DT Serum, Primary Testing In Progress

True just snorted.  "I'm not surprised.  He's been asking for it for years.  What do you want me to do about it?"  Unconsciously, he'd moved back, that old air of suspicion and defensiveness that he's shown Gaster the first night they'd met was back.  He wouldn't have admitted it, maybe even didn't register it, but he was scared.

In his room, Lex had woken and was idly picking at the iv in his arm.  He was depressed, hurting, scared, and more than anything, he was worried.  Not for himself, for Ashton.  He'd be fine.  Whether Gaster kept him or kicked him to the curb, Lex knew he could find a way to survive outside of Black Jack's notice, but what had happened to Ashton?

Gaster sighed deeply. He looked old and tired right now. "To be honest... I don't know. I don't know why Sam wants to help him so bad. I don't know why I haven't called the cops for him yet. I don't know why I felt so deeply that you needed to know. I don't know what to do or how to move forward from here. I. Don't. Know."

~

After a while of skulking in the sewers, it paid off. He heard some of Black Jack's men talking about how they were going to kill Ashton like they killed the Shadow. Ashton's breath caught. Lex was... dead?! He couldn't and refused to believe it. He had to see for himself. A while later he got the place they supposedly killed Lex and Ashton immediately went there. He crawled out of the sewers and saw the blood. He followed is and saw the car tire marks, but no body. Maybe.... he dared to hope, but if Lex had survived, where was he now? Ashton returned to the sewers. He would wait and listen for now. If Lex was indeed still alive, he wouldn't want Ashton sticking his neck out in the open looking for him.

"You're the great and mighty doctor.  You should figure it out," True snapped, turning.  "I'm going home."  He did pause though and said over his shoulder, "Days gets massive migraines.  The really bad kind."  He kept going, shoving his wheels harder than necessary, needing to move.

Gaster sighed and rubbed his face. "True? Would you please take your brothers home with you?" He asked as True went to go. "In case things go south, I don't want them here." It was days like these that made Gaster feel like the weight of the world was on his shoulders, and going to crush him at any moment. He went to the breakroom and got some food before he knocked on the door to the operating room before he opened it. "You up?" He asked softly.

True went to find Shuni and Sam.  "Come on.  We need to go home," he said gruffly, his muscles still tense.

"Nope, I'm flat on my ars," Lex answered without missing a beat.

Sam bit his lip and followed True slowly. He looked horribly guilty.

"Do you want breakfast or not." Gaster sighed tiredly. "Look, I know you don't want to be here, but is there anything I can do that would make you more comfortable while you recover?"

"Home.  Now.  And we're walking," True said a touch sharply, rolling himself back and starting toward the exit.
Shuni looked worried and a touch scared.  He reached out and took Sam's hand.

Lex glanced at him.  "Anything you can do?  Nope.  Except answer one question.  Why the hell do you think you have to call the cops?  I'm the one that got shot and I never sought out your son."

Sam slipped his hand out of Shuni's. He didn't deserve the comfort right now. It was all his fault True was upset and dad was stressed. All Sam had wanted to do was help, and he wound up making a bigger mess of everything.

Gaster pulled out a few papers and wordlessly handed them to Lex. They were police reports and crimes pinning Lex as the culprit. "Need I say more?" Gaster said. "Depending on how you look at it, it's my civil duty to hand you in."

Shuni whimpered and trailed along last in the line.  First thing he was going to do was find Mama Cat and hug her.  Yes.  That would make things better.

Lex let the papers fall to the floor without looking at them.  "They've had m in for every one of those and never had the proof to lock me up.  Is this how you get all your patients to behave?  Threaten to turn them in?"

Once home, Sam went straight to his room and shut the door. He hugged his pillow and cried into it.

"No. Usually they aren't stubborn a__es." Gaster quipped. He rubbed his face. "The point is, I want to try and help you, but being a stick in the mud will get you no where.

True went to his own room and slammed the door.  Shuni was left alone.  Quietly, he went to his own room and built a fort to hide in with his cats.  There.  Safe.

"Strange, because that's what's kept me alive," Lex snarled.  "If you don't like me and don't want to turn me in for your kid's sake, then dump me off at the nearest corner."

Treble looked up at True and mewed.

Gaster pinched the bridge of his nose. He was exhausted. "Why do you insist on those being the only options?" He asked tiredly.

"Not now," he snapped at her and picked up his guitar, rolling into the corner.

"Because we don't trust or like each other so thinking there's any other option is just a joke," Lex said flatly.

Treble jumped at his tone and her ears flattened. Her fur floofed up and she ran to his closet to hide under his dirty clothes. If she had more than a puffball for a tail, it would have been between her legs.

"What could I do to get you to trust me enough to know I won't hurt you?" Gaster asked.

True ignored his cat, focused entirely on the angry notes emanating from his guitar.

"Not a damn thing," Lex answered.  He turned away from Gaster as much as he could, exhausted.  He had no strength to keep up this fight.

Gaster sighed and decided to go out on a limb. "There's nothing and no one you care for other than yourself? Nothing at all?"

Lex hesitated.  Too long, he knew he let the quiet stretch too long!  "Nope, just me.  What else can you expect from a Proditor kid?" he rasped with a forced laugh.

Gaster raised an eyebrow, clearly not quite buying it. "Are you sure? I know a Proditor kid who cares a lot about his three adopted brothers more than anything in the world and his girlfriend right with them."

Lex gave him a suspicious look.  "What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that being the biological offspring of Proditor means nothing about you as a person." Gaster said. "Using True as an example, he cares very very fiercely for his brothers and girlfriend, so much that one would have no idea he was raised by such a heartless man. And I may be wrong, but something tells me you aren't like Proditor either."

Lex's hand was clenched in a shaking fist.  "What do you know of True?  What brothers?" he demanded, keeping his voice low.  "Don't talk like you know anything about anything.  You only saw one side."

Gaster sighed and leaned against the wall. "True asked me to adopt him. Legally, he is now my son, and legally, that makes my two biological sons, Sam and Paul, his little brothers. I have seen enough of True to know he is happy now, and enjoys the life he has with me and our family. Perhaps I don't know the whole story, but I feel I know enough to draw a hypothesis from it."

"You scientists and your hypotheses," Lex snorted, turning away.  "Whatever.  Not like I can leave with a knife wound in my chest."

"Well, you have options though." Gaster said. "You can stay here and be miserable, or if you promise to behave and not stress the wound too much, I am willing to let you try and live at my home while you recover. The more active surroundings may even help the healing process."

"In your house with Icarus, Kid, and some little scamp?  I'd rather stay here like a lab rat."  Lex caught the first word on his tongue before it came out.  He hesitated, considering.  "Fine," he agreed shortly.  "I won't try to kill anyone or steal anything.  How's that?"