was no way he could reach or even drink the water from the jug by his bed. Coughing, he reluctantly pointed to it, trying to mime out ‘drink’ to anyone who could see him; even Hale.

• • •

TAGGED! Coty Adelaide Cosette Hale
WORDS! 591!
OUTFIT! Aching Actor!
LYRICS! Forgive And Forget - - - You Me At Six
NOTES! <3 <3 <3