I had nearly forgotten my little outburst when visiting Emily a few days ago. Why? Because I had way too much shit to do after.

Life just kept hitting again and again in the form of busted pipes at home from my dumbass not dripping faucets in freezing weather overnight. Which had leaked during one of my visits at the hospital and damaged the floors.

So lots of repairs and money being thrown at it, and yet another way I owed Alex when he told me not to worry about it.

It was a pretty chunk of change for the average person, and even if he could afford it no problem, I didn't like leeching off of others. Everything I had, I worked for, so this new arrangement wasn't sitting right with me at all.

Hence the start of job hunting.

I went to interview after interview over the last week, and I still haven't heard back from any of them. Maybe it was just my nerves and I was being impatient, but I had the feeling it was more likely that the wide variety of jobs I looked at all had the same thoughts on a guy who lost his job after months of hiatus.

God, I really was an idiot. Not only was my job waaay above my skill level, but I had been given the privilege of working under my best friend in the whole world who likely would be in charge of the whole firm within a few years.

What the hell had I been thinking? Oh yeah, Emily is gone so I'm going to stop going to work and drink everything else away. I would've been on the streets in a month with no money, crumbling health, and a alcohol addiction that would've likely killed me in another month.

I went pale just thinking of the fact that if they hadn't had found her for another few weeks I might have been dead before even seeing her again. She would've been going through everything alone because her shitty boyfriend gave up on her... on them.

Ugh, I'm making myself nauseous thinking about all of this. Just by some damn flowers stupid and go say hi to Em. I can think about jobs and my stupid decisions in life later, if they don't call, they don't call. As simple as that. I'll just... have to come up with another game plan. Maybe be a grocer for a while and pay Alex in small increments until something better opens up. Not perfect, and sure it'll suck for awhile, but... I'm not gonna leech off of my best friend forever. And... losing the apartment now that Emily is back isn't an option. It's the first place we've had together, and... it's what I'm gonna take her home to when she's better.

"Any particular stock catching your eye sir?"

I snapped out of the daze as my eyes landed on the man behind the cart of bouquets I was searching through. It was a regular thing to bring flowers on my visits, but I had started doing it once a week to cut back a little on my spending since I was sure my love would appreciate money in the bank a little more than a dozen roses. Although who knew, she wasn't exactly responsive enough to tell me.

"Uhh y-yes actually. I'll take that one up front. The one with the white flowers."

I felt embarrassed to admit my choice was because they were cheaper than the others, but he didn't seem to judge as he grabbed the plastic wrapped, small, bunch of plants.

"Ah, jasmine. A lot of women use these for weddings an' such, but they actually really symbolize healing. Ironic I think, but I s'pose I can't blame nobody for taken a liking to em. They have a clean look to them. I'll wrap em up for ya."

He did so with crinkely blue paper before handing them to me after I paid.

Healing huh..? Heh, if only stuff like that worked. What I wouldn't give to magically heal Emily's body and mind by setting some flowers near her. Or.. do they need to be touching her? Eh, I don't know. I never really got that whole flower representation stuff.

It was convenient and perhaps a bit morbid setting up a flower stand so close to the hospital, but it made things easier for me since I could just walk there from here.

Ya know, it's still a bit cold out lately from it being the early months of spring. How the hell does he keep these flowers in such good shape? I've been buying from him since last month too, so he has to have a decent stock. Huh, I guess I'll never know. As long as he keeps it up I don't have much need to question it anyway. I just.. I want to get her whatever I can to make that empty room have a little more color in it.

Walking as fast as I could without jostling the plants in my arms too much, I made good time like usual after getting there two minutes after visiting hours begun. I guess my habits of seeing her were paying off now that I had begun to know the schedule by heart.

Checking in like usual, I went back with flowers in one hand now before ignoring the disturbing sounds that echoed through the familiar hallway once more.

I was starting to get used to hearing patients screaming from all sides now.

It took little time to make it to her door as I steeled myself and forced down my nerves before twisting the handle and revealing her.

Only she wasn't alone.

Alarm bells rang in my head as someone else was in the room with my Em, someone I didn't know. Which likely meant, she didn't either.

She didn't have any family, and with our friend group both consisting of four people combined, I knew immediately this wasn't someone I or she recognized. Although, she didn't recognize anything right now..

The man was standing by her bed, a decent distance away, but just him being in here to begin with was making me uneasy.

"Who the hell are you?"

My voice came out in a snarl, my temper barely contained from stress, exhaustion, and worry not helping to keep it in check.

He looked over at me with not a hint of fear on his face as he did so, as if he hadn't been caught in a young girl's room all alone. Hadn't the nurses checked him in to see her!?

He was maybe mid forties to fifties, and it showed in his eyes. The dark brown orbs looked as if they held all the secrets of the world but also had something... different about them. Sad almost, tired. It would've put me at ease more if I knew him or met him under different circumstances, but right now I only had two thoughts going on. Why was he with Em, and had he done anything to her?

His voice was slightly crackled, maybe from age or stress, but it flowed out calmly as he spoke with confidence and ease.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you Mr. Smith, I was simply checking on the patients from the incident and found myself staying in this room a little longer than the others. I hope you'll forgive me for the intrusion."

Taken aback by the call of my name, I went on the defensive. I didn't like that he knew my name but I couldn't register his. He had something about him that radiated tranquility and command. An odd combination that I feel I would've remembered after an encounter with this guy.

"I'll ask again, who are you? If you're a reporter or some sort of guy like that, leave Emily the hell alone. It'd be pretty sick to try to mess with her after everything she's been through. So beat it."

My voice was as harsh as I meant it to be, but he didn't seem offended or enraged by what might be considered as a "rude" comment. I wasn't sure why, but that just pissed me off more.

"I can assure you sir, I'm not with the news. Although introductions are in order. My name is Martin, Martin Huxley. I was the one who told you the news about Emily."

My mind flashed back to both one of the worst and best days of my life with clarity hitting fast. Although, I was still a bit wary of him, cop out not. Because why the hell would he be here?

"Ah, I uh... I see. So, what brings you here the hospital.

It sounded pretty lame to say out loud, but how the hell was I supposed to ask? I didn't like him being in here with her, not when I didn't know why. And I had met a few corrupt cops in my day, the kind that let my dad out of jail with a little extra cash put in their pockets. Him being law enforcement may have kept me from yelling at him to leave NOW like I wanted, but it meant nothing in regards to reassurance.

"I've had a bit more time on my hands and felt like I should use a bit of it to come see how the people of the trauma incident were doing. I've visited a few others round here too but.. when I passed by this door I felt compelled to come in for awhile. I think this young lady is why I was sent here to begin with."

His roundabout answers were grating on my patience as I tried to make sense of what the hell he was talking about. What kind of creep was he? Did he think she looked fucking pretty and decide to stay for a longer look?

"Okay well there's another two floors worth of patients from the trauma incident that need visiting too, so you might want to get moving if you're gonna visit them all."

I felt my warning was quite clear even if I didn't spell it out for him. Get out. That was all, leave Emily alone to rest and go bother someone else. However all I got in response was a soft smile that held a kind of peace I couldn't wrap my head around.

"You must be stressed out of your mind with experiencing all of this. Forgive me for the blunt observation as I'm sure I have no idea just how far that extent goes, however it must be exhausting. Trying to carry this burden alone, seeing her like this."

There wasn't mocking, backhanded meanings in those words, no grating words of comfort like "but you'll get through this" or "Wow you sure are strong for handling this'. Just... an observation. That was it. A simple comment with a gentle, well-meaning tone behind it. I couldn't wrap my head around this guy. What the hell did he want? Where was the point? The sell or the attempt at manipulation? The rudeness? Where was the flaw or bad intent behind his meaning?

"Yeah, I..I guess. I mean of course this is hard on me. How the hell could it not be? Why are you talking about this anyway?"

I was still cautious. Still waiting for the slip up that allowed some sort of window into the darkness I had found laid in all hearts.

He was silent as he looked at me a moment longer, that gentle, kind, caring look still there for no reason at all. I had just answered his stupid statement, why was he looking at me as if we had just bonded over some great realization?

"I... believe I understand now."

God did this guy speak in anything but riddles? He was speaking like one of those old wizard dudes in video games or old movies. Like he was trying to pretend to hold the secrets of the universe without telling me any of them.

"Son, please forgive me for being so foward, but do you want to get some coffee tomorrow. There's a little place I've taken a liking to down the road that I usually go to at about eleven. You look like you could use a little time away from your every day stressers."

Okay, now this was getting really weird. Was he hitting on me or something? Three words and now he was trying to get me to go get coffee with him?

"I understand if you don't want to go with a random guy like me for drinks, haha. I simply want to get to know you a little more, and you seem like you could use a friend right about now. Either way, whether you come or not, I'll be down the street there at eleven everyday until my old heart croaks out, so if you ever change your mind you are more than welcome to join me."

He stretched out a bit after standing in place for the time frame of the conversation before he gave me another friendly smile and walked towards the door.

Too stunned to say anything thus far, I found myself snapped out of it quickly as I almost watched him walk out. A quick feeling of alarm had come over me, like I would miss an opportunity if I didn't ask the biggest question on my mind here and now.

"W-Wait! You can't just leave after speaking complete nonsense for ten minutes and then asking me to lunch. Why... Why the hell are you even asking me? Why? What purpose do you have for that?"

I was still cautious, still guarded, but not as much as I wanted to be. Something I couldn't explain was drawing me to him. Maybe curiousity over his weirdness, or maybe a momentary bout of insanity. But either way, I needed to get an answer. I needed to find out his motive to shut these crazy thoughts down before they got out of hand. Before I actually convinced myself to go.

Yet his simple answer given as confidently as everything else about him, only made the walls falter more.

"Why? Son, there are enough people out there with self serving purposes and agendas and motives already. I just see someone hurting right now and know I'm in a position to be there for em if they need. What more reason do I need to reach out than that?"

And without another word, without any sort of faltering, the man walked out with his head held high as my crazy, deranged, mad, self knew right then and there, even with how absolutely ridiculous it sounded, that I would be at that coffee shop at eleven the next day.