It finally dawned on Martha that she didn't know where she was that afternoon. She had been dozing most of the day, but the different alarms and hustle and bustle going on around her in the busy ward had slowly seeped through the fogginess surrounding her.
Opening her eyes she looked around. For some reason she appeared to be in hospital, but she couldn't remember getting there, and she had the worst headache she'd ever had in her life. She was pleased to see Clive was there beside her holding her hand. Hopefully he would be able to fill her in on what the hell had happened to her.
"Where am I?" She asked out loud as she pulled the oxygen mask off her face. Her question had interrupted the small talk that Clive and the nurse were currently engaged in.
"Hey Marth. Welcome back," Clive said with a big smile on his face. He then answered her question and explained to her how she came to be in hospital.
"I don't remember any of that," she replied very worried a large part of her memory was missing.
"It's your brain's way of protecting you," the doctor explained when he came to see her now she was awake. "Who wants to remember being beaten up? You may never remember it. Just out of interest what is the last thing you can remember?".
Martha had a think. "You going off with your friends for the weekend to watch the cricket," she replied, looking at Clive. Martha's mother had come to visit whilst he was away to help look after her grandchildren. "When was that?".
"It was only the weekend just gone Marth," Clive answered encouragingly. "You started your case at Southwark on Monday,".
"So I haven't lost that much then," she commented greatly relieved. She was worried weeks or months may have passed. "Does this mean I can go home soon, Doctor?" she asked the man in front of her, chancing her luck.
"I'm afraid we'll be keeping you in a little longer," he replied and Martha couldn't hide the look of disappointment on her face, "but you'll be moving out of ITU. You can go to a normal ward now," he finished on a more positive note.
"Does that mean most of these wires and things can be taken off me?" She asked hopefully.
"All but one," conceded the doctor.
"And the catheter? Please doctor, it's so uncomfortable," she pleaded.
"Marth, don't hassle the doctor," Clive warned. "If she needs the catheter doctor, it should stay in. Don't let her pressurise you,".
"I'm going off you," Martha huffed. "You're supposed to be on my side,".
"The catheter can come out. I hear you are walking about by yourself safely," the doctor agreed and Martha stuck her tongue out at Clive, pleased she had won that argument.
The first visitor when Martha was on the normal ward was Billy. He found both Martha and Clive fast asleep, the lack of sleep the previous night had finally caught up with Clive. Entering the room as quietly as he could, he still managed to wake the patient up.
"Sorry," he apologised.
"S'ok," she replied with a yawn as she stretched herself awake. Clive remained fast asleep.
"How are you doing?" Billy asked as he took a seat beside her.
"Apart from a rather bad persistent headache, feeling tired most of the time and a frustrating lack of memory, I'm ok," Martha informed him.
"Frustrating?".
"The police were here earlier. They're adding my assault to my former clients charges. I'm going to be a witness, but not a very good one as I can't remember anything,".
"Give it time, Miss," Billy comforted. "Anyway, I just popped in to see how you were doing and give you this," he said as he handed her an envelope.
Martha opened it. It was another 'Get Well Soon' card, signed from everyone at chambers. She placed it alongside her homemade ones. "Thank you," she said. "I'm not going to be able to see everyone to say thank you at least for another two weeks. Doctors orders, but I think he might be right. I'm perpetually tired at the moment- I don't think it would go down very well in court if I fell asleep,".
"You just take your time, Miss," Billy instructed before a snort came from Clive who was still fast asleep. "I presume Sleeping Beauty over there is alright and just catching up on sleep. You can't catch the tired thing that you have?" He asked. Martha nodded as she patted her husbands hand.
It was four days before Martha was allowed to go home with orders of trying to rest as much as three young children would allow. Olivia had been excited all day and was on watch at a front window. "MUMMY'S HOME!" She shouted to the household as soon as she saw her fathers car draw up into the drive. It was so loud that both Martha and Clive heard her from the car.
"I hope she's not that loud when I'm in the house," Martha said to Clive. "I don't think my head will take that much volume,". Although better than when she was on the ITU she still had a bit of a headache.
Clive got out the car and opened Martha's for her. Taking her hand, he led her into the house where her family was waiting to greet her. Olivia ran straight to her mother for a hug as soon as she saw her. Once she had greeted her eldest she moved to her in-laws who each held a twin. She got lovely licks from both of them (their kissing technique still was much to be desired) and a hug from Clive's parents.
"We've made you a welcome home lunch," Olivia told her mother as she took her mothers hand and led her to the kitchen.
"Only a few sandwiches and a bit of cake," interjected Rosemary concerned her daughter in law would think it a large meal.
"That's lovely," Martha replied before they all sat down to eat. Not feeling particularly hungry, it suited Martha to have a light lunch and she managed a few sandwiches before a slice of cake.
After lunch the twins went down for their afternoon nap and Martha followed suit. She was soon joined on the bed by Bob who brushed up against her indicating he wanted a few strokes. "Hi Bob" Martha greeted the cat as she gave him what he wanted. Within minutes he was purring away very happy indeed. "That's all for now Bob. I've got to sleep," she told the cat and curled up and was asleep very quickly. Bob curled up beside her and settled himself down for a sleep as well.
Olivia was a little concerned her mother had gone for a nap. "Daddy," she said when they were sat together on the sofa reading a book together, "Mummy is better isn't she?" She asked.
"Of course. The doctors wouldn't have let her come home otherwise,".
"But she never has a nap like Will 'n' Lil," she reasoned.
"Well she's not a hundred percent yet, Liv," Clive explained. "Having a sleep will help her get better a lot faster,".
Thankfully, Martha felt much better when she woke up three hours later and was more like her usual self which reinforced to Liv what her father had told her. For the next couple of hours until they went to bed, Martha spent all her time with her children. She had missed them so much whilst she was in hospital.
Despite her best efforts, once they were in bed, her tiredness crept up on her again and her and Clive decided on an early night. Clive nestled her in to his side as had become his way since they had started their relationship. He was so grateful to have her back beside him in their bed again. "Promise me that you will never ever scare me like that again," he said to her as he kissed the top of her head.
"I promise," Martha replied. Although he had tried to hide it from her, she knew how much the last few days had affected him.
After two weeks sick leave, Martha felt able to return to light duty at work. She came in for half days and given cases that weren't particularly taxing in order to build her stamina up again. If she didn't have a case, she was keeping up to date with her deputy head of chambers position. On one such day she met the new pupil Shoe Lane had appointed. She had heard all about him from Clive who had a lot to say on the matter, but this was the first time she had set eyes on him.
CW had taken full advantage of Clive and Martha's unavailability and appointed someone she thought suitable. They now had an extremely good looking male pupil who went by the name of Matt for the next six months who had the utmost attention of nearly all the females in chambers and in fact the whole of the London criminal bar.
Clive was a good looking man and used to turning a few heads whenever he walked into a room, and Martha guessed that competition in this area was the reason why her husband had taken a dislike to the student this time. He hadn't had a good relationship with recent male pupils - being pushed downstairs and having a good relationship with Martha and Olivia had been reasons for not getting on with Nick and Daniel, and it looked like the pattern was set to continue.
Matt had been tasked with gathering certain information for another barrister, and this being his first time was wanting advice from someone. Billy had directed him in Martha's direction and she had taken pity on him and led him to her desk where she had offered him the use of her books and computer. She took Clive's desk to do a bit of admin work whilst waiting for her husband to finish in court.
He finally materialised at 4:30. Barging into the room, he didn't see Matt at Martha's desk having eyes only for Martha who was at his. "Hey Gorgeous," he greeted his wife as he made his way to her. "Did you miss me that much that you had to sit at my desk?" He asked as he finally made it to his wife and gave her a rather thorough kiss.
They were interrupted by Matt who gave a small embarrassed cough, not really being used to seeing such shows of affection at work before. Clive pulled away and looked over his shoulder to see the pupil hurriedly leaving the office. "I let Matt use my books and computer for a bit of research," Martha informed him, explaining the reason for her sitting at his desk.
"Well you could have said we had company," he huffed.
"You attached yourself to my face before I could say anything," Martha replied in defence. "Anyway forget about it, I'm sure Matt has. I want a word with you about something else," she told her husband as she showed him a letter she had found on Clive's desk. "Why have you not replied to the Criminal Bar Association's poll about striking?".
"Erm...I was going to but what with everything that's happened recently I kind of forgot,".
"Well I managed to send my reply off at return of post," she countered. He had had plenty of time to send the piece of paper off.
"Well you would do. It's your kind of thing isn't it," He told his wife.
"What thing is that?" Martha asked.
"Protesting. Making a stand on things that are important to you," Clive explained.
"And the cuts in legal aid aren't important to you?" She countered and Clive couldn't think of an answer.
"Give me the form," he instructed his wife, knowing she would only be happy when he had filled it out. "And what exactly am I agreeing to by ticking yes?" He asked as he ticked the 'yes' box.
"Refusing to take on new cases and returns," she informed him.
"Happy now?" He asked as he showed her the completed form and put it in an envelope before sealing it.
"Yes," she replied. "Can we go home now?" She asked and Clive readily agreed. "Don't forget the envelope," she reminded him as he walked past it. "We can stop at a post box on the way home,".
It was also during her light duty, that she was needed as a witness in court for the GBH charge the CPS had filed against her previous client.
She didn't know why, but she was a little anxious about taking the stand. Sure, she stood at the bar almost everyday, but she had never been in the witness box before. She also didn't have her costume of wig and gown to hide behind.
When the time came however, she realised she really shouldn't have worried. She was eased into her statement by the prosecutor before the cross examining from the defence barrister started. Unfortunately for him, he was fairly new to the bar and didn't know Martha. He knew from his brief she was a QC, and instead of trying to act confident in his manner, came over extremely arrogant instead. Martha was quick to put him in his place with a first class performance on the stand, and wiped the floor with him leaving his case in tatters, much to the amusement of the judge and prosecutor.
"That was great, Marth," Clive congratulated her outside the courtroom after she had given her evidence. He had been watching from the gallery to support his wife. They watched the rest of the proceedings there as well and saw the violent man being sent down for ten years for both the attack on Martha and his wife. Martha heaved a sigh of relief. It was finally over, and she could put this chapter of her life behind her.