Charlie pushed his way through the crowd and ran to the front of the taxi where Claire laid in the middle of the road with her head to the side, completely oblivious to the world around her.
He rushed to her side and dropped to his knees on the gravel, sliding his hand under her head as he looked her over in a panic.
There wasn't much blood and the bit that there was wasn't coming from her head meant she was probably ok unless she was bleeding internally.
But in his state of fear he was not able to fallow logic. To him, Claire was in danger and every ounce of his body was driven to protect her.
He began trembling anxiously as he tried to concentrate. Tried to think of what he should do. By now an ambulance had been called and was steady on its way. There was nothing that he could do. Nothing but stay with her and wait.
He laid his other hand on her stomach and stared down at her emotionless face, watching as the color returned and her thick lashes began to flutter. Grinning like a fool as her eyes slowly opened in a look of dazed confusion.
"Why hello there" She spoke softly, still a bit off after hitting her head on the pavement. Charlie smiled, overjoyed just to see her conscious. He ran his hand down the side of her face, brushing the hair away.
"What happened?" She asked after a moment, looking around in confusion. Her body had now woken up fully and the pain in her leg was slowly starting to register in her jarred brain.
"You were hit by a taxi. I think your leg might be broken" He explained, looking down at the only part of her body that was actually bleeding as he helped her sit up.
"Oh" She replied simply, the sight of her own blood making her cringe in the realization that she was actually hurt.
Charlie watched as she sucked in a sharp breath, knowing that the pain had settled in. He winched in response to her winching as if he had felt it himself, and began to wondering where the god damn ambulance could be.
Charlie glance over his shoulder at the driver who stood beside his taxi, staring down at them with an apologetic look across his face.
"Can you take us to a hospital?" He asked, squeezing Claire's hand and supporting her back as she tried to push herself but only managed to put more pressure on her wounded calve and cause herself more pain.
"Of course" The man replied with a nod and hurried to open the back door. Charlie scooped her up into his arms and carried her the short distance to the end of the taxi before carefully sliding her into the back seat and scooting in beside her to keep her leg elevated on the way there.
Once in and situated he went to close the door, but just before he did he was burned with the awful feeling that he was forgetting something. He paused for a moment in thought, trying to figure out what it was. Then, to Claire's dismay, he hoped out of the cab entirely and returned moment's later with the bag she'd been carrying.
Claire smiled as he sat the bag in on the floor and carefully lifted her thighs in order to slide back under and let them rest on his lap before he closed the door and the cab drove away.
They made it to the hospital surprisingly fast, mostly out of the drivers guilt for hitting the poor girl in the first place. But that didn't stop Charlie from worrying the whole way.
He continued to look back and forth from Claire to the window, watching the blurry streets as they sped past, waiting and waiting for a hospital to come into view.
He had begun to sweat impatiently and his fingers were busy keeping a steady beat against her left calve, the one that hadn't been injured. Then suddenly, he felt a soft, gentle hand lay on top of his, and turned to meet eyes with Claire who gave him a sweet, soothing smile.
"Calm down, Charlie. Your making me nervous" She muttered in a half-sleeping stare, her eyes barely open as she stared back at him. Charlie smiled back at her and the tapping stopped along with the car as they pulled up in front of the building.
The driver had called the hospital on his cell phone and there was a team of paramedics waiting . Charlie opened the door and helped Claire up before the medics took Charlie and quickly got her up on the stretcher and strapped down like a raving mental patient.
Charlie thought it was all a bit excessive, and that it was probably doing more to scare her then to make her feel safe, but he was no doctor and in no place to tell them what to do. All he asked is that the got her in a cast before the poor girl passed out form the pain.
He moved side by side with the stretcher with his hand squeezing hers all the way down the hall until they reached the first open room. In a flash she was off the stretcher and sitting up right on a bed, being told to wait a few seconds, the doctor would be in soon.
Charlie shot the nurse a glare, not liking the idea of having to wait for her to be taken care of. But Claire gave him a look that reminded him this was a busy hospital and all she had was a broken leg, there was no reason to start demanding medical attention just yet.
Strange how all she needed to do was give him a look and he could know exactly what she was trying to say. Then he smiled and looked down at his feet, his way of saying she was right, and wondered if they could have an entire conversation trough facial expressions and not say a word.
A few moments later a doter came in and introduced himself before kneeling down to inspect her calve. Charlie watched him with interest, making sure the stranger was careful not to hurt her in the process.
"Its a good thing your wearing those tiny, tiny little shorts instead of something practical for the weather like, I don't know, pants. Way to think ahead" Charlie teased, knowing it would make her feel better.
Claire smacked his chest playfully and continued to look down at the doctor, feeling a bit more comfortable with having a complete stranger's face that close to her lap.
"Speaking of convenient, how the hell did you manage to come to my rescue that fast?" Claire questioned, eyeing him curiously. Charlie paused for a moment, taking notice to the strange coincidence.
"I knew it. Your stalking me" She confirmed playfully, mocking a look of shock for comical effect.
"Damn, you got me. I was watching from a dumpster just waiting for you to get hit. In fact, I had paid the driver to do it. It was all one big scam for me to save your life one more time" Charlie explained sarcastically, laughing along with her at the odd turn of fate.
"Well, your lucky. Nothing's broken. Just a scraped knee and some bruises" The doctor interrupted their like flirting session as he rose to his feet, cutting straight to business.
"That's great! Thank you so much" Claire replied appreciatively, glad to know she wouldn't have to be burdened with a cast for the next month. Aaron was hard enough to care for with both legs functioning.
"No problem. Just try to be more careful" The doctor replied, and turned to head to the next patient. Once he'd left Claire turned her attention back to Charlie, legs swinging back and forth over the edge of the bed like a toddlers.
"So where am I taking you?" He questioned casually, hands shoved in his pockets as usual. Talking to Claire usually made him a bit nervous, but at the moment it seemed more natural then anything he'd ever dealt with. "Excuse me?" She questioned, wondering if he'd just asked her on a date.
"Where are you staying?" He clarified, explaining that he would be calling the taxi and riding there with her. "Oh! The star light motel" She explained, feeling a bit dumb for misunderstanding the statement. He wasn't hitting on her, he was just being a gentlemen.
"Why are you at a hotel?" He questioned, begging to wonder why she was even still in Los Angelus at all. Claire sighed and looked down at her bare legs and her newly acquired bandages, not wanting to go over the situation.
"No one came for you either, huh?" He questioned, reading the disappointed look on her face. "No one came to the air port for you?" She asked, her voice filling with sympathy. Charlie frowned.
"Nope. Guess I'm just not that special. If someone came for you, then why aren't you in Australia?" He questioned, determined to have his answer. "Because the someone who came happened to be an ass whole" Claire replied with a roll of her eyes.
"Thomas?" Charlie questioned, feeling his heart begin to pump just from mentioning the pricks name. Claire looked up in surprised, wondering how remembered after all this time.
"Yeah. Can you believe it? He was crying and everything. He even tried to hug my for Christ sake!" Claire explained, deciding that if she was going to explain herself, she might as well get some anger out in the process.
"Wanker" Charlie stated simply, but it was soidentical with what Claire was thinking that he didn't need to say anything else in order to melt her anger. She smiled, glad to have Charlie back to keep her from going crazy.
"Come on, lets get you back to your hotel" He suggested, and carefully helped her off the bed before walking her down the hall to call their taxi.