Alice

I'm almost running now, trying to keep up with the nurse. She is moving quickly and is making left turns and right turns and seems to know exactly where she's going when all I can think if that this hospital is like a maze.

She told me when she came to the room that they found him and that he's being readied for surgery.

My heart jumped into my throat and it's still there.

I can imagine all the terrible things that might have happened to him.

Ever since I woke up and he was missing I've been crying or close to crying. I didn't mean to and I did everything I could to try and pull myself together but nothing has worked.

I kept thinking about him being alone. How he had no one to take care of him. I kept thinking about the pain he must be in. How I was helpless to help him. How much I missed him. I felt guilty for being angry with him for putting me in this predicament.

The tears are threatening to fall again but I'm trying to hold them back. Also now my nose wants to run which is so very inconvenient I don't know where Dr. Cullen's handkerchief went to, maybe I dropped it.

We go through a pair of double doors and suddenly the nurse slows down and talks to another nurse for a second. The other nurse points down another hall and the nurse I've been following asks me to follow her once more.

"It won't be long now till they take Mr. Whitlock in, but Dr. Cullen has given permission for you to sit with him until they're ready." The nurse leads me back to a large cold room with curtain dividers.

We move into the room and the nurse move one of the curtains aside and reveals Jasper.

He is laying flat on the bed with his eyes closed, as a gray haired nurse moves around him checking monitors and wires. He's got all kinds of wires coming out of him from all different angles.

"You can go in." The nurse who led me here prompts. I hadn't realized until she said something that I hadn't moved since she pulled the curtain back.

I move in a step and the older nurse who has been working on Jasper comes close to me and whispers in the narrow curtain room. "Try not to get him work up."

I nod in agreement to her request. I try not to look too much like I'm in shock but it's like every noise is louder and every move I make is slower like I'm moving through water. I just try to act normal but this is very out of my comfort zone.

He looks miserable as slide in next to his bed. They've been trying to clean him up but he's got dirt and blood all over him still. I can see the streaks on the side of his face where tears fell while he's been laying down.

I slide my hand into his and he opens his one eye and looks up at me for a long moment.

"hey." I say evenly and smile at him, I wonder if the smile reaches my eyes or if he knows it's fake.

He tries to return my smile but it only makes a tear slide down his temple.

"Hey, you're alright." I squeeze his hand trying to let him know I'm here and that I love him in one small gesture.

He breathes in with a shutter and I can feel my eyes getting hot and my nose starting to drip. I whip my face with my sleeve so I won't be a soggy mess.

"I'm sorry." He breaths out.

"It's alright Jazz." I just wished I'd been there to keep you from hurting yourself. Why didn't you wake me up? Thoughts race through my head.

"I'm sorry for worrying you." He looks so guilty, I want to tell him not to feel that way but I'm sure he won't listen.

"Yeah I'm sorry you had me worried too. You had me thinking all kinds of scary things. I'm gonna sock you a good one for that when you get out of this hospital, bud." I shake my fist at him jokingly, but I'm serious about being scared.

This has been one of the scariest nights of my life and I've had a few to compare it to.

"ha." He starts to chuckle at me but holds back because it hurts. "oooohh" He needs to not get worked up, whoops.

"What happened?" I need to hear it from him.

"I think I went out the window and fell." He coughs slightly and groans.

"Why?" Were you really trying to leave? I ask silently hoping he can read my thoughts.

"I think I was having a dream…" He squints in concentrations as he tries to recall. "We were in danger and I was trying to save us. I know I don't like those drugs they keep giving me" He scowls at the ceiling.

He was trying to save us? He was alluding to trouble earlier but is it real or is it some sort of paranoia brought on by stress?

"Are we in danger Jas…" I start to ask but am unable to finish as Dr. Cullen enters the small room.

Jasper doesn't take his eyes off me even as nurse, orderlies, and Dr. Cullen busy themselves with him.

"we might be." He answers my unfinished question and squeezes my hand.

Dr. Cullen instructs us to say our goodbyes and we do I kiss Jasper on the cheek.

He squeezes my hand once more and then the orderlies roll him away.

"This might take a while, but we'll get him fixed up." Dr. Cullen says in his most comforting doctor voice before he turns and follows the orderlies.

I sit down in the one chair in the narrow room, alone. Every nerve ending in my body is tingling. I prepare myself for another long wait.

TBC…

This is short, sorry, I wanted to post it now and not drag this chapter out any more. I had the weirdest and most scary life imitating art experience yesterday. I was writing this chapter about Alice going to Jasper in the ER and then I got a call that my Boyfriend had wrecked his bicycle and an ambulance was taking him to the ER. Oh my gosh I was an hour away from him with no other information, scariest hour of my life. It was my first time in an ER and I was tingling and trying not to cry, it was a very long night. He broke his nose and got all skinned and bruised up, he should be fine.

I think I'm going to continue the next chapter on a happier note. OMG