Salem passes out once again on the way, and before he knows it he's waking up in a hospital bed. His left side doesn't hurt as much as it did, which he notices immediately after his return to consciousness. Salem deems this as a win, and can only hope everything else is going just as well.

Salem glances around the room, and finds his father standing beside him. The man is talking lowly with the nurse, and Salem can't make out a thing they're saying. He continues looking around the room, and finds Zona fast asleep in one of the hospital chairs, the one right beside him. She's holding his hand, grip loose because she's unconscious. He's surprised to see her, and that surprise only doubles when he finds Cam and Milo curled up together on the floor, passed out as well.

Salem grins, finding their compromising position comical. No doubt they'll freak out when they wake up and realize they'd been practically cuddling.

"Salem." Salem hears his father say, tone low. Yeah, he's not happy. Salem turns to look at the guy and finds a familiar disapproving look.

"Uh. Dad." Salem replies awkwardly. He looks at his left arm to find it covered in bandages. He can't see his leg, but he's pretty sure his knee took the most damage in terms of that. Still, he feels fine. It's nice not being on the verge of unconsciousness.

"I would like an explanation. Now."

Salem winces at his father's harshness. He doesn't know why the guy wants him to explain anything, to be honest, because he's probably already seen the video. Jack likes to do that, ask Salem questions that he already knows the answer to when he's mad. Still, Salem decides to humor him.

"I got ran over by a truck." Salem replies, unsure how else to phrase it. He's pretty sure his father has already seen the video. Jack looks slightly annoyed at his wording, but just sighs. He takes a seat next to the bed.

"Promise me that you aren't giving in to peer pressure. I don't like thinking your friends are a bad influence." Jack says, and raises his eyebrows at Salem in expectation. Salem contemplates this, wondering if Cam and Milo are in fact bad influences. He does get up to bullshit with them, and gets injured in cases like this, but he knows that the two actually care about him. Milo more so than Cam, just because Cam cares more about his social media popularity than anything.

They aren't bad for him, though. Especially Zona, she's a constant voice of reason in anything he does. She doesn't lie to him when he has bad ideas—honestly, she doesn't lie to him at all.

"They aren't." Salem replies, "they're just stupid."

Jack tries not to smile, and it's hardly noticeable, but he clearly finds Salem amusing. "Well, your arm got sliced up pretty bad. You're going to have to treat it every day and switch out your bandages after showers. Your knee is scraped too, but it should be fine."

Salem nods, regretting pretty much the entirety of yesterday. After a few minutes, his friends wake up. All five of them decide to get food, and Saturday is pretty much filled entirely with recovery. By Monday, he feels fine enough to go to school. The entire day he hears comments about how amazing the video was, as well as people checking to make sure he's okay.

Two weeks go by of just regular, routine life. Then comes Sunday, the day of his father's promotion ceremony. Salem thankfully doesn't have to give a speech, but he is forced to stand up on the stage in the background. The whole thing is televised, and he finds himself not enjoying the thought of anyone being able to see him. Of everyone knowing his father is the chief.

There are a lot of people there, Salem notices when he arrives. A few of them he recognizes, but most he doesn't—primarily civilians and other political officials. He has no clue who they are. The entire thing takes a couple hours, and before Salem knows it he's sitting at a table with food in front of him, feeling bored out of his mind. There have been a few people that tried to socialize with him, but he wasn't in the mood. His arm is still healing and he's tired, and he's had enough of smiling at people today.

Sadly, his wish of being left alone is not granted for long, since it's about ten minutes after he sits down that someone is taking a seat at the table with him. He looks up to identify the person, already feeling irritated.

"You look like you're having a great time."

Officer Ellis. Salem immediately feels on edge, not wanting to speak to this guy after the whole truck incident. He passed out once, right into the guy's arms, and then the second time he passed out, Officer Ellis had to carry him into the hospital.

Salem feels awkward. "I'm not."

Ellis seems amused at that. Salem continues to feel uncomfortable. He doesn't usually talk to his father's employees like this. Usually just the ones he's known for a long time.

"Your name is... Salem, right?"

"Yes." Salem replies, wondering how this guy still isn't sure of his name.

"So are you gonna cast a spell on me?" He jokes, and Salem squints at him. The shit he'd do to never hear a witch joke again.

"You're annoying." Salem replies, before following procedure—the guy better have a normal name. "What's your name?"

"Ellis."

"The whole thing."

The guy raises an eyebrow, before, "Jordan Joel Ellis."

Wow. Salem was not expecting him to actually reveal the entire thing. "That's a horrible name. Do people call you JJ?"

"When I was a kid, yeah. I go by Jordan now—or, Officer Ellis to you."

Salem raises his eyebrows, because there's no chance of that happening. A five syllable name versus two? Salem is way too lazy to stick with the respectful title. "Fuck that, I'm calling you Jordan."

He raises an eyebrow, and Salem is expecting anger. Instead, Jordan appears amused by that. For some reason, Salem finds himself wanting to know more about Jordan. He isn't sure why, since he usually couldn't give a rats ass about anyone or their lives. Well, except one person, obviously. However, he'd rather not think about that.

"I guess I'll let it slide," he replies, tone joking. Salem replies immediately with another question.

"How old are you, anyway? You seem like you're fresh out of the academy."

Jordan tilts his head, before, "you're nosy."

Salem just stares at him, because that doesn't answer his question. Finally, the guy specifies.

"I'm 22. I graduated the academy a year ago. You?"

Salem frowns, narrowing his eyes. Um, he's the one asking questions now, not Jordan. Still, he replies, "18."

Jordan seems somewhat troubled at this revelation, for whatever reason. Salem just continues eating his vanilla-strawberry cake, feeling tired and wishing he were anywhere but here. After a minute, he's growing sick of this guy's company. "What do you even want?"

Jordan seems to really not appreciate Salem's attitude, but Salem's father is his boss, so it's not like he can really do much about it. "I had some questions about the guy you were talking to, after the whole incident."

Salem raises an eyebrow. "Who? My ex?"

"Yes. What's his name?"

Salem frowns, because he does not want to talk about Atlas right now. Least of all to this guy, he's already having a bad enough time as is. Still, he decides to humor the conversation, at least for a little bit.

"Atlas."

Jordan's eyes widen in shock, which kind of catches Salem off guard. On the off chance that this guy is aware of Atlas—a random criminal's—legal history, that's still quite a dramatic response. "Seriously? And... does your dad know?"

Salem wonders if this guy is being homophobic or something, but that wouldn't really make sense. "Yeah?"

Jordan frowns, pursing his lips. Salem is genuinely so confused right now, at this guy's reaction. "What? Is something wrong?"

"Do you know who he is?"

Salem crosses his arms, leaning back in his chair. He just stares at Jordan in a mixture of confusion and irritation. He's trying to figure out what he is asking. "I know about his criminal record, if that's what you mean."

Jordan has a pinch to his brow, staring at Salem like he's a puzzle. Salem is growing frustrated now, because he hates feeling confused. He hates feeling like he's missing something. Hates feeling like he's stupid.

"And your dad was... okay with it? How long were you two together?"

That's it. Salem full on glares at him. "How is it your business?"

Jordan runs a hand through his hair, appearing troubled. Salem just stares at him in expectation, and he's honestly ready for this conversation to be over. Jordan is really starting to piss him off, with how dramatic yet cryptic he's being right now. Salem briefly contemplates just getting up and walking away, but reluctantly decides that it would be too much of a hassle.

"Any criminal activity is my business. I took an oath." Jordan responds. Salem can't even keep himself from rolling his eyes. "Especially criminals like him. I just... I can't believe your father was okay with it."

"Atlas and I were together for almost two years, before we MUTUALLY decided to break up." Salem answers his previous question. What does this guy mean, criminals like him?

Salem has so many questions. "Why does it matter? You're so confusing."

"I'm just doing my job." Jordan replies.

Okay, that's it. Salem's had enough. He narrows his eyes at the man one more time, before standing up. He's done with this stupid fucking conversation. Salem grabs his stuff, and begins making his way towards the exit of the huge, multi purpose stadium room. His school has prom here as well, most big events rent it out.

Salem enters the hallway and begins making his way to the elevator. However, he is stopped by a voice behind him.

"I'm not done talking to you about this."

Salem sighs heavily, before reluctantly turning to face the man. He really wants to go home right now, and he knows it's early but he's pretty sure his father would understand. Salem is injured, after all, and he's been in a shitty mood for the past week or so.

"I am." Salem replies, moving to walk away again. Sadly, his wrist is grabbed and he turns to face Jordan once again, in pure exasperation. Jordan appears patient, though, despite Salem's attitude. Salem dislikes it, he hates it when people don't match his anger.

"I just wanted to ask if you would help in the investigation on his family." Jordan says, and Salem feels impossibly more confused.

"What? Why?" Salem asks, frowning. "I never met his family."

Salem had forgotten that Atlas came from some sort of crime family, though Atlas did mention it before. It was mostly as an excuse for Salem not to meet them. Jordan purses his lips, appearing stumped. Salem notices that the guy is still grasping his wrist for whatever reason, so he pulls it away. Jordan either doesn't notice or simply doesn't acknowledge it.

"I guess that makes sense." Jordan replies. "Still, you know more about him than anyone at the station. You know him personally."

"I doubt that." Salem replies. "He was way too secretive."

Jordan just stares at him. Salem wishes that the guy would give him more detail on what exactly he's after right now. Then again, if Jordan is trying to imprison Atlas or charge him with something, Salem wants no part in it. He'd never see Atlas anymore, if he was dealing with a bunch of criminal charges. Salem crosses his arms.

"Just... think about it, okay?" Jordan asks, eyebrows raised. "We could use the help."

Jack has made it clear that he doesn't want Salem involved in anything Atlas related. Still, Atlas was always so mysterious, and it seems like this guy can give Salem the background that Jack won't.

That's right! Salem could get some answers, if he helps Jordan with whatever little investigation he's talking about. Still... maybe he should ask Jack?

Maybe he should give it a bit more time. He shouldn't commit to something without thinking first. "Okay. I'll think about it."