Olivia's POV
"Sit," Samuel tells me for the tenth time.
I, however, ignore him for the tenth time and continue to hop up and down the doctor's office. This time it's not Eliza who is with me. This time Samuel is leaning against the wall beside the chair Eliza occupied the last time we were in here.
Speaking about the female Guardian, I was sure she was right behind me when we entered the police station, but by the time Mom, Samuel, and I left she was nowhere to be seen. And she didn't reappear during our ride from the police station to the hospital either.
"Where's Eliza?" I ask without stopping to glance at Samuel.
"Sit and I'll tell you."
"Then I'll just assume she left for another one of her charges." I shrug. "I did the right thing, you know? With the red-haired woman."
"She's called the Head Guardian," Samuel says.
"Whatever." I wave off his comment but stop to look at him. As expected he is glaring at me, with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "You would've been punished if it weren't for my quick thinking. So, this anger of yours is getting old."
"It's not. Your promise was worthless. You won't be able to remember the Guardian who saved you."
"I disagree. Just like with today's memory of the driver, I'm going to remember everything about that night and prove all of you wrong. The accident wasn't my fault."
I turn away from him and hop in the direction of the door. Before I can reach for the doorknob, Samuel slams his hands against the door on either side of me. He cages me in between the door and his solid body.
"What are you doing?" I turn around so that my back is facing the door and my front is less than a foot away from him. My breath gets stuck in my throat when I notice how close he is. What really puzzles me, however, is the little flip my heart does.
"Where you going?" His caramel eyes lock with mine.
With everything I have I resist the urge to tilt my head away from him and into the door behind me. After all, the last thing I need is to add more pressure to the already throbbing ache at the back of my head.
"I'm going to the intersection from the accident and see if this time the site triggers any memories. So, move before I use the crutches on you again."
"You're not going anywhere." Despite my threat, Samuel leans another inch closer to me. "First you're going to get checked by the doctor."
"I'm fine." I shake my head, but then quickly stop the movement when a nasty pang squeezes through my head.
"You're not. You have blood in your hair."
"That's nothing. I can wash it off."
"How stupid are you?" With each spoken word, the volume of his voice begins to rise. "Head injuries aren't to be taken lightly."
Because the rising level of his voice causes my headache to worsen, I try to divert his attention. "Do you know that this is the exact position Eliza and I were in before I remembered the driver? So, if we stay exactly like this I might come up with another memory when the doctor opens the door."
"Don't change the subject." Despite the firm tone, Samuel begins to pull back. But he still doesn't lower the volume of his voice. "You are going to wait forâ"
Before his voice can turn any louder, I use the crutches to raise onto my tiptoes and diminish the distance between us. I press my lips against his, which effectively shuts him up.
The kiss is nothing more than a peck, but by the time I lower myself back onto my feet my heart is trashing against my rib cage. I glance from Samuel's slack expression to my chest. What is wrong with my heart?
"You..." Samuel staggers a couple of steps back and raises his hand to his lips. "What did you do?"
"It's called a kiss." I roll my eyes while thanking the One above for Samuel's now more silent voice. "Surely you've seen people kiss before."
"Why? Why did you kiss me?"
"Because you were getting too loud. My head already hurts bad enough and your shouting wasn't helping."
"You... You kissed me to... to shut me up?"
"Of course. What else would I kiss you for?"
Before Samuel can respond, a cold draft tickles the back of my neck and I realize that someone must have opened the door. Because this time I'm leaning against the crutches instead of the door, I don't go tumbling to the ground.
"You're hurt!"
I turn around to find Dr. Kate rush forward. She grabs my elbow and guides me over to the paper-covered examination bed. There she helps me sit up and then turn around, so she has a better view of the back of my head.
"What happened?"
"I fell." I flinch when she begins to clean the blood out of my hair. "Doesn't a nurse usually do this? I mean clean the blood and stuff like that?"
"It's fine. I want to make sure you're okay," Dr. Kate says.
"Who is she?" Samuel asks while he goes back to leaning against the wall. Rather than me, this time he keeps his eyes on the doctor. And who can blame him? The woman is gorgeous. "Why is she so worried?"
Because of Dr. Kate's presence, I can't answer him, so I just shrug. After all, if I begin to speak with Samuel right now, the doctor might think that it's a side effect from the fall and insist on keeping me overnight.
Fifteen minutes later, I end up with a gauze pressed against the back of my head and a white bandage wrapped around my head to hold it in place. Dr. Kate doesn't stop with just my head, though. She moves down to my foot and to my surprise cuts off the cast. Once my foot is free from the containment, she orders me to turn my ankle in all possible directions while she examines every movement.
"I have some good news," Dr. Kate says as she stands up. "You don't need the cast anymore."
"What?" I look at her with wide eyes. "I can walk normally again?"
"Yes." She nods. "But you should avoid putting too much strain on your foot. While you can take a walk, I would put off running for another week."
"Don't injuries like this take longer to heal? I mean, I expected to wear the cast for at least two more weeks."
"With broken ankles, the norm is six weeks, but your ankle was never in such a bad shape." Dr. Kate walks over to her desk and sits on her chair. "In fact, the doctor who treated you when you were first brought here didn't think the cast was necessary. He only put it on because your mother insisted. Apparently, she claimed that nothing else was going to keep you from putting too much strain on your foot."
"She was right about that." Samuel snorts.
Dr. Kate finishes typing something into her computer and then looks back to me. "Luckily the blow to your head isn't too severe, so you don't need to stay the night. But if the headache continues tomorrow, you need to come back. Okay?"
"Got it." I nod, but then stop moving my head when the ache intensifies.
After a round of good wishes from the doctor, Samuel and I are finally free to leave her office. We head down the more or less empty hallway and make our way in the direction of the hospital's entrance, where Mom is waiting for us. Because it's already past nine p.m., I'm not too surprised by the lack of patients swarming the hallway. This is why I'm much more caught off guard when a middle-aged woman we're about to walk past stops and greets me.
"Olivia." Her eyes jump to the white bandage wrapped around my head. "What happened?"
I turn to the dark-skinned woman with boyish short hair and with a pair of the warmest eyes I have ever seen. While she does look a little familiar, I have no idea where I might know her from.
"Whoâ" I begin.
"She's Davis's wife," Samuel cuts me off from where he is standing beside me. "The officer who said he knew your father."
"Oh, right. Hello, Mrs. Davis." Although faintly, I remember meeting the woman during one of my stays with my father. But if I remember correctly she had much longer hair back then. "Don't worry about the bandage. It's nothing serious. Just a precaution."
"I'm relieved to hear that." She rests her hand on the top of her chest and lets out a long breath. "A nice girl like you is the last person who deserves to be injured. I really ought to thank you again for what you did for me and my husband. We are more than just grateful."
"What I did?" I stare at her warm smile while wondering if I have ever done anything for her or officer Davis. "I don't understand."
"Don't be so modest." Mrs. Davis waves me off. "We don't know what we would have done without your help on that night two weeks ago."
"Two weeks ago?" I think back and try to remember what happened two weeks ago. Then it hits me. "The accident."
***
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- E