| Part Five: Previously: Johnny helps Nicci leave the strip. Authors Notes: none ooooo As Johnny pulled up to his tiny one bedroom house, he managed to steal side glances at Nicci. He could see her small body shaking " Nicci you don't have to be scared." Johnny assured softly. Without a responce he placed his hand gently on her shoulder only to have her pull away in fear.Even though his heart ached every time she pulled away from him, he understood.He realized that it would be along time until she was able to trust him if ever. Johnny turned off the engine and then walked Nicci up to the porch. "Here you go, it's not much but it's safe." Johnny said as he pushed the front door open. Seeing that she was very frightened, he extended his hand for guidence. Nicci backed away as her body trembled in fear." Nicci please don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you." Johnny said soothingly Nicci looked around sparingly at her surroundings.Then with hesitation she walked slowly through the door "That's better."Johnny said as he shut and locked the door "Can I get you something to eat."Johnny offered Without a word Nicci shook her head no. " Are you sure? It looks like you haven't eaten in days." Johnny said being able to count each rib protruding out from her slender body.Seeing Nicci nod, Johnny asked." Well when was the last time you ate." Nicci looked down to the floor shyly answered " I don't know." "Well you need to eat Nicci, you'll get sick if you don't." Johnny said authoratively "Johnny." Nicci whispered nervously " If.....if....it's okay I......I just want to go to bed now." "It's okay Nicci, you can go to bed if you want I understand. Here you can sleep in the bed and I'll take the couch." Johnny offered ushering her to his bedroom Then walking in the small room, Johnny walked over to his dresser and took out a T-shirt. " Here you can change into this and I'll see you in the morning." Johnny then left the room shutting the door behind him. Johnny then decided it was time for him to go to bed as well. As he layed on the couch he thought about Nicci and how scared she was of him. He knew that when a person is hurt it's very hard for them to trust. Nicci is no exception he knew that she had been hurt both mentally and physically. He didn't know how to help her over come her fears of him but he knew he had to try. ..... It was three o'clock in the morning and Johnny was sleeping sound on the couch, suddenly a small noise coming from the bathroom woke him from his slumber. Johnny picked himself up to search for the unusual sound. Stopping at the bathroom he asked" Nicci is that you ?" while tapping on the door. When he didn't get an answer he asked " Nicci are you okay?" while opening the door. " Nicci are you okay?" Johnny repeated walking over to the toilet where she was sitting. Nicci slowly picked her head up and looked at Johnny with blood shot eyes " Oh Nicci." Johnny whispered in disbelief seeing the vpen on her arm sticking out with blood trickling down from the fresh needle mark. To Johnny this was all new to him, he never saw a person just after shooting up until now. "I'm sorry Johnny,please don't hurt me." Nicci said softly shielding her face from harm Seeing her shake in fear, Johnny crouched down gently placing his hand on her shoulder "Don't you hurt me." Nicci cried while picking herself up only to fall to the floor. Johnny gently stood her up on her feet bringing her limp body close to him. Feeling her body shake he whispered." I'm not going to hurt you Nicci." Pulling away. Nicci cried." No No please don't hit me, let me go, I'm just not strong enough, please let me go." while staggering to the door Walking up behind her Johnny put his arm against the door to stop her from leaving "No Nicci I'm not going to let you go, and I know your not strong enough to kick it by yourself. Nicci I'm here to help you."Johnny said as soothingly as he could Nicci, feeling trapped and in danger she spun around slapping Johnny hard across the face"NO,JUST LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE." Nicci cried Feeling the sting on his cheek he was more determined then ever "No Nicci, I'm not going to leave you alone." Johnny said taking her shaking body in his arms. "Oh no not again ." Nicci cried. Johnny looked down at Nicci and seen that her nose was dripping blood. Steading her next to the sink, Johnny then pulled away long enough to get a piece of toilet paper . No sooner did he pull away Nicci started gagging. "Nicci." Johnny said as he wittnessed her vomiting blood. " It's going to be okay Nicci, I got you." He repeated over her sounds of retching. Seeing that she was to weak from vomiting he scooped her up in his arms and carryied her into the bedroom and put her to bed. Laying down next to her he thought it best not to leave her alone. As he watched her sleep he began to shed tears. He knew from his training vomiting blood was a sign of a very serious drug addiction. ...........The next morning........ Nicci staggered over to the table, then sat recklessly down it a chair next to where Johnny was sitting reading the morning paper "Morning, are you hungry? help yourself to a doughnut." Johnny offered sliding the box of doughnuts over to her. Nicci cautiously reached her hand out towards the box. Suddenly without warning a loud noise spooked her, making her jerk her hand back." I'm sorry I didn't mean to." Nicci cried hiding her face in her hands "Shhh there there, you don't have to be afraid." Johnny soothed while putting his arm around her only to have her pull away with a gasp. Johnny then looked down at her arm noticing a new mark that was left behind from yet another needle.For a moment Johnny sat there, Apart of him was angry because he couldn't understand why. But the other part of him was very sad. It was tearing him apart seeing that the girl he love look so sick and frail. After seeing that Nicci was calming down Johnny said softly" Nicci I call Richards Rehab Clinic they're exspecting you." Without a responce Nicci slowly got to her feet and headed to the bedroom. Seeing Nicci stagger, Johnny got up and helped her into the bedroom. then realizing she wasn't able to function by herself , he quickly helped her get dressed. ......................... Johnny parked the Land Rover in the parking lot of the six story building "Where am I?" Nicci asked coming down off her fix "We're at the clinic." Johnny said "Johnny I'm scared, I don't know if I can go through with this."Nicci said hanging her head down to cry "It'll be okay, I know you're scared Nicci." Johnny soothed placing his arm around her having her stiffen from his touch "No don't touch me." Nicci cried "Nicci come on, you'll be safe here.You have to believe me, if you're going to survive, then this is the place to start.They're professionals and they will help you get your life back." Johnny said With tears running down her cheeks Nicci looked up " Maybe I don't want to survive."She softly spoke ........ "Hi can I help you?" The lady from behind the desk asked "Yes we're here for admittance." Johnny said "I see, well you'll need to fill out these forms. You can have a seat and someone will be with you shortly." The lady said starring down at the track marks on Nicci's arms Seeing that the lady was looking at her arms Nicci became increasingly agitated. Feeling the fire move through her, she exploded." WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKING AT."Nicci yelled slamming her fist down hard on the counter. "Nicci." Johnny said stunned by her actions "She's fucking starring at me and if she don't stop I'll kick her ass." Nicci said glaring at the lady "Ms. you're going to have to calm down or I'll have to call security." The lady declared "Go ahead see if I care."Nicci dared leaning into the womans face. Noticing Nicci's clunched fist, Johnny grabbed her hand and said" Nicci please calm down we're only trying to help you." "Yeah well I never asked for your help, I just want everyone to leave me alone." Nicci declared stomping away. She then allowed her body to drop into one of the chairs in the lobby. Johnny sat in front of her and started filling out the forms. He could sence her eyes on him. He knew that it was best not say anything to her, for fear that one wrong word would set her off again. When he finally got the nerve to look up he found Nicci had layed down at went to sleep. With a slight grin he turn his attention back to the stack of papers. Just as he was finishing a man walked up to him " Hi I'm Paster Richard Daniels, I'm the owner and the Director of Admissions. I want to welcome you to Richards Rehab Clinic. Is this the person being admitted?" "Yes it is. I'm John Gage.It's nice to meet you." Johnny greeted exstending his hand "Well we'll get her up and then go into my office to finish the paper work" Daniels said Johnny bent over to Nicci and with a light stroke on her head he whispered. " Nicci wake up it's time." With a slight stir Nicci became a little agitated ." Get the fuck away from me." She said taking a full swing at Johnny "Hold on let me call security just in case she becomes violent." Daniels said trying to avoid the confrontation Two security officers joined them each of them waving a set of handcuffs. Johnny then tried to wake her again. "Nicci come on." Johnny said with caution. Nicci then sat up. " What's going on, What the hell are those to cops doing here ?" "Nicci they're not cops, there just here to make sure things don't get out of hand ." Johnny assured. "Yeah well I hate cops so get them the fuck away from me now."Nicci said glaring up at the officers then at Paster Daniels. ........ Soon they entered the small room and was seated in front of Paster Daniels who was sitting behind a desk. As Paster Daniels finished with the addmission Johnny could tell Nicci was becoming increasingly disturbed by the way her eyes darted nerviously around the room. "Are there any questions?" Daniels asked "No I ain't got no questions." Nicci responded "Very well then." Daniels said as he too was becoming aware of Nicci's agitation and called for an orderly and put security on alert. "Johnny I'm scared, I don't want to go." Nicci cried when the orderly came into the room taking her by the arm " Don't fucking touch me." She warned pulling her arm out of the orderly's grasp "Nicci you have to understand that this is for the best. If you want to do anything with your life then this is the first step. You have to trust me on this one. there's nothing I want to do more is to help you, but first you have to help yourself.." Johnny said softly. With those words Nicci hung her head as the orderly ushered her out of the room. ....... Paster Daniel sat back down at his desk" Have a seat Mr. Gage I would like to go over a few things if I may. Johnny took a seat as Daniels began to speak." Okay we're looking at a minimum of at least four weeks of total rehab. We will start her on Naltrexone for detox and Clonidine for Hypertension. If needed we will put her on Antidepressants.We are a full staff with nurses 24 hours a day and two doctors that are on call around the clock. Also in the first two weeks of addmission we request only one visitor. Since you are the one who brought her to us, you are the only person allowed to visit.This way we can be sure that drugs do not come in and distroy everything that is accomplished. Depending on how violent recovery and withdrawl is we ask that you visit a least once a week. It is a very scary and lonely place here for our residents. If our residents are going to be successfull here they're going to need to know they have support from the outside.Then after the two weeks depending on her progress she will be allowed to be signed out for field trips for the day and then be brought back here at night. This way she is slowly introduced to the outside before she is released.Can I and my staff count on you to come in to visit and be apart of her recovery." Daniels finished " You bet I will." Johnny assured. "Good, because I and my staff can only do so much in here. We need people like yourself to help, especially once she's released. One wrong word or major set back on the outside could throw her into complete relapse." Paster Daniels warned just as his name came over the innercom ...........THREE DAYS LATER...... " Hey Gage, someone's here to see you." Stanley announced peeking his head into the day room Johnny walked out to the back parking lot to see a small gang dressed in chains. " Can I help you?" Johnny asked swallowing a lump in his throat. "Oh I think you can, you see I'm Knuckles. This is Blade, Chains, Scar and Shaggy. I believe you have something that belongs to me, Where's Nicci." Knuckles asked walking up close to Johnny "I don't know any Nicci." Johnny said nervously feeling his heart try to leap out of his chest. "Bull shit, That's not what I hear. Word on the street is you were one of them that took her to the hospital when I beat the fuck out of her. Shaggy here says that he saw you and Nicci together on the strip three nights ago. That's the last time Nicci was seen. Now I'm going to ask you again, where is she?" Knuckles asked shoving Johnny back. "I don't know what you're talking about. Now if you'll excuse me." Johnny said trying to slip by the situation "You're lying to me. Now I want Nicci back do you understand." Knuckles said grabbing Johnny by the back of his head. You have two weeks to give her back. If you don't you will pay. And don't think we'll let you forget about our visit, cause we will be back to remind you. See I would love to fuck that pretty face of yours up real bad." Knuckles said taking a fist full of Johnny's hair then yanking his head back as hard as he could. Just as the klaxons sounded "Excuse me I got to go." Johnny said looking over at his friends climbing into the vehicles "Okay, but just remember you have something that belongs to me. So you better watch your back cause one day you might get a bullet in it."Knuckles warned punching Johnny hard in the stomach. With a grunt Johnny grabbed his stomach while running to the squad. ............. The guys finally made it back to the station and had just finished the lunch that Marco prepared. "You okay Pal ? You're holding your stomach like it's bothering you." Captain Stanley said watching Johnny get up from the table "I'm fine it must be Marco's chilli. Johnny said shifting his eyes nerviously hoping that the guys in the room believed him. "My chilli never bothered you before." Marco spoke up defending his masterpiece. "There's always a first." Johnny said leaving the room TBC |