[005] hanging on by a thread

                                Alice was fortunate to never end up in a hospital.

                               Her parents (unfortunately) were in good health and besides the occasional cold, Alice was too. And yet, she was here at the hospital after Logan had some sort of stroke in the helicopter. It was a little traumatic to watch, if Alice was being honest. One minute, he had been fine, and the next, he had been acting strangely.

                               Now he was in a hospital bed and no one could see him. Marcia made sure of that. The entire Roy family was in a panic, and some fucking how, the news found out. Kendall was pissed about it and he was trying his best to do damage control while Twitter blew up. But it was pretty obvious that there was no way that was happening. With the way the media put it, Logan Roy might as well have been dead.

                                 But Alice's main concern was making sure that Roman was okay, pulling him over to the side to see where his head was at. Sure, Roman was barely in touch with his emotions but maybe he'd be able to talk to her. The only person he talked to besides his own therapist had to be Alice.

                              "If you wanted to get me away from everyone to give me a pity blow job... I'm flattered but maybe we should wait until we go back to mine," Roman teased.

                               It wouldn't be Roman if he didn't make a sexual joke while in a very serious situation like this.

                               Alice rolls her eyes. "You wish. I wanted to see how you were doing. Dumb question, I know, but I just wanted to make sure you're ok and not, like, thinking about jumping off the roof or something."

                              "I'm fine," Roman shrugged.

                              "No, you're not. You look like you're hanging on by a thread," Alice argued.

                              "Yes, I am," he stubbornly argued back. "Dad's going to be fine, y'know. He's probably making a deal with Satan right now to come back. He'll be back before you know it."

                              "I'm glad to see you're optimistic. Is this a bad time to talk about your dad's deal then?" Alice inquired. She still needed to do her end of the bargain so Logan could help her when he woke up. There was no if about it, evil never died easily.

                              "No. I mean, my dad's in a hospital bed, possibly in a fucking coma or something. But this is a good time as any," Roman responded.

                               "I think you should take it," Alice offered.

                               "You think so?" Roman looks at her.

                               He looks up to you, Alice. Use that to your advantage.

                              Alice nods. "Yes. When he wakes up, he's going to want to know that he had someone on his side. This is going to be a good move for you, Rome. I know it."

                               Roman nods. "You're right. It is good. It's the right thing to do."

                              "He'll be happy if you do it," Alice encouraged.

                              "I don't think I've ever seen him really happy before," Roman weakly chuckled.

                              "Well, pretty damn close to it then," Alice reasoned.

                              Roman snorts. "I'm not sure much will make him happy anymore, except maybe running over a small child."

                              "Do you have any children you can throw in front of a car?"

                              "I could always find one."

                              He smiles. "I knew I could count on you, Allie."

                              "I thought I told you to stop calling me that."

                              "I like seeing you get angry. It's very sexy."

                              "Your dad's in the hospital. Be horny later."

                              "You know what they say about sadness and grief and whatever. It makes you get really, really horny."

                              Alice chuckles, playfully rolling her eyes. Just then, her phone rang in her purse. She went to go and see it, finding that it was Harvey calling her. Alice was a little surprised but she smiled nonetheless, glancing over at Roman who was confused at Alice's sudden change in behavior.

                               "Who's that?" Roman asked, although he had his own suspicions. It was probably the same friend from earlier. Whoever they were, they had impeccable timing.

                               "My friend from earlier. I'll be right back to take this," Alice replied before she walked away from Roman, finding a private place before she could answer the phone.

                                After all, she didn't need anyone to realize that she was talking to Harvey.

                              "Harvey," Alice leans against the wall, biting her lower lip, "This is a really bad time."

                              "Sorry," he replies, although he doesn't sound too apologetic about it, "I heard about what happened to Logan. Is he dead?"

                               Alice scoffed. She probably shouldn't have told Harvey that she was attending Logan's birthday in the first place. But Alice never could have known that this was going to happen. "No, he's not dead. Everything's going to be fine. I know you didn't call me to ask about Logan."

                              "You're right. I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my house tonight," Harvey offered.

                               "Something tells me your wife wouldn't approve," Alice quickly reminds him.

                               He chuckles. "She's on a trip with her friends. They'll gone for the whole week, so I basically have the house to myself."

                               Alice knows that she should say no. She already knows what's going to happen if she says yes. It'll be another bad decision, but Alice couldn't resist. She just couldn't say no to the things that were wrong for her.

                              "I'll be there. I won't be here for much longer," Alice responded. "Send me the address and I can be there in an hour."

                              "Better yet, I'll send you a driver to your location," Harvey offered.

                              "Oh, how kind of you," Alice teased. "Do you always treat your girlfriends like this?"

                              "Girlfriends?"

                              "You expect me to believe I'm the first?"

                              "You are, I swear."

                              Alice doesn't believe him, but she decides not to push. It'd be hypocritical for her to ask when she knew what she was about to do. "Alright, I'll see you then."

                              With everything that was happening, Alice was stressed out and she needed the release. So Alice made sure to send him the address to the hospital before she put her phone away. She then went to go and look for Roman, eventually making her way to the private suite where she found him and the others. Roman practically pulled Alice towards him but she didn't mind. She figured that the least she could do was support Roman a little longer before she left.

                              And maybe she liked the way the way his arm felt draped around her waist.

                              "There you are, Rome was looking like a lost puppy without you," Catherine remarked.

                              "Shut up," Roman hissed at her.

                              "What are we all doing?" Alice asks with a light chuckle, just as Kendall walked into the room and began saying something that Alice wasn't paying attention to. "Has there been any news about your dad?"

                              Roman shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

                              "I'm so sorry about your father," Willa stands up, quick to apologize. Alice knew she meant well but the way the whole family saw Willa, they weren't in the mood to take her seriously.

                              "Thank you. Would you give us a minute?" Kendall motioned towards the door behind him, not bothering to be subtle about kicking her out.

                              Willa nods, taking her cue to leave the room. Connor watches as Willa walks out of the room with a kind smile. "Thanks, Willa."

                              Kendall then focused his attention on Tom next. "Tom, would you mind? That includes you too, Alice."

                              "Come on, I'm not the same as her or Alice," Tom was quick to argue.

                              She looks around at everyone else before scoffing. "Whatever. I was leaving anyway."

                              "Alice isn't going anywhere," Roman quickly stops her, grabbing her hand and pulling her back next to him. "She's staying with me."

                              "This is a family matter, Rome," Kendall frowned.

                              "If Alice doesn't stay, I'm going to take the biggest shit in your sandwich, force you to eat it, and throw a temper tantrum all over this hospital, so...," Roman warned.

                              "Rome," Alice sighed. She didn't want to be forced to stick around when she didn't want to.

                              "Whatever, she can stay," Kendall sighed in defeat.

                              Alice didn't really feel comfortable with staying around and hearing their conversation. She felt an awful lot like she was intruding on something important. But Roman wanted her to stay so she would. If Logan was around, he'd definitely want her there. Probably for the sake of making sure that she kept Roman on Logan's side.

                              "Vaulter's running a story about how the company's in turmoil," Kendall announced next.

                              "Don't we own him?" Shiv asks before grabbing Kendall's phone from him, reading the headline with a scoff, "Shitshow at the Fuck Factory?"

                              "That is the lamest title I've ever heard," Catherine rolls her eyes. "After this, we should totally drop them."

                              "Yeah. Uncertainty, discord... that is not a good story. Family gets behind other member of family... that's a good story," Kendall desperately looks around the room to see if anyone else was seeing things his way.

                              "Oh, fuck them," Shiv remarked, crossing her arms while she relaxed on one of the couches, "I mean, when Jobs was dying, Apple didn't say anything."

                              Kendall's brows raised at Shiv, not understanding her attitude on the subject. "We're in a hospital, Shiv. Everyone knows. We can't just prop him up and wave his hand and say he's fine like they did in The Politburo or Weekend at fuckin' Bernie's."

                              "I like the sound of that though," Roman can't help but tease, laughing right up until Alice delivers a swift nudge to his arm via her elbow.

                              "Look, you can't put a value on human life, except in our case you rather precisely can because when trading opens tomorrow, we're gonna drop like a stone," Kendall continues with a sigh, "The only question is, what's the bottom?"

                             Alice could never see herself getting into business. It was all so complicated and fucking stressful. Kendall walked around like he had a gigantic stick up his ass as a result from it. It made it hard for Alice to believe that he had ever been remotely cool once, although all the cocaine had been to blame for that. If being a businesswoman meant turning into this, Alice didn't want it.

                            "I think I'm the best option," Kendall added when no one else decided to speak up.

                            "Bullshit!" Catherine shouts.

                            "I just want to say that, uh, if you... if you need me to... go get sandwiches or coffee, or step up from Regional Parks and, uh, run North America, I can and I will," Tom immediately offered, causing Alice to immediately roll her eyes. Tom was the biggest kiss-ass Alice had ever met and she had met several of them.

                             "Fuck off, Tom," Kendall scoffed, managing to see right through Tom as well.

                             "Fuck you, Kendall," Shiv immediately rose in defense of her boyfriend, "Don't talk to Tom like that."

                              "It's okay. It's fine," Tom quickly assured her, holding up his hand in a dismissive wave.

                              "I was about to be announced. I mean, how can I not be the most logical choice?" Kendall continued. In his mind, he had already been the best candidate for the job.

                              "Because you were about to be announced, Ken, then you weren't," Shiv countered. Even though Alice knew better, she did love being a part of someone else's drama every now and again. And this one was getting good. "I mean, the only thing we know for certain, like for absolute certain tonight, is that Dad didn't want you running the company. So if there's a list of seven billion people on this planet that Dad would choose to be boss, we know you would be last."

                              Damn, Shiv was cutthroat. It was no wonder that Alice liked her, along with Catherine.

                             "We all know that you're the last choice. I don't know why you're fooling yourself, Ken," Catherine scoffed.

                              "Dad fired you, man," Roman added.

                              "No, he did not fire me," Kendall argued, shaking his head, "He said it was just gonna take a little longer."

                              "But he said that to be nice. What I think he meant to say was that he wished Mom had given birth to a can opener because at least then it would be useful," Roman taunted, his words as poisonous as the smug look on his face.

                              "That wasn't very nice, Rome," Alice remarked, seeing the way Kendall's face fell as he walked away from them.

                             "What?" Roman asked, trying to act innocent.

                             "It's exactly what the number one boy needs to hear," Catherine folded her arms, not appearing to feel bad for Kendall in the slightest.

                            "Rome's a dick and you're a cunt," Kendall retorted, glaring directly at Catherine.

                           "Ouch, is that the best you got?" Catherine pouts, head canted to the side.

                           "Look, the board are offering this to me. I don't actually need your backing," Kendall argued.

                           "Uh, yeah you do, asshole," Catherine scoffs.

                           "Yeah. You actually really, totally do," Roman argued.

                           "I think you do," Shiv said at the same time as Roman. "Without it, after what Dad did to you, I mean, we could probably take any appointment to court."

                           "Jesus, Shiv, we're talking about court now?" Kendall scoffed.

                          "We wouldn't have to if you weren't trying to act like the macho man and act like you don't need us. You were begging for us to help you not too long ago. Power of four, remember? Or was that all bullshit?" Catherine argued.

                           "Things have changed, obviously," Kendall argued.

                           "Fuck you! I didn't even want to talk about this, remember?" Shiv exclaimed.

                           "Look, what do you two have against me?" Kendall questioned.

                           "Nothing," Shiv quickly answers.

                           "Nothing?" Kendall repeats in disbelief.

                           "I do," Catherine steps up to the challenge.

                           "Go ahead, I'm all ears," Kendall goaded her.

                           "You're a fucking pussy who wants to try and pretend like he's dad when he's anything but. You wouldn't know the first thing about running a company," Catherine retorted.

                           "And you do?" Kendall scoffs.

                           "Fuck yeah I do. While you were on your fourteenth trip to rehab, I was actually putting in the work and studying. Dad picked me to work close to him for a reason. Not you, me. It's because he knows he can count on me when shit gets rough. Not you, the spineless, dickless, pathetic excuse of a son who runs to cocaine the minute things are a little too hard for him," Catherine replies, her tone venomous and harsh.

                            "Not to mention, you lack killer instinct, you're wet, you're green, you're intellectually insecure -," Shiv began to say.

                            "Bullshit!" Kendall cut her off.

                           "You're not emotionally strong enough, you have addiction issues...," the red head continued.

                          "That's enough!" Kendall declared, stopping her for good.

                          "What's the matter? Are we hurting your feelings? No wonder you have no friends and Rava's divorcing your sorry ass," Catherine replied, adding the final nail in the coffin.

                           "Catherine, I think he's had enough," Alice replied, seeing the way Kendall's face fell at the mention of Rava.

                           "I don't think all that. I'm just trying to be Dad's voice," Shiv explained.

                           "Bravo. It was an excellent impression. Meanwhile, Kitty Kat here did an even better job. Almost had me terrified," Roman replied. This time, it was Catherine who faltered at the comparison between her and Logan.

                            "I just want to say I'm not getting involved," Connor stated.

                            Alice didn't blame him.

                           "Good," Kendall nods.

                          "But Shiv and Catherine are right. I'm not saying I would make a better CEO, that's unsaid," Connor continued.

                          "It's not unsaid when you say it," Kendall scoffs.

                          "No, I'm saying I'm not saying it so, in fact, it is unsaid," Connor explained.

                          Alice furrowed her brows in confusion. "What?"

                         "Hey, pal, why don't you go help Willa with her homework?" Kendall quipped.

                         "Ouch. Asshole. Why don't you decide everything? I don't care. I just observe. I'm a UN white helmet. All right?" Connor responds.

                         "Guys, who else are you gonna get?" Kendall questioned.

                         "Anyone but you," Catherine folds her arms across her chest.

                         "I think Shiv would be great. That's what I think," Tom immediately suggested.

                         Catherine laughs. "You're joking, right?"

                        "Bitch," Shiv chuckles before briefly glancing over at Tom. "Thanks, honey, but... no way."

                         "I mean, she doesn't work in the company, and has no experience of the company, and the markets would freak, but apart from that, I agree with you," Kendall scoffed.

                         "I mean, we have options," Shiv shrugged.

                         "Sure. You could all ask for morphine so you can stay in your painless fucking fantasy world where the orchids dance and the company is run by a magical fucking unicorn!" Kendall exclaimed.

                         "Give us the name of your dealer and we can score some," Catherine replied, determined to get the last word.

                         "Fuck you," Kendall snapped before he stormed out of the room, leaving the rest of them alone.

                        "Jesus, does this happen often?" Alice asked, turning to look at Roman.

                        "A lot more than you think," Roman replies. "Roy Family Values, y'know?"

                        Alice sighs as she makes her way to the door, Roman trailing after her. "Well, I guess this means it's my time to go now."

                       "You're leaving?" Roman asks, following her out of the room.

                       "Yeah," Alice huffs, avoiding Roman's gaze. He looked like a puppy that's just been kicked and Alice feels just a little guilty. "I have plans -."

                       "With your friend?" Roman finished for her.

                       Alice knows better than to answer that honestly, so she doesn't bother to answer him at all. "I'll call you later to see how he's doing. But I wouldn't worry about it. Everything's going to be fine."

                      "Yeah. See you later. Have fun sucking cock or whatever," Roman waves his hand, acting like he doesn't care.

                      "Who says that's going to be happening?" Alice asks, eyes wide.

                      Roman sends her a look. "I'm stupid but I'm not stupid at the same time."

                      Alice smiles before she gives Roman a goodbye kiss on the cheek, walking away from him to leave the hospital. She was clueless to Roman watching her, briefly touching his cheek which Alice had kissed before he forced himself to look away. He needed to call tall ass Greg anyway and make sure that he got everything he had asked for.

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notes: long time no see! i hope you enjoyed this chapter! the next one's going to be with fuckboy harvey but we'll get back to roman after that!

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