A/N I just wanted to say a quick thank you to ALL the reviews I got for the last chapter. Your concern for Jasper was overwhelming :-)
Here is the much awaited next instalment of "Close".
Previously, in Close:
My car stopped rolling, finally. I couldn't be sure, but I think I was hanging upside-down. Everything was swaying in front of me. The pain was excruciating, but I couldn't bring myself to cry out in pain. It was like I'd forgotten how.
I could smell something out of the ordinary, but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from, or what I should do. I could hear people screaming to call 911. It felt like just seconds, but I saw flashing lights. I saw people running toward my car.
Someone was talking to me, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. I couldn't hear anything anymore. I tried to fight off the darkness that was enveloping my mind, but I could feel myself failing.
"Ally..." I choked out just before I lost consciousness. If this was the end, I wanted her to be the last thing I thought of...
Read on to find out what happens to our beloved Jasper.
Carlisle's POV
I sighed heavily as I waited for the doors of the ambulance bay to open and the first casualty of tonight's first car crash came in. It was rare in this town to have a night without a crash or two, usually due to the wet weather, but from what I had heard, this was worse than most, a boy, not identified yet, and a middle aged women. The boy was unconscious, head and neck injuries, likely crushed spleen, and in a bad state all round. The women was less critical, with minor head and shoulder injuries, broken bones, and a few other minor injuries that could be taken care of my an intern. This boy on the other hand, would have myself and another doctor, plus a surgical consult.
The doors slid open, and immediately a freezing gush of wind hit me. This storm was supposed to be one of the worst in the past 3 years, so I was prepared for a busy night, but so far, with the exception of Bella – I snickered internally at the thought of this, my son truly was an overprotective fool when it came to her, but it was nice to see him finally care for someone – I had only had a few emergencies.
The paramedics wheeled in the first stretcher, and started rattling off their recorded stats, while two nurses immediately started to hook up fluids to the tall form I had yet to look at well on the stretcher.
I took the information from the paramedics, and turned to the stretcher. It took a moment to register what I was looking at, and when I did, I felt ill and as though I were about to pass out. This had happened to me only once before in my life, when Edward was brought in after falling off a gym equipment set at the age of three he had broken his wrist, but the sight of my only son lying so timidly on the bed with tears in his eyes was enough to make me feel nauseas.
I blinked for a long second, begging my eyes to be wrong, but alas, when I opened them again, I still saw the same terrifying sight. Jasper...
My son's best friend was lying here.
Alice's boyfriend.
Jasper...
This boy was, no IS, like a son to me.
This boy had only two family members that I knew of. His mother would not be home, and Emmett was occupying my house with Rosalie, in order to give Jasper and Alice some time alone.
Now Alice was sitting in a chair by Bella's bed, and Edward was doing the rounds. He had work experience here every year. Although he was not old, or qualified enough to treat, he was more than capable of taking stats.
"Betty..." I called to the same nurse who had taken so long to get Bella out of the waiting room. "I need you to go and get Alice; she is with a patient in bed 8. Send her down here. After that, get Edward and tell him I said call Emmett and ask him to come down here. Tell him that Jasper is in here."
I walked over to Jasper as he was being transferred from the stretcher to a hospital bed, and I heard him let out a tiny moan.
"Jasper, can you hear me? It's Carlisle. Jasper...I need you to try to open your eyes if you can hear me."
"You know this boy?" I heard from behind me. I turned my head to see the surgical consult walking toward us.
"Yes, I do. He's a friend of my son's. He has no family in town at the moment apart from his brother. I've got Edward getting him now. This is Jasper Whitlock."
I turned to the nurse standing with the Dr Ryan, the surgical consult. "His girlfriend, Alice, is on her way down. She has permission to be in here, but other than her, until Emmett Whitlock gets here, you're not to let any other members of the public in, do you understand?"
She nodded and walked over to adjust the IV and check his blood pressure.
Alice's POV
I could hear the storm outside, and I couldn't stop thinking about Jasper. For some reason unbeknownst to me, I was worried. I couldn't shake the feeling that something wrong, and my fears weren't quelled in the slightest when a worried nurse came and asked me to go to the desk on the floor below us and ask for Doctor Cullen.
I told Bella I'd be back in just a few minutes and she rolled her eyes at me. She didn't like me fussing over her, and she could tell that I didn't want to leave her side, but the nurse had been quite insistent that I must go.
I made my way downstairs a quickly as I could, trying to remind myself to breath along the way. But my body refused to let me take more than short gasps of breathe, just barely enough to keep me from passing out.
Getting to the desk, I noticed that it said "Resuscitation Unit" on the nearest door. I managed to tear my eyes off the door long enough to talk to the nurse at the desk.
"Um... hi... I'm Alice Brandon... I was told to meet Doctor Cullen down here"
My mind was in overdrive. I couldn't help but come up with scenario after scenario.
"Of course. He told me to let you straight in. I'll take you to him. Let me warn you dear, it's not pretty."
This did absolutely nothing to calm me. Just confirmed that someone I knew was in there.
We walked slowly through the doors, far too slow for my liking. I would have preferred to run, in either direction. It didn't matter at the moment. I was scared. I was anxious to see who, and what. But I was also terrified that I was right. That it would be Jasper. That he wouldn't be ok.
"Here we are dear" we had stopped outside closed curtains "I'll go in there and get him"
The nurse slept behind the curtains, and I could hear them whispering. Glancing at the bottom of the curtain I could see blood drips on the floor, and at least 5 pairs of feet in there. I could hear frantic beeping from various monitors, and words that made no sense to me being thrown around by two voices I didn't recognise.
"Alice." Doctor Cullen walked out from behind the curtains, pulling a pair of blood covered cloves off in the process. He looked scared.
"You may want to take a seat"
I sat down roughly. I couldn't say anything, so I just looked at him, hoping he could tell what I was thinking.
"It's Jasper, Alice."
I felt my breath stop. My heart stopped beating for a moment. I could hear nothing but a whirring sound in my ears. I couldn't move.
Doctor Cullen's hand touched my shoulder.
"Are you ok?"
I just nodded. I could do nothing else. I had no voice. I'm sure that if I tried to talk it would come out as nothing more than a whimper.
"He was in a car crash, near La Push. There was a woman in the other car. She came in with what we thought were minor injuries. We nearly missed the internal bleeding. She is in surgery now."
What the hell was Jasper doing up at La Push? He said he was going home...
"Jasper will be going up to the theatre in just a minute. He has a crushed spleen, neck injuries, possible internal bleeding. He also has minor injuries like broken bones."
He paused for a moment, surveying me closely to see if I could take more. I tried to look brave, and he must've thought I could handle it, because he continued.
"He does have a broken rib though, which he was lucky didn't pierce a lung. He has swelling in his brain, so it was hard to see the damage on a CT. He isn't awake at the moment."
"Has he...woken at all?" I managed to whisper. I could feel the tears threatening to spill over and my throat was closing up.
" He woke up briefly earlier, and from what we could observe, which unfortunately wasn't much, there wasn't any damage to his motor functions. He could wiggle his fingers and toes, and could distinguish between left and right. At the moment our most worrying issue is the spleen, and possible internal bleeding. I know this is a lot to process at the moment, but he's going up to theatre and I thought you might like to see him before he goes."
I nodded again and stood up from my chair slowly. Doctor Cullen put his hand on my back and lead my gently in.
The sight before my eyes was one I hoped that I would never see.
It broke my heart to see Jasper was lying there. There were tubes down his throat, presumably to help him breath, and IV's of various things going into 3 different veins. The nurses were cleaning him up and had just stitched up a cut on his forehead. There must've been close to 20 stitches, and it made me wonder how badly he'd hit his head.
I walked over to the bed, and for the first time I let the tears spill over. They ran down my face silently and I brushed my hand over Jasper's face. His perfect eyes closed. He looked in pain, yet peaceful. It seemed like an impossible contradiction, yet so amazingly true. Not sure if he could hear me or not, I leant down to whisper in his ear.
"Jasper Whitlock. You are not, under ANY circumstances, to leave me. Do you understand that? I cannot, and WILL NOT, live without you. When you wake up, so help me, not even the force of God will hold me back! You are in so much trouble! Oh, and Jasper, I love you. So much. Please come back to me."
Jasper's POV
I could hear an angelic voice breaking through the pain. It was overriding the pain. Its pull was so strong, even in my semi-unconscious state.
She was saying angry words, with no true force behind it, and I could hear the tears in her voice.
"Jasper Whitlock. You are not, under ANY circumstances, to leave me. Do you understand that? I cannot, and WILL NOT, live without you."
What is she saying? She can't give up.
" When you wake up, so help me, not even the force of God will hold me back! You are in so much trouble!"
Alice's voice. I couldn't figure out if I was imagining it though.
" Oh, and Jasper, I love you. So much. Please come back to me."
I couldn't let her cry, I could hear the tears breaking through in her voice. It took all the strength I could muster to say her name, but I managed it. Just...
"Alice..." I chocked on the 'c'
"Jasper? CARLISLE! I think Jasper is awake!"
I heard someone else's voice now, but I couldn't focus on it. I just wanted Alice's voice to come back. Eventually it did. I don't know how long it was gone, but it felt like forever before came back.
"See you soon Jazz-hands. I love you..." she was trying to make light of something. I don't remember what's happening. Where was I going? Where was she going? Why isn't she coming with me?
I didn't want her to go away, not yet, but I had a feeling I didn't have a choice in this matter. The pain came back the moment I was away from the angel's voice. I tried to remember it, but it wasn't the same. I could remember her face, but it wasn't the same as seeing it.
I could feel my body weakening, and then nothingness.
A/N So, will Jasper survive surgery? We don't know. But we do know, he isn't paralysed, so you can't stop reading dakinevamp :p
You know the drill. R&R for quicker updates.
