Somebody To Die For
When Peter came round the first thing he noticed – above his own grogginess and lethargy – was Claire. His neck ached and his head throbbed as though a thousand brass bands were competing against each other for space within his pounding cranium. In fact he hurt all over – but at that moment the only person who mattered to him was Claire.
"Claire…" He whispered as he edged closer towards her, flinching as he felt his taught muscles wrench and tear beneath his cold flesh. "Claire."
She finally stirred at his careful touch against her chin and Peter gently turned her blood stained face towards him. The young Detective grimaced immediately as he noticed the wound to her head.
"Hang on, I'll get some help." He assured her, bending down to retrieve his mobile phone from where it had fallen to the floor at the car's moment of impact, and where it was now rattling about around his feet. The sudden movement caused his vision to blur.
"It's alright." He gasped as he dialled the number.
She groaned.
"Hello… I need an ambulance." He explained to the call operator as he heard the voice at the end of the line. Her soft tone was like a breath of fresh air to him as he somehow managed to form coherent instructions… although when asked to do so there would be very little of this conversation which Peter would be able to remember later on.
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Peter's head continued to throb painfully as the sound of the gurney being wheeled through the hospital's swinging double doors assaulted his hearing. The paramedics had done their best to check him over at the scene, despite the young Detective's protests and his insistence that he was fine. Now however he wasn't so sure.
"Pulse 120, BP 110 over 8." He heard them say.
Damn he felt dizzy…
"What happened?" Flynn suddenly appeared beside them, and Peter, to his own surprise, found himself explaining with remarkable clarity what had happened.
"Err…" He had to pause and think for a second. "Car accident… Claire was driving. She's hit her head pretty hard!"
He felt sick…
"I'm OK…" He heard Claire protest.
"And your name?" Flynn asked.
…Peter Baker?
"Oh come on!" Claire scoffed.
"Tell me your name." Flynn instructed her.
Suddenly Peter's vision began to swim in and out of focus, and the room began to spin. He subtly grabbed hold of the gurney beside him to steady himself, although thankfully at that moment the small group which had gradually started to gather around them were too focused on Claire to initially notice.
"Claire Brody." Claire responded.
"Do you know where you are?" Flynn asked.
Actually Peter suddenly realised that he himself wasn't too sure about that anymore, and he found himself having to think very hard to try and recall.
"Goldburn Hospital." He heard Claire's response.
"No, you're in Summer Bay." He corrected her, as his own speech started to slur. His own head and neck hurt and ached so badly now that he just wanted to lie down, and he shook his head slightly in an attempt to try and clear his blurred vision. This only brought on another wave of dizziness however.
"What? Oh, no, of course we are." She sighed.
"Look we were talking about our training in Goldburn before the accident, maybe that's why she's mixed up…" Peter tried explaining to Flynn, the young doctor's back to him as he checked on Claire's pupil response. As he turned back around to face the Detective however he noticed Peter suddenly sway and stumble, catching hold of his shoulder in order to try and steady him before he fell.
"Hey Peter!" Flynn frowned, "What about you though? Have you been checked over?"
"I'm fine." Peter smiled… knowing full well by now that he was not however, and wondering why it was that he continued to persist with this ridiculous charade.
"Well you don't look fine." Flynn explained, suddenly noticing how pale Peter had become. "Sit down and I'll take a look at you… could somebody fetch a wheelchair please?" He ordered, before, keeping one hand wrapped firmly around Peter's waist and back to steady him he turned back to Claire – who hadn't even appeared to have noticed in her own confused state.
"You know that's a pretty nasty knock you've got here which is why you may be a bit confused… can we get a CT scan please? And I want to keep her in overnight for observation." He added, turning to a nurse.
"Oh no no no…"Claire protested.
Peter suddenly felt very tired, and he was nauseous. His eyelids felt heavy and he found himself leaning further into Flynn for more support.
The Doctor seemed to notice this and he turned to look at him for a moment before turning back to Claire more urgently than before, as though realising that one patient had rather suddenly become two, and that time was now of the essence. He had to hurry in finishing treating Claire, without alarming her, so he could finally turn his attention's to Peter… and quickly. The young man had obviously been more seriously injured than he'd first appeared.
"Better safe than sorry…" He told her. "Can we offload her onto X-Ray please, and get her some sutures when she returns?"
"I just need to speak to Peter." She explained.
"Peter needs to stay here!" Flynn informed her, as they began to wheel her away.
Peter vaguely became aware of a familiar voice – Claire's voice – in his ear, asking him to do something, and he nodded, although the words were muffled and he couldn't hear a word that she was saying. He felt hot, breathless, his chest tight as another wave of dizziness overcame him and he found it hurt him to and increasingly difficult to breathe. His nausea returned, and the room began to spin as his head felt as though it was finally about to explode with the pain. Finally his legs turned to jelly, before everything went black.
"Peter!" Was the last thing he heard as Flynn called his name.
With this Peter collapsed into the young doctor. Flynn, fully aware of what was about to happen before Peter feinted, managed to catch him as he fell.
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When Peter finally awoke his head was still aching, although the intense pounding had subsided somewhat, but he still felt slightly light-headed, and his stomach was doing summersaults.
He opened his eyes slowly at first to find himself lying down in bed, and, hearing familiar voices, turned to see Dan and Leah in conversation with Flynn in the open doorway to his darkened hospital room.
He groaned as the action of turning his neck caused another wave of considerable pain to surge through his head and down his back and across his shoulders, and he struggled to focus on Flynn as the doctor - recognising his distress - immediately began to make his way over.
"Pete!" He heard Dan sigh in relief, and looked around slowly to see Leah too smiling down at him.
"How are you feeling?" Flynn asked gently, shining a small torch into both of Peter's eyes in order to check for and evaluate his pupil's response.
"Better." Peter nodded. "What happened?"
"You have a concussion… you've also fractured a couple of ribs, and you went into shock…" Flynn explained as he unhooked the stethoscope from around his neck and placed the buds in his ears. He gently unfastened the back of Peter's hospital gown to gain access to the Detective's torso. Peter grimaced and shivered as the cold metal plate brushed against his skin. He'd had to ease himself up in the bed slightly in order to allow Flynn to do this, and his new position - somewhere in between sitting and lying down - was particularly painful and uncomfortable, and his head began to swim.
"Take a breath in for me mate." Flynn instructed as he placed the bell of the instrument to Peter's chest, and as Peter did as he was told Flynn lingered over the area of Peter's heart and lungs, listening to his heartbeat and the sound of his breathing before moving onto his back as he double checked his respirations. Dan and Leah looked on anxiously.
"You're breathing's a little better at any rate." He concluded finally. "Not yet back to normal," He emphasized as he casually threw the stethoscope back across his shoulders and around his neck, and he looked down at Peter with a warm glimmer in his eyes, "you'll have to take it easy for a few days yet, but you'll live." He concluded.
Peter heard as Dan and Leah both breathed a sigh of relief.
"You should have really let the paramedics check you out at the scene." Flynn explained.
"I know." The young Detective sighed.
"Then why didn't you?" Flynn asked.
"Claire." Peter responded. "Claire needed me."
Flynn smiled, and nodded in understanding. "Claire's fine." He explained. "We're keeping her in overnight for observation, but she should be fine to be discharged by tomorrow morning… I'd like to keep you in a little longer though, just to be on the safe side."
"Why?" Peter asked, slightly anxiously – still feeling somewhat shaky, and experiencing the psychological after effects of the car accident and his subsequent collapse as well as the physical ones.
"You had a nasty knock which went untreated for quite some time…" The young doctor gently explained, "but as I say it'll only be for a few days, just to be on the safe side."
Peter nodded in quiet acceptance, despite not quite believing Flynn's story, who, having checked on his vital signs and general condition seemed satisfied by his patient's condition – at least for the moment. He'd known Flynn for long enough now to realise that there was little point in him objecting - and to be honest Peter realised that he didn't have the strength.
"I'll be back to check on you a little later," The doctor informed him, patting his friend reassuringly on the shoulder, "and try not to move around too much. We have you on some pretty strong pain killers but we've had to be careful with the dosage due to your head injury, so you're likely to be quite sore for a while yet I'm afraid!"
"Thanks Flynn." Dan smiled, as their friend prepared to leave.
"I'll give you a few minutes." He smiled, permitting the two of them to stay a little longer, even though it was against hospital protocol at this late hour. "Just don't stay too long, and try not to tire him too much."
Dan nodded.
"Thanks for everything Flynn." Leah reiterated her husband's thanks. Flynn nodded and smiled his acknowledgement as he left room.
When he'd gone they both turned their attentions back to Peter.
"You scared us!" Leah sighed, immediately making her way over to his bedside and embracing him gently.
"I know… I'm sorry!" Peter smiled.
"I mean, what were you thinking?" She asked him. "An untended brain injury could have killed you! What if the broken rib had punctured your lung? Or you'd had a bleed on your brain? We could have lost you!"
"I know..." Peter sighed, and grimaced at the pain in his head, screwing his eyes tight shut and pinching the bridge of his nose. As things were he had to concede that the pain was pretty bad.
"I know where you're coming from Leah." He explained. "But, I don't know... you have to understand, something just came over me when I saw Claire lying there, unconscious. My own pain didn't seem quite so important after seeing her in that state. I felt I had to do something!" He said. "I mean, can you honestly tell me that you wouldn't have done the same in my situation if it had have been Dan you'd found like that, or Dan," He added, turning to his younger brother, "that you wouldn't have done the same Leah?"
Both parties looked at each other as he said this, and nodded. Neither could deny it, they both had to concede that they would.
"Well, when you put it like that…" Dan faltered.
"You really love her then don't you?" Leah asked with a sigh.
Peter thought about this for a moment before responding.
"Yes... I suppose I must." He nodded, and smiled.
"Pete, just promise me that you'll never do anything like that again!" Dan asked, voice raspy with suppressed emotion when his wife suddenly cut in.
"Claire's been beside herself since she found out!" She informed him.
"If you ever need help of any kind in the future, just promise me you'll let someone know!" Dan looked down sincerely, and pleadingly at him.
"I promise." Peter smiled reassuringly at them both. "I promise!"
END!