Jordan rolled over and grabbed the phone before it rang twice. "Uh huh?" he answered sleepily.
"Jordan, get up. No one's answering in Jon's room again," Peter's voice said sleepily. "I canceled your call; go get your brother and try not to wake up the hotel this time."
"Right," Jordan mumbled as he hung up, then rolled out of bed and nudged Joe, who was asleep in the other bed. "Wake up," he muttered, "or you'll miss the fireworks again."
"I thought I wanted to miss them," Joe mumbled sleepily as Jordan threw on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, then left the room and walked down the hall.
"Jon, get up!" he demanded, pounding on the door. There was no answer. Usually, after the phone call, just knocking - well, pounding - would at least get an answer out of him. He looked down and was surprised to see the key at his feet. He didn't think it had just gotten there; maybe Jon had decided that yelling at six in the morning wasn't a good idea. Peter certainly hadn't been hot on the idea yesterday. Jordan picked up the key and opened the door.
The sight that met his eyes shocked him as much as it had Jon. He stared in utter disbelief, remembering that Jon had actually been civil to JJ the night before - and just for this? His eyes hardened and his jaw clenched. He thought Jon had left the room, but he checked behind the beds and in the bathroom, then stalked down the hall to JJ and Sam's room. He managed to keep from pounding on their door, but just barely. JJ opened the door a crack a moment later.
"Hi, Jordan," she said, somewhat sleepily.
"What did he do to you?" he demanded.
"Who?" she asked, confused, awake now.
"Don't even cover up for him!" he yelled. "What did Jon do?!"
"When? Jordan, calm down, you're ballistic. Hang on a minute and let me and Sam get decent." She closed the door, then opened it again and pulled him into the room. He looked at her closely, not as furious.
"JJ, what happened last night?" he asked gently. She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, wary.
"I went to Jon's room to talk to him, he tried to push me away again, then he promised me he'd tell me what was going on this morning. He was rather happy about the fact that he was falling asleep on his feet. Why?"
Jordan stared at her, his eyebrows furrowed. "That makes absolutely no sense," he mumbled, then they heard an angry roar from down the hall. "Oh, great. Peter found Jon's room," he said, grabbed JJ's arm, and pulled her down the hall.
"Jordan, where is your brother?!" Peter demanded angrily.
"I don't know," Jordan responded, angry and frustrated.
"JJ, are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Peter asked, turning to the girl.
"Why do people keep asking me that?" JJ demanded, pushing her way to the doorway. She stared at the room, then looked at the others. "Sorry, I don't get it."
"Isn't that your shirt?" Peter asked, pointing at the material closest to the door as he walked past it.
"Yeah, but I lost it a couple of days ago, and..." She looked at Jordan. "You didn't think..." she let the sentence drop. "You did. Jordan Knight, I..." she couldn't think of anything to say. "I don't believe you. Yes, Jon's been acting weird, but not that weird. I'm almost ashamed to be working for you right now." She turned and stalked off, down the hall, then turned back. "Where's Jon?" she asked.
"I don't know," Peter said, walking out of the room with an empty medication bottle and a syringe. JJ blanched and leaned weakly against the closest convenient wall. "As soon as I find him, he's in a rehab center so fast it'll make his head spin." He stalked off to his room.
Jordan went into Jon's room and looked around. A note that gave no clues to Jon's whereabouts lay on the desk, and nothing else in the room gave a clue either. Resolved, he headed purposefully for the doorway where JJ stood, staring at Peter's door.
"I'm gonna go find him. You comin'?" he asked, giving her a slight shake.
"He was on drugs?" she asked, her voice nearly a whisper. Jordan nodded shortly. "Yeah, I'll come. But you can't go like that. You'll get nowhere." Her eyes were still a little blank.
Jordan knocked on the next door down.
"What?" Danny asked, opening the door.
"I need a hat and dark glasses," Jordan said. Seconds later he had them and he and JJ left to try to find Jon.
They returned an hour and a half later, and Jordan went back to Jon's room as JJ returned to her own. He looked blankly at the note, then he lifted the receiver and called home.
"Hello?"
"Hi. Sarah? What are you doing home?" He'd expected his mother, or maybe the answering machine.
"Mom told me to take the day off - family emergency. I'm supposed to get everyone to school and work. What is wrong with Jonathan?"
"He's there?"
"Mom called me and said something about Jon, the airport, and the hospital all in one breath. It didn't make much sense." She sounded confused, and Jordan wasn't surprised. The whole situation was unbelievable.
"Nothing makes sense," he muttered.
"Hold on, Jordan. Call waiting." She switched to the other line. "Hello?"
"Sarah, good. I just called to let you know we are at Boston General. How is everyone?"
"All up and gone that need it. Mom, Jordan's on the other line."
"Hm.... Tell him I'll call him when I get the chance. There's a lot of stuff going on that's not good. Tell him he'd better have his story straight."
"Okay. How's Jon?"
The chuckle that came over the line was worried and not at all amused. "He's in pain, and not coherent. Or conscious right now."
"What happened?" Sarah demanded.
"I don't know, exactly, except the EMT's said something about drug withdrawal."
"Jonathan?!?"
"That's what I thought."
"Something is very wrong."
"Sarah, I have to go. I don't want to leave him too long. Just tell Jordan I'll call him as soon as I have any news about Jonathan."
"Okay. Good bye." She switched lines again. "Jordan?"
"Yeah, I'm here." He sounded a lot less collected than he had a few minutes ago.
"That was Mom. She said to tell you she'll call as soon as she gets some news of Jonathan."
"He's not there?!" Jordan demanded.
"Calm down. He's in the hospital. Mom said he wasn't exactly coherent. And she said something about a drug withdrawal?"
Jordan sighed in relief. "Yeah."
"Mom is going to call you, and she really wants the story straight."
"I bet she does," he said. "All right. Thanks, Sarah. Talk to you later."
"Good bye, Jordan. And don't worry. He'll be okay."
"I hope so. Bye." He hung up, grabbed Jon's suitcase, and went back to his own room. Leaving it there, he went to Peter's room to explain what he'd discovered. Peter listened quietly, then looked at Jordan.
"Okay. We have to keep this as quiet as we can. I want to talk to your mother when she calls."
"No problem," Jordan mumbled as he left.
Chris slammed his suitcase shut in fury. He hadn't expected Jon to disappear before he could kill him. Well, he'd at least steer clear of the group, including Jordan. In fact, he probably wouldn't ever talk to Jordan again, which was even better than killing him. He had found the key outside Jon's door and had gone in to find him missing. He hated to improvise, but he'd done a good job, leaving an empty bottle and the syringe by the note.
He cheerfully watched the whole thing with JJ, and Peter's fury about finding the drugs, though he had to work on covering it up. He was in much better spirits as he watched Jordan plod through the day, wondering what he could have done to lessen the gap between him and his brother.
Go on to Next Chapter | Grounds for Vengeance
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