Daddy Dearest

Chapter 23: Aftermath

Ugh... I know I've said I dislike Blake... but I swear, I didn't mean for him to get shot!! 
*wrings hands* I hope he's okay. 

Onee-chan. 

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Jaden's POV

It's been six hours; six hours and counting since Blake was rushed into an emergency surgery room. 

I don't know if it was me being in shock but I felt completely calm. Usually I'd be freaking out or in utter panic, but I guess this was the real meaning of being 'numb from pain'.  

Shelby and I were place in a patients' room where they checked my injuries. I thought Brad had broken my jaw, when in reality, I actually had a broken rib. They patched me up for the cuts and bruises and I received eight stitches on my leg where I had been knifed. I was even been given a random orange shirt, so as to not scare the other patients with the bloody white Tee that I came in with.   

I was staring at the checkered eggshell colored walls of the patients' room in a daze. My mind kept note of my surrounding but essentially, I wasn't all there. I kept replaying how Blake got shot. The resounding echo of the gun that kept looping in my head was damning. If he hadn't jumped in front of me, that bullet would've only grazed my shoulders. 

Nothing bad would have happened. 

My heart was with Blake. I hoped he was alright. The six hours doesn't seem as long as it felt like. The cops killed much of the time by interrogating me at the hospital. Blake was as much the victim as I was and yet they tried to question him as he was in and out of consciousness. As the nurses were stitching me up, that was the time the cops chose to start they're questioning. As if having someone sewing up my skin wasn't bad enough. 

They said something about an Officer Bergens coming to speak to me, and confirmed that Brad had been taken into custody-well, after having to sedate him. Neil came to meet me in the emergency room I was placed in. One of his hands were rubbing the center of my back mechanically. At first it was comforting but he was just probably doing it subconsciously by now. 

"It's been way too long since the doctor came to update us, dontcha think?" Shelby pointed out as she gnawed at her fingernails in attempt to distract herself. 

I clenched my teeth and sarcastically thought, as if I didn't know that. Seriously, we all knew that. She didn't need to point out the obvious. Then again, I knew she was just voicing everyone's concern. She didn't have any fault. Actually, her being so calm had actually eased my crying. 

"Well, the doctor did say that the shot was too close to the spinal cord. The bullet's lodged somewhere inside him, because they didn't find an exit wound," Bax said. 

I felt so ugly inside. I wanted to cry because I wasn't going to be able to help him. I know what the doctor's are going to say if they come out here. I don't remember my shirt getting so red till after the gun went off. Just thinking about him on that cold metal table, brought me so much sadness that I literally lost the ability to show it on my face. 

A man wearing a lab coat, stepped into our room, and flips over a couple of pages on his clipboard. His name-tag read Dr. Schwarts. Clearing his throat,  "Whose the immediate relative of Blake Arons..." the man speaks up. His glasses hung low on the bridge of of his nose, and his bright blue eyes stared at us waiting for a reply. 

"I-I'm his..."  What am I to him? His son? His lover?  "--I'm his family"

The Doctor nodded, but it was clear to see that he was only interested in someone related to Blake. "The shot damaged some of his nerves, but you can relax since the surgery was a success. He is able to feel and sense touch, but it will take some major physical therapy when it comes to his temporary paralysis. He'll be able to walk in a half year if he tries his hardest."

Among the people present, I could hear a sigh of relief rushed pass my ears.

"His blood count dropped very low though, which means that he will need a blood transfusion. That's the only way he'll be able to build up some strength," the doctor finished. He was staring at me expectantly - if he only knew.  "We don't have his blood type in stock for an emergency transfusion but he's stable enough-strong fellow here. In these cases, we usually ask the next of kin or a blood related member to give blood."

My eyes grew teary as my uselessness hung over my head like a noose. 

"Jaden," Neil said sounding hopeful only for me to start sniffing back tears. "Don't cry," Neil comforted me. "Blake's okay."

"I can't even help him," I said choking on a sob.

That's when Bax pulled out a crumpled up paper from his back pocket and handed it over to the doctor. "Can you tell if this document is authentic?"

The doctor scanned the paper. His face was schooled in an understanding manner. The cops probably gave him a summary of what happened in the cabin. The doctor's expression softened a little as his eyes flickered over to me. 

Dr. Schwartz patted my back in a feeble attempt at comfort.  "I can run this by, but the clinic that did this test, is well known for their accuracy."

I whispered in a small voice, "I'm not ... I'm not his biological son, am I?"   

"He's much more than that, right? So don't forget that," Bax uttered softly ruffling my hair. I nodded my head weakly and let Neil wrap his arms around me.

The Doctor's beeper went off and his eyebrows went up in surprise and a reassuring smile lighted his face. "Good news. We just got a blood donor. Excuse me for a minute," he said and quickly exited the room. 

If I hadn't been so desperate to prove to Blake that it was okay to be with me, this wouldn't have happened. I really thought that maybe he'd come to love me if he knew I wasn't his son, but now, I've realized how stupid that thought had been. Though, I've always wondered and now I knew. Susan probably knew that I wasn't Blake's son and didn't even say anything. 

It was clear that Brad was obsessed over Susan. 

He probably decided to help Blake and I, based on his obsession over Susan. I can't imagine what all went through his mind every time I spoke of my unnatural love for Blake. Was he boiling in anger? Did he damned both of us to hell? I don't know how he kept himself so composed like that. 

People that can masked their true self, are truly the most dangerous. 

Brad probably thought that he owned me, since I was the fruit of that toxic version of love he and Susan had; that I was his little prize or, something even more twisted than that. Was he going to keep me in that house like some animal? I wouldn't know, but the eyes he wore weren't of the Brad I always knew. They belonged to someone else.

His mind was already made up. If I wasn't going to be his willingly, then no one would have me. To Brad, I belonged to him. A piece of a puzzle he thought Susan left for him. I held the same value as Susan, and to what I assume, she wasn't of much value apart from being the woman who spawned me. 

Still, if she didn't just runaway, what exactly happen to Susan?  

A cop with a comical looking white mustache, walks inside of the room. He greeted both Bax and Shelby and gave me a stiff nod. "You're the Aron's boy. Last I saw you, you were just a wee kid," the officer greeted me softly with familiarity in his tone; but I didn't quiet remember him. "I work for the Arons. Your grandparents have been contacted. I was told your grandmother will be here in a bit, so stay put kid."

"M-My grandmother?" I gawked at the officer. 

"Yeah. The good ol' Arons lady of house. What? You look like you haven't met your Gramma before," the officer stated in an absurd manner.

I eyed Neil, whom also mirrored my confused expression. 

Clearing my throat, "--but I haven't," I confirmed. "I don't even know her."