Distract and Sedate | Hemlock Grove |

Chapter 29 | Shrike |

Roman stands in the hallway. He's being pulled in every direction and doesn't know which to follow. He doesn't know which one he cares about the most. As always, when he thinks shit can't get more fucked up shit gets way more fucked up.

Right now, he's balancing Shelley, Emma, and now Miranda and Nadia. The phone call he had received was frantic and hysterical. He can hear Nadia wailing in the background, afraid of the danger she doesn't know exists. "Come here. Come to the tower," he instructs her. "This part of the building is on lockdown, okay? No one can come in without a clearance. This is the safest place for you two, okay?"

"That's what you said about Nadia's room before," Miranda points out. "And about me being at your house."

"I'm trying, Miranda," he says. "This is the best I can do."

"I don't know-" Miranda sobs harder.

"If you do not come here I will send the police after you for kidnapping my child, or I will find you myself," he threatens. He hears her take a couple deep sniffles on the other side.

"Okay," she agrees. "I'm coming." Roman hangs up before he has the chance to get angrier. He stands there in front of the elevator, unsure of where to go. He wants to be there for Shelley, but Nadia needs him. He's never felt needed before- never really felt useful to anyone.

He steps back into the elevator. This is what he has to do. Roman waits near the garage entry while he waits on them to arrive. He calls the only person that can help him.

"Roman," Pryce answers after a few rings.

"I can't come down there," he tells him, trying to not sound upset. "There's an emergency with Nadia."

"An emergency?" He asks. "What kind?"

"That's not important. Just take care of Shelley," Roman instructs him. "I can handle this for now, but... Just, please, take care of her."

"I will," Pryce agrees.

"Don't fuck this up. Again."

"And what about Miss Parker?" Pryce asks, completely bypassing Roman's threat.

"Can you just... I don't," Roman says and paces. "Can you just put her to sleep for a little while? She needs it anyway."

"I agree," Pryce says. The conversation ends with Roman feeling like Pryce has more to say.

.....

When Emma first comes to she's being pushed down the hallway. The lights burn her eyes, so she blocks them with her hand. "How long have I been asleep?" She asks the nurse pushing her bed.

"A little over two hours."

"Two hours," she slowly repeats aloud. "Where's Roman?"

"I'm not sure," she says curtly.

"Can you find him?" The nurse nods but doesn't answer. Every bump that the bed makes on the way pounds through her head. She tries her hardest to stay awake, but lulls between that and sleep. "Can you find Roman?" She asks again once they're halted outside of a door. "I need him."

"Okay, princess," the nurse says as she locks Emma's bed in place. She wouldn't talk to her that way if Roman was here like he was supposed to be. It builds up in her stomach then out to her shoulders. Emma cries and will later blame it on the sedatives. It's not, though. She's scared and alone. What had happened was terrifying. She had tried so hard to play it off, but she can't do it anymore.

The worst part is being alone through it. She worries that she had played it off too much and Roman believed her. There was never papers to sign. Maybe there had been a 'machinery issue,' but this was unrelated. Her gut tells her that the text had come from Miranda, and she's inclined to believe it. Why else would he have left for so long? He knew she had been upset the first time then to leave again... But that shouldn't matter. What matters is that he had left, not why. But, she reasons, he wouldn't have gone if she hadn't texted him.