𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 ─── hospitals

Soho, 22nd December 2007

"ℌey, Bells, what about this?" Arabella looked up at her closest friend, Emily, who was holding a dress up. She narrowed her eyes. "For you, not me! It's not my style."

"Woah, it's cute." Arabella picked the dress from her friend's hand. Emily and her had met on the first day of college, having been roommates. Where Arabella had been more reserved, Emily was a social butterfly and the two had been close friends ever since then. "How much."

"$30. So, it's not going to break the bank."

"That's true." Arabella nodded. "I think I'll buy it."

"For the anniversary with the boyfriend." Emily wiggled her eyebrows, before cooing as her friend went bright red. "You two are so cute. I cannot believe that he asked you out on New Years Day after kissing you when the ball dropped."

"It was an in the moment thing." Arabella muttered, before smiling. "But I'm a bit worried for him. I haven't heard from him in a bit, and I know his jobs stressful and all."

"What does he do again?"

"Owns a company in the private security sector."

"Damn, you couldn't be more well protected if you tried." The two women laughed, before paying for their clothes as they left the building. "You know, I love our late Christmas shopping day. It's so nice when everything hits the sale."

"It really is." Arabella hooked her arm through her friends. "Have you done that assignment for anatomy due in after Christmas?"

"Bells, please. When have I ever started an assignment if not 12 hours before it's due?" Arabella rolled her eyes. Where she got her essays done early, Emily left it till the last possible moment. Apparently, she worked best under stress. Arabella thought it was bullshit. "It's not gonna be that hard. Anatomy is my forte."

"Yeah, but Emily, this one would be out of the way and no stress." Arabella tried to reason before her phone started to buzz in her pocket. "Hang on a second."

Pressing the accept button, Arabella put the phone to her ear as she giggled at Emily's face.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Arabella Carter?" 

"It is. Who's speaking?" 

"My name is Doctor James Monroe." Arabella went pale, her hands starting to shake as she immediately thought of the worst case scenarios. "You're the emergency contact for Luke Castellan. He's just been brought into the hospital alongside someone named Ethan Nakamura."

"Which hospital?" She wasn't sure how she managed to say anything, considering she was struggling to breathe. 

"New York Presbyterian." 

"I'm on my way." Arabella hung up the phone, turning to look at Emily, who's eyebrows were furrowed.

"Bels, everything okay?"

"Luke's just been admitted to hospital. I've got to go."

"Give me your stuff. I'll look after it, go be with your boyfriend." Emily urged, as Arabella nodded and hurried away.

∘☽༓☾∘

"Miss Carter?" Arabella looked up from where she was sitting, drumming her fingers on the chair leg. "My names Dr. Monroe, we spoke earlier on the phone."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you." Arabella knew how to give bad news, as it was part of her training, but she'd never had to receive it. It was starting to stress her out. "How are they?"

"Well, Mr. Nakamura has lost an eye. We've stopped the bleeding and patched it up, but the sight of it is quite severe." Arabella leant back against the wall, hoping for it to provide some support as she tried to process the news. "Mr. Castellan is in a worse shape. He has a multitude of broken bones, a lot of bruising, a punctured lung and a concussion."

"Will they both be okay?" The doctor nodded, as Arabella took another deep breath, trying to keep herself together. "Is there any chance that I can see them?"

"Mr. Castellan is in surgery now, but Mr. Nakamura is awake and we can take you to see him." Arabella nodded, before following the doctor into the twists and turns of the hospital, one that she was slightly familiar with. They carried on a little further, before the doctor stopped and opened the door for Arabella to step in.

Ethan looked up, one side of his face covered in bandages, though he tried his best to smile through the pain.

"Bella, light of my life, favorite person in the entire world, can you kill me for not contacting you later?" Not even that caused Arabella to crack a smile, as she rushed over to wrap her arms around him. He sank into her touch, threading his hand through her hair as he rocked her slightly. "I'm okay. I'm fine, don't worry about me."

"You idiot. I was so scared, and then I got a call saying you and Luke were in hospital." Arabella clung onto him a little tighter. "I thought the worst. I was really worried." 

"I'm alright, Bella." Ethan promised, pulling back to grin as she looked at his covered eye. Her own eyes welled with tears, as she tried not to cry at the thought of how Ethan had lost it. "Bella, hey, hey, come on. I'm alright. I've still got one eye. I can still see, don't worry."

But Arabella merely shook her head, trying to brush away her tears and stay strong.

"We're alright, Bella." Ethan pulled her back into a hug, pressing a kiss to her head. "Jeez, you're more upset over my eye than I am."

"Bullshit."

Ethan laughed at the words that came out of her mouth, kissing her head again.

"I'm alright, Bella. Luke's gonna be fine too, alright?"

∘☽༓☾∘

Arabella looked up from her book at the groan of pain that escaped Luke's lips, her eyes widening as the man tried to sit up.

"Don't even think about it," She hissed, pushing him back onto the bed as her nursing instincts kicked in. It took everything in her not to start checking his vitals, calling a nurse instead.

"Ellie?" He looked up at her, his eyes wide with confusion, as Arabella stepped back to stand with Ethan as they checked Luke over. Ethan had been discharged hours earlier, but was determined to stick around until Luke woke up, before going back to rest at Arabella's house, under her supervision.

"Is he okay?" The nurse nodded at the pair, before leaving the room. Arabella sighed in relief, sitting on the side of Luke's bed as Ethan took the chair.

"Where am I?" 

"New York." Luke's eyes snapped open, turning to look at Ethan with confused eyes.

"Last thing I remember, we were in San Francisco," Ethan nodded, as Arabella flicked his hand away from the bandages over his eye that he was attempting to scratch. Luke's eyes narrowed further at the sight of the bandage.

"We were. But someone wouldn't go to a hospital unless it was in New York," Ethan huffed, as Luke thought back. He could vaguely remember saying something along those lines to Ethan at one point. "So I had to carry your fat ass all the way to New York so that we could get treatment."

"Luke..." Arabella sighed, as the blond man looked at her. "You should have gotten treatment in California. You didn't have to travel to the other side of the country."

"You were so excited about having both of us round at Christmas, I didn't want to disappoint you," Luke murmured, looking away as Arabella sighed and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend.

"You couldn't even if you tried," She murmured, pressing a kiss to his head, as Ethan stood up.

"I'm gonna be outside before the two of you make me feel anymore single," Arabella giggled, as Ethan left the room, leaving her alone with Luke.

"What happened?"

"I fell off a cliff," He struggled into an upright position, still keeping his arms around her waist. Luke didn't want to let her go in case he was dreaming.

"You did what?!" Arabella pulled away, her eyes wide with horror. "How are you not dead?"

"Because I'm indestructible." He gave her a half-hearted smile, as she watched him sadly. Something had happened, or gone wrong in the trip. It wasn't just the streak of grey in his hair that gave it away either, but the broken look in her boyfriend's eye.

"Something happened, didn't it?"

"Yeah. I did something bad," He huffed once more, leaning into her side as she ran her fingers through his hair. "So, they pushed me off of the cliff. I remember falling, and then this pain when I hit the ground. It was like an out of body experience, I didn't even register it until later on. Must have been the adrenaline, but then it hit me and I thought I wasn't going to make it."

"Luke..."

"And then, all I could think about was what would have happened if I died. What would have happened to you? Or to Ethan? Or to Annabeth?" He replied, as Arabella sighed sadly. "I didn't want to leave you guys here alone without a proper explanation. I couldn't leave you here alone. Especially not you. I-I love you too much to ever think about putting you through that sort of pain."

Arabella leant down, pressing a kiss to his lips, as she held his face in her hands. She tried to tell him, through the kiss, all of the fear and anxiety that had followed her over the past few weeks when she hadn't heard from him. Pulling away, she leant her forehead against his, looking into his eyes that were filled with adoration.

"I love you too," She murmured, having successfully shut her boyfriend up. "I love you so much, and you could never hurt me. You know that."

He smiled, reaching up to brush his thumb across her cheek. There was a moment of silence before Luke spoke again.

"Marry me."

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

So, a little bit of a cliffhanger but you know, I do love a cliff hanger. I love Ellie and Luke so much, they're such sweethearts plus, Ethan and Ellie are lovely together and now, he's lost an eye as well.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx