She hated the hospital. Forks Hospital was a perfectly good one, all things considered, but she was miserable to be back there. She had been poked and prodded and taped up and she just wanted to leave. Amethyst refused to look down at her body, knowing all the little cuts would scar over her marks that were already there, but she didn't want to acknowledge it.
She had to share her room with Tyler and Bella, listening as the boy apologized over and over again while Bella did everything in her power to get him to be quiet, eventually going to sleep to try and shut the boy up. Amethyst rolled onto her side and pulled her legs up to her chest, heaving a sigh partially in annoyance and partially in defeat.
After all of them went through scans and were appropriately prodded, Edward was the first non-medical official to join them in the room.
"Hey, Edward, I'm really sorry-" Tyler was the first to speak, repeating the same thing he had been all morning, but he was cut off when Edward raised a hand.
"No blood, no foul." Amethyst snorted slightly, pulling the hospital blankets up tighter around her body. "And how are you, princess?"
She glared over at the boy who smiled and shook his head at her. "I'm wonderful," she murmured, laying her head back down when it ached a bit. He glazed over her quickly, though, going to talk to Bella. Amethyst wondered again what his obsession was with the girl, making a motion to roll her eyes but quickly stopping when it made her head ache more.
Edward was focused entirely on the other girl until Carlisle walked in, going straight to Bella and dismissing her first. Amethyst listened with heavy eyes as he moved onto Tyler, going through all of the boy's injuries.
"You should know better than to fall asleep with a head injury."
The brunette opened her eyes in surprise to see Jasper sitting on the floor near her bed. She mindlessly reached out a hand for him which he took, gently tracing lines into her palms.
"I don't have an injury. I'm fine."
Jasper snorted. "I know you're tired of being in the hospital, but you can't deny yourself treatment."
She sighed. "Do we have to call my grandparents?"
"Yes, darlin'. They are your legal guardians and do have to know when you're admitted to the hospital."
"I wasn't technically admitted," Amethyst said, but she knew her argument was weak.
Carlisle turned his attention to them at that point. "You might have to be though, dear. You hit your head a few times in the same spot and broke the skin there, and your scans show signs of whiplash. We also have to perform another examination on your arm to check and see if there was more damage done, so at the very least we're going to remove your cast. Combine that with the instability going on inside of you, and there's quite a mess."
She didn't roll over to address him. "Can't I go home anyway?"
"I'm afraid not. We're going to keep you for today for observations, and depending on how your tests go at the end of the day, we'll made a decision about keeping you overnight. We have to take the possibility of diabetic shock into consideration with you as well, something your roommates were lucky enough to not have to face."
"I wish it was possible to hate you, Carlisle."
The man chuckled, moving to put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Call if you need anything. Jasper is going to keep you from sleeping, okay?"
Amethyst nodded in acknowledgement, but the movement made her groan.
The boy holding her hand raised an eyebrow. "Don't have an injury, huh?"
She hushed him before scooting over on his bed and making room for him. Jasper climbed in much more willingly that time, settling in so they were looking at each other. Carlisle had drawn the curtain between Tyler and them, giving the two a semblance of privacy.
"So Edward saved Bella," she muttered quietly to Jasper, as that was the only information she felt she had actually retained while in the hospital.
He rolled his eyes. "I suppose so."
"Are those two infatuated with each other or something? Like he disappears the moment she comes to town and then he saves her the day after he comes back. He doesn't seem like the Edward I remember."
"I guess." Jasper reached out a push a lock of hair behind her ear. "I have no idea what goes on in his head most of the time."
Amethyst sighed, grabbing his hand and putting it over her bandaged head. "I don't know why you're always so freezing but I don't think I've ever appreciated it more than right now."
"How many times do I have to tell you I have bad circulation?"
She was surprised to hear the frustration in his voice, pulling her eyebrows together when they made eye contact. "I didn't realize it was a sensitive topic."
"It's not. But I should go."
"Carlisle said your job was to keep me awake. You can't leave."
Jasper sighed deeply, pulling his hand away from the girl. "I need you to listen to me carefully."
"Are you sure it's really the time to be having a serious conversation?" Her eyes quickly glanced over to the curtain. "It's kind of a public area."
"We have to stop doing this."
"Doing what?"
"Whatever it is we've been doing." More than just taking his hand away, the girl could feel him pulling his emotions back as well. "It can't keep happening."
Amethyst pressed her lips together, staring at him. She wished Jasper was an open book. He had a tendency to be able to hide anything he was feeling and he always seemed to know how to dart her questions.
"Is it because of Bella?"
Jasper's golden eyes made her feel as if she was going through the x-ray machine all over again. "Can't you just take things at face value?"
"I do a lot of that with you. I didn't ask why your eyes were pitch black the first night I kissed you. I didn't ask how your family knew what was going on inside my house because I'm damn sure I didn't leave a bag in the Volvo. I've dropped the fact that you won't explain your freezing temperature over and over again, and I lied to Bella for you about the half truth you guys told me. If that isn't taking things at face value, despite what you or Rosalie say, I don't know what is." If she could cross her arms, Amethyst would have at that moment. She settled for glaring at him as intently as she was able, hoping it made her point.
The boy climbed out of her bed, quickly walking to the door and slamming it behind him without saying another word. She stared at the door, not sure she actually processed what just happened.
"Are you okay?" The voice came through the curtain, reminding Amethyst she had raised her voice a little too loud.
She sighed, rolling over to face the curtain. "Is now really the time for girl talk, Tyler?"
"It's never the wrong time for girl talk."
"I think I'd rather just not talk at all right now."
Tyler didn't reply as the girl shoved her face into her pillow. Amethyst didn't cry as she thought through exactly what had just happened with Jasper. There was something going on with the Cullens, which she had always known, and Bella's presence had thrown something off. Whatever happiness she had found in Jasper was taken away because of the mess, and it left a dull ache in her stomach. Deciding it didn't matter anymore, she shoved the thoughts of the Cullens out of her mind as much as possible and tried to push the ache away, focusing on the sound of daytime television that was playing across the room.
Mrs. Crowley came a few hours later, fussing over both of them. Carlisle officially discharged Tyler with a minor head injury and a few scratches from the shattered glass, but he said the boy would be fine. The woman promised Amethyst she would be back with clothes and entertainment as she helped Tyler out of the room, the brunette sticking her tongue out at him because he was able to go home.
Angela came in as soon as school was out, a panicked look on her face. "We were concerned you were dying or something," she said, hugging the girl as delicately as possible. "I've never seen anyone have as dramatic of a reaction as Jasper did when he went over to the van. He looked like he was ready to puke."
"He ended things with me," Amethyst said softly, making room for the girl on the bed. "But I actually did vomit. It wasn't pretty."
"Do you want to go back to that first statement?"
"Not really," she said, playing with her friend's fingers. "I'd rather let you pull my fingernails off one by one or go through an OBGYN exam in public."
Angela snorted. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm not happy but it isn't going to end my world, especially when he walked out without much of an explanation."
"Alright. Would you rather hear about how none of the teachers actually managed to get through a lecture because everyone couldn't shut up all day?"
"More rumors? People can't seem to get me out of their minds," Amethyst murmured, stifling a yawn.
Angela shook her shoulder slightly, narrowing her eyes at the girl. "I did get a call back from the library today."
"Did you? And?"
"I get to go in for my interview next week."
The two girls chatted until Mrs. Crowley came back with some clean clothes for when the brunette was finally going to be discharged and left some books, just in case it took a while longer. She also made Amethyst call her grandparents, who found herself talking them out of flying out to check on her.
"You'll be here in almost a month for my birthday and the trial. I love you guys very much, but we can also handle things here. I promise you don't have to fly out here every time something happens."
"We're just concerned, doll." Her grandmother seemed understanding but rather unhappy. "We love you very much. Call us when they discharge you."
"Yes, ma'am. I love you both."
Angela left when Carlisle came back in, telling her they were going to work on her arm. She avoided catching his eyes and he didn't seem be particularly keen on paying more attention to her than necessary. He cut through the plaster on her arm and Amethyst felt slightly disgusted at the mess that was revealed.
"Alright, Amethyst. If your x-rays come back pretty well, we're just going to give you two braces for your arm."
"And if they don't?"
Carlisle pressed his lips together into the semblance of a smile. "The cast didn't seem to inhibit your life too badly."
Amethyst groaned but waited for her scans to come back, doing everything in her power to not stare at the wrinkly mess that was left of her arm. When Carlisle walked back in he was smiling.
"Congratulations, dear. It seems as if you get to move on to braces and a bit of physical therapy to repair your arm. Thankfully, the break was not in your dominant arm, so it should only take about a month to get you back to where you were before."
She exhaled heavily, grateful for the news. "Thank you, Carlisle."
"We'll get everything set up for you around your schedule, and you can always check in with me if you have any questions."
"Do you want me to find another doctor?"
The blonde man seemed surprised. "I'm sorry?"
Amethyst shook her head slightly, look down at her feet. "I know you provide great treatment and are wonderful with your patients, but it's weird and we both know it. I can always be assigned a different doctor."
"Regardless of what happens around us, I am happy to continue treating you. I've been the one to handle your treatments so far here in Forks and will be happy to help you through rehab and any struggles that might come from your diabetes. It doesn't matter what our relationship is outside of this place." Carlisle gently patted her good hand before turning to leave the room. "Your nurse will be back soon to help you with your casts while you apply them for the first time. Let me know if you need anything else."
Amethyst considered his statements while learning to wrap up her arm in a way that would help it continue to heal. The same nurse came back a few hours later to let her know her blood sugar wasn't out of control but she would need to eat as soon as she got home. The woman also checked on her head, finally declaring the girl was responsive enough to head home.
She waited in the lobby for Mrs. Crowley to come back to the hospital for the third time that day, picking at her lower brace that went almost from her elbow to her wrist. Amethyst stilled her hands, thinking about the cold hands that would have laid over hers with a small smile. She brushed the thought away as quickly as it came, heading out to the car that pulled up.
"You and Tyler are going to stay in the living room tonight," Mrs. Crowley informed her as she carefully accelerated down the highway. "Neither of you should be sleeping, so we're hoping the two of you will keep each other up, but we will come down and check on you every few hours. You both have doctors notes for today and tomorrow if necessary, but we'll figure out out in the morning."
"Thank you for all of this," Amethyst murmured. "You all have been so very kind to me."
A hand gently rubbed her knee, and electric blue eyes wandered up to the driving woman. "You're pretty much family, dear. It's nothing."
The brunette sat on the couch later that evening, a regular soda in front of her feet that were crossed on the table while her head rested on Tyler's shoulder. He slowly twisted one of her loose hairs around his finger as they watched a documentary that had something to do with paper clips, but she couldn't really focus on it as there were too many thoughts rushing through her mind.
"I'm sorry," Amethyst said when the documentary went to commercial.
"Why?"
She sighed. "Today was my fault."
"Really? You can make it snow and then freeze overnight?" She rolled her eyes at Tyler's sarcasm. "Although, with your cold heart, it wouldn't surprise me."
He laughed when she jabbed at his side, which pulled a laugh out of her as well. "No, I mean I didn't wake you up in time and I rushed you and encouraged you to drive faster and that's pretty much all my fault."
"Amethyst, you can't control the world." Tyler leaned over to press a kiss on top of her head. "You didn't know that ice patch would be there. It's my fault, if anything. I should have been running with you this morning and very easily could have set an alarm or handled my speed better. It is not in the slightest your fault."
They sat in silence for a little while before Amethyst found the nerve to speak again. "My parents blamed me for that night, in New York. They said I shouldn't have been working late and my dad shouldn't have had to come get me. It was a very similar situation, because we hit ice and lost control and the windows shattered out. I'm just glad nothing really horrible happened to anyone today."
Tyler pulled her closer, moving his arm down to her waist as she adjusted more comfortably onto his chest. The two watched another few movies before the television switched over to infomercials. They spent their time debating the usefulness of the gadgets and coming up with their own ridiculous ideas for ways to improve them.
"What if the vibrating hairbrush also had a heated curl to it? Like you spin it through your hair and the vibration works on the tangles but there's some heat or something that comes from inside of it? Just bam, an all in one tool." The two had shifted at some point during the night so Amethyst was laying between Tyler and the back of the couch with her head on his chest and their legs twisted together.
"I would rather have it brush the grease out of your hair," he decided. "I want it to be an alternative to shampoo."
Amethyst nodded approvingly. "I'd buy that."
"Well you two are just adorable."
The pair glanced up to see Mrs. Crowley standing in the entrance to the living room, smiling at them. She walked over and put two bottles of water and some headache medicine on the table. "I want you both to stay home today. You guys can sleep here before too long, but only for two hours at a time, so take turns and look after each other. You're welcome to invite some of your friends over after school to keep you entertained, and call me if anything gets really bad." She pressed a kiss to Tyler's forehead and smoothed Amethyst's hair back before heading off to work.
"I like your mom," the girl murmured, putting her had back on his chest.
"She's pretty cool." Tyler rubbed her back gently, reaching for the remote with his other hand.
When he couldn't reach it, the girl laughed and pushed herself far enough to snag it off the table. She placed it in his hand before watching him flick through channels.
"Is our relationship weird to you?"
"Nope."
Amethyst raised an eyebrow at him, turning so her chin was on his chest. "You really don't think there's anything weird about the amount of contact we make regularly."
"Did someone tell you there was?"
"No, I was just wondering. It may seem weird to people."
Tyler shrugged, jostling her head. "Does it matter how things appear to other people? And besides, anyone can cuddle with friends. There's nothing saying that contact means you have to be in a relationship with someone. Would you think it was odd if you were like this with Angela?"
She smiled slightly, settling back into her spot as they watched the classic cartoons that ran in early mornings.
When they went back to school the next day, Tyler was all over Bella, constantly apologizing to her to the point where it made her seem uncomfortable. Amethyst and Angela rolled their eyes as the boys seemed to have growing tension between them over the girl, chatting about almost anything else.
Amethyst realized how many people around the school knew her as they were constantly coming up to ask about the crash, her puking and Jasper's reaction. She mainly ignored them, only answering the people who she actually recognized from one of her classes.
Their lives fell into an even more regular pattern. Amethyst still spent the weekend, Monday and Friday at the library and tutored after school Wednesdays. Physical therapy lasted for three hours after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Because Tyler's van was out of commission, she drove him to and from school, causing some tension between the two when their schedules would fall out of sync.
Basketball season was coming to an end, and Tyler had agreed to go to track conditioning that would start in the middle of February. They got up to three miles total in the mornings and were working on cutting the time down from half an hour. Amethyst loved the fact she was able to run a decent distance again, sometimes stretching the run to five miles over weekends.
In her quiet moments when she would sit down to do homework, she wished Alice was there to bug her about doing their physics together. She missed picking at the piano with Edward and his annoyance when she would accidently slam her hand on the keys the wrong way. Both the small girl and Emmett had moved away from Amethyst during the classes they had together, but she refused to let it show the movement affected her as much as it did. Most of all, she missed a gentle golden gaze and stolen kisses in the hallway, but Amethyst certainly wouldn't ever admit to that.