Chapter 9 Rosemary

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute and the Makah that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe for betaing.

Seth found that when he was out on patrol, he was always thinking about scents and what things he could take back to Rose for her to smell.

Jake finally lost it with him when he spent most of one patrol with his tail up in the air, snuffling about in the undergrowth.

Jake: what the fuck are you doing Seth?

Seth: trying to find things that smell good… that smell strong… for Rose… you know.

Jake: for Rose?

Seth: yeah … she has her eyes open now… so I thought maybe she can smell stuff too… that it would help to stimulate her senses

Wolf Jake just stared at him.

Seth: I took her in some cedar branches once… she seemed to like it

Wolf Jake looked like he was actually thinking about that.

Jake: rosemary… there's a rosemary patch … it's in the yard of this old ruined house… you know the one? That stuff stinks.

Seth: that's a great idea… can we go get some now?

Jake: sure, sure… I'll show you where it is…

The two ran off together on their little side job.

Seth: oh my god this stuff tastes horrible… I am never going to get the taste out of my mouth…

Jake: laughs… she won't mind the wolf slobber?

Seth: I'll clean it up before I give it to her… can I run in now and give it to her? While its still fresh?

Jake:shook his head… sure, sure

Seth was already gone before Jake remembered it was the middle of the night. He sent Seth a thought that it was pretty late. Seth said Rose wouldn't care.

He phased back in the forest behind the hospital, slipped his cut-offs on and rinsed the rosemary under a faucet in the hospital garden. He shook it off to dry it.

He waited at the locked external door until the night security guard saw him and buzzed him in. He had made sure to be friendly with the guy before, just in case. He sneaked into the ward, dressed only in the cut-offs and padded quietly through the darkened corridors in his bare feet with the giant sprig in his hand. He found her room easily.

He let himself into her room; none of the nurses saw him.

"Rose," he whispered. "Are you awake?"

She blinked rapidly when he turned on a lamp. He shoved the rosemary into her hand and under her nose. He crushed the leaves and the room reeked of it. He chatted for a while but then he told her he had to go home and go to bed. And then he just left. He sneaked past the nurses' station without them seeing him.

The next day, when he came to visit, she shut her eyes at him. He noticed most of the rosemary was gone. There was only a small sprig of it left.

Rose still had her eyes shut.

"Are you shitty with me?" he asked her. He could pick up on her mood.

"Really? You are shitty with me. Why? What did I do?"

He chuckled. "Did I frighten you? Sneaking into your room in the middle of the night."

She kept her eyes shut. She wouldn't look at him. He poked her in the hand to see if she reacted.

Nurse Laura came into the room and greeted Rose. "Are you the rosemary fairy Seth?" she asked him.

"Why?" he was cautious.

"My goodness," Laura exclaimed, "the whole room reeked of it. I doubt poor Rose here got any sleep. It was so strong."

When Laura had left, he leaned over the bed; his arms folded across his chest. "So you are shitty because I cut into your beauty sleep, huh? So what are you going to do about it?"

He swore she rolled her eyes.

He stepped up the scent campaign. He thought that if the rosemary upset her, she must be sensitive to smell. He brought her other herbs. Bunches of basil, sage and oregano. He bought scented lotions made from essential oils and rubbed them into the skin of her arms. He used tiger balm on her. It smelt really strongly and made the skin underneath feel warm too. He left packets of coffee beans and stinky candles on her bedside table. The nurses drew the line at incense after he lit some and smoked out the whole place and nearly set the fire alarms going.

Rose had to be moved into a ward. Her parents couldn't afford the private room any more. They wanted to move her to a quiet, secluded corner, but Seth argued she should have more stimulation not less. She was hardly going to disturb anyone else, he argued. She was under 18 and wore nappies; she should be in with the other babies. He swore she rolled her eyes again. The nurses respected his opinion. He had helped her immensely; they could see the difference his visits made to her.

So they put her in the children's ward. It was pretty noisy. With babies crying at night and other children making noise, running around and squealing as they visited their siblings. The hospital was so small, it was all the same nursing staff so the only thing that really changed was her location.

She improved faster. Perhaps it was the extra stimulation; perhaps she was so annoyed she just wanted to get out of there faster. Either way, it worked.

Seth stepped up the physical therapy and he had long discussions with the hospital physical therapist. He sat in on a few lectures. He was intelligent and a quick learner. The therapist was truly impressed by him. They worked out a program for her and Seth made sure she did it. Lots of resistance work; moving her limbs and pushing against Seth. He was endlessly patient with her.

He brought her stinky mushrooms he found in the forest. Even the nurses complained about that one.

She sneezed one day and he was ecstatic.

Seth decided next he should try a taste campaign. He started to stick things on her tongue so that she could taste them. Lemon juice, honey… vanilla… strong flavours … but not enough to choke her.

He put Vicks vapour rub under her nose.

One day she had a really sulky day. She was unco-operative and she fought with him about everything. She wouldn't do her exercises and she wouldn't try anything new. The weather was horrible and rainy and he supposed that made it worse.

He told her off. He told her that she could not just lie there and give up; he would not let her. He pinched her arm when she ignored him and her hand moved. He lifted her arm so that she could see it react and put his hand next to hers. He copied the movement and told her to do it again. She closed her eyes. He pinched her again. She glared at him. He made her do that one tiny movement over and over until it became a larger movement. He encouraged and cajoled and when she was finally exhausted, he kissed her on the forehead and told her he was so proud of her.

He made videos on his phone of every tiny step she took and sent them to her mother. She knew they were for her mother and she tried really hard for him. She could move her head a little now.

She was sad one day and he asked her if he could hug her. She blinked. He took that as a 'yes'. He scooped her up, sat back on the bed and held her on his lap again. They sat quietly and watched the other kids in the ward. He squeezed her hand. She squeezed his back. He was frozen.

She made other small steps forward. She could eat from a spoon now.

It was a big step for her in personal dignity. It was bad enough to have to wear nappies, but to be fed from a tube? Ugh. It was more evidence that the muscles in her throat were working when her brain told them to; it was a good sign.

Seth told Rose she had to talk. He wanted to know about her.

"You know all about me," he said. "Well maybe not all my deepest, darkest secrets… but still."

He sat at the end of her bed, facing her and pulled her feet into his lap. He massaged them with scented lotion. His long legs stretched down either side of hers. The nurses all said they were jealous and asked when he was going to do their feet; they were on them all day. They would kill for a foot massage. They flirted and teased him and Rose watched.

A woman on a mission

Raven saw Seth dart out of the room one day; she suspected he was avoiding her. She wondered why.

She asked Embry exactly how often Seth was visiting Rose. He got that trapped look on his face. A look of silent terror.

Raven asked, "Who do I have to talk to on the tribal council?"

"Huh?"

"Don't play clueless with me, boy."

"What are you going to do about it?" What possessed him to say that? He did tower over her, but still… he knew her better than that.

"I'll ask you politely to bend down so that I can smack you upside the head. Or I will get a chair," she threatened him.

"Huh," he said. He believed her. "Old Quil," he said. "Or maybe Billy Black." He had learnt not to pick fights with her; like with Rachel.

"Right," she said. She literally hiked up her sleeves, it looked like she was readying for battle, to Embry.

He wondered if Billy was about to meet his match. And should he phone him and warn him?

FF_2154210_ - 16/03/2011 09:22:00 PM

FF_2154210_ - 31/08/2011 12:08:00 AM