Save Me from the Dark (A John Gage 'Emergency!' love story Fanfiction)

Chapter 12

Johnny stared at Scarlett as if waiting, hoping she had something to share. Eagerly awaiting something, anything of the things he knew were obviously troubling her to be spoken.

But they didn't come. Sighing, slightly so as not to be heard by Scarlett, he turned away from her and back at the flowers. He had hoped she would open up to him. Truthfully, he really did care, probably beyond a professional level, but something about Scarlett seemed different than the usual women he met, and it interested him, and he wanted to make sure she was okay.

Beside him, he heard her take a deep breath, as if the cool Californian air would rid her of the unpleasantness of her thoughts.

He waited, thinking about how different it was to be here with Scarlett, in contrast to the last time he was in the courtyard, trying to shamelessly flirt with a nurse who was on break, though his flirting had failed epically. He had no desire to flirt with Scarlett though, not that he didn't want to, but rather he felt it was awkward, and uncouth in relation to her. She deserved better than shameless flirts.

After a while, several minutes going by, he finally heard her speak, her words unsure and he could tell she was forcing herself to speak against some force telling her not to.

"It's just that I don't belong here, and I'm scared." She said, her voice low, and Johnny forced himself to hear her, as he knew he wouldn't get her to repeat herself. "I feel things I shouldn't, things I thought I never would before, all the while far from the things that gave me comfort. I don't know what I should do, and I'm confused, and it frightens me more, and I wish I could just escape, but I can't. Not anymore. Not with the judgement that will come, and the consequences of that."

"I see." Johnny said, not sure how to respond.

"But you don't, no one can, no one did before, when I stopped caring for the world, and no one will now. Especially now. Because no one can understand me now. I am out of the correct place in time."

"Then you just have to find your right place? Right? And you have people like Brackett, and Dixie to help you. As well as me." Johnny replied, making sure to emphasize the fact that he would be there for her. To support her.

"I dunno. It's just so overwhelming. I want to escape so badly" She said, her voice cracking, as the emotions she had been bottling all day quickly started to seep out. "I want so badly to return to how things were. To not feel the way I do. To be in the place I am. I wish I had just died when I had followed that cat, and never fell into the hole where you found me. I wish it had just ended there, so that I wouldn't be where I am now."

Tears started to stream down from Scarlett's eyes, causing a pain in Johnny's heart.

"It's okay, Miss Scarlett. Look at me." He said, touching her chin with his hand and making her look at his eyes, a slight shock coursing through him when he did. "It will be okay. We will figure it out. But never wish you were dead. It would be a great tragedy for you to not be around. A great tragedy to me more than anything else. "

Finding a way to do so from their positions, he gave her a hug, trying to comfort her, as she continued to cry into his shoulder.