|1| Whatever It Takes || Code 8: Connor Reed

08. Stubborn Denial

Victoria took the cell phone and she opened the message that he pointed at.

Hey there, T. You never gave me her number, but Victoria lives with you right?

So just tell her that I said thanks for saving my ass, again. I guess that I owe her again.

Victoria smiled faintly at the message from Connor and she was shaking her head. "Just give him the number." She said and Tommy's eyebrows shot upwards in surprise. "In case he wants to get out and he can't make it back here, give him the number." She explained patiently and Tommy chuckled at the words. "Stop whatever you're thinking Tommy Jones, right now." She said in disbelief as she realized where his mind was going.

"You totally like him." Tommy said and Victoria scoffed at the words and Tommy shrugged quickly. "All right then, if you insist on being in denial." He said as he texted over her number to Connor.

"Fuck off, Tommy." Victoria muttered as she was turning around to go into the house again and then in her pocket, her phone beeped with an unfamiliar tone. Victoria lifted her eyebrows as she pulled out her phone and she opened it.

Thanks for saving my ass earlier, Victoria.

I've never seen anybody move that fast to disable somebody.

Tommy laughed at the disbelieving look on Victoria's face and he continued to laugh at the incredulous look. "He likes you too, by the way." He said and Victoria snapped her fingers and Tommy's hot chocolate cooled off, before it splashed up and hit him in the face. "Hey! Ow." He said as she was staring at him.

"You put him up to that, somehow." She said and Tommy wiped the now freezing cold hot chocolate out of his eyes as he sighed. "What are you sighing at, smart-ass?" Victoria asked and he glanced up at her again, putting the cup to the side.

"Do you really believe that just because your brother and father insisted that nobody could ever like you... that it meant everyone was just out for something else?" Tommy asked as Victoria was looking at him silently, blinking and he shut his eyes briefly at the wordless answer. "Your father and Garrett, they are on a whole other level of asshole, okay? But you can't let their words define your life, you know that better than anybody else." He said quietly and she flinched as the words were sinking in. "Connor is one of the most brutally honest guys that I know, okay? So if he is saying thank you, and he is responding that fast as soon as I send him the number... Then he clearly trusts you..."

"Or, maybe he just wants to get back in your good graces after he shocked you and easily was ruining one of your best shirts." Victoria tried to sound blunt, but she could definitely just hear the note of uncertainty in her own voice.

"Damn it."

She thought to herself as Tommy glanced at her sympathetically.

"You really should get some sleep..." Tommy's phone rang out loudly with the Friends Theme as he picked up the phone. "Hey Connor, what's up..." Tommy's eyes widened at the words, at whatever was being spoken on the other end. "Okay, yeah. Yeah, I'll meet you at the hospital, I'll be right there." He said and he hung up the phone.

"What the hell happened?" Victoria asked as Tommy was running over to the car and he was unlocking it, throwing open the door. "Tommy, what the hell is going on?" He looked back at her as he shook his head.

"Connor and his mom are on the way to the hospital right now." Tommy stated and Victoria threw the hot chocolate into the bush and she left the mug on the stairs, as she was racing to the other side of the vehicle.

Tommy drove like his ass was on fire and he finally found a parking spot in one of the hospital parking lots. Victoria raced into the hospital and after her came Tommy, after he had paid for the parking. It didn't take them long at all to find out what room Mary Reed was being kept in and the two of them found Connor talking to a doctor, not long after they began their search.

"I didn't think that you guys would actually show." Connor quietly admitted and at the words immediately, Tommy walked forward and he gave him a tight hug. Connor returned it as Tommy was shaking his head.

"I've taken care of and already covered the missed payments for you guys." Tommy murmured and Connor's hug was tightening at the words, shaking slightly with emotions. "You will make it through this, Connor. Even if I have to drag you, kicking and screaming like we had to do during the school immunizations." Tommy murmured and Connor let out a strangled, hoarse-sounding laugh at the words and Tommy nodded.

"Thanks, brother." Connor murmured and Tommy nodded quickly, before Tommy stepped around him to see Mary silently. "What are you doing here?" Connor asked and Victoria was lifting her shoulders in a shrug, as her hands were shoved into the pockets of her jacket and she was trying not to show how much stress being in a hospital, was causing her at the moment.

"Nobody deserves to go through something like this, without support." Was all that Victoria would say as Tommy walked out of the hospital room and they were all walking out of the room and Connor was silently walking out in between the two of them.

"Connor Reed?" It was a cop's voice, they could all almost instantly recognize the naturally authoritative tone of voice anywhere and they all looked up. It was two cops and Victoria's eyes narrowed, as she recognized one of them. "I'm Officer Park, this is Officer Davis. Do you and your friends have a minute?" Officer Park asked and Connor's eyes narrowed, when he briefly spotted Victoria's hands shaking.

"No." Connor stated and that was exactly how all three of them ended up in separate interrogation rooms at the police station.