I Promise. (Nateiplier)

'Don't take Nathan. I'm already in the operation room.'

Sean glanced at the phone, cursing under his breath. "Carl.."

Nate's eyes widened at the name, his body tensing. His breath hitched, though he tried his best to control it, shaking his head frantically. "Don't answer." He mouthed, pleadingly.

Matt nodded, dropping the phone back onto the sofa. "I really don't know what to do..." He says, looking at the vibrating phone below him.

~~~

Carl cursed under his breath. "Just answer for f**k's sake!!" He slams his fist on the table, making it shake. He glances over at Mark's room with fury, seeing him struggle as Jessica injects him with an opaque liquid.

Carl sighs, and unlocks the room. Mark screams as Jessica takes out the needle from Mark's arm. "What's going on?!" 

Jessica stores the injection away. "He's refusing to eat or drink anything.. So we're feeding him liquid nutrients to keep his circulation healthy." Carl rolled his eyes. At this point, he didn't care if he got Nate or not. He just needed money, and organs would have to do.

"Cut off the oxygen. Let him die." Carl says as Mark's eyes go wide. "No!!! Please!!" Mark tries to say, but it comes out as just silent muffle under the oxygen mask.

Jessica glances over at the struggling Mark. "Sir... Do you mean it?" Carl glared at her. "Y'know, ever since you were hired, you never took anything seriously. If I had Madden with me, she would've turned that tank off as soon as I said so." Carl took a step forward, and Jessica slightly whimpered. "Don't. Talk. Back. To. Me. Ever." He steps back.

"Now cut that f**king oxygen. I want to see him suffer as he takes his last breath." He then took out Mark's phone and pressed record, grinning. 

~~~

Nate remained curled up on the floor, eyes closed as he focused on his breathing. Steph rubbed Nate's back and made him rest his head on her shoulder.

Sean glanced up at Matt. "What's he saying?"

Matt shook his head. "I don't wanna answer the call.." He said shakily.

"Here. Let me see." Sean nodded, gently taking the phone from him. He waited until it stopped ringing before typing a response, intentionally adding in a few mistakes. 

'Csnt talk. Droving. Whats uo?'

~~~

Carl sighed, looking at the message. He slipped on the latex gloves and picked up the phone. 

'I thought Mason was driving..?'

He raised an eyebrow and clicked send, before walking to the room Mark was held captive.

Jessica cried a little as she saw Mark's eyes losing life slowly. The oxygen mask on her hand was shaking, and she put a hand on Mark's heart. "I-I'm so sorry Mark..." Her eyes shifted back to their normal amber and quickly filled with tears.

~~~

Sean took a minute to type back, hoping the slow response would make it more believable.

  'Nopr. I sm.'

Nate leaned against Steph as he tried to control his breathing, his body visibly shaking. Steph hugged him a little, trying to hide her obvious tears.

~~~

Carl shrugged. 

'Well, either way, you guys can take your time. Don't take Nathan. I'm already in the operation room. And if you want, grab a Starbucks for your determination. You deserve it.'

He then puts the phone down by the door, and straps on the mask on his face. Jessica sighs, and glances over at Carl. "Alright, sir... Everything is r-ready..." Mark struggles to catch a breath, and his lungs turn into raisins, scrunching up before slowly dying.

~~~

Nate leaned into the touch, curling up tightly. He wasn't sure what they were doing to Mark, but the thought was killing him.

Sean raised an eyebrow, showing the message to Matt as he typed back a response. He wasn't sure how much time they had left, so he couldn't waste time making it believable. Luckily, Carl had given him the other mans name. 

'Hey, this is Mason now. Why are you in the operation room? I thought we were leaving him alone. What about Nathan?' 

Steph glanced worriedly at Nate. "I-it's fine..." She said, hugging him tightly.

~~~

Carl rolled his eyes when he heard the phone buzz. "Keep him alive. I'll be back." He said to Jessica, and she nodded. "A-alright.."

He sighed, taking off his mask. 

'Too late. Our client, Mrs. Masaya, is already pissed off that we're a day late... but we talked and she's okay with Mark.'

'I wouldn't do that, boss. She was expecting Nathan. If we settle for less and give her Mark, that doesn't look good on our end. We're already on our way with Nathan, we can have him there within the next hour or so.'

'Well, time is key. I can't wait for an hour. It's better if we have her happy.'

~~~

Matt glanced over at Sean. "W-what's going on?"

'That's fair..if we rush, we could be there in 45 minutes? I'm just thinking about business, you know? If we can't provide what we originally promised, people aren't going to do business with us anymore. We'll lose clients. It's better to have it be a little late, rather than make her settle for less.' 

Sean typed out another message, sending it before showing Matt the conversation. 

'Oh alright... I'll wait... but I'll have to let Ms. M know... just come as fast as you can.'

Matt gasped. "N-no..." He nearly fell back.

Sean shook his head, quickly placed a hand on Matt's back to stop him. 'Got it.' He quickly sent, before glancing at Steph. "We'll be right back."

He led Matt out to the hallway, before closing the door behind him, speaking quietly. "Look, I know this seems bad. But if I hadn't said that, they would've killed Mark on the spot...I already have a plan in mind, we can get this sorted out. We're not going to let Nathan or Mark get hurt. I just need you to stay calm, and trust me on this, okay?"

Matt cried silently on his shoulder. "I don't know what to do... I don't know..." He said, his knees shaking. "I don't want to get Mark killed, I don't want one of my closest friends to die... I don't want to leave my wife as a single mom... I don't want my child to not know who his dad is..."

Sean sat them down on the floor, gently resting Matt's head on his shoulder. He ran a hand through his hair to calm him, nodding. "I know, Matt. We have a lot being thrown at us, in a short amount of time...look, I have a plan. We have 45 minutes. The doctors he sent only took about 15 minutes to get here. If we drive quickly, we can be there in 10. That gives us 25 to 30 minutes here to go over the plan, and make sure everything is going to work... it's gonna be okay, Matt. None of us are going to die today. We're gonna save Mark, and all of us are gonna be alright. But in order for this to happen, I need you to stay calm. I know there's a lot happening, but if you panic, we can't do anything..just stay calm, okay? Take deep breaths."

Matt nodded, weakly wiping away the tears. "W-what's t-the plan t-though?" He says, breathing slowly calming down.