A new record on the amount of reviews for a chapter! Thanks guys! Some of you pointed out that I wasn't very sorry for leaving the last chapter on such a cliff hanger... *blinks innocently*
Chaos ensued as Edward and the other firemen worked to get Bella out of the wreckage. The seatbelts were cut, the airbag punctured and Bella's body needed to be supported to keep her in the seat as the men worked around her. Edward gingerly lifted her out, her body was limp in his arms but she was still breathing.
An ambulance had arrived on the scene just as they had finished cutting through the material and a stretcher was ready and waiting for Edward.
Everything blurred by quickly but Bella was unconscious to it all. The side of her face was red with blood from a large cut on her forehead from where she had most likely hit it against the side of the car before the airbags deployed.
A fuss was made when Edward insisted that he ride in the back of the ambulance with her, which they eventually consented to. He watched her the entire way there, staring at her pale face and the oxygen mask that they'd placed over her face as the paramedics tried to get a hold of her vitals and work out what it was she needed.
"Her pulse is barely palpable... She's suffered too much trauma… Heart rate is dropping… There's respiratory distress… Come on sweetheart, keep breathing for us… We're nearly there… She's losing too much blood… Apply pressure to the wounds…"
The ambulance pulled up to a stop outside the hospital and Bella was rushed on her gurney into the hospital, Edward hot on their heels.
"I'm sorry, sir… You'll have to wait here. We'll come see you once she's stable."
Bella's gurney was pushed through the hospital into a separate room where a doctor was already on hand to begin the attempt at stabilizing Bella's condition.
Edward paced the waiting room, his hands alternating between the urge to rake through his hair in impatience and crossing over across his chest. Jasper and Emmett had returned to the fire station with the rest of the crew, promising to drop by with his things once their shift was officially over. From the look on Edward's face, they knew him well enough to know that the only way he was going to leave the hospital was if security forcibly dragged him out.
It felt like a lifetime before one of the nurses came to fetch Edward. "Is she okay?" He asked immediately as she led him down the winding hallway. But the nurse only smiled at him and kindly assured him that the doctor would be there to explain everything shortly.
Bella was laid out on the white hospital bed by the time Edward stepped into the small room. Her bloody clothes had been taken away, replaced with the typical flimsy gowns that they gave in hospitals and someone – one of the nurses he guessed – had thoughtfully cleaned her face as well.
He moved to the side of the bed, his heart twisting painfully in his chest as he stared down at her.
"Don't worry. She's just asleep."
Startled, Edward twisted around to see a white-coat doctor step into the room, sliding the door shut behind him. The older gentleman smiled and reached out to shake his hand. "Dr Jacob Black. That was some fast saving you did back there, young man."
"Edward Cullen." He murmured in response, "And no. It wasn't just me. It was the whole team, sir. I take no credit."
The doctor's eyes softened from behind his silver frames as he acknowledged this before turning back to his clipboard. "You're a friend of Ms. Swan, you said?"
"Yes, sir. Is she… is she okay?"
"Quite fine. Especially considering the kind of crash she was in," Doctor Black assured him. "We gave her some painkillers for her injuries when she came in, but she should come around soon. Her head looks a lot worse than it is, bandaged up like that. She has a concussion, she also had a large laceration on her lower leg, she lost quite a bit of blood..." He cleared his throat. "We nearly lost her, but we were able to revive her on the table."
"Oh my God."
The doctor continued. "But apart from that, just some cuts and extensive bruising around her chest and face. There's some light swelling on her wrist, but nothing is broken. And we've given her some blood to replenish what she lost."
Edward closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief, sending up a prayer of thanks to whatever higher being was up there watching over Bella for him like that.
"We'd still like to keep her through the day and overnight for observation though."
"Yes, of course. I understand." He said immediately, nodding. After a few more parting remarks, the doctor left and Edward and Bella were alone again. He sank into the chair by her bedside, wishing he could take her hand in his but not wanting to disturb the various tubes and things she had been hooked up with. Instead, he settled for stroking the small piece of exposed skin on her arm that was not bruised or covered in bandages.
"Oh Bella. You crazy girl," Edward whispered, his eyes pained.
Well there you go, she's still alive, and she's going to be okay. But you knew I wasn't going to kill her, right?