Shane cleared his throat loudly. He'd come in right at their tender moment and it was all he could do to keep the shouting down. The last week had been so stressful that it was hard to keep all of it tamped down. You'll burst if you keep it all in. his Aunt had once told him. But lately, there seemed to be few other options. There wasn't much, he'd thought, to make him feel more overwhelmed but the blushing doctor really drove him to the edge. Envisioning what it would be like to sucker punch Harvey right in the gut, Shane drew near to the two of them, Harvey's hands suspiciously deep in his pockets as though trying to hide evidence he'd been attempting to romance his... well, he wasn't sure what she was to him anymore but the scene grinded his gears. And those gears turned in his head rapidly, and recalled Lewis's threat to mention Laura's dating status to the fuckhead, and Shane added another person to his list of people to sucker punch.

"Shane, how are you? How's Jas?" Laura immediately asked, and he felt his chest tighten a little at her concern. Looking at Harvey, his eyes flicked to the door out of the patient's area and Harvey just stared back at him a pause pregnant and carrying an anxious pressure. A look Shane wasn't sure he could identify marred Harvey's features, but he didn't give a rats ass to figure out the meaning. It was only a few moments before the doctor gave in, and ambled slowly out of the room, giving the two of them some space. Laura seemed to just ignore the tension and smiled at Shane who attempted a smile back.

"I thought you were dead." Were the first words from his mouth, and he cringed as they came out, wishing there was a reverse button on his words sometimes. Laura only patted the bed, inviting him to sit a little closer to her.

"I thought I was too, honestly. Krobus came and saved me." Great, another... thing to compete with. Although, was he even wanting to compete? Was he truly sure he wanted to put this effort into her? But deep inside himself he knew he did. Shane came forward, sitting where directed and scooped her hand up in his, clutching it like he would squeeze out the memory of Harvey holding her hand and replace it with himself. She glanced down at the grip, and back at him with another confusing look. There hadn't been many times he'd been adept at deciphering expressions, but for some reason right now was particularly difficult. "So is Jas okay?" His gaze shot back up to her, as it had slowly crept down her body, and he knew where it had been headed.

"Oh, uh yeah. She's doing fine, she actually is better than I had thought, hardly a scratch on her. That shadow brute really seemed to only want to do physical harm to you..." Once again, he wished he hadn't said that. It was difficult, seeing Laura like this and it muddled his thoughts. Honestly, he was giving it his all and trying to be as calm and sweet to her as he could. Desperately trying to keep his eyes on her face rather than what was left of her leg.

You did this those little beetles of self loathing chirped at him, scuttling around in his mind, burrowing holes into his psyche and reminding him what a piece of shit he felt he was.

Eventually though, he couldn't help himself. His eyes cast down to the bandaged nub and guilt tormented him so severely it was the first time he just felt like he may have been the problem all along. If it weren't for him, maybe she'd have more time to do what she needed, if he wasn't such a ticking time bomb. They all probably thought he'd jump back into the drunken state he usually was in, that he'd slip back into it possibly even unknowingly. Laura, all this time, had been so good to him, so patient, and so understanding. How could he stand here? Holding her hand and pushing another man out of the picture when they weren't even really a couple? The self condemnation kept crashing into him, waves that were relentless in their barrage of hatred and pity for himself. Pulling his hand away he now gave her a wild eyed look, and her expression crumpled a little at the action.

"Shane...?" It was breaking him, his hands came up and he clutched at his hair, looking around the room at anything but her. There was no way he could handle this. "Shane." she said again, more firmly, and he could tell she was desperately trying to make eye contact with him, and in his peripheral vision he could make out her hand reaching out to him pleadingly.

"No! No, Laura. I've hurt you. Nothing but hurt you, and I didn't even fucking try to get you! I let you fall!"

"Shane, I begged you to! I told you to go, you had to save Jas!" her voice had raised an octave, and he could hear the panic. It was driving him mad and adding to the cacophony of chirping in his head.

"I fucked up, Laura! FUCK!"

Harvey was in the room now, looking franticly between the two distressed people, and he approached slowly, hands up in attempted placation.

"Oh, fuck off, Harvey!" Shane shouted, feeling manic and unhinged, he shoved past the doctor, hard enough that the man fell backwards, taking down a privacy screen with him in a crash of body and metal. Somewhere, he thought he heard Laura cry out, but there was no way he could deal with this. He needed a drink, he needed to get the hell out of there, he needed to disappear. Maru yelped, jumping out of his way as Shane barreled past. He didn't know where he was going, or what he was doing. All he knew was he needed out of... all of it.

Notes:

This is the end for now, a two part series. The second part will explore more of the effects their "quick" adventure had on them. Harvey will play a part more heavily in the next part as well as other characters from around the town.

Thank you for reading and hanging on with me thus far! I am going to take more of a planned approach for the second part of this, and will make more of a goal of doing weekly updates. I'd love to hear what you thought, what you liked and disliked, and what you may want to see in the next part.

Thank you again!