Disclaimer: I do not own Blood and Chocolate or any of its character. :tear, tear:
Thank you Mrs. Dom Masbolle about the inn info! I don't know how, but that totally escaped me…..well, I'm just a ditz….anyways, thanks also to Sweetly Sarcastic and Wolf-Man No Like His Kibbles and everyone else who has been reviewing!! I must say that trying to figure out who should be in the car has been driving me CAZEE! And Mrs. Dom, I didn't say it in chapter 7 but thanks for the idea of Vivian becoming really smart, it gave me some other ideas!! Anyways, no more procrastinating, here's chapter numba 9!!
Chapter 9:
Teal and Pink Striped Couches
Ulf raced past Finn into the car and slammed the door shut, waiting for the car to go. Willem followed behind him, but stopped at the door just as Finn had. Willem placed a hand on Finn's shoulder and urged him into the car.
"C'mon, get in. I'll go back and make sure that no one gets suspicious. You ride with Vivian."
"Are you sure? I can go," was Finn's nervous reply. Getting in that dusty blue colored car was the last thing he wanted to do now.
"Get in the car," growled Gregory, "you want her to lose even more blood?" Finn seated Vivian in the middle seat in the back row of the car and reluctantly sat down next to her. Gregory turned around to face Finn.
"Shut the door why don't you." As he slammed the door he looked to Willem for help, but all he did was stalk off into the woods. As he turned back toward Vivian from the window he could feel the tension in the car.
"You boys better pray to the Moon that Vivian is alright," said the old woman, bitterness and concern in her voice, "Bring her to my house Gregory, I'll look at her there." Gregory didn't say anything in reply; he just concentrated on the road.
"We tried to stop her Aunt Persia, we really did…," said Finn.
"You better save that for Gabriel. He's not going to pity you, you know." She paused and the silence in the humming car built more tension. "Maybe you will all learn a lesson now! To stop fooling around! This isn't completely Vivian's fault!" The silence built up again, but no one dared speak a word anymore.
When the five reached Persia's house they piled in with Persia in the lead and Finn carrying a pale Vivian behind her.
"Sit her down by the table on that chair." Finn did as he was told, relieved that her temper was going down. They were all gathered in a room which held all of Persia's potions, some of which were already boxed up for the move to Canada. She rummaged through boxes and cabinets hastily producing swabs and ointments. Then she brought all of her findings to the table and placed them about the wood so she could see each clearly.
After placing everything down, she grabbed a wash cloth and dipped it into a jug of water. Then, she took the wash cloth and dabbed it over Vivian's wound. The cut was deep and the blood that soiled her hair was dry and hard. Once Persia got most of the caked blood off of the wound she replaced her cloth with gauze.
"Gregory go into the kitchen and get a tall glass of water for me. Finn come here and hold this down," said Persia, indicating the cotton that was starting to seep with blood. Once her hands were free she went back to her bottles and found a container filled with pills. She shook two out of the small cylinder and went back to Vivian with the pills and another gauze. She motioned to Finn to hand her the one that was now soaked with blood and placed the other one on top of the wound.
When Gregory returned to the room he handed Persia the water who, in turn, handed it to Vivian.
"Now, do you think you can swallow these?" Vivian nodded slightly and took the pills. She placed the first one on the back of her tongue and took a generous swig of the water. As she followed the same procedure for the second one Ulf spoke.
"What do the pills do?" Finn and Gregory turned to him forgetting that he was in the room. He stood in the corner, arms folded, leaning against the beige wall.
"Hopefully they'll clot the blood, but I don't have anything for the wound itself. We're going to half to go to the hospital so she can get stitches."
"We should go now then."
"We should, but I have to call Esme first," she walked over to a desk and picked up a cordless phone, "I'll need her to fill out the paper work."
"We'll get in the car then. I'll take Vivian," volunteered Finn. The three of them trudged to the car. Gregory started the car and sighed.
"Why did you pick up Persia?" asked Finn.
"I'll tell you later," was the short reply. Persia opened the car door and sat in the front seat.
"Did you call Gabriel?" asked Finn, panicked.
"No, I won't rat you out. But don't come crying to me when he finds out. It's only a matter of time until he does, so don't think he won't."
"Was Esme home?"
"No, she's at work. Rudy answered the phone, so I told him what happened. I couldn't just lie to him. He said that he would pick up Esme and bring her to the hospital."
"You told him not to tell anyone about this, right?" asked Gregory, driving the car crazily down the road.
"No, I won't hide things from the pack. Keeping secrets only leads to mistrust and more havoc then its worth. You boys should know that by now. You've only had people punishing you since Moon knows when!" she waved her hands in the air for effect. No one said anything; no one had anything to say.
"Can't you drive any faster?" said an annoyed Finn. Gregory faced him, showering him with growls and snarls.
"Gregory! Keep your eyes on the road!" Persia snapped, "Finn, don't be a back-seat driver." The rest of the ride was filled with honking from Gregory as he tried to swerve around people. When they finally made it to the hospital, Vivian was just about to reach unconsciousness.
They hurried inside the waiting room to find Esme yelling at a nurse.
"I'm her mother! Why can't you take me to her?!"
"I'm sorry Ms., but no one under that name has been here."
"Esme!" called Persia, "she's right here." Esme rushed over to her daughter and brushed away the hair that fell around her face. Her eyes were red and puffed and she held tissues in her hand.
"What happened?" she looked to Persia for an answer and blew on her nose. Rudy joined the group and placed a hand on Esme's shoulder.
"It's not my story to tell," said Persia calmly, looking to the group of boys huddled around Vivian and Esme. Esme looked up quizzically toward them, a new stream of tears making their way down her flushed cheeks. None of them wanted to talk about what happened; none of them wanted it to be their head on the chopping block.
"For Moon's sake! Will somebody answer me?" she yelled and her whole face turned a tomato red. Gregory looked to Finn and Ulf looked back and forth between the two.
"I had to tell Persia what happened," said Gregory defensively.
"Aunt Persia," said Persia giving Gregory a light slap on the back of his head.
"Fine," said Finn giving Gregory a nasty look, "Esme, I really don't think now is the time to discuss what happened. Vivian needs stitches right away."
"Someone better explain later, or bones will crunch." She gave a threatening look to all of the boys around her then stormed off towards the annoyed-looking nurse. Finn took Vivian and brought her over a hideous teal and pink leather striped couch that squeaked as Finns' jeans rubbed against it. He held her protectively and slightly rocked her back and forth in his arms. Vivian tried to get him to stop, but she was too weak and couldn't find the words to do so, so she just moaned instead.
In a few minutes Esme disappeared behind the nurse's desk. No doubt to fill out the paper work that Persia said she would have to do. Once Rudy was sure that Esme would be alright with the nurse he strode back toward the somber group. He sat down across from Persia in an arm chair with a gray base color and the same pink and teal stripes.
"Esme told them that she fell down the stairs into a door knob. It's reasonable after all."
"Mmhm, they would probably get suspicious if they found out that she tried to jump off of a building," said Persia rubbing her eyes.
"She did what?!" roared an outraged Rudy, looking to the three boys spread out on the leather couch. Finn and Gregory scowled at Rudy, trying to warning him not to talk about it there with so many people around, while Ulf looked scared.
"I think I should call Gabriel," his eyes were full of concern.
"No!" yelled Finn and Gregory in unison, but before Rudy could voice a reply a nurse carrying a clipboard walked over.
"Is there a Vivian Gandillon here?" Vivian shifted in Finn's arms, trying to get up, but he wouldn't allow it.
"I have her here," he stood up.
"Very well," was the nurse's skeptical reply, "don't touch anything when you bring her down and no fooling around." She could see plainly from his and Gregory's attitude that they were trouble makers. She turned around and walked to a door, holding it open for Finn. He casually walked through the door and following the nurse the length of the hallway into a tiny room. The room with white plaster walls was filled with a counter that took up one wall.
On that counter was a sink and a paper towel dispenser. Aside the sink was a metal jar, which contents were unable to be viewed. There were posters on the wall about smoking and drinking and their ill effects. Then opposite the counter was a cot with teal and pink stripes, just like the couch, but was hidden from view due to the white parchment paper that covered it. Finn sat Vivian down the cot and the paper crunched under her light weight.
After Vivian was situated Finn jumped up next to her and snaked his arm around her waist to support her. Moments later a man in a white doctor's robe walked into the room, also carrying a clipboard, inspecting it carefully.
"Vivian Gandillon," he said finally looking up, "I am Dr. Gret."
"Hi doctor," Finn was the one who spoke.
"Hello," he looked at him quizzically, "are you related to her?"
"Not exactly, I'm her boyfriend." The doctor's furrowed brow smoothed out. He smiled and then placed his handy-dandy clipboard on the gray counter. As he did so, the nurse that had showed Finn the claustrophobic room accompanied Esme to it as well. Esme fled into the room going straight to Vivian, hugging her tight.
"Who are you?" asked the doctor.
"Her mother, of course," she said looking appalled that he would ask that question.
"Well now that her mother is her you'll have to leave…," said Dr. Gret searching for the boy's name.
"Finn," Finn supplied for him.
"Finn," he smiled, "I'm sorry but we have a strictly family policy here."
"Leave him be," shooed Esme, "it will do him good."
"Okay then," he reached over to the sink and quickly washed his hands. When he was finished he turned to Esme. "My name is Dr. Gret," he extended a hand to her and she accepted. "I'm going to have to numb Vivian's head before I put the staples in."
"Staples!" exclaimed Esme, "I thought she was getting stitches."
"Stitches depend on the wound. Staples are easier for the patient and easier to put in. Stitches, on the other hand, can get messy, especially when you have a head of hair in your way. So first, I'll numb her head by giving her two needles in the head where the wound and then we'll give her three staples for it."
"Will it hurt her?" asked Esme gripped Vivian's hand.
"Not at all," said the doctor with fake reassurance, "I'll be right back with everything." With that the doctor left the room. A little while later, with a numb head and three staples to go with it, Vivian was carried out of the hospital and brought back home.
This was a REALLY hard chapter for me to write, but I had fun doing it! I feel like all my writing ability is completely drained out of me (or staring at the computer for endless amounts of time has made me a useless lump). Reviews would be wonderful after such a chapter (it's also my longest one so far). An update for the next chapter might be slower depending on reviews cuz I feel totally pooped and most likely will be this way for a couple of days (cuz that's the way I usually am after a chapter- pff pretty pathetic). My update last time was tremendously fast because it was a weekend and I had nothing better to do. I feel soooo sooo sooo (I don't care about comma's) bad about leaving Gabriel out of this chap, but I can't write anymore, I feel totally dead. Please review!!! The next chap depends on reviews I remind you! With that said, I sleep!