Love and Family
The car came to a stop. The driver, a young man in his twenties, turned off the engine and looked at the young girl sat in the backseat reading a book.
"Maddie?" he said. "I'm just going to make a call. I'll only be outside, ok?"
"Ok, Daddy."
The young man stepped out of the car and took out his phone. He made a quick call, before putting his phone away again. His hands were slightly shaking. The man took a few deep breaths to calm himself. As he opened the car door again, a voice called from behind him. "Oi! Doc!" The driver turned.
SMACK
He felt his head swing backwards as he fell to the ground, his head hitting the road with a sickening thunk. As he lay on the brink of consciousness, he heard heavy footsteps running away, and lighter ones walking towards him.
"Daddy?" he heard a small voice say.
"Maddie," he gasped. Darkness began to cloud him, as he whispered one final word. "Caleb."
The day began like any other for Dr Cal Knight, in an unknown bed with his latest pick-up. He quietly and carefully got out of bed, dressed and left. Cal walked back to his flat, and quickly showered and changed when he realised he was late for work. He grabbed his keys and phone, and noticed he had a voicemail from his brother.
"Not now, Ethan," he grumbled as he ignored it, before hurrying out of the door.
When he arrived at Holby ED, Cal ran to the staffroom and changed, before going back to reception.
"Nice of you to join us, Dr Knight," his boss, Connie Beauchamp said from behind him.
Cal turned to her. "Sorry, alarm didn't go off."
Mrs Beauchamp looked at him in disbelief. "Well, now that you're here, I have a case for you."
"Ok. What is it?"
"An hour ago," Connie began to explain, "a young man was brought in by paramedics after they found him lying unconscious in the middle of the road. He had no wallet, phone or any other form of identification."
"Where is he now?" Cal asked curiously.
"He is being treated in Resus. Judging by his facial injuries, this is possibly a mugging. However, we won't know the extent of his injuries until we do some tests, but we can't run tests until we know who he is."
"What do you want me to do?"
"In Cubicles, there is a young girl who came in with him. She is refusing to say anything except that he's her "daddy". I would like you to check over the girl and try and get her to open up. Understood?"
"Sure."
Cal and Connie walked into Cubicles to see Dr Lily Chao standing next to the girl, who was crying heavily. Cal froze as he recognised the child.
"Dr Chao, what is going on?" Mrs Beauchamp asked.
"I was just explaining her father's condition," Lily replied.
"What did you say?" Cal asked with a bite.
"She said Daddy's gonna die," the girl cried.
"I was merely explaining the severity of his injuries," Lily tried to explain.
The young girl was curled up on the bed, head buried in the pillow, sobbing.
"Lily," Cal exclaimed. "She's five years old."
"How do you know that?" Lily asked in surprise.
Cal ignored her as he walked to the bed and sat next to the girl. He reached out and brushed her hair back from her face.
"Maddie?" he said quietly.
The girl looked up. She paused for a second, before a look of recognition came across her face and she threw her arms around him and cried against his shoulder. Cal held her close and whispered words of comfort into her ear.
"Dr Knight," Mrs Beauchamp asked. "You know this girl?"
Cal looked at her before replying, "Yeah. She's my niece."
"You're niece?"
"Yeah."
"Then I assume the young man in Resus is your brother," Connie said.
"I need to see him," Cal said.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Connie replied.
"Please," Cal all but begged. "I need to know how badly he's been hurt. Besides, I can answer questions about him."
Connie looked uncomfortable for a moment, before she agreed. "Fine, but you leave his treatment to the other doctors. Is that clear?"
Cal nodded, before shouting to one of the nurses. "Robyn?" She came over to them. Cal turned to Maddie. "Maddie, this is Robyn. She's going to look after you, while I go and check on Daddy, ok?" Maddie gave a slight nod. "If you need me, just tell Robyn and she'll come and find me."
Cal looked at Robyn, who smiled. "Don't worry, we'll be fine." Cal gently lay Maddie back onto the bed, before standing and leaving Cubicles. Cal walked through the corridors towards Resus and stopped outside the doors. He looked through the small window, and saw his colleagues surrounding a bed, where a still figure lay. Cal took a deep breath and pushed the doors open. As he walked closer to the bed, he noticed the injuries on his brother's face, and froze.
Two doctors turned and looked at him.
"Dr Knight," Dr Dylan Keogh addressed. "Connie said she was going to ask you to look into the identity of this patient. Did you find anything?"
Cal didn't answer. He was still frozen to the spot and continued to stare at his injured brother.
"Dr Knight," Dr Martin Ashford said. Cal tore his eyes away from Ethan and looked at him. "Is there a problem?"
"Sorry," Cal said. "How badly injured is he?"
"Very," Dylan said coldly, "but we can't treat him until we know who he is. So, do you have any information?"
"His name is Ethan Hardy. He's 28."
"What does he do?"
"He's a doctor," Cal answered. The doors opened and a voice called from behind him.
"Uncle Cal," Maddie said as she ran over to him.
Cal turned and picked her up. "Maddie, you shouldn't be in here. Where's Robyn?"
"She had to go somewhere." She looked over at the bed. "Is Daddy going to be ok?"
Cal looked at his little brother. "I don't know, Sweetheart," he told her honestly.
"Uncle?" Dylan asked.
Cal looked at him and sighed. "Yeah. Ethan's my little brother." He turned and walked towards the door, carrying Maddie, where he stopped and looked back at them. "I don't care how you do it, just save my little brother. He's the only family I have," he said sadly, before turning and walking out.