Lisa cracked her eyes open with a groan and squinted against harsh fluorescent lights above her. Her head felt like someone was pounding on it with a large rubber mallet. She was just about to squeeze her eyes shut again when her gaze landed on a face. Pretty face. Jennie's face. Jennie was here. Jennie was looking at her. "Hey, little girl," she said hoarsely.
"Hi." Jennie reached out and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "How are you feeling?"
"I've been better," Lisa replied, wincing as the rubber mallet gave the back of her head another wallop.
Jennie was here, holding her hand. Jennie stroked her arm now to soothe her. Things could be worse - a lot worse. Lisa reluctantly tore her eyes away from Jennie's face and looked around the unfamiliar room. "Where are we?"
"You're in the hospital," Jennie said. "You fell. Do you remember?"
Lisa shook her head and looked back at Jennie, but she was interrupted before she could speak again by a doctor and nurse entering the room.
"Oh good," the doctor said, looking up from the chart he was reading and walking over to Lisa's bed. He looked familiar somehow. Lisa could swear she'd seen that face before. On a movie studio soundstage? At that screen test she'd shot a few weeks back with Catherine Heigl and Robert... oh right, that's what it was. The guy was a dead ringer for Robert De Niro.
"You're awake," the doctor said to Lisa, holding out a hand to shake. "I'm Dr. Parent, Chief of Neurology here at Cedars Sinai Medical Centre."
"Chief of Neurology?" Lisa asked. "What the hell happened?"
"Of course, you received the very best care possible from our Emergency Department this morning, but I will be personally overseeing your care from this point, given the-uh, visibility."
"You mean because she's famous," Jennie said, rolling her eyes.
The doctor ignored her and continued speaking to Lisa. "You're one lucky person," he said. "You sustained a grade three concussion and six-inch laceration to the lower occipital region."
Lisa stared back at him. Was that in English? Was she brain damaged? She shot a sidelong look at Jennie and she must have seen the confusion in Lisa's face.
"You bumped your head and got a cut," Jennie explained.
"Oh." Lisa lifted one hand and felt the thick bandage that was wrapped around her head. "Is it serious?"
"It's good you got here when you did," the doctor said. "The blood loss was fairly significant."
"When can she go home?" Jennie asked.
"We'd like to keep her under observation for a couple more hours as a precaution. Nurse?"
The nurse had been bustling about the room, setting up some medical equipment, while the doctor was speaking. She stepped forward now and began wrapping a black Velcro cuff around Lisa's left bicep.
"We'll be monitoring you for hypotensive episodes," the doctor explained, as he flipped closed the medical chart and moved to leave the room.
"Shit," Lisa muttered.
"Not to worry." The nurse patted her arm to reassure her. "You lost a lot of blood. We just want to make sure your blood pressure doesn't dip too low." She smiled at Lisa and then at Jennie. "You'll be staying here with her in the mean time?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Good. The machine will sound an alarm if there's a problem. You just let us know if she starts to feel dizzy or faintish."
Lisa lay back in the hospital bed, watching as Jennie nodded to the nurse and then sat back down at her bedside. Jennie took her hand again.
Things could definitely be worse. "What happened?" she asked Jennie.
"You don't remember anything?"
Lisa shook her head. "I just remember we were in the shower."
Jennie smiled and Lisa saw a faint blush rise to Jennie's cheeks. Yep. A hell of a lot worse.
"You slipped," Jennie reminded her. "You banged your head on the ledge and it knocked you out."
"How did I get here?"
"Ambulance." Jennie said. "I called 911."
Lisa raised her eyebrows at Jennie. "You called 911?"
"Of course! It looked like a crime scene, the way you were bleeding."
Could be worse, Lisa reminded herself. Then again, could be better too. "Has Rosé been here yet?" Lisa asked.
"Who's Rosé?"
Apparently not, then. Lisa didn't answer. "How long have I been here?" she asked instead.
"A few hours." Jennie looked at her watch. "It's a quarter to one right now..."
Jennie let go of Lisa's hand and stood, reaching out for the hospital phone extension that was mounted to the wall just above the bed. Lisa watched as Jennie began dialling.
"Jennie, who are you calling?"
