The Lies He Spoke

TWENTY NINE

BLAKE 

Blake stayed with Andy into the morning in an eerily similar situation to how Andy had stayed with him when Logan had been in the hospital. The main difference was, Andy's sister had taken the drugs on purpose.

Blake sat outside in the waiting chairs in the lobby of the hospital floor. Andy hadn't wanted him to go inside his sister's room, and he respected that. He was deep into Elijah's case report when Andy walked over and sat down in a chair next to him.

He sprawled himself across the chair, long limbs splayed over the armrests and one leg up on another chair. He looked dead tired.

"How is she?" Blake asked.

"She's fine," he said quietly. Michelle, Andy's sister, had woken up a while ago. Andy had stayed with her most of the morning, only leaving periodically to talk to someone from the rehabilitation center over the phone or speak with the doctors.

"Did they find out what she took?"

"Coke. And a lot of it." Andy slid down in the seat, his long legs dragging on the floor. "I have no idea how she got that much."

"I hope they get the people that gave it to her. That's crazy."

"I don't know if they will," Andy said dejectedly. "She can hardly remember anything. She just keeps talking about the beach and some lady with the eyeliner and snake tattoos."

Blake sat straight up.

He must have misheard. There was no way.

"Did you say snake tattoos?"

Andy nodded. "Why?"

Blake swallowed. This was exactly what had been going on in Olivia's neighborhood. Was their gang ring so large that it encompassed the entire country?

"Did she say - did she say where she bought the coke?"

"She said something about a beach. Pontchartrain beach?" Andy glanced at him curiously. "Why are you asking?"

Blake again had the urge to spill everything to Andy, or better yet, talk to his sister and get more information about where she had been, who she had talked to. If those men had been after Olivia, and now they were dealing cocaine here in New Orleans, they were definitely involved in Elijah's arrest. They were still a danger to them.

But he was not going to put that on Andy. Not when he had just calmed down after his sister's escape and overdose.

"No reason. Forget about that. How are you?"

Andy's eyes were red and puffy. His nose was red too. He looked completely miserable. "I know you're not supposed to give up on family, but sometimes -" His voice broke and he dragged a hand up his forehead into his hair, pushing it up and backwards. "Sometimes....I don't know what I'm doing."

"Do you need a hug?" Blake said.

"Yeah, I think I do."

Blake was surprised by his response. He was not used to people being forthright about it, and he had been prepared to use all of his Logan-tactics on Andy. He was glad Andy wasn't pushing him away.

He hugged him tightly, reminded of all the times he had felt dispirited and shaken when Logan hurt himself. He knew something of what Andy felt. He could only hope that being there for Andy would give him the will to keep hoping it would get better.

"I'm sorry for being a jerk last night," Andy said, his voice muffled against Blake's shoulder.

"You were worried," Blake said. "You were really scared. It's understandable."