The Return of Strachan
It had already been a long exhausting day for Connie, as well as the rest of the staff on the ED. It was about to get a lot worse.
All the staff were aware of the strange behaviour of some patients and the racist comments travelling throughout the ED, about how two innocent people were killed and no matter who they were, they didn't deserve to die.
A mother and child.
And now there were guns in her department, do you have any idea how hard it is to evacuate a hospital without losing any patients? Or staff, for that matter.
The only missing patients were Mr and Mrs Ellison, the husband of the mother killed and the actual shooters. Mr Ellison was in critical condition and the wife was made to confess that she was responsible for the movement known as the knights of the west.
Outside the ED it was madness, everyone wandering around not knowing what to do. Mrs Beauchamp had just got the great news that the police were going to have to evacuate all the surrounding departments.
"The Trust's going to love that" she sighed.
Rita was fiddling with her phone "Ok, everyone is all over the place and I've tried calling Big Mac. He's not answering his phone, I think he's still in there."
Connie was just standing there going over what their options were, while Jacob was more of a man of action, he dragged her aside to sneak back inti the ED.
"Connie? Come." He said while grabbed her arm, his voice, a level for her ears only.
Turns out he was worried for his colleagues still inside the building. "Our staff are still in there." He said.
Connie didn't need much convincing, although she didn't like showing her weaker side, she did care for her staff. The ED was silent. Almost. They quickly and quietly followed the voices to find two armed and Mrs Ellison. The girl was in a nurse's uniform. They stood there talking for a bit trying to calm the subjects down, to end the matter peaceful without the need of force.
Unfortunately, the police had different ideas. The boy, who killed the mother and child, was on the phone to talk his friends down from what he knew now was a terrible mistake.
The male subject put down the gun on a nearby table to try and talk down his associate after hearing his brother's sob story about how he killed two of his own.
Jacob used this distraction to grab the gun off the table to make them surrender, he was scared and tried hard not to show it, but he was failing.
All of a sudden the police burst in guns blazing and took a shot at Jacob, because he was holding a gun and he appeared to be threatening a nurse.
Connie, who was always one step ahead (even of the police) intervened and stepped in front of Jacob, taking the bullet, instead of him.
To everyone in the room it all happened in slow motion, the cop shot Connie in the abdomen. She fell gracefully into Jacob's arms, he was scared more than before, even though the attackers had been arrested.
He quickly recovered and reacted to the situation and put pressure on the wound.
Meanwhile outside the ED everyone froze at the sound of a gunshot. Big Mac ran out. "Mrs Beauchamp, she's been shot!" he exclaimed for all ears to hear.
Rita took charge "Alright, we need to get everyone back inside and someone has to help Connie."
Lily went to check on Alicia, Max and Louise, while Rita and some of the other doctors went to find a very weak and barely conscious head of the department. They wasted no time getting her to resus. They came to find Lily screaming at Alicia and Louise.
"Lily? Why are you yelling at them?" Rita asked.
"Mrs Beauchamp. What happened? I wasn't expecting this much damage." She was clearly shocked to see Connie in this state. "They used an IO gun without supervision." She sighed.
"Is the patient stable?" Rita asked, turning to Alicia.
She replied "Yes, he's going up to theatre now."
"Then, what's done is done and Connie's condition is our main priority."
"Gunshot wound to the abdomen, she's critical." One of the nurses said.
"She's losing too much blood, come Connie you're a fighter." Rita muttered.
Eventually she was stabilised, but under close supervision. Connie wasn't the most popular member of staff, but that didn't stop members of staff worrying. She was still unconscious.
The staff keeping an eye on Connie were debating on who to call because Connie's mother was in a home (and probably couldn't even remember her daughter) and Grace was staying in New York with her dad.
Rita was checking Connie over to see if there was any change. While packing Connie's stuff together, a letter fell out of Connie's blood jacket pocket and Rita (being the nosey person that she was) read it. Now she had a dilemma, what should she do? Connie was still unconscious so she couldn't answer for herself.
While deciding what she should do with this new information, Rita walked by the reception desk to find Noel arguing with a handsome man.
"What's the problem?" Rita interrupted, unable to think with all the noise.
"This man wants to see Mrs Beauchamp, but I've already told him that it is not a good time. In her condition."
"What condition?!" he demanded.
"Are you family? Start off by telling us you name and why you want to see our head of department?"
"My name's Sam. Sam…"
"Strachan." Rita asked.
"Yes. How did you know?" he was bewildered.
"This letter fell out of Connie's coat."
He froze "Is…is that blood? What happened to Connie?" he gulped, afraid of a negative answer.
"She's alive, come with me, I'll get you up to speed, but I think you want to see her first, don't you?"
He nodded "Where's Grace, I thought she would be with you?" Rita was being nosey again.
"She's with my parents, I wanted to see and talk to Connie first."
"Alright, the police have just left with about three arrests made, the department had to be evacuated because they threatened some patients. Connie was outside with the rest of us and some of our staff were unaccounted for, still inside."
"Connie went back inside didn't she?" Sam already knew the answer.
"Yes, Jacob and Connie went inside and apparently they found a missing patient, Big Mac and the hostage takers. No one realised she was missing because of all the commotion."
Jacob was just walking past at that precise moment, "Jacob, this is Sam Strachan, Connie's daughter's dad. You can explain what happened better than me."
"It was my fault." He seemed to feel really guilty.
"Jacob, is it? Connie would've went in with or without you, she makes her own choices. Usually bad ones that could threaten her own life to help others. That's what being a doctor is about, sacrifice. What happened when you found the hostage takers?"
"They were making a film to make a statement and the mobile rang. Apparently a partner was trying to talk them down and for the one on the phone, it worked. He put down the gun, but the girl was determined. I saw a chance, both of them distracted, I grabbed the gun to protect the others, but the police burst in at the wrong time. Because the attackers were black and as you can see so am I, they thought I was threatening the female attacker wearing a nurse's uniform. They took a shot at me, but Connie was in the way." He was in tears by the end, all three of them were.
"Connie's stable, but still unconscious. You can see her now." Rita led him to a room that was nearly empty. Except a very pale, weak looking Connie.
He rushes to her side. Despite not seeing each other in person for years they still kept in touch, not only for Grace, but because they both still had feelings for the other. But neither of them would admit it in fear of rejection.
Sam noticed Rita still standing next to the door "She never told me, you know? About the crash, how she nearly fell off some collapsing scaffolding. Grace spoke to some of her colleagues and they told her about the bravery of her mother and Grace told me."
"I'll leave you with her." She left the room leaving Sam with an unconscious Connie.
"I missed you, you know?" he started talking to her, even thigh he doubted that she could hear him. "Since I've been living in New York, I've thought about nothing but our family. You, Grace and I. Things were so perfect."
He sighed as the memories all came flooding back, of all their times together.
"I remember everything so clearly in my mind, every moment we spent together. Never a dull moment with you."
He wasn't sure why he was even bothering to talk to Connie while she wasn't even conscious. Maybe it was just easier to get everything off his chest, while she couldn't hear him.
He was so caught up in their memories that he didn't even realise that there was an audience on the other side of the door. There were three nurses, Zoe, Rita and Robyn. They watched every touch and saw the care in his eyes.
"How could anyone care about the ice woman, it's not like she cares about anyone but herself?" Robyn broke the silence rather loudly and harshly.
Sam looked up with a hurt expression on his face and let go of Connie's hand to talk to the uninvited guests.
"How dare you, Connie Beauchamp has saved more lived than you can count. She risks everything for her patients, even the mentally ill ones that try to kill her." He watched Robyn's facial expression change.
"Yeah, you didn't know about that did you? People forget about Connie's work on Darwin, forget to give her the respect she deserves. She's not the type of person to dwell on her problems, instead she just gets on with it. She went from nothing, just any other kid from Peckham. To somebody, The Connie Beauchamp, there's not that many people who can say that."
"While she was working on Darwin, there was this dinner that she attended with Nick Jordan. One of your previous clinical leads and Zoe's ex." They all turned to Zoe to confirm it. "Rumours travel around Darwin to you know. Anyway there was a waiter that was clearly interested in Mrs Beauchamp and Nick noticed the bag. Nick confronted him about it in the kitchen and Connie being Connie just wanted answers. The young man claimed to be one of her patient's fiancé. She died and he blamed Connie for making a decision to save one patient over his fiancé. He had a bomb and was threatening Connie, he tripped, and it flew across the room and detonated. Nick and Connie had minor injuries, but the others in the kitchen were in need of medical attention. Connie took care of the bomber and Mr Jordan took care of a waiter. They had to make calculated decision to help the patients most likely to survive and it turned out that the bomber was just someone with an obsession over the dead patient."
Robyn felt really bad now, she actually knew nothing about their clinical lead.
"Grace told me about the scaffolding. One guy stuck at the top, one woman straight up there to help. She risks everything to be a good consultant, she nearly plummeted to her death. But it's better than watching that man die, knowing that you could have made a difference but didn't."
"That is something Connie would never do." With that he stormed back over to Connie to be with her, leaving a lot of staff stunned and speechless.
"Haven't you got anything better to be doing?" Charlie shouted at the staff still hovering around the door, making them all jump and snap back to reality.
Ever since he sat back down next to Connie, Sam never let go of her hand. For ten minutes it was the same, no change.
"Please Connie, what I wouldn't give just to hear you scream at me?"
He felt a squeeze of his hand and he looked up to see the flutter of Connie's eyelids to see her beautiful brown orbs.
"Sam" she whispered.
He couldn't stop beaming like an idiot.
"Connie, I thought I'd never hear that sharp tongue of yours again."
"You of all people know me best, Sam. Did you ever doubt me?"
"That's not the point, imagine my surprise when I come with good news from America, to find you unconscious in a hospital bed." He scolded.
"And yes, I know you best. Connie Beauchamp is a fighter. We have somethings to discuss when you're up for it." He stated.
"Sam, just because I was unconscious, doesn't mean that I couldn't hear anything. I heard everything."
"I meant every word, I was a fool to leave you. I want to be with you again. Just you, me and Grace."
"Would you mind helping me sit up, lying down in a hospital bed is depressing enough?" Connie asked while thinking about what Sam had just said.
"Thanks."
"Wow, being in stuck in the ED really has changed you, I never thought I'd see the day that The Connie Beauchamp would say thanks."
"Ha ha, mock me when I've just been shot. Not exactly part of my every day schedule."
"How did it happen, the ED was supposed to have been evacuated. You were seen outside. That nurse…"
"Rita." She finished.
"Yeah, she remembered a conversation to the police about the trust loving the fact that all the other surrounding departments were going to have to be evacuated as well. What happened Connie?!"
"She also mentioned that there were still staff and patients unaccounted for. That's my responsibility, Sam! What was I supposed to do?" she retorted.
"Let someone else deal with it. For once, Connie! Your life isn't worth the risk. You could have left Grace without a mother and you could have left me…"
"Why do you care? If we were still working on Darwin, it would probably have been you to call me the ice bitch. You actually called me a bitch, a liar and a coward in five minutes before you collapsed." Her voice broke when she mentioned his collapsing in front of her.
"Connie," he started to calm down "I'm sorry you had to witness that, but in fairness about ten minutes ago I was sat here talking to you while you were unconscious."
They sat in a comfortable silence for a while until Strachan broke it "You haven't even asked about Grace." He stated.
She just simply shrugged her shoulders "What's the point, she doesn't want to see me? She made that clear the last time we saw each other."
"What is wrong with you, this isn't the Connie Beauchamp I know?" he started to raise his voice.
"Maybe you don't know me as well as you think?" she answered looking at the wall.
"No! No, you don't get to say that. I know you better than you think because I know that this whole ice queen thing is just a front. A mask to hide your fears and emotions and I know you have them."
"I miss her, I miss you both." She murmured, but he still heard it.
"Connie, why do you think I came back?" he asked staring into her eyes.
"Do I look like a mind reader?" she spat, she hated anyone feeling sorry for her.
"I can still see through the act." He teased.
"Why did you come back?" she repeated the question he asked her.
"We're moving back to Holby. Grace misses you, I miss you."
Sam didn't realise that while he'd been talking, he'd been leaning closer and closer to Connie. When he finished speaking, he finally realised how close they were and he closed the gap between them.
He kissed her with more passion than ever before. It was this kiss that confirmed for Connie that Sam really did miss her and his words were true.
The kiss took the head of department by surprise and when Sam was about to pull away, he felt her lips moving against his with equally the same amount of passion that he gave her. It was then and there that they both realised how much they needed each other.
When they broke away from each other, he told her something that he never thought he'd tell anyone. "I love you." Connie looked stunned and he repeated it for her. "I love you, Connie Beauchamp."