Sleepless In Seattle

Chapter 2. Heartbeats and Hospital Beds

I close my eyes immediately scared at what I'll see. I feel my way through the room towards the chair I had caught a glimpse of a minute before. I slide into the uncomfortalbly made sitting device, and just sit. My eyes are still furiously squeezed shut and all I can hear is the faint sound of what seems to be Liam's heartbeat.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

I listen to it carefully as if its going to stop at any moment. I find myself tapping my foot with each beep that is sounded. Light seeps into my corneas as I inch my eyes open. What I see is enough for me to slap my hand over my mouth, to muffle the sounds that dare to spill out.

Bruises and stitches dot his face and neck. His torso is tightly bandaged, makinging me wonder how he is even breathing on his own. Tubes connect to his arms, dispersing fluids into his damaged body. But I can't help but notice how he looks exactly how I remembered when you put asided the wounds.

I hear my heart beat through my chest almost blocking out the sound of his. At the damage done to him, what could have come to Bella. I havent seen her since she was a baby. But even only after three years she couldn't come up farther than my hip. I couldn't help but think she only survived from Liam shielding her small frame from whatever came their way.

After what seemed like an hour of me just sitting there staring at the motionless body I thought I'd never see again, a nurse walks in. She looks up from her clipboard and softly smiles at me.

"Ah, you must be Chloe. Detective Ross told me you'd be here. I thought I'd give you a brief telling of Liam's status and I might as well check up on him while I'm here."

I perk up, as she walks over to his monitor. She looks it over and writes a few things on her paper.

"His heart rate is just about back to normal. When he got out of surgery it was so low, they almost had to revivie him. But he is doing much better. He has a few bruised ribs and one broken. In surgery they stabalized the broken one so it'd heal propperly."

Responses came a little hard. My thoughts were clouding with questions and only one stood out to me, "Is he going to live?" The words roll of my toungue before I know it.

The nurse looks at me, sympathy visible in her kind blue orbs. "We are doing all we can, and it seems to be looking good for him. I believe he will," she switches her gaze to him and back to me, "He's a strong one."

The corners of my mouth slighty turn upwards for a second. I sighed and put my head in my hands. My fingers laced into my hair and I find it still a little damp. "What about...what about Bella?" I manage to croak out.

"Would you like me to take you to her?"

I nod my head and am out of my seat before she can finish the question.

She leads me out of Liam's room, gently shutting the door. We had to go down a floor to the chirldren's ward

"I never got your name." I murmmered to the nurse as we passed many doors. There were so many colors in this part, everywhere else in the hospital was a sickening color of white that you get really tired of after a while, but here there were elephants and teddy bears and colorful handprints all scattered on the walls. I found myself smiling at the children that walked around laughing at the nurses. Aside from the diseases these children had that kept them at the hospital for months, they seemed like the happiest beings nonetheless.

"Angela." She smiled at me, her eyes glowing.

We got to a room that had Bella's name on a dry erase board in big pink letters hanging on the door. Angela pushed the door open and there sitting in the hospital bed was an innocent little girl with her hands folded in her lap. Her scared brown eyes met mine and she perked up a bit.

"Hey sweety, I thought I'd bring a friend to give you some company," Angela motioned to me. "Is that ok?"

Bella looked between us and hesistantly nodded. I could sense she was confused on where she was and where her family was. If only she hadn't been so young when I last saw her, then a familiar face might take away some of her fear.

I mustered up the best smile I could not wanting her to see my uneasiness, about the situation.

"Hi Bella, I'm Chloe." I begin as I sit in front of her on the bed. From my spot I was able to see only a few bruises and scratches which confirmed my theory of Liam blocking her from the hit.

She looked at me quietly, tilting her head slightly. Grief was all I felt for her, she was too young to understand what was going on and the thought of her having to grow up without her parents hit hard like a brick.

I found her taking an interest in the necklace that hang loosely around my neck. I picked it up and admired. It was silver and had a chevron pendant attached to the middle.

It surprised me when she crawled into my lap, taking the necklace in her small hands.

"Do you like it?" I asked her as she turned it around in her hands.

She nodded and a hint of a smile played on her lips. "Leeyum's."

Her reply caught me a little off guard. I realized that this necklace was in fact the one Liam had given me on our last day together. I never took the darn thing off. It's been through some rough times.

"Yes, it was Liam's." I agree with her. Though I didn't know how she could've known that, I didn't pay it too much attention.

"Hey, how 'bout we play a game?" I asked and her eyes immediately brighten.

The rest of my visit with her we played all sorts or games consisting of a very competitive game of hide and go seek. I wasn't surprised when I found myself exhausted.

It soothed me to know we bonded and I made her smile. One more familiar face to help her.

Bella's tiny body now lay in my lap as she struggled to keep her eyes open. I gently lifted her up careful with her bruises and laid her at the head of the bed. Bringing the blankets up around her, I watched her chest softly move up in down.

I go to walk away and feel a small hand grab my shirt. I turn around too see sleepy brown eyes looking at me.

"Will you be back tomorrow." I hear her whisper. I smile at her and lay a gentle kiss on her head.

"Absolutely."

With that I turn and walk out the door, shutting it gently, careful not to stir the small being in the bed.

My day seems to have gotten better with that interaction with Bella. Such an innocent little girl. I make my way back to the ICU. Liam is still sleeping when I get back to his room. I can't help but feel he's not waking up in fear of how different his life was going to be now. I knew he didn't like change.

I could tell he had moved while I was gone, since he now has an arm hanging off the side of the bed and his head tilited slightly. I walked over and laid his arm back up on his bed, he shuffles a bit and I step back thinking he's going to wake up. My anticipation of wanting his eyes to spring open at any time, settle as he swallows before being dragged back into slumber.

Pulling the chair closer to his bed, I gingerly reached out and took is hand into mine. It felt so familiar it was like I had just held his hand yesterday instead of 3 years ago. I laid my head on the bed and just watched him sleep, my eyelids drooped in exhaustion but I had no plan of closing them anytime soon.