The next day…

Brian sits in his office filing a few papers. Well he wasn’t really doing anything. Mostly he was trying to move things around in a pitiful attempt to take his mind off Levi. It was hard enough as it was trying to do his job for the patients that were alive without Levi invading his every thought. The look in his eyes as he pulled the trigger, the way his eyes had stared at Rebecca’s as he fell to the floor. Brian could swear that he could still see the outline of Levi’s blood in the hall whenever he passed by it.

“God I’m becoming crazy myself!” Brain says, slamming his fist down in frustration. He places his head down on his desk and just stays there. How could he have been so stupid! They shouldn’t have been flirting in the first place. And now his sister was here? God, as if life couldn’t get any more confusing! Brian stays there for at least an hour until he hears a knock on the door.

“Come in.” He says looking at the clock. He hasn’t got any more private sessions with anyone for another three hours. The door opens and Lance is standing there in the doorway. Brian sits up hastily and brushes down his hair with his hand.

“Hey Brian.” Lance tilts his head. “I was just checking up on you to see how you were doing. You haven’t really come out of your office that much.” Brain shrugs and stretches.

“I don’t know Lance.” He says. “I’m having a hard time concentrating lately but I can’t figure out why.” Lance nods. He knows what it is.

“You’re still upset about Levi.” Lance sighs. “Don’t feel bad about it. We’re all upset by what happened. The others are sill grieving. The fact that you are feeling all this is because you were really close to him.” Brian looks up at Lance with a half smile on his face.

“You know it’s really weird hearing the same advice I’ve given to so many people being given to me.” He says. “It’s kind of ironic though. The psychiatrist being the one given the counseling.” He says it in a half amused/half saddened voice. Lance goes over and rubs Brian’s back.

“Come on man. Let’s head to the lounge and get some coffee.” He says, lifting Brian out of his seat. “The guys are all gonna be there and I need a caffeine hit. Besides we have a staff meeting in about half an hour.” Brian nods and allows he to be lead by Lance to the staff room. It doesn’t look much different from any of the other rooms in the place only it has some more squishy furniture and a coffee dispenser along with various sugary treats that the patients were usually not allowed to have. Brian goes over to the coffee maker and grabs a cup. Without even bothering with the cream and sugar he chugs down the scalding liquid

“Dude either you had a really hard day or you’re immune to burns.” Kevin said, who’s standing nearby talking to Chris. Chris is standing there with a surprised look on his face with one eyebrow raised.

“What?” Brian looks at them while Lance goes and grabs a doughnut. “I’m going to need all the energy I can get if this staff meeting goes as planned.” At that Lance looks up at Brian while the other two look confused.

“Um… about that Brian.” He says. “I lied about that. I only said it to get you out of your office. We won’t be having another staff meeting until tomorrow.” Brian rolls his eyes and drinks another cup of coffee. This time he remembered to put creamer and some sugar in it.

“Well I’m out of my office now and I’ve got some time to kill before my next session so what do you want to talk about?” He asks. Kevin shrugs but Chris takes the opportunity.

“Rebecca seems to be adjusting really well.” He said. “You guys probably don’t want to talk about the patients but still.”

“Nah it’s okay.” Brian smiles faintly. “Becca really is adjusting well. Better than we expected. And those guys really have taken a shine to her.” Kevin and Lance both nod. Chris smiles a little.

“It’s like she’s become the little golden girl of the place.” Kevin smiles. “It seems like half the guys here are falling for her and she’s completely oblivious. I’m almost a little worried that she’ll get hurt if she’s not careful.” Lance shrugs.

“I don’t know. I’m not attracted to her so I wouldn’t know. She’s just a little kid after all. At least by my standards she is. She definitely looks like a little girl. But I’m not too worried about her. After all she’s got those three body guards with her everywhere she goes.” Lance laughs a little at his own words and pours some coffee. “But I kind of wonder what exactly she’s doing here.”

“Yeah that thought has crossed my mind as well.” Kevin sips his coffee.

“What do you mean?” Asks Brian. “I thought she was here because of social anxiety and insomnia and depression like symptoms?” Kevin and Lance looked at Brian and sighed.

“The depression and insomnia can be taken care of with the right medications.” Lance said. “You’re still new to the medical field. And often, social anxiety can be taken care of with the depression meds as well. The problem lies with Rebecca’s parents.” Brian nods. Lance doesn’t need to say anymore. He knows.

“Well I’d better get going. I’ve got a group session to take care of. Wanna come with Brian?” Kevin looks over at him. Brian nods and finishes his coffee, following Kevin out of the room leaving Lance and Chris alone in the room. Lance goes over to Chris who’s sitting down at the table.

“You got real quiet all of a sudden.” He sits across from him. “This isn’t like you. Something’s on your mind I can tell. Tell me what it is.” Chris knows Lance isn’t going to give up until he tells him. He sighs.

“I don’t know. I guess I’m falling for one of the patients.” He crosses his arms across his chest. “I mean I know she’s still a kid but still. It’s just that she’s adorable and she’s a little sweetheart. I know it’s wrong but I think I’ve got feeling for Becca.” Lance smiled knowingly.

“It’s okay dude. You can have feelings for her. It just probably wouldn’t be a good idea to act on them in the physical sense now. Just do your jobs as you always have. Do what the guys are doing. Be there for her. And then when it becomes a good time tell her how you feel.” Chris brightened up a little.

“Thanks man. I needed that. I’d better get back to work.” Chris stood up and left the room. Lance stayed behind. He didn’t have anything better to do for another couple of hours.

“He’s going to need all the luck he can get.” Lance thought aloud. “If its Beck he’s after, he’s going to have a little competition.”

*

Becca was sitting in the wreck room watching the others play pool. She really wanted to go back to her room but the guys wanted to be able to keep an eye on her at all times, especially after Joey and Justin’s little scuffle the day before. She sees Jordyn and her crew at a far corner and tries to make herself as unnoticeable as possible. It doesn’t work; she sees out of the corner of her eye that the boy with the spiky blond hair is still looking at her; the one who bugs her a week after Levi killed himself. She decides to leave. She goes over to Howie and tugs on his shirt.

“Yeah Beck?” he says looking at her. Becca points to the hallway.

“You heading back to your room?” he asked. Becca nodded. “Do you need one of us to walk you there?” She shook her head. “Okay. But if anyone starts to give you a hard time then just yell okay?” Becca nodded. She began to walk to her room.

*

“Hey guys I’m gonna go head out for a bit kay?” Nick was watching Becca with keen interest.

“Leave her alone Nick.” Justin apparently noticed him watching her.

“I don’t care, just don’t make her cry.” Jordyn stands and leaves, going the opposite way Becca went. She needed another walk and a tiny snack.

“I wasn’t looking for anyone’s permission.” Nick gets up. “And don’t worry. I won’t try anything too severe on her.” He winks and follows Becca from a distance.

*

Becca knows she’s being followed. She picks up her pace a little. She knows who it is and she knows that he knows where it is she’s going. She decides to try and lose him. She makes a sharp turn to the left instead of the right. She doesn’t know where she’s going at this point. She only knows that she’s seen Jc go this way many times. She hears the footsteps get quicker and louder. She doesn’t dare look behind her. She comes to a fork in the hallway. Right or left? She heads right without thinking and finds herself at a dead end. Right in front of the locked janitor’s closet.

“Hey there sweetheart.” Becca’s stomach plummets as she hears the voice she wished would disappear. “Where you going?” Nick comes up to her. Becca turns around and looks up at him and backs away slowly.

“Why are you running away? Don’t you like me?” Nick says in mock innocence. Then his tone changes in order to sound more gentleman-like. “Never properly introduced myself, then names Nick. So tell me hun, what’s your name?” Becca just stays silent and keeps backing away until she feels an unpleasant bump as she hits the door of the janitor’s closet. Nick comes closer and places a hand on the wall just above her shoulder as he leans closer.

“Still not talking huh? That’s okay. Shy girls can be kinda cute too. I hear people calling you Beck. Let me guess… short for Rebecca?” Becca squeaks in fear and tries to get away but Nick blocks her way. “Come on I just want to talk. You can’t honestly think that it’s cool hanging out with those guys. Why don’t you hang with me?” Nick gets right next to her ear. “Maybe we could ‘hang out’ sometime?” He never gets his answer. Becca screams and kicks Nick in the shin. He yells in pain and Becca sprints away in the opposite direction. She doesn’t know where she’s going she just wants to get away from him. Frantically she runs into a random room and slams the door behind her.

“Yeash Becca could you be any louder?” Becca turns sharply to see Jc sting in the room in front of a grand piano. It’s a music room. So this was the studio that the others had all mentioned earlier. Becca jogs over to Jc and hugs him, glad that she’s found a safe place.

“Are you okay Becca? You look a little freaked out?” Jc is worried. Becca nods. She’s okay now. Outside the room Joey is looking in the window at Jc and Becca. He can tell that Becca’s scared of something or someone. No doubt that idiot Nick got at her again. Joey had been let out of solitary confinement that morning and he wasn’t about to let himself get locked up in there again. But Nick seriously needed to leave Becca alone. Joey couldn’t help but feel protective of her. She was stronger than she looked it was obvious but she seemed so frail in his mind. If only she could just come out of her shell. Joey didn’t really want to admit it but he had to. He had feelings for her.

Nick walks out onto the lawn where a few other patients are all wandering around with their caretakers or in their own separate little cliques. Nick goes over and sits on the ground the shade of a large tree. He rubs his sore shin. He never truly meant to scare her like that. And in a way he never really meant half the things he said to her. Yeah she was cute, but the feelings he had for her were different than the usual ‘hey wanna go out’ feelings. He didn’t know what to make of it. He was about to fall asleep when he saw a figure in front of him.

“What do you want Jordyn?” he asked.