Bullet To The Heart

Trouble Like a Cat

Trouble Like a Cat"Look Vic, I don't know what to do, he just showed up missing a f*****g leg and god, he asked me to marry him and... I don't know what to do" Randy rambled on the phone early in the morning.

"Randy do you still love him?"

"Of course, I still love him, I don't think I can't love him, I might have been pissed off and hateful but...he's my Ellie"

"If he makes you feel happy Randy than you need to follow your heart, as dumb as that sounds, just don't drink to celebrate"

Randy scoffed and was about to speak again when he heard a loud thud and a crippling groan, "s**t, I have to go Vic" Randy hung up quickly and rushed to the bathroom. Elliot's wheelchair was outside the door and Elliot himself was inside the bathroom, he had slipped in the shore and was half in hanging out of the tub.

"Elliot!" Randy yelled, pushing the chair aside to get into the bathroom quickly, he tore the plastic curtain open and saw Elliot holding his head in his hands. One of his injuries had pulled open again and a steady stream of blood mixed with the hot water. Randy reached down and pulled Elliot up into a sitting position and turned the shower off.

"What were you thinking?"

"That I wanted to f*****g shower!" Elliot snapped.

"You should have asked for help"

"Maybe I want to be able to shower and s**t and reach the bowl by myself!"

"Well you can't Elliot!" Randy cried, stepping in the tub and sitting in the wet, he grabbed Elliot's hands and kissed them endlessly, "I know it sucks baby, it hurts I can see that but until you get back on your feet you need some help with some things" Elliot looked at him, "I love you, let me help, it doesn't make you weak or less of a man to just lean on me a little bit, alright?"

"Alright" Elliot sighed, "umm Randy"

"Yeah?"

"I need to wash, everywhere..." Elliot's eyes flickered down to his crotch and Randy's eyes widened.

"I guess sitting in dirty bath water doesn't feel too good, huh? Okay here's what we are going to do. I am going to get you in the chair and you'll eat, and I am going to call my father and he will pick up a shower chair, so you can take a shower, sound good?"

Elliot nodded and through copious amount of effort they managed to get Elliot in the chair. Randy threw a towel over Elliot's bare hips and thighs to cover himself. As Elliot ate a bowl of mush cereal Randy’s father came over with a plastic shower bench to install. The older man said noting to Elliot, didn't even give him a glance never mind the time of day. Randy desperately tried to balance the tension by cracking jokes about being under 30 and needing a shower chair.

Randy’s father and he worked in the bathroom silently before the older man finally spoke.

"When did he come back?"

"A week ago," Randy admitted.

"So, you've been hiding him for a week"

"Pops you saw what happened when he left, I was heartbroken, and I blamed him, the whole family did, what am I supposed to say, he comes back missing a fourth of himself and I fell in love all over again, just by hearing his voice, just by feeling him around me? Dad you'd tell me it's just a fantasy, you'd tell me he isn't worth it"

"Maybe so but your mother and I would still like to know" Randy’s dad looked at him as they finished binding the plastic to the wall, "I don't care who you love Randolph, you know that, I loved Eli like my own, the same way I love Carson and if you can look me in the eyes and tell me that that man out there means as much to you as Eli did, if he means as much to you as Carson does to Harry, only then can I walk away, leave you here to look after him and not hate myself for it"

"I love him" Randy said, looking his father in the eyes, "I love him so much daddy, I don't even know what's going to happen, all I know is that I want him by my side. I'm going to marry him."