Me and Polo. :D :D {Can You Hear Me?} **Mature Content**

Rosa nodded but was silent.
Silence is golden.
She was glad when she heard sirens, but the familiar sound brought back memories that made her shudder. She squinted and tried to calm her heart which was beating faster every second. She balled her hands into little fists as she saw men running towards them. She scrambled backwards trying to fend them off. Arms and legs thrashing she kicked one in the face and the other in the stomach. She covered her face as flashbacks took over her world.

She just wanted to get away and find her mother. Why were they taking her and not her mother? Why wouldn't they find her mother? What was going on? They wouldn't let her go. Her arms hurt, her eyes were stinging.

Rosa grunted and continued to fight them as they held her down trying to calm her, which only made her fear worse.

((haha, crazy dramaticness. I would be considered 'trying to get attention' if my girl was like this on PB. Eh, buttheads.))

((... O.o *Is lost* XD ))

Sloan blanched as Rosa suddenly began going nuts - kicking and thrashing, and making little frightened grunts every now and then. He watched helplessly as the paramedics attempted to hold her down, but he could see that this only made her more frightened.
Of course... Just like a horse! He realised suddenly.
"You're scaring her!" Sloan warned the paramedics, leaping to his feet and raising his fists defensively, despite the pain that rendered him nearly motionless.
"Sir, we're professionals, please just remain-"
"Don't you dare. Don't you dare say calm!" Sloan snarled at the paramedic, fists shaking in fury. The man released Rosa, and stepped hesitantly back, raising his hands as though in surrender. Sloan watched him closely - fixing him with a predator's stare until satisfied that the man was at a safe distance.
Then, he knelt at Rosa's side, and laid his hand oh-so-gently on her shoulder, murmuring soothing words in a low monotone.
"It's okay, Rosa." He consoled quietly, using her name for the first time. "It's just the paramedics, and they're here to help. I'll be with you all the time. It'll be okay... So just calm down."

Rosa's breathing grew heavier. The harder they tried, the harder she fought. Which was how she was taught. (Hahah, I rhymed! XD)
Her gaze rested on Sloan when he dropped to his knees beside her. Her breathing still heavy as her brown eyes stared intensely into his. Searching for any clue that he might be telling the truth.
"I'll be with you all the time. It'll be okay..."
Those words ran through her head as she sat there shaking slightly, she just looked into his eyes, so deeply that it may have seemed she could see his very soul. She nodded, but was silent.
Silence is golden.

((Woop! XD ))

At the intensity of Rosa's gaze, Sloan's confidence faltered, and he looked away uncertainly - feeling his cheeks heat with a blush yet again.
Really?! What is with me today...
A shudder ran through him, but he managed to shake off his nerves, and refocus his attention.
"They're going to put you on a stretcher, okay? I'll be right here, don't worry." He offered a reassuring smile, managing to regain his confidence, and doing his best to communicate it to Rosa, just as he would to win the trust of a frightened horse. He slipped his fingers through hers and held her hand gently - murmuring soft words of nothingness as the paramedics stepped cautiously forward and began strapping Rosa to the stretcher.
Sloan was in excruciating pain by this stage, but he didn't mind. He wasn't about to die, so he could bear with the pain until he was sure Rosa was okay.
Since when do you care? He taunted himself cruelly, You were quite content to leave her to die earlier, why the change of heart?
...
Who knows...? Sloan certainly didn't. Unless... Maybe...?

((Daww that last part! ))

Rosa felt Sloan's fingers laced with hers and she shuddered slightly at the touch but then tightened her grip on his large hand. She looked up at him eyes pleading him not to let them put her on the stretcher, but they did anyways.
She briefly wondered why he wasn't getting help. Why was he helping her and not himself? He needed more help then she did. She hoped for a moment they would be in the same hospital room together, that way she'd know someone and have someone to talk to. She continued to stare up at him with her big brown eyes, but her eyes only on his nothing else. She didn't notice his bare chest anymore, nothing but his eyes.
She still silently pleaded to have her be let go, she felt like she was being trapped. Trapped like that night her mother never came out of the house. Trapped like that night she never saw her family again. Completely alone, and trapped.
She didn't say anything, she was completely silent.
Silence is golden.

((Haha, don't ask about the end part on all my posts. Just have to add it. Adds to the... whateverness of them. XD))

((*Shifty* Don't jump to conclusions... XD Hehe!))

Once they had Rosa safely latched to the stretcher, the paramedics approached Sloan - ready to help him. "I'm fine." He insisted, waving off their help with his free hand. "Just let me stay with her for now." He squeezed Rosa's hand gently, then rose slowly to his feet and limped along beside her as the paramedics carried the stretcher into the ambulance.
"I'll be right with you in a second, I promise." He said to Rosa, letting go of her hand just for a moment as her stretcher was lifted into the back of the ambulance. Then he let the paramedics help him into it, and he took a seat beside her, linking his fingers through hers again, and offering his other arm for the paramedics to hook him to an IV as the ambulance began to move.

((Oh, it totally has to be done. It's like Ty's 'I don't care'. Totally makes the character! I still need to get to know Sloan better... But so far I think his 'thing' is that he relates everything to horses... O.o Hehe!))

((Teheh. ))

Rosa reached out automatically when he pulled his hand away and she closed her eyes when the paramedics lifted her into the ambulance. She breathed in through her nose and then wrinkled it. It smelled like rubbing alcohol and a hospital. She hated that vile smell. She shrugged mentally and remained silent. She winced and squinted her eyes when they administered an IV into her left arm. When she felt Sloan's fingers between hers again she loosened up and let her muscles relax again. Not feeling quite as tense as she laid there, trapped.
But not alone.

((Haha, you said short. SO mine is SHORT! bahah. Sorrrry.))

"Rosa, speak to me." Sloan's voice hummed quietly - firm, but gentle. He was sure she'd feel better if she got her mind off whatever was bothering her. He, for one, wasn't at all bothered with being in the ambulance. In fact, the thing that bothered him the most now his IV had killed the pain was the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt. It made him feel naked and vulnerable, which he didn't like one bit. It hadn't bothered him as much before, when it had just been him and Rosa in the darkness of the storm - but now it bothered him greatly.
Though what bothered him even more was the fact that he had no idea where Dart was... He just hoped the flighty mare would have the sense to stay with the herd.

Rosa tore her gaze away from him. Fat chance on that. She thought to herself.
There was no way she was going to risk talking to him and risk saying something stupid, or something she didn't need to say. She still held his hand but didn't say anything at all.
Silence is golden.
She glanced around the ambulance as familiarities filled her mind. She had been her one too many times now and she hated it. Hated it with all her heart, she would have rather walked to her house and called a doctor go see her there, she didn't want to go to the hospital. She hated hospitals, in fact she hated a lot of things. She didn't want to go to the hospital afraid of what it would remind her of, this ambulance reminded her of enough. The hospital would kill her.

"Come on." He coaxed quietly, his voice just gentle enough that she ought not to feel pressurised. "Tell me what Gray's like out on the cross country. I bet he feels invincible, right? All that power..." He smiled slightly, encouraging Rosa to start thinking positive thoughts, rather than dwelling on whatever was clearly eating away at her.
Sloan winced as the ambulance rattled over a bump, and glanced out of the window to see the hospital up ahead.
He hoped Rosa would be okay in there. She really seemed bothered by all of this...

"I don't want to go in there..." Rosa whispered, still looking away from him. Her voice was soft, and broken, yet it sounded somewhat like silk. Like she had said it before, over and over and over again, like she had rehearsed that one line.
That's because she had, she had said that before, she had screamed it before but she didn't want to scream this time. She didn't even want to talk. Now the only thing that filled her was fear, fear that she would never come back out because her memories would eat her alive.

At the look in Rosa's eyes, Sloan knew that she meant what she said. She couldn't go in to that hospital... It obviously disturbed her greatly. "You don't have to." He assured her - giving her hand one last squeeze before slipping away. "I'm right here." He promised, and with that, he turned to discuss the situation with the paramedics.
((Too lazy to type out discussion XD ))
Soon enough it was arranged. A doctor came out to the ambulance, and set to work treating Rosa's leg in the ambulance. Thankfully, it seemed it wasn't too bad - or that was the impression Sloan got from watching, in any case.
He watched with a hawk-like gaze as the doctor set the leg in plaster - irritably brushing away the various paramedics and nurses who bustled around, trying to help him.
However, he was so intent on watching Rosa that he didn't even notice when he started shaking.
Before he knew it, Sloan had fainted where he stood. He had been moving around far too much, and as it turned out, the various gashes in his back had been bleeding rather badly.
Thus, his limp form was scooped up and dragged to the hospital, just as the doctor finished setting Rosa's leg.

((Feel free to time skip if you like XD ))

Rosa watched them take Sloan away and her breathing became ragged. "N-no." She whimpered and tried to scramble after them. Apparently she would have to go in there.
---
3 Hours Later
---
Rosa sat beside Sloan's hospital bed in her wheelchair. The doctor told her her knee was simply displaced and it would be fine in about two weeks. She had been watching him sleep for the last two and a half hours and hoped he wouldn't find that creepy when he woke up. But he said he'd be with her the whole time. He failed at that miserably, so now she would be with him. Seeing that he was the one laying in the hospital bed and she wasn't. She hoped he'd be out of the hospital soon, so that she wouldn't have to be there anymore and so they could find the horses. She knew Gray wouldn't go with anyone he didn't know, and Dart didn't seem like she would either.

Some time later, Sloan came to. He opened his eyes, then grunted at the brightness of the room around him and closed them again, slapping his arm over his face to block to light. "Ouch." He grumbled, his voice slightly muffled by the fact that he was talking into his arm.
He dropped it back to his side, then opened his eyes a crack again. This time, he caught sight of Rosa sitting beside his bed. He blinked at her in surprise for a moment, as though trying to work out if she was really there. When he realised that she was, he sat bolt upright and stared disbelievingly at her. "What are you doing here?" He asked, shocked.
He paused and thought for a moment, then added, "Wait... What am I doing here?" He stared around the hospital room with a completely disgruntled expression.
Last he remembered, he had been standing just outside the ambulance, waiting for Rosa...

Rosa-Leigh looked at him with wide, but gentle brown eyes. "I wasn't gonna leave you alone..." She whispered, voice trailing off slightly as she bit her lip, not paying attention to anything but Sloan. She hoped if she kept it this way memories wouldn't take over. She reached out and brushed the hair out of his face before looking down.

"But... You were freaking out about coming in here!" Sloan exclaimed, truly surprised that Rosa would have overcome such a fear simply to keep him company. "You don't have to be here." He said, frowning slightly in concern and shaking his head. "I'm always alone, I'm used to it. Besides, I'll be out soon." He offered a reassuring smile, hoping she'd choose to leave. Being in here obviously caused her pain, and he didn't want that.

Rosa-Leigh scratched her neck uneasily before looking down at her feet. Her brown eyes were dull, but held a slight gleam to them. She wrung her hands together and bit her lip before looking over at Sloan again. She held her gaze with his when she said,
"Sometimes, we have to be bigger then our fears."
Her voice was soft and like silk when she said this. She meant it with all her heart. Maybe someday she'd tell Sloan why she didn't like hospitals, but today wasn't the day.
"You know... it took pretty much every single ounce of my being to come into that barn after you," She said then paused, "I didn't want to, actually I was scared out of my wits. But I had to be bigger than my fears." She then looked down, being silent. That was the most she had said in a while, and she was surprised my the amount of wisdom that had just poured out of her mouth. She brushed her brown hair behind her ear before letting out a soft sigh.

((Hehe, shhneaked on again! Bad bad me. DX))

((LMAO! Me too! Hence the bad post...
*Types a line*
*Feels IT teacher's gaze*
*Minimizes*
*Glances around at other students, all messing around on Internet*
*Glances toward IT teacher*
*Waits for teacher's back to turn*
*Maximises RP, and resumes typing* XD ))

"That's true..." Sloan replied, staring at Rosa in blank shock. He hadn't expected to hear something like that come out of her mouth... "I was pretty terrified, too, truth be told." He admitted, beginning to gnaw his lip at the memory of the flames. "But the, with the horses- Well, I guess I just forgot, in a way..." He trailed off uncertainly, then hurriedly cast about for a change in topic. He didn't feel like reliving those moments. He hadn't known he had such courage in him. Even now, he was too timid to even think about what he'd done in that fire.
"I think I'm okay to leave now." Sloan announced mildly, straightening up with a wince, and flexing his injured right arm experimentally. "Shall we be off?"

"I have no where to go Sloan, I might as well have just stayed here..." Rosa whispered, eyes low as she took a shaky breath. "I called my Aunt and Uncle, they're in Aruba and can't get back, I'm not worth it apparently." She said bitterly before chewing her lip. She let out a soft sigh and leaned back in the chair closing her eyes. It was really nice that her Guardians didn't feel like coming home for her when she had just been in a barn fire and had a dislocated knee.

((Ahhwww, I just thought of something that would have been way cool to play out. Durhh, now it's too late. X())

((Eeeeh, what is it? ))
"What?!" Sloan asked - sitting bolt upright, then regretting it instantly as pain lashed across his back. He drew in a hiss of breath through his teeth, then returned his attention to Rosa. "They'd just... Abandon you?!" He asked incredulously, eyes widening slightly. "So... Wait, wait a minute, here... Are you saying you've got nowhere to stay?"
Eyes narrowed in concern - he watched Rosa intently, hoping that he had just misunderstood something here...
He supposed she was legally an adult - but barely!! It was too cruel a thought to consider that her Aunt and Uncle - whom he presumed to be substitute parents - would just scurry off to Aruba and leave the poor girl to fend for herself!

Rosa-Leigh looked down at the floor as a small frown pulled on her lips. "Yeah, well the only reason they let me stay with them was that they were my legal guardians until I was eighteen. Seeing that I won't be eighteen for three days they still are." She explained to him, voice soft and somewhat trembling.
They hadn't even left her a spare pair of keys for the old farm house she had been staying on the porch of, it was cold now too and of course they had left no oil in the tank either so she couldn't even heat the old house. How long would they be in Aruba? She didn't know. Thankfully she had gathered a suitcase of clothes up because she thought she was going with them. She had set them out on the porch and waited, but they took the keys got in the car and drove off. Leaving her alone and helpless. She didn't want to impose on anyone, so she figured she'd just keep sleeping on the cold porch. At least it had a screen door that had a lock on it. But it wouldn't be long before she died of pneumonia or something of that sort sleeping in the cold every night. She'd deal with it, to some degree she wished she had been admitted into the hospital. At least she'd have someone warm to stay. Now she was completely alone. No one cared about her and she had no money, barely any clothes. It wasn't her fault her Uncle had wanted to put bars on all the windows and four deadbolts on the door before they left. He thought 'someone' might realize that they hadn't been home for a while and decide to break in.
Apparently,
that someone,
was
Rosa.
They had made it so that Rosa had no way whatsoever to get into the house beside breaking the wall down or climbing through the roof somehow. She rolled her eyes at the thought. Why did her Aunt and Uncle hate her so much? She'd never know. For all she knew they weren't really her Aunt and Uncle and were just random people that took her from the hospital claiming to be her guardians.
Now she would probably never know.

((Yeehehe, somewhat long post for me. XD))

((Awesome! ))

Sloan stared at Rosa in complete disbelief, his eyes wide with shock. "Are you serious...?" He muttered - seeming to look right through her.
His expression darkened slightly, and his eyebrows knotted together into a frown of utter disgust. How could her Aunt and Uncle - her own family - actually do this to her?! He hated people like that. People who just ran off, and left their families behind... Sloan felt his jaw clench at the thought of his older brother. When their father had died, Scott had just run off... He had left his frail, sickly mother with only his younger brother to care for her. Obviously, Sloan had not been on much use - but he had always done his best to support his mother.
Scott, on the other hand, was probably lying on a beach somewhere, drinking from a coconut and rubbing oil on one of his little whores.
Sloan shook his bitter thoughts aside, then glanced at Rosa again. "That's just despicable." He spat viciously, his lips curving into a snarl.
"And if you have nowhere to stay - well that's just ridiculous, and I won't have it. You'll just have to crash on my couch until you find another option." Sloan nodded defiantly - his harsh tone indicating that his offer was not up for discussion. In fact, it was not even an offer. It was an order.
"Come, we have some horses to find. I'll pick up whatever stuff you have and take it to my place later." Sloan said decisively, kicking off the covers and getting out of bed.
He struggled to contain his disgust for the draughty hospital gown, and quickly sought out his clothes.
"If you'll just wait for me outside, I'll be ready to go in a minute." Said Sloan, glancing toward Rosa with a mild smile.

Rosa almost laughed at the look on his face when he threw off the covers. He must have just noticed he had a hospital gown on. She nodded, knowing she couldn't question his descion on whether or not she was going to stay at his house. She barely even knew the guy for Pete's-sake. But she didn't have a choice unless she wanted to stay on the cold porch again. Which she didn't.
He seemed rather disgusted by her Aunt and Uncle not wanting to come back for her. She didn't really mind, her Uncle wasn't very nice to her anyways. Apparently he didn't quite see her as a human being. She shrugged and rolled her eyes at her thoughts before wheeling towards the big door in her wheelchair and swinging it open. She left the room, with a smile, a small but sure smile and closed the door behind her.

((GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! I was almost done with my post, then my mother came in and put something on my tablet, and it went 'back'. -_- *Grumbles mutinously* I should take my own advice and type in a Word document... So if the post is stupidly short, that's why.))

Sloan waited for Rosa to leave the room, then hurriedly cast the foul hospital gown aside. He was glad to dress in his own clothes again, and even gladder when he realised he had a fresh shirt to wear. He had to ease it slowly over his injured back, and though he managed it in the end, it was not without difficulty. Every time it snagged on his bandages, Sloan would wince and hiss painfully.
But finally, he was dressed. His arm bled a little from where he had ripped the IV out, but he didn’t care. He merely shrugged it off as he limped toward the door – opening it carefully, then stepping outside to meet Rosa.
“Right, let’s get going, shall we?” He suggested, smiling faintly – then beginning to limp in the direction he hoped he would find the exit.

((That is suuuuuperly annoying. Happened to me once. *nodnod*))

Rosa used her small but strong arms to wheel herself along behind Sloan. She let out a slight puff when she almost hit him in the back of the legs. Her certainly wouldn't like that. She thought he wouldn't at least. She watched where she was going but when they turned a corner she unexpectedly slammed into a wall. She let out a hiss when her leg bumped up against the wall. The pain had subsided to some degree but it still hurt quite a bit. She looked up at Sloan, cheeks red as she felt embarrassment rising in her being, deafening her pride to some degree. She tilted her head to the side before backing away from the wall and turning the wheelchair so she could keep going in the proper direction which wasn't that hard. She reached up to brush her bang out of her face with her bandaged hand. Healing was going to be just so much fun. She couldn't wait to see what other 'awesome' scars these burns left. She'd have enough burns on her arms and legs to make a new skin by now. After being in two fires, she really prayed she would never be in one again. It didn't help that she didn't even life fire pits, or stoves, or anything that had to do with extreme heat or fire. Sometimes she didn't even like electricity.