Consider This

Chapter 20
JOE’S POV

I remained still, almost stunned as the image of Olivia registered in my mind.

“Liv,” I whispered taking a small step towards her.

Then suddenly I was screaming her name, and rushing towards her.

“Olivia!” I shouted dropping down next to her, “Olivia! No!”

I was crying through my screams now as I put my hand on her face.

“Liv, no baby, “Come on, wake up.”

I stared down at the blank expression on her face. There were dirt smudges covering her cheeks and nose.

As it registered in my mind, I again changed completely. Now instead of freaking out, I was breaking down.
I squeezed Olivia’s hand in mine and laid over her.

“Olivia,” I sobbed again, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Joe, she’s not dead,” Celia said quietly.

“But I failed her,” I choked out, “I promised to protect her…I- I told her – ”

“Joe,” Celia said fiercely, “Will you give up hope so easily!? The only way you can truly fail someone is if you give up.”

I slowly lifted my face from Olivia’s to look up at Celia. I could feel tears splashed on my face.

“I didn’t give up,” I shot back, “I’m here and I let this happen to her.”

But even as I said this I knew what Celia was saying was true.

Kneeling here, crying was doing nothing to save Olivia. There had to be paramedics out there.

I had no more time to decide what to do. Suddenly the dark room was flashed with light as the doors banged open.

Paramedics were rushing in with all their supplies, that I couldn’t name.

Celia had backed away but I couldn’t bring myself to let go of Olivia’s hand.

“Son,” one of the doctors said to me, “I’m sorry but I’m gonna have to ask you to back up.”

I just continued kneeling and staring at her dirt smudged face.

“Joe,” Celia said again, “You need to let them take her.”

“I wanna stay with her,” I told them quietly.

Suddenly I felt a large hand on my shoulder.

“Joe,” I heard whoever it was say, “Come on.”

That’s when I recognized Kevin’s voice. I slowly turned my head around and looked up at him.

“K-Kevin?”

“Come on Joe,” my brother said again, “She needs the hospital.”

I silently turned back around and leaned down over Olivia.

“Wake up, love,” I whispered, “I’ll be there when you do.”

And finally I moved away and stood up next to my brothers.

I stared silently as the doctors moved Olivia onto a gurney and wheeled her away from me.

Again my vision had been fogged by tears. I felt both Kevin and Nick put a hand on my back.

“Why are you here?” I mumbled.

“You didn’t seriously think we’d let you do this alone, did you?” Nick asked.

I shrugged and turned around to face them.

“So you followed me?” I questioned further, “But didn’t barge in after me?”

“Someone had to wait outside to call 911,” Kevin explained.

A huge wave of appreciation for my brothers washed over me.

I couldn’t think of anything to say to thank them, but I did manage a smile.

Nick put a hand on my shoulder, letting me know I didn’t need to verbally thank them.

“I need to get to the hospital,” I told them quietly.

I turned to walk away, but pain seared through my side and I was overtaken by coughs.

“Joe,” Kevin said moving forward to hold me up, “Are you ok?”

“Fine,” I lied, “I just inhaled some smoke.”

“Come on,” Kevin demanded again, “You need the hospital too.”

”I just need to see Olivia,” I said making a lame attempt to fight back.

“Shut up Joe,” Nick demanded, “You need help.”

I knew there was no use fighting them so I completely stopped paying attention and let my brothers lead me, as I began coughing again.

* * * * * * * *

OLIVIA’S POV

I knew where I was before I opened my eyes. I kept them shut as I remembered the blinding light and the thunderous noise. The explosion replayed in my mind, and I snapped my eyes open.

I hadn’t even realized that I was breathing deeply until now. I looked around at the white room around me.

I never thought I’d be glad to wake up to this, but anything was better than being in that warehouse.

“Miss?” I heard someone say, “Miss can you hear me?”

I looked over at the nurse standing next to me.

“Yes,” I whispered, “Yes I’m ok.”

“Do you remember what happened?” she asked me, pulling a light out and looking into my eyes.

“The explosion,” I mumbled, “Then I blanked out. Where’s Joe?”

“First we need to discuss your condition,” the nurse told me, “Tell me if you’re in pain. Tell me everything.”

“Where’s Joe?” I asked again tensing up.

“Olivia we’ll get to that,” the nurse went on, “He’s fine, that’s all you need to know right now. First you need to relax and tell me where it hurts.”

I wasn’t stupid. I knew before I got to see Joe, I would have to do whatever the nurse wanted.

I lay back completely in the uncomfortable bed and let myself feel. I closed my eyes and let the pain flood through me.

“My head’s pounding,” I told the nurse, “And my leg feels….terrible. Overall I feel like someone beat me up.”

“I’ll send you up some medicine,” the nurse told me, “And I’m sure a doctor will want to come have a look. But I know someone else will also be happy to see you.”

I snapped my head up to look at the nurse again.

“Joe Jonas hasn’t stopped asking about you,” she told me, smiling knowingly.

“Is he here?” I asked anxiously.

“He’d be in this room right now if he could be,” she went on, “He’s been in a hospital bed also.”

“What wrong with him!?” I demanded nervously.

I couldn’t seem to control my emotions. It felt like so long since I had seen Joe. That’s really all I wanted. Just talking about him was only going to make me more anxious.

“He’s perfectly fine,” the nurse assured me, “It was simply precautionary. He’s been begging to be let go ever since they hooked him up. I’ll go see how long it will be before he can come see you.”

But before she even turned around, the door banged open.

And there he stood. His hair a complete mess, dirt smudged across his face, his leather jacket disheveled.

His hand was still on the door knob as he stared directly at me. He wasn’t smiling, just staring and breathing heavily.

On the other hand a smile had already appeared on my face. I knew we’d have a lot of serious things to talk about, but it didn’t matter.

Joe was there in all his beauty and no matter how wrong it was, I couldn’t be happier.

“I’ll just go speak with the doctor,” the nurse smiled, before leaving and closing the door behind her.

“Hey,” I whispered.

“Hey,” Joe replied still with the same facial expression.

“Are you ok?” I asked him, “The nurse told me they had you in a room.”

There was still a level of awkwardness in our conversation. I guess I shouldn’t have expected everything to be normal but I just knew it suddenly would be.

“It doesn’t matter,” Joe told me taking a few steps towards my bed, “But you. How do you feel?”

“Joe, I need to know how you are,” I replied, “You risked your life for me.”

”They don’t call me Danger for nothing,” Joe said quietly, with a grin.

His comment made me smile, but I couldn’t be distracting.

“Seriously Joe, are you ok?”

“I’m fine,” he assured me, “But seriously what about you?”

I usually would have told someone I was fine, and blah blah, but as I looked at Joe I had to tell him the truth.

“I feel weak,” I admitted, “Like I got beaten up.”

“You kinda did,” Joe told me truthfully.

And for the first time, Joe looked away from me.

“I’m so sorry,” he said quietly, “Liv I should have been there or made a better plan or something.”

I rolled my eyes feeling a blame-fest coming on.

“And I was stupid to leave in the first place,” I said, “And that’s what we need to talk about.”

”What do you mean?” Joe asked, looking directly at me again.

“Instead of talking about what happened in the warehouse we need to talk about why you had to come find me anyway,” I explained, “Seeing you again makes me realize how stupid I was. I should’ve known that making a clean break from you would be harder than making a clean break the mob.”

I stared down at my hands as I admitted how I felt.

There was a quick movement and suddenly Joe was sitting in the chair right next to my bed.

“You mean that?” he asked, boring his dark eyes into mine, “You’ll come back?”

I couldn’t look away from his eyes even as I realized how close we were.

“I want to protect you Joe,” I whispered.

“Please don’t say that,” he whispered back, “I was a pathetic mess when you left. And look, you left and we both ended up in the hospital!”

I actually smiled at the irony of the situation.

“But Joe – ”

“And if you hate me because I didn’t believe you, I deserve it,” Joe went on, “I was an idiot. I was a jerk and stupid and an ass.”

“Ok, ok,” I cut him off with a laugh.

“No please let me insult myself some more,” Joe begged.

I laughed quietly again.

“Joe I understand,” I told him, “Its ok. I know you didn’t believe me but I can see why. It hurt, Joe, that you didn’t trust me, but when it really matters you’re there for me.”

“Thank you,” Joe said closing his eyes, “I don’t deserve it.”

“I missed you Joe,” I admitted quietly.

“Oh you have no idea,” Joe told me, “My house has been like a freakin graveyard.”

Again I laughed as Joe lightened the mood.

“Oh it wasn’t that bad,” I countered.

“Olivia,” Joe said leaning closer to me, “Like I said, you have no idea.”

“Well the house I was in wasn’t much better,” I replied.

Joe’s eyes closed as our faces were inches apart.

”I’m sorry you had to live there for –”

Before he finished his sentence our lips connected softly. It was gentle, but brought back all the things we had both been missing so much.

I honestly couldn’t describe how good it felt.

My head was flat on the pillow and Joe was leaning over top of me. He broke the soft kiss and rested his forehead on mine.

“I love you,” Joe whispered letting his sweet breath blow across my face.

Butterflies erupted in my stomach and my eyes fluttered closed.

“I love you too Joe,” I whispered back.

My eyes snapped open as I felt Joe’s lips press against my neck. Joe sensed my breath catch in my throat and he chuckled deeply.

I relaxed and just enjoyed it as Joe continued to trail kissed along my jaw line.

I turned my head abruptly and reconnected our lips. It had given Joe another reason to smirk but I didn’t care.

I attempted to deepen the kiss but Joe pulled back.

“No, no, no,” he said.

“Why?” I demanded.

“You need to rest so you can come home,” Joe told me, “And besides, I have to give you some motivation to come back to my house.”

I was about to call him a jerk, when the door opened and a doctor came in.

“You still have visitors out there Miss Dellacroce,” the doctor explained, “But I need to run some tests first.”

“I have to leave, huh?” Joe asked, making me grin again.

“Yes sir,” the doctor said, “But I won’t be long.”

“Yeah go home and take a shower,” I demanded with a smile, “Then come back.”

Joe leaned over me again and planted a kiss on my cheek.

“I can’t wait till you come home,” he whispered in my ear, “So I can fall asleep with you in my arms.”

”Mmm, the feelings mutual,” I whispered back.

Joe chuckled cutely once more before turning and leaving the room.

“You’re probably sick of this question,” the doctor said, “But how are you feeling?”

I let out a breath and smiled, “Excellent.”