The League [Phan AU]

Chapter 36

Dan couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned for hours, but every time he closed his eyes the voices came back. He was only supposed to take the medication once a day, but one pill didn't last him into the early hours that he often randomly awoke in. The pills were bliss to Dan. He had spent the past few days with only his voice telling him what to say and do. The only downside was he hadn't been able to sleep a wink. He used caffeine and thirty-minute naps to keep himself awake during the day and then suffered through it at night. When daylight broke he would get up and take another pill.
Doctor King had warned him about overusing the drug and getting addicted. Dan didn't want become hooked on the pills, but they kept him sane. Every moment he spent with the voices swirling in his head made him feel more out of his mind. Dan got up quietly, trying not to wake Phil. He crept into the kitchen and filled a glass with water and stared at the pill bottle sitting by the sink. It would be so easy to swallow one right now, and keep them away while he slept.
'You don't want to do that. Let me stick around. I hate being quiet all day.'
Well get used to it.
'Don't be mean. I'm a part of you, you can't get rid of me forever.'
But I can try.
'You mean try and fail? One day you're going to run out of medication and then what will you do?'
That won't happen. I'll make sure of it.
'Trust me. It happened to your father plenty of times, and it'll happen to you too.'
Dan sighed and reached for the bottle, twisting the cap off and shaking a pill into his hand. He quickly put it in his mouth and swallowed it, followed by a sip of water to help it down. The effect was instantaneous, and he closed his eyes, taking in the wonderful silence. It was so quiet, he heard the bullet before it hit the window, and he ducked as glass rained down on him. Dan quickly moved behind the cover of the counter in case more shots were fired, but none came. "Dan!" a shout came from the hallway. Phil's head peeked from the doorway cautiously. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine!" Dan responded. "Might have some scratches, but I'm alive."
"I called Katie, she said she'd be here soon with back up," Phil told him. "I can't believe you're still trying to be killed."
"It's not hard for me to believe," Dan said.
"What do you mean?"
"My father killed so many people and betrayed the entire League," Dan explained. "No one in their right mind would trust that man's son."
"You're right," Phil agreed. "But don't forget that not everyone hates you."
"How could I?" Dan laughed with a smile. Phil liked seeing him optimistic. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he took it out to answer the call.
"I've got the perp," Katie said on the other side.
"Thanks so much," Phil sighed in relief.
"I'll lock him up at the Hideout to be dealt with tomorrow," she told him before hanging up.
"We're all good," Phil told Dan. They both stood and looked at the broken window. "How do you think we're going to explain this one?" Phil asked Dan.
"I'll think of something eventually," Dan shrugged.
----
Katie found Joe leaning against the wall of the Hideout when she exited the place. He was blowing out into the cold air, making it look like smoke from a cigarette.
"What are you doing here?" she asked him.
"Thought you could use some company," he said. "Plus, I wanted to ask you something."
"You could've just called me," Katie scolded with a smirk, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Where's the fun in that?" Joe chuckled.
"So, what do you want to ask me?"
"Do you need a place to stay? After the other night with Alexander prick I figured you'd need to find somewhere else to live instead of a hotel room," Joe answered.
"I was going to go looking at apartments tomorrow," Katie told him. "I'm moving here, to London. Why do you ask?"
"Do you want to stay at my place until you find your own?" he asked. "I have an extra room, and it has a bed."
"Thanks, but I can just stay in the hotel until..."
"Come on," Joe interrupted. "I'm positive you don't want to still breathe the same air as him."
"Okay, fine," Katie said.
"Great! Shall we go get your things?"
"It's 2 A.M.!" Katie objected.
"So? I'm wide awake and actually really craving some ice cream."
Katie laughed. "Alright, fine."
They walked first to the hotel. Luckily Alexander was asleep and they quietly gathered her belongings and left. They got a taxi back to Joe's place and put her bags away before walking down the street to a store that was open 24/7 to buy ice cream. They each got a carton and headed back home, changing into pajamas before sitting on the couch to eat their 2 A.M. snack.
"So your entire childhood was just learning to be an assassin?" Joe asked Katie in the midst of their conversation. They both were about half way done with their ice cream.
"Yeah," Katie nodded. "Playing was sparring with my siblings or throwing knives at a dummy."
"I'd hate to be in a League family," Joe said. "Zoe and I chose to be League members when we were teens. Zoe joined before me, though, and when I saw what she was doing with her life I wanted to join in and do it too."
"So you like it? The killing and the violence?"
"Well, yeah, for the most part. Do you?"
"I did," Katie confessed. "I'm not sure if it's what I want anymore, though. Simultaneously I think this could just be an early midlife crisis where I question who I am and the inevitably of death."
"Don't get me started on death," Joe said. "It's 3 A.M., you'll have me talking for hours."
Katie laughed and looked at Joe. His hair was a mess and covering some parts of his face. His cheeks were flushed and he had on a small grin. She could remember him from when they were young. Just trainees in a League teaching them to kill. The first time she had seen him he had been sixteen, but although she was the same age as him she could never seem to work up the guts to talk to him. Instead she talked to Dan and Phil, who stayed in the corner by themselves because they barely needed the training, and truthfully neither did Katie.
She didn't even notice him staring back at her. He liked looking at her round face, which was complimented greatly by her smile. Since her hair was pulled back Joe could see all her features. They caught each other's' gaze and looked into each other's eyes. Before she knew what was happening Katie found herself leaning forward, and Joe doing the same.
Their lips touched and she felt her heart pounding and an explosion of some sort in her brain. He had soft lips, and they were cold from the ice cream. His hand on her cheek was cold too. They pulled apart and she didn't know what to do. His face fell and he cleared his throat, sitting up straight. Katie looked away, swallowing the lump that had gathered in her throat.
"Uh, goodnight," Joe said, getting up and placing the ice cream in the freezer before heading down stairs to his bedroom.
"'Night," Katie sighed, leaning back into the pillows on the sofa.