Shopping or Something

He looked around him- or tried to. His peripheral vision was never all that good anyway. Wires and an IV were all attached to him, one way or another. It was no wonder he always hated hospitals.

The corners of Sam's mouth turned up to form the ghost of a smile as he nodded slightly. "H-hey Bridge," he said, his voice still cracking. He could barely feel Bridget's light touch as she moved hair off his forehead. "I could hear you last night too." His breathing was shallow now and he wheezed as he took in a deep breath. "You okay?"

"Sam!" She said his name again, and realized that she was crying, only slightly, she rested her head on his chest "God I was so worried," She said quietly.

She sat up when she heard the second part. "You could hear me?" She asked faintly No. No no. Maybe he just thought he heard me she thought, He can't know how I feel about him it will ruin everything. Fuck fuck fuck She looked away from him. He sounded awful "I should ring the nurse. She was in every hour last night." She said, keeping her eyes off of him. Her chest felt funny, like her heart had stopped for a moment and now it was doing flips. He knew. If he heard her, he knew.

"I'm fine, Sammy" She said, trying to sound like she did before, "Just a broken arm and a few scratches. You're the one we need to worry about"

Sam winced slightly as Bridget rested her head on his chest. He refused to say 'Ow.' "I kinda figured," he replied, still sort of smiling.

"Yeah. I could hear you." He tried to shake his head. "No, don't. I- I wanna be alone with you for a minute.

"C'mere." He waited for Bridget to do as she was told.

And when she did...

He kissed her.

She stopped, and looked at him, just as she was about to hit the little call button. But she didn't. she set it down and shuffled over to him. And then he was kissing her.

Sure, she'd been kissed before. She'd had a boyfriend for a few months and that really all they did. But it wasn't the same. When Sam kissed, she... well, she saw fireworks. Her mom used to say that that's how you knew that someone was right for you, that if you saw fireworks when you kissed them...

"Oh" Said a quiet voice, and Bridget pulled away quickly, turning towards the voice, her face pink. "Sorry" said the young nurse "They sent me to check on him" She nodded towards Sam, blushing slightly. Bridget nodded and sat back down in her chair, taking his hand again.

Yep. It was official. Sam definitely loved her.

It reminded him a bit of elementary school.

"Sam and Bridget sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" a boy teased, chasing said children around.

"C'mon Bridge," Sam said, eyes narrowed, as he pulled her along with him by the hand.

"First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage!"

Bridget was crying for some reason. She never liked being made fun of. Ever.

He pulled her under the monkey bars and said, "Don't listen to him, 'kay? He's just being a meanie."

Bridget nodded. "I love you Bridge!" he exclaimed before grinning and hugging his best friend.

He lay there, shocked, when Bridget pulled away and a nurse showed up. "Well, I'm okay," he said. "More than okay, really." He smirked slightly.

"I'm just going to change the IV. It'll only be a minute." The nurse did so and left quickly, as if she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Probably did.

Bridget grinned. It was one of those moments when she just had too. Even though they'd been interrupted by the nurse, she was still grinning. Sam always had a way to make her smile, and she rather liked this new way.

"Yeah. Me too" She said, still grinning. "More than okay"

She was about to ask him something, when a young looking doctor came in, followed by a few others. Crap. this couldn't be good. She only hoped they weren't here to take him away.

"Miss" The doctor started "I'm going to have to ask you to leave...."

Bridget frowned slightly. There. stupid doctors had taken her smile. Uhg. She hated hospitals.

Sam frowned and quirked an eyebrow.

He watched Bridget leave before focusing on the doctors. "Erm, yes?"

The young-looking one swallowed before asking, "Have you tried moving your legs at all, Mr. Ibarra?"

"Yeah. I can't feel them though..."

"The lower half of your spinal cord was snapped. I'm sorry, but you've been paralyzed from the waist down."

It was as if his world had been shattered.

"You- What?"

"We tried to fix it. We couldn't. I'm sorry. We can bring your, er, friend back in and tell her. Or you can tell her yourself."

Sam nodded. "I'll tell her. Thanks for letting me know." As the doctors left, a tear, maybe two, fell. He didn't make an effort to make them go away.

Bridget stood in the hall, rocking back and forth on her heels, wondering what could be wrong. It could be something terrible. Like... No. She pushed the thoughts from her head. They just made her leave because of the whole 'medical privacy' law. Stupid law. Sam would tell her anyway.

She watched as the short line of medical staff, led 'Doctor Sexy.' as soon as they had left, she entered the room, and one look at Sam told her something was wrong. Very, very, wrong.

"Sam?" She asked, slightly scared. He was crying. Only a little, but still Sam didn't cry. He was Sam. She was the one who cried. "Sam, what is it? What's wrong?

"Hey Bridge." Sam smiled weakly at her before frowning again. "I'm going to tell you a story. Remember when we were kids and I used to climb that giant tree? And then when I fell and broke my leg and had to use a wheelchair for weeks? It's kind of like that.

"Except I won't get better. I'm paralyzed from the waist down. I- I'm never going to walk again."

He looked at Bridget and squeezed his eyes shut, letting himself go limp. "This just sucks."

It had to be a joke. Sam was right here. He was fine. but he wasn't. She fell into the chair next to his bed, and shook her head slightly. She looked back up at him, for some sign that it was all a joke and she could punch him and tell him to tell her the truth.

But he didn't look kidding. He just looked scared. She shook her head again, more this time. "no" She said quietly "Y-you can't be" she said, starting to cry.

She closed her eyes and brought her knees up, resting her head on them. She thought back... the SUV. She sat up and looked at Sam, scared, and angry "It's his fault, Sam" She said, "It's all his fault. They'll get him to pay, for physical therapy or something. And if they don't then... then I will." she said, rushing to say everything "Maybe.. maybe he's rich or something and they can.. fix you and... and" She trailed off and started to cry again.

"Bridge, please, don't cry. Stop crying. I am. Dammit, stop crying," Sam said with a sigh. "I'm sorry. I can't do anything about it! It's just- I don't know."

He sighed again. "I know, I know. Calm down." He couldn't understand why he himself was so calm. He was the one that was paralyzed here! "Nothing you or anyone else does is going to help me. This is permanent damage. No one can help me. Bridget, come here. It'll be okay. We'll make it somehow, alright?"

He gave Bridget a half smile. "Once I'm out of here, maybe we can go out or something. Like you've obviously wanted your whole life," he teased.

"S-sorry" she said, wiping her eyes and smiling as best as she could, "I'll stay with you. The whole way okay? I promise" she said.

She got a hold of herself and gave him a teary smile. "Scoot" she told him, and waited while he did, it took longer because of the whole.... paralyzed thing, but after he did, she climbed in and sat next to him on the bed, her casted arm resting on the rail (thing). She rested her head on his shoulder, "Bet you're glad the cottage is one story now, huh?" she asked, referring to there housing back on campus, smiling slightly.

"Yeah" She said, grinning weakly "That would be nice"

There was a lot to think about. Sam. In a wheelchair... Forever. But he kissed her. And he just asked her out. And oh god they were still teachers! She thought of all the bad things, and all the good things. The scales tipped a bit more toward bad "Think you're family will come see you?" She asked

Sam smiled softly at her. "It's okay. Thanks, Bridge. This is why you're my best friend in the entire world. You're willing to deal with my bullshit." He chuckled. "Also why, well, I love you. Like...like you love me. Yeah."

He did as he was told, albeit very slowly. He shrugged slightly as Bridget rested her head on his shoulder. "Yeah. I don't know how I would deal with more than one. You'd have to push me up and down the stairs and I know you don't want that." He grinned and kissed her forehead.

"Come on, cheer up. I'm still alive, aren't I? And I'm going to take you (or, well, you're going to take me, whatever) for a nice dinner or lunch or something."

Sam nodded. "More than likely. Your family too, probably. Won't they be excited," he said, referencing what had just happened between the two of them.

Bridget smiled, and grinned again, and looked at him "See now we don't have to go through the awkward 'who's gonna say the L word first' stage" she said with a grin, kissing his cheek.

"Ahh I'm sure someone at that fancy school could get us an elevator" She said with a grin "I bet you Rachel has an elevator. And I know there's one in the school, I used it to bring boxes in" She said with a grin.

"We can go to the movies. I'll have to drive now, won't I? So we'll see a chick flick. Like Legally Blonde. And then we can go drink tea" She said with a grin, "and then, maybe dinner. I'll get tired of carting you around"

"I think my dad owes my mom ten bucks. She bet him, when I was really young, like 10, that we'd be together by the time we were twenty five. My dad said high school" She said with a grin.

"Ah, and it only took a giant car wreck," Sam said jokingly with a large grin.

"Dammit. I wanted you to push me up and down stairs. I like making you suffer." He laughed at his own little joke. "Of course there're elevators. No one would make it to class on time if there weren't any." It was true. The school was fucking huge.

"Yup!" he said, grinning at her. "No, no chick flicks. I refuse to watch one. Tea and crumpets and ladyfingers. The whole shebang, am I right? Oh please. You'll never get tired of me. Go on, admit it.

"So we're together then? I think my dad bet my mom that we'd be married by the time we're thirty. She said twenty five. Ha. I don't know." You never know what might happen in the future. WHY AM I THINKING OF THIS? WHY? STUPID BET. OH MY GOD WHY? But he was grinning on the outside.

"Did you not know before?" She asked, "Della told me in 11th grade that everyone knew. Remember? That was the week I ignored you" She asked, "I mean it was Della, but still"

"We can race. The students or something. I'll ride on the back of your chair" She said with a grin "We'll get first dibs on elevators because of you" she said, grinning. He always knew how to turn a situation around.

"All of it." She said, laughing quietly. "Nope. You'll always be exciting. Unless you're being boring and if that happens I'll just do something drastic to catch your attention, and then we can play video games." She said, "Just like we used to"

"Uhg. I never want to be thirty" She said with a frown "It's so old." she laughed though, "In nine years? Probably. 4 years.... maybe" she said with a shrug. Married to Sam? That would ne nice. OHodjgfg No. He just actually asked you out. think of these things later. Bad Bridget SHe thought to herself, but she was also grinning.

Sam shook his head. "Everyone but me, I guess. Oh god, that was the best week of my life. Why did it have to end?" he teased. "Kidding, kidding. I'd die if I could never talk to you again.

"Good idea... We'll win every fucking race by a landslide and it'll be awesome. Ah, the wheelchair will have its perks."

He grinned. "Awesome. I say we play Amnesia because why the hell not. It's an awesome game. Or maybe Calling. That shit is hilarious. I miss those days. So carefree and relaxed. And then we became teachers." Sam sighed. "Oh well. We can still have fun.

"So what're you saying?" Was Bridget saying that she wanted to marry him or something? A part of him kind of freaked him out, just a bit, but the other, much bigger part said it might be a good idea. "Hold your horses Bridge. Let's just see what happens," he said with a wink.

"you're lucky you're injured. If you weren't I'd hit you and then never talk to you again for the next 3 minutes" Bridget said, laughing. Sam was okay. Maybe he couldn't walk, but hey, he was still her Sam.

"Kids won't know what hit them" She grinned "We can get a super fast one, and I'll steer and ride on the back. It'll be perfect"

"Or Skyrim. You never taught me how to play," She said, grinning "And as long as we don't play left4dead or Assassins Creed because I'm so bad at those" She said, remembering when she'd tried to play. She'd quiet pretty fast.

"That I don't want to be thirty..." She said, then blushed slightly "Well not now. I'm not saying now. I'm just saying maybe. One day. Maybe. Yeah." She laughed a bit nervously. Sure. Maybe someday. But not now, because well duh. And because I'm not ready to get.. married. I'm only 21 She thought to herself

"Am I lucky? Am I really?" Sam asked teasingly. "I'm stuck here with you." He actually stuck his tongue out at Bridget. "What's three minutes? I can live with that." He grinned.

"Or maybe a mobile chair or something. We can trick it out and put a rocket on there or something. Or or or you can just push me around and run!

"That's because I suck at Skyrim. Left4Dead's fun though! Ugh, maybe I'll just teach you how to plat Amnesia. Or something else that I'm good at. I can just teach you the ropes. No battles to the death, okay?" he asked with a giant grin.

"Okay then..." he said with a smirk. He'd just let her think he didn't believe her. Shrugging, he said, "Alright."

"Lucky, considering. I could have hit you. But I didn't" She said, laughing "Ummm Three hours then. Or three years" She said, lightly poking his cheek "If that's possible"

"You'd have to trick it out. I can trick it out with stickers and glitter. But that's about it. And sharpies. But not with rockets. If I had a rocket, maybe" She said and laughed

"Amnesia then? I've heard it's like the scariest game ever. But watching people react to it is so much fun. They get so freaked." She grinned "But if we play Left4Dead I might kill you by accident. Over and over. Spinning a shooting isn't the best method" She said, remembering the last time she'd played. She sort of just shot everything....

"Sam!" She said, frowning "You're being mean again." she fake pouted and turned away from him.

Sam tried to flip on his side. "Dammit, I wanted that rocket," he mumbled. Grabbing the TV remote, he shooed Bridget away. "Go on now, I love you but I wanna watch TV, thanks. Go relax or something and don't worry about me. I'll be fine," he said with a grin.

As she left and he turned on the TV, he said to himself, "Not bad Sammy, not bad."