fix you // liam payne

chapter three // protectiveness.

ellie's pov

I close the private waiting room door behind me, my knees wobbling beneath me as I let out a sigh of relief. How I managed to make it through that conversation without passing out is way beyond me. 

I cannot believe I just met One Direction. The One Direction. And they are just as adorable and beautiful in person as they are on my television. But I've never seen such a sincere side of them on my tv as I just had. 

My stomach churns as I recall their heartbroken expression as I served them the horrible news that one of their best friends may never be able to walk again. I can't even image if someone served that information to me about a good friend of mine. I'd be unconsolable. 

I try to shake the image of their tear stained faces, in order to maintain my level of professionalism, but it's no use. I can feel my eyes tearing up, forcing me to push myself down the hall, trying to find something to busy my mind. 

My eyes scan the bustling hall, full of stressed - which is the constant state of every doctor in this place 24/7 - doctors running around, trying to find Dr. Frenette for him to tell me what exactly it is I should do. I've never been assigned to such a high profile case before. I feel like a small little guppy swimming in the big ocean with all the terrifying sharks. 

As I chew nervously on my bottom lip, I can't help but to wish I was back on my small cases, taking blood pressure and looking at bumps and bruises, not caring for a potentially paralyzed international superstar. 

"Have you seen Dr. - " I try to stop a random nurse to ask her a quick question, but she can't be bothered with my problems, 

"Not now, kid," She mumbles, quickly pushing past  me. 

I can feel my irritation and helplessness growing. I tuck my blonde hair behind my ear as I try my hardest to stay out of everyone's way. My eyes graze up, landing on room 44G, knowing very well that Liam Payne is just on the other side of it. 

As disgruntled doctors push past me, clearly annoyed with me just standing here in the middle of all the bustle, my need to run and hide increases immensely. 

Making a split second decision, I dart across the hall, my sparkling white keds carrying me towards the looming room staring at me. My pale hand reaches out to clutch the doorknob, second guessing myself. But as a rushed doctor gives me a hard shove into the door, causing it to push open without my intention, I take the opportunity to escape inside the room.

The silence in the hospital room contrasts significantly to the stressful hallway just a wooden door separating the two. The only things to be heard are the beeping of the heart monitor, beeping fairly quicker than normal; that and the struggled breathing of someone fast asleep. 

Reaching over to flip on the small, dim lights used specifically to not awaken the patients. I pad across the linoleum floors, my eyes raking across the figure lying unconscious in the bed, tangled in a mess of tubes and blankets. 

Looking at someone in an extreme case like Liam's doesn't get easier, no matter how long I've been exposed to them. My heart tugs in an uncomfortable manner, making my stomach twist and churn. If I hadn't been told previously that it was the Liam Payne, I would have no idea who it was lying in this bed. 

Soft snores come from an incredibly swollen face that is bruised at its temple, where he must have been hit before falling in front of the car. He wears the tubes in his nose, helping him breathe properly. His muscular arm sticks out of the white blanket, draping off the edge of the hospital bed, an IV stuck in it.

His body is contained in the bed with braces, being sure that he doesn't move about in his sleep, and hurt himself even more. The curious side of me studies him carefully, never having seen a patient with paralysis in person before.