Teacher's Pet || A Joseph Quinn AU

The Suprise Encounter

 The moment they released her from the hospital she got her prescriptions filled at the hospital pharmacy, went home, showered (because she was gross after about two days of not being allowed to shower) got dressed and hurried back to the hospital. It took a bit of convincing before she was able to go in to see Joseph. He wasn't in the ICU anymore (which was good, since that's where he had been when she was hospitalized herself). It meant that his condition was getting better and not worse. He was still intubated, though, and as she sat down by his bedside and took his hand in hers she couldn't help but cry. Partially it was in relief that he was alive but then there was the fear, shock, and pain of the entire ordeal.

"I'm so sorry this happened," She whispered, "But you need to pull through this." Laying her head on the pillow next to him she closed her eyes and cried softly, trying not to get too worked up because she was still in pain and too much movement and heavy breathing only made her shoulder hurt worse. After some amount of time had passed (she wasn't sure how much) she heard the door open. She looked up to see that it was Jamie. He grabbed a chair and pulled it closer to the bed to sit near her.

"Just so you have a bit of a warning, his mum will be here later for visiting hours." He said. She wiped her eyes then sniffed back some tears and nodded. She wasn't sure if she should be there for that. Mostly because she didn't want to be blamed for this. Though she doubted that his mother would outright accuse her to her face (even though that was definitely a possibility) she felt as if there was no way she wouldn't blame her somehow. It was possibly because she blamed herself, a lot, even if she also kind of knew that she shouldn't.

"Is she...mad at me?"

"Wouldn't know that, love." He said, "She's a nice woman, I don't think she'd have it out for you."

"Maybe I have it out for myself. My own mother seems to think this is what I deserve for not going to school." She sighed.

"Well she's not right and neither are you. You couldn't have been expected to predict any of this would happen. No one could have. I don't even think Joe-"

"He must have known something would set her off. Not that I blame him but...I think that was probably his only chance to do this. Whatever happened to cause him to separate from me before had to have been dangerous." She shook her head and looked back at Joseph, wondering what it was. Now more than ever it was obvious that he'd done what he thought he had to in order to protect her but had it been worth it? Would it end up being worth it?

"I heard a doctor say something about how you keeping pressure on the wound probably saved his life." He changed the subject, "Prevented more blood loss."

"Really?"

"Yeah," He nodded, "I have to believe it did too. Even if it was just by mere milliliters, sometimes that's what counts." She took Joseph's hand in hers and gave it a squeeze, looking at him lying there. He was more pale than usual but that wasn't saying much since he'd never been very tan to begin with. His beard was also far more overgrown and unkempt than usual.

"And what about you? I doubt things would have stopped that quickly had you not taken action." She said,

"Maybe," He replied, "And maybe I could have gotten myself shot in the face."

"But you didn't."

"And you didn't either." He said, reaching over to take her hand in his, "I know the prognosis is good. They expect him to wake up soon. Maybe a day or two. They don't directly tell me things, I just listen to shit I'm not supposed to hear."

"Well, I'm shocked." She said sarcastically then laughed. He smiled at her and she sighed. No matter what he said, it was still hard for her not to blame herself for what had happened. Maybe if she hadn't brought that box, or given it to him, or something, she could have prevented this. "Other people died, you know, I already read about that."