Natural Instincts - Jared Cameron

.twelve.

My father's voice was filled with gratitude for my friends, his eyes showing he loved the La Push guys. I couldn't blame him. I was so relieved to hear they knew where I was and knew I was okay. I have no idea what they thought happened when Jared never found me that night. God, they must have been worried sick.

I began feeling panic and nausea wash over me at the real memory of what happened, those red eyes stuck in my mind like a plague. But before I could throw up whatever was in my stomach, Dr Cullen walked in in place of a nurse, with his eyes filled with heavy sorrow. 

"Good morning, sleepy head," he said to me, my dad standing but keeping his grip on my hand.

"I'll go tell your friends you're awake, okay?" he said, exiting the room to let Carlisle check on me. 

He sat down beside me where my father was. "So, I'm guessing he told you about a dog on the beach?" I blinked twice, attempting to nod my head slightly. "And I'm also guessing you remember it a lot differently?" I repeated the action.

"Listen, Juliet. There's many things I want to tell you. And I will. But unfortunately there's someone specific who is to be the one to fill you in on a few things first. Once he has, then we'll all be able to answer the rest of the questions you have and fill in the gaps. But trust me when I say, we know you're curious and it's making you impatient. Just give us a few more days and let Jared tell you himself." 

Jared? What does Jared have to do with this? Did he know about the woman? 

Dr Cullen proceeded to look over my injuries as I thought to myself. "So your leg has a fracture, not too bad, but you'll be on crutches when you get out. Your wrist, just a minor sprain, but you cracked your head open pretty badly, and the wound on your neck lost a lot of blood because of the artery there. Needless to say you're going to be feeling a little lousy the next few days while your body replaces the blood it lost." 

That would explain the shitty feeling that clouded me. "Your eye is still pretty swollen, very bruised, that's why you can't open it all the way." Oh, that explains the pulsing pain. "But thankfully the cut on your face is healing nicely, not deep or anything so it won't scar." 

Geez, whatever happened to me didn't do anything in halves.

"Your friends have been waiting for you to wake up. They're very worried about you, Juliet." He said softly as he finished his exam. "Can you talk at all?"

I swallowed hard, and Carlisle offered me some water, aiding me as I drank down and refreshed my overly dry throat. I cleared it once more and attempted to speak. "Thank you." I managed. He smiled sadly, but seemed happy I was able to talk.

"You're a fighter, Miss Bo. A few more days and you'll be out of here in no time." he promised, placing a soft cool hand on my face in reassurance and support. "There's some people who wanna see you," he said, sending me a wink before opening the door and revealing the group of hunky russet skin boys I'd grown to love as my own brothers, falling through the doorway in an ungraceful pile as Sam shook his head and brought his hand to his nose in secondhand embarrassment. He really had that tired dad energy about him. The boys were attempting to be their version of 'quiet', but surely woke up the entire ward.

"Julio!" Seth shouted out first as he proudly held up a massive bouquet of flowers that had somehow survived their rowdy entrance. All of them pausing at the door to see if I was alert, scared, if I remembered anything, and hesitant to approach. I looked at them all with my good eye, noticing they all looked sleep deprived and exhausted. Their eyes were sunken, shoulders lazily hunched, hair disheveled and it broke my heart.

I swallowed and readied my still dry throat to speak. "You boys look exhausted, are you okay? You should go home and rest," I said slowly and carefully, swallowing in between sentences.