"What would you rate your pain on a scale from 1-10?" Ashton asked for the millionth time that day. Sometimes things got a bit tedious, but there was nothing like the thrill of Helping someone with their True Goal to get him feeling good about himself.

He, Luke, and Michael weren't malicious people. They didn't kill people just for the fun of it (okay, maybe once or twice they'd offed someone who wasn't super old and on their way out, but that's only if they acted horribly to the staff or disrespected someone in an unforgivable way. They weren't missed, honestly.) But usually they stuck with the patients who should be dead, but were kept alive to suffer. They were bringing peace to these people, finally ending their pain. It was a good thing, so he didn't feel bad about what they did. They were only doing what other people were too scared to do.

They'd been Helping patients like that since they got together. Once Ashton started dating Luke, and then Michael later on, they'd talked through some things and realised they could all help each other help others. It was just convenient that they all had jobs that would help them with their cause. Ashton was obviously the one who administered the medication, but Luke was the one who switched the actual medication with the one that was going to kill the person. Often it was something they were allergic to, but just in the bottle with the label of the proper medication. That's where Michael came in, because if there was any suspicion and an autopsy was needed, Mike was there to fudge the results and make Ashton blameless. For 5 years it had worked well, and no one had any suspicion.

They planned things perfectly.

Ashton finished giving meds to all of his patients except for the one who was about to be murdered. He still had to visit Luke to get the final thing he needed for the plan.

"Hey, I'm running to pharmacy to medicate 35, and then I'm going on my break," Ashton told Megan.

"Oh, can you get my Zofran for 31? Margaret Leonards?"

"Sure, no problem." Ashton took his phone from his computer before making his way to the stairwell to get to pharmacy. He was excited to see Luke and get the "new and improved" medication. The day had been draining. Ashton was tired. He really did enjoy what he did, but sometimes it got to be a lot. Everyone needed a little break, and he hoped this was what he needed to brighten his spirit.

"Hey, baby," Ashton leant against the counter when he arrived at pharmacy, a smiling Luke greeting him.

"Hiya, Ashy! How's your day?"

"Fine, better now that I can see you,"

"Ugh, barf," Luke's coworker Sean gagged. "Loverboy, you've got orders to fill, stop flirting with the nurses,"

Luke rolled his eyes.

"What did you need, love?" he asked.

"Just Zofran and the Carbamazepine. The Zofran is for Megan's patient, the seizure meds are for mine."

"Great, let me see if it's been filled."

Ashton nodded, stepping back to let someone else be helped as he waited.

"Here you go!" Luke came back a few moments later. "I filled this order myself, babe."

"I'm sure it's extra special then," Ashton winked, leaning forward to give Luke a kiss.

"No PDA in front of the kids!" Sean whined, slapping his hand over his eyes in disgust. "It scares us,"

Ashton chuckled.

"Don't worry, we'll finish this off at home,"

Luke gasped and glared at Ashton as he winked and laughed, walking away as Sean dropped to the floor, fake-fainting at the thought.

"I love you!" Ashton called down the hall.

Upstairs, he administered the medication to the patient who was having horrible seizures. He's taken his phone out to scan the meds and set it on the computer momentarily to pick up the medicine cup.

"Okay, Doug, hopefully this will help and you'll start to feel better soon." He informed the half-unconscious patient quietly, pushing the med through the IV in his hand. "Do you want me to keep the curtain closed so you can have some privacy?" Ashton asked. The old man hardly knew what was happening, so Ashton just shrugged and left, keeping the curtain closed so no one would look in and see him having a fit. Thankfully his roommate was in surgery, so he wouldn't even be able to alert anybody. The other half of the room opposite side of the curtain was empty.

Ashton had Luke give the patient a medication that basically caused seizures, it was a medication with a major side effect. Ashton figured this would trigger a massive episode in this patient, and since no one would see him, Ashton would go back after his break to find the patient pain free and finally home.

With a happy smile, the brunette took his lunch from the fridge and heated it up. Michael had made chicken pot pie earlier in the week and there was some leftover for lunches. He took his phone out, realising he'd left his work phone back on the computer, but he didn't think it'd be an issue. If someone needed him, Megan would know he was on break.

Ashton watched a show on Hulu while he ate, texting Michael during the breaks. The medical examiner was also on break at the same time, but he couldn't visit today. Ashton knew he had to stay close to be with his patient later, he didn't want to go far away from the floor and risk someone else finding him. That was Ashton's pleasure.

When the half hour finished, he was surprised how undisturbed he had spent his break. Usually people were constantly in and out of the break room, but it was silent on all fronts. Shrugging, he threw out the empty container and walked down the hall.

"Ashton, they've been looking for you. 35 is coding." the unit clerk said upon seeing him exit the room. "They couldn't reach your phone,"

"What?" he rushed over to the room, finding nurses, supervisors, and administration standing at the doorway to Doug's room, waiting to help.

"Ashton, there you are!"

"I was on break, what happened?" his heart rate skyrocketed. Was he found out? Why didn't she just say he expired, why did the unit clerk say coding? What happened?

"Calum was walking by and heard someone choking, he went in to check on Doug and found him having a nasty seizure."

"He did?"

Upon hearing his name, Calum perked up.

"Don't worry, Ashton, we have it covered. Mr Salvatore is going to make a full recovery," Calum stated happily, injecting something into the old man's IV.

"That's just great," he said, throat tight.

"We have no idea what caused it, you might need to call the doctor and have her fix his seizure meds, clearly the Carbamazepine isn't working if he's still seizing this intense."

"Yeah, clearly."

Ashton felt dizzy. He was supposed to die. Why wasn't he dead?

It was all Calum's fault.

Ashton stormed from the room, needing a minute to cool down.

Fucking Calum the Travel Nurse. Why did he have to come to this hospital? Why couldn't he be causing problems someplace else, far away from Ashton? He was only trying to do good. Why was it so difficult?

Ashton ended up in the clean utility room. He sent a quick text to Michael, letting him know the package would not be delivered. They used code when they were texting about their murders just in case someone saw. None of them were logged into the hospital wifi, so their messages couldn't be tracked, but it was better to be safe.

"Aw, but I was looking forward to the Amazon package. Didn't Luke ensure the delivery?"

"Yes, but it seems it's been held up at the primary location."

"Damn. I really wanted it."

"We'll contact customer service and try again. Gotta go, I'll talk to you later."

Ashton sighed, leaning against the wall and slipping his phone into his front pocket. He whirled around when the door opened, eyes landing on the bane of his existence.

"Ashton?" Calum's stupid soft voice called.

Ashton looked over at the curly haired man, then opened up one of the drawers and began rummaging around inside, pretending like he was looking for something.

"Uhm, I hope I'm not overstepping or anything," he began, nervously playing with his fingers. Ashton saw how anxious the man was at the current moment. He'd never seen anything other than happiness in his expression. He didn't care. "But I just wanted to come and talk to you for a bit."

"'Bout what?" Ashton grunted, slamming the drawer shut and opening another. He didn't even know what he was looking for.

"Well, I know how you're feeling right now."

Ashton turned around and raised an eyebrow, watching how the other nurse focused on a spot across the room. He kept shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"I just, I see how obviously you care about your patients. It's clear from the high level of care you provide. You're an amazing nurse, Ashton. And y-you're only human, right? So, I just want you to know, and I know you already know, but it isn't your fault that something happened to Doug."

Ashton's jaw almost dropped. That's what Calum thought he was upset over.

"You're legally required to go on break, it's okay and it isn't your fault that something happened whilst you were gone. Really, that could have been any of us, you know? It just...you seem like you're taking it pretty hard, so I just wanted to see if...you're you know...Okay."

It took Ashton a moment to formulate words. What complete bullshit!

"Yeah, I'm fine." He walked around the man, resisting the urge to bump him in the shoulder. Calum caught his arm.

"If you ever want to talk, I-I'm here. And just remember, Doug didn't die. We-we're all a team here, it's okay to help each other out. At the end of the day, things worked out, right? Don't beat yourself up."

Ashton merely nodded, dreaming of ways he could kill Calum instead of his patients, and took his leave, letting Calum stand alone in the utility room, until the dark haired boy shook off enough nerves to leave the room with his usual bright smile plastered on his face.

***

Cally is just so precious 🥺

I hope this chapter sheds a bit of light on some things. What are you thinking of the story so far??

I woke up super early today, my sister and I have another long day of driving ahead of us. Sadly I'm the driver, so I can't do anything in the car except listen to music so I'm not sure when the next update will be. But I'll do my best!! I hope everyone is doing well ❤️

~ashtonfortherwin