El's Emporium ~ Carlisle Cullen

7

They abandoned their plants and pack where they were for the time being. Carlisle assured El that he wouldn't, and couldn't, forget where they were, and Carlisle raced to his home with her on his back. She had to squeeze her eyes shut when he jumped from the cliffs to the roof, to the deck.

Worry crept into her mind when she'd made it to Carlisle's passenger seat - they couldn't very well show up to gentle hills on foot. She'd known Max since she was a little girl and since before he'd moved into the retirement village. He'd been one of her first regular customers, supporting her from the start. He'd been there through her parents' divorce and had even said a few choice words to them about their treatment of her. He wasn't just a student in her class.

She truly considered him a friend.

El fiddled nervously with the sleeve of her shirt, covering and uncovering her knuckles.

When they made it to Max's cottage at Gentle Hills, El had to try very hard not to run in ahead of Carlisle. There was an ambulance waiting to take him to the hospital at Dr. Cullen's command.

Max was sitting up on the couch, angrily swatting away any nurses that were trying to care for him. Even Carlisle he tried to bat away with a wheeze and a cough.

Mrs. Stuart stood across the room, quietly pleading for him to calm down and let the doctors do their job. They had been dating for a few months now.

So many voices blurred together saying the same thing over and over. El decided that she wouldn't exactly be calm if she were in Max's position either. He was already frightened, though she guessed he wouldn't own up to that.

El walked forward a few steps, and for the first time, the people in the room seemed to notice she was there. Paramedics and nurses tried telling her to step back, but Max only held out his hand toward her and said painfully, "I am not goin' no-where, or doing no-thing, 'til I get my kiss of the week from Ms. Daniels."

She came to sit beside him on the couch, taking his lined hands in hers, "Max, you've got to let Dr. Cullen check you out, okay?"

"S'just a little heartburn, sweet pea. I'm fit as a fiddle," he told her stubbornly.

She looked at him over her glasses, patting his hand, "And we want to keep you that way."

Finally, Max settled down enough to be examined and Carlisle concluded that he had, in fact, suffered a mild heart attack and needed to go to the hospital to be treated and observed.

El rewarded his good behavior with a kiss on each cheek.

Max grinned painfully up at her from the stretcher, and Carlisle watched her as she cracked some inside joke that made Max chuckle.

Just when Carlisle thought he couldn't admire her more, there she was with all the care and kindness she could muster.

"Could ya run and grab my wallet, sweet pea? I don't go nowhere without it," the older man asked El.

After she'd gone, Max waved Dr. Cullen over, beckoning for him to come close, "That's a special girl. Life ain't been as kind to her as it should have. I expect you to treat her as good as she deserves. Y'hear?"

Carlisle raised a brow, about to respond with something akin to 'we're just friends' or 'I don't know what you're talking about' but the woman in question was making her way back out of the door.

Max clapped his hand on the doctor's shoulder, "I'm puttin' all my faith in ya, Doc!"

"I couldn't find your wallet, Max," El explained sadly, "I'm sorry."

"That's alright, sweet pea," he said, patting a wallet-sized lump in his pocket, "I didn't even realize I had it."

He winked at Carlisle where El couldn't see, before swatting away at the paramedics who were trying to put him in an oxygen mask, "I got one more kiss I need to get first, boys."