They were met by a whole bunch of staff gazing in amazement at Trixie with the three children clinging onto her as a rock did to land. "Clear the room everybody! Now I mean it!" Trixie shouted in anger that her little ones did not come to her sooner. Everyone left until it was just the children, Beatrix and Zoe. The door closed behind them all as a crowd started to form around the small ward.
Once alone Trixie asked that Gary took what was left of his shirt that she had gave him a year ago off. He knew that arguing with his adoptive aunt would get him nowhere so did as he was told. However before he did Trixie warned Dr Hanna that she might find it hard to accept. Zoe took a step back at the reveal of this boy's wounds which were badly infected and open. In shock she blurted out "Don't they hurt, you poor boy? Who did this to you and your sisters?" With those words Gary grabbed his shirt and put it back on in anger that someone would judge him. He looked towards his aunt in hatred for the other woman. Just before Trixie could say anything someone came into the room demanding that Zoe come to see a pregnant woman involved in an RTC. That was good timing as Beatrix hated to tell adults to leave the room, it was worse when she had to do it to parents or relations of the child.
With the other woman gone Trixie took Gary's hand and squeezed it tight reminding him of when his mother used to do that until she changed. In one clean moment she drew up his shirt and put on some gloves in order to examine his tiny brittle frame. Careful not to hurt him she gently pressed her hands on his skin, it was obviously too much for him to bear as he screamed out in pain. "Please stop Auntie? It hurts! It really, really hurts! Leave me alone." Gary was more fragile than ever, even in London he would still let Trixie touch him even if he was in pain. However Trixie saw that this time he really was in too much pain to be touched. "You know I can't do that little one. Please? I promise I will be extra gentle and you can squeeze my other hand if you want?" Her voice was as soft as an angel's wings. With that sentence he grabbed onto her free hand and held it tight putting on a brave face for his sisters who were sitting on the other side of the room playing hand clapping games. Trixie noticed that Coralline was only using one hand, which she thought was odd.
Slowly Nurse Franklin moved her free hand to the first of Gary's open wounds, as she ran over it carefully she felt the grip tighten on her other hand as a sign it was painful for the small boy. "Well done my little soldier, you are the bravest person I know along with your sisters. I think that you are going to need stitches in that one and defiantly need a picture of your bones. Shall we go and do that now. We can do your sisters too and you can help me." His little face lit up at the word picture, he loved to see his x-ray after and have his aunt explain everything to him and his sisters. They all climbed up onto the trolley with faces filled with joy, Beatrix stopped one of the staff to get directions to x-ray. Down one corridor to the next it was a maze.
Wanting to go first, Gary jumped up on the table trying not to hurt himself. The only thing he hated was lying down on the bench, he went down slowly as Trixie supported his back careful not to press to hard as he may have broken bones as well as his sisters. One by one they had their whole bodies x-rayed just to make sure. All of the ED staff were in wonder about the bond that these children had developed with their new work colleague, but nobody questioned it. The children went back to HDCU where a few people tried to get close enough to sterilise their cuts as Beatrix and the radiologist studied the children's pictures. Some ribs had been broken in all them and Margaret had a fractured ulna form where she put her arm up to defend herself. Coralline had a badly broken hand which would require surgery to fix. The two girls had less external injuries than Gary. He had several broken ribs and micro-fracturing to his collar bones but an unbelievable amount of open wounds caused by a knife or some kind of blade.
Nurse Franklin's concentration was knocked, by the scream of Coralline when the surgeon tried to touch her hand. "Get off of me! Really hurts. Why touching?" With those words from the angry three year old Trixie came rushing in, cocooned her into a mama bear hug, to save the ears of everyone. "Ooh dear little one! Is the mean guy hurting you?" Coralline looked into her aunt's eyes with tears running down her face. Running her soft fingers over her tiny face, Trixie cleared up the little girl's eyes. "If you won't let the man hold your hand, can I hold it? You can hold my other hand if you want? Well done Coralline you are doing great!"
"Okay Auntie Trixie, but it hurts a lot. It really hurts. Make the nasty man go away, don't like him." Beatrix looked over her shoulder and gave a gesture to the surgeon to stand the other side of the room. She glided her hand over the damaged hand of the little girl, the grip on her hand tightened and a small cry came out of Coralline's mouth. "Sorry baby girl, was that too hard? I will try and be gentler next time but it will still hurt. I tell you what if you let me wrap your hand up we can go and find a hot chocolate. Plan?" She knew that the hot chocolate bribe would get the biggest nod of all time.
The staff behind her started bickering about the new comer to the work place. "Do you think that she has magical powers over kids?"
"Maybe she knew them before today or she just has one of them faces, you know?"
Before anymore could be said one of the head nurses, Linda Andrews, came in to see the children. Like Trixie she had one of those faces that people just talked too. "Nurse Franklin? Dr Hanna has requested you in resus, it is the pregnant woman in the RTC. She won't let anyone get near her and is refusing to get any treatment, she was wondering if you could help? I can stay with these little darlings and keep an eye on them." She looked at her nieces and nephew to see if they would be okay with that, which thankfully they were but refused to be touched by Nurse Andrews.