Page 46 of Rules of the Heart

Valerie forcibly clamped her mouth shut. Screaming and panicking wouldn’t do Ella any good. With the greatest effort it had ever taken, she pushed her feelings aside and focused on the patient in front of her.

It looked like the rod had pierced between Ella’s ribs and into her back. That was certainly better than her heart and gave Valerie a bit of time. Not much, but hopefully it would be enough.

Valerie’s first instinct was to remove the rod, but she knew that would be a fatal mistake. She grabbed some bandages andused them to put pressure on the wound. She put a line in to start giving Ella fluids, medication, and hopefully soon, blood. It was the best she could do for now, until they were dug out.

Ella! Ella! Please don’t leave me. I love you. I’ll do whatever it takes.

She didn’t know how long it would take, now that there had been a further collapse, but there was nothing she could do except try to keep Ella stable until she could get her to the OR.

Valerie held her hand and squeezed it.

“I love you, Ella.” Valerie sighed. She knew now. This was love. This was the real thing. “If we make it out of here, I promise you, we can be together for real. Fuck the stupid rules.”

It seemed that the universe was looking kindly on her today, because the collapse had actually made the surrounding rubble more stable. Within twenty minutes, the rescue crew was able to get to them, and not a moment too soon. Ella was pale as a ghost and her hands were going cold as her body prioritized blood flow to her essential organs.

The rescue team cut the rod sticking out of Ella and Valerie carefully helped load her onto the stretcher.

The ride back to the hospital was a blur. Ella’s breathing was harsh and labored as blood filled her lungs. Valerie had to do some quick work to insert a tube and drain the blood so that Ella could get enough oxygen to keep her alive until Valerie could operate.

“Out of my way!” Valerie ran with Ella’s bed, not caring who she bowled over, her only thought to get Ella to the OR as fast as possible. People scattered before her and the OR team gathered around her, following her into what Valerie knew would be themost important surgery of her life. Valerie immediately went to scrub in.

“Alright, let’s get this thing out of her. Be ready, because she’s going to start bleeding as soon as it goes.”

Two of the residents gripped the rod and carefully pulled it out of Ella’s chest.

Valerie was there with her clamps, immediately tying off the arteries and starting to repair the damage in Ella’s chest. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her breathing was almost as shallow as Ella’s. She feared she might pass out, but she knew that if she did, Ella was as good as dead.

All the other cardio surgeons were at the site of the accident. She was all Ella had, and Valerie couldn’t let her down.

As she worked, some of the blind panic left her. Ella had suffered a very serious injury, but she was young and healthy and Valerie was an exceptional surgeon. The fact that she was still alive at this point in the surgery meant there was a good chance she would make it.

Valerie didn’t like to get her hopes up with patients this badly injured, but with Ella, hope was all that was keeping her going.

The surgery took hours, but by the time it was done, Valerie was confident that she had done her very best work. It would be a long road to recovery, but Ella should be just fine.

It was only after Ella’s chest was closed and she had been wheeled into recovery did it really hit Valerie.

Her knees collapsed and she fell to the floor as the realization came over her. If that surgery had failed… Valerie would have been broken.

It was too late to avoid a relationship with Ella to prevent herself from getting hurt if something happened to Ella. Somewhere along the way, she had fallen in love with Ella and there was no going back.

Valerie didn’t want to live without Ella. Seeing her nearly die had made that much very clear to her. As much as it scared her, she wanted to give this thing between them a real shot.

Of course, that didn’t mean that Ella would take her back. Valerie had put Ella through a lot of shit and there was no guarantee that she would forgive her.

There was still the issue of the rules, but that seemed supremely unimportant right now. True, if they hadn’t broken the rules, Ella wouldn’t have been hurt in the first place, but if they hadn’t broken the rules, Valerie would never have fallen in love with Ella, and she wouldn’t trade that love for the world.

“Doctor Bush? Are you alright?”

Stephanie was crouching down in front of her, her face set in concern.

Valerie gave her a silly smile. “I’m good, Stephanie. I’m in love.”

Stephanie rolled her eyes. “I know that. I think everyone except Ella knows that. Finally come around, have you?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I have. Do you think she’ll take me back? I… I have a lot to apologize for.”

“So apologize, then. Ella loves you, Valerie. She would forgive you anything.”

---