Wolfblood

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Page count: 8

Hermione's eyes fluttered open to bright lights and the distinctive smell of a hospital invading her nose. She blinked several times to get used to the light and turned her head to see a nurse with her back to her.

"Oh, you're awake, how are you feeling?"

Hermione turned her head to the side to see a second nurse stood beside her hospital bed with a pen and clipboard in hand and a kind smile on her face. Hermione thought she looked familiar. There was something about her brown eyes and brown hair that was pulled back into a braid, that she was sure she'd seen her before.

"Confused," Hermione replied, pushing herself until she was sitting up and the kind looking nurse helped her after putting the clipboard down.

"That's understandable," she said kindly. "You were found in the woods by your partner and brought to the hospital, from what we can tell you've fallen and bumped your head. Can you remember what happened?"

Hermione frowned in thought. "I think it was a deer, something must've startled it because it came out of nowhere and almost ran into me, I had to dive out of the way and I must've hit my head during the fall."

If the nurse was surprised by her accent, she didn't show it. Hermione lifted her hand to her head and winced at the sting before dropping her hand to her stomach and her eyes widened.

"There are no outwards signs of anything being wrong," the nurse said softly. "A nurse is retrieving the equipment so we can do an ultrasound and make sure all is well, she'll be back in a few minutes."

"Is Derek here? Can I see him?"

"Of course, I'll just let him know for you," she replied, before she left Hermione alone and she brought both hands up to her rest against her stomach protectively, hoping their baby was alright.

A few minutes later the curtain around her bed was thrown open and a worried looking Derek came into view. She smiled at him and he let out a wolf-like whimper before he crossed over to her, sat on the edge of her bed and carefully pulled her into him, hugging her as tightly as he could without hurting her, pressing his nose against her neck and taking in her scent and his hand slipped to her stomach.

"I'm fine, I promise," she assured him softly, also turning her face into his neck so she could nuzzle at his skin and breathe in his comforting scent.

"I was so worried, I found you unconscious, unresponsive and nearly freezing to death. What the hell happened?" He asked.

"I took Snowball out to see if he could fly," she said, and he'd thought she'd done so. "And he can. When he flew off I made my way back to the cottage but a noise startled me. A deer came out of nowhere and something must've frightened it as it didn't stop when it saw me so I had to jump out of the way, I must've banged my head when I fell," she explained.

"This is why I don't like you being out in the woods by yourself," he told.

"Derek, it's no one's fault, it was just an accident. I didn't even know there were deer in the woods. I've certainly never seen one before and I must've walked every inch of the woods by now."

"I don't want you going out by yourself again, Hermione. It's too dangerous, accident or not. If I hadn't found you who knows what would've happened to you or the baby? I can't lose you, you're too important to me."

"You're not going to lose us," she told him softly, her hand moving to lightly scratch at the back of his neck in a way that calmed him. "But now we're even."

"For what exactly?"

"The Maybelle Motel," she replied.

They heard footsteps approaching and Derek pulled back from her to see Melissa closing the curtain behind her as she wheeled the equipment over to Hermione.