Times up -Cordelia[CLOSED]

[Anthony Matthew Price]

It had been six and a half hours since Anthony had seen Cordelia. He'd been in what they would call a rec room sitting behind the piano. He liked the sound it made when played. Well worth learning how to play it. But not long ago he had started to feel worse and worse. He already had a fever and his nose had started to run. Now he sat against the wall on the floor next to the piano. He'd tried to get back to his room but he was to sore and tired.

He looked down at his hands, they were shakey. Almost like as if he had been electricuted and he still had the shakes. Cordelia was out of time. He needed something. He didn't feel like he was going to make it through this. He was already ready to quit. Just take something to make the pain he was feeling stop and it was going to get much worse. He swallowed some looking around, wanting something to take. What could he get his hands on that would help.

[Cordelia Antonia Price]

Cordelia hadn't really slept, not that one would really expect her too. She'd spent hours researching, trying to find something that could help her brother. The consensus was, nothing. Nothing was going to help him kick the addiction, not without serious withdrawal symptoms. And nothing would fix his root problems but some good old fashioned therapy. If getting Anthony into some kind of rehab program was going to be like pulling teeth, getting him to a shrink would be impossible. But that was another bridge to cross, first things first, he needed to stop numbing himself with the heroin. She'd found out some facilities provide prescription meds to help make the withdrawal symptoms less severe, and since she wouldn't get him to admit himself into a facility, she needed to find out exactly what those were and get her hands on them. Until then, all she could really do was be there for him and make sure he didn't use again.

Finally turning off her computer after hours, she tried to sleep. But after more time spent tossing and turning, she gave up, getting out of bed. Maybe hot tea would help. She left her room, heading to the kitchen. A light coming from under the rec room door made her pause, he was still awake. She changed course, walking over and knocking once before entering the room. It took her a second to see her brother slumped against the wall. It took her a second, registering how he was shaking, the sheen of sweat. How god damn much of the shit was he doing if he already was showing symptoms of withdrawl? It couldn't have been more then 6 and half, seven hours since he shot up. If he was already in this state, he'd been using a hell of a lot more than she first thought. It was bad. She quickly crossed the room, getting onto the ground next to him. “ Anthony? Are you alright?” though she knew exactly what was wrong she couldn't help the ingrained response to check his forhead for a fever, as if this was just some flu.

[Anthony Matthew Price]

Anthony looked over to the door when he heard Cordelia knock then come in. It took her a moment to really realize what was going on though he'd call her blonde and tell her she was slow. But then she was sitting next to him, asking if he was ok and then her hand was on his forehead. No he wasn't ok, did he really look ok? He felt like he was dying. And it was her fault. She was making him do this. He was going to die there on the floor, this was going to be it. That's how he felt. He couldn't even make it off the floor.

"Do I look ok? I mean .. I feel like I'm dying here Cordelia .. You gotta help my find something. I need to make it stop. I just need .. Just a little. Please. I-I'm begging you just make it stop" His hand held onto her shirt tightly and he let his head rest on her chest. Like he used to when he was little and sick. He wanted her to pull something out of her sleeve and make things all better like she used to for him. When a few doses of cold medicine made everything better. Why couldn't there be a few doses of get rid of withdraws? Someone should be smart and invent it. He was on the verge of tears right now and he'd be damned if he let Cordelia see him cry. It was bad enough he was begging her to make it stop.

[Cordelia Antonia Price]

Cordelia thought that she couldn’t feel much worse about what he was going through, until she actually saw it. He hadn’t held her like that, burying his head against in, god, long enough that she couldn’t actually remember. It was well before he’d hit puberty though, She moved her hand from his forehead, cradling his head against her, and holding him tightly. What was she doing to him? This had to be worse than the drugs themselves, listen to him. Anthony didn’t beg, he wouldn’t beg unless it was unbearable. She needed to fix this. Where the fuck was Vinny when you needed him? He needed to get his fat ass out to find something to make this stop. How hard could it be? They ran the heroin trade around here, they should be able to get some here in matter of seconds. They’d better get some here in a matter of seconds, or Cordelia would make heads roll, literally.

Her mind was whirring as she murmured soft comforting words against Anthony’s head. She was panicking, she realized it about half way through her little ranting thoughts. She was panicking, and that wasn’t going to help him. It killed her not to be able to do what he wanted, not to be able to give him what would make this stop. But someone had to be the strong one, and Anthony couldn’t be, not in this situation. It was damn hard, but she knew she couldn’t give in, even if every inch of her heart was screaming at her to do it. “ I know it hurts Anthony… but you need to get through it… I’m here.. it’s going to be ok.. just get through it” she said soothingly. Methadone, wasn’t that what they used? It mimicked the effects of the drug, making it easier to deal with withdrawal, and by slowly upping the dosage, the pleasurable side effects of using the drug would fade, and the body’s need for the chemical would subside, making the transition to wean someone off easier… Her mind was running again, remembering all the pages worth of crap on the internet she’d found. She’d dismissed the idea, there was a chance he could become addicted to the Methadone itself, not as bad as heroin, but still not good… but if it would make it less painful… now how the hell was she supposed to get her hands on that? She looked down at the top of Anthony’s head, still resting on her chest…. Maybe she should give him something now… just for tonight… she would find where the fuck in this stupid city she could get her hands on the methadone, and they would start tomorrow… NO… if she gave in now, she would give in tomorrow, she couldn’t. She owed it to her brother to be the strong one in this situation.

[Anthony Matthew Price]

Anthony couldn't help but think that just having her arms around him made him feel a little better. Her hands felt cool against his skin. It was nice to know when it came right down to it, even after all the horrible things he said, his sister still loved him enough to hold him. "What if I can't do this?" It was all he could manage to get out. He wasn't sure how long he could suffer through this. He knew this was his own fault. He had no one to blame for this. He was the one who started using the drugs. It wasn't like any one forced him to use. And she could be mean and tell him that he got himself into this problem he could get himself out of it but she wasn't doing that.

"Isn't there .. Isn't there some way to make this easier?" He hadn't gotten far enough in a solution for this. He'd just read what withdraw would feel like. And so far what he'd read was pretty dead on. He couldn't help but think how much his mother would be disappointed in him for doing this. Though maybe if she were still around he wouldn't have needed the drugs. If things had been different for him, he would have never needed drugs. He was sure this town was full of other drugs. Hell even the hospital had things that they didn't run through the city. He wouldn't be above stealing if it was for her.

[Cordelia Antonia Price]

Family stuff, it was never easy, if it was, well then it just wouldn't be normal. You weren't supposed to have some picture perfect, Leave it to Beaver shit, that wasn't how the real world worked. This was how the real world works. She had a mess of a brother right now, who was angry and confused and lashing out and in pain. And she really didn't have a thing she could do to fix it. But that didn't really matter, it never could. It didn't matter what he said, what he did, she loved hi, and if holding him was all she could do, then she would do it gladly. “ Hush... you can do this Anthony. You are strong and brave, and you will get through this. And you aren't alone. I'll be here every step of the way, ok?” she said smoothing the hair back from his forehead.

She sighed a bit and nodded “ There may be, I was looking into this... and there is something we can try. But I can't get it tonight... Tonight you just have to bear through it” she said. It killed her a little that she couldn't take some of the pain away now. “ You juust need to think of something worth doing this for... I know it isn't easy, but you can do it... I'll find a way to get the Methadone for you. It's a drug that helps mimic the effects, so you can slowly ween yourself off. It'll still be hard, but it will help.” she said with conviction. T had to help, she had no other options that she could really put out there.

[Anthony Matthew Price]

Anthony listened to Cordelia speak while she held him close. He did his best to shake his head at what she was saying about him. "I'm none of those things, if I were I wouldn't be doing this. Cause I would have never started in the first place. I'm weak and a coward. I can't even face my own dreams. I'm cold hearted and angry all the time. I'm not the little boy you raised any more" Some of those things were because of the heroin. The other's were his job and how it shaped him. And it did change him. It had changed her. Their business changes everyone it touches. And usually not in a good way. The only thing he'd ever been good at was making people pay up, or suffer, even death. He was really good at killing people. And their business was stronger cause he was in it and he knew that. No one would dare cross them. Ever.

Then she was talking about how she couldn't get anything to help him tonight. But that there was something out there that helped people. Why couldn't she get it tonight? "Why not tonight. I can't do this. I feel like shit Cordelia. Can't you .. boss someone around and get what you want like always." In his own way he meant it to be a compliment. Even if it didn't sound like it. "Or are you telling me we don't have anyone in our organization competitent enough to get what ever it is you said would help" That sentence came out a little angry. He curled up a little more, his grip tightening even further on her shirt as if he were in pain.

[Cordelia Antonia Price]

Cordelia couldn’t really fathom how Anthony saw himself. Starting heroin, that was a damn, freaking, retarded bad choice, but it hardly made him weak or a coward. It was hard for a lot of people to imagine, but Anthony was really still a kid. He’d been forced, just like her, into an adult role at a young age, and it changed him, affected him. But in her mind, you were still growing up in your early 20’s, and they were hard enough on their own. Anthony had a hell of a lot more on his plate than most people. No, he was neither a coward or weak. He was a kid who’d had a shit load of crap dumped on him and it screwed him up. But he was still brave, he was still strong. And maybe everyone else in the world saw him as this harsh, bad ass who was more likely to shoot you than to smile at you. But that wasn’t the real Anthony. That was his job. There probably weren’t many people who got to see the other Anthony, the one she knew. She smoothed some hair back from his forehead. “ Of course you are that same kid Anthony. And despite what you may think, you are those things… you are angry because you have reason to be angry. And underneath everything else, you are warm, not cold hearted. Just not many people get to see that.” she said gently. That was one of those things that was probably a side effect of their lives, you had to be cold hearted, otherwise they’d eat you alive. It didn’t mean you actually were.

Cordelia held back a bit of an eye roll at that comment. Boss people. Right, that’s what she did, all the time. Like he had any inkling what it actually took to run this, keep people in order and keep them all out of jail cells. Boss people around indeed. But she knew, in a weird way, it was kind of a compliment. “ No, I can’t just boss people Anthony. It’s the middle of the night, and Methadone isn’t exactly a street drug you can just buy from any cracked out dealer. Competent or not, we’ve never had to find this kind of shit before, it’s not really one of our specialties. So if you think I can send one of the boys to rob a pharmacy, with no idea what he’s actually looking for, I’m sorry. It’s not going to happen.” it broke her heart a little when he clutched tighter at her shirt, but it didn’t change that nothing could be done. “ I know it’s hard Anthony. But people get through this all the time without help. You can too. Hold out until tomorrow and I’ll find out where to get what you need.”

[Anthony Matthew Price]

Anthony wasn't sure why she refused to see he was no longer what she described but he supposed that was a fight for another day. Right now he needed to focus on not killing himself. And possibly getting off the floor. It was terribly uncomfortable. Then she was telling him she couldn't just boss people around and that she couldn't just send someone to rob a pharmacy. Apparently it was up to him to get the things he needed. He had favors he could call in. People in the right places. It did pay off to help people out every now and then.

He moved a shaky hand to his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He shuffled through it and pulled out a card. "Call this number, ask for Dr. Ryan. tell her who you are. And that I'm calling in my favor. Then explain our problem. She'll know how to help discretely." She'd offered before to help him off the drugs. Then he didn't think he needed any help. But he'd helped her and she said she'd return the favor however she could. "I'm tired Cordelia. Think you could ... help me upstairs?" He doubted he'd sleep but laying in bed would be a little more comfortable than the floor.

[/center]

[Cordelia Antonia Price]

Cordelia looked at the number he gave her, her lips slightly pursed. Better be the right kind of doctor, better be the kind with access to the methodone. Because she wasn't just going to be making a polite phone call at 3 am. No, she was going to make sure there was no doubt in this woman's mind that she would be helping them. She put the card in her pocket. Vinny and a few of the guys should be more than able to make sure the doctor gave up what they needed, no one resisted Vinny's... persuasion very long anyways. “ Alright Anthony. I'll get on that.”

She looked down at her brother with a small, sad frown before crouching down and helping him to his feet. How could she have let this happen to him? How could she not notice? “ Of course. Let's get you upstairs” she said, her voice soft

occ that was a shit reply... sorry ><