Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore

CHAPTER SEVEN - Baby, Now That I've Found You

Elena and Alaric immediately rushed to Mercy Medical Center right after John Paul made the phone call to Ric. They didn't know anything specific, except that Jeremy had an accident in school after one of his art classes. Elena's nerves had been frayed since the incident at the park, and not knowing anything regarding Jeremy's condition was driving her even more to the edge.

"Jeremy Gilbert?" Elena demanded, once the finally reached the nurses' desk at the ER.

"Excuse me?" one of the nurses asked her. "Please remain calm, Miss."

Elena was about to scream at the nurse, when Alaric decided to intervene. "Excuse me, Nurse Reis," he said, looking at the woman's name tag. "My name is Alaric Saltzman. I'm the legal guardian of the patients that was brought here not too long ago. His sister and I just received the news of his accident. Surely, you can understand the reason for our distress," Ric explained.

Nurse Reis expression softened, looking at Elena with sympathy. "What's the patient's name again?" she asked.

"Jeremy. Jeremy Gilbert," Elena replied in a gentler tone.

Nurse Reis typed the name on the keyboard and then looked at her screen. "Gilbert, Jeremy...yes. Brought in for deep incision to his hand. The intern should be done with his sutures now. He's in exam room 3." she pointed them to the direction of the room.

"Thank you," Elena mumbled in response, before rushing towards the room, followed by Alaric.

"You'll be discharged tonight. I see no reason to keep you for observation. Although, I expect you back here in five days to have the stitches removed," Elena heard the doctor ordering Jeremy, as they entered the room.

"Elena? Ric?" Jeremy was surprised to see them. "What are you guys doing here?" he asked.

"I called them," it was John Paul who replied.

"I told John Paul to call your family, Jer," a young woman chimed in, as she brushed a few strands of hair away Jeremy's face, an act that didn't go unnoticed by Elena.

"What happened?" Elena asked worriedly, taking her place by Jeremy's side.

"It's nothing serious, really." Jeremy assured his sister. "I just sliced my hand open with a mat cutter while I was framing a painting. It was a stupid accident. Like I said, nothing serious," he explained. "Right, Doc?" he turned his attention to the man next to him.

"Dr. Joel Goran," the doctor tried to introduce himself to Elena, who was busy holding Jeremy's uninjured hand. "Right," he said, realizing he was being ignored. "Jeremy suffered a deep incision to his left hand. The wound was irrigated and sutured, and we gave him a tetanus shot, for safety precaution. I also prescribed antibiotics and meds for the pain."

"I won't be needing them," Jeremy refused.

"Right...tough guys don't need Tylenol," the young woman by Jeremy's side scoffed, as she caressed the side of his face. Elena noticed that John Paul averted his eyes while this was going on.

"You will be taking them if you don't want that wound infected. You got seven stitches, Mr. Gilbert. You're lucky. Half a centimetres to the left, and you'd be having a different conversation with another doctor," Dr. Goran warned Jeremy. Then, his pager went off. "I need to take this," he excused himself, before he hurriedly left the room.

There was an awkward silence in the room for a brief moment, before the still to be identified woman spoke. "Hi, I'm Cassandra Cartwright, Jeremy's...friend. But you can call me Casey," she introduced herself.

"Oh, right..." Jeremy said. "Casey is John Paul's best friend." he nodded towards John Paul, the normally chatty young man remained silent during the conversation. "She's in my Art History class, and she's also one of the students participating in the academy's Art Exhibit," he added. "Casey, this is my elder sister, Elena Gilbert, and my legal guardian, Alaric Saltzman," Jeremy introduced his family.