Whip goes to the desk and the guilt already starts to build. I look around, taking in all the sick, bleeding people and remember one of the many reasons I hate being here- the fact that everyone else deserves it more than I do; they are all ill, I am just stupid and can't stay within my own limits. He comes back and I force a smile. "They're going to get you seen as quickly as possible. Why didn't you tell me earlier? Can we start again, with the whole truth?" I nod slowly, knowing he's probably lost trust in me now.
"I told the truth a minute ago. There were some people arguing, I ended up on the floor, the people disappeared. That's all I know, other than the pain. I thought you'd either force me to come here or not let me see Chap so I had to pretend. I managed to get to the car and waited for you. You know the rest. I thought about telling you in the car but you were so scared.. You were scared of me.." He shakes his head.
"Okay, the pain is just stopping you from thinking properly. You understand that right? What you're thinking isn't the truth. I wasn't scared of you, I was scared that something had happened or you were hurt, which was true. Do you know how angry Chap probably is right now? You got hurt when he, and everyone else, was relying on me to look after you. I should have been with you."
"It wasn't your fault though. You weren't even there." I don't want to cause an argument between them.
"And that's the problem, Brooke. I wasn't there. Chap wants someone to be right next to you every second of the day. When he woke up before, he used to always ask about you, nothing else, not work or us or anything, just you. I didn't do what he had told me to do so he's slightly angry with me. To be fair, I don't blame him."
"But that's okay. I'm fine. We don't even have to be here. It'll sort itself out soon." He shakes his head.
"I'm not letting you leave now. You can't get anywhere anyway." He smiles halfheartedly as I realise he's put the brake on the chair.
"Then we'll just have to talk. You're meant to be happy, Whip. You're always so friendly and now you're feeling scared and guilty and it's not right." He grins.
"Who said I was scared? Although, you should be scared since I am your driver right now and I might accidentally throw you into a wall or something."
"There we are. The real Whippet is back." I smile before a wave of pain causes my body to spasm. He pulls my head onto his chest and wraps his arms around me.
"And now I'm Chap too," he mutters as he holds me close. I pull away as the pain subsides slightly, swiping the tears from my eyes.
"Miss Brooke Monroe?" A doctor says as Whip stands, pushing the chair through to a curtained area. "So what seems to be the problem today?" She asks. I begin to stutter so Whip takes over.
"She fell earlier and her leg is very painful." He looks to me and I nod, "She has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome so you need to read this." He hands her the card which she actually seems to read and take notice of.
"How's your pain tolerance normally? And your pain on a scale of 1 to 10 right now."
"My pain tolerance is pretty high I guess. Daily dislocations would do that to anyone." she nods. "I hate pain scales.. It's worse than I've had in a long while I'd say.."
"Okay, I'll get you some pain relief then. Do you think we can take a look at the leg?" I nod and try to pull the leggings up again. "How about we cut them, just on one side? It might reduce the pain a bit and make it easier to see." I nod and she grabs some scissors, carefully tearing the fabric. "Okay, I'm just going to look at it. Don't worry, I won't touch it." I nod as Whip holds my hand. "So there's a lot of swelling and you're obviously in considerable pain. I think we'll definitely send you for an X-ray. What medications have you taken today?" I reel off the list of about 20 different meds as Whip looks shocked. "Okay, we'll give you some stronger morphine. Is IV okay?" I nod. "I'm guessing it will be easier for you to stay in the chair?" I nod again. She picks up the needles and places an IV in my hand before administering the meds.
"Thank you." I say, forcing a smile.
"It's our job. I'll see what space we have in X-ray now." I nod as she leaves.
"How are you feeling? Is the pain relief actually doing anything?" Whip asks, cautiously.
"Still the same. I'll be okay, I'm used to it. They refuse to give me enough painkillers to kill the pain. It makes them feel better if I pretend it doesn't hurt." I feel the tears fall as the pain increases. It scares me that I'm so resistant to massive doses of morphine but it seems to scare everyone else more. Whip holds me close.
"That's not actually how these things are supposed to work. You're meant to tell people the truth, especially doctors, and they're supposed to try to help you from there. It's important to tell people what you really feel Brooke. We're going to help you." I can't focus on his words. My head starts to swim again and Whip blurs.
"I want to sleep.." I mutter as my eyes close and my body falls into him.
