Chapter 26 – Emmett – Emmett and the Bear

The sun beat down on my face, making me squeeze my eyes shut against the invading brightness. I was hot, too hot, but for some reason I couldn't make myself move to the shade.

I could hear the buzzing of flies. Must be something attracting them, I thought drowsily. Biting little bastards.

The sun disappeared behind a cloud, and suddenly I was shivering with cold. What am I doing? Why do I feel so strange? Something hurts, and I'm so tired…am I drunk? Pa's going to kill me.

I could hear birds, and the noise of wind through the trees. Somewhere nearby a branch cracked, and I heard the rush of its fall. I missed the woods when I was in New York. I want to show Rosalie…Rosalie. I wish she was here.

"Sweet Jesus Christ, look at him! Emmett, Emmett, lad…"

I forced my eyes open, seeing Pa leaning over me, his face seeming to waver oddly. "Pa," I said, but I don't know if he heard me.

"It's all right Emmett," Pa said gruffly. "We're here now, and we're going to get you home."

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, not even clear what I was apologising for. Nothing made sense. "I didn't…I don't know what happened."

"It was a bear." Mr Allison's face loomed in to view beside my father's. "You were attacked by a bear."

"Typical, Emmett…getting yourself in trouble again." It was Jeb Allison too, but he looked so shaken, not at all like the usual insouciant Jeb.

"Emmett, Emmett…" My brother Will was close by my face, his own face red and blotchy with tears. "I'm sorry, I ran as quick as I could."

It came back to me then. Laughing with Will and then seeing the bear, not realising that we were caught between her and her cub. The mama bear had done what they do though, roared in to protect her baby and I hadn't been quick enough to get out of the way. I moaned, as the pain began making itself felt again where her great claws had raked across my chest.

"We'll get you home lad," Pa said hoarsely.

I screamed when they moved me on to the door so they could stretcher me home. I didn't want to make so much noise, but the pain of the movement felt like I was being torn apart all over again, and I couldn't stop the howling. I was glad when I felt darkness slipping down over my eyes, gently cutting out my senses and sending me into oblivion.

I drifted in and out of consciousness as they carried me home. The pain came and went, as did my ability to speak and respond to the people around me. I could smell the scent of my own blood, warm in the hot sun, and feel the flies buzzing around. I wondered vaguely, as I began to feel less and less, if I were dying.

The next time I opened my eyes though, there she was. Blurred and glowing with the sun behind her, her face so close to mine I could have touched her if I could have moved my arms, it was the angel. For a moment I didn't know if I was alive or dead, and if this was an angel taking me to heaven or my own angel girl Rosalie here on earth.

"Emmett, oh Emmett…"

Rosalie.

I felt my mouth form the word, but I'm not sure if she heard. Everything was going numb, and a moment later the world began to contract around me and the darkness came encroaching and I had to let go. My last thought was of her.

I love you Rosalie.

Pain brought me back again. Pain like fire, burning through my chest and arm, the heat mounting hotter and hotter until I was screaming. My ability to move had come back, but now someone was holding me down, strong arms keeping me pinned down to a hard surface. I strained against the restraining holds on me, screaming as another layer of fire was applied to my body.

"Oh, do you have to do this?" It was Rosalie, and I opened two bleary eyes to see her standing by my mother, her hands pressed to her mouth and her beautiful eyes gleaming with tears.

"We've got to wash out the wounds," Ma said tersely. "You can either help me or go outside with the little ones." She looked across at Hannah, who was holding a steaming cloth in her very fingertips. "As hot as you can stand it, Hannah."

Wincing, Hannah laid the cloth across my chest, and once again I couldn't hold back the agonised screams. Sweet Mother of Mercy but it hurt!

"Emmett, it's all right." Rosalie's face came close to mine, smiling tremulously. Tenderly she took a damp cloth, warm instead of the burning hot ones they were scorching me with on my chest and shoulder, and wiped my face. "You're going to be fine."

Somehow I managed to raise my hand enough to grasp hers. "Don't leave me," I said hoarsely, "Rosalie, stay with me."

"Of course I will," she murmured, and as my eyes closed against the pain I felt the silkiness of her hair touching my skin as she lowered her head and brushed her lips lightly across mine.

Right at that moment I didn't care if I lived or died. Not when I had just lived through the most perfect moment of my life, with my lips on Rosalie's. And if I had to die, perhaps holding her hand and looking into the depths of her violet eyes wouldn't be a bad way to go…

Sweet Jesus make it stop! This hurts so fucking much!

I don't know how long it took, how long Ma kept up the washing, scalding me again and again as she tried to cleanse the wounds of dirt. All I know is that it felt like forever, as Pa and Jeb kept me pinned on to the kitchen table and Rosalie held my hand and her beautiful face gave me something to focus on when it was particularly bad. But the blood kept dripping and my strength dipped lower until at last I closed my eyes and slid away for good, deep into the nothingness.

"Emmett? Emmett?"

I heard voices, but I was too tired to respond until I heard Rosalie, and felt a feather-light touch on my cheek that I knew it had to be her. I struggled to open my eyes, finally managing it to see her beautiful angel face bending close to me.

"Rosalie," I muttered, but when I went to reach out to her I couldn't stop the harsh, jagged scream that came out as I moved my body.

"Oh, don't move!" Rosalie exclaimed. "For goodness' sake, you've been nearly torn apart by a bear…lie still or you'll hurt yourself more!"

I heard my Ma's low chuckle. "I left you in good hands then Emmett." I turned my head and saw her coming towards me with a steaming mug. She looked unusually tall, and I realised I'd been moved from the kitchen table to the floor in the living room.

"Mama." The baby word slipped out before I could stop it, the same way the tears were unstoppably welling up in my eyes from the excruciating pain.

Ma's face was soft as she knelt by my side and cupped the side of my face with her work worn hand. "I know Em. I know it hurts."

"Is it really bad?" I was fiercely glad that my Pa and the Allisons weren't there to hear me as my voice shook. "It feels like…like my whole chest has been ripped apart…"

"It nearly was," Ma said honestly. "That bear got you good- there are gouges from your collar bone down to your belly…you were lucky." She gave me a shaky smile. "You were so lucky Em. But now, we can't go worrying about what happened, we just have to try and get you better. I want you to drink this, it'll help a little with the pain."

Rosalie's face was white and tense as she took my head and lifted it until I was lying in her lap, nearly biting through my lip as I tried to stop the swearing. Every movement caused agony.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she whispered, almost chanting it under her breath as she winced.

When I was finally situated Ma held the mug up to my lips and I struggled to take in the hot, sweet liquid. I didn't know what was in it and I didn't care, as long as it did something to dull the pain of my injuries. I drank as much as I could, but everything hurt so much that it wasn't a lot. When Ma took the mug away from my mouth I looked down my body, where my chest looked like nothing so much as a slab of raw meat. Just the sight of it made me gag.

"I'm going to make a poultice for those wounds," Ma said, when I was done. "Rosalie will stay here with you."

Dizzy and dazed, I mumbled assent. I was just so tired…for a moment I didn't know why I was looking at Rosalie upside down, and then I remembered that I had my head in her lap. Comfortable…

Rosalie combed her hands across my forehead and back through my curls, gently teasing any tangles free. "You're going to be fine," she murmured, combing her fingers through my curls again and again. "You're an idiot to get hurt so badly! But you're going to be fine, it's going to be fine…" She hesitated. "I'm going to put your head back on the pillow."

I bit my lip and tried not to make too much noise as she moved me as gently as she could from her lap to a pillow, but I couldn't help my muffled screams and groans, and both Rosalie and I were pale and sweating by the time she had me back on the floor with a pillow under my head.

"Sweet fucking hell!" I gasped, blinking to clear my eyes of the tears that had filled my eyes. "I can't…"

"Lie still," Rosalie ordered me, but although her voice was sharp she sat close to me on the floor, stroking my hair with steady fingers. "You lost a lot of blood, and those wounds…" She hesitated.

"They're bad," I said flatly.

"Yes." Rosalie didn't flinch as she looked down at my bare, mutilated chest. "But you'll get better. You'll heal."

I felt like I was floating, at a blessed remove from the pain. Rosalie's hair was mussed and her dress was stained with spatters of my blood, but she had never looked more beautiful to me.

"You look…like an angel," I said drowsily.

Rosalie laughed shakily. "Did you hit your head, too?"

"Stay with me." It felt like a lead blanket was weighing me down, all my limbs heavy and unmoving. "Don't go away."

"Never."

I couldn't keep my eyes open, but I heard her whispered words and felt the press of her lips against my forehead and I smiled.

"I'll stay with you as long as you want me…I'm not going anywhere."

She stayed. Through the rest of the pain-filled day, as I lay on the hard living room floor and suffered, Rosalie was always there. Ma too, bringing in tea and poultices, which she kept on my chest even when the heat of them made me scream and the smell of them made me gag.

"We need to make sure to draw any infection out," Ma told me severely when I whimpered piteously and tried to move one that seemed particularly painful.

"He needs a doctor," Rosalie said, her voice determined.

"A doctor can't do anything we can't do," Ma said tersely. "Spend all that money for what? The doctor to tell us just to keep on doing what I already know to do?"

"But maybe he knows something more?" Rosalie argued. "Maybe he has some kind of medicine to stop it getting infected? And the money doesn't matter, I told you…I can sell the rings and there'll be plenty of money!"

Ma didn't answer, but carried the soiled cloths from the poultices out of the room. Rosalie gave an exclamation of irritation.

"Poultices! What is this, the dark ages? Doctors have all kinds of medicines and creams and lotions that can heal!" she fumed. "Am I supposed to watch you die because there's no money and they're all too proud to take mine?"

"Not…dying…" I mumbled, although I was suddenly less sure. "Ma's a good…healer."

"And how many other times has she nursed someone who was nearly torn in half by a bear?" Rosalie countered. "Emmett, it looks really bad. I'm sorry, but it does…I was so scared when Will came home and said you were hurt, but we didn't know how badly. I thought you were dead, and I couldn't…I can't lose you." Her voice shook. "I can't lose you…I can't stand to just sit here and watch you die."

I tried to force myself to respond to her. All I wanted was to take her into my arms and hold her, wrap her up in my arms and surround her with my warmth and love, but I couldn't even move my fingertips. Couldn't even open my eyes or move my lips to make the words that danced in my mind. I love you Rosalie.

It was night when I opened my eyes again. Candles lit the room, and Rosalie's hair glimmered in the flickering light. Hello, angel girl. She touched my forehead with cool hands and then sat back, and a man leaned over me in her place. The doctor.

His hands weren't as gentle as Rosalie's were. I probably would have screamed if I'd had the strength, but I didn't even have the energy for that. Rosalie held my hands in hers, and I thought that maybe she knew he was hurting me when she squeezed hard every time I wanted to scream.

He spoke to Ma and Pa and Rosalie in quiet tones that I couldn't hear and then he was gone. Ma came back to me with another steaming poultice she applied to one of the wounds, and Rosalie tipped a spoonful of some thick, syrupy medicine down my throat.

"I told you we were doing all that could be done for him," Ma said across my body to Rosalie, but her voice was kind.

"I had to be sure," Rosalie muttered.

"It wasn't about the money," Ma went on, "We could have found it, or worked out a plan, the doctor is good about that…you didn't have to sell your rings."

"I don't care anyway," Rosalie said stubbornly. "I hate the sight of the wretched things, and now they're gone. Emmett's had the doctor, and there's enough money to buy everything I could possibly need for the baby."

"I appreciate it though Rosalie, you selling your rings for the doctor. For Emmett." Ma's voice was quiet and intent. "Thank you for that. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for doing what you did for my boy."

"I love him," Rosalie said softly. "I guess I didn't know how much until I faced losing him…he has to be okay Miss Adeline, he has to be."

"Well, he's not out of the woods yet, but let's keep on working and see what we can do for him," Ma said practically.

She loves me.