How Can I Be Grump Around You?

3-Darcy

I sat in the ER with Danny, Arin, Suzy, Barry, Ross and Holly with a towel covering my bloody gash the coyote had left. I noticed Danny glancing at me several times with a worrying expression.

"I'm fine, Danny," I said in a serious tone.

He said nothing and nodded; however, I could see he was completely unconvinced. I can't say that he's wrong, though. I'm really not fine. I'm far from it.

The gash in my arm, I can handle; but the young birds maliciously murdered by that wild beast... Too many memories have broken out of the vault I contained them within.

"You're not fine, sweetie," Holly inputted. "You have a great big canyon carved into your arm and your bleeding a lot. For all we know, it could already be horribly--"

"Holly," Ross interrupted quickly.

I looked to Dan, whose eyes were beginning to well up with tears. I felt like shit for putting him through this.

I was about to tell him something, but the doctor had approached us with a small first aid kit. Everyone jerked up from their seats and walked towards the doctor and me.

"Just a first aid kit? Nothing else?" Suzy questioned.

"Nothing else," the doctor confirmed. "It isn't too serious. Just some stitches and a bandage wrap and you'll be good to go. Miss Woode, would you like to follow me into my office?"

As I stood to follow him, Danny stepped forward. "If you don't mind, we'd like to come with."

The doctor looked at me, as if asking for what I would prefer. "I suppose so, if you guys want to," I answered.

We all gathered in Doc's office --except for Holly and Ross because Holly can't stand blood-- and the doctor began preparations for my stitches.

"Great way to start of your day, isn't it?" Doc asked jokingly, attempting to lighten the tension in the room.

I played along. "Totally. Everyone should start out their day like this. Best day ever."

Doc smiled in appreciation for my playing along. "If you wouldn't mind it," he said in a more serious note, "I'm going to go right into this with the cleaning agent and stitching."

"Will it hurt?" I asked.

"Very much."

I nodded and asked for a towel to bite on. A nurse brought in a towel and handed it to Arin, who then passed it along to me. With a towel between my teeth and my arm resting on the observation table, I was prepared for the pain.

"If you need anything to squeeze onto, you can always squeeze my hand," Danny offered. I nodded in appreciation.

I rested my head on my non-injured arm atop the observation table and gave a thumbs up in indication that I was ready. Doc poured the cleaning agent onto my wound.

I shot up and dropped the towel from my clamped teeth. "Fucking son of a bitch! Jesus fucking-- ARGH!" I slammed my fist on the table.

Danny sat me down and joined next to me. He returned the towel to my mouth and offered me his hand. I took it with my shaking one. We clasped our hands tight together. He wrapped his free arm around my waist and I fit my forehead into the curve of his neck, breathing heavily.

"I'm doing the stitches now," the doctor warned.

"Just hurry up and get it over with!" I said with my teeth clamped onto the towel. My breathing became rapid and I began to sweat profusely. He stabbed the needle into my arm.