"We will tell the fire department," he told me. "I don't know if they will be left or anything, but if they are, they can tell us."
"Okay," I agreed.
"All we can do right now is be here for Shep," he reminded me.
"Yeah," I agreed.
I think I might have been dozing off resting on Malcolm's shoulder when Shep's voice filled the small room.
"Holly?" he called.
"Shep!" I shrieked, hopping up, reaching for him. "Are you okay?"
"Why am I in the hospital?" he asked, wincing at the bright lights.
I didn't want to start with the OD. I didn't want that fight. Not yet.
"There was a fire," I told him, watching as he jolted, trying to sit up before I pressed him back down.
"What?"
"It's okay," I told him, shaking my head. "You're okay. The doctor doesn't think I hurt you."
"Hurt me?" he repeated.
"I had to throw you out the window to get you out," I told him, starting to feel the ache of hauling a man twice my weight around. My arms and shoulder and back were screaming.
"Wait... what?" he asked, face scrunching up.
"You gotta tell him," Malcolm told me, shrugging.
"Tell me what?" Shep asked, fighting against my hand, so he could sit up.
"You overdosed," I told him, ripping off the band-aid. "That's why I couldn't wake you up. That's why I had to throw you out the window and drag you away from the house."
"No."
"Shep..."
"I said no, Holly," he snapped, face getting red.
"Okay, alright," I said, too exhausted for an argument. "I'm just going to go get the doctor," I told him, patting his leg before moving toward the door.
Malcolm followed me out.
"Better to let the doctor handle it," Malcolm said, grabbing my arm when I went to follow the doctor into Shep's room. "He will fight you about it, but he can't fight the facts with the doctor."
To that, I let out a sigh as Malcolm led me back to my room after I requested discharge papers.
"Discharge to where?" I mumbled to myself.
Now that I knew Shep was okay, even if he had a lot of hurdles ahead of him, all the other stuff was starting to come down on my head.
The house.
The insurance.
All of our lost possessions.
The fact that I had no money to replace any of it.
Or a place to stay.
"Honey, you're staying with me," Malcolm said, reading between the lines, giving my knee a squeeze.
"I can't ask—"
"You're not asking. I'm offering," he told me.
"I can't. We can't," I said, giving him the gentle reminder that it wasn't just me, that Shep needed a place to stay as well.
"Honey, you can. You both can."
"But your place..." I started, not knowing how to break it to him that it was a nightmare for caretaking.
There were steps up into the house. There was only one bedroom. The space as a whole was really narrow to navigate a chair. And the bathroom was far too small to put Shep's shower assisting equipment.
"We can stay at the clubhouse," he told me. "There's plenty of room for Shep there. No stairs. Always someone around to help."
"Don't you need to ask your boss if that's okay?"
"It will be okay."
"You can't know that," I insisted.
"You're mine, right?" he asked, actually waiting for me to give him a nod. "Then I know that. That's how this works."
"But Shep..."
"Is part of you," he said, shrugging.
"It's really nice of you, but—"
"It's a done deal," he cut me off.
"Am I ever going to get to finish a sentence?" I asked, repeating the same thing I had just a few days before in a living room that no longer existed.
"Sure. When you stop fighting something for no reason," he said, raising a brow at me.
"I just want to make sure it's okay with your boss. Can you check?" I asked. "Just to make sure?"
"I can do that," he said, reaching for his phone. "I'll even put you on speaker," he said, dialing.
He got his boss—also his uncle—, Reign on the phone, explaining the facts in as short of sentences as possible.
When he was done, all there was on the other end of the phone was laugher.
"Prez?" Malcolm asked, brows furrowing.
"Oh, nothing," Reign said, still sounding amused. "Just the women we all pick," he said. "Always get us into something. Yeah, it's fine. You know the rules," he added. "Holly, babe, you there?" he asked, making me stiffen.
"Ah, yes?" I called.
"You alright? You need anything?"
"I'm okay. And I can't thank you enough for—"
"Don't mention it," he said, hanging up.
"I see where you get that trait, I guess," I said, offering Malcolm a small smile.
"See? It's all settled. You're coming back with me. And as soon as Shep is ready to leave, he can come too."
With that, we went back to check on a sullen Shep who didn't want to talk to us. Figuring he needed some time, I told him I would be back to see him in a couple hours, so we could both catch some sleep, then I followed Malcolm back to the clubhouse where he curled me up onto his chest in bed.