Grey's Anatomy

Chapter 27

Adira didn't remember falling asleep, but then again she didn't know if it was a natural sleep. She did remember Daniel carrying her into some manison that was at least as twice as large as her own home. The twisting turns didn't do much for her spinning head, but his voice brought her back to Earth. "Hay una cuchillada en su pierna. Déjeme limpiarlo. Creo que era una quemadura. Siento que no noté más pronto. Nunca redujo la velocidad, no una vez." (There is a gash in your leg. Let me clean it up. I think it was a burn. I am sorry I did not notice sooner. You never slowed down, not once.) Her eyes slowly trained on Daniel, who was crouched in front of her as she sat on the end of a bed too welcoming to be her own. She looked down to see burned skin with a ragged gash down it. Blood was caked in a circle around her calf and some had rubbed off on the other leg. Adira wished she could say she was surprised that she hadn't noticed the pain, but she wasn't. Not one bit.

After a few minutes his pale blue eyes looked up at her; worry and pain was creased across his chiseled features. His brow was clenched tight in concentration as his nimble fingers ran up the side. There was dirt and unclean water caked and oozing from it. "Creo que es infectado," he whispered slowly. (I believe that it is inflected). He clenched her hand tightly, "Déjeme llamar a un doctor." (Let me call a doctor.)

Adira smiled at him sadly, "No, no. Si me da provisiones lo puedo hacer." (No, no. If you give me supplies I can do it.)

He looked up at her in surprise, but didn't question. He brought her one of the best first aid kits that Adira had ever seen; it surpassed even her own, which she was confident she could perform minor surgeries with. She looked through it before pulling out a disinfectant. She gave it to Daniel and motioned at her leg after grabbing a pillow to scream into. "Jezebel?"

She just nodded at him before the screaming took over. Once he was finished, he looked up at her with sorry eyes. They met her teary ones with concern, but didn't press. She slowly allowed him to prop up her leg on a chair and carefully clean the rest of her leg. She grabbed the needle and biodegradable thread. Adira ran her fingers up and down the cut twice, and she knew she would need stitches. She was hoping that she could just used butterfly bandages, but it was too deep. "Lo de las calles," she started as she threaded the needle. She held the needle in one hand and the towel in the other. "Es que aprendes más de lo que esperaba." (The thing about the streets is you learn more than you bargained for.) Adira took a deep breath, shoved the towel in her mouth, and started to stitch.

He looked at her in a moment of horror before steadying her leg with his hands. One went to the base of her ankle and the other went to her knee. His large hands held her steady as he leg thrashed and her hand stayed steady. "Jezebel," he repeated with every stitch. It took a twelve agonizing stitches to get to the bottom. "¿Cómo?" (How?) he whispered in awe as he looked up at her.

"Do you understand English?" she whispered. He raised an eyebrow at her but nodded. He touched his lips with two fingers. "My Spanish only goes so far, mi amor." He smiled sadly at the use of my love. "I have a confession to make."

"¡Cualquier mujer que puede coser su propia pierna maldita debe tener uno!" (Any woman who can stitch up their own damn leg must have one!) Adira raised an eyebrow at him as he looked back down at her leg, wiping away the excess blood. She handed him the gauze and he wrapped it. "Yo no hablo inglés bien, pero, yo comprendo muy bien." (I do not speak English well, but, I understand it very well.)

Adira used a mix of Spanish and English as she told him a story that was fabricated from as much truth she could give but the lies seped in. "I came from a troubled home. No father, but my Mother wasn't all there either. She worked dead end jobs; anything to keep us afloat. And, I mean anything - even if that meant illegal or bad men. They entered our house but the bills were always paid. It was no way to live. No way to live at all.