Encore (Prodigy: 3)

Other Side of The Door

A knock woke him up.

Zane groaned, his head pounding as he opened his eyes, reaching blindly for his phone in the dark, his knuckles colliding with the bedside table before he lifted it and set his hand down on the mobile, turning his head and clicking it on.

The blazing white of the screen made him recoil and he hissed as he turned the phone away, turning on the bedside light before looking again at the assaulting screen.

3:47am.

What the hell?

He looked across the bedroom, through the doors into the living room to the door of the hotel suite.

Another soft knock.

It wouldn't be any of the hotel staff. Unlikely to be Rich at such a time. It wouldn't be Tia or Eddie come to visit now that he was back in the country or any of his family – not at such a stupid time.

His eyes widened. Possibly Jessica with some news about Locke.

He threw the sheets off and stumbled out of bed, padding across the room in just his boxers, quickly unlocking the door and opening it.

He stepped backwards, his hand tightening on the handle for support as his heart almost startled out of his chest.

Locke stood on the other side of the door, wrapped up tightly in a woolly jumper and huge scarf, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans and his hair stuffed under a beanie hat.

"Hey," he muttered, his voice hoarse and muffled through the scarf.

Zane just stared at him. "Locke?" he breathed.

"Sorry, didn't get to meet you at the airport, didn't know you were coming home," Locke said, smiling at him.

Locke continued to stare at him. He took a step back. Locke looked down at Zane's bare feet then back up at his eyes right before Zane turned and stumbled away, going to the drinks cabinet. Locke let himself in, closing the door behind him, locking it before pulling his scarf off.

He glanced over to Zane just as he threw back a mouthful of whiskey and grimaced, shaking his head.

Locke looked away again. "I preferred it when you didn't drink," he muttered.

"What?" Zane said, looking back at him.

"People don't forget things when their sober."

"What the hell are you talking about? In fact, what the hell are you doing here? I saw you, just a few hours ago; you were in a damn coma in the hospital. What the hell are you doing here?"

Locke shrugged slightly, sitting down, kicking off his shoes and drawing his feet up onto the sofa, resting his chin on his knees. "I woke up," he said simply.

"How did you know to come here?"

"Jessica was there."

Zane looked at him for a long, long moment, then Locke wrapped his arms around his knees and the arms of his jumper slid back to reveal the bandaged wrists.

"Why'd you do it?"

Locke looked up at the whisper. "What?"

"Why'd you do it?" Zane repeated, looking at Locke's wrists before walking past, going back into the bedroom, yanking on a pair of jeans and a loose jumper, pulling up the sleeves and walking back into the living room.

Locke was looking at his wrists, absently prodding at the bindings until Zane pushed his hands apart before taking a seat on the opposite sofa.

Locke just continued to look at his wrists.

"Locke," Zane said, his voice almost pleading. "Why did you s—" A lump caught in his throat and he cleared it, looking away. "Why did you do it?"

"In case the overdose didn't work."

Zane looked at him and Locke just looked blankly back at him, his black-coffee brown eyes wide and empty. Zane looked away, getting up again and going to the kettle, turning his attention to making two cups of tea, focusing on the sound of the kettle boiling and the clink of the spoon against the cups.

Eventually, when there was nothing more to do, he let out a breath, picked up the cups and walked back, handing one to Locke who tried to take it in both hands until Zane pulled it back, shaking his head and holding it out again.

Locke looked at the mug, then took it by the handle so he didn't burn his hands.

Zane stood beside him for a moment, looking at the empty spot next to him, before withdrawing and taking his seat again on the opposite sofa, setting his tea down.

"So do the others know you're here?"

"Jessica can add two and two together," Locke muttered, looking down at his tea.

"So... why are you here?"

Locke was quiet for a while, absently tilting his drink back and forth until a drop sloshed over the rim and caught his thumb, making him jump and pull his hand away.

"Locke," Zane snapped, getting up and leaning across the coffee table, taking the cup from him and setting it on a coaster.

Locke looked down.

"I missed you."

"What?" Zane said, looking at him.

"I'm here because I missed you," Locke said simply. 

~~~

Next up: Tuseday