Made of Glass Chapter 11

One of my favorite chapters for some reason. Forgive me for the medical parts; everything i learned about doctors and hospitals came from wikipedia.

It’s no surprise that neither of us knew what to say next. Pity really because I was practically freezing to death. I just wished he would explain himself and break the awkward silence so I could get in some place warm. But instead he just stared at me for a while worry lines standing out across his face. Oddly enough there was even a trace of fear in eyes. I couldn’t for the life me understand why that was. Surly I was the one to be scared to death in this situation right?

Yet I wasn’t scared at all. He had just saved my life so he probably wasn’t going to kill me now and as for what freakish sideshow effect had made him able to break through six inches of ice like the freakin hulk wasn’t that much of a surprise to me. I knew that he was different. Perhaps not this different. I had never imagined this but I found it very easy to swallow. He was a superhero. That was awesome! And I liked him. I liked him a lot. Which means that one: he had to be a freak because I didn’t get along with normal people and two: it didn’t matter if he was a freak because I was going to let him make me happy no matter what he was.

I made up my mind quickly and urged him to offer more assistance.

“I’m about to die of hypothermia so are you done doing the hero thing or can you help me out a bit here . . .”

He jerked himself in to action and scooped me up in his arms and carried me over to the car. In all reality I’m sure I could have walked there myself, probably, but I’m not totally against alarmingly attractive men carrying me off. Plus it helps to be able to feel your feet when you walk so maybe it’s a good thing that I didn’t try.

Edward worked with quick precise movements once we got in the car turning on every bit of heat he could muster and then stripping me of my gloves, shoes, jacket, and socks all in complete silence without making eye contact. He was very cautious and nervous about touching me but I very much doubted my ability to take off any item of clothing with the massive amount of shivering I was doing. I felt like a jack hammer. I hunched up in a ball and tensed all my muscles so the shaking would stop. It was unsuccessful.

He peeled out of the parking lot but turned away from the bar once he got onto the main road. My first thought was that maybe he was kidnapping me now so I wouldn’t blab his secret to the world. Wasn’t particularly worried about this one either. I figured with someone like Eddie, Stockholm syndrome would set in pretty quickly. Still I would have to find out one way or the other.

“Where are we going?”

“Hospital,” he finally spoke. He sounded like he was choking just like the day we had gone rollerblading. Man, we were falling into this really dangerous pattern. Things were all going well and then the terrain would turn on me and screw everything up. Lord knows how he was going to respond to this one. I was lucky the last time that he didn’t seem that bothered by the unfortunate turn of events but last time he hadn’t used superhuman strength. I didn’t think. He did get there awfully fast . . .

“Oh that’s alright. I’m not so b-b-bad we can just go back to my ap-p-partment. A hot shower’ll p-p-probably fix me right up,” my stuttering didn’t help my argument any. He didn’t slow down or turn around.

“I’m serious, Eddie. I don’t need to g-g-go to the hosp-pital. Let them take care of actually sick p-people.”

“We’re going to the hospital,” Eddie said decisively.

I was going to argue back but I was having trouble trying to get to the heater knob. My fingers wouldn’t go where I was telling them to. They kept slipping into the cd player or turning on and off the radio. I focused as hard as I could but gave up after I stuck my finger in the cigarette lighter.

“Humph, fine.”

The drive to the hospital was agonizing. He still refused to speak. Awkward silence to the extreme.

When we finally arrived an eternity later he rushed over to my door and attempted to carry me into the hospital again. I put my foot down this time and insisted that I was fine enough to walk. So fine in fact that this trip to the hospital wasn’t even necessary. He hardly listened to any of my protests, however. He let me walk into the building although he was supporting most of my weight. He seemed very cold to me. But then everything seemed very cold to me.

Oddly enough he didn’t head straight to the nurse sitting at the check in desk at the front. He walked right past the waiting room and no one had any problem with him walking through the great big swinging doors with the sign that said “only authorized personal allowed past this point”. Really didn't anybody care that he was half dragging a wet freezing girl across the hospital?

He didn’t stop in any of the patient rooms either but walked straight through that section to where the offices were.

“Okay really where are we going?”

“My father.”

“Your dad’s a d-doctor? Cool! Actually no that c-could be lame. Did he like make you drink skim milk and p-p-put antibiotics on your scraps when you were little?”

Again he didn’t answer. My efforts to lighten the mood were not even being acknowledged. How rude.

Again I was thankful when I saw the words CARLISLE CULLEN on a gold plate outside one of the closed doors. It opened when we were still several feet away and another bogusly beautiful Cullen stepped out. He had lighter hair than Edward’s and didn’t have the red tint that I loved and his features were older although still perfectly chiseled. His eyes were exactly the same color as Eddie’s but that was the only similarity between the two of them I could find. Besides that they were the two most beautiful men on Earth.

Dr. Cullen’s face surprised me when he took in Eddie now supporting all of my weight. I had given up on the walking thing. My legs just wouldn’t do what I told them. He looked angrily at Eddie and completely ignored me. I turned my attention to Eddie who just hung his head a little lower.

“There was an accident,” he said in a small voice.

“Well hurry, let’s not keep her on her feet any longer,” he let his anger dissipate as he turned his attention to me. “What happened?”

I explained how I had fallen in the river as we walked back into one of the rooms we had just walked past.

Eddie set me down on the bed and Dr. Cullen went straight to work starting by listening to my heart through his stethoscope.

“I was so lucky Eddie was there. He swims like a fish,” I giggled then I wondered why. It wasn’t really funny.

“Yes well . . .” Carlisle said suddenly very interested in my heartbeat.

My eyebrows shot up. I looked from the doctor to Eddie and back again. The doctor was in on it. Whatever it was that gave his son super human powers. He was Jonathon Kent!

“She’s not so bad just mild hypothermia and she hit her head pretty hard,” Eddie explained.

“I did not- “ I reached up to my head “ow.” I really did hit my head. Hard. Funny I didn’t even notice. I was having a really hard time keeping up with things these days. Well these minutes.

“Edward, go and get a hospital gown please we have to get her out of these wet clothes, and a couple of hot water bottles too.”

I sat perched on the lumpy hospital bed while Dr. Cullen probed my head. He found the lump with expert hands but seemed to be pressing on it harder than necessary.

“Isn’t that sore?” the doctor asked.

“Very. Aren’t you supposed to make it better not worse?”

“Sorry,” he said poking it one last time and gauging my reaction. I gave him a what-are-you-looking-at look and he finally stopped poking at me. Stupid doctors.

 “Are you dizzy at all or feel nauseous?”

"No, sir.”

He shined a bright light in my eyes “What about your vision?”

I closed one eye and then switched to look through the other. One was definitely more blurry than the other.

Dr. Cullen looked at me very concerned as I tested out my sight.

“I think I lost a contact,” I said putting him at ease.

Eddie returned with the requested items in tow. My original glee at his return were squashed by his traitorous words,

“She’s having some trouble with her motor control,”

“I do not have a concussion. Trust me my heads been through worse than this.”

Dr. Cullen looked back at his son and raised an eyebrow. Eddie just shook his head.

“It is probably because of the hypothermia not the bump,” the doctor concluded. “We’ll just warm her up a bit and see. It seems like just a mild case,”

“See I told you this wasn’t necessary.”

“Do you think you can get yourself out of your clothes or should I send for a nurse?”

“Oh God no. I’m fine.”

“Alright we’ll leave you for a moment. We’ll be right outside the door. Don’t push yourself too hard.”

The doctor departed and Eddie followed quietly behind him. I gave him a dirty look.

Thank the Lord I could get the hideous gown on myself. I might have died of embarrassment if I had to ask for help on that front.

They remained outside the room for much longer than it took me to change. At first I thought they were just giving me plenty of time because they thought I was incapable, but after a little while I heard their voices raise a little outside of the door. They were speaking with very urgent tones I must still have been having a hard time thinking straight because they were talking too fast for me to catch very much of the conversation. Also, I couldn’t understand why Dr. Cullen would be so angry about what was obviously an accident.

Unless of course he figured out that Eddie had shown me his super human powers to save me and Eddie had only brought me here so his father could determine whether or not to snuff me to keep me quiet. Too bad my legs weren’t working better so I could make a run for it. It also explained why we were alone in a back room with no nurses or outside help and why Eddie wouldn’t want to check me in.

Works out better this way for me because God knows I could never afford medical bills.

Eventually they entered and made me shove the hot water bottles under my armpits. This was one of the most inglorious days of my life. However, the act did do the trick. It only took a few minutes until all the feeling came back to my outer extremities.

Dr. Cullen was satisfied with my progression in a little while and with a few parting medical words of advice, and a little refined begging on my part he said I could go home. He gave a pointed glance at his son before he left Eddie and I alone.

Again awkward. I stared at him feeling impatient and irritated because he had yet to give me an explanation which led me to believe he never was going to.

“I’ll drive you home whenever you think you’re ready to go,”

“I was ready to go when we arrived. Actually before that. I told you I was fine.”

“Hypothermia is not fine.”

“I hopped down off the bed with extra exuberance to show that I was just fine and threw the hot bottles back on the bed. I stuck my tongue out at him and walked toward the door.

Eddie also scrounged up a pair of scrub pants so I wouldn’t have to leave the hospital with my tush hanging out. It only mildly reduced the humiliation.

He drove me home in absolute silence. I didn’t even try to be funny anymore. It wasn’t worth the effort. I started to worry that he wouldn’t just get over this. When we arrived at the bar he stopped right in front of the door and didn’t even offer to walk me up.

I climbed out but turned back to him before I slammed the door shut. I almost didn’t ask the question on the tip of my tongue because I was afraid I knew the answer

“You gonna come into the bar tomorrow?”

Instead of answering he just looked away from me with a sad look. I shut the door and took a step back.

He sped off down the road.

Yep, that was the answer I was afraid of.

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[Summer]

NO! Don't leave Eddie! No!