Hey guys,
how are you? Did you have a good new year? I know i did ;) i also happened to have a very good tuesday in which i spent the entire day (put it this way we watched all 3 lord of the rings films back to back) snuggling up with a certain someone. Thursday I had an awards ceremony at college; got my A level certificates, science award *best overall performance in science) and a biology award for which i got some book tokens too. I do have a damper to the end of my week though; it started snowing while i was out in town this morning, by the time i managed to get back to my car, it was really bad. I ended up skidding across a road, luckily there was no on coming traffic and i was fine, but i ended up abandoning my car because there was just no traction on the road. She's now recovered though with help from my Dad's pick up. I was supposed to be going out for a meal with my friends before we all went back to uni. Oh yeah, i'm headed back down to London on sunday so the next up date will be coming from down south :)
And! England have won the Ashes! We won the series 3-1 and the best part, we did it in Australia, something we haven't done in quite awhile. In fact as i type this i'm watching the highlights.
I want to say a massive thank-you to my betas campyrs and trajedy99, couldn't do this without them. Charlaine Harris owns the wonderful Southern Vampire Mysteries. On with the chapter!
"Miss, you can't go any further," a doctor told me sternly, not even bothering to glance up at me from the chart he was inspecting. A nurse grabbed my shoulders gently, holding me back, since the doctor's words hadn't really sunk in.
"Go wait in the waiting room sweetie, you can't do anything more for her now except keep her in your thoughts. Surgery is going to take a few hours at least, just go and sit down." I was spun around them and shoved ever so slightly in the direction of the waiting room.
I walked numbly in the direction I'd been pointed to and ignored the stares I got along the way. Gazing down at myself I found that my white Merlotte's shirt was crimson with more carmine coming into play where the blood had dried and, although I couldn't actually see the blood on my black trousers I could feel the stickiness of it against my skin. I didn't bother trying to clean anything away, my clothes were ruined, but the worrying thing was that I didn't bother trying to cover it up when I reached the waiting room, full of the usual injuries and worried family members.
I had no idea what I did while I sat there, I couldn't recall a single thing that I thought about; I just sat there, waiting. It was only when a cool arm wrapped around my shoulders to pull me into an equally cool chest that I realised that Eric had arrived and that he'd kept his word. My fingers clung to his shirt until my knuckles were white and my muscles ached in response to my grip. I couldn't let him go.
I shuffled into his lap where I curled up, knees pulled up to my chest and my feet resting on his thigh. His arms altered their grip until one was around my waist the other around my shoulders, pulling me in as tightly as he could to his chest, my head tucked underneath his chin. Tears streamed down my cheeks again as I sat in his lap, hoping the pain would just stop. My eyes remained closed while I sat there, the tears seeping out between my eyelashes to leave wet trails over my skin.
"Shhh," he soothed, keeping his voice low so that it was more of a vibration in his chest that an actual sound. His fingers worked to smooth the wisps of hair that had escaped my pony tail back from my face. Eventually, an definable amount of time later; my tears eventually ran dry, not because I wasn't hurting anymore, far from it. The longer I waited the more it seemed like hope was abandoning me. I just didn't have any more tears to cry at that moment. "We need to get you cleaned up." I nodded numbly against his chest yet didn't make any attempt to move at all.
Slowly he stood up, not caring that he was carrying me in his arms with everyone in the waiting room watching us, to take me to the disabled restroom down the corridor. Once inside the room he locked the door behind us and set me down on the counter top next to the sink. He had to peel my fingers from around him so that he could move away. I heard running water and when I turned my head I discovered the sink was full with hot, steaming, soapy water.
"Give me your hands." His voice held just the right amount of authority to make me heed his command and I held my hands out for him, palms up. He grabbed a stack of paper towels from the dispenser, dipped them in the water and began to mop the dried blood from my hands that had mainly flaked away by this point. The water quickly turned a murky shade of red-brown.
After three fresh sinks of water that was almost scalding hot he sighed, a very human sound from a vampire, and put the paper towels down on the side. His hands came to rest on my shoulders and he stared me straight in the eyes. I was shocked; I didn't know I was actually able to feel anything new, at the amount of care I saw in his eyes. "Sookie, you need to snap out of this. This is not healthy." His hands squeezed my shoulders, to the point that has grip was bordering on painful.
"I can't." It was the only response I could manage to mumble out. "I can't feel anything," I whispered.
"Fuck. Sookie, you have to feel!" My eyes fluttered shut again but no fresh tears came. "Lover, look at me. I said, look at me!" His voice grew in volume and strength until I was forced to open my eyes and stare back at him. There was a fire inside the deep blue depths now. "You have to feel something, let yourself feel something. I've got you. You can feel now. Later you have to be strong for you Gran. Feel." I just gazed at his eyes as he implored me to let myself feel something as though it was my fault that I was in this zombie state.
I wasn't sure what it was that made something inside me snap. One second I was just sitting there on the counter, Eric's face a few inches away from me and then I realised that it was me holding everything back. Just like I'd got control of my mental shields I was now protecting myself from the events surrounding me. I was cutting myself off from the environment in an effort to protect my brain from further damage. The only problem was that what I was doing to myself that was causing the added damage.
"You're safe with me, Sookie." I knew he was speaking the absolute truth and that nothing could happen to me while I was in his arms. He never saw the path my thoughts were taking; I was almost at the conclusion of allowing myself to feel when he took action to get me there quicker. One second I was watching him from a few inches away and then he was kissing me. He was forceful, strong and passionate as his lips moved against mine. He pushed me back into the wall with his strength, his hands holding my face in place. His lips were crushing, pushing my own lips back into my teeth. "Feel." He mumbled against me and acting on pure instinct I kissed him back.
That was all it took to let the gates open to my emotions. I broke down, a silent choking sob wracking my body and he instantly pulled back to sweep me up into his arms. He leaned back against the wall and gently lowered us to the floor, keeping his back to the cabinet door. I wept in his arms; bone jarring sobs sent spasms through my body. I cried for everything that had happened to me and to my Gran, not just the recent memories but everything that had plagued us for years.
"I have you." He didn't say any words of comfort at all. Instead he simply held me tightly to his chest, whispered that line into my ear in every couple of minutes and continuously stroked my hair back from my face. He mopped up my tears, so that none ever managed to fall from my face, using the soft paper towels or his finger tips. When he kissed them away it only made me cry harder for some reason and he never tried that again. "You are safe."
My mind kept trailing down the thought path of what would happen in my future if my Gran wasn't in it. Thinking about that made it feel like there was a knife ripping through my heart. I'd lost my parents when I was very young, I retained fewer memories of them as I grew older, which meant that my Gran really was everything to me. I couldn't allow myself to think about a future without her in it, it wouldn't be productive. I would only think about that if the situation should turn out like that.
Eventually my tears subsided and my sobs lessened until they were barely hiccups. I clung onto Eric tightly, one hand grasping his waist underneath his jacket and the other wrapped around his back where I had his hair twisted around my fingers. I opened my eyes slowly, they felt raw and my vision was still slightly blurry, to find my vampire gazing down at me. He placed a sweet kiss to my forehead and gave me an extra squeeze which I gladly returned.
"Shall we finish cleaning you up?" He actually posed it as a question, keeping his voice soft and quiet, barely above a whisper. I nodded my head in return.
"Thank-you," I whispered into his chest, squashing my face into the soft material of his shirt so that his scent would wash over me, helping to calm me down even more. I didn't elaborate on what I was grateful for because there was so many things. Another kiss, to my hair this time, indicated that he understood me perfectly.
He never put me down, he simply changed his grip around me so that he also supported my legs and then he was suddenly standing up, placing me on the counter top again. I finally pried my hands away from him to inspect them. They were mainly free from blood; only a slight tinting remained around my fingernails and in the creases of my palms. My forearms still had some spatter along them. We didn't speak as he once again went through the process of using gloriously hot water and paper towels to wash away the remaining bits of blood until there were no traces left.
"Take my shirt." He stated and in breaking the silence that had stretched between us he made me jump. He didn't say he was sorry but the soft look in his eyes told me that he hadn't intended to shock me.
"What?" I croaked out. I swallowed, shook my head and tried speaking again. "Why do I need to take your shirt?" My voice was stronger but you could still tell I had a lump in my throat from the tears I'd shed and the fear that accompanied waiting.
"Yours is ruined." His statement was simple but I still didn't comprehend what he was getting toward. Before I could ask another question he slipped his leather jacket off, hooked it onto a peg behind the door and pulled his black shirt off over his head, causing his muscles to ripple. I was still frowning at him when his hands grabbed the bottom hem of my shirt and tugged it off me. It felt both horrible and wonderful to be rid of that clotted material; it felt terrible as it peeled away from my skin and was pulled over my head but my skin felt fresher just for being exposed to the clean air. At any other time I would have taken advantage of us being in a locked room and shirtless, now I just sat there, the thought of doing anything had not even crossing my mind. "Here." He handed me his shirt and slipped his jacket back on. Everything finally clicked into place and I pulled his shirt on. It wasn't comfortingly warm, he didn't have body heat, but it was his and I could smell his unique scent without having to pull the fabric up to my nose. It was like wearing a security blanket.
There was nothing that could be done about my trousers but at least I couldn't see the blood on them and since it had dried it did feel better than before.
"Can we go find a doctor?" I had no idea how much time had passed, I just had a feeling that it had been a couple of hours so they would hopefully have an update for me.
"Yes." His large hands grabbed my waist and he carefully lifted me down to the ground. I found no reason why I couldn't have just slid off myself so his only reasoning was that he wanted to touch me. I liked that idea. As soon as my feet hit the floor I wrapped my arms around him again, stood on tip toe and planted a kiss at the little hollow where his collar bones met his neck.
"Wait." My frown returned until I saw him pick up my bloodied shirt and dispose of it in the clinical waste basket. He was the perfect gentleman and held the door open for me, even allowing me to hold onto his waist as we walked back toward the waiting room. His arm never left my shoulders. I noticed as we passed a few people glaring at us; I couldn't bring myself to care that we'd been hogging the disabled restroom. I needed it and there were plenty of others to utilise.
"Excuse me," I asked a nurse that was just standing around, reading the back of a packet of medication. She barely glanced up at me. "Can you help me please?"
"The check in desk is back to the left, tell the triage there what's wrong and you'll be seen appropriately."
"Oh no, that's not what I need." She didn't give me a chance to add anything else.
"Then you need to go and wait in the other room." Eric growled, a primal sound that caused her to snap her neck up, a terrified look in her eye.
"What is the status of Adele Stackhouse?" He kept the bass edge to his voice as he stared at her, not even needing to use his compulsion to get her speaking properly, the box in her hand forgotten.
"Are you a relation?" She stuttered.
"I'm her granddaughter."
"I'll go and find out for you." She whisked away to into the main emergency room ward, through the double doors to where they held the cubicles.
I wiped my eyes again and I was glad that I hadn't looked in the mirror while I was in the restroom; I knew I looked dreadful and there would be nothing I could do about it. The hiccups that had plagued me since my sobs had subsided and were also beginning to weaken.
"Jason." I whispered, not believing that I hadn't thought about my brother before now. "Shit!"
"Who is that?" Apparently I hadn't mentioned my brother, at least by name to him.
"My brother. He's the only family we have left, he needs to know. He'll want to be here." He pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket and handed it over to me.
"Hello?" My brother asked after five rings and he sounded out of breath. In my head I just kept telling myself that he'd been using his indoor gym at ten o clock at night.
"Jason."
"Hey Sis, I'm kinda busy right now, I'm going to give you a call back later."
"Wait!" I nearly screamed at him. "It's Gran." I whimpered out; I didn't have to be strong until later, my brother was older he could be strong for himself.
"What is it?"
"Just come to the hospital. I can't tell you over the phone. I'll see you later." I felt bad for Jason, he would be worried, but he would be even more worried if I actually told him what had happened, it also wasn't news to be given over a telephone. Just as I hung up the nurse came scurrying back, keeping her eyes downcast.
"Ms Stackhouse, your grandmother is still in surgery. I'm afraid I can't give you any more news than that. You are welcome to wait up in the surgery wing's family room; it's more comfortable and less crowded up there. Go to the elevators through here and to the left, it's the top floor. You should see it straight across from the elevator." She nodded at us and walked away as fast as her professionalism would allow.
"Do you know anything about medicine?" I asked Eric as we walked quietly through the emergency room ward to get to the elevators. His arm was still slung around my shoulders, guiding me and I was grateful because I hadn't retained any of her instructions as I'd been stuck on the fact that my Gran was still in surgery.
"No. I have never felt the need to learn before." My question probably had been a little stupid; vampires didn't get sick at all apart from hep D, sun burn or silver poisoning and normal human doctors couldn't do a damn thing to help them, apart from donating some blood. Vampires tended to not get emotionally close enough to humans to bother needing to know medical training so as to help them if they were sick; many vampires had relationships with humans but few extended beyond feeding their lusts.
"What do you think it means that she's still in surgery? It's a good thing right?" I sucked in a deep breath for the count of three, held it and released it slowly so as to slow my heart which was threatening to burst through my ribs. I had to keep it together now, at least no more sobbing.
"I do not know lover. To me, if she is still in surgery, it means that they are still fixing what is wrong, that there is definitely still hope that she can be mended." The elevator finally arrived at the top floor and we exited, immediately finding the family room which was shrouded in darkness. Of course there would only be emergency surgeries being performed in the middle of the night and visiting hours were over ages ago so there should be little need for family to be around.
The room was rather bland; pale blue walls, dark blue carpet and dark blue soft furnishings decorated the place. The small coffee table, to go with the electronic hot drinks dispenser tucked away in the corner, held magazines that had long since passed their issue date. I chose to sit down on the sofa and rest my head against Eric's shoulder when he sat down next to me.
"Have you had any blood today?" I asked, surprised by how groggy my voice sounded.
"No. I woke straight from my sleep, I felt your panic and fear, and came straight here after I'd finished at your house."
"Do you need some?" I didn't feel like donating but he had definitely done a lot for me in the past couple of weeks.
"No lover. I spilled blood today and that will tide me over." I glanced up in time to see a happy smirk spread across his lips for a split second before it was replaced by the stony expression he'd been wearing since I'd first seen him tonight. I could only hope that he'd been picturing ripping off Caleb's head, hell that was almost good enough to make a ghost of a smile cross my lips. It did happen to remind me about something that I had felt off about last night.
"How come you slept in my bed last night? You could have been disturbed." It was actually helping to keep my mind occupied with other thoughts.
"I fixed the shutters after you fell asleep and nailed them shut and the blinds were shut. Even if someone got through your locked door it would only be indirect sunlight. I deemed it safe enough for someone as old as me." I squeezed him with one arm around his waist to show my appreciation for spending the entire night beside me and letting me wake up next to my loved one.
I heard voices, two deep male voices that I instantly recognised; Eric and Jason. I couldn't believe that I'd fallen asleep in the waiting room, I hadn't even realised that I was tired but it was probably more like emotional exhaustion that had put me out. I didn't open my eyes straight away and I concentrated on keeping my breathing deep and rhythmical, feigning sleep. Being awake was tiring and I would have to be strong, put on my brave face. Asleep, or even just pretending to be asleep felt like everything that was happening was somehow less real and that helped.
My head was resting on something. It actually took me a second of thinking to realise that I was laid out on the sofa with my head resting on Eric's thigh, his hand resting on my waist. There was something draped over me and to find out what would mean really waking up, something I didn't want to do especially since it didn't sound like we had received any further news.
"How long have you been here with her?" My brother asked, the distance of his voice told me that he was sitting across the room. If I knew my brother he was leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his fingers pointed together.
"Since just before eight." Eric's reply was quiet; he was taking care not to disturb me. "She spent a lot of time alone in the ambulance on the way here." It was quite difficult to believe that my brother and my vampire were having a polite conversation.
"Shit man, and they still haven't finished? Damn." I had no idea what time it was but the last time I remembered looking at my watch it was nearing eleven and I felt like I'd been asleep for awhile so we were running into at least the fifth hour of surgery. "Can I ask you something?" There was no verbal response from Eric yet Jason soon started speaking again so I assumed he'd nodded his consent. "Did you kill the fucker that did this?"
"Yes."
"Good." Eric wasn't one to share his emotions and he never did anything that he didn't want to do. He'd already been out of character tonight with the sheer amount of tenderness he'd shown while taking care of me. I kind of expected everything to come crashing down where it came to him yet everything was still in place, he was still here.
The door opened up and my eyes immediately snapped open. A doctor, surgical mask still tied around his neck and wearing scrubs, had entered the room a solemn expression on his face. Swallowing audibly I sat up; this was the moment of truth.
"Hello, I'm Doctor Shepherd, I've been helping your Gran for the past few hours." I didn't like his use of the past tense. My hand slipped down to Eric's leg and gripped, tightly. "She made it through the surgery." Relief flooded through my body, my breath left my lungs in a whoosh and my grip loosened. "However," and then it came rushing back into me with the next word. "She's still very critical and isn't out of the woods yet. The knife nicked her spleen, which is why there was so much bleeding, and a minor artery. If it had penetrated even another few millimetres I would have been telling you different news.
We removed her spleen, sealed the damaged vessels and stitched her up. We've also managed to internally fix her broken arm. We don't know if she'll need further surgery on it yet or not, we'll take another x-ray in a couple of days to be certain. She's been taken down to intensive care; she has a room of her own. You can go and visit her now but prepare yourself; she's been sedated so a machine is breathing for her and she has several lines in for her medication and so that we can monitor her closely."
"Thank-you." I whispered emphatically, which garnered me a small, tired smile before the doctor turned around and left us alone in the room. "How do we get to ICU?"
It turned out that none of us knew, Eric had never been to this hospital before, and my brother had only ever been to the emergency room. We couldn't find any nurses to help us so we set out for the elevators and tried reading the maze like map of the place. Of course we eventually found it yet I wasn't sure if I actually wanted to proceed. The doctor had warned us it wouldn't be a good sight and if she was heavily sedated I had no idea whether my Gran would actually know we were there; I wasn't sure if I could take it seeing her so frail. I had to remember that she'd made it through the operation and that she was a fighter, she could do this.
"We're here to see Adele Stackhouse," I told the nurse that was stationed at the desk, filling out charts, by the entrance doors. All around us the sound of electronic beeping filled the air along with the gentle whirring of oxygen flowing through nearby machinery.
"She's in room 314, just down the corridor to your right." She didn't bother asking us if we were relatives and I gathered from her mind that she didn't want to question an obvious vampire and that this simply had to be the group the surgical wing had warned her about. It was only when reading her mind that I realised my shields were down and I had no recollection of when I'd relaxed them; I couldn't remember reading anyone else around and that it might have been a good idea to get more information out of the staff. I shook the thoughts from my head and set off down the corridor.
The room was exactly where the nurse had directed. The blinds were fully drawn so I couldn't even peek in for a glimpse to really prepare myself so, taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open and walked inside.
I wasn't prepared at all. My Gran was laid flat on her back in a hospital bed that seemed to dwarf her petite frame. The tubes sticking out of her formed a knot that I couldn't even begin to fathom. A monitor mounted to the wall above the head beeped rhythmically and displayed figures that corresponded to measurements I didn't know about; the only two I recognised we blood pressure and heart rate. Both wrists were bandaged with clear tubes coming out, one led to a drip while the other seemed to be a dead end cannula. Another similar contraption stuck out of her neck and was linked with her blood pressure monitor; I had a sick feeling it was leading down to her heart from the carotid artery, measuring more accurately her blood pressure. The scariest tube was the large one emanating from her mouth, the one that was feeding her body with the oxygen she was too weak to get herself.
My feet carried me on autopilot to her bedside where I immediately sat in the chair that had already been pulled up by the staff in anticipation of visitors. I clutched her small hand in both of mine, resting my forehead against the joining.
"I'm here Gran, its Sookie." I whispered out. I was aware of Jason taking a similar position at the opposite side of the bed. A single tear rolled down my cheek, I blinked the rest back quickly, which I wiped away on the bedding; I couldn't let anyone see me cry again. There was nothing more I could do now, except sit here and wait with her, a permanent vigil while she tried to heal.
At some point during the night Eric sat down beside me, the only contact between us was his hand resting on my thigh to tell me he was still there even though I could feel him. A nurse occasionally came in to read the monitors and to administer additional medication yet I never managed to say anything. I'd long since memorised what each machine was stating and nothing had changed since we'd been here; her heart rate had fluctuated slightly but had always returned to what I'd originally seen. I was going to take no change as good news at this point, unless a doctor told me otherwise.
I never moved from where I sat, the only time I really shuffled was to reach for the coffee that Jason brought up from the cafeteria at about four. We hadn't spoken another a word to each other, there was no need. The hours passed by in quietness, the only sounds our breathing and the beep of the machines. Eric went into his downtime at some point; I don't really recall when I just knew I didn't mind. He'd switched off completely, sunk inside himself, but it was enough for me to know he sitting beside me in a hospital, watching over someone he barely knew. I still couldn't comprehend why he was still here.
"Sookie." The deep voice whispering my name shocked me enough to make me jump, it had been so unexpected. "I need to talk to you privately." His eyes flickered over to Jason who was completely oblivious and dozing in exhaustion with his head on the bed beside our Gran's shoulder.
"Sure," I croaked out, my voice a little dry from lack of use in the past few hours. I took his hand so that he could lead me to where he deemed to be private enough which turned out to be this ward's family room. "What's wrong?" I asked, and even I noticed the rush of more worry I'd felt when he said he needed to talk to me had leaked into my voice.
"I need to go." My eyes widened at his words; he'd been here for me through so much and now he decided to bail. "Dawn is just over an hour away and I need to get back to Shreveport." I relaxed at his explanation which should have been what I'd anticipated anyway; he couldn't stay at the hospital during the day, it wasn't safe. It showed how discombobulated my mind was, through everything I'd been through in the past thirty six hours and my exhaustion from not having enough sleep the past couple of days. "I will be back tomorrow night. If your location changes call me." He chose his words very wisely and for that I was grateful, it was almost as though if I didn't say, didn't hear or didn't acknowledge I was thinking about the option of my Gran not being here anymore it couldn't happen.
"Thank-you," I told him earnestly, infusing as much emotion into the short statement of gratitude I could muster. I stepped toward him slightly, so the inches between us were erased and let my hands go up to rest on his muscular shoulders. Then I stood up on tiptoes and kissed him, softly and slowly. He kissed back, his hands going to my waist to support me. It was me that pulled back first, to wrap my arms around him in a tight hug and I slyly sniffed in his scent, letting his calming presence wash over me before he was gone for the day. "I'll see you tonight?" Although it was a statement it came out sounding more like a question.
"Yes, lover." He kissed my forehead once and then he walked swiftly from the room, leaving me alone to stay strong.
When nine rolled around Jason had to leave to go to work, I was to call him if there was even the slightest hint of a change but he said that working would keep him occupied which was healthier for him at the minute. I couldn't blame him, keeping my mind occupied would be a very good thing right now too, yet I still had to sit by her side, holding her hand to try and help her through this. So I was left truly alone.
I didn't do much all day; I sat in the chair, paced around the room, drank coffee and napped, fitfully, in an exhausted heap. Time passes strangely in hospitals; one day it drags as though an hour is a week and others an entire day can pass like it's only an hour. Surprisingly, even though I was waiting for something to happen, the day passed remarkably quick and before I knew it mid afternoon had arrived which brought our first visitor, someone I really hadn't expected.
"Oh Sookie, I came as soon as I could." Arlene burst through the door, if I hadn't had my shields partially down to keep an eye on what the nurses were saying, she would have scared me right out of my chair with her loud entrance. "I'm so sorry hunny." She flung her arms around my shoulders while I was still sitting down causing me to barricade my brain against her thoughts before I could even hug her back. She gripped me tightly, swaying and patting my back as she did. "Any news?" She finally stepped back and pulled a chair up for herself next to mine after giving my Gran's hand a careful squeeze. It was actually nice that she was here; perhaps I hadn't lost my friend after all.
"Nothing really. They still have her sedated so that she can heal and apparently it's easier to manage her like that. They say if she maintains her condition for another twenty four hours they'll lower the sedation so she can breathe for herself." She gave me another hug, for which I was very grateful.
"What happened? Please tell me it weren't that vampire." There was a play of emotions of her face; worry, guilt, fear.
"No, he saved her actually." I was convinced that the blood that Eric had given her was the reason she was still alive now, it had given her enough strength to pull through. Which reminded me, I hadn't heard any mention of the police and I had no idea why. I never mentioned an actual attack but this was a stab wound, I thought it was protocol to investigate things like this.
"Oh, that's good. Are you hurt?" Her eyes raked over me, taking everything in.
"Yeah, just a little..." my voice trailed off because I couldn't describe how I felt. The main overriding emotion I was currently feeling was guilt; it had been creeping up on me all day.
"Well if you need anything at all, you just let me know." Someone else walked into the room then and I turned around to look; the nurse had been in only twenty minutes ago and they were only due hourly. I found a middle aged man walking in, a bouquet of flowers grasped in one hand. "Oh, Sweetie you found us. Sookie this is my new boyfriend George, George this is Sookie."
"Hello," I stated cautiously. "I'm really sorry about this but they have a no flowers policy, it's a pathogen thing." I smiled at him and reached out to take the flowers from him so that I could take them out to the nurses, one of them could put them somewhere they were allowed. As I reached, out my fingers brushed up against his and I jolted back. "No," I whispered.
This wasn't the time for politeness and to be wary of personal space. I dropped the flowers, letting them fall carelessly to the floor and flattened my hands against the side of his face.
"What are you doing?" Arlene and George asked simultaneously. I ignored them; I ignored everything in the room and focused on what I could hear in my head. I pulled away from him like I'd been stung, the pain was almost physical.
"Arlene, watch out for my Gran, call Jason. I have to go." I ran from the room as fast as my tired legs would carry me and I didn't look back even once. It was only a minute later then, as I stood outside in the car park that I realised I didn't have anything with me; no phone, no car, no keys, no money. "Shit!" I said a little too loudly, causing the people nearest me to turn around and stare. I rushed back into the main entrance and found the pay phone, instantly dialling the reverse call number followed by Merlotte's.
"Hello, this is Merlotte's, Sam speaking."
"Hey Sam."
"Hey Chere, how are you feeling? How is your Gran doing?"
"Sam, I don't have time for this now. Can you give me a ride to my place? Now?"
"Er, yeah." He pulled the phone away from his ear, covered the mouth piece with his hand so that it was muffled, I assumed so he could ask whoever was on duty if they could cover for him. Sam knew it was urgent, I rarely asked for favours like this. "Yeah, I'm on my way. Hospital right?"
"Yes, I'm waiting in the main car park. Thanks!" I hung up quickly and dialled the number for the other bar, Fangtasia, this time.
"Hello, you've reached the bar where life begins at night. We're currently unable to take your call right now, please leave a message after the tone." I screamed internally; this was not what I needed. I had to speak to someone; well it could only be a human since the sun was still blazing in the sky. "Hello this is Sookie Stackhouse. Eric Northman needs to hear this message, call him as soon as the sun sets. He is in danger, the whole bar is in danger. Don't open tonight, please. There's going to be..." and another tone cut me off, signalling that I'd reached the time limit for the message. "Shit!" I muttered again. I hung up and jogged outside, eyes searching the car park for signs of Sam even though I knew it was way too soon for him to be anywhere near.
I had roughly an hour before the sun set and the bar would open which meant I had less than an hour to get to Fangtasia which, from this point was at least a forty minute drive away. I had to get to Eric in time. I was already on the brink of losing one important person in my life, I couldn't lose another.
So what did you think? What do you think's going on? How sweet is Eric in this chapter? You know i love feedback almost as much as i love a certain Viking vampire.
This weeks title, Lather the blood on your hands, Romeo comes from the My Chemical Romance song The Sharpest Lives. I'll be honest and say i couldn't think of a title and that is a line from the song i was just listening to :)
This story is beginning to draw to its close, i'm not sure how much is left, i just know it's not all that much really.
So, thank-you for reading, and for all the reviews, it really makes my day when i got those email alerts :) See you next week!
*hugs*