Hey everyone! Happy Christmas! Here is a little Christmas-y one shot for you. I have still not recovered from what the writers did to us with Eddi and Luc so I wrote this to try and help myself get over it. If only it could end like this!
Anyways, I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to review. It's my first Holby fic so constructive criticism is welcome. It is un-beta-d so any mistakes are mine :)
63 days. 9 weeks exactly. Whatever way you looked at it, that was how long ago she'd walked out of his life. Not that he was counting, of course he wasn't counting. Because that would mean he had cared. And of course, Luc Hemmingway didn't care.
That's what he liked to tell himself anyway.
Wiping his hand roughly across his face he glanced up at the clock. 5...4...3...2...1. There it was, Christmas day. And what a brilliant one it was going to be. A day at work dealing with idiots who had taken the day as an opportunity for a good piss up. Sighing he turned back to the computer screen that had gone black from lack of use. Wiggling the mouse, the screen returned, assaulting Luc's tired eyes with its bright whiteness.
Concentration; that's what he needed to get him through that day. Just a few hours of hard concentration and then he could knock off and go home. Forget all about the sorry mess he'd gotten himself into.
But all he could concentrate on was her. All he could think about was how this would be their first Christmas together. If she'd stayed he wouldn't be working that day; he would have made sure of it. No, right now he'd be tucked up in bed with her in his arms, her head on his chest, wrapped up in blankets to ward off the freezing air. But instead he found himself stuck at work, sat at the nurse's station in the chair she always said was comfiest filling in medication details on one of the computers. Or at least that was what he was supposed to be doing.
"That's me done mate. Have a good one." Sacha Levy said, snapping Luc out of his trance.
His eyes flicked up to the other man's quickly, "Yeah and you. Give my love to Chrissie." He said distantly.
Sacha paused and smiled at Luc sadly. No matter how much Luc said otherwise, he knew that he still hadn't gotten over Eddi. He could deny he still cared for her as much as he wanted to anyone else, and they could believe him, but Sacha knew that Luc had given up denying it to him weeks ago.
Gently, he reached out and placed a hand on Luc's shoulder, nodding understandingly at him when the younger doctor turned back round to look up at him before removing his hand and strolling off in the direction of the locker rooms.
Stretching his arms up in the air, he span the chair round to face the computer again, intent on getting stuck into what he needed to do. Just as his fingers brushed the keyboard, the crashing of the double doors and the shouting of a paramedic made him jump up off the chair, half in fright and half because he was the only doctor now on the ward and so was needed.
"What have we got?" Luc asked, taking the notes off the paramedic as she handed them to him.
"Nadia Edwards. 24 year old female, found collapsed outside a pub. She's hit her head, was unconscious at the scene and has mild hypothermia." The paramedic said as they wheeled the trolley around so it sat next to one of the free beds.
"On my count, one, two three." Luc said, lifting the front of the stretchers as they moved her across onto the bed. "And roll." He instructed as they pulled the stretcher out from underneath her.
Sighing, he glanced down the bed at her shivering body; tonight was going to be a long night.
-x-
Wrapping her jacket tighter around her body, Eddi looked up at the building in front of her, blinking rapidly as snowflakes settled on her eyelashes. Crossing her arms over her chest, she sighed, maybe she shouldn't do this, maybe this was a bad idea.
'Silent night, Holy night,
All is calm, all is bright'
Eddi span round to look behind her. There, on the grass by the bench where she'd sat on that last day were a choir of teenagers, all lined up in front of three Christmas trees covered in blue tinsel and baubles. Eddi's eyes scanned over them, from the youngest sat on boxes wrapped up like present to the oldest stood at the back, tinsel round their necks and smiles on their faces. A smile spread across her lips as their high pitched voices broke the crisp still night air. A crowd began to gather around the choir and Eddi looked around nervously in case anyone should recognise her. She spotted a few familiar faces but none of them seemed to notice her and so, with a relaxed smile, she turned back to the choir as they ended the song.
Applause erupted from the onlookers and Eddi joined in. An elderly lady who appeared to be in charge of the choir turned to Eddi with a smile.
"Any requests dear?" She asked good naturedly.
"Oh... uhhh... Once in Royal David's City?" she said with a shrug. The woman nodded and turned back to the choir.
Deciding now would be a good time to slip off, Eddi turned from the choir and pushed her way through the crowd just as the first notes of her chosen song began to be sung. Eddi ducked her head against the wind and folded her arms over her chest as she made her way up to the hospital entrance. Even if she didn't go up to AAU she could do with a hot drink, she decided as a sharp gust of wind almost knocked her off her feet. As soon as she had entered the double doors, the warmth and familiarity of the building immediately made her feel happier.
Rubbing her hands together in a futile attempt to warm herself up, she made her way over to the cafe. "Urrr... a hot chocolate please." She said, trying to remember the last time she treated herself to a hot chocolate.
Glancing around as she waited, she smiled at the decorations placed all around. A tree stood by the lift, baubles and tinsel hanging off of it. Lights were strung up around the pillars and along the counter of the cafe. White paper snowflakes covered every surface not already taken by holly or bells. Eddi smiled, she was pleased to be back.
The woman behind the counter brought her back to the present, clearing her throat as she held out a large cup of steaming hot chocolate. Eddi took it off of her and wrapped her hands tightly round the cup, turning away from the counter and strolling over to the lift. Taking a deep breath, she pressed the button calling the lift before she had chance to chance to change her mind and waited for the doors to open.
-x-
Luc span the pen round and round between his finger and thumb on the desk, staring across the ward but seeing nothing. He'd been sat like that a while now. No one had dared to interrupt him while he wasn't needed. Nadia Edwards had been assessed and was stable; they were now just waiting for her temperature to rise slowly. Three other cases had come in but much to Luc's frustration, they were all the same. Night out and too much to drink.
Glancing across at the bed where Nadia lay, Luc thought of Eddi and the similar case they'd worked on last New Year. What was it she was called? Rachel... something... Rachel...Reid! Rachel Reid, that was it. He smiled slightly as he remembered how much they had clashed over her treatment. Even now he could remember what he'd said to her. 'We're not social services.' Although that belief seemed to be going out the window. Ever since she's left he'd found himself trying to do more and more for the patients walking through the doors.
And then he remembered their argument. What was it she'd called him? An uptight arrogant arse. Yes that was it. His smile broadened as he remembered the faces on all of the other staff after he'd turned from her and walked off.
Distractedly, Luc reached up with one hand and began fiddling with one of the little baubles on a small white Christmas tree perched on the desk. Perhaps he should ring her, wish her a happy Christmas. Could he? Would he just make things worse? No, surely just one little phone call couldn't do any harm could it? Just to wish her a happy Christmas and see how she was, how things were progressing. He hoped she was getting better, she must be by now surely.
The want to see how she was made up his mind for him, he would ring her as soon as he was on his break.
-x-
"Eddi?" A cheery voice from behind her sounded, making her jump and turn round, "It is you! I thought I recognised the hair. Although it's a bit longer now isn't it? But it still looks nice..."
"Chantelle." Eddi said with an amused smile.
The young nurse paused and smiled at Eddi, "Sorry, I'm just so shocked to see you. Have you been to AAU yet?" She asked.
Eddi shook her head, "I was just on my way there now." She replied.
"Aww. Everyone'll be so pleased to see you. They've all been missing you, no matter how much they say they haven't they have really. Especially Mr. Hemmingway." She said with a sunny smile.
Eddi nodded, the smile falling away from her face slightly at the mention of his name.
"What's wrong?" Chantelle asked, spotting Eddi's sudden change.
"Nothing. Just... don't say anything to anyone there alright. I've got somewhere else to go first so if that's where you're going, don't say I'm back, yeah?" she pleaded, watching Chantelle's baffled expression.
"Alright." She nodded, before launching herself at Eddi and wrapping her arms round her shoulders, "We've all missed you so much!" She said, the cheeriness back in her voice again.
Eddi froze at the unexpected contact, "Right, good." She said awkwardly as the other nurse let go of her.
"Anyway, I'd best be off. Nice to see you." She said with a smile as she walked off in the direction of AAU.
Eddi took a deep breath and leaned back against a wall, doubt beginning to cross her mind. What if he wasn't even here? He might not even be working today. Burying her face in her hands she let out a frustrated sigh. Why did she even come here? Why was she even bothering to do this to herself?
Jumping away from the wall, the crossed her arms over her chest and swept off down the corridor, in the opposite direction to AAU.
-x-
Luc glanced up at the clock on the wall and raised his eyebrows in surprise; he only had half an hour until his shift ended. Running his hand across his forehead he mentally kicked himself. He's gone through his whole shift without a break and he knew why that was. Because he said he would phone her in his break and he was a man of his word. However, his subconscious had realised that if he didn't take a break then he wouldn't have to do it.
Sighing, he reached into his pocket for his phone, spinning it over and over in his hand, thinking, deciding. Slowly, he called up her number in his contacts. All he had to do was press one button, one button was all that was between his and hearing her voice. But what if she didn't pick up? He wouldn't know until he tried he supposed.
With a deep breath, he pressed the call button and raised the phone up to his ear, a petrified expression on his face.
It rang, rang again, rang again, until... "Hello Luc."
Luc was frozen. It was her, she'd picked up, she was there on the other end of the phone. Realising if he didn't say something soon she might hang up, he said the first thing that came into his head, "Happy Christmas Eddi."
"Happy Christmas Luc." She replied.
Luc smiled and he could tell by her voice she was doing the same thing. Suddenly at a loss for words, he began to panic, why did he actually ring her again? He opened his mouth to speak only to close it again.
"How are you? Are you still at Liam's?" he asked finally. There was a pause on the other end and for a moment, Luc assumed it meant bad news. What if she hadn't got off the pills? What would he say then? However, a few seconds later, he was relieved to hear her voice again.
"I'm good. Really good actually. But no, I'm not at Liam's anymore."
Confusion quickly clouded the joy he was feeling at her being well. A frown crossed his face. Where was she then if she wasn't with her brother? "Where are you now then?" he asked, hoping with all his being she hadn't met someone else. There was a long pause on the other end, only making Luc's fears seem more plausible, until finally she spoke again.
"Turn around." Was all she said before the line went dead.
Luc frowned and looked at his phone before slowly spinning the chair around, freezing when his eyes met hers. Leaning casually against a pillar, the most relaxed smile he'd seen on her lips since before he'd left, was Eddi, his Eddi. Her hair was slightly longer and her skin had a healthy glow again but apart from that she was exactly the same.
"Hello Luc." She said quietly as he stood up and walked over to her, his eyes never leaving hers.
"It's really you?" he said, pausing in front of her, too afraid to take a step closer in case it was his eyes playing tricks on him and she would disappear. Slowly she nodded, reaching out a hand and grasping his.
"I missed you." She said, taking a step towards him to close the gap, "I thought you might have gone, I didn't think you'd stay." She added, reaching up her other hand to cup his cheek.
Now convinced she wasn't going to vanish, Luc wrapped his free arm around her back, pulling her tight against him, not wanting to ever let go in case she went again. "I missed you too." He mumbled into her hair, "I really did." He said, an odd feeling washing over him at being so honest with another person.
Eddi glanced up at him and smiled, tears glistening in her eyes as she stood up on tiptoes and brushed her lips over his softly. "I'll never leave you again." She said, repeating his words to her from all that time ago.
Luc smiled and untangled his hand from hers so he could push a stray strand of hair behind her ear, "I'm glad to hear it." He said before leaning down and kissing her again, not caring about who could see them.
-x-
'Once in Royal David's City,
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby,
In a manger for his bed,'
Eddi sighed contentedly and rested her head against Luc's shoulder, causing him to tighten his arm around her shoulders and drop a kiss onto her head. Smiling, Eddi looked down at the choir still in front of the Christmas trees, singing the song she'd asked for. The pair of them wandered down towards where they were singing before pausing to listen.
The snow was coming down heavier now, great round snowflakes that rushed down in gusts of wind. Eddi shivered and tucked herself further under Luc's arm.
"Come on. Let's go home." He said, pulling her away from the choir and towards where his van was parked.
Eddi smiled and nodded. "Home." She whispered inaudibly. Yes, she liked the sound of that.
Hope you enjoyed and don't forget to review!