I come to fight. Or at least, to listen.

chapter 9

Chapter 9

~Woken~

The ride in the carriage was uncomfortable, at least for Evelyn. She had never been in a carriage, and this one was particularly nice because it was Marius's. She tried not to get blood on anything. Also, the cobblestone streets were uneven, causing Evelyn's shoulder and leg to jostle around. Joly must have seen her face go pale with pain because he asked her what was wrong.

"Nothing," Evelyn replied firmly. She didn't want to be babied. Joly looked at her closer.

"Oh my God! I can see the blood seeping through on your shoulder!" he exclaimed. Joly, who was sitting across from her, moved in between her and Marius, accidentally knocking her shoulder. Evelyn sucked in through her teeth. He felt her forehead. "And a fever too? My God, Evelyn, you are ridiculous. You're not much better off than our friend here," he gestured to Enjolras. Evelyn deemed that ridiculous. Evelyn was conscious, had one less bullet hole, and who lot less of other bumps and bruises. She sighed at Joly's direction and glared as if to say "Really?"

When they arrived at Marius's residence, Evelyn didn't want to get out. Joly practically had to drag her. She stepped out of the carriage on her bad leg and crumpled. Joly caught her before she hit the gravel. He insisted on carrying her inside.Idiot, Evelyn told herself.

Joly placed her in a back room by the kitchen. Two clean white cots were in the corner, one on each side. One of them had a view to the gardens. Joly deposited her on that one. He left her without instruction, so she opened The Republic. When he returned with Enjolras he commented on it good-naturedly, "I see Enjolras has converted you, huh?"

Evelyn just smiled and didn't look up from the book. Once Joly and Marius had placed Enjolras on the cot, Joly sent for Marius to get his medical supplies.

"All right, let me see," Joly gestured to her shoulder. Evelyn tried to slip her arm out of her sleeve, but her shoulder wouldn't cooperate. So instead her shoulder just hunched up against her neck. "Um.. I'm going to have to see more." Joly sounded embarrassed. Just then Marius came in with his tools. "Ah perfect," Joly pulled out a pair of scissors and began cutting away at the back shoulder portion of her dress.

Marius laughed, "How would Musichetta feel?"

Joly sent a harsh "Shut up" back. Evelyn blushed. This was uncomfortable for everybody.

When Joly unwrapped the bandages he let out a sigh of dismay. Both because she was painfully thin and the bullet wound was showing signs of infection.

Joly laid Evelyn on her stomach and situated his chair so that her shoulder was in front of his knees. "Can you move it all all?" Evelyn shook her head no. She could hear medical instruments clacking together. "Ok, so what I'm going to do it work on the back side first, because that's the biggest wound. Unfortunately, you're showing signs of infection, which means I will have to give it a good cleaning before I stitch it. On a good note, I do have local anesthetic, so this shouldn't hurt too much."

Evelyn prepared herself. She felt Joly rub something into the wound, which she assumed was the anesthetic. Soon, that area was numb.

Joly worked that would for about forty-five minutes, cleaning and stitching. He moved to the front side and did a smaller amount of work there.

Next, he asked Evelyn about the "cut" on her leg. Joly half expected her leg not to even be there after she had not even said anything about her shoulder. The rip in her skirt left a hole big enough for Joly to see what was going on, no need to further embarrass the girl. The bullet just grazed her, but it left a six inch long gash on the side of her thigh, about halfway in between her hip and her knee. Also infected. Enjolras's showed little infection, had she not even thought about herself? Joly wondered.