Perspective Shifts

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Sense slowly made its way to Faolan as his mind picked up warning signs from Matt's behaviour. He saw the lad's face show signs of pain and his heartbeat didn't sound quite right... As soon as Matt's breathing changed, Faolan stepped closer and looked concerned. "Are you alright, lad?" he asked, forgetting his surprise from before. When the young wolf suddenly sat down, Faolan was beside him and held his hand to help Matt sit up. It didn't take him long to realise what was going on... "Oh dear... " he said, "I think you're having a heart attack." He then looked up and saw that Joe was already in the house but heard that she was still on the first floor.

"Joe! Get the med kit!" he yelled then turned his attention to Matt again. "Just stay calm, lad. You'll be alright. Just stay calm and breathe."

The warning signs hadn't made their way to Joe's awareness and it was only at the call of her name that she snapped back to reality. A cold chill ran down her spine and hearing the urgency in her grandfather's voice had her almost in a panic. No...

Her body moved instinctively to where the kit was and a moment later she was outside next to her grandfather and Matt. Everything was moving slowly and in a blur. Her body was cold and her hearing was dulled, like she was under water. Perhaps it was due to the shock, or maybe it was due to the sudden episode of mania that she had been experiencing. It was what had made her kiss him, and now seemed to be the reason for his heart attack. No..!

Faolan opened the kit and got an aspirin out which he put in Matt's mouth, "Chew this and swallow. Joe - we need to get him to a hospital, now."
No! What have I done?! her mind screamed at her and she began sweating and her hands trembling as she could only watch in desperation.

Then a sharp light cut through her brain as a headache started up, but with it, some sense.. "Rita." she realised. They needed to phone her!
 
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"I think you're having a heart attack."
That news made its way to Matt's addled consciousness and he tried to laugh, but because he was already wheezing so much it turned into a coughing fit. Of course she had given him a heart attack. She'd kissed him, something he'd been half-dreaming about for the longest time, and it was going to kill him.

He struggled to keep calm but the rising hysteria was combining with his panic, and everything was blurring now. His head swam as two figures made their way out of the house. Both of them were Joe. He blinked. One Joe handed over the med kit. He could sense her panic, and tried to say something reassuring, but Faolan shoved an aspirin in his mouth. Despite the pain in his jaw, he concentrated on chewing obediently. At least somebody here knew what they were doing. He waited for that knowledge to push back the feeling of panic, but it didn't.

Was it just his vision, his erratic breaths, or were her hands shaking? He tried to focus and decided that they very definitely were. Maybe it was just his own fear, but she smelled frightened too, and her accelerated heartbeat was easy to tell from his own. For one, it was keeping up a regular rhythm. His was all over the place. He tried to grab for one of her hands, the only reassurance he could offer whilst his mouth was busy chewing and breathing, but missed. His fingers felt slick with sweat.

"Rita."
The name suddenly became the only thing in the world that made sense, and he groped in his jacket pocket blindly, hunting for the card with her number on. He couldn't find it. He knew he had put it in a pocket, one of these pockets somewhere, but... no, that was biscuits, biscuits for Joe... but the card was still evading him. He stopped hunting as another pain shot through his arm.
 
Faolan didn't quite catch what Joe had said, but apparently Matt seemed to understand. He saw as Matt was searching for something and then looked to be interrupted with more pain. He decided to continue the search for Matt's part and finally his fingers found the card. He brought it out and saw that it had a number on it for someone named "Rita" and that the card was from a clinic. Perfect.

"Stay with him, Joe. Keep him calm and I'll be right back." he said to her but noticed that she wasn't completely there, It's my fault...
"Joe!" he said, shaking her by the shoulder. This seemed to get her out of her daze, "You need to focus! You need to stay calm and keep him calm, got that?" he instructed and once she nodded he got up and got his phone out to dial the number.

Joe tried her best to calm herself, but it wasn't working. Everything was too much... she was losing control and even her whole body started trembling now. The stress from the theater's happenings, the news that her body was changing, the changes and more instability that it caused in her, Matt almost dying because of her anger when he was attacked... and now, the heart attack that he was having... also her fault. More and more wild instances from her memory bank bombarded her mind. Each one a reminder of how she had hurt him.

Her breathing became erratic, like someone trying to breathe when they were freezing - and truth be told, she did feel like she was. Keep him calm... remember? Keep him calm. Focus on that. She tried to. With a shaking hand she took his and held it, trying to bring him comfort, but also seeking it. She couldn't look him in the eyes though. What felt like a tremor, ran through her body.
How did things turn out so bad?
"I'm sorry..." she said between clenched teeth, but still didn't look at him.

"Hello? Yes, I need to speak to Rita! This is an emergency... his name is Matthew. He's having a heart attack and you need to send an ambulance right now.."

"Or he'll be as dead as meee.. Oh hey, that rhymes!"
 
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It was weird, but probably the best thing Joe could do to force him to calm down was to panic at him. Her panic meant somebody needed to be calm and make sure she was ok. He made himself take deep, slow breaths. The pressure on his chest was still immense, but he forced himself to ignore it. Bigger things to worry about. Right.

He squeezed her hand and tried to meet her eyes, but she wasn't looking at him. He could hear the dial tone of the phone, their two mismatched heartbeats, his own breathing. He couldn't think af anything to say that might be helpful in this situation. In truth, he wasn't entirely sure what was going on in her head - he had lost his grip on that around the time she had kissed him. Oh yeah, that. That was what had started all this, wasn't it?

"I'm sorry..."
"It's ok," he said quietly. "Everything is going to be fine, you'll see." That didn't seem very reassuring now that he'd said it, and he cast around for some other way to get her to lighten up. He smiled weakly, "Besides, rules or no rules, you can do that again any time you want." He considered a segue into some terrible joke involving the kiss of death, but decided against it. Something told him it was too soon. In any case, the pressure in his chest was making it increasingly difficult to speak.

-----

When Rita got the call, she stood in the clinic's reception weighing her options.

One: get the rusty old clinic ambulance out, find someone to drive it and get to the scene. That was what she'd been asked to do, but the clinic really wasn't equipped to handle this situation. They had a few blood thinning drugs and the like, but nobody was going to be performing an angioplasty. That, and the ambulance itself was a death-trap on wheels. Not a good option.

Two: call 999 and wash her hands of this whole business. For a moment that prospect tempted her, but then she remembered them, sitting side-by-side on the theatre table. Also, sending a recently transformed werewolf into a human hospital with a myocardial infarction would end badly. They might run tests. The lad might not be stable. Anything could happen. Sure, there would be a clean-up and a cover-up and all the evidence would disappear, but it was still messy, and people could die.

Which left only option three: call 999, go to the scene and try to keep the human doctors from finding out what they had on their hands. Try to keep the boy stable. Plead religious grounds or something to keep them from taking any blood, pretend to transfer him to the clinic once he was in the clear to keep his rapid healing from being noticed. Make sure the surgeon, if it came to that, was... sympathetic.

She took the address and phone number that the call had come from, and dialled 999 on the way to her car.

-----

She arrived at the house minutes before the ambulance. There was nobody out front and no answer at the front door, so she ran round the back and found them in the garden. Holding hands again. In other circumstances, that might have been sweet.

"We don't have an ambulance," she said, "so I had to ring 999. The ambulance is coming." As if on cue, the sound of a siren wailing in the distance reached them. She addressed the three of them as she added, "Listen, when they get here, please don't contradict anything I say. It might sound weird, but I have to find a way to stop them from running too many tests, or we'll all be in trouble."
 
Unfortunately the joke didn't have the desired effect on Joe and didn't alleviate her mental state. If she wasn't so stressed then she might actually look forward to that, but without the heart attack, thank you very much. Somehow the part of him calming down a little did get through though but not enough to calm her.

Faolan returned to the two of them, letting them know that someone was on their way...

When Rita arrived, he got up to greet her quickly. Joe was relieved to see her and looked back at Matt with a little more hope in her eyes. Unfortunately though, all the stress and happenings of the last two days had triggered an episode, and it had already started. If she had paid attention, she might have realised this just before she had kissed Matt.

The old wolf nodded at Rita's instructions. This was a bit of a delicate situation, what with none of them being human...
"I gave him an aspirin just before calling. Anything we can do to make things easier?" he asked.
 
Rita meanwhile answered Faolan's question with a shake of her head, "He seems to be calm, and the aspirin was the right thing to do. Assuming you called right away, the odds are good that he'll be fine." She didn't mention that since this was already his second major heart problem today, the odds were slightly lower than you might expect – the statistics, after all, did not account for lycanthropy.

The sound of the ambulance was very loud now, and as she spoke the sirens and engine cut out abruptly. Then there were sounds of doors opening and running feet. "We're round the back!" she called, and moments later two paramedics appeared.

They were about to start in on their standard spiel, she could see it, and one of them was already producing a little card with faces on it – their 'pain rating' scale. She waved the card away. "He's had an aspirin. Give him the glyceryl and give me the ECG." The men looked confused but, because her tone was authoritative, they did as she said. His heartbeat should be normal, but she'd rather do the tests herself if she could.

She ripped Matt's shirt open for the second time that day and started applying ECG pads to his chest. He gave no resistance. It seemed to take a very long time, and if anyone were paying close attention they might have noticed her hands trembling slightly. The paramedics were too busy spraying glyceryl under Matt's tongue, and besides, their human eyes would probably have missed the shaking. Eventually, Rita got the ECG device to give out readings, and she allowed a small smile.

"Good news," she said. "NSTEMI." To Joe she added, "Usually not as serious, and there's a good chance he won't need surgery."
 
((Epic wall of epic proportion of text... commence! Oh, and some drama, of course.))

Joe felt a little apprehensive as she heard the paramedics came running. With them was the familiar smell of 'hospital' and her mind was registering it under 'bad'. She kept calm however... at least for now. Rita's confidence helped too and she moved to make way for her and the paramedics to do their work. It felt like forever though, and every second Joe could feel her mind unravel and stared with her eyes wide open but unfocused. She was straining to not give in to the stress and to keep herself from bursting out. Joe exhaled a breath she had been holding. The feeling of her suddenly (even just slightly) relaxed state however, made something keel over and snap in her head as it had been leaning in the opposite direction. If it wasn't for her body trembling uncontrollably and her fast and shallow breathing, one might think she was just relieved. Any werewolf with a good nose would know that she suddenly smelled very wrong – and very dangerous.

"Uh-oh…" came a reply from Bucky, but he sounded amused.

Faolan's nose thankfully warned him about Joe, and gently touching her shoulder he suggested that she take a little walk, it didn't have to be far, and he'd watch over Matt. Joe didn't hear about Rita's 'good news'..

Ironically, Joe was pulled so far into her episode that she felt high as a kite! Adrenaline was in no short supply, all her nerves tingled and her sight was outlined with crisp clear colours. The scurrying and panic seemed so silly… the memory of her kissing Matt and everything she had experienced during it ran through her mind and body over and over again. It had been amazing! It was better than anything she had ever experienced before! Shooting a helicopter out of the sky while being shot at? That was nothing… All the amazing sensations that had been running through her like a strong current of euphoric electricity beat that a million times over. It was so powerful, and her memory kept recreating it to just feel it again and again. No feelings of guilt could get it down.

The other part of her was freaking out and it was also helping itself to adrenaline, along with some fuel from everything that was wrong and had gone wrong. Why had she kissed him? It wasn't like her at all! The most she had been able to do in the theater after Matt came back was to have her arm around his shoulders, and even that was almost had been too new for her. Frightening, even. Why was it frightening? Thinking of it now, she wanted to panic… opening yourself to someone like that could get you so badly hurt. They could get so badly hurt – and Matt did, even though she never intended for it to happen. That damned kiss. Of course his heart would be affected after this morning – it was still healing! What the hell had she been thinking?!

Her mind was so torn that it was becoming a physical migraine and it trickled down to form a stab in her heart. It hurt. It hurt so much… Her throat stung, her chest felt tight and her skin prickled. All this energy, and nowhere for it to go. She needed to get rid of it.

She had been walking towards and behind the left of the large tree with the swing without even noticing, and her stare was still that of being spaced-out. The tree was far enough to be out of hearing from human ears. A stranger would think she was just walking to calm herself, to take a moment to breathe, away from everyone's view. Perfectly rational, right? and she looked so calm and quiet too…

Quiet enough that not even Bucky could read her, "Hmm, did he at least taste good?"

She came to a halt next to the tree and suddenly, using her whole upper body to move, lifted and swung her right arm out to hit the bark with a closed fist. The side of her hand and half her arm had connected to it, breaking and denting the wood. If it wasn't for the size of the tree it would have shook from the impact. She stood arched, her muscles tense but her face still calm as she looked at him from the corner of her eye. "Leave." she warned him with a level voice. Either she didn't know, or it had been on purpose, but where she had hit was the old tattered edges of a broken branch sticking out like spikes… or had she aimed at Bucky and it just happened to be in the way? Whatever the reason, she had hit it and her hand remained there, injured.

Bucky had ducked to avoid getting his ghost throat smashed in. He pulled his mouth askew and audibly hissed as he saw the damage on her hand and forearm when he straightened up and looked behind him. "Bloody hell,no need to skewer yourself. I was only-" This didn't help her state of mind - with fury glowing in her eyes she focused on him, pulled her hand loose and swung again. He wasn't fast enough to get away this time and screamed in surprise and pain as she struck him against the protruding sharp edges. "Leave!" She growled with her teeth bared now, and as she struck several times hitting the same spot on the tree, she let the pent-up energy release. As helpful as ever, her imagination revealed the horror of what was left of Bucky after that, and it wasn't pretty. She had continued hitting through his pleading, through his yelping, and only after he was 'dead' and had disappeared, did she stop. She was now leaning with her arm on the tree, breathing slowly and angrily as she looked at the ground. Her heartbeat was calm, but loud and felt like her heart was in her throat.

She then looked up and stared at the mess, a cold sadistic satisfaction curled around the remaining energy and reflected in her glowing cyan eye. She chuckled, seeming amused and pleased with herself. The bones in her hand and arm were either broken or cracked, but none of the pain registered to her. Instead, it was disguised and only made her 'high' that much more worse and there was a strange tingly sensation in her ears. It actually occurred to her that if it had been anyone else there, she wouldn't have stopped hitting either… She was too far away, her mixed manic episode too deep. That thought amused her.

Joe finally noticed her broken and punctured hand and looked it over with a slight smirk. She could barely move her fingers they were so crumpled. Would you look at that? She should probably fix it… With that, she forced her hand open and her fingers straight by pressing with her palm against the tree. As she did so, the bones clicked and cracked back into place with loud popping noises. Joe made sure to use her other hand and corrected any misalignment. It was as if she didn't feel anything at all, even then. Next were the splinters…

A sudden sharp pain stabbed through her brain and she cringed audibly as she slumped down on her knees next to the tree. As she blinked through the stars, a wave of nausea hit her and her head began to spin. She let out an irritated groan, with her teeth visible and clenching together. Trying to still herself, she sat against the tree with her knees drawn up. She held her brow with her good hand and let her right arm just lay somewhat outstretched as it was perched on the corresponding knee. Joe breathed deeply as she heard her blood drip to the ground. It almost matched her slowing heartbeat.

She felt like she could murder someone right then, anyone – as long as they would scream and cry out in pain to take away her own. The idea made her feel good, very good in fact… even her teeth felt tingly with that idea. At the same time though, through a tiny little crack sneaked a feeling of shame: it was wrong, it was something only the Voice would enjoy, and none of this was helping Matt.
 
The paramedics were getting him ready to transfer to the ambulance. Rita glanced up as Joe paced away and she could tell something was wrong, but she was dealing with one medical emergency already and she couldn't afford to be distracted.

She wanted to ask what had happened to Matt – whether anything had triggered this, and what it had been – but she didn't want to bring up his history of heart problems in front of the paramedics. When was the last time you had a serious complication with your heart? Oh, that was just earlier today… I like to fit in at least two rounds of heart failure before supper time…

Matt was looking after Joe and the expression on his face could be read as 'anxious'. Rita had only part-registered the change in her smell before she left, but it had hit him full on and despite his inexperience he knew it was bad news.

Then she started hitting the tree.

"Get the stretcher," Rita said firmly as the two men turned to look at the sound. They ignored her, so she repeated it more forcefully and they moved away, like robots. Humans were so slow sometimes. "Matthew, I will come with you to the hospital. I just want to go and speak to her. I'll be right back. Everything will be fine." She gestured to Faolan and hoped he'd understand her meaning: kneel where I knelt. Block his view.

"She's bipolar," Matt warned as Rita stood up. "She might hurt you." Rita only smiled down at him and said, "I know."

By the time she got round the tree, Joe was sitting down and leaning against it, blood dripping from her hand. She coughed quietly. "They're taking him to the hospital now, Joe," she said, very gently. Something told her the girl wouldn't be a fan of hospitals. Her reaction earlier to the talk of medication, perhaps. "You don't have to come." She knew, and probably Joe knew too, that at this point she had a legal obligation to get her admitted to a psych ward. She was going to ignore that obligation, on the grounds that it would only end with more people getting hurt.

"If you'd rather stay here, I will make sure he gets whatever treatment he needs. But if you do want to come, I need you to promise me you can keep it together." The last thing she needed was to be trying to keep two werewolf patients under wraps, one with heart trouble and the other being dragged up to psychiatry kicking and screaming.
 
Faolan had also heard Joe's outburst and he was glad she wasn't having it here where Matt lay, practically helpless. He had a pretty good idea what Joe was going through, and what the consequences could be.

As Rita gestured to him, he at first didn't understand but thinking about it, he got what she meant and took her place as instructed. He heard Matt warn her and he also had a look of warning on his face. With her replying that she knew, he added for her to be careful. When she left he looked down to Matt with a wry smile and sighed, "Now I know you respect the rules lad, but there's no need to demonstrate how you'll make sure not to let anything get out of hand." his voice was light and he even added a wink. Hopefully the little joke would take Matt's mind off his worries. "Don't worry, she'll be alright... she just needs a little time." He had a nagging feeling that things might turn sour so he carefully lifted Matt and carried him to the ambulance. When the paramedics finally got the stretcher, he had Matt around the corner and out of view from the tree.

Joe heard Rita approaching. She smelled her, and that she was of course a vampire. Matt used to be one and that was 'bad'. She also smelled the clinic on her. Matt had been in the clinic and almost died and that was 'bad'...

"They're taking him to the hospital now, Joe," ... "You don't have to come." ... "If you'd rather stay here, I will make sure he gets whatever treatment he needs. But if you do want to come, I need you to promise me you can keep it together."

That was what Rita was saying, but unfortunately Joe was hearing other words through a muddled consciousness...
"We're taking him away now, Joe." she closed her hurt hand, making the joints pop. "You shouldn't come." a clench made the joints pop and crack that sounded like it should be painful. "You have to stay here, I will make sure he forgets whatever happened between you and once that's done nothing will keep you together."

Joe's head turned slowly, her good hand still in place and letting her fringe partly stray over her face. Her left eye had a very strange look in it and when it focused on Rita it looked wild. Her right cyan-coloured eye also got Rita into view, and in the shadow it looked brighter than it probably was. When she spoke, her voice was course and low and her elongated canine teeth made her pronunciation sound menacing.
"I'd like to see you trrry..." if there was any time to contemplate her tone, it might have sounded like an actual challenge. Unfortunately for Rita, there wasn't any-

Joe just lunged - no warning, no pre-scaring growl, just a sudden jump towards Rita with her hands transforming halfway into paws and the sharp nails that came with them. Her eyes were now reflecting nothing but a wild thirst for murder as she swiped at where Rita was standing. She knew the vampire was going to jump so she had her other hand prepared to cover at least her left side to grab at anything available, whether it be a foot or a hand...
 
Matt reacted badly to being picked up, and squirmed uselessly, trying to turn back so that he could see what was going on behind the tree. He caught a glimpse of Rita standing there, still calm and still talking, before Faolan carried him round the side of the house. The reassurances Faolan had tried to give before lifting him had also fallen on deaf ears and he couldn't think of anything but what had happened to Joe. She had gone round the tree… and then cracking sounds, and now she wasn't coming back. Why wasn't she coming back?

The paramedics arrived with the stretcher and tried to manhandle him onto it, but he wasn't co-operating. He pushed them off, feeble but determined as he struggled to get back onto his feet. He was muttering constantly as he did so, "No, not without Joe… not without Joe…" and the more determined they got, the harder he struggled. They exchanged looks over his head – this distress wasn't going to be doing him any good at all. It was dangerous to give him sedatives whilst he was having a heart attack, but if they couldn't get him to calm down he was going to kill himself anyway.

He felt the syringe stab into his upper arm and heard their assurances – "Just a mild sedative, it will make this easier…" Joe still wasn't coming, though. What was wrong? Why wasn't she coming? As the drug took effect he filled his lungs as far as he could and shouted for her, "Joe!" Then his limbs went weak, and he had no choice but to allow himself to be hauled into the ambulance.


On the other side of the house, Rita heard the yell and it distracted her at a crucial moment. She only half-registered Joe's response, and then Matt was shouting, and then the girl had already leapt for her and it was too late to really evade the attack. She cursed herself for not standing further away, and for being so easily distracted, but it was too late for that, and she was going down with the werewolf on top of her.

Joe's nails – or were they claws, now? – dug in and tore her skin, and she struggled, but couldn't break free. She tried speaking, slowly and clearly this time, hoping the girl could still be reasoned with. "I am not the problem here, Joe. He's going to be ok, but do you want him to wake up wondering where you are, why you didn't go with him?" She wriggled until she could look Joe in the eyes, and saw one of them was almost glowing, much lighter than the other. In truth, she looked completely crazed…
 
Like the paramedics, Faolan did his best to get Matt to calm down. Telling him that she'd be on her way didn't seem to help... and then, after the sedative the lad got a scream out... Oh no... Faolan groaned.

Unfortunately there was no reasoning with Joe now... not in her current state, and 'crazed' was putting it mildly. She still heard the wrong words, "You're the problem here, Joe! He's going to be ok, but not when he is where you are - you don't belong with him." and it only made things worse. Her sight was blurred and only made it easier for hallucinations to play with her senses... like "dressup" and making Rita look like a certain vampire that Joe didn't particularly like...

Joe flexed her claw, the one that was bleeding, and let the nails dig in deeper into Rita's skin and her eyes watched for any signs of pain from her victim, "I'm going to kill you, Sssallyyy," came her growling voice. Putting more weight to pin Rita down, she lifter her free hand and brought it into her view. Her index.. claw nail was a little more extended than the other and she was bringing its point closer to Rita's eye... dangerously close, and Joe's own eyes now looked really crazy "What does your fear taste like?" she asked, her voice edged with cold cruelty.

Meanwhile, Faolan had made sure the paramedics had both entered the ambulance and that he was closest to the door.
"Excuse me a moment." he suddenly said and closed the doors after he exited, and locked it the same time with the keys he had swiped from one of the men.
 
Stupidstupidstupistupid... She should have known better than to come back here when Joe was clearly suffering some sort of psychotic episode. Reason didn't seem to be helping either and it occurred to Rita that she was a vampire, and this was a werewolf, and she ought to have known better than to assume that that didn't register with Joe just because Matt had been one too, before. Sure, the girl might be all right with it in principle, but during full-blown psychosis? Rita was never going to look like a friend.

She didn't wait for the death threats to come and instead focussed on her options. Well, it was only a werewolf... a strong one that had her pinned, but... she started wriggling her knee up between them, as if she was going to try to kick Joe off, and hoped that would act as a distraction while she figured out something better. Then the death threat did come, and she frowned. "Who's Sally?" Not that it mattered, really - the point was there was a hallucination in progress and that made her very much at risk of serious harm. Whoever Sally was, Joe didn't seem to like her very much.

As the claw neared her eye, she turned her head away as the fear rose in her chest. She had to figure a way to get this crazy wolf off her! She squinted up at Joe and said the first thing that came into her head as a distraction: "What would Matt say if he could see you now?" Then she yanked her right arm, which was barely pinned now that Joe had let go to claw her eye out. With any luck, she might just be able to break free from this hold...


If Matt had been able to see Joe now, he probably wouldn't have been saying much. He was still trying to call to her, but nothing but slurred nonsense was coming from his mouth. He became vaguely aware of a loud banging sound, and the two paramedics yelling, "Hey! We have to get this boy to a hospital! Let us out!"

"Heh," he said indistinctly, as he watched them struggle. "Now you know how I feel."
 
Rita's squirming only seemed to encourage Joe, and the knee movement didn't phase her. She had noticed it though and a variable was added to her awareness and a concluding action was prepared if needed. When she saw Rita turn away and noticed the fear there was something like a cyan glow that appeared in her 'normal' eye's pupil. Even Rita's question did nothing to dissipate the sadistic pleasure that Joe was experiencing.

"What would Matt say if he could see you now?"

She felt Rita get her arm loose and without breaking eye contact, Joe grabbed the arm and held it in an iron grip. The grip slowly got tighter, and all Joe had to do was to twist just right to break the bones, and this possibility reflected in her eyes. It was extremely tempting and her hand started moving to do so, slowly.

"Matt's not here..." she informed Rita through her teeth, and was about to twist and rip at her arm, but was stopped by her grandfather who had taken the opportunity to ram her off. The impact made Joe release Rita's arm and the hold on her, and as they rolled over, Faolan wasted no time in jabbing her with a sedative. This only seemed to infuriate her and she threw him off before the effects set in, and the moment she had an opening she grabbed for his throat...
 
For a brief moment Rita celebrated at getting her arm loose, and was just trying to decide how to take advantage of this success when Joe grabbed at it again. The grip was too tight and she squirmed awkwardly, whimpering slightly as the pressure increased and the twisting began. Still, broken arm bones were going to be way less troublesome than a ruptured eyeball if she ever managed to get out of this alive...

The cracking of bones never came, though, and Joe's weight was suddenly lifted as Faolan slammed into her. By the time Rita had sat up he had already jabbed her with the needle, and Rita cursed internally. A sedative! Why did I try to tackle her without a sedative?! She made a mental note: when trying to reason with psychotic and potentially dangerous werewolves, bring medicinal backup. Not that she ever wanted to find herself doing this again...

She saw Joe go for Faolan's throat and rolled to her feet, rushing over to them. Sure, the old man had tackled her once, but Joe had been distracted. Rita managed to grab at her from behind, circling both arms around her waist and dragging her back away from her grandfather. Hopefully, the sedative would kick in before Joe managed to do anyone any serious harm, and that included Rita herself...


Matt hauled himself onto his feet in the back of the ambulance, ignored by the two yelling paramedics. He had a vague sense that he probably shouldn't be standing or moving, but that was nothing to worry about, right? Right. And these guys really seemed to be anxious to get out. He was a vampire, wasn't he? It occurred to him that he wasn't a vampire, although he couldn't identify why not, or what that made him now. Oh well.

"Staback," he mumbled, and the two men turned in confusion. They seemed to suddenly realise they had a patient to worry about, but it was too late. Matt took two steps forward and flung his full body weight against the door, which promptly broke. For some reason, although he had been aiming for this, his brain hadn't got as far as what happened if the door indeed gave way, and he toppled out of the ambulance and landed on his face in the dirt. It then occurred to him that he was a fugitive from justice, or medicine or something, so he got onto all fours and started to crawl away from the ambulance. As he went, he called out again: "Joe!" He still couldn't understand why she wasn't coming...
 
Joe had just barely managed to grab her intended target but didn't get a grip good enough to keep it there. What resulted was her scratching her grandfather's neck as she suddenly went backwards. Realising that she was being grabbed from behind, she didn't fight it but instead kicked herself back to fall and roll over her attacker. She'd land on all fours and be ready for another jump...

Only that didn't go as planned. She did land on her hands and feet but they gave way the moment she tried moving them again. Mustering whatever movement she could, she reached for the closest thing she could find that was attached to Rita. Faolan saw this, but to his relief he saw that Joe didn't manage to do any more harm. She was left on the ground, growling and breathing angrily as she glared at the two people in front of her. Her eyes still looked as mad as ever...

Faolan took a deep breath and sighed heavily as he sat with his arms propping him up from behind. "You alright there, Miss Rita?" he asked, a little out of breath. He then heard Matt calling to Joe and it sounded particularly loud for being inside an ambulance... wait.
The sound wiggled it's way through all the crazy and poked Joe's buried senses. It was still going to be a while before she'd be back to normal again though.
 
Rita fell over backwards as Joe's momentum unexpectedly increased, but she was quick enough to be back on her feet before Joe got up... not that Joe ever actually got up. The girl collapsed, and although she grabbed onto Rita's ankle, she didn't seem capable of doing any more harm. Rita wriggled her foot loose and stepped back, just in case. She had seen werewolves with more than one shot of tranquiliser in them get up and keep right on fighting... not that she knew what Faolan had given her or how much, but she was going to be on the safe side from now on.

"I'm fine. Thank you." She looked Faolan in the eyes as she said this and it was more than just a passing pleasantry. She'd been foolish, and he might well have saved her life. She didn't know what relation he bore to Matt or to Joe - although since he was a werewolf, she guessed he would be linked to Joe somehow, maybe a grandfather - but she was very grateful he'd come back here and stopped Joe when he had. "I think my arm bones, and possibly my eye, are very much indebted to you. And I don't even know your name." She added the last part somewhat guiltily. It hadn't really seemed important with a heart attack to deal with, but now she regretted not stopping to ask.

Then she heard the sound of shouts coming from the direction of the ambulance. She shot a troubled glance in their direction and then down at Joe. Matt definitely wanted her with him, but it really wouldn't be wise to try to take her to the hospital in this state. But it wasn't as though they could just leave her here like this.

"Will you stay with her?" Rita asked as she looked back up at Faolan. "I'll get him to hospital. You probably know better than I do how she'll react to whatever you just gave her, but I'm betting the hospital is not a good place for her right now..."
 
He nodded quite happily, "Glad to hear it." and then got up as he dusted himself off. "Oh, sorry. It's Faolan." he said and even went to greet her firmly by the hand. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, though I'm sorry about all the trouble." he said, scratching his scruffy chin as he looked over at Joe. The tranquiliser was still in his hand and as he looked at it he was very glad that there had been more than one dosage available.

"How on earth did he get out of there? I'm sure I locked it." Faolan wondered out loud, and then he noticed the damage to the tree, and Joe's blood on it. His expression looked troubled and when he glanced back at Joe he saw that her hand still had some pretty bad splinters in it, keeping her hand from healing properly. Rita's words vaguely registered... "Hmm? Oh yes, sure... erm. No, not particularly but I can tell you that she won't be happy about it." he exhaled loudly, and looked at Rita, "Well, I suppose. Though will we be able to get the lad to stay still on the way there and back without her? ... Also, I think her hand might need some attention with those splinters."
 
Rita shook Faolan's hand and quietly stored the name in her mental who's-who. It was something she had gotten good at over the years, remembering names, and she was sure she'd remember his now that she'd heard it. Even though she'd never met anyone by that name before. "Pleased to meet you too," she smiled, "And don't worry about the trouble. It's an occupational hazard." Well, maybe not exactly but it was if you were going to be stupid about talking down bipolar patients in the midst of a mixed episode...

She couldn't help snickering slightly at Faolan's question, "Oh, he's a werewolf, it can't have been hard." She of course didn't know about the sedative so to her it seemed like a very daft thing to ask. She had to wonder though what was taking him so long to get back here... maybe those paramedics were stronger than they seemed. Or maybe just smarter than her, smart enough to sedate a problem patient... Faolan's noticing the splinters and blood drew her attention to them and she frowned. "You want to bring her with us, then? Maybe you're right. But I think it's best I see to her hand in the ambulance if we do, I don't want it on hospital records that she came in with bits of tree stuck in her and walked out without a scratch four hours later..."
 
The old wolf joined in the light mood and chuckled at her comment about werewolves, "Ah well, I suppose. It's not like they knew anyway... you might want to tell them that their sedative is old or something by the way."

Her suggestion was logical and he agreed. "That's fine with me, lass. I'll make sure to keep an eye and nose on her." he said, tapping the side of his knowingly. He then went over to gently pick Joe up and she was eyeing him like a caged animal all the way. It was all she could do as none of her limbs were responding to her commands. Some deeper part of her recognised Faolan and she was less aggressive towards him, at least as far as he could tell from her breathing. Then again it could be that she was getting sleepy from the sedative dose.

When they got to the ambulance, he saw the sight of the paramedics trying to pick up a determined Matt. He stopped in front of them and with an apologetic look lifted Joe a bit by way of explanation, "Sorry about that, lads." and let one of them take the keys back.
Joe registered Matt's smell and that it was a lot closer, and her eyes opened and focused on him. She couldn't move anything much so she blinked at him in a way to show that she was relieved.
 
((Somehow managed to make another accidental post in which instead of editing this directly I quoted an edited version of it - I'm such an idiot!))

As soon as Faolan rounded the corner and Matt saw that he was bringing Joe with him, he got to his feet and tried to climb back into the ambulance. Unfortunately the excitement of his escape had not done him any good and he found that he couldn't even manage the step, but Rita grabbed onto him and helped him up.

Once they were inside he lay down on the gurney and reached one hand out towards Joe. Sure, she was out of his reach but it still made her feel closer if he reached for her. "'s m' Joe," he said happily, and turned the reaching into a wobbly wave.

Rita had settled into a seat as the paramedic tried to hook Matt up to the larger ECG inside the ambulance. She glanced at the wrapping of the sedative they had given Matt and frowned. "But this is only very light stuff!" she said incredulously, and looked up at Matt who seemed to be fascinated by the back of his own hand. The paramedic caught her eye and nodded, his eyebrows raised. She shrugged. "Oh, well maybe he's just reacted to it funny," she said. She didn't mention her suspicion that Joe was passed out on the same stuff, since Faolan shouldn't have taken it in the first place. Nor did she mention that the adverse reaction was probably something to do with their different species.

Matt meanwhile was lost in a foggy world of contentment. Joe was here, the heart-savey people were here, and they were all going on a road trip… he giggled. "Honessly," he said, addressing the words to Joe, "All this ov'r a kiss, eh?" He contemplated that for a second and then added, "Mind you, wassa damn good kiss." This reminded him that she was now officially speaking his girlfriend, and he rolled onto his back, something the paramedic had been trying to get him to do for several minutes. Rita couldn't help smiling to herself, both at his rambling speech pattern and the things he was saying. He spent the rest of the journey smiling beatifically at the ceiling. Rita found some forceps and started pulling splinters from Joe's injured hand.


When they arrived at the hospital, the ambulance screeched to a halt and the driver ran round the back to help his co-worker get the gurney out. They exchanged glances that said that they'd be very pleased to see the back of this mad lot… Rita also jumped out of the ambulance and stuck very close to Matt. In this sort of crisis they'd take blood first and ask questions later, and those questions would be the awkward kind that got all kinds of shady characters involved in making the evidence disappear…
 
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