Hello, and welcome back dear ! 

We continue from where we left off... Eri's thoughts will accompany us to yet another weird night shift. Get ready to learn a few things behind all the mysteries surrounding the and families. 

I have the as well tonight, so make me happy in the morning with your encouraging comments and ! 

Take care and enjoy! ~ J

"Damn it, you scared me." I leaned on the wall behind me, trying to catch my breath, when Jaxon's sharp eyes met mine.

"What's with you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

After the whole ordeal I just experienced, relief washed over my senses when I found Jaxon in the room. 

It was no secret that Chicago's crime rate was higher than the US average, but I came to love this city just the same. Ever since Brandon came into my life, I had become inadvertently cautious, enlightened even to a lifestyle I wasn't familiar with. And after tonight... after seeing the pain in that young woman's eyes, I knew I wouldn't look at things the same way.

Something in my gut was telling me to protect, shield and guard myself and the people I cared about; either that or I was completely paranoid.

Jaxon eyed the bank beds in the room, deciding against laying on the disheveled bottom one, when he finally climbed to the top. He laid there lazily, before his stare returned to me, still waiting for an answer. Something about him scrutinizing the state of the bottom bank-bed brought heat to my cheeks and I decided to turn the other way, praying my face wasn't revealing the steamy escapades that took place with Brandon before my shift even began.

"Is everything alright with you?" His question grounded me back to now.

Could I tell him what really happened? I knew I could trust him, but Savi's warning words and the look on Dr. Marshall's face ushered me against it.

"Yeah, no, don't worry about it. I'm just a bit tired." I feigned a soft chuckle, shrugging his question off.

"Erika? You know you can talk to me, right?" Tears filled my eyes, and I prayed that he wouldn't see, but my prayers were left unanswered, as he pushed himself off the bed and took a couple of steps towards me. "What happened?" His voice was strong, as was his hand on my shoulder, turning me to look at him. It was comforting, rarely so for Jax. 

I broke down and, in one breath, my unrestrained words hit Jaxon like a train.

"It's just... My pager was going off and so I rushed to the emergency wing. Savi said a patient was waiting in one of the rooms... and when I got there... there was no one there, no nurses, no doctors, and the light sensors wouldn't detect my movements. It was dark and I was freaking out, but then I found her. A young woman, Jax, she was only twenty-one, and she was hurt and bleeding and crying... she was so afraid, for herself, and she had a son? A young boy, and someone took him from her, and she was scared and hurt and-and s-she-"

"Erika, calm down, take a deep breath, I can't understand what you're saying-"

"She was bleeding, her lip was torn and her legs... she had blood and bruises on her legs, and someone is hurting her, but she didn't want to press charges because she has no legal documents, but I couldn't just do nothing. But Savi and Dr. Marshall said to let it be, because they would hurt her otherwise-"

"Dr. Marshall was there?" He furrowed his eyebrows in question, his mind already calculating, as he tried to understand my scattered words. "Erika, I need you to calm down. You're not making any sense."

"Jax, they are hurting her, and I let her go. I let her go back to the people that are killing her. I let her! I-"

His arms pulled me close to him, hugging me to his body, in a way I couldn't breathe anymore. I knew I was hyperventilating, but everything was just too much. And Jax knew, he saw the pain, because he somehow knew. 

I sniffed, as my tears kept falling, but I was breathing normally. I heard him sigh, as he caressed my back, before pulling away to look into my eyes. His eyes, the same stone cold I was familiar with by now, were filled with concern and fear. He was watching me, calculating in his head, before he fished the phone in his pants' back pocket to send a quick message to someone.

"Who else knows about this?"

"Just Dr. Marshall and Savi. And now you. They told me to keep quiet, but I couldn't-" Frozen water washed over me, as he looked into my eyes. "Promise me, you won't say anything. Promise me! I think if the people that are hurting her find out she reached out for help, something worse might happen." Jax remained quiet, as he kept watching me. "Promise me, Jax, please!" I was shouting, fresh tears rolling down my cheeks, as I panicked. 

What have I done?

"Erika, please, calm down." He hugged my smaller frame once more, a sigh escaping his lips once more, as I couldn't stop crying. "Fuck... I promise. I promise! Nothing will happen to her. Just breathe. Please."

We both sat on the bottom bank-bed, our backs to the wall, as we stared at the opposite wall. The air between us was thick with paranoia, as I kept playing all that happened again and again in my head. It couldn't be, but somehow, I felt there was a connection to everything.

"Give me your pager." He said quietly, motioning towards my pager on my lap. 

My eyes widened when he pulled out the batteries, before playing with the device's features, after inserting them back in place. He reached for my phone still clutched in my hand and pressed the reset button on the pager.

"Of course, your phone doesn't have a password," he shook his head in annoyed disbelief.

"What are you doing?"

"I have a feeling; you weren't supposed to be there tonight. You said Dr. Marshall came as well, right?" I nodded, deep in thought. "My guess is that the frequencies got all mixed up, since everyone has one of these old things. Resetting it, gets it back in sync. Here, take a look." 

Jax' long fingers worked on the devices in his hands, as he continued explaining how he synced my phone to my pager code. He handed them over, when I saw a new application installed on my phone. 

"What's this?" I pointed to the new application; 'Protech'.

"It's an app Liam has been working on for a while."

"Liam, as in, Brandon's friend?" I scrunched my eyebrows, because, for the life of me, I had no idea they were on speaking terms, let alone exchanging technology advice.

"Yeah... It's for Brandon's clients, especially the ones on difficult or dangerous cases."

"Dangerous, like murder victims or something?"

"Or something..." He nibbled on his bottom lip, thinking carefully of his next words. "You've been feeling unsafe lately, haven't you?"

I never told anybody, how I felt paranoid. I had to keep an eye on everything that seemed weird or out of place. On multiple occasions, I had to watch behind my back, feeling like I was followed. I thought nobody noticed, but I was wrong. Jaxon could read me better than I thought possible.

Unable to think of the correct words to explain that irrational fear, I nodded.

"This app is for your protection. It's basically a map for the King firm to ensure their customers safety, but I think, since you're in too deep, you need it too."

"In too deep... What the hell are you talking about?"

"Besides, if your pager has been tampered with, instead of that old thing, all emergency communication will be sent immediately to your phone, so the frequencies don't get mixed up. Basically, you won't be falsely paged with this, and no one will be able to tamper with it."

"You think someone wanted me to see her?" Familiar shivers run down my spine, reminding me I was naïve to feel safe.

"You think someone is trying to hurt me?"

His features returned to their familiar stone cold, thoughtful expression he hid behind most times. 

"Why would anyone want to hurt you-" His words were caught in his throat. "When is your shift over?"

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "We're both done in another hour, or so..." I said, glancing at my phone's screen; it was 5:28 a.m.

I wasn't sure if he was listening to me, before he scurried away to find his phone, forgotten on my bed. His fingers moved rapidly on the screen as he typed a text. "Are you driving back home?" Jaxon stood up from the bed, pacing back and forth, still furiously typing on his phone.

"Stella and Markus took the car. I was going to walk. It's not that far away, you don't have to worry..." His frantic movements in the small space of our room were freaking me out, confusing me further. 

The sudden ringing sound of my own phone broke the silence between us, startling me, as I saw the name on the screen. Some of my worries dissipated, only for new ones to spring, when I saw the knowing look on Jaxon's eyes. 

Was he keeping an eye on me for Brandon? 

"Hey! Missed me already?" 

Pushing the ill-considered thoughts at the back of my mind, I tried to act normal. With his next game only hours away, last thing I wanted, was to worry him and risk anything happening to him. Besides, these next couple of matches were essential for him, since he wanted to enter the bigger leagues; whatever that meant.

"You know I did, Angel. Are you done for the night?" His voice sounded far away from his phone, probably the car's speaker.

"I have another hour, before I can go home. I'll have to return my patients' files to the main surgical wing, so that the next shift can take over, and then I'll be leaving." Jaxon was next to me, mouthing a simple 'You can go.' I turned to question him, but he turned his back to me, avoiding my glance while scrolling on his phone.

"You don't have to walk tonight, I can take you home as soon as you're done," his voice came soothingly through the phone, making me want to agree with his every request, hitting on the flaky protection-walls I still had around me.

"Brandon, you don't have to. Besides, my house is a few blocks away-"

"I know I don't have to, baby, but I want to. It's late, it's dark, it's Chicago. Let me take you home." 

It was Chicago. 

The picture in front of me was still missing many pieces, but the more time I spent with him, more puzzle-pieces found their place on the main frame, while other pieces, the new ones, did not yet belong to the main picture. Still, I knew that somehow, they fit together. 

Needing my man to soothe my worries, I let my guard down, allowing some of the walls to tumble to the ground, revealing what was hidden inside; my worried mind that was somehow trying to hide from him, in order to protect myself.

"I'll be there," he said, once I agreed to meet him as soon as my shift was over. 

I didn't slack off on my job, though, even when Jax tried to persuade me to go home and get some rest. I knew him and Brandon were acquainted with each other; it was my chance to find out about their relationship.

"We've never been friends, if that's what you're asking," was his curt response, once we were climbing the stairs to the seventh floor for the handover to the next shift.

"So, you're just acquaintances? Did you get in a fight with him?" I asked him as soon as the meeting was over.

No one mentioned anything about Anya, while both Savi's and Dr. Marshall's eyes were on me the whole time, until it was my turn to brief the next shift about the patients under my care. 

Upon exiting the room, Dr. Marshall's eyes followed me, an invitation to talk about it if I wanted, but I wasn't ready yet. I had to think, create a web in my mind and leave all my thoughts rage around it, creating more complex shapes, as I tortured myself with unanswered questions, before I was ready to face him.

Jaxon scoffed at my question, pulling the files I was holding in my arms to place them in a neat manner on the shelves of the nurses' office. "You got that right."

"Oh, come on, Jaxon," I run after him on the staircase, since his strides were bigger than mine. "Tell me something. You're coming tonight, right? At his game? If you didn't know him, then what's your reason to come, anyway?" I had to jump a few steps, to keep up with him.

"Erika, the Guardian doesn't just give free VIP tickets to anyone. We're talking about front row seats and entry to the after-party. Of course, I wouldn't refuse the invite."

"I know you're not that shallow, Jax. So, what's the real reason-"

Suddenly, I was cornered between the wall of the sixth-floor staircase and the wall that was Jaxon Inkles, staring back at his cold blue eyes, where an emotional war was taking place; something between anger and regret was hiding behind them.

"What's it to you, huh?" His tone brought chills to my spine, but I trusted him. We were friends, right? We could trust each other. I knew we had each other's backs when it came to our patients, but I wanted to be there for him as a person as well.

And I needed to know. This has gone on too far, and I can't stay in the dark any longer.

"I like him, Jax, and I want to know him better. For some incomprehensible reason new people came into my life and are somehow interconnected to one another. I want to know him, but everyone is acting like this is a big mystery of sorts." I huffed back, raising my head to stare back at him with equal intensity, even though all my senses were telling me to cower away. "So just tell me... Please!"

"Fine." Was the final word uttered, before he took a step back, giving me the oxygen I needed to breathe. "He- I..." He sighed, rubbing at his face with both hands. "We know each other since we were kids. Brandon, he's my age, but we were never close. We weren't friends, just... Acquaintances? Maybe, I don't know. My brother, James, he's two years older. He's the one Brandon spent his time with growing up. Those two were more brothers than I ever was to my brother. That's it. That's all you get from me."

He turned to walk down the stairs, before I grabbed his wrist to stop him. "Wait! There's more you're not telling me." I pleaded with my eyes, and he sighed in defeat.

"I..." Another sigh left his lips, and he avoided eye contact with me. "I was in love with his sister, Ariana. Still am? I don't know... I-" His eyes found my own, and there was the regret I was seeing earlier in his ice blue eyes. "I'm the reason she left." 

Jaxon's last words rendered me speechless, giving birth to another cobweb of thoughts in my brain. Words wanted to be released from my mouth and provide him with some comfort, but he didn't want that; that much was obvious. Instead, we remained silent, and that same silence followed me in Brandon's car, who at the beginning didn't question my behavior.

"Are you tired?" His hand found my own on my lap, bringing it to his lips to place a warm kiss, before resting it on his lap. Warmth flooded my body, bringing color to my face, and I turned away from my window to glance at him. He sensed my anxiety and managed to ease my thoughts with actions.

"No, not really. Are you?" He negated my question by shaking his head, his eyes focused in front of us. 

"How was your shift?" He turned to look at me, as he had stopped at a red light.

"It was... quiet. A couple of blood tests here and there... I had to change a few wound-dressings of a few patients, but other than that, it was quiet." 

His eyes were inspecting me, before he hummed at my answer and stepped on the gas once again. 

I was hiding things from him, and he knew it.

"I didn't know you had the shift with Jaxon Inkles..."

Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

will be out by !

Take care of yourselves! xo J