Whoop whoop, starting to update these fairly quickly. It's because i'm so addicted to typing it because i'm reading along just like y'all haha! I really liked typing/reading this chapter. I hope you enjoy it too! I think you will :D
Chapter 43
When he woke up, he didn't have any idea where he was. He looked around and saw rows of beds on both sides of him. Every one of the beds was occupied with men and women and he saw tons of nurses. Almost every person was wrapped in bandages and, only then, did he remember everything that had happened. Like everyone else, he was lying in a bed and he remembered that he had felt massive pain in his side and shoulder. He uncovered his stomach and saw a bandage wrapped all the way around his stomach and waist and there was a bandage patch on his shoulder. He tried to sit up but, as soon as he did, he felt a massive surge of pain shoot all through his body.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, don't sit up. You need to lie down and rest." He looked up and a nurse was standing beside his bed.
"What happened?"
"To what? You or the base?"
"Both." She sighed,
"Well you were shot three times; twice in the side and once in your shoulder. The roof of the hangar caved in and some of the debris landed on top of you and knocked you unconscious. Luckily, someone got you out and brought you here."
"Where's here, exactly?" She sighed,
"It's like a mini-hospital that's set up right down from the road from both the base and the hospital. When the debris fell on you, a piece of wood fell on your leg and broke it. You also have a concussion from where you fell backwards onto the metal ground."
"Jeeze, and I'm still alive?" She smiled,
"Yes, you are still alive, than the lord. As for the base, that's a different story. Most of the buildings were destroyed and the hangar was completely demolished. Luckily, a lot of the planes were up in the sky and there were only a couple of planes in there. We got most of the people that were in the hangar out, you included, but unfortunately, there were about twenty people still in there that we couldn't get out." He shook his head,
"God, do they know how many total people were killed?"
"No, not yet. Right now they are saying in the hundreds and the numbers are rising."
"Wow, who was it? Do they know?" She shrugged her shoulders,
"I haven't heard anything. I think I heard someone say the Iraqi's but I'm not completely sure." He shook his head and to his right, someone was yelling for a nurse. She looked his way, then turned to Ben,
"Let me go help him, you lie down and try to rest. Your nurse will be with you in a couple of minutes." He looked at her,
"You're not my nurse?"
"No, actually your nurse was killed in a rescue attempt yesterday, I'm sorry."
"Yesterday? How long have I been here?"
'Two days; have you not woken up until now?"
"No, that's why I was so confused when I woke up."
'Wow, but yes, you'll have a new nurse. She's actually a nurse from the hospital; a lot of nurses from the hospital volunteered to come here and help. If you need anything before she gets here, let me know; my name's Hollie."
"Okay, and thank you for filling me in and everything." She smiled,
"You're welcome."
She walked around the side of his bed and walked over to the man who was yelling for help. Ben relaxed and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He tried to get into a more comfortable position, but he couldn't; now that she had mentioned it, his leg was hurting. He moved the covers again and saw that his leg was, in fact, in a cast. He sighed and closed his eyes and tried to rest for, at least, a few minutes.
He was still in shock a little bit. He couldn't believe that most of the base had been destroyed. If Hollie was right and it was the Iraqi's who did this, Ben knew that there would be a war. He only had to go back one more time; if they did go to war, he would be ready. He wanted to help as much as he could in the one term he had left.
While he was trying to rest, he heard someone else scream. He opened his eyes and looked over to see who was screaming. What he saw made his heart sink and skip a beat at the same time. He saw who screamed, but that wasn't what made his heart skip a beat. The nurse standing over him trying to comfort him was the person that made his heart feel all of those emotions. The nurse standing over him was Allison.
He closed his eyes, making sure he wasn't dreaming, but, when he opened them back up, she was still standing there.
He watched her for a couple of minutes and watched her comfort and help the man that screamed. She felt his forehead and checked his temperature and, also uncovered his arm, or what was left of it. She quickly covered it back up, but Ben had seen that his arm had been amputated from the elbow down. She smiled at the man and Ben saw her say something to him. Ben couldn't hear what she said over the moaning and groaning of everyone in the hospital, but the man smiled and said something back to her. She smiled again and turned to walk in the direction where Ben's bed was.
When she turned and looked in his direction, she stopped. She met his eyes and, like the very first time he had looked in her eyes, felt something click. They stared at each other for what seemed like hours; she was about four beds down from him and there were nurses walking through their line of vision, but neither of them looked away. After what had seemed like hours, she finally blinked and, despite the distance between them, he heard her whisper,
"Ben?"
He didn't know what to say, so he said nothing. When he didn't say anything, she slowly came towards him. All he could do was stare at her. Though it had been two and a half years since he had seen her, she looked older, more mature. Her hair was longer and she was as beautiful as ever. When she got beside his bed, she asked,
"Are you okay?" He cleared his throat, realizing that he had not said anything since he had seen her.
"Yeah, I'm okay."
"What happened to you?" He cleared his throat again, realizing that, for some reason, he was nervous.
"I, umm, I got shot; twice in the side and once in the shoulder. And a roof collapsed on me and I broke my leg."
"Oh my gosh, that's horrible." He heard the sincerity in her voice and it warmed his spirits,
"It's not that bad, it could have been worse." She nodded and then laughed,
"I just can't believe that I'm seeing you again. In a hospital. In California." She smiled,
"I know, what are you doing here? In California, I mean; we live in North Carolina."
"I don't anymore; I live here in Los Angeles now. I moved here about a year ago."
"Why? What about your mom and stuff?" She looked away for a second, then said,
"She died about a year and a half ago." He raised his eyebrow, in shock,
"What?" She nodded,
"She was taking a bunch of depression medication and mixed the wrong ones together. She died in her sleep."
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Allison" She shrugged one shoulder and swiped at a tear that had suddenly formed in her eye.
"It's okay. I just had get out of there, though; my apartment, Wilmington, I couldn't even stay in North Carolina. There was nothing left for me there so I moved to the furthest place I could get to. I know it sounds extreme, but I didn't know what to do at the time. It's grown on me and I really like it here."
"Well, that's good. But I'm really sorry about your mom, I wish I would've known."
"Thank you and I didn't tell anyone for the longest time. I had to tell my family, of course, but I didn't tell my friends or anyone."
"I understand completely." She gave a small smile, then laughed,
"Wow, that's the first time I've talked about my mom to anyone in a long time. And it's the first time I've talked to you since you hung the phone up on me." He nodded,
"I know, I feel terrible about that. I'm so sorry." She shook her head,
"It's fine, don't worry about it." She sighed and then said,
"Well, getting back to being a nurse, has anyone come by to check on you lately?"
"Yeah, Hollie just checked on me a couple of minutes ago."
"Good. Hollie's a sweetheart, I love her to death. Well, I think you should be good for right now. I'm going to go check on some other patients; you should try and get some sleep." She turned to walk away and he called out to her.
"Wait, Allison!" She turned back around to face him and he tried to sit up, but pain shot through his body. He managed to turn over and sit up, putting his weight on his arm and asked,
"You're coming back, aren't you?"
"Well, my shift is over in forty- five minutes. I'm going to help a few more patients and you need to rest for more than forty- five minutes. You'll have another nurse that's on the night shift." He nodded, disappointedly,
"Okay, I guess I'll just see you later, then." She looked at him for a minute, then smiled,
"I'll come back after my shift is over." He looked up at her and then smiled,
"Thank you."
"You're welcome, but rest until I get back."
"I will"
She smiled and looked at him for a second and then turned around and walked away. He watched her walk away, not believing that she was here and knowing, without a doubt, that he was still in love with her.
For the next forty-five minutes, he tried to take Allison's advice and rest. He stayed awake fifteen minutes after Allison had left and ended up sleeping for almost forty- five minutes. When he woke back up, his leg was hurting, more than it did when he was awake. He tried to move it, but pain shot through his leg. He, instinctively, grabbed his left with both of his hands and he felt a surge of pain, bigger this time, run through his shoulder where he had gotten shot. He grunted in pain and gritted his teeth, waiting for the pain to subside. A nurse must have seen his face because she came to the side of his bed,
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine; my leg is just hurting a little bit."
"Do you want some medicine?" She had her hand on his arm and he looked at her,
"Sure, do you have any?"
"Not with me, but I can go get some."
"Thank you."
She smiled and was about to walk away, when they heard someone call out the nurse's name. They both turned and saw Allison walking towards them. Ben couldn't help but smile and, as she got closer, she looked down at him, then up at the nurse,
"Hey, is he okay?"
"Yeah, he was complaining about his leg hurting so I offered to go get him some medicine. His nurse was nowhere to be found so I offered to help." She said the last part sarcastically and Allison motioned to her outfit,
"If you haven't noticed, my shift is over; it ended fifteen minutes ago." She was wearing a pair of jeans and a black long-sleeve shirt and the nurse looked at Allison up and down and said,
"Well, I'm still going to get him some medicine."
"Don't bother, I'm already have some in my purse that I got on the way here." He nurse looked disgusted and looked at Allison for a minute before scoffing and walking away. Ben laughed and looked up at Allison,
"What was that all about?" She smiled and grabbed one of the stools that were stacked up against the wall. She put it down right beside his bed and sat down,
"She's had it out for me since I got here. I work at the hospital right down the street and I guess she's jealous? I have no idea why but that's what she's been telling all of the other nurses. Plus, she has the tendency to flirt with a lot of soldiers, especially injured ones. She believes that she can be their savior or something like that. I wasn't going to let her try and put the moves on you, especially in your condition." He smiled,
"Well, thank you." She smiled and he sat up a little bit, putting his back up against the backboard. When he moved, she smiled and shook her head,
"You don't listen, do you? I keep telling you not to move and stay still as much as possible."
"Well I can't stay still forever; my legs are starting to fall asleep. I haven't gotten up and walked since I got here and, from what Hollie said, I've been here for two days." She raised her eyebrow,
"Has anyone come by and stretched your legs out?"
"I don't think so and I'm getting stiff." She looked around,
"Well, I'm not supposed to, your nurse is actually supposed to do it, but I think it'll be all right. Come on, I'll help you stretch your legs out." He looked at her, suddenly nervous, but he nodded,
"Okay." She got up and moved her stool to the side and came back to the side of his bed,
"Alright, we have to sit you up. Hang your feet over the side of the bed, okay? It might hurt since you haven't moved your legs much. Just put your arm around my shoulder and I'll help you." He nodded and she bent over the bed, closer to him, and he put his arm around her shoulder.
Her face was right beside his and he tried not to stare at her. It was the closest she had been to him in two and a half years and he didn't want her to move. He could smell the lotion and perfume that she had on as she put her hands on the other side of his waist, where he hadn't gotten shot. She slowly pulled him up and he felt his skin almost jump when she put her hands on his waist. It hurt more than he thought it would and he had to grit his teeth as she sat him up.
"Okay, now I'm going to put both of your legs over the side of the bed, tell me if it hurts, alright?"
He nodded and she grabbed his right leg that was in the cast, first and slowly and gently picked it up. He bit his tongue as she put It over the side of the bed and she gently put it down on the ground. She took a deep breath and looked at him and smiled when she saw that he was gritting his teeth.
"Are you okay? It didn't hurt too badly, did it?"
"No, not at all." She laughed,
"Whatever, it was hurting. You don't have to put on a brave face, I know you too well to fall for that. Besides, I think I saw a tear in your eye." He smiled,
"Don't exaggerate, I'm fine. I'm already sitting up and it's only been two days since I got here; that has to be a new record." She laughed again,
"Not really; it's good that you're sitting up, but it's going to be a while until you'll be able to walk and be fully recovered. Plus, it's more than your leg; your side and shoulder also have to fully recover before you're ready to walk out of here." He sighed and she said,
"Hey, don't look so upset; you're going to be fine and you'll get to recover. A lot of these people have physical scars that they'll never recover from." He nodded,
"You're right. Plus, I have you here to keep me company while I get better, right?" She smiled and nodded,
"That's right."
It took almost a half an hour to stretch both of his legs. She easily got his left leg, which was perfectly fine, over the side of the bed and she started with that one. His legs were more asleep than he realized and he instantly felt tingling in his leg as she bent it and massaged it. He had on long pants, so he couldn't feel her touch on his bare skin but, as she massaged his leg he had a feeling that the tingling wasn't coming from the fact that his leg was sleep.
She spent about fifteen minutes on each leg and, when she was finished with his left leg, she moved to his right leg, the one that was in a cast. The cast wasn't like a regular cast that you would get from a doctor's office; it was a huge bandage that was rolled down from his ankle up to his knee. She didn't bend his leg this time, but gently squeezed his cast, barely touching it. She even squeezed his foot for a few minutes, trying to get blood flowing to both his leg and foot. She wrinkled her nose as she was squeezing his foot and said,
"You better be glad I've known you for a while, because I would never do this for anyone I didn't know very, very well." He laughed,
"I appreciate it, thank you so much."
"You're welcome. I wouldn't even do it for you if you weren't crippled. You know I hate touching people's feet."
"I am not crippled."
"Oh whatever, I basically had to drag you and lift you by myself to sit you up." He smiled,
"You know you're supposed to take pity on a cripple, especially this cripple right?" She laughed,
"What do you think I'm doing? And you just admitted right there that you're a cripple."
"No I didn't; you're convinced that I'm a cripple and I was just saying that you should take pity on a cripple since you're convinced that I am one." She laughed again and playfully slapped his leg, which happened to be the leg that was in the cast. He immediately felt a surge of pain and he bit his tongue as he grabbed his leg. As she realized what she had done, she put both hands over her mouth,
"Oh my gosh, Ben, I'm so sorry!" He was still grabbing his leg, but he loosened his grip as the pain subsided. He took a deep breath,
"It's okay, I'm fine."
She smiled, sympathetically, and put her arms around his neck and hugged him. It sort of surprised him, but he hugged her back, cherishing the fact that he was actually holding her in his arms. While they were hugging, they heard someone call her name. Allison pulled away and stood back up and turned around to see who had called her. He sighed and looked also and saw a guy their age, maybe a little older, walking towards them. Ben looked up at Allison and saw her smile and begin to walk towards him,
"Jeremy? What are you doing here?"
He smiled and, as he got closer to her, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. Ben was surprised to say the least. After kissing her, he pulled away to look at her, his arms still wrapped around her waist,
"We were supposed to go to the movies; I was going to meet you at the apartment at 8:30. It's 8:45 and I figured you were still here at work, so I decided to come down here." Allison's back was to Ben so he couldn't see her face, but Jeremy motioned to him with his head,
"So, who's that you had your arms wrapped around? You're not cheating on me, are you?" He heard Allison laugh and say,
"No, I'm not cheating on you; come here, I want you to meet him." Allison turned back around to face him and she led Jeremy over to him. When they got closer, she looked at Ben and he could swear he saw a look of sadness in her eyes but it almost immediately disappeared.
"Jeremy, I want you to meet a friend of mine, Ben Carter. Ben, this is my boyfriend, Jeremy Branch." Jeremy stuck out his hand and Ben, reluctantly, took it and shook his hand,
"It's nice to meet you, Ben."
"You too, Jeremy." Allison smiled and turned back to Jeremy,
"What time does the movie start?"
"9:30, but I want to get there early; I want to get the best seats possible." Allison nodded and Ben heard her whisper,
"Can you give me like five minutes? I'll meet you outside in a bit."
"Okay, don't be too long though, I want to get good seats."
"I know, just five minutes." He nodded and gave her a kiss and turned around and headed back outside, not bothering to say good-bye to Ben. When he had disappeared through the door, Ben said,
"It was nice meeting you, too." Allison turned back around to face him and smiled,
"I'm sorry about him, he's really looking forward to that movie and I completely forgot that I had told him I'd go with him."
"It's fine, Allison." She looked at him, suspiciously, then sighed,
"Well, I better go meet him. I'm sorry, I know I told you I would keep you company, but I already promised I would go with him. You're welcome to go-" As soon as she realized what she was saying, she sighed and said, sincerely,
"Oh gosh, I'm sorry, Ben, I wasn't even thinking." He smiled and waved it off,
"It's okay. I would go with you, but I'm kind of immobile at the moment." She smiled, sadly,
"I'm sorry." He smiled,
"It's okay, go ahead, I'll be here for a while." She smiled again and nodded,
"I promise I'll sit right here with you tomorrow."
"I think you have to anyways, you're my nurse, right? That's your job." She smiled and laughed,
"I'll see you tomorrow, Ben."
"Okay, and thank you for coming back after your shift and sitting with me. And for helping me stretch out my legs, and for getting rid of the slutty nurse." She laughed again,
"You're welcome, it was my pleasure." He smiled,
"Goodnight, Allison." She looked at him a little longer than usual, still smiling, and finally said,
"Goodnight, Ben."
She turned and followed Jeremy outside and he watched her as she walked past the rows of beds and through the doors leading outside. He sighed and struggled to put his legs back in his bed. He bit his tongue again and finally got them in the bed. He lied down and sighed, picturing Allison and Jeremy kissing right in front of him.
Though he had just met Jeremy, he had a bad feeling about him. He definitely didn't look like Allison's type; he had a pair of black skinny jeans and a black t-shirt with a black ripped up jacket on. He had a red toboggan on and he had gages in both of his ears. He would never like any of Allison's boyfriends, but there was something about Jeremy that gave him a bag feeling. Maybe it was the fact that Jeremy looked angry and jealous when he had seen Allison hugging him, or maybe he was reading too much into it.
He couldn't judge Jeremy for his jealously because, honestly, Ben was jealous of him, too. He was jealous that Jeremy was now the guy holding Allison in his arms and the one that was taking her out on a date. Jeremy was now the one that had her heart.
:D :D :D :D :D Allison's back in the story! As if she ever left, right? Bah. I was kind of iffy on the first convo/ first confrontation between Ben and Allison and it wasn't as good as I had liked it to be. I wrote a thousand different scenarios and ended up picking this one. I hope you guys liked it! Review and tell me what you think! Please! :)
