A/N: WARNING: This will be a very heavy chapter. There will be blood; if you're disturbed by it please be aware that it is in fact mentioned several times!
Our friends have escaped but Lewis is in bad condition. What happens when the gang realizes that they won't make it to the hospital in time? Read, enjoy, and review! Take care, everyone.
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"Denman there's no point in trying to save this thing, we've gotta get off of it!"
"You're mot moving an inch, Eric! Get down there and help me fix this!"
"But Linda we're about to—"
"NOW, Eric! The kid is as good as dead, they don't have anywhere to go! Now come on!"
The voices sounded like they were coming from a million miles away, despite them coming from just a few yards away on the other side of Rikki's fire. Cora heard nothing as Dr. Denman and Eric hurried out of the rain and back down below the deck of the rapidly sinking yacht, joining John in the lost cause of trying to mend the crack. She stepped out onto the deck and for the moment, she didn't care about the rain or the fact that the yacht was about to capsize. For the moment, she was deaf. For the moment she couldn't think of the indescribable pain wracking her body and only barely realized that her legs were carrying her rapidly towards Lewis.
Emma, Cleo and Rikki, though terrified at the fact that their friend had just been shot, exchanged a nervous glance – Cora was about to step directly out into the rain. Rikki reached out a hand to try to grab her before the rain hit her, only to find that Cora's hold was working in reverse now – keeping anyone from getting close to her. She kept walking quickly, not even noticing her friends as if she were in a trance. Rikki glanced quickly at Cleo and Cleo focused hard, tightening her fingers just in time to extend her push against the water around Cora, enveloping her friend in a rainless dome.
Cora dropped to her knees next to Lewis and Emma backed up slightly, giving her some room. Cora could barely feel it but she knew that her entire body was shaking. She raised her still bleeding hands and very carefully reached for the bottom of Lewis's shirt and tugged it up, and when her eyes met the wound a disorienting throb of pain flooded her entire midsection. The bullet had gone straight through the front of Lewis's side, and the wound bled in both the front and the back. Her hands clenched involuntarily over and over again and she felt her breathing start to come in ragged pants. She let her hands flutter helplessly around the wound, terrified to touch him and searching desperately and unsuccessfully for something she could do. Her side burned painfully as her body immediately and automatically absorbed his pain and her body tensed and convulsed hard over and over again. Lewis's eyes opened groggily, conscious not only of the fact that he wasn't feeling pain from the wound anymore, but also conscious of why. His eyes and drew up to hers and he shook his head once as if silently telling her to stop. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes any second as she stared back at him but she did not move or stop as the storm raged around them.
It felt like days that she sat watching over him, though it was only a couple of seconds. An ominous creaking and loud cracking roared up from under them – the yacht was splitting as it sank. The sound did not make her flinch nor did she turn around as she spoke to her friends.
"He needs a hospital." Her voice was flat but they could all see that her words were true. In another instant Nate made his way over and very carefully helped Lewis to stand up and walked with him to the side of the yacht where he and Cleo had secured the lifeboat just a minute or so earlier.
Rikki watched nervously as Nate helped Lewis onto the boat and laid him down. The storm was letting up but the yacht was still going down, and fast. This was bad, but she was determined to not let it get worse. Her blue eyes darted around quickly and she made some fast decisions.
"Cleo, Emma. You guys go ahead and we'll meet you at the beach. I'm going to stick with these guys and keep an eye on Zane." She said quickly. Emma and Cleo exchanged worried glances but nodded and quickly hurried to the side of the yacht, diving into the choppy water. Rikki immediately grabbed Zane's arm and roughly shoved him in the direction of the lifeboat, and he stumbled a little before resigning and climbing in. She followed, realizing that Cora had already made it into the boat. Rikki worriedly watched the scene as Nate started the motor and pulled the boat away from the doomed yacht. She took one final glance at the yacht as she watched the deck that they had just been standing on split and felt anger build in her chest. As they pulled away, Rikki clenched her fingers once hard sending a final bolt of lightning crashing down on the vessel right before it went under. It was only a matter of seconds before the rainwater transformed her and she sighed, turning her attention back to her friends. She bit her lip. Lewis was losing a lot of blood, regardless of the fact that he wasn't able to feel it. She frowned sadly as the lifeboat sped forward in the rain, sitting by helplessly.
"Hang in there for us, McCartney…" Rikki muttered quietly, wringing her hands slightly. It was then that she felt a hand rest on top of hers and she looked up to see that the hand belonged to Zane. She smoldered, cutting her eyes sharply at him and clenched her fingers, burning him and causing him to draw his hand away quickly. Her eyes flicked back to Lewis and Cora, who hovered over him quietly. The sight before her made Rikki even more uneasy and she focused on the girl's face, concerned.
Cora hovered silently over Lewis, holding herself up on her arms with her tail extended behind her. The rain had already soaked through her hair, which now hung to one side of her face, dripping to the floor of boat. To those around her, she appeared to be in some sort of strange, deep and unbreakable trance. Aside from the rampant trembling, she was completely still. Her jaw was tight and tears threatened to fall from her eyes, but they did not. She stared down at Lewis's injury hard; so, she'd stopped him from feeling any pain, but the pain was not what would kill him and so it was not good enough. Her head was throbbing and buzzing so loudly that she felt like her body was short-circuiting; her breathing came in pants and every inch of her body was aching badly, but it still wasn't enough. She was useless now, and another person she loved was going to slip away at her fault.
Suddenly something bigger than her took over. Her mind completely shut down and she stopped thinking, her body moving on its own accord. One of her battered hands rose slightly and came to rest on Lewis's chest on top of the injury. The fingers surrounding it twitched into a small clench on their own and her eyes never moved away. However, after a moment or two something strange began to happen and there was a peculiar warmth in the front of Cora's side; but as the seconds passed, the warmth quickly progressed to a burning excruciating heat that felt like it was ripping right through her skin. She did not move, but her eyes closed tightly and her breathing now came in hard heaving gasps. Her fingers clenched on their own a little harder and she ground her teeth together as her body continued to shaking a little. The burning pain in her side was crushing and felt like it was getting deeper, but she remained frozen in place. Consciously, Cora had no idea what she was doing but from the outside it couldn't have been clearer.
Rikki and Zane watched the scene in wide-eyed shock. The bleeding wound at the front of Lewis's chest was very slowly stitching together and disappearing; at the same time, however, there was a small identical hole forming at the front of Cora's chest that bled only a little at first, but as the minutes went on it got worse and worse. Zane's fear and confusion read all over him and his skin had gone greenish. Rikki's face had paled to a ghostly white and her mouth dropped open slightly as she watched, and even Nate had noticed that something was wrong and kept glancing back at the scene every few seconds. Rikki gulped slightly, knowing what was going on but not understanding how it was possible.
'It can't be possible, there's no way it's for real… I've gotta be seeing things,' She thought, quickly wiping a hand over each of her eyes. Opening them she frowned and her heart beat faster, finding herself met with the exact same sight as before, 'Or not. But this… Her powers are mental only; she can't heal physical problems, just the pain – we've already tried!' Rikki let out a nervous groan and shook herself out of it. The rain had stopped but the small lifeboat was still quickly speeding forward with the shoreline not too far in the distance so she quickly steam-dried herself, losing her tail. She had to do something as she glanced back towards Cora and Lewis – Lewis was still slipping in and out of consciousness but some of the color had already come back into his face. Cora, on the other hand, still hadn't moved an inch but remained in her trance. Rikki's eyes quickly flicked back and forth between Cora's slowly deepening wound and Lewis's slowly healing one – it was as if she was sucking the injury away from him and letting it manifest in her own body. It did appear to be helping, but there was one big glaring problem – if this went on for much longer, this would undoubtedly kill the girl; and she wasn't showing any signs of stopping. Rikki picked her head up and saw that they were coming up on the beach quickly; she could see Emma and Cleo standing waiting for them. Quickly raising a hand she clenched her fist tightly and within a few seconds, Cora's tail was gone but the girl still hadn't moved.
Nate slowed up the lifeboat as they approached the shallower waters of the shore and Rikki tried reaching out, intending to try to shake Cora out of her trance. However, her arm did not get too far before it reached an invisible barrier – Cora still wasn't letting anyone near her. The boat pulled up onto the sand and Rikki immediately jumped out with Zane following. Cleo and Emma hurried over to Rikki quickly and glanced at Cora.
"How is Lewis holding up? The ambulance is on it's way," Emma began quickly, then she froze, taking immediate note of a noticeable dark red stain that was spreading across the front of Cora's black work shirt. She wasn't sure if she should be more worried about the blood, or the fact that her friend was in some sort of weird trance, "What's the matter with her?!" Emma asked. Rikki bit her lip.
"I'll explain later, but I'd doubt you need three guesses to figure it out," She muttered breathlessly, hearing the ambulance sirens coming closer. Emma's eyes widened with realization, but Rikki spoke before she got the chance to, "We have to get her away from him, though," Rikki held out her arm to stop Emma as she started to move forward to pull Cora away, "Don't bother, I've tried. Her powers really don't want any interruptions, it seems."
"Cora! Come on sweetie, the ambulance is here; Lewis has to go to the hospital now." Cleo called from as close to the girl as she could get, which was still about 5 feet away. Cora's look of concentration faltered little and she picked her head up weakly, and Cleo stumbled forward a little as Cora's security bubble popped. She quickly hurried to the boat and reached out, lifting Cora up and pulling her out of it, standing with her on the sand to its side. The paramedics rushed past the two of them, and Cleo felt her friend flinch in her arms toward Lewis as they picked him up and secured him to a stretcher. Cleo frowned sadly and held the girl in place.
"How long has this man been bleeding?" A female paramedic asked her quickly. Cleo glanced briefly at Rikki before responding.
"15, maybe 20 minutes now."
"What happened to him?" She questioned again, busily strapping a mask onto Lewis's face. Cleo exchanged another nervous glance with Rikki and Emma. She had no idea what to tell this woman! Seeing this, Rikki quickly spoke up.
"Uh, a boating accident during the storm." She said quickly. After all, it wasn't a complete lie. The female paramedic shot the 5 remaining youths a look of complete dismay.
"You must've been out of your minds going out in a storm like that!" The woman exclaimed, helping her crew lift the stretcher and begin to hurriedly wheel it back to the ambulance, "You can meet him at the hospital." And with that, Lewis was put in the back of the vehicle and it took off, sirens blaring once again leaving Rikki, Emma, Cleo, Cora, Nate and Zane standing on the beach.
Cleo felt Cora trying and failing to squirm out of her grip in the direction that the ambulance had just left and furrowed her eyebrows, puzzled; she wasn't holding onto Cora that tightly, and she knew that the girl was usually a lot stronger than that.
"Cora...?" Cleo pulled her arms away from Cora and the girl immediately stumbled from the lack of support but pulled herself up straight again and remained silent. Nate approached Cleo from behind and spoke quietly.
"Uh… I think she needs a doctor, sweetheart." He said. No sooner had the words left his mouth did he and Cleo feel a gentle push nudging them several feet away from where Cora stood completely still with both of her hands pressed firmly against the side of her chest. Rikki sighed, frustrated, from where she stood with Emma and Zane.
"I would say it looks like she doesn't want one." She groaned, pressing a hand to her forehead and briefly shutting her eyes. Cleo glanced worriedly at Rikki, then back up at Nate.
"What are you talking about?!"
"Cleo, sweetie… the blood on her hands isn't Lewis's." Emma said softly, hoping Cleo would get the hint. It took only a second for it to sink in.
"Oh God! How can we get help for her if we can't get near her?!" Cleo exclaimed, puzzled. They spoke as if Cora weren't standing among them, but it mattered little to her. Her body may have been with them, but her mind was somewhere else.
Rikki closed her blue eyes briefly and sighed. She may not have been on the best terms with Cora at first, but she understood what the girl had just done. Rikki had watched as an inexplicable supernatural force pulsed through Cora and allowed her body to push into powers that she did not even have. She knew that Cora had just absorbed a decent amount of Lewis's injury and as a result was in very, very bad condition. But, she and the Californian had more in common than she had thought. Cora was just as stubborn as Rikki could be, and Rikki knew that no matter how much blood she had lost, Cora wouldn't let anybody, even her friends, touch her until Lewis was taken care of. She bit her lip softly: Rikki would have done the same for Zane, once upon a time. She wanted the shared injury to be taken care of just as much as Cleo and Emma did, but if a team of doctors and nurses came at Cora and they were all suddenly and unexplainably shoved away, their secret was in danger. She opened her eyes and after another second of silence, she spoke.
"We have to wait until she's seen him."
"Rikki, she could be dead by the time Lewis is out of surgery…" Nate began, but Rikki quickly cut him off.
"Try for yourself, then. See where you get!" She snapped. Nate frowned slightly and moved to the side of Cleo and tried slowly approaching his co-worker. Once more, he and everyone else were held away by a 5 foot barrier that surrounded Cora, "I told you," She spat, frustrated, and then turned to Cora, "Cora, look… You're hurt, and you know you're hurt – I doubt you care. Whatever, you don't have to. We'll go to the hospital. No one has to touch you until you see Lewis, all right? But you've got to pull back so that we can help you get there." There was a second or two of silence and they could tell by watching her face that Cora was considering it, however she remained completely silent. After another moment, the secure bubble that Cora had in place around herself popped. Rikki let out a sigh of relief and uncrossed her arms, immediately heading to the girl's side, "Thank you. Now, let's go."
-
The waiting room had a stark, cold emotion entirely separate from the dear and anxiousness running through the minds of the people sitting in it. Cora could feel the pulse of both. She sat upright in the chair between Rikki and Emma. Cleo sat across from them and Nate and Zane sat whispering heatedly back and forth next to her.
Aside from a steady trembling that wracked Cora's body every few seconds she remained completely motionless. Lewis had gone into surgery almost 45 minutes earlier, and she had been bleeding slowly but steadily for the past hour. Logically, Cora was conscious of the fact that she was essentially bleeding to death, but she couldn't feel it. Was there pain? Sure, no shortage of it. Was there the culmination of everyone's worry over Lewis taking root in her stomach? Absolutely. But she couldn't move yet; not until she saw him with her own eyes. Her body remained in a trance all its own, with a mission.
When they had gotten to the hospital, Cora grabbed a towel from an unsupervised pile on a shelf and ducked into a bathroom. As quickly as possible, she unbuttoned her work shirt and winced when she realized just how bad the injury was. Moving as if she were a machine, she layered cheap paper towels over the wound and secured them with the towel she'd grabbed on her way in. Putting her shirt back on, she strapped everything down with her shirt's belt and head back out to the waiting room. The hospital staff, seeing that the 5 youths were a hair short of a mess, offered them blankets. Cora enveloped herself in hers to better hide the injury, and made certain to keep her hands tucked inside of it at all times. She sighed and her body shuddered: just a few more minutes.
Emma glanced sideways at Cora every few minutes. She was a little concerned that her friend still hadn't said a word; they had no way of knowing what was happening, or how she was feeling. She didn't dare ask to see the injury herself – Emma couldn't handle blood very well, nor did she think Cora would want any attention drawn to it yet. She sighed quietly, but Nate and Zane's whispers had grown louder and she picked her head up, staring at them.
"Yes it is, Nate!"
"Zane… it's not. You're not well, mate, I'm worried…"
"You're supposed to be my best fucking friend and now this?!" Zane stood up out of his chair, attracting the attention of some of the hospital staff , "None of this would have ever happened if it weren't for her ! She only wanted one mermaid and I was doing my job – I did what I had to do!"
Emma sighed and bit her lip upon hearing the dreaded m-word . Zane had gone back and forth between hating Cora and earnestly apologizing to her four times in the past hour. It made little difference; as far as they could all tell, Cora couldn't even hear him and she certainly didn't respond. But this time, his hatred had blown into an outright fit. A tall muscular man wearing hospital scrubs approached him and glanced down at Nate, who remained calmly seated, holding Cleo's hand.
"Excuse me, sir – is everything all right, here?" He questioned, crossing his arms and eying Zane curiously. Nate sighed.
"He's a little wound up…"
"And you all told me she was evil?! You're the ones being stupid and selfish; she was going to be fair about it this time! I gave her one mermaid, she didn't touch the rest! D'you have any idea what you could have done ?!" Zane raged, his voice reaching an almost screaming level. People in the hall stopped and watched him curiously. The male nurse that had approached Nate glanced at the rest of them, raising an eyebrow.
"What's he talking about?" He asked. Rikki spoke up immediately before anyone had a chance to even get nervous about Zane's big mouth.
"We've no idea; he keeps harassing us with this nonsense, this man is pretty unbalanced if you know what I mean." She said simply, trying to sound as convincing as possible. The man glanced around at the rest of them who quickly nodded in agreement, and the man pulled a small hand-radio out of his pocket and quickly muttered something into it.
"Yeah, I need security in the Wing E Waiting Room..."
Emma blinked incredulously at Rikki . Sure, it had been true that Zane was unbalanced, and he was causing another scene, and he did need help but she hadn't expected it to happen this way. Her mouth turned up into a slight smirk as everyone but Cora watched security pull Zane away, restraining him by his arms. It was a relief after all the trouble he'd caused, but they couldn't help but feel sadness as well. Zane had been their friend once, despite how badly he'd lost his way. But they could only hope that wherever he was taken would give him the help that he so desperately needed. There was only a lull for another second before Cora's head suddenly pricked up. The others took note of the sudden movement and quickly looked in the same direction that she was looking in. They found themselves met with a small gray-haired man with a kind face, wearing a long white coat. He smiled softly at the group before addressing them.
"I take it that you all must be Mr. McCartney's bunch?" He asked, his voice friendly. The group nodded, staring at the old man intently, "Wonderful. Well, you'll all be happy to know that your friend Lewis's surgery went well. You all must have called just in time. You were lucky; if he had lost any more blood, he probably would have died," Though the man sounded cheerful, Cora felt the throbbing in her midsection pulse, burning. She let her eyes close a little, but opened them immediately when the man began to speak again, "He's resting comfortably in a room, but he should be awake any time now. I can start letting you in to see him if you'd like – one by one of course, we can't overwhelm him just yet." He smiled at them, glancing around at the 5 youths. Cora immediately started pushing herself out of her seat. Seeing that she was having some trouble, Emma reached for her and gently helped to pull her friend into a standing position. Cora's mouth twitched into a weak smile, silently thanking Emma and pulled the blanket tighter around herself, concealing her injuries further, "Ah, I take it you're first, then, miss?" The old man chuckled quietly. Cora twitched a grateful smile at him and he led her out of the waiting room, leaving Emma, Rikki, and Cleo exchanging nervous glances with one another in their wake.
As the seconds passed it was getting harder and harder to walk like a normal person. But Lewis was okay, Cora reminded herself. He was okay and just knowing that was already making her forget about the pain. They reached the open door of Lewis's room and Cora stared at him laying in bed, feeling herself fall into a comforting daze again. The doctor's voice shook her out of her reverie.
"Are you all right, dear? You look a little sick," He inquired, tilting his head and staring at her curiously. Cora quickly nodded – she was so close, she couldn't take an interruption now, "You're sure?" Another fast nod. She felt her eyes slip back to Lewis – so, so close. "All right, then. Be gentle with him, and no more boating trips in the middle of hurricanes, yeah?" The man warned with a warm smile. Cora nodded again, returning the smile, and in another second the doctor was gone, leaving her standing in the open doorway alone. She held onto the door-frame for support as she made her way into the room, heading for the guest-chair. Her adrenaline was tapping out fast, but she used what was left of it to use her telekinesis to push the chair closer the Lewis's bed. She smiled lazily as she sat down in it and pulled the blanket a little tighter around herself as she watched over him; she was glad that she had it now, she was beginning to get cold.
Only a minute or so past before Lewis started stirring. Her head pricked up attentively and her body automatically leaned forward in the chair, making her wince a little.
'Oh, nice one. Forget about the hole in your chest already? Jesus Christ almighty, Cora...' She ridiculed herself, frowning slightly and easing herself forward more carefully this time. In another few seconds, Lewis's eyes slid open and she beamed tiredly: he was all right. It took him a moment for him to realize where he was, but as he did he opened his eyes further and picked his arms up slightly, moving as if he were about to try to push himself up in bed. Cora stood up quickly, cursing herself again and reached out with her powers, gently holding him in place and helping him lean back against the pillows again. He realized he wasn't alone and his eyes quickly found her.
"Cora!" A tired smile of relief touched his lips. It was contagious, and she smiled back.
"You shouldn't be moving yet." She said quietly, leaning down very carefully to kiss his cheek, almost as if she were afraid to break him. Her voice cracked a little from lack of use, and she very carefully sat on the edge of the bed to his side, watching over him silently. She very carefully and lightly rested her hand on top of his through the blanket that she had wrapped around her, intent on making him as comfortable as possible – and that certainly didn't include letting him see her hands.
Lewis leaned back on the pillow and sighed contently, glancing around the room. He let his mind travel back to the events that had gotten him there, and his smile began to falter.
"Cora... What happened? Where's Denman, and her men? What ever happened to Zane? And everyone else..." Lewis had begun to panic a little and understandably so, and as his panic heightened Cora could feel it. However, she had to keep him from getting too upset. His doctor had told her to be gentle with him and she wasn't going to screw up already; she needed to keep him calm.
"Shh, Lewis... Everybody is okay – everyone who matters, anyway," She added with a smirk, "Denman is gone, her men too. Everyone else is out there in the waiting room, I promise." She smiled tiredly but reassuringly, glad when she felt his nerves ease a little.
It didn't last long. After a few seconds, she watched realization work its way onto his face as he slowly remembered the night's events. His eyes slipped down to where her hand rested on top of his. Cora felt a sudden twinge in her stomach and before she had time to stop him, Lewis pushed the blanket out of the way and grabbed a hold of her wrist, pulling her hand out into the open. The twinge in her stomach escalated into a full blown lurch so powerful that she saw dots in front of her eyes in less than a second.
"Why... why are your hands still—" He began to speak, his own voice cracking as it got louder. His heart-rate machine started beeping faster, and between the pain coursing through her and the added stress from the machine, Cora was dizzy: she had to calm him down, and touching his hand wasn't enough.
"No, Lewis... it's okay... It'll get fixed in a little while..." She began, dazedly looking him over and trying to figure out what she could do. She was half terrified to touch him, but she couldn't let him get so worked up this soon after his surgery. She gently pulled her arm out of his grip and leaned forward, shutting her eyes in concentration as she very carefully wrapped her arms around his shoulders, clinging to him. It took a few seconds but Cora sighed shakily as she felt him begin to calm down in response to her powers: it had worked. As if the success were a cue, she felt her body start to go limp against Lewis. She tried hard to fight it, to keep the pressure of her body weight off of his chest but it was growing more and more difficult with each passing second. She squeezed her eyes shut, frustrated with herself as she realized that as the injury was catching up with her, the trance of her Protection was wearing off quickly. She clenched her jaw, determined; she could just hold out a little longer, just until he was resting again...
But through the daze of his medication, Lewis knew this didn't feel right. This wasn't the way that Cora usually held him; something was off. He creased his eyebrows, puzzled as he felt her body tense and go limp every few seconds, and even as her muscles relaxed there was still something wrong – a strange trembling. After almost a full minute he felt her pull away, and with the sudden draft came something else: there was a odd warm wetness against his chest. For a moment he wondered if he had managed to rip his stitches already, but when he glanced down he froze. There was a large bloodstain against the front of his hospital gown: it was on the opposite side of body from his injury. His eyes slowly cast back up to Cora, who remained seated on the edge of his bed, but her eyes were closed. Her skin had paled considerably from the way he had seen it the previous day, before this whole mess erupted. He felt his chest turn to ice as he began to put the pieces together in his clouded thoughts, and he very carefully reached out, pulling the blanket away from her body and letting it drop to the floor. The blood hadn't come from his own wound.
"Cora...?" His voice creaked as he immediately groped around for the nurse-alert button on the side of his bed. He pressed it repeatedly and gulped. A sleepy half-smirk played across her lips but she did not open her eyes.
"Hmm...?"
"Oh my God! Miss, you get away from him this instant!" A team of nurses ran into the room in response to Lewis's alert call. Seeing the blood on his gown and only able to see Cora's back, they charged the bed and one of the larger female nurses pulled Cora up out of her sitting position. Lewis groaned and sat up straight instantly in a panic.
"No, you've got it wrong, she didn't hurt me! She needs a doctor, now!" He yelled, hoping the nurse would let up her grip on Cora. Upon hearing him, the still suspicious nurses turned Cora to face them and their faces relaxed into quiet shock.
"Oh my goodness... how did she even get in here?!" One young nurse asked, panic-stricken and ran out of the room, returning seconds later with an empty gurney.
"She's got her ways, I'm sure..." Lewis muttered under his breath. He pushed himself up a little higher in the bed, watching the scene horror-stricken as his girlfriend's legs gave way from under her and she collapsed in the arms of the nurse that had pulled her away. Within a few seconds the team of four nurses had laid the girl on the gurney.
As darkness started to set in, Cora silently wished that she had been able to hold out until Lewis had gone back to sleep. Her mind held onto him for as long as possible, but once the nurses pushed the gurney through the door and out of Lewis's room, the adrenaline that had been the only thing keeping her awake burst like a balloon and everything around her went black.
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A/N: What happens to Cora? And what bad news does Emma get from the doctor? Review for chapter 14, take care everyone.