NURSES CROWD around the wire bed while Gatsby leans against the doorframe. His face is drenched in worry, fingers stretching slightly to tap a nearby nurse in discretion, glancing my way and whispering a few words into her ear.

"Have you had any fluids lately?" A doctor asks, snapping his fingers to get my attention. He smells of rubbing alcohol and soap and slightly of latex or rubber. There's black circles under his eyes from lack of sleep and his light brown beard is patchy and half shaven.

"Yeah..." My voice betrays me, throat dry and the words barely coming through. "I think I just had al- food poisoning." I smooth over in a rush, forgetting that not everyone had ignored the liquor ban and continued to party.

"You'll be alright with some rest, the tremors have gone done extraordinarily Mr. Eldridge." It takes me a moment to register that he's addressing me, eyes glancing towards Aleece in the doorway before meeting with the doctor's dark brown eyes and locking in on them.

"Tremors?"

"Look at me for a moment, Mr. Eldridge and follow the light." His tone is bland and expressionless, a monotone steady and deep. Everything about him seems darkened and the room drags down as he glides about in his coats and his frown. He speaks silently with a few of the nurses standing around and forces them to bustle around the house in search of items.

"Honestly, doc I think I'm fine you can leave now." As I attempt to get up my body proves me wrong, weakly shaking and forcing me back down onto the crisp pillow as Aleece rushes to my rescue, only to be stopped by the doctor who escorts him back to the doorway.

"You collapsed out of exhaustion and you believe you're okay?"

It wasn't exhaustion that had me fainting, more like stress... "I really do think I'm fine, I don't want to waste any of your time-"

"Bedridden for three days is the least I'll give you."

"I have a job to get back to!" Even if I don't want to...

The doctor looks around the room, taking in every expensive item he sees and calculating the cost in his mind. "You'll be fine without pay for a few days."

"Well I-"

"Theo please listen to him, I was worried about you." The last bit is more to himself than to me, head ducked and blush raging in embarrassment at the confession.

"I. Am. Fine." The doctor pushes back as I attempt to stand, head spinning and the familiar sensation of vomit creeping up the back of my throat, gagging me with a cough.

Aleece can't seem to pick a side, choosing instead to cast his head up towards the sky and ignore our bickering by the bed, the doctor continuing to shut down each explanation on the basis of money and money alone. Finally, I'm able to force myself past him, half jogging half limping to the doorframe and grasping Aleece weakly, pulling him with me outside into the hall.

"I have to go back to Gilded or they'll kill me." Figuratively or literally I'm not quite sure. "Can you please tell them I'm alright, I really am." I assure him, cupping his cheek and quietly tip toeing down the balcony steps and out of the door, hailing a cab and bouncing impatiently for it to arrive.

•••

By the time I walk into Gilded breakfast is half over, Flower obviously hungover and the rest of the boys crowded in a circle teasing him. My chest drops at the sight of Moxie sat next to him, massaging his ginger scalp with one hand and cutting into a piece of meat with the other.

Before I can sneak away he's caught me, waving his hand slightly to call me over to the two of them. Reluctantly, I follow orders, sitting next to him with a fake smile and glancing over at Flower for a needed distraction. "Is he alright? Give him some soda or something to sober him up."

"I thought Russians were supposed to be able to hold their liquor." Moxie whispers to me, rubbing the small boy's back in a fatherly manner.

"He drank a ton it was enough to kill a horse."

"I missed being able to see you, Theo, It seems like a lifetime since we last talked."

I can't tell him, oh god, at least not now. "I missed you too, Mox." I lean into him, playing off any worries that might shine through as I eat off of his plate, crinkling my nose when he gives me a glance of dissatisfaction. "Just like old times." I remind him, repeating the action and ignoring his scrutinizing gaze.

"We need to go somewhere, just the two of us when I finish babysitting your mistake. You should've watched him better, you know he likes to drink." The scold doesn't bother me very much and I simply shrug in agreement. I should've watched him better, I practically left him to do as he pleased for a good half of the night. For all I know he could've chugged Aleece's drugs.

"That sounds nice, Mox. It really has been a long time since we were together, brainwashing really wears down on a man." I joke, adverting my eyes to Duke and back to make sure he didn't hear us.

"You weren't even the one being brain washed either..." Even though it's been a few days his eyes are still black and tired, face droopy from exhaustion as if the last few nights have been nothing but hell. He already had trouble sleeping from what I can remember, the stress of Duke probably has had him up since the day it happened.

"By the way," He starts up, the muscles of my back instantly tensing with the tone of his voice, upcoming words already known. "how was your party? At Gatsby's?"

I could tell him now....or I could lie. "I actually didn't see him, he was busy with business calls all night so I just hung around with the other guys there. It was a fun party, very laid back, nothing like the usual messes he throws."

He pauses the other task at hand as Flower droops onto his shoulder, eyes shut painfully to the dim light and loud noise of the other boys in the room. He staggers for a moment in his attempt to stand, steadying himself onto Moxie's shoulder and hobbling towards his bedroom.

I keep Moxie grounded with a press of my hand to his shoulder, not wanting him to drag us somewhere private to talk about Gatsby. "Yeah," I continue to play, stirring up a lie in my head about the previous night. "the other guys were pretty nice I met a couple of bootleggers but that was about it."

"Any drug dealers?" He questions slowly, brow raised as he drags out the words to reveal their hidden meaning.

"Oh, nope no drug dealers around actually it was mostly just a lot of alcohol."

He doesn't seem amused by my answer, thick lips drawn in as a heavy hand falls into my knee, red eyes drenched in worry as he decides which lecture to give to me this time. "You know how long it's been since Duke assigned this to you, Theo. Plus you aren't on his good side anymore you need to start figuring out a plan before you're back on the streets. This time I won't be able to help you out..." The last part is purely to himself, head down cast as he stares at the slightly under cooked meat on his plate to avoid my guilty gaze.

"It's only been a few we-"

"It's been a month." The pain in his voice strikes me with more guilt than it should, the fact that I'm piling even more stress on his bogged down mind practically killing me in the moment.

"I'll work on it okay? I promise Mox..."

Abruptly, he turns to face me, the room almost empty except for a few boys still playing around with their food and holding a weak conversation here and there. "Let us help you with this, Baby, I've done this before I know where to start and where to look I just don't want anything happening to you."

Shit. The familiar sensation is already creeping up the back of my throat, his words nearly sending me over the edge as his hand falls over mine, the chill limb numbing my entire being with just one touch. He doesn't deserve what I put him through, what more I have to say to him. I've already torn him down and poorly attempted to build him back up multiple times over, the news of Aleece would just be one step too far, one step that neither of us will be able to recover from.

Only now is he really beginning to become himself again, only now is the old Moxie returning and his light touches and soft eyes and thick-lipped half smiles. His roughed up edges are smoothing over again with each day and I can't bring myself to sharpen them again, to turn him back into the man he was a few weeks ago. I can't do what Duke did to him.

"Theo?" He questions, snapping me out of a dream. "We should get going," he points with his eyes to the cleared out room around us, just the fog from the kitchen around to keep us company. "look I'll start snooping around and see if I can get anything on this guy, it's Pennsylvania, right?" He asks, tone completely changing from worried father to over excited friend merely with the thought of murder.

With a half hearted nod he's on his way down the hall, leaving me to my thoughts in the empty room until I can muster up enough strength to drag my own numbed limbs down the hall into my bedroom. There's barely enough strength to kick the door behind me, falling onto the bed an empty shell of myself with the breeze from the window on my back, following the light with my eyes for company.

Who knows how much time has passed before the phone is vibrating the wall beneath it, the ring echoing through the bedroom before a weighted down limb reaches up to still it.

"Hello?"

"You still sound ill, Theo, are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital or have another doctor come to see you? I'll call for on-"

"Aleece," I drag out, cutting the man off before he works himself into a frenzy. "I'm fine I'm just a bit tired I think all I needed was some rest." I lie, pulling my body into a sitting position at the edge of the bed as I prepare myself for an hour long conversation of easing his worries.

There's a muffled chuckle on the other end of the line before a light hearted sigh takes its place. "I just wanted to make sure that you're fine is all. I can't have a death on my hand, it's bad for my reputation." He jokes, the sound of a bed creaking coming in through the line as he takes a seat. "However, there was something that I didn't get the chance to ask you this morning."

Before he even gives an explanation my stomach is dropping, just the thought of Moxie being pulled up into the conversation is enough to have my chest heaving. "Sure, what is it?" I play coolly, speeding up my words before my panic can seep into each syllable and give away my true feelings.

The feeling of my jittering knees and the creaking of the bed that is slowly beginning to drive me mad. The tapping of my fingers against my thighs and the walls and the feeling of my nails grazing my scalp with each panic fueled swipe through my hair. The longer he takes to answer the more my mind begins to wander, the more my chest beats and my stomach turns.

"I have another meeting in Pennsylvania, to talk to the manufacturers of my new pills. I was wondering if you would like to go away with me for a week? I feel it may do you some good to get away from Gilded."

Go away? With Gatsby? It only takes a moment to weigh my options, to consider staying trapped inside this building with Duke on my ass and the constant reminder of Moxie being shoved down my throat. To remind myself that every second I stay trapped in New York is another second spent coming up with lies of why I haven't killed a man, and coming up with even more to cover the ones before it.

I could leave this place, even if only a week, and be with Aleece. Peaceful and alone and away from the stress of this job, a vacation of sorts.

Why wouldn't I? "Sure," I laugh, halfway hysterical with the idea of finally getting away, of living the life of Gatsby for a week. "sign me up!"

He merely chuckles in response, fiddling with something in the background before answering. "I'll pick you up tomorrow."

With that the line drops to a dead tone, and I drop in exhaustion, waiting for a newfound freedom.