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T O B E T R U S T E D
( chapter thirty )
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* . °•★| The first thing Lyla was conscious of as she woke up, was the annoying beeping sound coming from beside her. Initially, she thought it was her alarm, but something about the way she couldn't move her arm to turn it off told her that wasn't the case. Her head felt light as a feather, almost as if she were floating, and yet, the sensation wasn't accompanied by a weightless feeling of being able to move without restraint, instead the very attempt to move a single muscle was followed by a dull pang of pain. The panic of not knowing what was going on, or what happened made her want so desperately to open her eyes, but it was as if they were sewn shut, the effort she put into peeling her eyelids apart sending an ache through her head.
"Hey, hey, she's awake." A gruff voice spoke out.
"I'll get a nurse." A feminine voice answered immediately, hurried footsteps retreating followed soon after.
"Brian?" Lyla questioned, blinking rapidly to get her vision to focus.
She looked around, the bright light streaming through a window harsh on her sensitive eyes. She was in a hospital bed, a drip attached to her arm and a clip on her finger.
"Hey, Kiddo." Her uncle smiled gently, reclaiming her attention. He looked tired.
"You look like shit." She told him honestly.
He laughed. "Good to know that fall didn't do permanent damage to your personality."
"Fall?" Lyla asked, her mind searching for an answer of how she ended in hospital.
She remembered pain, a lot of it. Jess was there, and - Victoria. She remembered Paul being there at some point too.
"Yeah, to think, your parents used to say you should be a dancer with how graceful you are, and now look at you, clumsy enough to take a fall down a hill, hit two trees." Brian tried to tease, but his teary eyes gave him away. "You've got two fractured ribs, bruised ribs, minor grazing along your torso, a broken leg, bruising on your face, minor internal bleeding..." He trailed off, turning away from her and sniffing. "God, Lyla, you don't make my job easy."
"Nice to see you awake, Miss. Woodsen." A musical voice interrupted, it's owner entering the room, keeping to the shadowy side to the room without looking suspicious.
"Dr. Cullen." Brian greeted.
"Your wife came out looking for a nurse, I hope you don't mind, but I thought I'd come and check on her myself, since she's a friend of my children's." Dr. Cullen explained smoothly.
"Oh, um, she's not my wife." Brian corrected at the same time that same feminine voice from before said 'we're not married'.
Lyla hadn't even noticed Elizabeth follow Carlisle into the room.
"What are you doing here?" Lyla croaked out, the harshness of her voice making everyone in the room look down.
"I bumped into Brian yesterday, and he told me you'd had an accident, I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Elizabeth explained gently.
"I don't need you checking on me." Lyla growled.
"I think it's best if I talk to Lyla alone for a moment, if you wouldn't mind, just to make sure she's recovering well." Dr. Cullen cut in, Brian and Elizabeth nodding and leaving quickly. "I apologise, I just presumed she was your mother."
"By blood, maybe. But she left when I was 10." Lyla explained simply, her voice indicating that she didn't want to continue the conversation.
"Do you remember what happened?" Dr. Cullen asked, successfully changing the subject.
"Kind of... I remember I was in the woods, looking for Jess, and Victoria showed up... It's a little hazy after that." Lyla answered with a frown.
"Well, don't try too hard to remember, it will come back to you when you're ready." Carlisle smiled gently. "As far as anyone knows, you took a fall in the woods, Jess found you, and luckily her shouts led Sam's... gang to you."
"Right." Lyla nodded. "How is everyone?"
"Everyone got out unscathed, save for you and Jacob, but he's doing just fine, his accelerated healing means he'll be up and running again in a few days... for you, however, I'm afraid you may need a bit longer to heal." Dr. Cullen explained.
"How long until I can go home?" Lyla asked.
"I'd like to keep you in for at least another day... Lyla, you need to be careful in our world, you're human, you're lucky you're alive." Dr. Cullen told her earnestly.
"What was I supposed to do? Run away?" Lyla asked sarcastically.
"Maybe not running head first into danger in the first place would be a good start." He reprimanded.
"My uncle, his friends and Jess were walking straight into a forest crawling with newborn vampires, no one was answering their phones, I wasn't just gonna sit back and let them get themselves killed." Lyla argued.
"And that's admired, but mouthing off to Victoria did you no favours." He raised a disapproving brow.
"You've talked to Jess." Lyla deduced.
"Not directly, but Sam filled me in on what she'd told them, so I knew how you got your injuries." Carlisle admitted. "Just, be careful, Lyla, I don't want to see you in here again."
"Sure thing, Doc." She smiled, calling out again as he went to leave. "Thank you."
He smiled warmly in return, happy that the suspicion that laced her expression when they first met was long gone.
Her uncle came in not long later. "Hey, so the Doctor says you're all good to go home tomorrow."
"What's Elizabeth doing here?" Lyla asked, not beating around the bush.
"Lyla... When I got the call that you were here, me and the boys had just that Emily Young's house, turns out your friend was fine, she just hadn't eaten enough that day." Lyla let out a relieved sigh that the girls managed to play it off. "When you and Jess didn't show up, we figured you two were making up, we know you've not been on the best of terms lately, so we went to Cora's diner. Then the hospital phoned, I was a mess, ran out of there like a bat out of hell, I didn't even see Elizabeth stop Leon. Anyway he told her what was going on and she came, hasn't left since."
Brian looked at Lyla carefully, trying to gage a reaction.
"Give her a chance, Lyla." Brian encouraged.
"Okay." She agreed, before asking the question on her mind, gaze fixed on her hands. "You're not trying to get rid of me, are you?"
Brian chuckled. "Of course not, Kiddo. I don't care about genetics, you're my kid. But she's a woman who is trying to fix her mistakes, I don't think it will do any harm to let her."
Lyla felt tears spring to her eyes at his words, trying to play it off with a laugh, but that only made the tears fall.
"Damn you, Brian, going all soppy on me." She scoffed at him with a smile.
He rolled his eyes in response, before turning serious. "We do need to talk about something, though."
"Okay, what is it?"
"That boy, Paul, he's been here since they brought you in."
"He has? Can I see him?" Lyla immediately asked.
"No." Brian refused harshly, before softening his tone. "No, look, Lyla... First the bruises on your neck, now this. I need you to tell me whether this was really a fall, or whether he did this to you."
"What? You think Paul did this?" Lyla scoffed. "No. This wasn't Paul, Paul found me, he got me out of the woods."
"It just seems like a bit of a coincidence that suddenly this guy starts hanging around, stops you from hanging out with Jess, gets you in with his friends - who everyone says are some kind of gang - and then suddenly you're coming home with bruises, ending up in the hospital." Brian sighed, running his hands over his face. "If he's hurting you, you tell me, understand?"
"Brian, listen to me, Paul would never hurt me. Those bruises on my neck... I didn't want to tell you, but I walked home alone from Port Angeles, the girls wanted to stay, I didn't, so I left. Some guys jumped me, took my purse, that was it." Lyla lied, trying her best to make it believable. "I didn't tell you because I was embarrassed, and worried that you'd never let me out again."
He studied her face and she waited anxiously for his response. "Well, you're right, I'm never letting you out again."
"Just, don't blame Paul, it wasn't him... and you've gotta get used to him being around. I know you'd really like him if you got to know him, he's a great guy." Lyla told him, a fond smile brightening her face.
"So, you and him are pretty serious? He's the real deal?" Brian asked, unsure.
"Yeah. Yeah, he is." Lyla confirmed, knowing that Paul Lahote was it for her.
"Okay." Brian nodded, though she could tell it was a hard pill for him to swallow. "Jess is here too, I can send her in if you want."
"Yes, please." Lyla smiled.
Brian nodded, getting up and walking out, sending Jess in next and for once not glaring at Paul and Jared as he sat down in the seat he'd claimed as his own.
"Hey, stranger." Jess greeted hesitantly as she entered Lyla's hospital room.
"Hey, Jess. How are you? I'm guessing Jared filled you in."
"Yes, he did, and now I'm even more sure you're crazy, what were you thinking? Talking to a vampire like that!?" Jess exclaimed.
"I know, I know." Lyla rolled her eyes. "But you were squealing like a baby, someone had to grow some balls."
"Hey! It's not my fault, I had no clue what was going on." Jess defended through her laughter.
They quietened down. "I've missed this." Lyla told her friend sincerely.
"Yeah, me too." Jess sighed. "I get it now, why everyone was so secretive. I feel so guilty-"
"Trust me, I felt the same way when I first found out. I mean, all the times I'd had a go at Paul, Jared, hell even Bella, begging for one of them to tell me the truth." Lyla related.
"How did you find out, in the end?" Jess questioned.
"Well, Paul took me into the woods and just shifted into a huge wolf, right in front of me. I'm surprised I didn't run away screaming... Then again, I'd technically already seen one of the pack in the woods, chasing Victoria, just no one confirmed it, I thought I was going crazy." Lyla explained with a laugh.
"Who've thought, at the start of last school year, when Jared first went off the rails, that we'd end up here?" Jess sighed.
"Tell me about it." Lyla laughed.
The girls sat together for a bit longer, before Jess left under Dr. Cullen's orders to let Lyla sleep.
She didn't wake up again until the next day, and by that point she only had a few more hours until she could go home, hours which went past dreadfully slow, in her opinion. She'd been sent off with bottles and bottles of pills and strict instructions on when to take them (none of which she could remember, making her eternally grateful to the nurse who'd written it all down) and when to come back for a checkup.
Her uncle had given her no chance to speak to Paul and Jared as she passed them in the waiting room, leading her straight to his car. She wasn't in a well enough state to really fight him on it, being in a wheelchair and all.
Once she was loaded in Brian's truck, and her wheelchair was placed in the back, she caught sight of Paul and Jared rushing out of the hospital after her, sparking up a debate with her uncle that she was unable to hear.
"Please, I just wanna speak to her." Paul begged Brian.
"Look, kid, she's assured me that you're a good guy, but I don't know you, all I know is my niece could've died, and I'm not taking any risks with her until she's back on her feet." Brian told him firmly.
"Mr. Woodsen, come on, you've known me since I was a kid." Jared appealed to the man. "Do you really think that I would let anyone go near Lyla if I thought they'd hurt her?"
"I don't know, Jared. I barely recognise you anymore. And I know you pulled a lot of shit in the past year that upset my niece, namely ditching her to hang out with him." Brian snapped, pointing an accusing finger at Paul.
"Sir, please." Paul begged. "I love her."
Brian didn't seem to know what to say to that, his eyes searched the boy's face, something in his gut was telling him Paul was being sincere, but Brian wasn't about to risk it, instead he just turned and got in his car, driving away without looking back.
It wasn't until Sue Clearwater's visit that he finally saw a slither of reason on the matter. Her having taken Harry's place on the council and knowing the secrets of the pack, which her children were apart of.
"Brian, I'm telling you, he's a good kid. Maybe he had some anger issues, messed around in school a lot, but since working for Sam, he's really straightened up his act, and Lyla was a big part of that." Sue told him.
"I don't know, Sue... Lyla's never given me a single reason to worry, I mean maybe sometimes she's too independent for her own good, but she's never caused any trouble. Then this Paul guy comes along and she's ditching her friend, skipping school, getting injured." Brian stressed. "I just don't want to see her hurt."
"Believe me, Brian, I get it, our kids are everything to us, and seeing them hurt, especially a girl like Lyla, who's already been hurt so much... it's the worst thing we can imagine. But you can't protect her from everything. You have to let her live, and if this is what she wants, you can't stop her, it will only make her pull away from you."
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