Title: She deserves a proper relationship
Author: Loz
E-Mail: loz06(at)yahoo(dot)com
Rating: T
Category: Neil.Andrea…Tiny bit of Smithy. (He gets told don't worry!)
Series: Stand alone. Not related to anything else I've done.
Spoilers: If you're not yet up to any of the episodes around the late 260's then come back when you are! Otherwise your safe.
Archive (if applicable): www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net(slash)loz06
Feedback: The good, the bad and the very ugly it's all appreciated.
Summary: At the hospital and concussed Andrea sees Neil come to visit and shrink away when he sees Smithy at her bedside. She knows she can't let him leave and have things left unsaid.
Authors' notes: Promise this one is 98 percent Neil.Andrea. Again if some things medically don't add up, I get sick not cure the sick.
Thanks: To everyone who read and or reviewed 'Where the heart lies at Christmas'.
Disclaimers: I deserve to be allowed to write fan fiction without claiming ownership as I always do.
Andrea Dunbar's eyes open to see Dale Smith sitting next to her bed. "I came to pick you up, we've got a date remember?" Andrea's eyes close again. "Raincheck." Smithy says. "I just can't believe you're giving me the whole I've been rushed to hospital brush off, it's terrible." Andrea's occasional weak smile keeps him talking, a boyish half smile on his own face.
"Sorry." She says weakly. Andrea's not really following him, she hasn't been able to connect with the conversation that had been one sided from the beginning. She didn't know it but he'd started talking immediately after he'd placed flowers next to her bed and had kissed her forehead even though Andrea was dozing.
Andrea still feels a little vague and dizzy and she can't concentrate on more than two words strung together, her stomach feels so slightly queasy.
"Listen." He says taking Andrea's hands that rest across her middle. "You've got a concussion but you're going to be alright…" At the entrance to the ward Neil Manson pushes through the double swinging doors, Andrea's concentration lapses but she picks Smithy up again. "You're not going to miss anything because I'm going to keep you informed." In the middle of the nurses' area, flowers in hand, Neil Manson stares at Andrea and Smithy who leans towards the bed holding her hands.
Smithy is saying something to Andrea about having got the guy who hit her but she's not really listening. "We've nicked the geezer; he's thoroughly banged up, so there's nothing to worry about there." Her eyes stray to nurses' area where she sees Neil standing and staring at her and Smithy.
Their eyes never meet but they see one another. Andrea's face bears no expression, it can't. She flicks her eyes back to Smithy, the last thing she wants is to alert him to the presence of the man she's been having an affair with and at last count was upset with. His work reasons for visiting her are flimsy at best, thanks to a photographer who so far remains anonymous everyone expects Smithy to be at her bedside, not Neil.
Andrea doesn't regret the kiss with Smithy, nor does she regret the fact Neil saw it. It had spurred him into action that afternoon in the locker room though she still isn't sure about him.
He's staring, a bit in shock, a lot despondent, maybe he thought their passionate kiss righted everything, perhaps because Smithy is here and he won't get to see her, another block, as had been the incident that resulted in her being here, they were meant to meet tonight. Maybe he senses all his talk and actions would have been for nothing that she's moved on. Maybe he suspects she would not have shown up for their meeting and Smithy is not here out of duty or by accident. Even now she doesn't know what she was going to do.
Smithy continues to talk, unperturbed by the fact Andrea doesn't seem to be taking anything in. Something about when Andrea gets out of the hospital is said as Neil looks down to the floor and backs off having seen the closeness of the two, he turns and leaves. When Smithy says something about if she still wants to and Andrea smiles at Smithy and then looks back to Neil in time to see him leaving. He leaves practically unnoticed, as he had arrived. Andrea knows she likes Smithy, what's not to and she has to give that a go, a chance.
Being with Neil has been warm, generous and intimate, sometimes exciting because of his situation but Neil's different from Smithy, he's sown his wild oats, he's mature and knows who he is and what he wants, her and that's attractive but Smithy is more where Andrea is at in her life at the moment and sometimes the one who's still finding out about himself is more exciting than the one who knows. Yet with Neil he seems to need something from her that he gets and shows his gratitude for but all too often their time together is few and far between and that's frustrating for Andrea. Smithy's biggest attraction is his eligibility to be with her and the fact things can be conducted in the open.
Outside the swinging double doors the flowers drop with Neil Manson's hand and rest on a small shelf jutting out of the wall, he sighs and looks back behind him to the ward and then up to the ceiling wondering if things can get any harder and if he has lost her.
"I'm sorry Smithy, I'm feeling tired." It's not an outright lie that comes gently from Andrea. Smithy immediately cuts off what he was saying.
"I'm sorry, I've been sitting here and rattling on, and you need to sleep." He's apologetic for his actions, unnecessary as Andrea has enjoyed the company but now she needs him to go.
"Its o.k. thanks for visiting." Andreas smiles as he stands out of the visitor's chair and again gently kisses her forehead.
"Feel better soon." He flashes another smile that's hard to resist and leaves. Andrea's eyes follow him with each step through the nurses' area and past the double swinging doors. She can't see out there so she can only hope Neil is not standing outside.
For some reason, Andrea's not sure why, beyond checking she still can, she counts to ten before twisting herself to reach the call button. The exertion invites the dizziness back and she misses the button that swings on the electrical cord three times before her fingertips finally grasp it.
A ridiculous exercise Andrea thinks as she can see the nurse through the glass and could easily call out. Still she presses the call button urgently three times before collapsing back into bed the way she was, waiting for the room to stop moving and her heightened nausea to settle.
The young nurse leaves her desk not hurrying but moving with an efficiency that must be ingrained into all nurses, clearly this is not an emergency.
"You o.k.?" She says as soon as she rounds the glass, going immediately to check the machine that monitors Andrea's vital signs.
"There was a man here a minute ago, he had flowers and was standing just inside the doors, he left when he saw I had another visitor, can you call him and get him to come back for me?" The nurse finishes with the buttons and dials, looking unconvinced at Andrea.
"We don't really do that." She says as politely and as mundanely as possible.
Andrea finds it hard to believe that there's a hospital policy against her request, the young nurse imagining a situation exists for Andrea, one she doesn't want to be in the middle of. She's close to being correct.
"Please." Andrea says with some desperation. "The man visiting me was my colleague, the man with the flowers is my boyfriend, we all work in the same place but my boyfriend and I haven't told anyone about our relationship yet, that's why he left." Andrea spills the re-organisation of the truth, how strange it feels to refer to Neil as her boyfriend although he is in a way.
The nurse wavers but Andrea can see she thinks maybe she's confused from the hit on her head because the age match doesn't seem right and Smithy kissed her on the forehead and held her hand, still concussion works in her favour.
"Do you know his number?" The nurse relents though she seems convinced Andrea won't remember it, thus giving her another reason to refuse. Andrea assumes, as she's the only patient in this part of the ward and she's hardly high dependency, the phone call will break the monotony of what is probably going to be a long and boring night. She gratefully tells the nurse Neil's mobile number.
"His name's Neil, Neil Manson." She says as an after thought.
Through the glass Andrea watches the number being dialled and waits anxiously as nothing happens. Neil could be anywhere, outside with Smithy, on his way back to work or at work, in his car on the way home, Philippa could inadvertently pick up. The sound of the nurses voice barely wafts around the glass partition, from what Andrea can tell she's saying yes and no as if Neil's asking questions. Andrea catches a distinct thank you from the nurse before the phone goes down.
The double doors swing open and Andrea immediately expects it to be Neil, another nurse in different coloured scrubs drops off a folder. It's then that Andrea gets the confirmation nod and smile through the glass that assures her Neil is on his way.
Andrea pushes her head deeper into the pillow, smiling though weakly because it's all she can manage. She closes her eyes resolving to just rest until Neil gets to her bedside, she doesn't remember dozing off.
To be continued...In part 2 of 4. (I'll try and make it one a day again, can't promise though.)