Hollstein Karate AU (Broken Champion on AO3)

Chapter 15

Carmilla was beginning to regret turning down pain medication. Calling Coach Lawrence had been painful enough, but Laura's father had been truly heart wrenching, especially when she had told him that she wasn't awake, yet. He had been mostly calm, his voice devoid of emotion, until he had asked to speak to Laura. Carmilla replied that she would have to go into surgery to remove the bullet that had lodged into her bone, and she was under sedation. THen she apologized for not being able to have done anything else.

"You shouldn't have had to do anything, sweetheart. I've done everything I can to prepare my little girl for the world , and I've done my best to protect her. You can't protect the people you love from everything, Carmilla Karnstein. She's strong and she'll be okay." He had replied and the champion finally allowed herself to cry.

"Thank you, Mr.Hollis." she answered and he said goodbye, and told her that he would be there as soon as possible.

Carmilla sank onto the cot that an orderly had brought into the room so that she could stay with Laura, and pulled the stupid yellow pillow out of the bag of things that hadn't been ruined with blood or proclaimed evidence by the police. How it, out of everything, had been spared was beyond her, but she was still thankful. Coach Lawrence was supposed to arrive in a few hours, and Mr. Hollis probably would too, so she stretched out and tried to sleep. With Laura unconscious she was going to have a lot of questions to answer.

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"We should let her sleep, she's been through a lot." said a distinct male voice.

"Trust me, she'll want to see Laura before they take her into surgery." answered a rather gruff female.

"They're taking Laura?" she asked sleepily.

"Carmilla, I'm sorry, I tried to get them to leave you alone." Mr. Hollis protested.

"No, Danny was right. I want to be awake for this." Carmilla said with a nod to the taller girl.

"How do you feel, champ?" Coach Lawrence asked.

"Terrible, you?" she replied with a scowl as she looked over Laura's bruised form, the scrape on her cheek that had once angered Carmilla so horribly now the least of the older girl's worries.

"Exhausted and worried. you have some other visitors who would like to see you, if you're up to it. You really should have called your brother before you called me. He nearly had a meltdown." Coach Lawrence says.

"Sure, sure, just let me get cleaned up." Carmilla says, standing up with a groan.

"Do you need any help?" Danny offers, her eyes gentle, sad, and worried.

"To be completely honest, yes. I probably will need some help for a while...thanks." she says, confused as Laura's father and Danny's mother leave them alone with an unconscious Laura.

"I...thank you, for helping Laura. The doctors and cops said that you took a lot of hits, but still refused to leave her side through it all." Danny says as she helps to remove the horrible hospital gown. Danny kisses with sympathy as she sees the bruises decorating the usually pale skin.