In Case Of Emergency

Prompt: Season 1, Episode 7 "Jane"
When the unthinkable happens, who do you turn to?
Beth/Cooper

…

Part 1 –
The Event

When the phone rang that night Sam Cooper had been locked in the depths of slumber. He was in too deep to dream and so the piercing ringing took a while to register in his subconscious. His eyes shot open and he sat bolt upright, grabbing at the vibrating metal. He glanced quickly at his digital clock; one am, probably a case gone bad that needed immediate attention. Already his mind was running over ringing each member of his team.

"Cooper" he said.

"Is this SSA Sam Cooper?" the voice said. It was a female, slow and delicate.

"Speaking"

"Okay good. I'm sorry to disturb you at such a late hour but my name is Jillian Franks, I'm a nurse at Sibley Memorial Hospital"

"Oh?" Cooper frowned. Why would a hospital be ringing him at one o'clock in the morning?

"We have a situation here. We've had a patient brought in, and you were listed as her emergency contact" Franks explained. "A Bethany Griffith?"

Cooper felt the bottom fall out of his world, his stomach churned. Surely he had heard her incorrectly!

"Yes I know Beth" he said shakily "What's happened?"

"There's been an accident. I advise you to come down immediately. She's in a critical condition" Franks said gently.

Cooper swayed and felt beads of perspiration erupt over his skin. Beth, lying alone in a hospital bed, the very idea made him sick with pain and worry. He threw back the covers and begun the hunt for his clothing. Remembering the nurse on the phone he said:

"I'll be there in five minutes" he barked and hung up.

He stuffed his feet into socks and as he fumbled for shoes, he dialled a number.

"What!" a female voice snapped.

"Penelope its Sam Cooper" Cooper said breathlessly.

"Pardon my French sir but what the fuck are you doing ringing me at one o'clock in the morning – interrupting my beauty sleep much?" Garcia cried.

"You don't need beauty sleep Penelope" Cooper assured the techie "I need you to call the team and get them down to Sibley"

"O-oh. Why sir?"

"Beth's there. There's been an accident"

"Got it" Garcia replied. "Call me when you know more"

Cooper had already hung up by that point, as he ran out his door, catching up his motorcycle keys in the process and his leather jacket. Before he kicked the cycle into life he checked his watch. One thirty am. Time was a luxury that Beth couldn't afford and he was determined to give her a reason to fight on.

. . .

It smelt of bleach. It was too clean, immaculate to the point of disorder. Cooper sat upright on the harsh, pale blue plastic chair that was doing nothing in the way of a comfortable seat. His leg jiggled impatiently, up and down, up and down. He sucked at the waiting game – always had. His adoptive mum liked to say that he didn't wait for the opportunity, he made the opportunity. It had been ten agonisingly long minutes.

"She's in surgery" was all he'd been told by nurses.

"Cooper?" came Gina's anxious voice.

He turned and, upon seeing his team approaching, got to his feet to greet them. Gina looked fully alert, her hair pulled back harshly into a neat ponytail, not one strand floating about. Mick was hovering just behind her, looking serious but chucking worried glances at Gina every so often. Prophet was hopping from one foot to another, looking bedraggled and careworn.

"How is she?" Mick asked tentatively.

"She's still in surgery" Cooper said softly. "They haven't told me much else"

"Will she be okay?" Gina asked.

"She's tough" Prophet threw in.

"She'll get through it" Mick assured Gina, throwing an arm around her shoulders. The blonde leaned into Mick, and buried her face in his jacket seeking strength.

"Bethany Griffith's family?"

They turned simultaneously. The doctor, a lanky Asian with glasses, stared at them. Cooper hurried forward.

"Yes. How is she?"

"She's going to live"

"Thank God" Prophet whispered, crossing his heart and closing his eyes.

"What happened?" Mick demanded.

The doctor clasped his file to his chest and heaved a deep sigh. "From what we got from her before she lost consciousness it appears that she was attacked when she pulled her car over to help someone in distress"

Cooper shook his head. Damn Beth and her kind heart. Surely she must have known the risk of what such an act held. Surely! Gina turned pale and Mick hugged her closer to his chest.

"She has a concussion so we understand that he blitzed her from behind and then beat her heavily. She has several fractured ribs, lacerations and her diaphragm is severely bruised" he said. Cooper caught the doctor's eye and knew instantly that something was quite right.

Thinking quickly he pulled the doctor aside. "There's something you're not telling me" he accused.

The doctor looked him over quizzically. "This bit of information is only to be released to someone close to her"

"I am close to her!" Cooper hissed, and then on a spur of the moment decision added: "She's my girlfriend!"

"Well in that case I must tell you that she was raped" the doctor said gently.

Cooper felt the ground rocking beneath his feet. Someone had taken from Beth a part of her which was not theirs. They had taken without permission. The fact that he felt something for his colleague added an extra stab of pain to the mixture. Their friendship could not reach broader ground if she had been damaged. Not that he was unwilling, he knew his feelings inside and out, but he was afraid that Beth may associate him with her attacker and recoil from his touch. Should they reach that point at all?

"Thank you for telling me" Cooper whispered, feeling his heart crack. "May I see her?"

"This way" the doctor said, and led Cooper down the hall.

. . . .

Gina broke away from Mick and collapsed onto the plastic chair, hugging herself. She felt numb, and extremely cold. All those times that she and Beth had been alone, all the things that Beth had told her about him. She had stupidly kept her secret, how could she be such an idiot? She should have told someone! Told Cooper at the very least! She felt her body beginning to shake and she moaned. Prophet and Mick turned to look at her. Mick was by her side in an instant, hands covering her own. Prophet kept back, preferring to aid from a distance.

"You alright love?" Mick asked quickly.

Gina shook her head. "I need Garcia" she whispered.

If Mick was hurt by her request he didn't show it on his face. He merely dug around in his pocket and produced his mobile, dialling the all too familiar number. Prophet stared worriedly at Gina, who looked like she was about ready to faint.

"Is she alive?" Garcia asked the minute the call connected.

"Beth's alive P don't worry" Prophet said.

"Oh thank God, what happened to her?"

"She was attacked when she pulled her car over to help a stranded person" Mick explained.

"Oh God" they could hear Garcia's voice shaking a bit.

"Pen" Gina whispered.

"Gina!" Garcia cried "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I need you to do something for me"

"Speak and be heard"

"I need to know what Charlie King has been up to"

"Charlie King? Searching away, I shall call back with news" Garcia said and hung up.

"Who the bloody hell is Charlie King?" Mick demanded.

Gina looked at her team mates, heaved a deep sigh. "I have something to tell you"

. . . .

Beth looked tiny in her hospital bed. A drip was inserted into her right arm and a blue blanket pulled up to just underneath her armpits. Cooper hovered anxiously on the threshold, clueless as to what to do. He had just lied to the doctor about what he and Beth were. They were friends, certainly that was true. He also knew that every time Beth smiled at him he felt his heart start to pump faster. When they made physical contact he felt a warm fire alight in his stomach and spread like he had just slipped into a hot bath.

It didn't help that Beth had shown no inclination as feeling anything more than friendship towards Cooper. Her attitude towards him was certainly less brisk than the tone she saved for when Mick was being an ass, and softer than the tone she kept on reserve for when Prophet decided to join in. Yet he couldn't help but feel that Beth couldn't tear her eyes away from him ninety per cent of the time.

"Are you going to just hover or come and talk to me?" Beth asked quietly, turning to look up at him through dulled eyes.

Cooper blinked and smiled softly at her. He meandered over to her bedside and lowered himself gently onto the soft chair beside her. She stared at him, seemingly wary and scared as though she feared he too would lash out and hurt her like the other bastard had.

"How are you feeling?" he probed gently.

Beth raised an eyebrow sardonically. "I feel like I've been hit by a truck" she said softly, and closed her eyes.

Cooper reached across the bed and entwined his hand with hers. "What happened?" he asked. "You don't have to talk if you don't want to" he hastened to add.

Beth opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling, lost in thought. No emotion passed across her features and Cooper began to worry.

"He came out of nowhere Sam" she whispered.

He was driving an old American truck; I couldn't see the plates they were scratched up so badly. I can remember he was wearing a hood, even though it wasn't raining. I pulled over and rolled down the window, leaning over to talk to him.

"Car problems?" I asked.

"Yeah" he said, in an accent. "I don't suppose you could take a look or something?"

"Well my cousin is a mechanic so I can take a look" I said to him and got out of the car.

I was leaning over the bonnet, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. It looked fine, except for the odd rusty spot. The next thing I know he slammed a baseball bat into the back of my head. It was splitting, the worst kind of pain. I looked up at him and it was then I knew. He was going to hurt me.

"I thought that him hitting me over the head was the worst pain. When he was – raping me that was the worst pain I had ever felt in my entire life" Beth whispered, now crying.

Cooper tightened his grip on her hand. "Oh Beth"

"Sam I couldn't stop him. I kept struggling, fighting him but he had one hand around my throat and then he whispered into my ear: I'm going to get you and that black ass you're fucking" she cried. "It hurt so much"

"It's alright Beth" Cooper soothed. His mind went into overdrive. Black ass you're fucking? He frowned.

"Which black person was he talking about?" he asked.

Beth turned her tear stained face to look at him. "You – Sam he meant you. He's been stalking me and he somehow figured out that I –" she trailed off.

"You what?"

"Have feelings for you" Beth finished softly.

Cooper felt his mouth drop open. Surely not! He knew that he felt more than something simple for the brunette fire that was Beth Griffith but he couldn't believe that she returned the feelings. He chuckled inwardly. She's probably just as oblivious as you were, his mind said. Beth had turned away from him, clearly bracing herself for a rejection that Cooper knew would never come.

"Beth" he whispered "Look at me"

She turned her head and fixed him with a steady gaze, ignoring the silent tears painting her cheeks and cleaning her eyes. He lifted a free hand and brushed them away, a passing moth around a light. She leant into his touch and kept eye contact.

"You are so silly" he whispered.

Beth looked confused as Cooper leant forward and gently placed his lips over hers, in a soft yet possessive manner. For a moment Beth didn't respond then with the fire that Cooper had thought gone kissed him back passionately. Not once did their grip on each other's hands leave for they both feared that if they let go they would fall.