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How had he gotten himself into this?

Nosey stared up at the ceiling, quite enjoying his bout of self-pity. The doctor had been back after Emmett left, almost positive that he was progressing into end-stage renal failure. Most patients died in a matter of weeks unless they received dialysis or a transplant. Well, a new kidney was out of the question. It wasn't the $116,000 cost, but the wait-list. A year, at least, so dialysis it was. Hurray for having a tube shoved into your abdomen.

"Sometimes we can reverse cases of acute renal failure," Dr. Wright had explained, "because they originate from some kind of trauma or drug. Chronic renal failure, which happens over a long period of time, cannot be stopped or reversed. Unfortunately, Mr. Braithwaite, you were also beaten badly. End-stage renal failure is imminent."

Well, this was awesome. This was where a minor addiction to coffee got him. Kidney failure, what a party. At least he was surrounded by friends ... family. The nursing staff inadvertantly reminded him of his blood relatives' absence when they called him Crawford. It may have been his given name, but Crawford Braithwaite didn't exsist anymore.

Emmett had actually offered him a kidney, though, which was surprising coming from someone terrified of disceting worms. It was a nice jesture, but reminded Nosey of his current predicament: there was no one around who could be a donor. His A blood would recognize the B proteins on Emmett's blood cells and attack them. Scarlett and Al had B blood, too, and Delilah was AB. And Ursula wasn't likely to jump at the chance to offer him a kidney, not that he blamed her.

Of all the times I needed a friend, he walks away.

His thoughts had invariably turned to Julius. Again. Best friends for years and now he walked away when he was needed most. He'd never do a thing like that to Delilah, but she was different. She wasn't a goof ball who messed up more times than anyone could count, or whose smell constantly invoked dry-heaving at the Academy. Nosey had to face it; Julius didn't think he was worth sticking around for. He'd rather spend time with the guys who put his friend in the hospital than the friend himself.

Emmett tried to convince him that Julius was just trying to help. It didn't feel like help at all.

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[Somewhere in Halifax]

He had followed them into the warehouse.

Why had they gone in there? He didn't know. He didn't care. Probably to smoke up or get even more drunk. Anyway, it didn't matter. They were alone, off the streets, out of the way, and that was all he had needed.

"Hey, buddy, get lost! This ain't no party."

Oh, it was a part alright. A party for one.

"Hey, man, whatcha doin' with that thing? Slightly frightened. Good. "Put it down, pal, there's only one of you."

One was enough. One was more than enough.

"Why did you do it?" He'd screamed. His voice cracked. They laughed. "The guy at the Tim Horton's. Why?" All he had to do was pull it out of his coat and their laughter stopped.

"Take it easy, man. We didn't mean no harm."

"Did you see his car? We thought he had money! How were we supposed to know he had $20?"

That had been their excuse. It was nowhere near good enough.

"Please, guy. We didn't ... We ... No!"

Julius snapped out of his stupor in an instant. He stared down at the floor, and nausea swept through him. Had he done that? Yes, of course. That was what he wanted. Revenge. Justice. Had he gotten it? No, no, no. He'd done something stupid.

He needed someone. He took out his blackberry.

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[The Academy]

Delilah had been sleeping when her phone began to ring. She stretched, moaned, and looked at the clock. 3:01 a.m. Well then. Someone was going to get it. As she glanced at the caller ID, she sucked in her breath. In a flash, she had yanked the phone out of its cradle and was shouting into it,

"Julius, where have you been?"

There was a pause. "I'm sorry. I needed ... I ... I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me," she retorted. "Apologize to Nosey."

Instantly, she regretted the harshness of her words as she heard him bite back the words he'd almost said. Another pause followed, but he eventually spoke. "I did ... I did something really stupid."

"What did you do?"

"Just ... something. I just need to talk."

She tried to ignore the feeling of dread creeping up inside her. "Okay, Jules, we'll talk."

He sighed. "You remember that time Ice tried to freeze the world, and I got you strapped to a torpedo and fired into the ocean?"

"Yes. It wasn't one of your greater moments."

"I'm being serious. I thought I lost you. Afterwards, it took all I had not to throttle Ice."

Oh, no. "Julius, you didn't--?"

"How's Nosey?" he interrupted hastily.

"Not ... not good. His kidneys are failing, and he needs a transplant."

Silence.

"Julius?"

"Is there a donor?"

"No. It's a long waiting list, Jay. He really needs ... you."

"No, he doesn't."

"Yes! You're his blood type. You can--"

He cut her off again. "No! No, I can't. I can't come back. Not yet."

"Julius, please. He really--"

"I'm sure one of you can donate."

"Believe me, we would, but we--"

"What about his family?"

She sighed. "You know he was disowned a long time ago. You're the only one--"

"No."

"Julius, please, you have to listen to--"

"I can't, Delilah, I just can't. Don't ask me to do it."

"I am, Julius. Your friend needs you. Please--"

"No! I can't--"

"Julius, I don't care what you did, but Nosey--"

"Nosey doesn't need me!"

"Maybe I need you!"

Silence.

"Julius?"

The line went dead.