*James*

[Hey Jules. I'm leaving for Austin first thing in the morning. Can I swing by and drop off your health insurance card? Trish already made a copy of it and you should have it just in case something happens. ]

I read over Julia's shoulder. "Tell him that's fine. I have to go to work tonight anyways."

"Are you reading my texts, Mr. Gallo? You're so nosy. You have to work on your birthday??"

"Told ya. It's just another day. C'mon. Let's say goodbye to everyone."

Ma was starting to get her Sundown Syndrome anyways and her dementia was only going to get worse from that point on. Having me around just makes it that much harder for my sisters. So we leave and head back to the hotel.

"You ok?" Julia asks while playing with my hair as I rest my head on her lap.

"Yeah. I'm good. Today was nice. Thanks for coming. Just hard to see my mom like that sometimes. I can't blame her or be mad at her. She can't help it." I close my eyes. "I swear I'm gonna start visiting her with sunglasses on."

"Well I for one, love your blue eyes. At least your sisters all try and help and don't let it slide."

"We all look after each other. Always have since we were little."

"Well, you know my favorite song and now I know your favorite dinner. If I had a real kitchen here I'd make it for you every single night if I could." I smile down at James who takes my free hand and kisses it.

"I know you would." I sit up and look at the time. "My time here is up. Will you come down to keep me company later?

"I suppose..."

"No funny business with Hollan either."

"No funny business with Hollan." She repeats and I head out.

I get all the way down to the front desk and realize I forgot my water in the room. I rush back up and swipe my card, knocking a little before barging in.

"I think I forgot my water bottle." Are you for real right now? I can't believe my eyes. Within five minutes time Nate is and laying on Julia's lap? This is unbelievable.

Julia shakes her head at me and puts her finger up to her lips telling ME to fucking be quiet.

"What the hell?" I say louder.

"He's so drunk, James. He's so fricken drunk."

I shake my head and walk over to Julia. "So you comfort him??" I sit on the chair across from them.

"He's a person, James! He'd comfort me if the table was turned." Julia looks down at the sleeping millionaire on her lap. This is just great.

"Yeah, babe, cuz he's in love with you."

"Look at him. I think he drove here drunk. I'm not waking him up to have him drive home like this. He can't help it. He has a problem."

"You're too good to people, you know that?" I sigh in frustration. She has such a big heart but doesn't she see how he uses her like this? She needs to worry about her own shit. Not his.

"It's Nate. I'm always gonna love him and take care of him, even if I'm not IN love with him."

"I know you are, sweetie."

"Cmon. Help me get him to the bed. He doesn't fit on the sofa and needs to sleep this off."

She want me to get him to HER BED???? I sulk in defeat and pull Nate off her.

"You're lucky I'm madly in love with you, you know that?" I hold Nate up and his head flops back as we carry him. whoops.

"Watch his head."

"He's fine." I roll my eyes at her.

"You'd do the same if it was Lindsay, wouldn't you??" Juia adjusts Nate's head so he doesn't get a kink in his neck.

"I suppose." I grab a water from the mini fridge and leave it on the nightstand for Nate.

"Thank you for helping me." She stands up and throws her arms around me to kiss me. I give in s always.

"What am I gonna do with you, Julia?" I wrap my arms around her.

"You're gonna kiss me back and we're gonna leave him to sleep and go downstairs." She pecks my lips over and over again while talking.

"Mmmhmm, then what.."

"Then... later.. we're gonna sneak away and find a place to have birthday sex." She smiles against my lips and I grab her ass while kissing her. I can't get enough of this woman.

"Mmmhmm, then what.."

"Then, I'll probably scream out your name..." She lets out a sigh as my lips travel down her neck and whispers in my ear. "and pull your hair, and let you do whatever you want to me, because it's your birthday."

"Oh yeah? Anything I want, baby?" I raise an eyebrow. This could be interesting.

"Anything you want..Well.. within reason..Cmon. You need to get back to work."

We leave Nate passed out on her bed and head down to the lobby together.

"I should just work here. I sit in this chair almost every single night." Julia jokes while I swivel in my chair looking at the group text from my sisters.

"All my sisters really like you. Especially Kendall." I flash my phone for her to see.

"Oh yeah? So I made the cut, Mr. Gallo?"

"You made the cut." I smirk.

"Think he's ok up there?"

"I'm sure he's fine." Ugh. She's got Hollan on her mind again.

"I can't fix myself. I don't know how to fix him."

"It's not your job to fix him." I remind her..

"James, he has no one. Trust will always be an issue for him with the life he lives."

"He's a multimillionaire. I'm sure he doesn't care about friends. He's got everything ." I roll my eyes and lean back in my chair.

"You don't seriously think that, do you?? How would you feel if you had absolutely no one. Not one person? And everything you do makes the news. You have no privacy whatsoever. You can't even have a fricken heart attack without the whole world knowing. It doesn't matter what a person makes for their income. Having to live like that is lonely." She pauses. "That's why he drinks so much."

"Hey, he made his bed, Julia." I furrow my brows at her. I have no sympathy for him.

"So if Lindsay had an issue you wouldn't feel bad for her or try to help fix her? C'mon James. You one hundred percent would."

"I sure as hell wouldn't have her head on my lap. I can tell you that much." I mumble. Why are we even having this conversation right now? This is stupid and I can tell Julia's getting mad over it.

"He was fricken drunk and passed out. He didn't know if he was coming or going. You saw him. He was a mess. Show some compassion." She glares at me. Compassion? Compassion? Is she serious right now??

"Compassion is one thing. I'm not gonna bend over backwards for a guy who's in love with you. You DO see where I'm coming from, don't you?"

"He's a person. With feelings. And a problem. He would do anything to help me."

"Again, Julia, because he's in love with you."

"This conversation is ridiculous. " Julia stands up. "I'm gonna go check on him to make sure he's fine." She storms off on me and ignores me when I call her name.

"Julia... Come on.." I can't with her sometimes. I lean back in my chair and drag my hands down my face in frustration. I really wish Nate Hollan would go on vacation or travel somewhere for a while. A long while.

My phone rings and I grab it quickly, forgetting I have the ringer on and can't have that at work.

"James, you need to come up here! He's throwing up blood!" Julia yells into the phone before I even have a chance to say hello.

"Shit" I hang up fast and book it up to her room. This can't be good.

I rush into the room to see what's going on and there he is. In the bathroom, not looking so hot. At all. Blood in the toilet. A lot of blood. Shit. I need to call 911.

"Jesus. He needs go to the E.R." I flush the toilet and try to remain calm because Julia is freaking and if I freak it makes everything worse.

"I can't go to the E.R. James." Nate mumbles. "If I go, it will be all over the news. You don't understand." He looks up at me with the saddest eyes I've ever seen. He's scared. As he should be. Fuck.

"You don't have much of a choice, pal. You could be internally bleeding." I pull Nate up but he's weak from being sick and leans on the counter. I have no idea how long he was sick for.

"I should have never left him!" Julia panics and stands up and lets Hollan lean on her. She's blaming this on herself?

"Babe, you can NOT blame yourself for his stupid choices."

"James STOP! Now is not the time." She glares at me and starts guiding Nate out of the room. "Grab my keys and purse. I'll help him to the car if you won't!" She struggles getting him out so I take over.

"Ugh, the things I do for you Julia." I walk him out of the room with no problem.

"THANK you.."

"I really can't go. It will heal on it's own." Nate says but doesn't fight us on walking down the stairs and out the more private side door to Julia's car. The Jeep Cherokee Nate bought for her. We put him in the passenger seat and shut the door. He rests his head on the window.

"I don't know where the nearest hospital is." Julia admits. I take a deep breath in, obviously knowing where the hospital is from living here all my life.

"I'll drive. Get in the backseat." I unlock my cell phone and hand it to Julia.

"Find Cheryl Sullivan. Text her and tell her there was an emergency and I had to leave. No one's at the front desk. She'll come. She lives right up the road." I hop into the driver's seat and speed to get Nate to the E.R.

No one is happy to see Nate in the ER. The hospital and staff finally got back to normal after his heart attack and now he's back in and getting worse. Throwing up blood in the waiting room. I've never seen so much blood. He really did a number on himself and I start to feel bad. They put us in a seperate waiting room once a few people started to recognize the famous musician. This is gonna hit Twitter within minutes.

Julia is by his side the entire time. Rubbing his back and trying to comfort him though I can tell she is freaked out.

*****

*Trisha*

I'm in the middle of checking out at Target, getting ready for our trip to Austin when Nate calls. Now what does he want? He better not need me to get him from the bar or something.

It's Julia.

I almost drop the phone when I hear what's going on.

No. Oh my God. No.

*James*

Everything feels surreal. 

I sit in the hospital room next to Julia's bed holding her hand. We originally came here because Nate was throwing up blood, but Julia has gone into shock. She can't handle all this. It's too much for her. I quietly pray for both Julia and Nate for so long  until I feel Julia's hand move in mine. She's awake.

"Hey there." I try to seem calm for her though I am anything BUT calm internally.

"Where's Nate??" She tries to jump out of the bed but gets dizzy and falls back down on the pillow. The very first thing she thinks about when she comes to is Nate and it's a fucking stab in my heart. "James. Where's Nate?" Her eyes anxiously dart around the room in confusion.

"He's in surgery. They're repairing a GI tear in his stomach from all the drinking. He'll be ok, though." I squeeze Julia's hand and push her her out of her face. She notices the I.V. in her hand. She really doesn't remember anything, does she?

"What happened?" 

"You went into shock. I think all the commotion..." I don't bother finishing my sentence. I'm exhausted at this point. I watch her look at the band aid on her arm and she starts to freak out.

"James! Did they do bloodwork??"

"Probably. Why?" I squint my eyes at her in confusion and she starts crying. I don't get what she's thinking. "Babe, what's the matter? Nate will be fine."

"Oh my God. I need to leave!" She tries to get up again and I scramble to lay her back down.

"Julia... lay down."

"They're gonna see all the pills I took last night, James!! And the wine I had at your mother's house! What's gonna happen?" That's what she's freaking out about?

"Probably nothing. Just be honest with them. I think you'd be covered under HIPAA law and labs would stay confidential. It'd be different if you had a warrant out for your arrest or something." I make a joke out of it and smirk at her.

"You don't do you??" I try to joke with her but it falls flat and she gives me a dirty look. "We can find other ways to use handcuffs without needing a warrant, baby." I whisper in her ear and wink at her, gaining an eye roll right before the nurse comes in.

"My gosh. Only Nate Hollan can cause this much attention. His fans are certainly... persistent. They really think they're gonna get an autograph tonight?" She shakes her head. Another nurse follows behind. They are obviously friends and both frustrated with the situation.

"Jesus! Is someone calling in more security? It's getting crazy out there. I thought we were done with this!"

This has already hit the news, hasn't it. Nate has no privacy.  I do kinda feel bad for the guy in that sense. Julia is an emotional mess and starts crying  again. She's all over the place tonight and the nurses notice it.

"Give her another Ativan." One says to the other.

"Ativan?" Wait... Shit. They've been giving her more of that shit? I look up at the nurses and they both notice the sudden surprise.

"Don't worry sweetie. It's just to calm her down a little. She went into shock."

"Wait. How much has she had??" I stand up now while Julia continues crying. The two nurses look at each other confused.

"Sir?"

I feel bad doing this, and I know Julia is gonna be pissed off. But the nurses need to know she already has that shit in her system. Last thing she needs is to overdose.

"Can I talk to you in the hall?" I purposely don't make eye contact with her.

"Wait! James, no!!" Julia yells, and my heart breaks as I ignore her, walking out with the nurses to the hall. I shut the door behind us but can still hear Julia freaking out in the room. 

"JAMES!! I said NO!"

"Sir? Is she allergic to the medication?" The nurse studies my face, now nervous that she did something wrong like administer a med Julia's allergic to.

"No. Listen. She's got a lot of shit going on in her head. But.." I pace a little and swallow hard trying to get the words out. "She has an addiction to Benzo's."

The nurse's eyes widen.

"She took Ativan not long ago. A LOT of Ativan. Today, she had a few glasses of wine. I just need to make you aware of the situation." I start to get choked up a bit saying this. Ratting Julia out like this.

"You did the right thing, Sir. Thank you for letting us know. We'll put that in the notes in her chart for the doctor to be aware of.

I did the right thing.... That's what the nurse said...... But I don't feel like I did the right thing. At all.

******