Shark of Spades

Tying Up the Loose Ends

*still in Evan's POV*

I barged into her room, caught up in my emotions, but as soon as I was in, all of my limbs felt slowed down. I was caught up in the extremes, wanting to raze the city to the ground  while simultaneously wanting to sink all of the buildings into the ocean. I settled for sitting in a chair and waiting for her to wake up.

Even that was painful. I couldn't tell whether my eyes were lying to me or not, but the more I looked at her face, the paler she seemed, the thinner her face looked.

Why? Why her? How is this even remotely fair?

***

*back to Misa*

When I woke up again, Evan was sitting in a chair and watching me with tired eyes.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, trying to smile but ending up with a grimace instead.

I sighed and closed my eyes for a moment. "I'm hanging in there. You can't get rid of me that easily, you know."

Somewhat  selfishly, I suppose I expected him to laugh or smile. My gig was to be quiet, observant, aware, stoic and platonic, even. He was supposed to be full of life. He'd earned that much, practically devoting his entire life to me. Yet here I was worrying him again, no doubt draining his  life away one mistake at a time. As though catching my reply a beat late, he half smiled. "Yeah, I know."

"Is something wrong, Ace?" I  asked, feeling completely drained but trying to put on a somewhat positive front so I could take the pain away from him and transfer it  over to myself.

He stared at me for a few seconds too long before smiling sadly and shaking his head. "No. Just worried about you."

***

He left a little while later, and all I could think was, He knows. I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised. He must have known about our dad's condition since he'd lived with him longer than I had, but I'd  never told him that I might have it too.

And now he was too painfully kind to bring it between us.

Jack came in a bit later looking bored, if anything. "Hey," he said conversationally, settling into the unoccupied chair and grinning. "What's it like, getting shot?"

I stuck my tongue out at him. "I don't know. Need a personal demonstration? Damn it, where'd those nurses put my gun?" I patted the pillow and blindly groped along under the mattress to no avail.

Jack just laughed. "You're a funny kid."

"And you're a poor excuse for an adult."

He  just grinned. "So, you think you're going to pull through this one?" he asked as though wondering what my favorite flavor of ice cream was.

"If I die from one bullet, then I'm a sad excuse for a human being."

"Card, you have only talked with two people - three counting your brief conversation as Ian with your mother - for the past seven or so years. Now try to tell me that you're a good example of a human."

I  shrugged. "What can I say? Case and point." I paused for a second, trying to decide what to do with Jack. If he had been just any random associate, I would never have cared about his feelings, but I considered  Jack a friend. I wasn't sure how far I could go on my heartless path, knowing that my actions were going to cause him at least the slightest pain in the coming weeks. I wanted to spare him however much I could.  "Hey, Jack. Listen to me for a sec. I'm going to be stuck in here for a  while until they finish patching me up, so do me a favor and take a break for three or four weeks and hop towns. Make some connections where you can. As soon as I'm out of here, I want to get right back into the  thick of it all, or else my image is going to be completely shattered. Can you handle that for me, Jack?"

He laughed, shaking his head.

"What is it?" I asked carefully.

"Just that you haven't called me Jack in a while. You didn't get shot in the head, did you? Don't tell me you're slipping up."

I rolled my eyes and smirked. "Whatever. Hurry up and leave before I put a hole in your forehead."

"How are you going to do that without a gun?"

"With my crazy mind power. Now get out of here before you make me resort to that level of black magic."

With a backward wave, Jack left the room. I'm sorry, and goodbye.