Aquata Cove Ch. 77

"It is..." Jamal speaks in a low tone, slightly shuddering his voice as his eyes glaze over, trying to suppress the sadness killing him inside. "I put him that bed... It's all my fuckin fault..." Jamal's eye starts to drip out a tear.

"No, it's not, Jay-Jay..." Nick said.

"Who throws a fuckin party 3 weeks after a proposal..." Jamal drinks the last of his beer. He feels dizzy... He just wants to be numb to everything right now... "Fuckin bachelor parties don't happen that soon, I'm a fuckin idiot..."

"~I make belieeeeve~" The singer hymns softly, "~That you are heeerrre ~It's the only way ~I see cleeeaaar ~What have I doooone ~You seem to move on easy ~Every time I try ~To fly~ I fall without my wings ~I feel so smaaall ~I guess I need you baby~"

"It's not your fault, ok...?" Nick persisted gently, "You were the one who saved him before he..." He sighed, unable to say what might have happened. "We always like to party. It's what we do to get loose."

"I-I just... I knew he liked Wizard of Oz and shit, I thought he would like it..." Jamal whimpered as his voice thickened, "I didn't even think about Merrick bein there... If I just wadn't so fuckin... Shit..." He winces as he gasps and chokes in despair.

"It's ok, baby..." Nick hushed, "It's ok, it's ok..."

"~Every time I try ~To fly~ I fall without my wings ~I feel so smaaall ~I guess I need you baby~" A few other dancers drape in, wearing thin scarves and veils, "~And every time I see you ~In my dre~eaams ~I see your face ~You're haunting me ~I guess I need you baby~" The singer closes her eyes as she gently feels herself, as if to show loneliness "~At night I praaaay ~That soon your faaace ~Will fade awaaa~aay~"

"What about you, though?" Jamal asked, once he managed to stifle himself down a little, "Ain't you ever scared of gettin the shit beat outta you for bein gay...?"

Nick shrugged as he shook his head a little, "Already got my ass kicked."

"What?" Jamal turns his head to look at him.

"Came out when I was like, 15, maybe 16. Middle School, man." He said, "Got fucked with a lot back then. Hell, my Uncle Fernando try to school me hard behind my Mama's back when he was told. Haven't heard from him since."

"And you ain't scared fo shit." Jamal says.

"Didn't say that." Nick replied. "I think about that alla time. I'm careful nuff, and I can defend myself when I have to."

"~I may have made it rain ~Please forgive meeee ~My weakness caused you paaiin~" The singer puts her hand on her chest, turning her head, and holding her hand up, "~And this song's my sorrrryyyy~"

"Well... Nick... I'm sorry..." Jamal bows his head until his chin touches the bar, "I don't think you and I need to be... Anymore... Ya know..."

"Wait, what??" Nick doubles back for a sec.

"I-I-I'm not... I'm not, see... I can't do anything anymore, as far as we go..."

"What are you talkin bout, man?"

"I'm... I don't wanna fuck anymore..." Jamal whimpers, "An' I know what you like, so... Just go on. No hard feelings and allat shit, just... Don't think bout me, just go on like you usually do..."

"Wait, wait a sec, man." Nick said as he gives a hurtful look, "Are you seriously gonna fuckin-"

"Last time something like this happened," Jamal said, his breathing becoming erratic, "I yelled at you, I even hit you..." He sniffed, "So just... I wanna leave on a good note on you... I ain't gonna be any good fo you, so you should go ahead and forget this..." He huffed as he covered his eyes.

After a while of trying not to sob, Jamal feels a pair of arms around him, and he can feel Nick rest his face between his shoulders.

"It's ok, Jay..." Nick muttered, his own eyes moistening, "I don't wanna go anywhere... I don't wanna ditch you for some stupid shit... I love you, Papi..." He tucks his arm under, and hugs him from behind, which felt slightly awkward because of the of the height difference.

"~And every time I try, to fly ~I faaall without my wings ~I feel so small ~I guess I need you baby ~And every time I see you, in my dreeaams ~I see your face ~You're haunting me ~I guess I need you baby~"

The calm song trickles slowly to its end. Jamal sniffles and whimpers as his left arm is now wrapped around a slender Latino, while Nick has his head against Jamal's chest.

~~~

Merrick feels himself tremble very slightly as he is once again on his feet. He takes deep, uneasy breaths as he watches through a window in a smaller room, with Adam connected to so many machines, tubes and needles in his skin. Several fingers bound in splints, his head wrapped in white bandage, and his face barely recognizable.

His's right hand grasps onto the pole of the I.V. drip, while his left arm hangs beside him. His stance is very rigged, unable to keep a straight posture at all, hunched forward, with one leg bent, and the other shaking as it supports his weight. His eyes so pink and swollen, they're almost red, both from the immense crying and the stress his body is currently undergoing.

He shouldn't even be up right now... Yuri keeps telling him that he needs to go home and sleep... Or at least that's what she WOULD say, if she could talk herself, but she can't begin to tell him what he should be doing right now.

Part of him still can't accept this... His heart feels like it wants to weigh him down to the ground as if it was made of solid iron. The more he looks at this picture, the more his chest stings.

"OH MY GOD!! WHERE IS HE?!" Comes a frantic, female voice. Merrick gasped and jumped as he turns, and sees a certain, unwelcoming fangirl sprinting down the hall.

"Excuse me, ma'am!" Says Dennis as he chases after her, Merrick stands there, speechless as she comes too close to him.

"Nnhh!" Merrick grunts as she races by him, and incidentally knocks Merrick aside, "Ahh, fffuck!"

"Ah, what the heck?!" Dennis says as he dashes over to Merrick, "A-Are you alright sir??"

"I-I'm fine..." Merrick feebly says. Dennis tucks his arms under Merrick's and starts to pick him up.

"Ma'am, I'm gonna have to ask you to lea-"

"Let me in! He needs me!" Jessica exclaims, grabbing and pulling at the locked handle. She cries as the door is rattled, "Don't just stand there!" She says as Dennis helps Merrick to his feet, "He needs our help!"

"Miss, there's nothing you can do!" Dennis tells her loud and firmly, "Mr Bryant is in a very delicate condition right now! No one but the surgeons can touch him right now!"

"If you would just let me see him, I know I can help!" Jessica says in desperation, "I need to be by his side! Please, I can pray for him to-"

"Stop..." Merrick finally says, "Just stop..." His chest feels a deeper pit as his hand grasps the pole of the I.V. He pants as he looks up at her, "If your God could make him walk as easy as that, we wouldn't have to listen to you, would we?"

"You." Jessica says with a look of hurt and anger, "How dare you..." Tears of anger seep from her eyes, "YOU are the one who did this." She takes a few steps forward, "You DID this to HIM." She stammers as her emotions escalated.

"What are you even talking about, you crazy fanatic??" Merrick groans, "This has nothing to do with you anyhow..."

"How dare you..." Jessica huffs as she's barely a foot away from him, "You turned him into this... You caused him to get hurt..." Merrick's eyes lock onto hers as a fiery surge of hatred raced in his blood, "And you know it... You're the one who-"

In a blink, Merrick's fist jets, and grabs onto her blouse and sweater. Jessica squeaks as his thump punches into her shoulder with his fist clenched around the fabric.

"I am going to say this nice... And once..." Merrick said weakly, growling underneath. His red and blue eyes leer up at her, "If I have to hear... One more sound of your stupid, blind, ignorant nonsense for just one more second..." His throat is so sore... He can't even muster up a proper threat. He clenches his teeth as his grip starts to tighten into a vice.

"Ow!" Jessica attempts to pull his hand off, "Let go! Let go of me!" She starts to descend as Merrick's grip gets tighter and tighter. "AAWWOO! Let go!!" She almost screams as her shoulder starts to burn like crazy.

"Merrick!"

Merrick releases her with a shove, just as he lets himself fall back, finding himself landing onto a wheelchair.

"What happened here?" Yuri asks from behind the wheelchair.

"This visitor ran over here before we had a chance to-"

"I'll tell you what happened," Jessica huffed, looking hysterical, "This man attacked me, right here, when I was just trying to see Adam in his time of need!"

"That's not true!" Dennis said, "Doctor, this woman came running in here, she knocked HIM on the floor, and tried to barge into the patient's room."

"This is not-" Jessica tries over and over to talk over Dennis.

"AND! AND he tried to tell her to stop, and she started advancing on him, an-"

"He doesn't have a right to be here!" Jessica raises her voice, "I need to be in there-"

"You don't have any clearance! You needed-" Both of them keep arguing, turning into a battle of pointless circles. Just when Merrick's throat is begining to rattle, he suddenly feels a wave from behind him.

"ALIGHT, STOP! BOTH OF YOU!" Yuri yelled, instantly silencing both people. After a few seconds, she turns to Jessica, calm as she can be, "Alright then, I've heard enough. You," She pointed to Jessica, "You need to leave, right now." She said with a snap and pointed her thumb to the hall way.

"Me?!" Jessica exclaims in disbelief, "How am I not allowed, but he-"

"Mr Piscien here is under a great deal of stress, and is currently in shock. He has also recently experienced cardio-vascular attack, and you are agitating him as a patient, and you are in danger of obstructing the recovery of another."

"I understand that, but I really need to-"

"Family and Personnel only, ma'am, final word." Yuri cut her off, "You are currently causing a disturbance, and you need to leave."

"Please, just try to understand-"

"Are you going to leave, or am I going to have you escorted?" Yuri crosses her arms. "You can visit when Adam is deemed fit to receive attention. Right now, you are violating hospital rules."

Jessica huffs in emotion as she has nothing to say, seeing only a few options. She opens her mouth to talk, but cannot find the words to rebuttal. Finally, Jessica steps up to them.

"You do everything you can for him." She whimpered indignantly.

"That's why he's here." Yuri replies with cold eyes, before Jessica turns around, and storms out.

"Um..." Dennis stood there, awkwardly, "Th-Thanks, I... Yuri..."

Merrick sits there in a daze, his face bowed down. The fingers on his right hand twitch a little, still feeling the pressure of crushing Jessica's shoulder... He was going to do it... He really was going to injure her... Merrick lets out a shaky sigh as he covers his eyes with that same hand.

"Alright, come on." Yuri turns the wheelchair, and starts to move, "Merrick, I need you to rest-"

"Stop..." He mumbled. She halted just as told.

"Merrick?" Merrick puts his hands onto the arm rests of the wheelchair, and grunts weakly as pushes himself up out of it. "Merrick, don't. You need to take it easy." She carefully grabs onto his arm, but he ignores her. Merrick's hand holds onto the I.V. pole as he gets back on his feet. "Mer-rick." Yuri nags.

"That chair is for someone who is injured, who can't even walk." Merrick says stubborn, "Growing up, my Father taught me a Triton should never be weak... What kind of person am I supposed to be... Pushed around in wheels because I'm sad?" He growls.

"Oh for God's sa- Don't give me that Be-A-Man nonsense." Yuri says, "I got enough of that from Jamal. Merrick, sit back down," She walks around to him, "Come on, just-"

"JUST!" Merrick raised a hand, causing her to step back, "Just... Leave me, ok..."

"This way, ma'am, sir..." Says a different voice. Merrick looks up, and winces as he sees Donna and Luther stride in.

"Merrick!" Donna rushes over to him, before her eyes catch the window of the room. She gasped as she covered her mouth, "Oh no..." Her eyes immediately moisten with tears, "A-Ada..." She whimpers.

"Oh my God..." Luther hushed in disbelief, seeing his son in a bed, wrapped in bandages and connected to too many machines.

"I thought you were in Washington by now..." Merrick muttered, "How did you get back so fast..."

"We got a call from Adam's coworker," Luther said as his wife begins to sob, "We didn't even leave the airport until we got another ticket back to here."

"... Thank you for coming back, for his sake..." Merrick says in a low tone before his face distorting, moving to cover his hand over his face.

"Merrick," Donna whined as she comes to him, and putting her arms around him. "Oh Merrick," She squealed in emotion as she hugged him tightly.

"My God..." Luther muttered, his insides feeling solid and heavy. Fearful thoughts lingered and dragged through his mind as he looks at him... So injured... So close to...

Luther stepped away, and turned to Yuri, "How bad is he... Really..."

"We are still in the process of detoxing him, and further surgery is ill-advised at this time." Yuri answered, "Honestly, it's not looking good at all..."

"Detoxing him, what does that mean?" Luther asked, "Di-Did he do any drugs or something?"

"No. When he was attacked, it seems he was forced to swallow some house paint." Yuri said.

"Jesus Christ..." Luther huffed.

"And they painted him, and some of it has gotten into a few gashes and cuts." Yuri said, "We don't know how he's survived this long, but his body has been suffering some poisoning, aside from everything else."

"What... What can be done, at this point??" Luther asked, "How- How, i-is there anything more you can do?? And what do you mean before? How can you NOT be operating on him?"

"Just to start with, Adam still needs a full transfusion." She wrings her hands as she reported to him, "He's been living off the bare minimum this far, but if we don't replace anymore of his blood, he's not going to last."

"Th-Then give him some blood! What- What're just-"

"Mr Bryant, we ARE trying!" Yuri rose up sad, "But Adam has an uncommon blood-type, and we've given him all we can, we're still waiting for the order."

"Luh... Luu..." Donna broke out, turning from Merrick, her eyes flooding down, "Luther."

"I got it, right here," Luther rolled up his sleeve, and held his arm out, "Adam has the exact blood type as me, I can give him some. Take all he needs."

"A-A-And I have O Negative" Donna wept, "I-I can-"

"Alright, ok, then I need you both to come with me then, and we'll get things started," She said as she led Luther away. "Mr Bryant, we may just need your blood, but we can keep your wife's blood aside for further treatment."

"I-I'll be right back, sweetie," Donna cried before giving Merrick's cheek a kiss, "I'll be back, I promise." With that, she trotted away from the merman. Merrick huffed and cried as he leans on the wall, sniffling and sobbing.

~~~

Belinda rocks back and forth, holding her calming baby, dozing in her arms as she slowly moves backward, and gently shifting forward. Harold sighs as he holds a hot mug of berry tea at the table.

"Belinda... I'm not really sure what we should do right now."

"Hm?"

"I don't know, just... We're supposed to go back to New York next week, but... I can't just take off now. I wanna make sure Adam makes it or something..."

"To be honest, I do not want to leave the islands either." She said, "I do not know if Adam is going to live or die, but I feel like I would be making a mistake if we leave."

"I mean... Hell, Adam's always been there for me when I needed him... Always had my back when you and I weren't getting along, once in a while, he took the heat from Captain when I screwed up, and I was working at the Fish House longer than he has... Seriously, who does that..." He scoffed, "Not sure I'd be willing to put up with that."

"He performed at our wedding when the music people did not come..." Belinda says, "He always gave me tips to keep myself hidden, and found ways to hide me, even covered me when water fell on me..."

"And God knows he's a good babysitter when we're in town..." Harold shook his head, "I can't leave him behind, Belinda, I... I don't want to..."

"I never told you of this, but I never liked to live in the New York anyhow..." Belinda said, "There is too much noise there, and we never have so much money... It just seems like too much chaos in one place to be."

"Still, not like I want to live in Hawaii forever." Harold said, "I still wanna be somewhere else."

"We can decide later." Belinda says as she gets up.

"Here, I'll tuck him in." Harold said, going to his wife and carefully taking the baby from her hands. "Hey, little buddy." Harold said as he carried his son, "There we go, all better now... That's a big boooy" He says softly, turning to the hallway, and walking to the small bedroom.

"Should I even bother with my old spot?" Belinda ponders as she walks to the dripping window. "I still need to give Adam those mixtures Atarah gave me... Hm..."

~~~

The doctors come into Adam's room, masked, with a couple of pouches of blood, getting ready to operate for his delicate procedure. Yuri peers to the hall with them; she doesn't think it'd be wise for Merrick to see this...

She steps out from the others, and looks out... Merrick is nowhere. She goes to see the I.V. pole, to find the plastic bag mostly empty, before seeing Donna striding over, "Ah- Mrs Bryant, please-"

"Yuri, please, just let me-" She said, "I know I can't do anything, but I need to be with him, please."

"I'd really rather you wait with Luther. We're doing everything we can, ok? We'll let you know when you can see him."

"O-Ok..." Donna nods as she sniffled, "H-Have you seen Merrick?"

"No, he was gone when we came here-"

"Doctor Umiyama," Called one of the other doctors.

"Coming!" She turns back to Donna, "I have to go, everything's going to be fine." She almost gives a hug, but stopped when she realized she is in her operating gown and gloves.

"Alright, alright... Do everything to save him, please..." Donna begs softly as Yuri turns, and comes back to the others. She cries as she holds her hands to her lips. Tears run from her eyes as she sees Adam there, being injected with a needle, while the other doctors prepared for the transfusion. Yuri comes in with them, attending to some of the chemicals and instruments.

"Hoh my baby..." She cried as they begin around her son, "My beautiful baby boy..." She chokes as she makes herself watch them carefully operate, "What have they done to my baby..."

~~~

The rain is still pouring down. All through the way, Merrick walks the whole way, his eyes to the road as the wind whips all around him. He used to love the rain, partly because Adam loved it too...

At this point, Merrick truly cannot tell if he is even sobbing anymore. His face is stoic, but it's not like he can tell if his tears have stopped, or if the rain is just washing the sparkling fluid away. He can already feel himself fade away as he went...

Now he can understand what that mermaid from Syrinx's pod most have felt... Sort of. According to Syrinx, she lose her mate and child to the Ghost Whale... Humans say that you don't know how precious something is until you lose it. At this point, Merrick has lost Adam more than once, and never did he ever take him for granted since that Red Moon... So why are the Waves of Fate so determined to tare them apart? How many times must they be taken away from each other before it stops?

Part of him wants to find the men who did this to Adam... The ones who tore him apart and beat him to a pulp... But the other part just... Wants to abandon everything...