vigorli

Title: Running on Faith
Author: Mika
Pairing: VM/OB, OB/HS (implied)
Rating: NC-17 (eventually, anyway)

Disclaimer: It’s all made up. I’m not making any claims about anyone or anything. I make no money from this.

A/N: Thanks so much for all of your wonderful comments. Appreciate you all taking the time to give some feedback. However, after this chapter - the only person you will probably want to kill is *me*. Here we go...

Orlando finally managed to calm himself long enough to drive home. He forced himself to try to eat a small meal, as he could eat or drink nothing past midnight. Making his way to the shower, Orlando stripped and stood under the hot spray until the water started to go cold. He slid on a t-shirt and boxers and made his way to the bedroom with a small plastic sleeve in his hand. It contained a sleeping pill that was given to him by the doctor so that he could ensure Orlando would get some amount of rest the night before his surgery. Orlando dumped the pill into his hand and stared at it for a long while before finally tossing into the back of his mouth and swallowing it dry. Orlando set the alarm clock and stretched out on the bed, wrapping his arms around Viggo's pillow. The fabric still slightly held his scent and Orlando pressed his face into it, breathing as deeply as he could. Even if it were only for a little while, Orlando could pretend that Viggo was here, holding him… soothing him… loving him.

By the time Viggo caught up with the rest of the cast at the bar, they were all well on their way to being more than drunk, with the exception of Bean. Viggo nodded to them as he came in before making his way to the bar where he picked up a couple of scotches. He found a spot around the large table, away from the worst of the hobbit’s antics. Bean moved his chair closer around to the side where Viggo sat and took one of the offered drinks.

Bean turned up the tumbler of scotch and took a healthy swallow. “Ahhhh, finally a bit of intelligence arrives to save me from the hobbit insanity.”

Viggo laughed softly and took his own first long draw of scotch. “I do what I can.”

They sat together and talked quietly as the hobbits buzzed around the bar. Viggo always enjoyed sitting and talking with Bean. They could talk all night or not say two words the whole evening, and they both enjoyed themselves just the same. Most people thought that Orlando never stopped talking, and when they were out somewhere like this, he didn’t. He did have his quiet side, though Viggo usually only saw that when they were at home alone. When they were out somewhere, especially when there was a hobbit involved, he was just as manic as the rest of them. Sometimes Orlando would…

Viggo’s thoughts were interrupted by Bean’s voice, soft and low. “Have you decided to talk to him?”

When this whole ordeal happened, Orlando thought that Viggo let everyone rally around him and he confided everything to them. In actuality, Viggo had politely declined everyone’s offer “to listen” except for Bean. He was the only one that Viggo had talked to in great detail about the whole situation, and he was the only one who knew that Viggo was thinking about starting over with Orlando, that is, if he would agree to it.

Viggo shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know.” He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table, staring off into space. “I have almost driven over there a dozen times in the past couple of days, but…” Viggo paused and rubbed at his eyes with the pads of his fingers. “I thought I would wait until this break, so we could talk with no interference.” He gestured around the room, referring to the hobbits. “Hell, I’m not even sure he is going to be here during the break.”

Bean listened quietly and when Viggo seemed to take a lengthy pause, he said what he knew Viggo was already thinking. “Something is seriously wrong with him right now, and it’s more than this whole mess.”

Their eyes met, and Viggo shook his head, whispering quietly. “I know.”

Viggo downed the rest of his scotch and began telling Sean the events of the day, how Orlando looked when he came into the trailer, up to the point where they had come into the conference room this morning and found Orlando sitting alone at the end of the table, hands folded in his lap, his eyes staring blankly at some spot on the table.

During Viggo’s discussion of the morning’s events, he noticed in the back of his mind that he could hear someone talking loudly, a voice that he could not quite place right away. Looking up, he saw that Sean was staring past him at the owner of said voice, and Viggo turned to see who Sean was looking at. Viggo felt his chest tighten painfully. Harry.

Harry sat at a table next to one of the grips from the set. One of his hands was sliding up and down his back, slowly trailing down to slide inside the seat of his jeans. The other hand was holding a glass up to the guy’s lips, coaxing him to drink the golden liquid. As the guy tipped the glass back, Harry leaned in, whispering things in his ear. After sharing a hard, wet kiss, the man rose, heading for the back of the bar and presumably the men’s room. While he was gone, the barmaid brought two fresh setups and Harry leaned back in the chair to get comfortable. It was then that he realized that he was being watched, and he turned to find and hold Viggo’s cold gaze. Harry had the nastiest sneer on his face as he tipped his hand, dropping something into the glass. He started to laugh as he picked up the glass and swirled it around, mixing the contents in with the liquor.

Viggo felt his throat closing. He barely rasped out “No…no…Oh god, what have I done?”

Harry had already turned his attentions back to the young man who had rejoined him, urging him to sip at the tainted drink.

Viggo stood quickly, intent on making his way to the table. Sean was right behind him, dragging him away and towards the exit. “No Viggo. Not here and not now. Let’s get outside for a minute, okay?”

He practically drug Viggo out of the bar and luckily none of the hobbits saw them leave.

On his way, Sean found a bouncer, who he informed that the young man’s drink had been spiked. The bouncer thanked him and headed in the direction of the pair sitting at the table.

Once outside, Viggo realized that Sean had a hard grip on his upper bicep. He moved to pull away, but Sean gripped him all the harder.

Viggo turned towards Sean, still stunned about what just happened. “Oh my God Sean, Orlando was drugged that night. He didn’t lie to me!” Viggo could feel his breathing start to become erratic and he started to struggle. “Do you realize what the fuck I have done?”

In the distance, Sean could hear sirens approaching. He didn’t know if the police were on their way to the bar, but he didn’t want to hang around and have to answer a bunch of questions. Dragging Viggo across the lot, he pushed him into the car. Climbing in the driver’s side, he hit the ignition and drove away as quickly as he could, putting distance between them and the bar. Once he got several blocks down the road, he pulled off into the nearest lot and turned to Viggo, who was sitting in the seat with tears rolling down his cheeks.

Sean tentatively reached out and rested his hand on Viggo’s shoulder. “Hey, Vig? You still with me?”

Viggo turned to him, a look of pain in his eyes and whispered, “Take me to him Sean. I need to see him. Please Sean, take me there now.” Sean nodded and pulled the car back out onto the road, heading for Orlando’s home.

Sean drove quickly across town, and Viggo bailed from the car even before Sean had brought it to a complete stop. By the time Sean caught up with him, Viggo was knocking loudly on the door, calling Orlando’s name. In between knocks, Viggo paced back and forth in front of the door, mumbling to himself.

“Why don’t you just use your key?” Sean asked quizzically.

Viggo turned and looked at him with a hurt look in his eyes and Sean nodded to him. “You gave him his key back.” It was more of a statement than a question.

Viggo turned to continue knocking on the door but Orlando did not answer. He gave up and started walking around to all the windows he could see in, but the house was dark and quiet. Finally Sean stopped him with a hand to his arm again and made Viggo turn to him. “Maybe he’s not here. You said yourself that he might not be around for the break.”

Viggo nodded in agreement and let out a sigh of frustration as he reached in his pocket for his cell phone. “This isn’t how I wanted to do this, but I have to try to reach him.” Viggo dialed the familiar number and cussed quietly to himself when it immediately went to voicemail, signaling that the phone was turned off. He didn’t leave a message, and snapped the phone shut angrily.

Sean wrapped his arm around Viggo’s shoulder and led him towards the car. “Come on mate, I’ll take you home so you can try to get some rest. We’ll call Pete in the morning and see if he knows where Orlando might be.” Reluctantly Viggo agreed, not before gazing up at the bedroom window, wishing Orlando was there so he could talk to him.

Upstairs in the bedroom, Orlando was brought out of a deep sleep by knocking sounds and loud talking. His fuzzy mind couldn’t grasp that there was someone at the door. For a moment he thought the voice sounded like Viggo, but then the voice quieted, and Orlando curled tighter around himself and drifted back to sleep.

TBC

(Tries to duck and run.) Go ahead, scream at me. You know you want to. :)