I have actually finished the whole of this fic, but I will be posting a chapter a day. Also, this totally ignores the rape.
Matt weaved in and out of the traffic, pushing the speed limit in an attempt to get there quicker. He parked up and ran towards the hospital entrance. He knew he shouldn't be this worried; the nurse had said she was going to be okay, but he couldn't help it. The thought of someone hurting her, well it didn't bear thinking about.
He slammed into the desk at reception, attracting the attention of some of the staff. He took no notice and quickly asked where Alesha would be.
'If you'd like to take a seat someone will be out to get you in just a minute.' The well rehearsed line did nothing to calm him down but Matt reluctantly did as she said, leaning forward and resting his head in his hands. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out all the background noise.
He looked up expectantly when he heard someone approach. The Crocs in front of him had told him it was a nurse, that was what a lot of them wore. Matt jumped to his feet.
'If you'd like to come with me and I'll explain on the way.' Matt walked alongside her as she explained. It frustrated him that her words and her walk were so calm, so slow. If he knew where to go, he would be sprinting down the hallways as fast as his legs would carry him.
He was right though, he was being irrational. As slow as she was, the nurse eventually managed to calm him slightly. Alesha was going to be okay. She said that she would look a lot worse than she really is, there were a lot of superficial wounds, not helped by the fact that she had refused to let anyone clean her up, but no lasting damage she assured him. Matt breathed a sigh of relief.
'What happened to her?' Matt realised he still didn't know. There was an awkward silence before the nurse swivelled to face him. They stood face to face at the side of the hallway.
'Oh, I'm sorry, I thought that someone had already explained. Alesha was attacked,' Matt felt his heart quicken and the nurse spoke quicker now as she saw his eyes harden, 'Alesha is a lawyer, correct?' She didn't wait for the answer, 'The police said that the attackers were friends of someone that her division had prosecuted. I understand that they have arrested the people responsible though, they've probably charged them by now.'
Matt's hands rolled into fists and he felt his whole body clench. The nurse continued and began to walk again in the direction of Alesha's room, 'You were her emergency contact but if there's anyone else that should be here, please do call them.' As much as Matt wanted to run in the opposite direction, run out of the hospital and towards the station were the attackers would be, he couldn't. He couldn't bring himself to leave her, and there was nothing he could do now anyway, nothing he could do but be with her.
Matt finally registered what the woman had said. You were her emergency contact he repeated to himself. That puzzled him and he made a mental note to ask her about that later.
'She didn't actually want to call anyone but she wouldn't be able to go home without a support network and staying over night didn't please her. Anyway, she's refused all offers of sedation and we only just managed to get her into a gown for the x-rays. She's been here a couple of hours. We would have called you earlier but she's stubborn.'
Matt smiled slightly at that. Same old Alesha. They finally reached the room and the nurse left him in front of the closed door, 'Let me know if you need anything else.'
Matt nodded and took a deep breath as he pushed the door open. Alesha's eyes fluttered open and he offered the best smile he could. She really did look terrible though. She was covered in bruises, clear even on top of her dark skin. Her hair was a tangled mess and Matt thought he could see patches of blood amongst it. It was clear she'd been crying and the tears flowed again at the sight of Matt.
He rushed to her side, perching on the edge of the bed and she wrapped her arms around him tight, ignoring the pain. Matt closed his eyes and rested his chin on her head as gently as he could. He slid his arms around her back, though he was barely touching her for fear of resting in the wrong spot.
They stayed like that for a while, though neither was sure of exactly how much time had passed. Matt pulled away and took her shoulders gently to push her back so that they were looking into each others eyes. He swiftly wiped away a tear he hadn't noticed escape until now and spoke, 'I'm gonna go talk to a nurse quickly kay? I'll only be a minute.'
She nodded but Matt noticed the tears still filling her eyes and again made an attempt at a smile.
He went out into the hallway and spotted the nurse that had talked to him earlier, 'Am I okay to take her home?'
'Yes of course, if you'd just like to wait her for a moment whilst I go and get the paperwork.'
Matt realised this may take more than a minute and popped his head around Alesha's door again, 'I'm just going to fill out your discharge forms and then we can go home, okay.' It wasn't a question but Matt was encouraged by the minute smile that appeared on her face, still dominated by the tears.
He went back and leant against the nurses station, it didn't take long for the woman to return. She told him where to sign and then held up a bottle of pills, 'She's refused to take anything so far but she really would feel better if you could persuade her to take some of these, two every 6 hours.' He nodded. 'She's going to need a lot of help over the next few days, are you or someone else available to stay with her for that time?'
'Yeah…' His voice was hoarse, 'Yeah, I'll stay with her.'
'Okay then I think that's it, you can take her home. If she has any more trouble or develops any more symptoms, please don't hesitate to bring her in for another assessment.'
Matt nodded, thanked the woman and headed back towards the room. He'd been gone about five minutes.
He did his best to sound light and realised he actually was feeling a lot better. Physically, Alesha was just about okay. He sat back down, he wanted to ask her a couple of things before they left, 'How do you feel?'
Alesha was staring at the floor, he needed to see her eyes. Matt reached out and delicately lifted her chin, lowering his own head until their eyes were level.
'How do you feel?' he asked again simply, knowing she couldn't lie to him now he could see them.
'Okay, I think I'm okay,' she sounded croaky but he could see the honesty.
'I wanted to ask you something,' he paused and went on, 'the nurse, she said I was listed as your emergency contact.' He didn't need to ask the question, Alesha knew what he meant.
'Yeah, sorry about that. You just seemed the most sensible option. I can't stand to have my Mum hovering and fussing and James, well, I dunno, you just seemed like you'd be better in this kind of situation.' She wasn't sure why, his presence was just more reassuring.
Matt smiled, satisfied with the answer. He revelled in hearing he was so important to her.
There was a short pause as Matt thought about how to say this, he knew she'd be resistant, 'Okay, so… you're gonna have to come stay with me for a bit-'
She cut him off as soon as he'd finished the sentence, apparently finding a sudden burst of energy, 'No, no way.' Somehow her voice sounded unconvincing. He suspected that she did want him there, she looked shaken, she was just embarrassed to admit it. He was happy to let her think she was fooling him.
'Look, you have three options, you can come to mine, you can stay here until they'll let you go home on your own, or I can come and stay at yours. I thought mine would probably be easier, I'll be the one doing all the cooking and stuff and your place has that awkward step.'
He watched and couldn't help but smile in amusement as she pretended to rack her brain trying to find something that would change his mind to no avail, 'Fine!' He knew she wasn't really angry with him and she sensed that maybe her words hadn't come out as she intended them to, 'Are you sure though? Won't I get in the way?'
'Don't be daft. It'll be fun.'
'Thank you, really.' There was nothing but sincerity in her voice now.
'One more thing, do you want me to call anyone, your Mum, James, anyone else from work?'
She shook her head but winced, her whole body was stiff and tense. 'No, I'll call my Mum in a few days, when I can cope with her constant prodding.' Matt really thought she should call her but he knew Alesha too well to think that his encouragement would change her decision.
'You know that James will probably know by tomorrow morning anyway. The police will call him and Ronnie may well hear it at the station.'
She sighed, 'We can deal with that tomorrow.' Matt pressed his lips into a line to stop the involuntary smile that would have otherwise appeared as she referred to them as a we.
'In that case, let's get going.'
Matt wheeled the wheelchair that had been left in the corner of the room over and helped Alesha as she struggled into it. She really was going to need a lot of help.