A/N: Thanks for the reviews on the first chapter :)
Sarah x
"Serena," a familiar voice called her. "Serena," he said again as she opened her eyes, her head still fuzzy.
"Ric?" she asked, finally placing the voice. She wondered, for a moment, why she felt so odd and was in pain. Then it came back to her; she remembered she had stupidly been driving while talking on the phone. That the car door had come in beside her. And she'd been in excruciating pain before she blacked out. And Ric had been shouting over the phone for her attention and her response had been so weak he hadn't heard her.
"Serena," he said once more, but his voice relieved this time. "You've suffered a lot of internal damage. Ruptured spleen. Damaged kidney. And you've broken your ribs; one of them damaged your lung but Elliot managed to stop that being too severe. You've broken your leg too."
"Brilliant," she groaned. She'd been right – they'd not told her the extent of get injuries for fear of upsetting her before surgery. She would have done exactly the same thing. "What have you done about it?"
"We had to remove your spleen, and we patched your kidney up as best we could but we're keeping an eye on it," he explained. "The orthopaedic consultant examined your leg while you were knocked out and he thinks you're going to need a plate. It's broken in four places."
Four places?! How the hell had she not noticed that? Maybe the agony she felt elsewhere had distracted her from it? God. She'd never been in a position of powerlessness before. Not to this extent. Yes, she had been vulnerable today, but she had eventually asserted herself as in control. Now she had no control over what happened to her; she knew they had to do as they saw fit and she would have no say in the clinical decisions.
"Do you want Eleanor?" he asked. "Michael said you were asking after her."
She thought about it for only a moment before making one decision on the basis of her reluctance to depend on anyone. "No," she said, trying and failing to smile. "No, she's at her friend's. Just leave her there. No point dragging her out at this time of the night."
Ric just stared at her, obviously not believing that she didn't want her own daughter by her side while she was recovering from a car accident. Eleanor didn't know what had happened, and Serena didn't intend on telling her until the morning – the girl had dealt with enough for today. She was hoping she was asleep by now, at any rate.
He just left her, because she gave him no option. Her tired mind still managed to deliver him a hard glare when she saw him about to express concern for her. She didn't care if she was his patient; she was still Serena Campbell and she didn't need anyone. She closed her eyes for a few minutes, just thinking. How had it all come to this?
She remembered forcing her voice to remain level when she was angry with Chantelle, and how it had taken all of her self-discipline not to actually shout or, even worse, cry. How she had told Ric she was making a formal complaint against her own department. Against her friends. She was that angry. And someone had to be blamed for what happened. There was a root cause for everything, someone always had to be in the wrong.
By the time she'd walked out of the hospital, finally drained of energy and fight, she was ready to drive home. Until she reached her parking space and found no car. Until she remembered how today had started; today had started with her car braking down, a girl collapsing in front of it, taking the girl to the hospital in an ambulance with her mother and a tow-truck close behind. Bottom line, she had no car. And she had stupidly hired a car rather than wait until morning and getting a cab home. How many times had she been told by various people not to drive when she was upset. Even worse with a car she wasn't used to.
"Ms. Campbell?" she heard a sweet voice next to her. She opened her eyes and found Chantelle at her side, looking rather apprehensive. Whether it was because the girl was worried about her condition, or because she had terrified her earlier, Serena was not entirely certain. "Are you alright?"
"What do you think?" she snapped. "Honestly," she sighed. What a stupid question to ask her.
"Well, if you need anything, just call," she persisted.
"Yes, I work here too," Serena said sarcastically. She wasn't sure why she was being like that, if she was truthful with herself. Maybe because she didn't want anyone to think she was weak. Maybe because she was independent. Maybe because she was desperate to remain as such. Regardless of the state of her body, her mind was as good as it always had been.
Chantelle, like Ric, was left with no option but to walk away. Serena thought on what the immediate future held for her; lying helpless in the same hospital as her ill mother, being treated by colleagues she'd been less than pleasant to. She didn't half make these situations difficult for herself. And if there was to be surgery on her leg, that meant now work for a good while. No theatre, at least. And Hanssen would definitely draw a line with what he would allow her to do.
She reached round to pour a glass of water, and found it caused her a great deal of pain. Her ribs protested at being moved, and the stitches were not liking it either. But rather than bother anyone for something as simple as a glass of water, she forced herself to reach out for the jug. The pain was intense; she was fine until she moved, but she refused to lie there and have everyone do everything for her.
She got her hand on the handle and picked the glass up between her fingers. The pain became too much and she was forced to drop the jug and tumbler. She gasped in pain, trying to stop anyone from hearing it. She knew she was OK; she'd just overstretched herself a little. Her hands instinctively protected her wound and her ribs as they caused her pain.
Before she knew it, Chantelle was beside her picking up the jug and glass. She must have heard it fall. "Why didn't you call me?" she scolded gently.
"Because I'm not an infant! I'm perfectly capable of getting water into a glass," she retorted, unusually angry that Chantelle had come to her aid. She half-expected Chantelle to stand up for herself – she was becoming better at that with time – but she just gave Serena an almost childlike look of curiosity. "What?!" she demanded.
"Nothing," she replied. "I'm just wondering why you do that."
"Do what?" Serena said with a glare, warning the young woman not to cross any lines. She didn't want to hear any sympathy from anyone.
"I just find it odd that you'd rather get angry and shout at someone when it's obvious what you really need is just to cry," the blonde shrugged. Serena felt a strange hurt anger rise through her, and she wanted nothing more to get rid of Chantelle before she said something to show anything apart from determination and strength.
"Oh, you think I need to cry, do you?" Serena challenged. "Is that your expert opinion?" she added, her voice once again dripping in sarcasm. Chantelle just stared at her, taken aback by how aggressive she was being. "Well, I realise seeing me in pain probably gives you and Ric some twisted sense of satisfaction, but don't get your hopes up," Serena found herself snarling.
"What?" she asked, clearly confused. "I don't want to see anyone in pain."
Serena gave a humourless laugh, shaking her head. "Here's an idea," she began, deciding to send her away once and for all. For tonight, anyway. "As you pointed out, you're short staffed, so why don't you run along and tend to all the patients who actually need you to help them?"
Serena instantly regretted saying it when Chantelle's expression turned into one of hurt. The girl would never tell her as much, but Serena knew those words had stung her. She felt bad, but it was a means to an end, and the end goal was to be left in peace. She wanted to fall asleep and for this horrible day just to be some awful nightmare. Either that, or she wanted to fall asleep and never wake up. She wasn't quite sure which idea was the most appealing at that moment in time.
The nurse walked away and busied herself with another patient, just as Serena had said, but when she went to the other side of the man's bed to take his pulse, their eyes met, and Serena found she was unable to tear away her gaze. She wasn't even sure why she was being like this; she felt like, if she was to let them help, it was going to mean she would have to open up to them, and opening up could only result in disaster. It would result in her displaying weakness, and that, she feared, would change how they viewed Serena Campbell.
Hope this is alright!
Please feel free to drop a review and tell me what you think!
Sarah x