Pinned but Fluttering

Chapter 16

Thank you all soooo much for bringing Pinned but Fluttering to #1 on the Thriller list and #1 on the Fan Fiction list as well this past week, plus taking both votes and comments for this story over 1,100 each!!!

Pinned but Fluttering also passed 50,000 reads this morning, so thank you so much for reading, commenting, and voting!! You are the coolest readers EVER!!! Love you all!!! :)

On another note, I have downloads (one for computers, one for e-readers) of my completed story, Evening Star, available on my blog at http://CassandraLowery.blogspot.com

This is the second longest Pinned but Fluttering chapter thus far. Enjoy!!!!

Chapter 16

I must have dozed off again after Carlisle had reluctantly left, telling me that there had been a car accident and two people were being brought into the ER with minor injuries. Somehow, when he released me after our hug, I could have sworn that he was crying...or should have been crying, but his dark eyes, while reddened slightly, were strangely dry. Weird.

As he pulled the curtain around my bed to give me some privacy in the ER, he gave me a look that made my own eyes tear up...again. It was the kind of look that I remember my own dad giving me...well, the kind he used to give me before Mom got sick. It was a strange burning, proud, loving look, both fierce and protective, as if I were of real meaning and value to him. I sniffled a little at the thought, wiping my red eyes on the edge of the sheet.

With the privacy curtain now shielding my bed, I listened to Carlisle's velvety voice comfort the mother and young son whom he was treating a few beds down. He joked gently with the boy while soothing the very worried and guilt-wracked mother who had taken her eyes off the road “just for a split-second” to switch radio stations. He quieted her anxiety with a cheery calm that worked wonders.

Carlisle truly was amazing.

And I smiled to myself sleepily as I dozed off to the velvet comfort of his voice as he treated his patients who were sporting only bumps and bruises, fortunately.

               ********************

I woke to a cold hand gently shaking my shoulder. Reluctantly I opened my bleary eyes to see Carlisle standing beside my bed, my chart in his hand. Seeing him there next to me, I made more of an effort to sit up and pay attention, scrubbing my tired eyes with the back of my IV-free hand.

What time was it, anyway?

“I'm sorry to wake you, Isabella,” Carlisle apologized. “But I have to release you once I remove the IV. All your tests have come back normal, so that's good.” He nodded at me, smiling slightly, then became serious again. “However, there's the issue of your panic attacks.”

I nodded cautiously. I'd rather not get into the reasons for those damn attacks, the major cause of which was his own children who were still freaking me out more than a little. But I certainly didn't want Carlisle to think that I was crazy or something....

He must have sensed my unwillingness to talk as he prepared to remove the blasted IV. Of course, I refused to look as his cold fingers skillfully removed the needle and tubing from my hand, a square of gauze taped tightly across the IV site in its place. Breathing a sigh of relief now that the horrid needle was history, I finally looked up at my doctor and longtime friend.

Carlisle was consulting my chart, his face professional and serious, then he looked at me, concerned. “You said the panic attacks first started today. Is that correct, Isabella?”