Connections Ch 7 AlexDesmond

Severe pain awoke Desmond from his deep sleep, causing him to first furrow his brows before cracking his eyes open. His head was pounding but his abdomen hurt far worse. Memories were cropping back up, reminding Desmond of his wounds. He blearily opened his eyes a bit more, trying to get them to focus so he could find out where he was now. He immediately recognized his surroundings to be Saint Paul's Hospital. He knew there was only one explanation as to how he got there and it was sitting right next to Desmond. Alex was sitting in one of the waiting chairs he apparently grabbed from one of the waiting rooms. His arms and legs were both crossed and he still wore the angry façade Desmond had become used to. Alex apparently noticed Desmond had regained consciousness because his gaze shifted from the wall to Desmond. Once again, Alex had saved Desmond from the bitter clutches of death.

Desmond tried to sit up with little success. His futile attempt ended with more pain in his abdomen than what he started with. Dr. Ragland walked through the door with a clipboard in his hands.

"So I see you're finally awake. I don't suggest moving around too much, young man, or did you forget you were shot three times? One bullet even almost hit your left lung." Desmond was extremely thankful that it didn't hit.

"Where did the other two land, Doc?" Dr. Ragland looked at his clipboard after he made sure Desmond hadn't open any of his wounds back up.

"One hit your liver while the last one shot between your stomach and large intestine. It's a miracle they didn't do more damage." He wrote something down on the clipboard before checking Desmond's pulse. Desmond glanced over at Alex, who was now watching the good doctor. Desmond knew, just knew, that that wasn't the only miracle he got that day. He looked back at Ragland.

"How long have I been out for?" Alex answered Desmond's question this time.

"About two days." Desmond blinked. Dr. Ragland finished up writing whatever he was writing before he walked towards the door, presumably to leave. Just before he exited, he turned to Desmond.

"Don't even think about getting up. Two days was not enough to completely heal you despite what you may think. Stay in bed, doctor's orders." And with that, he left. Desmond draped his arm over his eyes and let out a defeated groan. He hated staying in bed. About a minute had passed before Alex decided to break the silence.

"Why didn't you stay in the hospital?" His voice was laced with a bit of annoyance, though it was extremely faint. Desmond lowers his arm enough to meet Alex's gaze, which was now trained on Desmond yet again. Desmond sighed.

"I didn't feel comfortable being inside. And I really didn't want to linger around you and Dana." Alex seemed to take offence to this, his eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean by that?" Desmond internally groaned. Last thing he wanted to do was to offend Alex.

"I didn't mean it like that! I meant that I didn't want to linger around since I was probably not wanted. She's your sister after all. I've learned over the years to not get in the way of brothers and sisters." Desmond covered his eyes back up as he talked. He heard Alex let out an irritated huff that was apparently supposed to be a laugh. Desmond frowned a bit and looked back at Alex. "What was that for?"

"If I didn't want you in that room, you would have known. Your careless decision ended in you almost dying." Alex still had his cold façade of a mindless brute put on. Desmond groaned and covered his eyes back up.

"Well excuse me. It's not like I knew I was going to get bashed in the head, kidnapped, and then shot!" Desmond's voice rose a little in exasperation. Alex's eyes narrowed again. Desmond couldn't tell from what he said that elicited that response exactly.

"No, I suppose you didn't. Though, it's no excuse for not thinking. You of all people should know you are being hunted." Desmond was starting to get really irritated.

"I wasn't thinking? " Desmond sat up despite his abdomen protesting. His anger was starting to boil over. "And I suppose you were thinking when you came barreling into Cross's trap?" Alex was still glaring at Desmond.

"Yes, I was. I was thinking of how much of an idiot you were to be caught so easily."

"If you thought I was such an idiot, why even bother to save me?" Desmond nearly spat out.

"I didn't want my enemies to have any extra advantage over me."

"I'm just an advantage to you?! If that's all I am to you, then you still would have had your stupid advantage if you just left me there to die!" Desmond's little outburst obviously effected Alex.

"It was more advantageous to have you still alive."

"What? So you can just try to 'consume' me again?!"

"No."

"Then why?!" All of this anger was starting to jostle Desmond's wounds. Alex didn't say anything, apparently thinking that his justification didn't need to be said. This sent Desmond over the edge. "Alex, don't even start this shit again. Is it really so fucking hard for you to tell me why you even bother to keep me around?! I'm sick of your bullshit answers or when you deem that I don't need to know!" Desmond had one arm helping to keep himself sitting up while his other arm was stretched out to Alex, his hand clenched around one of his many jackets in fury. Alex just glared at him, obviously angry but not to the point to reduce to yelling back.

"You want to know why? Fine. I keep your pathetic ass around because you mean the world to me." Desmond blinked once, twice. Alex kept staring at him before removing Desmond's hand from his clothing. "I mean because of what you know in your head." Desmond just kept looking at Alex, apparently his brain had short circuited. Alex let out an annoyed huff before pushing Desmond back down on the bed. "You're opening your wounds back up." It was cold and matter-of-factly. Desmond looked down and sure enough, blood was trying to leak its way through the bandages. Alex stood up and walked towards the door.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" Desmond had seemingly rebooted his brain. Alex turned around to him and stared him down.

"To get the Doctor, what the hell else?" Before Desmond could respond, Alex walked out the door and out of sight. Desmond grumpily sighed, running over what had just taken place.