Chapter 22
“Step on it, Lincoln! Is this the best you can do?”
Anya looked over her shoulder to the backseat where Clarke was still applying pressure to Lexa’s wound.
“We’re close and I’d rather not kill us all before we reach the hospital.”
His voice was calm. Having Lincoln at her side in a crisis like this was probably the best case scenario. Anya made a mental note to upgrade his salary.
Lexa was pale and the shirt in Clarke’s hands soaked with her blood. Clarke kept checking her vitals. For someone who feared for her girlfriend’s life and who had puked all over the floor only a few minutes ago she seemed miraculously composed. Anya knew that she would most certainly unravel later and she swore that she would be there for her when it happened.
Abby was waiting for them when they arrived. Lincoln lifted Lexa from the car and put her onto the stretcher while Clarke recited Lexa’s stats to her mother. They moved her inside and the nurses pushed the stretcher through the doors of the ER. Clarke tried to follow them, but Abby stopped her.
“Clarke, stop.”
“But Mum …”
“You’ve done everything you could. I need you to stay here.”
“But …”
“You know that I am right, Clarke. Stay here. Let me do my job.”
Clarke knew she was right. Of course she was right, but staying here, on the sidelines meant no control over what happened to Lexa. And if something happened to Lexa …
She looked at her mother.
“Save her, Mom?”
Abby kissed her on the forehead.
“I will do everything I can. You know I will.”
Clarke stood in the middle of the hallway, staring at the doors her mother vanished behind. She blinked. Everything was wrong. Every. Bloody. Thing.
It took a second before she realized that Anya was standing next to her. Her left eye was swollen shut and the way she held her upper body Clarke was sure that she was in pain.
“Let me have a look at you.”
She carefully touched the bruise on her cheek.
“Clarke, I am fine.”
“You don’t look fine. Let me have a look. Follow me.”
Anya stayed right where she was.
“You don’t have to, Clarke. You’ve done enough for today.”
Clarke bit her lip.
“No, Anya, I really have to. Please. … If I stop now … If I sit down and stop, I will break. I cannot break right now. Please, let me do what I do and check your injuries.”
Anya looked at her with an unspoken question on her lips.
“My mother will find us, Anya. We will know as soon as she’s done.”
She bit her lip.
“Please?”
Anya nodded. She had promised to be there for Clarke and if taking care of her was what she needed, so be it.
–---
It took an agonizing hour and a half. Ninety minutes of waiting and trying to keep her thoughts in check.
Ninety minutes in which every possible scenario went through her head.
Somewhere in between Bellamy arrived with Detective Miller in tow. He asked her questions and she answered them although afterwards she wasn’t sure what exactly she had said. At some point Anya took him by the arm and led him away.
Ninety minutes.
When she looked up Raven and Octavia sat next to her while Lincoln was talking to Bellamy. She had no idea when all of them had arrived.
Ninety minutes.
The clock seemed to run slower than usual.
“Clarke?”
She looked up. When did her mother get here? How come she hadn’t noticed? Clarke jumped up from her chair, searching her mother’s face for any clue about Lexa’s condition. Any subtle hint of success or defeat.
“She is stable, Clarke. You did a good job. We managed to repair the artery … blood loss … concussion … still unconscious …”
Clarke stared at her. She only heard fragments of what her mother said.
Stable. That was a good thing. Stable.
The shaking began slowly, next came the tears. She couldn’t help it. She felt arms around her, steadying her. She felt the glances of other people in the waiting area and realized how she must look with Lexa’s blood all over her clothes. That’s when she broke.