Lost Boy | Carlisle Cullen |

THREE

James was clocked out on the living room couch when he heard the front door swing open and accidentally bang the wall beside it. He shook awake and watched as his brother was attached to a woman at the lips, Jeffery threw his keys on the side table aiming for the bowl but missing by a long shot. The woman pulled the hair tie out of her long, red-brown hair and let it all fall as she jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist.

The two combined souls moved from the front door to the stairs and upward without regard to James. He shook his head, stood up, ran his intact hand through his hair and walked into the kitchen to grab a small midnight snack. He could hear bumps upstairs from what must have been the two moving from the wall to the bed or wherever they happened to be. At that point James decided not to think about the fact that his brother was getting laid by some hot redhead. He had a thing for blond guys, anyways.

His midnight snack didn't last long at all, but he was a big baby when it came to cleaning his wound for the last time before truly going to sleep. The act of peeling off the dressing was enough to make him nauseas and it was sticking to the skin that had dried, he immediately stopped what he was doing and pulled out his cell phone and the card he was given at the hospital.

After a few rings someone answered the other line, "This is Doctor Cullen, how can I help you?"

"Hey man, it's James from last night. Look, if you're not busy, I'll pay you to change this dressing," he was queasy just thinking about doing it himself.

Doctor Cullen chuckled lightly, "I can make a home visit in ten minutes if that works for you."

"That'd be great," James sat down in one of the kitchen chairs, "It's 2380 Hard Road."

"I'll be there in ten," Doctor Cullen reaffirmed and then the call went dead.

James didn't even want to look at his hand, the thought of the burnt epithelial cells oozing decayed white blood cells and bacteria made him cringe and the thought of the gauze pulling against the dried matter stuck to the rest of the burn made him want to vomit. He began to sweat and quickly became diaphoretic from anxiety. The knock on the front door shook him out of his trance and he jumped up to answer it quickly.

"Doctor Monroe," Doctor Cullen grinned as he greeted the microbiologist.

"Doctor Cullen," he nodded, "You can just call me James."

"Carlisle," the blond man smiled before taking a look at James' hand. "Can't do it yourself?"

James shook his head, "Started thinking about the risk for infection and about lost it."

"That's fine, I've got it," Carlisle smiled again and then went to wet a paper towel so that the dressing would lose its adherence to the burn. Once the gauze lost its stickiness, Carlisle pulled it away from the burn and began cleaning the wound. James looked paler than him, it worried him. Once the wound was clean, he redressed it and tended to the sweating man across from him. "James, are you feeling okay?"

James weakly shook his head and let it fall back as he felt overwhelmed with warmth. James thought he was being over dramatic about the situation but he couldn't help it. Carlisle helped him stand and moved him to the couch so that he could lay down.

"I'll be back to check on you tomorrow, call me if something happens before then," Carlisle soothed as he turned on the fan across from James. He hesitantly left the house feeling as though he should have stayed the entire night.