Winning The War; BOS 4

That's All I'll Ever be

Antonio spent most of his time at the bar looking around at Jack Diablo and walking around, chatting to the odd person. He didn't see Maddison anywhere after she was at the bar. She'd disappeared.
He was wandering around casting glances at Jack when his phone buzzed. He sighs and glances at it. His eyes widen when he's sees its an emergency alert from Maddison. They have their phones synced so if they're in trouble they can press a button and an emergency alert is sent to their phone as well as a locator.
Antonio quickly unlocks his phone and a red dot appears, flashing on and off. He follows it to find it was coming from the ground floor bathroom. He hears something shatter and quickly bursts inside to find Maddison gasping and bloodied on the floor. A glass lay shattered by the door. "Oh my god. Maddison what happened?" He asks urgently as he rushed to her side.
"Sh-she attacked m-me." She stutters as she gasped for breath. Antonio caressed her cheek softly.
"Who did?" He asks gently. Maddison began to shiver and Antonio carefully held her close.
"So... much... pain." She gasps and slowly her eyes began to close.
"No, no, no. Stay with me Maddison." Antonio begs urgently and Maddison nods weakly.
As gently as he could he lifts her off the ground. She rests her head on his chest tiredly. "Do you need a hospital?" He asks befire leaving.
"No... hospital... They'll... kill me." She says quietly. Antonio could feel her getting weaker by the second.
Quickly she left the bathroom. He stayed by the edge of the room as he made his way to the doors. As soon as ge stepped out into the night his driver flew over and parked. Antonio climbed into the back and held Maddison close. "Get to the manor quickly." He orders and the driver takes off quickly.
Antonio messages Crystal to warn her and get everything ready.
It didn't take long to get back and Crystal was standing in the doorway, pale with worry. Antonio rushed inside. Crystal lead the way, quickly opening the door to the manors infirmary room. "Thank you Antonio. Thank you." Maddison says weakly before her eyes close completely.
Antonio carfully lays Maddison down and Crystal swiftly gets to work. Antonio looks down at Maddison shivering body and tears form but he doesn't let them fall. "Come on Antonio. She'll be okay." Ash says and puts a hand on his shoulder, leading him from the room. Delance, Ashley and Shannon hurry into the room when they leave and close the door.
Antonios shoulders droop. "She was there to protect me. But she's the ome who needed protecting. Why does this happen to me?" He sighs sadly and falls into a chair where puts his head on the table and closes his eyes.
"You sound like Delance did." Kyle says jokily and Antonio sits up.
"I don't want to lose Maddison. She's my anchor to this world. I can always trust her with anything. She's always there when I need someone. Always. I want her to be happy but I don't want her to leave. I need her." He says truthfully and the guys all stare at him in shock. "The last person I trusted this much was my mother." He adds sadly and Alex puts a drink in front of him.
"Drink this. Lemon and honey. It's soothing." He says and Antonio drinks a mouthfull. It felt warm as it slid down his throat and indead it was kindof soothing.
"Thanks." Antonio stares into the drink blankly for a second before drinking the rest.
"Why does it hurt so much?" He asks and Ash, Kyle, Steve and Dylan sit on either side and opposite him.
"Because you care. The more it hurts the more you care." Dylan says.
Antonio groans. "Well I'm a gonner. I feel as if I'm slowly being eaten alive by ants from the inside out."
The four smile sadly at him. "You need to tell her." Steve says and Antonio shakes his head.
"I can't tell her. I made a promise. None of you will tell her either. It's better if she doesn't know." He says and stands up. He walks away before anyone can stop him or say anything and walks into his room.
He closes the door and leans against it, slowly sliding to the ground. He pulls his knees to his chest and rests his forhead against them. "Be okay Maddison. Please just be okay." He whispers before falling asleep.

Two Days Later
Antonio Masters
I away to the feel of a soft hand on my cheek. My eyes shoot open to see Maddison leaning over me, her face a mask of worry. "You're awake?" I gasp.
"And you're ill. You're burning up Antonio. I'm out for two days and you get yourself sick. What am I gonna do with you?" She jokes with a soft smile before putting a damp cloth on my forehead.
I brush her hand away and sit up. "I'm fine Maddison." I sigh and swing my legs off the bed. Maddison watches me carefully. I stand and stars come crashing into my vision, a large pressure filled my skull and I stumble. Maddison helps me back into bed and puts the cloth on my forehead again.
"Yeah. Your perfectly fine." She says sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.
I grumble unhappily and close my eyes. "Do you have any food?" I ask.
"I'll go get some. Don't move. I can't have you cracking your skull open when you try walk. You're a much needed person around here." She says seriously before walking out of my room.
Quickly I remove the cloth and carefully climb out of bed. I lean against things to get to the bathroom where I fill the bath with warm water. I lean against the basin and look at my reflection. My face is pale and sickly.
As I turn the tap water off I spot Maddison watching me from the doorway. Her eyebrow raised curiously, a bowl of soup in her hands. "Here's some beef soup. Don't drown or anything." She says in a hard tone that surprised me. She puts the soup on the bench by the basin before turning on her heel and walking away quickly, closing the doors behind her.
Shakily I eat the soup as quickly as I could before stripping down and getting into the bath. "I want to tell you. I can't tell you. What's the point in telling you? You care for someone else. I'm just a friend. That's all I'll ever be. But I promise to always be there for you. I may only be a friend but I'll always be there to help you."