Robbie thought he might actually throw up as he took in the scene in front of him. Laura. Laura collapsed on the floor of her office, deathly pale. He rushed to her, kneeling on the floor next to her and reaching for her wrist to check her pulse. "Laura, love," he said urgently and she opened her eyes and looked at him woozily. "Laura, talk to me," Robbie said and she frowned at him. Her face was strange, he thought and why the hell wasn't she talking to him? "Laura," he said again and she looked at him, directly at him, but still, nothing. "Help," he shouted and there was a rush of noise as Laura's colleagues ran down the corridor to her office. "Oh my god," Laura's junior pathologist said, coming to Robbie's side. "Laura, can you look at me?" Emma said, taking Laura's hand into hers and Laura met her gaze. "Headache," Laura said slowly and with much effort, and Emma frowned. She looked up at her colleague, who was reaching for Laura's desk phone. Tap tap tap. Nine nine nine, Robbie thought, Christ, this was serious. As Hugh spoke to the emergency services, Emma took Laura's hands into hers. "Laura, can you squeeze my hands?" Emma asked and Laura did as she was bid. Emma frowned. "Tell them she's got left sided weakness, her speech is gone and her face is slumped," Emma told Hugh and he repeated the information. Emma turned her attention back to Laura and she grimaced at her sympathetically. "Laura can you sit up?" she asked, and Robbie helped Laura into a seated position, cradling her against him. "Better?" Emma asked and Laura sighed, raising one eyebrow. Emma laughed. "I love that you can still make your opinions known, purely through the quirk of an eyebrow," Emma said, as Laura leant into Robbie slightly. "Can you smile for me, Laura?" Emma asked and although Robbie couldn't see Laura's face, he didn't much like the gravity of Emma's expression. Hugh hung up the phone and Emma glanced up. "I'm going to wait for the ambulance," he said and Emma nodded, not taking her eyes off Laura. "Laura, can you show me where your head hurts?" Emma asked and Laura shifted slightly in Robbie's arms, bringing her right hand to the left side of her forehead above her eyebrow.
There was a noise at the door, and Robbie looked up to find a first responder paramedic rushing into the room, followed by an agitated Hugh. "Hi there," he said warmly, setting his bag on the ground and coming over to them. "What's happening here?" he asked and Laura looked at Robbie helplessly. "I came in to see Laura and found her collapsed on the floor. She can't speak, and her face is weird on one side," Robbie began. "She has sudden onset left-sided weakness," Emma continued "and she's quite woozy. She was fine, twenty minutes or so ago." The paramedic crouched in front of Laura, and gestured to her hands. "May I?" he enquired and Laura sighed. He ran through a series of tests, and Robbie grimaced as Laura's left hand dropped uselessly to her side. There was a further noise at the door, which revealed three paramedics and Laura flinched. "It's alright, Laura," the paramedic said kindly "I've just called in some backup." Robbie could see the ambulance stretcher outside in the corridor. It made him feel faintly nauseous. "Laura," the paramedic said "we're going to take you to the critical care unit at Oxford General. I won't beat about the bush. You probably know that you're failing the FAST test, but let's get you up there, get you into CT and see if we can work out what is going on. So we'll get you onto a stretcher, and go from there," he said and Laura shivered. "Robbie," she said slowly, stumbling over his name and he interlaced his fingers with her instinctively. "I'm right here," he told her and she gripped his fingers tightly. "Can we get you onto this stretcher?" the paramedic asked and Laura nodded very slowly. Once they'd loaded her onto the stretcher, the paramedic looked around. "We'll take her straight to the CCC. Will anyone come with her?" he asked and Laura reached for Robbie, entwining her fingers with his again. "I'll come," he said. "Are you next of kin?" he asked and Robbie squeezed Laura's hand. They looked at each other and he smiled at her. "I do believe Laura has me as her next of kin," Robbie replied and Laura nodded slowly. "Right, let's go," the paramedic said decisively and they made their way down the corridor and out to the waiting ambulance.
"It's going to be a noisy ride," the paramedic told Robbie as they settled Laura into the ambulance and he shivered slightly. "We're going on full blues and twos," the paramedic said as Robbie sat down adjacent to the stretcher and Laura met his gaze. Robbie chewed his lip. This was awful. His lovely Laura. Not that he could truly call her his. They'd been friends for such a long time, and growing gradually closer over the last few years. He adored her, and it terrified him to see her so very much altered from her usual lively self. He took her hand into his and squeezed it affectionately. "What's wrong?" Robbie asked, dreading the answer and Laura looked at him, her eyes dark with emotion. "We're not sure. She's failing the FAST test and her symptoms are quite concerning. Once she's had a CT scan we'll know what we're dealing with. It's hard to say what we're dealing with, without seeing that," the paramedic replied. "Could you give me some more background information? Has she had any episodes like this before?" he asked and Robbie shook his head. "Not so far as I know," he replied, feeling slightly numb. "And is she normally fit and well?" Robbie nodded. "Aye," he responded. "How old is Laura?" he asked and Robbie glanced at her. "She's 44," Robbie said and he rubbed his thumb over Laura's fingers. "Could it be a stroke?" Robbie wondered and Laura's eyes filled with tears. Robbie grimaced as the ambulance lurched into movement, and set off. "She'd be young, but it's not impossible," the paramedic concluded and Robbie smiled sadly, gazing at Laura.
Laura closed her eyes, fingers of her good hand tightly linked with Robbie's. A small comfort in an otherwise grim moment. She felt awful. Her head ached horribly and the light hurt to look at. Her arm was cold and lacking entirely in sensation, all but useless and she felt sick. Thank god Robbie had come in when he had. She was absolutely terrified. Surely, at 44 she couldn't be having a stroke. There was no family history and she was fit and healthy. The prospect of this being a lasting phenomenon terrified her. These paramedics were worried too. She felt so woozy though. This was so unlike her and she hated it. Laura was a fairly staunch atheist, but now she prayed. If there was a God, she mused, then please, please let this not be permanent. The sirens wailed, and Laura was conscious of two things. The comfort of Robbie's fingers, laced tightly with hers, and the quiet fear lodged deep within her that there really was something badly wrong.
Within a few minutes, the ambulance was drawing up at Oxford General and the doors were flung open. "We're taking her straight to CT," came a call and Laura's eyes grew wide. A team of medics surrounding them before Laura was wheeled straight into the CT scanner and Robbie was held back at the door, forced to relinquish her grip. He could hear the bubble of noise around Laura as she was surrounded by medics and he stepped back, feeling shell shocked. A nurse appeared at his side, and he allowed her to steer him towards the relatives' room. "Can you tell me what happened?" she asked and Robbie grimaced. "I found her collapsed on the floor. She's quite… out of sorts. Laura's sharp as anything, and she's so not herself. She says her head hurts, but she can barely speak. Her left arm is limp, and her face is, almost slumped. I dunno," Robbie explained, rubbing his hand over his face in discomfort. "How old is your wife?" the nurse asked and Robbie grimaced. "Laura's not my… She's, er, 44," Robbie replied, as the nurse made notes. "Is she normally fit and well?" the nurse asked and Robbie nodded. "She runs half marathons for fun, so yes, I'd say so" Robbie replied wearily and the nurse smiled. "Okay, thanks. If you wait here, we'll bring you through as soon as we can." She tucked her pencil into the pocket of her scrubs, and turned, heading out of the room and leaving Robbie to his own worst fears. He blew out a long slow breath and laid his head back against the cool wall, closing his eyes. It had been terrifying seeing his bright, sparky Laura so decidedly unwell. Robbie felt as though his heart as almost stopped as he'd taken in the scene and he reviewed the scene mentally, casting over the particulars in his mind. He wondered how long she had lain there, waiting for someone to come and find her, slumped on the floor. From what her colleagues had said, it could only have been a few minutes. Too long though. He hated to think of her lying there. Thank god he'd decided to wander down in person, rather than simply return her call.
Laura closed her eyes as the CT scanner clanked into life, and she lay completely still, listening to the instructions that the machine bleated out. Her left arms was still cold and useless, infuriatingly so. Her training told her that it was normal for the doctors to shout at her but it was unsettling and although she understood every word they said to her, it felt as though she was thinking through treacle and she simply couldn't get the words out. Barely a word at a time. She exhaled slowly, as instructed, and then waited, waited for the staff to come and see her. At length, she heard a door open and footsteps echo across the floor. A hand came to rest on her shoulder for a moment, in what she presumed was a comforting gesture. "Good news, Dr. Hobson. No bleed, no signs of a stroke. So let's get you back to resus and try and work out what the hell is going on," a familiar voice said and Laura opened her eyes to find a friendly face. "I mean, Laura, you just could have called if you wanted to see me," He said and Laura looked at him, eyes crinkling in amusement. "Damien," she said slowly and he smiled. "Long time no see Hobs," Damien said cheerfully "back to resus, and let's figure this one out." He gestured to the nurses and they came to assist Laura back to the bed. "Be gentle with this one," he instructed "we trained together and she still scares the living daylights out of me." As they wheeled Laura back down towards resus, she leant her head back against the pillow and sighed. Damien was leafing through a textbook as Laura's bed was set back into the cubicle. He considered his old coursemate and came to perch on the end of her bed. "Not a stroke. Not an aneurysm.," he mused, meeting Laura's gaze "but I can't dispute these symptoms." Laura nodded slowly. "Laura, do you get migraines? Damian asked and Laura nodded slowly. Damian stood up and then turned back to Laura. "Right, let's try something," he said decisively. "Karen, can you bring me some dispersible aspirin, 100mg sumatriptan and a can of coke please, oh and a small cup?" he asked the nurse and she nodded, turning towards the medicine cabinet. She duly appeared again a minute or two later and helped Laura swallow the tablets before helping her drink some coke through a straw. "Now, Laura, I'm going to leave you be for half an hour. Close your eyes and rest, " he advised kindly, and as Laura finished her drink, the nurse offered to tuck her up under a blanket. "I'll update your husband," the nurse told her "want me to bring him through?" Laura frowned and then as realisation dawned nodded. "Robbie?" she asked and the nurse nodded. "Not married," Laura said slowly and the nurse smiled. "My mistake, sorry," she replied easily, clearly used to making mistakes.
Robbie sat up sharply as the consultant came back into the waiting room, and he looked at her expectantly. "Are you with Laura Hobson?" Damian enquired and Robbie nodded. Damian held out his hand. "I'm Damian, I'm the consultant neurologist. Laura and I trained together. Are you her husband?" he enquired. Robbie sighed. "No, not exactly," he replied wearily. Damian considered him and Robbie shook his hand. "Well, regardless, you're listed as Laura's next of kin so I'm sure she won't mind the update. It isn't a stroke of any kind, nor is it an aneurysm. That's good news. Laura gets migraines, doesn't she?" he enquired and Robbie nodded. "Yeah, she does, not often mind, but they're bad enough when she does get them," Robbie replied and Damian folded his arms loosely as they began to walk towards Laura's bed. "I think she might be suffering from a rarer type of migraine, a hemiplegic migraine. It can mirror the symptoms of a stroke - loss of speech, loss of sensation in limbs, that sort of thing, so I've given Laura some medication and we'll review her in an hour. You can be with her if you like, but I've suggested she rest for a little while. Keep her company, it'll be good for her to have someone familiar nearby." Damian concluded as they reached Laura's bed, and Robbie's expression softened as his gaze fell on Laura, tucked up on the bed. She looked pale and small, swathed in blankets and he was instinctively drawn to her. "Oh Laura love," he murmured, drawing a chair up to the bed and Laura opened her eyes wearily. He pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek, and Laura's expression softened a little. "''M so tired," she said and Robbie's expression brightened. "Rest up, love," he murmured, taking her hand into his and Laura entwined their fingers carefully before closing her eyes and settling back down.