Chapter Text
It was just another day when Tyler walked into work at 8:30pm, ready for the restless night ahead.
It was just another day when he clocked in, the card being stamped in sticky ink 8:32
It was just another day when an ambulance sped into the loading dock, medics shouting for the nurses.
It was just another day when a bloody and bruised figure was wheeled in, the gurney flying by Tyler, making his scrubs whip around his body.
"This is bad. Why isn't she in the ICU?" He heard someone yell.
"We've identified two broken ribs. One bruised. Other possible head injuries. Broken leg and arm."
"She was alone."
"No car?"
"No. Nothing."
"Was it a...suicide?"
"can't tell."
Tyler didn't want to overhear anymore. He quickly disappeared into the back room and gripped a cup of coffee, watching through the doorway as the body was wheeled away. It really wasn't the smartest idea for him to decide to go into the medical field. He hated seeing people in pain, he hated gore, and worst of all,
he hated night shifts.
"Joseph!" at the sound of his name he whipped around, so fast he probably got whiplash.
"Yes!?" He yelled back, not even knowing who it was yet.
"One of your trauma patients is awake, he needs the usual shit. You know what to do." Brendon grumbles, walking to the coffee machine.
"Oh. ok, right on it!" Tyler smiled. he loved seeing his trauma patients. As sad as there situations were, he always really enjoyed making them feel better, taking care of others usually distracted him from himself. Coming in and out of places like this when he was younger inspired him to go into the field, wanting to help others the way he'd been helped.
He ran up the stairs two at a time, tripping over his scrubs and walked up to the room, knocking twice before opening the door slowly and seeing a fifteen year old boy sitting awake happily. his eyes were glued to a yellow game boy color, given to him by Tyler.
"Hey Gabe!" Tyler smiled, walking over and sitting next to the teen. he got a feeble smile, the boy's eyes still glued to the screen as he played Pokemon red.
"Hey Tyler, what's up?" the freckled boy asked after beating the gym, putting down his gameboy and itching his IV's.
"Nothin much...don't touch those I've told you before." he said, pulling out a stethoscope and smiling slightly as the boy pulled up his shirt for him.
"Sorry, they prick my skin. It's uncomfortable." He whines
"Yeah..I get that."
Tyler pressed the metal to the boys chest and he yelped slightly at the sudden cold.
"sorry sorry!" Tyler said quickly, removing the metal and laughing.
"Geez...you should know not to do that." the boy sighed heavily and Tyler rolls his eyes.
"sorry princess." Tyler joked, giggling as the boy stuck his tongue out at him.
"Has anyone sent me mail?" he asked, twiddling his fingers.
"I'm not sure...." Tyler said, a grin forming on his face "there's a package for your name, but I doubt you know anyone named D.C" the boys eyes lit up and he sat up in bed, poking at Tyler's ribs.
"D.C Comics you dip sh-!" He scolded Tyler, stopping himself before he cursed and made grabbing motions as Tyler pulled a stack of comic books out of a brown box, handing them to the boy and his bright blue eyes sparkled.
"Yes!"
"I might send them back if you curse at me again." Tyler warned jokingly, ruffling the boy's light brown hair.
"These are sick!" he gasped excitedly, flipping through the pages.
"I bet they are." Tyler said softly.
"Did my mom pay for them?" he asks, looking at Tyler expectantly.
"Uh-"
"You did, didn't you?" he rolls his eyes as Tyler rubs the back of his neck and blushes.
"maybe."
"You're too good to me."
"You deserve it."
"I really don't."
"Yes, you do."
"Get out of here Tyler!" Gabe yelled, smile gracing his face as he chucked a pillow at Tyler and he backed up and walked over to the door.
"You need anything else before I leave?"
"No, I'm good, come back before lights out though, I wanna hear about your day." Gabe said without looking up from the first book.
"Kay, i'll be back right after lights out I think."
"Mmmhmm."
As Tyler walked back down the stairs, he smiled to himself. Gabe had come to the hospital months ago, in terrible condition after a family invasion. He was injured badly after jumping out his bedroom window to get away. A bruised rib, cracked skull, and a broken ankle.
Now he was a happy, smiling, freckled faced joker who made any room brighter with his presence. His family lived near the hospital but rarely visited him because of their 'busy schedules' but Tyler made sure he wasn't too lonely. Gabe wasn't used to being alone because he's one of three triplets. His other two brothers came to visit him often but Tyler could tell they'd rather not be huddled up in a stuffy hospital room. Tyler had been assigned Gabe the day after he arrived, and has been his favorite nurse since. However, he was supposed to leave in a few weeks and Tyler really couldn't bear with the thought of him being sent back home. Gabe was really one of the only reasons Tyler came to work, let alone woke up in the morning. It gave him a purpose. He woke up and came to work because Gabe needs him. Without him, well,
Tyler did'nt know what he was going to do.
He often thought about how his patients did more for him then he did in return.
"Hey Tyler!" He spun around to meet the voice behind him, coming face to face with a fellow nurse.
"Oh hey, night shift huh?"
"Yeah...really sucks."
"ain't that the truth."
"Mmmhmm. Did you hear about the 8:30 dropoff?"
"the what?" Tyler asked, eyebrows raised.
"The girl rushed in earlier. She''s being operated on now in the ICU." The nurse who Tyler forgot the name of carried on.
"car accident. Yeah I heard." Tyler shuffles nervously, looking over the girls shoulder to peek down the hall.
"Strange that she wasn't even in a car though, just walking on the highway."
Tyler froze. No one just walks along the highway at night for no reason. He'd walked along the highway before but was stopped by someone biking and was taken home. he blinks, removing the memory from his train of thought and focuses on the blonde nurse talking.
"She's doing really well as I've heard. It wasn't as bad as they thought but she is expected to be here for a while."
Tyler nods slowly, gears turning in his head. That poor girl. Suddenly he speaks up.
"Does she need me?" it sounded better in his head.
the nurse shrugs. "check your lineup. I don't have her but you might. By the way she hasn't been named yet so her number is 7873."
"Oh ok." Tyler forces a smile and walks back to the office, resuming with his coffee sipping and watching the news.
Thee clock at the back of the room ticked loudly, making Tyler nervous. He wrung his warmed hands on his coffee mug and tried to focus on the fake plant in the dim corner. This place reeked of 409 and antiseptic. A combination he'd never really grown accustomed to in his two years here. He'd been working at the hospital since he was twenty, starting as just a licensed nurse and working his way up to being an intensive care unit registered nurse. He wanted to work with serious injuries, and liked children so that's where he was promoted too.
Nursing wasn't his first choice. His first choice honestly was to not be alive anymore but he had a change of heart.
A change of heart that included a biker finding him on the side of the road.
But he doesn't like to talk about that.
He really doesn't like to talk at all.
But nursing was a simple option. He didn't have to go to school that long, and they were desperate for any type of nurses in Columbus, so getting a job was easier then he thought.
"Tyler?"
"Yeah Brendon?" He replied, recognizing the voice and turning in his swivel chair.
"I have your updated schedule."
"Oh, ok." Tyler reached out and grabbed the envelope. he ripped the sealed flap and pulled out the paper inside.
"I'm still working the night shifts?" He groaned, scanning the times he'd be working this month.
"Your patients are usually fine during the day Tyler, but they get scared or some shit at night. You know that." Tyler sighed. he was right, they needed him more at night then during the day.
"ok." he mumbled, reading the short list of names. he hadn't realized Brendon left until he asked why there were numbers instead of a name.
"7873?" He mumurs to himself, reading the information next to the sequence.
"Oh shit." His eyes widen when he reads the time slot for the patient "arrived 8:40pm, March 2012"
This was the girl he saw this morning.
This was going to be a challenge. Tyler usually only worked with people after they've recovered for the most part, just checking in on them to give them medicine. He's never really worked with a case this big before.
It scared the shit out of him.
What if he did something wrong?
He didn't want to hurt her.
But he couldn't just give it up and ask Brendon to change his schedule, he'd done that already two months ago, he'd be pissed. It wasn't his fault he couldn't stomach the idea of taking care of someone that was raped and beaten.
Brendon had scolded Tyler about needing to "man up" and that "he signed up for nursing."
Tyler didn't want to scare her, she was better off with a female nurse anyway.
"BEEP BEEP!" Tyler jumped, embarrassingly enough, at the sound of his pager. He quickly got up out of his seat and left the office, his goal now was finding Sarah and getting his instructions.
"Sarah?" he called, walking into her office and not seeing her. "what help you are." He grumbled and left the room, running into her just around the corner.
"Oh, Tyler! I was just looking for you!" she smiled, too happy for someone that's working an overnight shift. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun atop her head, eyes lined with light brown gel in an effort to make her look more awake.
"Yeah...what do you need?" He forced out a sentence, not really wanting to chat.
"That girl...the one that just finished her operation, she needs the usual for someone that's just come in."
"Usual?" Tyler cocked his head.
Sarah sighs, rolling here eyes. "You know, bath, food, getting into bed. She's just had an operation Tyler, she can't really do anything right now."
"Oh, ok." Tyler said quietly, realizing how stupid he'd been. Of course she can't do anything herself. "Is she...ok?" What a dumb question, Jesus.
"She's recovering. Needs a bath before she gets wrapped but she's been loaded with drugs. I doubt she'll even feel your touch."
Tyler visibly winced at that. He felt bad that she wouldn't even feel the touch of someone who cares. But broken bones were painful, and they hadn't even been wrapped yet.
"Ok, I'll go right now."
"Good, she's in the rooms just outside the ICU, room 108 I think."
"Ok, thanks Sarah I'll see you later."
"Kay...and Tyler?"
He looked over his shoulder, "yeah?"
"Shes...fragile. Be careful I think that there's something wrong other then just her physical state." Sarah spoke slowly and uncertainly.
"I will Sarah. See you later."
"Bye Tyler."
This was really going to be harder then he thought.
Maybe he could ask Gabe what to do. Without thinking Tyler turned around from where he was walking towards the ICU and sprinted back up the stairs.
Five minutes later he was outside Gabe's room on the other side of the hospital.
"Gabe? You awake?" Tyler whispered into the darkness. Ten was usually the younger kids bedtimes.
"Yeah?" He said, you could practically hear the smile in his voice. Of course he was still awake. He was most likely waiting for Tyler this whole time.
"I need..some help." Tyler admitted. He can't believe he's asking a fifteen year old for help with his job. He figured maybe a patients perspective would help.
"With what?"
"So, if you were me and you had to take care of someone with a past similar to yours, what would you do?" He spoke into the pitch black, finding his bed and sitting down.
"elaborate." His voice said through the black.
"If you were once...suicidal. And the person you need to take care of is...suicidal." Tyler choked out. he would never say this to anyone except Gabe. It's sad, he knows, but there's some sort of connection between the two.
He hears Gabe inhale loudly. "I'd be gentle. Not try and talk about it too much just yet. Wait a little. And you should be courteous of their feeling, not just what the hospital wants to know."
Tyler nodded. He hadn't thought about that. The nurses had been trained to just jump right in and make the patients replay everything that's happened to them. He hadn't even thought about how traumatizing that must be.
"Ok, thanks freckle face."
"shut up." The boy laughed, pushing Tyler off the bed. "Go to them. I gotta get my beauty sleep."
"Yeah you do." Tyler snickered, leaving the room. Gabe hadn't gotten the insult until he closed the door.
"Hey!" He heard him yell before he walked away, laughing to himself softly.
"so that's that..." He mumbled as he stumbled down the hall, tripping on his too long scrubs that he had tried to bunch around his ankles, but always fell down. Making his way towards the ICU, he saw old patients he had taken care of and waved through the windows of their doors. Tyler was well known by the patients, but never talked to the other nurses and doctors, only did what he was told and talked when he had to.
Tyler never believed in talking just to breathe.
"105...."
it's just another day
"106..."
it's just another day
"107..."
it's just another day
"108." he inhales sharply, looking in the folder attached to the door.
"oh god..." He sighs, reading the information.
"hit and run at approximately 8:00 pm, March 2012. Age and name unknown. Assumed age: 19.
Eyes: HA
Hair: BR
Height: 5'9
Weight: 100lbs
Blood Type: B negative
Organ donor: unknown
found with backpack containing clothes, phone, pocket knife, and book."
Tyler skimmed the other useless information, reaching the bottom of the page where the assumptions paragraph was.
"Hitch hiking on interstate 71, hit by an acura, license plate unknown. Speed presumably 30mph. No other bodies found with or near. Left leg broken. Right arm broken. True rib no. 7 bruised. Other possible head injuries, concussion expectation. Check normally for nausea and dilated pupils."
he stopped reading and put the folder back, knocking on the door lightly before unlocking it and stepping in.
Dim. The room is dim, but not so dark that he can't see anything. The bed is larger then normal, expected for someone so hurt.The window across from the bed is open, moonlight spilling into the room as if someone poured a glass of silver light over the scene. Tyler gingerly wanders over to the bed, looking at the monitor before glancing at the sleeping girl. Her pulse is fairly normal, a little too fast, but it's most likely because of the situation. She's scared. There'd be something seriously wrong if she wasn't.
"Look at you..." Tyler whispers softly, reading what happened once again in the folder on her bedside table. "Why would you do this?"
Her face is pale, moonlight making her hair look wispy and white. Tyler fiddles with the monitor, giving her calming fluids and changing her water bag. he goes to touch her arm, the broken one, but when he does her eyes fly open and she flinches away, making Tyler jump back in surprise.
He doesn't speak, just backs up as she curls into a ball away from him, as far as she can.
"d-don't be scared. I'm here to help you." Tyler says quietly and her eyes are wide and dilated. So much so that there's almost no identifiable color.
She purses her lips, reaching above her with her non broken arm and turns on the lamp. Flinching in pain ans he does so.
"I-I can do that for you. Stay put." Tyler turns on the other lamp and straightens up around her. Hazel eyes follow him the whole way, darkened in a search for something Tyler doesn't know. In the light, Tyler realized her hair was brown, she had dark, nicely shaped eyebrows, and was very dirty. Most likely from hitting the ground upon impact, but that was just Tyler's best guess.
"So...how are you feeling? You're awake which is good, we didn't expect that for another day." he tries his best to start a conversation, trying to think about what Gabe said. She makes the 'ok' symbol with her index finger and thumb and Tyler laughs softly.
"can you talk?" He asks and she nods. "will you talk for me?" she looks him up and down before shaking her head. She was about two of three inches shorter then Tyler, with a thin face and long legs. They analyzed each other at the same time.
"are you hungry? because you need to bathe and I wanted to know if you'd rather eat first." her eyes widen and go darker, curling in on herself again. She shakes her head again.
"so, a bath?" Tyler asks, gesturing to the tub in the room over. He searches her face and only finds that a tinge of red has found its way across her cheeks.
"It'll be fine, I've handled this plenty of times before." Tyler's voice is reassuring, but shaky. Finally she nods, and Tyler walks over to remove her sheets, glancing at the hospital gown before helping her up, her arm around his shoulder as she puts pressure on the right leg. They make their way to the bath, Tyler sitting her on a chair nearby as he runs the water, dipping his elbow in it to make sure it''s warm enough.
"we can't cast your broken bones until you're clean, otherwise they'd get infected." Tyler explains as she cradles her arm. She was totally filled to the brim with anesthesia, otherwise she'd be crying out in pain every move.
She nods, and watches him as he walks back over and tugs at her gown.
"can I?"
she nods again, blush more apparent with the lights on. She was fair skinned, freckles dotting her cheeks, nose, and shoulders.
Tyler removed her hospital gown carefully and lowered her into the high walled tub. Sitting back, he could only see above her shoulders and he could tell she was much more comfortable knowing that. Tyler didn't stare because he simply didn't care. This wasn't a time to be gawking at a naked girl. She was hurt, she was damaged, and most importantly she was scared. This is Tyler's job, even if it wasn't he'd never take advantage of someone like that. Even so, the girl sat with her knees pulled to her chest, looking around the bright clean bathroom with frightened eyes.
"It's ok. I can't see you. You're safe here." Tyler couldn't tell if she heard him or not. She rocked herself back and forth in the water, arms wrapped around her knees and face perched above them. Tyler sighed softly and leaned forward. At his sudden movements she tensed, head whipping around to look up at him. He stared at her darkened eyes, faintly seeing a blur of light brown and green, sprinkled with flecks of blue that made her appearance all the more interesting.
Her hair was wavy and dark brown, reaching her shoulders in length. Tyler doubted it was actually that dark, probably just dirty and unkept. Her build was concerning, she was tall and medium sized, her ribs showing through faintly but she was pudgy around her stomach, giving the intention that she was well fed, then not fed at all. She saw him eyeing her, and shyed away again, pulling back.
"I have to wash you." Tyler explained carefully, getting a tube of body wash and putting some on a rag. He never used his hands in case they were afraid of touch.
She nodded, accepting it and relaxing her shoulders as Tyler washed her back gently, running the soapy rag over her protruding spine.
"what happened to you?" He breathed quietly, not really saying it to her, more to the air.
She closed her eyes, darkness smudged under her eyelids. Tyler guessed she was about nineteen at the most, maybe eighteen.
after her body was washed, the water was dirty and far from clear. He reached for a bottle of shampoo and squeezed it into her hair, massaging her scalp as best he could with the wavy tangles of brown.
She opened her eyes as the feeling, looking up at him while he did it, making him extremely uncomfortable yet perfectly fine. When he was done, he stepped back and rinsed his hands as she slid down under the water, closing her eyes and putting her hair under. Tyler watched as white foam graced the water's surface, little bubbles popping up around her face. She reached up with one hand and rinsed the suds out, making her curls float gracefully beneath the water. It was as if someone had taken mahogany silk and dragged it through the water, creating ripples and fluid swirls. Her eyes closed once again, body finally relaxed under the veil of soap. She lifted herself back up, with a little help from Tyler and went knees to chest once again, a curtain of light brown with natural golden highlights dripping down her back.
"Was that ok?" Tyler asked and she nodded. He grabbed the rag once again and wiped under her eyes, bringing back a black stained cloth. Eyeliner.
"you look alot better without this on." he said softly, watching as she blushed even more and opened her mouth to say something but decided not to last minute.
"You can talk to me. I won't hurt you. Ever." Tyler spoke with sincerity, "I'm your fren, tyler." She smiled slightly, petal pink lips pulling at the corners and Tyler smiled back. Once he got a better look at her face he noticed alot more up close, especially since she was clean and the lighting was good.
Upon seeing her washed, Tyler now knew that she wasn't as dirty as he had thought. What he presumed was dirt turned out to be dark angry bruises, one under her eyebrow, another on her chin, and many on her neck.
Tyler grew furiuos looking at the bruises littering the soft skin on her neck, knowing where they came from and how ashamed she appeared when she noticed him staring.
The contrast between her fair skin and the freckles that decorated it was apparent, dark splotches of brown dotting her cheeks, the bridge of her nose, and forehead. her nose was normally shaped, some might even say small. Her lips were bigger then average, shaped in a way that many girls nowadays pay for. Tyler had never seen eyes like hers before, and they changed every time he looked at them. The only color scheme that seemed to stay the same was a light military green lined with a halo of chestnut. If Tyler wasn't her nurse he'd say she's beautiful, but that wasn't professional.
He stepped back, sitting on a stool on the other side of the room, and watched her as she watched him, eyes like a hawk, studying him.
She wrapped a hand over the side of the whitewashed tub, revealing light pink nails, like the inside of a conch shell. They had been filed and painted a darker pink, and Tyler wondered how long ago. The paint was chipping at the sides and dirt crusted under the nail. He took her hands and pulled them under the water, washing the brown sludge out from under them. She smiled again, showing eggshell colored teeth at the touch and opened her mouth again, only to shut it once more.
He helped her out of the tub, the girl immediately grabbing a towel and turning away from him, wrapping herself in it and scowling. Tyler chuckled quietly at her mood change and helped dry her hair with a separate towel. "what's with all that?" He asked with a smile and she continued to scowl, lips pursed. Her dark eyebrows furrowed, pulling together at the sound of his voice.
He led her out of the room, her drying hair becoming more curly by the second. She wandered into the room on shaky feet, sitting on the bed with a frown.
"what?" tyler asked again and she gestured to her body and then the lonesome hospital gown that lay draped across the bed beside her.
"That's what you have to wear."
She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head.
"We don't have anything else."
She sighed heavily and made a movement that resembled pulling a bag over her shoulders. Tyler's eyes widened and he nodded.
"Your bag! Oh, I think that's over here..." he searched the room, finding it stuffed under the bed.
When it was placed next to her she dug through it before pulling out a shirt that was probably five sizes to big, and a pair of heather grey boxers. Tyler met her glare and turned around with his arms raised in defeat as she pulled on the clothes slowly and carefully, sitting back on the pillows with a pained sigh.
"Can I turn around?" Tyler asked and received a light hum in response.
Progress was progress.
"Whose shirt is that?" He asked, looking at her sea foam green shirt, the Billabong logo on the side with waves below it. It was draped across her frame, one freckled shoulder bare. Her family must surf, or go to the shore often. That would explain the freckles and fair skin. Maybe even the blonde highlights in her beach wavy hair.
she thought for a moment, opening her mouth and closing it before smirking and bring her thumb to her forehead, then her shoulder.
father.
Why was she using sign language? she said she could talk. Well, she didn't say it but she implied that she could talk.
"Oh, your dad's?" he asked and she nodded, eyes still dark, hiding the beautiful hazel orbs behind black.
"are you ever going to talk?" Tyler asked and turned around to get something.
"depends."
Wait, what? Tyler spun around to see her laying back, smile prominent on her face.
"did you say that?" he asked and she nods again.
Tyler doesn't know why she doesn't want to talk. He ponders this thought for a moment before sitting down next to her.
"How's your head?"
No response.
"Ok. How bout on a scale of one to ten, how much does your head hurt?" he tries a tactic that usually works with the younger kids.
She sighs and holds up seven fingers. Tyler pages the anesthesiologist, a beep resounding throughout the room.
"What about your chest?"
Five fingers.
"Your arm and leg?"
Six fingers.
"Ok. Well I have someone coming up to give you more relief. After that you'll get bandaged up and I'll be back in the morning." Tyler wraps up this little meeting with a gentle pat to her thigh and gets off the bed, taking a step towards the door. He doesn't even get two steps away before there's an arm wrapped tightly around his wrist, nails digging into the skin. He yelps quietly and the grip loosens.
"wha-" he turns around to see the girl with tears in her eyes.
"Can you come back later?" she asks, voice barely a whisper, but Tyler decides she'd be a good singer right then and there.
"Yeah. I will."
Her fingers slip from his wrist and drag down his hand until her pinkie is wrapped around his. He smiles and she sends one right back.
"I promise."
Walking back to the office was arguably the hardest thing Tyler's ever had to do working here. He just wanted to go back to that girls room and comfort her, tell her she'll be fine, that this is all going to work out.
That she's loved.
He couldn't yet identify exactly what emotions he was feeling right now, somewhere between anxiety and pride. He didn't know why he was so proud, or why a sudden wave of protectiveness washed over him as he saw the anesthesiologist walking towards the ICU.
He didn't know why he felt the need to go back.
He didn't know why he cared this much.
He didn't understand.
This was supposed to be just another day.
just another day when he'd walk into work, do his job, and leave in the morning.
But now it's 12:30 am and doesn't know why he's crying over some girl he doesn't even know the name of.
Wait, why was he crying?
He is not crying right now.
Tyler Joseph does not cry at work,
mover some stranger none the less.
It was 12:31 am, which meant Gabe was fast asleep and she probably was as well.
But he promised her.
He couldn't just promise then leave her there.
What if she's sitting alone in the dark, scared and crying?
What if she's tried to leave and fallen?
What if the pain medications wore off?
What if she was hurt again?
He didn't know why,
But he had to get back,
that was his job right? To check on the patients, make sure they're ok.
Aright,
he's gonna go check on her,
and only because it's his job.
In an Olympic worthy sprint up to the ICU, Tyler burst into room 108 and was met with the most beautiful sight he's ever seen.
She was asleep.
Peacefully
and utterly
asleep.
Her eyelashes cast a shadow on her hollowed cheeks, her chest rising and falling in unequal stuttering breathes. Sheets tucked around her as she held onto the pillow with her free arm. Both her arm and leg were now bandaged, wrapped in a dark grey cast. Her hair was pulled into a knotty braid, brown wisps coming loose from all ends and making it look like she'd taken hours on it. The book previously mentioned lay on her side table, dog eared on page two. Tyler assumed it was because her head hurt too much to read. He recognized the title, a book his mother read to Madison and him when they were younger, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Tyler looked at the IV's attached to her left wrist and examined the skin closely. There were a few faded white scars standing immodestly along the fair skin, making Tyler frown. Pale white parallel lines lining her wrist and up to the inside of her elbow. Tyler's frown deepens, tracing the uneven lines with gentle fingers. There was a vile in her hand the closer Tyler looked, and when he pulled her fingers apart he read the label.
lavender.
Tyler cocked his head in confusion and unscrewed the bottle. Immediately his nostrils were filled with the pungent smell of the flower, making him calm and worried at the same time.
He once had a friend in high school that rubbed lavender on his wrist to avoid panic attacks.
He was impressed at how prepared this girl was.
He didn't even carry lavender.
And if Tyler was good at one thing,
it was having inconvenient panic attacks.
He scanned her frame once more, taking in her parted lips and long, thin eyelashes. She had a bruise under her right eyebrow, almost like she'd dodged a black eye. Her forehead had traces of old acne scars as well as a cut on her right eyebrow, a thin line where hair would no longer grow. Her ears were also pierced, Tyler noticed, because her hair was now pulled away from her face. Two small diamonds on the lobes and her left ear had some sort of a metal bar going through the cartilage. Her right love was infected, red and raw. On a limb, Tyler reached up and took the two diamonds out, making her whimper on pain from her sleepy state.
"It'll be ok." He hummed to himself as he put the earrings in her bedside table, making sure the left ear wasn't infected as well.
She mumbled something in her sleep that sounded a whole lot like "Ty" to Tyler, but he shrugged it off and went about pressing things in her monitor, making sure the pain meds were working full force.
"Beautiful disaster." Tyler whispered to himself as he held her hand, wrapping his fingers around the plastic tubes.
"Who broke you?" he said suddenly, rubbing her palm with his thumb.
"I don't know how..." He started, reaching up to tuck a wisp of floating brown hair behind her ear.
"But I'm gonna fix you."