Chapter Twenty-Nine
"I have to leave now…"
"No, you don't."
"Yes, I do."
"Your patrol doesn't start for another fifteen minutes. I already fed you, therefore you can stay here as my pillow for at least another ten before you really have to go."
Jared didn't immediately respond and Kim grinned to herself from her place resting on the couch, her head in Jared's lap while his hand rubbed lazy circles across her back as they watched TV. She had learned very quickly that there were very few things Jared would refuse her—actually, so far she hadn't found any—and was while she tried not to abuse her imprint powers, she was not above convincing her boyfriend to spend just a bit more time with her before he went off to risk his life hunting vampires.
Finally, Jared sighed. "I guess I can stay a bit longer…"
"No need to be so enthusiastic about it," Kim teased, and Jared responded by shifting the hand on her back slightly so that he could tickle her side instead. It really was unfortunate that he knew her weaknesses so well.
"So," Jared began a long moment later, acting as if he hadn't just forced Kim into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. How rude. "What are your plans for this afternoon? Wallowing in grief and despair during our agonizing separation?"
"You know," Kim said thoughtfully, "That's not a bad idea."
"You say that like you didn't even think to miss me," Jared told her mock-suspiciously. "Or like maybe you think there's some kind of better plan than missing me."
Kim turned her head so that she could grin up at him. "That's because I do."
"Rude," Jared informed her.
Kim giggled. "I have a very exciting afternoon ahead of me watching Kylie."
"Huh," Jared commented thoughtfully, "It's been awhile since you've had to do that."
Kim rolled her eyes as she turned back to the TV. "It has," She agreed. "And it figures that the one day I have to watch her is the day she has an appointment to be taken to."
"How are you getting to the appointment if your mom is working?" Jared questioned immediately. Belatedly, Kim realized she should have seen this line of questioning coming from a mile away. "You don't have a car—you aren't walking wherever you're going, are you?" He demanded suddenly.
"Calm down," Kim told him easily. "We're riding bikes today, so no more outrageously long walks"—she had a feeling he missed the sarcasm there—"Kylie is actually pretty good at that, considering the cast. But it will really only be a bother on the way there, if at all, since her appointment is for getting her cast off at Forks Hospital."
She felt Jared stiffen at the end of her sentence. There was barely a heartbeat's worth of time to ponder that reaction, however, before he bit out a sudden, "No!"
Kim jumped slightly at the harshness of his tone and scrambled to sit up so that she could look at him fully. What was that about?
"Jared?" She questioned. "What's wrong?"
"You can't go there," He stated shortly, his eyes hard. "I won't let you."
Kim's gut reaction was anger. He wouldn't 'let' her go there? Who was he to dictate where she did and didn't go? She might be his imprint, but he sure as hell didn't control her actions. She didn't need his permission to go anywhere, especially if the place in question was somewhere completely innocuous like the hospital.
She opened her mouth to tell him exactly that, but paused when she noticed his white knuckles, a result of his clenched fists as he attempted to rein in his shaking arms. Something was clearly wrong…something was clearly triggering his protective instincts and causing him to be about to phase in the middle of her family room…and it had to do with Forks Hospital? Kim was clearly missing some part of all of this.
"Jared?" Kim repeated, hesitant now as she reached out a hand to place on his arm. She knew he didn't want to phase in front of her and hurt her and would do anything in his power to prevent it, especially after what happened to Emily even if she was mostly healed now. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to be as cautious as possible; if he was this close to phasing, anything could set him off right now. And that even included her attempting to get away from him since she was almost positive he was on the verge of phasing right now because he thought he needed to protect her from something. "What's wrong?"
As soon as her hand came in contact with his arm, she could feel the shaking lessen immensely. His hands were still clenched tightly, though, and he was overall very tense. Caution was clearly still in order.
"You can't go," Jared repeated, "Not there, never there."
"But why, Jared? I don't understand. What's so bad about Forks Hospital?" Honestly, Kim was at a loss. A hospital should be the exact opposite of dangerous, like Jared very clearly thought this one was. In fact, the only other person she actually knew who didn't like the hospital was her superstitious grandmother.
Jared frowned deeply at her question. "Why would you ask that? It's not safe there." His eyes widened in sudden alarm. "You haven't gone there before, have you?"
"Jared," Kim began slowly, but apparently the effect had the exact opposite of the calm she was trying to exude because the tremors began in Jared's arms again.
"You can't be serious!" He exclaimed. "It's too dangerous! Why would you ever go there?"
Kim chose to ignore the implication in his question. Getting angry over his choice of words right now—did he really think she would be stupid enough to do something that he, a La Push protector, thought was legitimately dangerous—wouldn't do any good, especially when he was so close to phasing already.
"We took Kylie to Forks Hospital when she broke her leg," Kim told him calmly. "My mom has taken her back for two appointments since then, but I haven't been back because I haven't had to. In fact, that's the only time I've been to the hospital, because we usually just go to the clinic if there's anything wrong. Now, can you please tell me what's so bad about the hospital? I don't understand, Jared."
"What's not to understand?" Jared demanded. "You know how dangerous leaches are, why would you willingly go near one?"
"Leac—you mean vampires!" Kim exclaimed, suddenly alarmed. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? "Are there vampires at Forks Hospital?!"
"Only one," Jared replied immediately. Then he frowned again. "And of course there is, you know that…haven't I told you this before?"
"I think I would remember if you told me there was a vampire, what…working in the hospital!" Kim informed him wide-eyed. "Is it…is it the reason you phased? The vampire being in the area? Why have you guys let it live so long? I don't even want to think about how much damage a vampire could do in a hospital."
"It's the treaty," Jared said with a sigh, lifting one of his no longer shaking arms and rubbing a hand across his face. "You know, the one the legends talk about. These leaches are different; they claim to only hunt animals, never humans. We can't attack them as long as they keep to that. So for the time being, the Cullens are unfortunately here to stay."
"The Cullens!" Kim exclaimed, a small part of her mind noting how shrill her voice had gotten. "You mean Dr. Cullen is a Cold One? My sister's doctor could be out for her blood?"
"Yes," Jared said tightly, his fists clenched again. "But that isn't going to happen. You're going to be fine and so is Kylie, because neither of you is stepping foot in that hospital ever again."
And this time Kim had absolutely no problem with Jared essentially dictating where she went. There was no way in hell she was willingly putting herself in the path of a bloodsucking monster.
Except there was one small problem…
"Kylie still has to get her cast off, though," Kim frowned. "I don't want to go anywhere near Forks Hospital, but what other choice do we really have? That's the whole reason we took her there in the first place, despite my grandma's protests: there aren't any other options that are reasonably nearby."
"You could take her to the hospital that's up near Neah Bay," Jared offered after a moment's thought. "That's where Emily was after…after the accident."
"That's too far," Kim shook her head. "We can't ride our bikes all the way up there. And even if transportation wasn't an issue, there's still the problem of my mom. How am I supposed to explain to her that we can't go to the hospital anymore? She believes the legends about the Cold Ones are superstitious nonsense; she's basically called my grandma crazy in the past for citing the legends as the reason she refuses to go to the hospital now."
Jared sighed in frustration. "There has to be something!"
"What if…" Kim began suddenly, an idea forming in her head, "What if you came with us? Then you could protect us, just in case. And after that…well after that we'll all just have to make sure we don't get seriously ill or injured until after the Cullens leave town and the hospital is safe again."
"Shit, I'm supposed to be on patrol right now," Jared said in response. Kim frowned; she'd forgotten about that too. "I can't go with you. Sam is going to kill me for being late again because I was with you."
Despite the serious nature of the conversation they'd just been having, Kim couldn't keep a sly grin off her face at Jared's words.
"Oh, so do you lose track of time very often when you're with me?" She asked him coyly.
"Only every single moment I spend with you," Jared replied sincerely. "You're the best distraction from everything and I love it. I love you."
Not for the first time lately, Kim found herself wanting to say the words back to Jared. He'd been telling her he loved her ever since he'd told her the complete truth about everything going on in his life (minus the identity of the nearby vampires, of course, apparently). And he hadn't pressured her to say it back even once, telling her that he was more than happy to wait for as long as she wanted or needed, for as long as it took for her to fall in love with him, too.
But she was slowly coming to the realization that she really didn't need to wait much longer. Maybe one day very soon she would be able to say those three words to Jared... Unfortunately, though this was hardly the time to be thinking about that. Because they were in the middle of a very serious conversation; one that she really should be getting back to right about now.
"What should we do?" Kim questioned. "We can't just skip the appointment, and that cast definitely needs to come off. Never mind the fact that her leg is healed, that thing reeks. And don't you dare tell me you don't agree, because your nose is definitely way more sensitive than mine; I don't know how you survive being around it."
"Paul," Jared said suddenly.
"What? Where?" Kim asked, looking around as if expecting him to suddenly be in the house. When she saw he wasn't there, she continued, "Has he been complaining about the smell, too?"
"Paul can take you," Jared stated. "I'll give him the keys to my truck so that he can even drive you—I should have offered it to you in the first place. But yeah, I'll go call him right now. I know he'll do it though; he'll want to protect you because you're pack and Kylie is his sister. I wish I could be there with you, but there's no way Sam is letting me off the hook for this one, and Paul is definitely the next best thing."
And then Jared was on his feet and heading towards the phone in the kitchen before Kim could even bother reminding him that she didn't know how to drive, so borrowing his truck wouldn't have done in her very much good in the first place. But hey, if he wanted to think he could have been useful, who was she to deny him that?
A minute later, Jared reappeared with a pleased look on his face.
"Paul will be here in ten minutes," He announced. "Also, for the record, he wants you to know that he thinks I'm an idiot for not telling you about the Cullens."
"Really?" Kim raised an eyebrow. "He called you an idiot? That's pretty tame for Paul."
"Alright, so maybe I'm giving you the PG version," Jared admitted.
"Well, in that case, thank you for attempting to protect my delicate sensibilities, dear," Kim told him with a grin.
"No problem," Jared replied. "I really do have to go now, though. Sam probably won't give me extra patrol if I explain the situation…"
Kim stood up from the couch as Jared approached and held out her arms to accept the embrace she knew was coming. Sure enough, Jared quickly engulfed her in a hug, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
"Please be safe," he whispered softly to her. "I know you'll have Paul with you, but I'll still worry. Just do whatever you can to get out of there if it looks like things might go bad. Please."
Kim nodded into his chest and he released her and took a step back.
"I'll come by tonight after patrol," He promised her. "I have a long shift, so it might be late."
"My window will be open," Kim replied.
And then with a last, lingering kiss on her cheek, he was gone.
The trip to the hospital went much better than Kim expected it would. (Her expectation being that, despite the best of intentions, Paul would phase when directly confronted with a vampire, no matter what kind of treaty there was between them.)
Of course, it wasn't exactly a sign of bad things to come when the trip began with Kylie finding out that Paul would be going with them. (Seriously, Kim was pretty sure that she, as the older sister who'd been there Kylie's whole life, should probably be at least slightly jealous about how much the younger girl adored her newly-discovered brother. Then again, Kim was just happy for Kylie that she was getting the chance to get to know her brother and her dad, who Kylie adored almost as much as she adored Paul.)
And the situation played out easily enough when they were actually at the hospital. Sure, it was tense in the small hospital room immediately upon Dr. Cullen's entrance—Kim hadn't missed Paul's white-knuckled fists—but seemingly without missing a beat he quickly stated that someone else would be arriving shortly to remove Kylie's cast. It was only a matter of minutes before Sue Clearwater appeared to do just that. And for the entire rest of the time they were there, even though Paul remained tense—"The smell of leach is everywhere," he complained out of Kylie's earshot—Kim didn't so much as catch a glimpse of Dr. Cullen again.
Altogether, the trip was basically flawless. Kim couldn't help but think to herself that it had been a nice sibling(ish) bonding experience.
With the hospital now behind them, Paul was currently driving all of them to Sam and Emily's. Kim was more than slightly concerned about how this visit was going to play out; there was no way everything could go well today, especially considering why this visit was happening in the first place. Having already bonded with Emily over both of them being injured, Kylie wanted to show her that "my leg is all better now," and neither Paul nor Kim could give her a satisfactory answer for why that wasn't the best idea. If Emily was home alone, there wasn't really anything to worry about: she was too sweet to be offended by the little girl. But if Sam was home with her…well, he would always be sensitive to anyone bringing any sort of attention to Emily's scars.
Kim really hoped he wouldn't be there.
Unfortunately for Kim, though, Paul pulled to a stop right beside Sam's truck in front of the house. She knew it had been too much to hope for that Sam wouldn't be home after having spent all morning on patrol.
"Emily!" Kylie hollered as soon as she was out of the truck. She ran towards the house as she continued to shout, "Emily! I have something to show you!"
"I forgot how much of a ball of energy she is with two working legs," Paul muttered, but Kim was pretty sure she detected more than a hint of fondness in his tone. Kylie already had him wrapped around her finger; Kim couldn't wait to see what would happen when the younger girl figured out how to use that to her advantage.
"Just wait until she gets you to take her to the beach," Kim told him, "Werewolf stamina has nothing on that kid."
By this point the pair had caught up with Kylie, who was waiting impatiently for someone to come answer the door. Just a moment later, it was pulled open by Emily.
"Emily!" Kylie greet enthusiastically, wrenching the screen door open and attacking the smiling woman with a hug around the waist.
"Hi, Kylie," Emily immediately returned the hug. "It's been ages since I last saw you."
"I've been going to my daddy's house a lot," Kylie promptly informed her. "I beat him and Paul all the time when we play video games. Did you know that Emily?" She continued rapidly as she unwound her arms from the hug. "Paul is my big brother like Kimmie is my big sister!"
"I heard about that," Emily replied, her smile widening. She glanced briefly up at Paul before continuing, "Is he a good big brother?"
"He's the best big brother," Kylie said instantly, a wide smile of her own on her face. "He plays with me all the time, just like Kimmie, and today he even came to the hospital with us."
Almost as soon as Kylie spoke, Kim heard the scrape of a chair being pushed back and looked over Emily's shoulder to see Sam standing up from the kitchen table, a serious look on his face.
"Forks Hospital?" He questioned sharply, directing his attention at Paul, who nodded. Well, Kim thought to herself, apparently Jared hadn't needed to give his excuses to Sam after all. "How did it go?"
"Fine," Paul replied shortly. "The l-Cullen"—he amended after a quick glance at Kylie—"stuck to the agreement made when he started working there; it's neutral territory."
"Good," Sam stated with a short nod. Then he frowned, "Why did you have to go to the hospital?"
"I got my cast off!" Kylie interrupted cheerfully. She stuck her leg out proudly. "Look Emily, I'm all better now."
Trying not to make it obvious about what she was doing, Kim snuck a glance at Sam. As expected, his face had tightened slightly and the frown remained. It would probably be for the best if this became a short visit…
"Emily!" Kylie suddenly gasped, drawing Kim's attention back to her to see that the girl was pointing at Emily's face. Damn. This had just gotten a lot worse.
Kim opened her mouth to reprimand her sister, when Kylie continued speaking, "You're all better, too! All of your bandages are gone. You're even more pretty now!"
While Emily smiled at Kylie and congratulated her, Kim could see that she and Paul were both frozen waiting for Sam's reaction. Hesitantly, she chanced another glance at him only to be amazed by what she saw.
Sam was smiling. Not only that, it was a rather endearing smile directed at Kylie.
Well apparently today was just filled with unexpected surprises.
