Thorns On My Rose: A Story of the Daughter of Robert Downey Jr. (EDITING)

Chapter 15 - Illegal Drugging and Serial Killers

Indio's Perspective

"What do you mean, going home?" I practically yelled. My terribly tired and mentally unstable father sighed. "Your daughter is down that hallway. She fricking needs you."

He clenched his jaw but then relaxed a little bit. "Indio. I-I mean, you act like I want to leave her."

I shrugged, rubbing my temples. "Okay. Okay. Why are you leaving again?" Dad closed his eyes, taking off his cap.

"Listen. I... I doubt very seriously that Susan isn't gonna try and take Exton away from me... especially with all this crap going on right now." I nodded.

I had never seen him like this.

I remember seeing him come in one night, completely stoned. I hadn't understood what was happening then, what was wrong with him. Why his eyes always looked glazed over and why he would laugh at the stupidest things. A random bird. A coffee bean. A pager. It was both scary and annoying.

I was kinda glad when my mom had taken me away from him. He was forced into rehab shortly after my mom left him, and my mom and I lived in New Jersey for a few months before traveling across the country to California. Without Dad.

Of course I'd missed my dad but I did like that semi-normal life... a life where I could play the bass and be in a band with everyone jocking me because dad was THE Robert Downey Jr.

I looked at his dad now, noticing the grey in his stubble was a bit more dominant since I'd last seen him.

"So, you're going to all the way back to Malibu for him? Why can't the baby sitter--" He cut me off.

"Jolene. Her name is Jolene. And yes, I'm going all the way back to Malibu." I shook my head dubiously, shoving my hands into my pockets.

"What?" He snapped, not liking my expression.

"I'm... I'm not so sure that's a good idea, is all. I mean, look at you." I said, gesturing to my deranged looking father. He shrugged.

"I don't give a fuck. I'm going to get him, and I'm not stop until I get there."

“I think you should take a nap first." I suggested quietly. He had a wild look in his eye, and the right one had started to twitch about an hour ago.

“I'm fine, I said. Now, give me my goddamned keys."

I glared at him and he frowned.

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 ONE-HOUR LATER.

 I cleared my throat, staring down at the heavily snoring body in front of me. The doctor beside me, Travis, looked at the small syringe in his hand, squirting it into the air. He glanced at me and nodded.

“So... Will this work?"

Travis smiled softly, amused. "Its very unorthodox, but yes." I rubbed my jaw.

“Desperate times." I muttered. Travis cleared his throat.

“I've cited the use of the tranquilizer as a means of keeping the patient safe. It's more or less the truth.

I nodded, knowing that stabbing my father with a needle when he wasn't a patient at the hospital was borderline illegal.

"So... this will keep him asleep for how long?" I asked, weary and slightly anxious about what I had just done.

Robert lay in front of me with his legs splayed across the hospital bed and his mouth wide open, eyes shut closed. I watched as drool pooled out of his mouth.

God. He was gonna kill me.

Travis chuckled deeply, checking Robert's pulse. "He should be asleep for another two hours." He stood and took off his gloves. "He needed the rest. But, I suppose risking my job for a sibling of Alana's is worth it."

I sighed. "I know. I'm sorry... He wouldn't sleep any other way, and I couldn't have him driving like that."

Travis looked at me for a while, a thoughtful look on his face. "You never knew, did you? About Alana-Rose." I looked at him, my eyes widening.

I didn't even know why I answered him truthfully... but I did.

"No."

"Hmm. Well. You must be curious." He said, smiling. "Wouldn't you like to meet her?" He asked quietly.

I smirked. "Who's gonna watch this him?" I asked.

Travis laughed. "I'll send a nurse in to monitor him periodically." He assured.

"Yes." I said. "Yeah, I wanna meet her."

-------------------

Alana-Rose's Perspective

"ROBERT!" I yelled, sitting up in my bed. I put my hands over my face and breathed deeply. Just a dream. Just a dream. Just a damn dream, Lana. I opened my eyes to a startled looking brown haired man sitting in the chair Alex had been in last night. I recoiled, shocked that the boy I was staring at was not my hot boyfriend.

He stared at me for a minute before he seemed to relax, but his eyes never left mine.

"You did that, like, a lot last night. But you never woke. I was wondering what the hell you were dreaming about to make you toss and turn like that. You nearly fell out of the bed." He finished.

I frowned, closing my eyes and then raising my eyebrows. "God, morning breath. Yuck." I opened my eyes, reaching for the Doublemint gum Alex left me earlier.

"Who the fuck are you?" He frowned.

"So he never talked about me either?" I rolled my eyes, pulling my scrunchie out of my tangled hair.

"Okay. I'm seriously tired of people answering fricking questions with even more damn questions. If you didn't hear, I lost my memory, apparently due to some sort of freak accident that happened yesterday... or was it the day before...?"

His eyes sparkled with amusement. "God, you... you sound just like him; but a lot more... high strung, if that's possible, but still."

I was starting to get very irritated. Some random guy was in my room. He knew me, obviously, but, of course, I didn't know who the heck he was. And that was really starting to piss me off.

I wasn't trying to shut anything out of my brain. Yet, there was absolutely nothing there. No memories of anything recent.

"Listen, Mr. Unknown. I'm tired. That fucking clock says it's ten in the morning and I'm really, really unstable because they forgot to get me my damn drugs last night. My leg hurts and so does my head. My new boyfriend is nowhere to seen and my insane life has just reached his peak. I'm apparently the daughter of RDJ."

The man laughed, running a hand through his neck length hair. "Yeah, I know."

"Have we... have we met, like, before all this shit happened?" I asked.

"No... I didn't even know you existed until like, a day ago. I saw you on my TV screen in Mubai." He said, reaching for the water jug and handing me the plastic cup. I looked at it curiously, sniffing it for some sort of poison.

This guy sounded like a serial killer to me. I looked up at him and frowned.

"It's water." He laughed. I raised an eyebrow and took a small sip. I didn't fall back dead, so I guessed I was fine.

"So... Non-Serial Killer Guy... mind telling me who the hell you are?" I asked, starting to down the water.

The guy sighed, looking stressed out. "I'm Indio. Robert's son. Your, um... brother."

I spit the water out my mouth and directly into in his face. I blinked, clearing my throat.

He winced and wiped his face with the the blanket he had in his lap.

I swallowed. "Come again?"