Working for Love Ch. 02

"Mike what are you doing here?" I ask opening my other eye and looking around. "And why has the world suddenly gone horizontal?"

Mike chuckles and so does his partner. "You were in an accident Holl, and you and James are both badly hurt." Mike says glancing away from me and over towards something in the distance.

"Where is James?" I ask trying to sit up, but realizing I can't due to a head restraint. Mike's partner gently lays his hand on my shoulder, trying to help me relax.

"He's over in the next rig. Eric and Monica have him." Mike says before motioning to his partner and suddenly I'm being wheeled towards the ambulance. "James won't wake up, and he has several bruises, contusions, and shards of glass. We think that he may have broken several bones, and we aren't sure that you haven't broken anything, including your neck." I sigh and close my eyes, starting to cry.

"Damn it." I say harshly. "That's one way to go to work I suppose." I say before realizing that everything hurt.

"Were you and James on the way into work?" Mike asks motioning to his partner. My stretcher is suddenly raised and I'm put into the back of the ambulance. Mike's partner motions for Mike to ride with me and he waits for Mike to jump in before closing the doors.

"Yeah. We got called in because the system went down today and we were supposed to help get the files back into the system from the backup today." I say through gritted teeth.

"I'm going to start a line. Right side okay?" Mike asks grabbing the kit. I move my eyes to look at the left side. "Still haven't lost your squeamishness over needles have you?" Mike asks. I try to shake my head no and realize the restraint won't let me. I close my eyes instead as I feel Mike start the IV.

"Please don't call my mom." I say opening my eyes as I hear Mike hanging the IV solution. "She already knows Pumpkin." Mike says raising his shoulders. "It was a pretty nasty accident. We're going to be lucky if we don't have to fly one of you out." I start to cry again, because I know that if one of the patients coming in from the accident that it wouldn't be me, and could possibly be James.

Mike puts something into my IV, and I close my eyes.

**

I wake up in a room, with someone sitting next to my bed. I look and realize that it was my mom. "Mom?" I ask groggily. She looks up at me and smiles, putting the knitting she had been doing in her lap.

"Hey Kiddo." She says running a hand through my hair. "How you feeling?"

"Like shit." I say truthfully. "I feel like I was run over by a steam roller, and then backed up over again for good measure."

"That would be the bruises talking." My mom says chuckling. "You didn't break anything, thank God. But you do have a sprained shoulder that needs to be in a sling, and you have a bruise from the seatbelt.

"James?" I ask softly. My mom shakes her head softly and I begin to cry.

"He's right next door, but he has lost all memory of the accident, and doesn't remember much. He keeps asking about you, calling you his girlfriend. They're considering moving him in here to the bed next to you, so that you know he's alright though." My mom wipes away one of my tears and tries to comfort me.

"James and I had literally just become a couple right before the crash." I say after calming myself down. My mom nods. "Mike and Eric were at the crash, Mike was my paramedic."

"He's been back in to check on you a couple of times when he could." She says smiling. "Eric has also been in to check on you, and on James." She says. I look up at the tiled ceiling and try to not cry again.

"I have to get back to work kiddo. I'll come up and see you before I go home." She leans in and kisses my forehead. I look at her and give her an awkward hug before she leaves. "I'm happy for you and James. I'll let the doc know that he's not just confused."

I turn on the TV and tune out for a while, before hearing the door to my room open. A nurse wheels in James in a wheelchair and I almost start sobbing again. "Holly?" James asks surprised.

"Do I look that bad?" I ask chuckling. "I mean I feel that bad, so it's entirely possible that I look that bad." I admit.

"No. I was just worried about you." James says smiling at me.

"I'm fine, sprained shoulder, and a bruise from the seat-belt and a lot of smaller bruises all over that hurt, but I'm in one piece." The nurse wheels him close to my bed, and hurries about making the other bed in the room. James reaches out his hand that has his IV in and I reach one arm out taking his hand in my own.

"I'm sorry Holly." He says looking at me. I shake my head trying not to cry.

"It isn't your fault. They ran the red light, and hit us." I say looking down at him.

"They were also airlifted to another hospital, and then they died in operation." A voice says from the door.

"Eric." I say smiling at the man who had helped to save James' life. The nurse steps away from the bed and speaks to Eric quietly and softly. Eric nods and soon James is being lifted up into the bed next to mine.

Eric sits in a chair between the two beds and looks at me. "You doing okay there Pumpkin?" I nod and Eric nods once. "Good." He says. He chats with James and I for a little bit, and then he leaves. James falls asleep soon after, and I turn my attention back to the TV. My mom comes in before leaving for the night and promises to bring me things if the doctor says that I need to stay for more than a night. The doctor comes in to do his final rounds before the new doctor comes on and tells me that they'll be keeping me for at least a couple of days to keep me under observation and to run tests to make sure they hadn't missed anything, including a possible break in my shoulder. He tells James that he could be in for longer than me because he might need surgery on the broken limbs to set them straight again. James had broken his left arm, and his right leg. He had also sprained his left shoulder. He was covered in lots of bruises and small scratches from the glass breaking on his side of the truck.

Nothing would be the same for either of us, but at that point it was hard to say if the changes were for the better, or if they would be for the worse.

"I'm scared Holly." James says looking over at me. The nurse had managed to snag us both something from the cafeteria before it closed for the night and I was chewing on the jell-o pieces in the bowl before me. I look over at him and raise an eyebrow.

"Why?" I ask after swallowing.

"What if I'm broken really badly, and can't use something right ever again?" He asks. I shake my head and chuckle.

"James. Dear heart, if you would have been injured that bad they wouldn't have you on the normal floor." I say turning my head to look at him. "You might be bruised, and battered, and have a few things that are broken, but you are alive which is more than I could have ever asked for." Something bad may have happened to us, but he was still alive. I was still alive. The world would continue on to another day, dragging us along with it, bruises and all.