Chapter Two

Ruby couldn't tell how much time it took her to calm down after she smashed the intruder over the back of the head and he fell with a heavy thud to the floor. Her legs gave way and she huddled herself up into a protective ball as adrenaline rushed through her bloodstream intensifying everything. Eventually she managed to control her breathing, as she was just short of passing out from hyperventilation herself. Then realising that the drunken trespasser may be likely to come around pretty soon, she considered the option of tying him up so he couldn't harm her, should he be angry when he awoke to find himself with a thunderous headache. It was at this point that the idea that she may have hit someone she knew, first struck her; but it was quickly cast aside for thoughts of something to bind her attacker when he uttered a faint moan of pain. She rushed out to grab the first thing that came to mind, the little decorative curtains behind the red couch she'd spent most of the evening on. Tearing them down and eventually finding the light switches she lit the club up like a Christmas tree and cautiously made her way back towards the gents' toilets. Blissfully unaware that the bravado she was beginning to feel for tackling the situation herself was about to be replaced with the terrifying guilt and panic to see that she may have just killed the man who'd thanklessly gone out of his way for her during the past month.

"Jake!" she shouted, after the initial dumbstruck silence of seeing him gin-soaked and lying in a pool of his own blood had worn off. She rushed to his side and knelt down beside him to feel for a pulse. She couldn't find any sign of one in his wrist and carefully moved her fingers under his collar to feel behind his ear, pressing her head to his chest for good measure. There faintly, she heard a slow beat, thankfully alleviating the worst fear, that she had already killed him. There was glass all over his upper body and he wreaked of either the alcohol he'd consumed or that which she'd smashed all over his head. Blood was still running slowly from a deep gash in the back of his head and there were bits of the bottle stuck in the right side of his skull and neck. Ruby jumped up and ran into the cubicle where she'd confronted Jake and threw up violently.

In the chill of her nausea she realised she didn't have time to be afraid or concerned for herself and went back to Jake's side. Taking off her jacket, she carefully moved the glass away from his head and pressed the thick denim against where the blood was leaking slowly over the floor. Seeing his mobile still clutched in his right hand, she carefully prised his fingers back and saw that it was her message that had roused him to leave the cubicle. The guilt overwhelmed her for a moment and had he not opened his eyes a little and moaned her name, she felt as though she'd have been lost to shock.

"Jake! Please, Jake… hold on, I'm so sorry… Jake, don't leave me now. Oh God, please don't die." She sobbed dialling for an ambulance and shaking with a cold sweat. His blood was soaking up from the bottom of her pale raspberry coloured dress and she shivered at how much of it there was. How much could a man lose before he had no hope of recovering? As she waited for someone to take her call she convinced herself that Jake was going to die. Tears ran down her cheeks and left sparkling reflections of the fluorescent lights above on the dainty sequins of her dress.

Looking down at Jake, Ruby saw how the pale blue shirt that he'd looked so handsome in earlier, was now turning purple along with her jacket. Why had she been so horrible to him earlier? This never would have happened if she'd just stopped obsessing about what she thought had happened in Essex and had just asked him outright why he was always there for her. It dawned on her that the only reason she'd gone as far as to tell him off in the office, was because she'd felt betrayed by her own feelings, when Stacey suggested Jake had dressed up for her. She'd been telling herself to hate him for so long; she'd made him the embodiment of all the pain and betrayal she'd been feeling and when anyone suggested that she had no reason to, she freaked out. Nothing seemed to make sense lately. Life was so crazy for her since Johnny gave himself up to the police, that all she could think of was why she had to suffer. If only she'd seen that Jake was suffering too. If only Grant had told her the truth about that day earlier or she'd just asked Jake herself, she'd had every opportunity to do so. Now what scared her more than the blood, the guilt she'd have to live with, the fear that she was about to end up in prison like her father or any of what had happened in Essex; was that she may never get to tell Jake how sorry she was for hurting him, emotionally as well as what physical trauma he now faced.
"I'm so sorry, Jake. I'm so very sorry… I should have told you that I didn't hate you… I should have…"

Ruby broke off then as after what felt like hours the emergency operator responded. In a panic she told the calming voice what had happened. She explained it had been a case of mistaken identity, that she'd hit Jake thinking he was an intruder. He was bleeding a lot. There were glass fragments in his head; she'd tried to put pressure on the worst of the wounds to stop the blood flow. He'd regained consciousness a couple of times, but was obviously in a lot of pain when he did. They were locked in, but she'd call someone to help with that. She should stay calm and should not try to move him or remove any of the glass herself.
"We'll be there as soon as we can, Ruby. Just stay with him." The lady said reassuringly after a few minutes on the phone.

Ruby was shaking with cold and her face began to sting from the pathways new tears formed on her cheeks across where the old ones had dried moments before. She held Jake's hand and again felt amongst the blood for his pulse. It was growing fainter and in her chest Ruby felt the adrenaline brought on by her renewed anxiety causing her heart to race fast enough for both of them. She clutched his cold lifeless hand in her own as though she could give him her strength through osmosis.

"Please don't give up Jake. I need you. You are the only one who cares for me now." She squeezed his hand so tightly that she could have almost broken his fingers, as she wept beside him. "Everyone leaves me… Jake, please wake up. Don't you leave me too!"
It was then that she heard a kind of slurping noise and a faint popping, which startled her from her own grief. Jake's head had slipped down a little and he was close to drowning in his own blood on the bathroom floor. Letting go of his hand she rushed for paper towels behind her, remembering she'd been told not to move him, she had to clear away the blood and gin so that he could breathe. Once Jake was no longer struggling to breathe, Ruby used his phone again, to call Grant this time. Peggy answered at the Vic and began to scold the caller for waking their whole household up, before she recognised Ruby's sobs.
"I'm locked in, the ambulance is coming. Grant must come and let them in…" she cried clinging once again to Jake's hand. Peggy tried to calm her and find out what was happening.
"It's Jake… there was an accident… I'm scared… I can't let him die… please help us."

Peggy shouted to Grant who had just gone to bed and Ruby numbly listened as Peggy tried to explain. She then asked if she needed anyone and offered to call Charlie to take care of her and try to get in touch with Alfie. Ruby said yes, but was sobbing hard and whispering 'Jake wake up' over and over. When Ruby ended the call it felt as though she were utterly alone in the world and as Jake had probably been struggling to stay alive for over half an hour by that point, she feared she soon would be.

Grant arrived a few minutes before the paramedics and frantically tried to get the three bolts on the door of the club open, as he heard sirens distantly to the west. Ruby heard that someone had arrived, but was more concerned to see if Jake was still breathing. She lay facing him on the cold tile floor and carefully felt for a pulse under his left ear. She could faintly hear him breathing and counted the beats of his heart as his breath tingled on her icy skin.
"Ruby… I'm sh…sorry… never meant… to upset you…" Jake's broken and husky voice startled her from her rhythmic counting and made her jump back a little, jarring his body painfully as she tugged his hand with her own momentum.

"Oh, Jake… it's my fault… it's all, my fault. I'm the one who should be sorry. I don't hate you Jake and I don't think you'd do anything as awful as Danny did. Please Jake, just hold on a little longer. The ambulance is on the way and I'll make sure you are okay. Jake, please don't leave me."
All of Ruby's words flooded out in such a hurry that it was hard for Jake to follow everything she had said, particularly as his topmost ear was full of blood. He felt dizzy and nauseous and his vision was blurred so he couldn't see her very well either. He'd only been sure it was her there beside him by the scent of her perfume amongst the sickly smell of alcohol.

He felt like he was floating and was reminded of a swimming class he took with one of his foster siblings more than twenty years before. If it hadn't have been for the throbbing agony of his head and feeling as weak as a kitten, he'd have thought he was drifting in a warm pool at some beach resort. The light was bright and he felt like his skin was burning even though to Ruby he was as cold as ice. He squeezed her hand a little and tried once again to put her mind and his own conscience at rest.

"Can't… leave… you. Promise." He mumbled. "Thank you… for s…s…staying…"
Ruby could see that talking was tiring for him and sniffing back her tears she stroked his face and drew closer to him holding his hand and resting her chin against it as she cried and silently prayed that he'd get through this. Jake saw her tears shining and turned his hand to wipe her freckled cheek. This time when he spoke his voice was little more than a whisper.
"Don't… cry, s…sweetheart."

Grant ran around the club calling Ruby's name, but all she could do was cry by that point and gave no response by which he could locate her quicker. She was sure Jake was dead and she felt like something inside her had died with him. If only she'd found the lights, or been kinder to him, or have gone home instead of taking out her bitterness on him in the first place. If only, if only.
"Ruby! What the hell happened, are you hurt? Is Jake…" Grant asked as he rushed into the gents' hearing her weeping and then seeing what a mess she and Jake were in. There was blood everywhere, they were both covered in it.
"I killed him. I thought it was a burglar or something and…" She couldn't speak for crying and she wouldn't let go of Jake's hand to let Grant help her.
"Come on, Ruby. Let me look at him." Grant said trying to help her up and out of the way. He could already hear the sirens getting closer, but Jake looked in a very bad way. He asked Ruby what happened and without much awareness that she was talking at all, she reeled off the events since she'd last seen Grant. He told her to go and tell the paramedics where to find them as the sirens stopped outside; but she wouldn't move away from Jake.
"They said I had to stay… I'm not leaving him. He wouldn't leave me. I won't leave him!" She shouted as Grant tried to take charge and persisted in getting her to move away from what he now believed to be Jake's corpse.
Moments later the paramedics arrived and Ruby moved back towards the toilet cubicle having noticed their grim faces upon entering and seeing the carnage. Grant filled them in on what had happened as Ruby sat blankly staring at Jake while the two medics tried to assess his condition. One looked at the other and for a moment Ruby thought he was about to say Jake was dead and she let out a horrified sob, then the grey-haired slim man nodded and told the other he'd found a faint pulse. They began to put Jake's neck in a support collar, check his vital signs and to give initial dressings to his more severe wounds.
"He's not dead…" Ruby muttered. "He was talking to me a minute ago… He's not dead… He can't die; you can't let him die… please?" She said holding the grey-haired man's arm.
"Are you his next of kin, miss? We'll need someone to stay with him and sign for treatment… are you his sister?" Ruby shook her head quickly.

Something about being asked if Jake were her brother, reminded her of the horrible conversation they'd had earlier where he'd told her that Danny thought of her as his sister and yet he had still drugged and groped her. She didn't like the brotherly association. That argument had been the start of all this misery. Grant hadn't said anything and Ruby realised that the paramedic was still waiting for an answer.
"Are you his next of kin, Ruby is it?" Ruby nodded "Are you his girlfriend, Ruby?" The friendly grey-haired guy asked in a comforting tone. She nodded again and looked at Jake covered in blood and darkening bandages.
"Yes. I'm looking after him. Can I go with him in the ambulance? He woke up and knew I was with him, I don't want him to think I left him now…"

The paramedics, having strapped Jake onto a back support, lifted the stretcher and told Ruby to come along with them. Grant heard Charlie calling from the other side of the bar, but never commented on Ruby claiming to be Jake's girlfriend. Moments later Stacey rushed in still wearing her pyjamas under her coat and hugged Ruby, despite her being covered in blood.
"Rubes, what happened? Oh my God! Look at you. What did Jake do?" Ruby was trying to pull away from her friend, but was shivering like mad and almost biting her tongue as her teeth were chattering so loudly. She muttered, 'accident' 'bottle' and 'can't leave him' before pulling away and following the paramedics as they carried Jake up the stairs and out to the ambulance. Grant and Stacey looked at one another with bewilderment and then turning on the scene of the accident they followed the others outside to where a crowd had gathered.

Ruby didn't really notice that half of the Square was out in their nightwear to see what was going on. Pauline was muttering something about the club always being where trouble started and Peggy was rallying the troops to help; seeming to think they were back in the Blitz rather than just bearing witness to a horrible accident. She tried to hug Ruby as she came out of Scarlet and told her they would make sure she was safe and other words of reassurance which were lost in Ruby's worried mind. Grant told Peggy to let her go with Jake and the younger bearded paramedic offered her a blanket to keep warm and ushered her into the back of the ambulance with 'her boyfriend', who had momentarily regained consciousness and asked for her.

"I'm here. I won't leave you Jake. I promise." Ruby said still crying, but with a stronger resolve now that she knew he had some proper care. Stacey was watching them with a bewildered look on her face and Charlie shouted that he'd come along behind in the cab. Grant was talking to the police officers who'd been dispatched with the ambulance, but all Ruby could do was cling to Jake's hand and tell him to hold on.

It felt like it had taken hours to get to the hospital, though in actual fact it had been a little over fifteen minutes. Given that the last time Ruby remembered looking at a clock had been as she discovered she was trapped in Scarlet with an intruder, she was even more fearful for Jake's condition when she saw that another hour and a half had passed since that point at 2.45a.m. Jake had been in and out of consciousness and losing blood for around an hour by the time the paramedics rushed him into accident and emergency. It was a realisation which didn't give Ruby much solace.

On arrival Jake was rushed into surgery and for a while all Ruby could do was sit a few corridors down from the operating theatre and answer questions for a doctor she recalled had taken care of her father in January. Again she was asked if she and Jake were related and almost without thought this time, she said she was his girlfriend. The doctor asked for a description of the accident which started Ruby crying again and it was recommended that she took a few moments to clean up in the bathroom and have some tea for the shock. By the time she'd been checked over herself and answered more questions about Jake; Stacey, Charlie and Peggy had all arrived and came to join her in a small relatives' room just down from theatre.
"Is Jake going to be alright?" Peggy asked in an assertive tone which suggested everything could be sorted out. Ruby was trembling and mumbled her reply, that she hadn't heard anything yet. Charlie offered to go and ask a nurse at the station around the corner and Peggy seeing that Stacey wanted to talk to her friend, offered to go and get them all a cup of tea. As soon as she'd left the room Stacey moved to sit beside Ruby and held her hand.
"Ruby? What happened in there? Why did you say you were Jake's girlfriend? Did you and he…" Stacey began, not really knowing where she was taking the question and glad to be interrupted.
"It was my fault. I was so awful to him before and then… I didn't know it was him. I hit him so hard, Stace… oh God, what if he dies? What am I going to do? Stacey, I'm really scared." Ruby began to sob hard and Stacey put her arms around her friend's shoulders. After a few minutes Ruby got it together and rushed out to talk to a surgeon who had just come out of theatre.

"Is Jake okay? What's going on?" She said quickly. Again she was asked about her relationship to Jake and it was getting far easier for her to say they were a couple after the fifth time of being asked.
"I'm afraid your boyfriend has suffered a severe head injury leaving him with a penetrating skull fracture. We have removed the glass from his occipital lobe and we are trying to restore his blood pressure to normal. We've given him three transfusions and are assessing what further care he needs. He will require at least another surgery, but I'm waiting on our anaesthesiologist. I'm afraid we can't tell you more until we know if he can be stabilised enough to go in and repair the severed blood vessels."

The surgeon was very matter of fact with Ruby; perhaps it was just his manner, but Ruby in her paranoid state thought that it were probably because he knew it was her that had caused the injury in the first place. He told her that he had to go back in and that he'd send someone to tell her when Jake had been moved to ICU. She managed not to cry while he was face to face with her, but the moment he turned away her eyes welled up with saltwater once again and Stacey, who had been hovering behind her, stepped up to comfort her.

"He'll be okay Ruby. He's young and healthy and he kept going till the ambulance got there, didn't he?" Peggy reasoned as they sat in the relatives' room silently sipping sweet tea from plastic cups.

It had been almost three hours and they had received no further word on Jake's condition. Charlie, who felt decidedly uncomfortable with why Ruby was so involved with Jake, had been wandering around the corridors trying to overhear any news. Stacey had brought Ruby clean clothes and having heard nothing for so long she suggested Ruby take a few moments to clean herself up and change into them to keep warm. Since she still didn't know what was going on between her friend and Jake, she offered some ambiguous words of comfort.

"Go on, Rubes. You don't want him to see you all covered in blood when he comes round. Go to the bathroom across the hall and get changed. I'll come and get you if anyone has any news." Peggy nodded reassuringly and Ruby reluctantly followed their advice and went to change.

As soon as she saw herself in the mirror she knew why they had been so keen for her to change her outfit. Her hair and face still wore smears of Jake's blood and her stylish new pink dress was now more brown and purple with soaked in blood and gin. Staring back at her swollen and bloodshot eyes Ruby bit her lower lip and took deep breaths through her nose to stop from crying. Jake's last words to her repeated in her brain and somehow in the lonely silence of the hospital bathroom, they stopped her tears from over flowing again. He'd been so kind to her; even after what she'd done to him… he'd called her sweetheart and promised not to leave her. She'd nearly killed him and still he was there for her. Not even Johnny could have made him go that far.

Ruby opened the backpack that Stacey had hurriedly packed her things into. There was a make-up bag, which she knew thankfully contained some shampoo and a comb. Stacey had obviously gauged her friend's needs well, as she emerged from Scarlet covered in what looked like half of Jake's blood. There was a wash cloth and towel from the bathroom and a clean warm outfit. Ruby washed her face and smoothed shampoo through her caked-up chocolate brown hair. Slowly she began to resemble herself again and with the restoration came new resolve to get through this night and make sure Jake knew how she felt about him. After tonight, she thought, she'd never hurt him again. She washed the blood from her hair and squeezed it dry with the towel. The small white porcelain sink was now red with bloody water and Ruby knew that it would take more than a sink full of water to wash every trace of blood, gin and vomit from her hair. The white towel was ruined when she was finished with it and her dress was unlikely to see a second outing. This rather abstract thought made her shiver. Part of her had been so certain she'd impress every male at Opening Night in her new dress, she'd had high hopes for it; if she'd known how the night would turn out, she'd have thought it a jinx to be so flamboyantly dressed. She combed her hair and washed the blood stains from her body as she changed into the clean underwear, jeans and sweater that Stacey had packed for her. Then almost feeling as if she could face everyone again, she took a moment and closed her eyes to wish for Jake to pull through.
"Please let him be okay. I'll do anything I can to take care of him, just please let him recover and be able to live a normal life."

Stacey had been watching at the little window in the door of the relatives room for any sign of a doctor. Peggy had fallen asleep on a squeaky leather chair which made rude sounds and woke her up every time she tried to get comfortable. Charlie was pacing around the hallway listening out for news at the nurses' station. It was Stacey that first noticed the exhausted looking surgeon emerge from the corridor that led to the operating room that had housed Jake for the last four and a half hours. She rushed across the hall in front of him and called through the bathroom door to Ruby. The surgeon referred to the forms that Ruby had filled in earlier with the help of the nurse.

"Miss Allen?" Ruby nodded. "I'm Mr Costigan and I operated on your boyfriend. He is now in our intensive treatment unit, you can go in and see him, but first I need to fill you in on his condition." Ruby's face flashed with relief and had she been catholic she'd probably have made the sign of the cross, she was so thankful for Jake's reprieve from death. She'd begun to feel the slightest glimmer of hope when the surgeon worried her again with the hesitation in his voice.

"I'm afraid there were a few complications treating Mr Moon. The head trauma and the severe loss of blood he suffered because of it meant that he was deprived of oxygen flow to his brain for a period of time. This led to an ischemic stroke due to a blood clot in one of his arteries. We've removed the clot and have begun to treat him with anticoagulant drugs to stop any further clots forming in his brain. We are monitoring the fluid at the site of the skull fracture to insure it doesn't increase beyond safe levels, but he may need further surgery to correct this. He has also suffered damage to his right ear and although we have made repairs to his tympanic membrane we believe it is likely that the perforation is quite serious. We won't know if this will lead to permanent hearing loss in that ear until he comes to and any swelling of his brain has gone down."

Here the surgeon paused and gave Ruby a calculating look before continuing in his explanation.

"I'm afraid that while we were treating Jake we had to increase the amount of anaesthetic several times to keep him from awakening during the neurosurgery. As we later discovered he had a very high blood alcohol level it may be possible that he will remain unconscious for quite a while."

At this point, tears were welling in Ruby's eyes and she was distracted form the Mr Costigan's demeanour with all the worry about Jake's shocking injuries. Stacey however was paying close attention and noticed that the surgeon was a little more apprehensive when he mentioned the alcohol Jake had been drinking before the accident. She didn't voice her concern then, but kept it in mind to mention to Ruby later that perhaps it was the hospital's mistake that Jake wasn't waking up.

"We'd normally be keeping a patient in a coma for some time after such extensive surgery anyway; in order for his brain to have time to recover and his body to gain in strength before he is conscious and can feel any pain. We'll be monitoring him closely and you are welcome to stay with him as long as you like."

The surgeon seemed to be calmer now and Stacey eyed him suspiciously wondering if he had been the one to screw up. Mr Costigan regarded her coldly, but catching Ruby's eye he smiled kindly and nodded his head as if to say, 'well that's it then.' Stacey held Ruby's hand and smiled supportively offering to stay at the hospital with her for as long as she liked. As the surgeon made attempts to walk away he cast a glance back at her and she noticed his anxiety turn to a look of gentle reassurance when Ruby offered up her own questions.

"Will he have any disability, because of the stroke…? I mean people do, don't they?" Ruby asked fretfully.

Mr Costigan explained how from the parts of Jake's brain which had been damaged; he may suffer some memory loss, problems with vision, speech and mobility. He prepared Ruby for the fact that Jake was likely to be both physically and psychologically affected by his injuries; but assured her that the hospital would provide plenty of advice and care. Ruby thanked the surgeon for looking after Jake and asked where she had to go to see him. Her heart was racing from all the heightened emotion brought on by the sudden reveal of so much information following so many hours of anxiety. She told herself that at least Jake was alive. However much he was affected by the head injury or stroke, she'd be there to help him. She'd make sure he got well and then they could both look forward to the future. A future that she was beginning to hope would always see them together.

As Tuesday turned into Wednesday and then Thursday and Friday followed without any sign of Jake regaining consciousness, Ruby's nerves were shattered and questions had to be raised. After three nights at the hospital, rarely leaving Jake's bedside and sleeping and eating very little; Stacey thought that Ruby had been struggling enough and that it was time her friend knew of her suspicions, however ridiculous they might sound.

Delicately bringing up the subject, Stacey explained how she had asked Dr Cousins, in passing, what effect alcohol had on anaesthetic. It hadn't needed much guesswork for him to realise Stacey was asking on behalf of Ruby, and Oliver had been very considerate and offered his support before going into any detail; something Ruby appreciated immensely knowing he would be the first line of treatment for Jake should Ruby be able to take him home. Oliver also told Stacey some useful information about different kinds of anaesthetic being used for alcoholic patients, though she couldn't remember names or figures in order to fill Ruby in completely. Stacey told her friend that Oliver had gone on to describe confusing medical scenarios that might have complicated things. Stacey summarised what she remembered, giving a pretty plausible explanation for why Jake was still in a coma; other than that which the Mr Costigan had been offering. Because Jake had been drinking a lot before the accident, it could confuse his blood alcohol tests and with transfusions thrown in to the mix as well, it wasn't a great leap to suggest that the combined effects of large amounts of alcohol and the wrong anaesthetic could have had an extremely negative effect on Jake's brain function.

"You're saying the surgeon made a mistake and made Jake worse?" Ruby began in a scathing tone that Stacey recalled Johnny using when the two girls had become friends and he had wanted her to leave his privately educated, middle-class daughter well alone.

"Well I don't know Rubes, but he just seemed strange about that and since Jake… well he's been out for a long time, hasn't he?"

Ruby was on her feet and ready to spit fire in seconds. She'd talked to Mr Costigan, who had come to her during those terrifying hours of Tuesday morning, several times since then and now in hindsight, his evasiveness seemed clear. He'd been taking a lot of tests, even took Jake back into surgery twice to repair CSF leaks, but now Ruby wondered what else he had been trying to fix that he'd done wrong in his first surgery. After spending the last four days blaming herself for everything and thinking that Jake may never wake up because of her own stupidity, she leapt on the opportunity to find some other reason that their lives were being torn apart. She was only to ready to acknowledge her own mistakes; but if someone had made Jake's condition worse because of an inappropriate treatment, she was going to make sure they paid for it.
Stacey had never seen Ruby so angry. Not even when she discovered how Phil Mitchell had put Juley up to sleeping with her, just to get back at her father, had she been so close to ripping someone's head off. The surgeon didn't know what hit him; since he'd been paranoid about the situation ever since he chose to keep his mistake to himself, you'd have thought he'd have been more composed. Ruby yelled at him in front of a whole bank of nurses and the hospital's new chief of internal medicine, accusing him of leaving her boyfriend for dead. Mr Costigan just stood there staring at her numbly, fully aware that his new boss and the nursing staff who already had a dislike for him, were paying close attention.

Stacey was standing a few feet away in the doorway to Jake's room when Ruby momentarily lost grip on reality and punched the surgeon square in the jaw. He fell backwards over the nurses' desk; since many of them had grown close to Ruby and felt sorry for her falling asleep in a chair holding Jake's hand every night, not a single one of them went to the Mr Costigan's aid. It was Mr Franks his new boss that eventually offered the man his hand and began to calm Ruby down.

"Miss Allen, I'm sure there is an explanation for all this and why don't we go and look over your boyfriend's notes right now and…"

Realising that the game was up Mr Costigan finally saw that he had no choice but to own up to his almost fatal error. If Jake died because he was covering up a mistake brought on by exhaustion and the fact that he was too preoccupied with the prospect of his wife discovering he was having it away with one of his new assistants, he'd not only be struck off but also imprisoned for a very long time. His words hurried out in a muddle after so long keeping them all bottled up. He admitted to an error in choosing the right anaesthetic which had left Jake unresponsive and in a coma. While his claim that this was done on purpose to aid recovery, could have been true; with Jake this was not the case. What was worse, he then admitted that the only way that he could cover up his mistake was by letting it seem that it was all done on purpose. Therefore a greater concern was raised, as he had not been giving Jake the right medication to enable him to recover consciousness, he may have left Jake open to further health complications, such as meningitis and pneumonia.

"How dare you, lie to me all this time. I've been sitting there thinking that Jake may die and you could have helped him just by admitting you'd screwed up. I want someone else to give my boyfriend the treatment that he should have been getting for the last few days and if he has any other infections or suffers further injury for this I'll make sure you go to prison for a very long time."
By this point the chief was making every promise he could in order to appease Ruby. They would reassess Jake's treatment immediately; if he could be brought out of the coma, they would endeavour to do so right away and he would be getting the best of care from this point on. Mr Costigan knew that he was about to be charged with dangerous professional misconduct and Ruby was only too happy to go to a solicitor about it. She told them all that she was going to have Jake transferred to a private hospital with specialist care as soon as he was able to be moved. Then as if the vitality with which her friend had flew at the medical professionals wasn't shocking enough, her final contemptuous comment stunned Stacey, but for altogether different reasons.

"You nearly killed the man I love. If you think I am going to let this go, because you've apologised, then you have another thing coming! I am not going to let you get away with this."