Chapter Two
She'd thought it took a long time for the phone call to come to say Elvis had arrived at the hospital, the drive to Birmingham seemed to take even longer. Georgie's Mum had come over and picked Lauren up so it was just the two of them sitting in the car in silence. The occasional muffled sob escaped Georgie the nearer they got to the hospital but she'd barely said a word.
As Molly parked the car outside the hospital entrance Georgie finally turned to look at her. "I really don't think I can do this Molly."
"You can." Molly squeezed her friends arm reassuringly. "We don't know anything yet. Let's just go and see what the doctors have got to say. One step at a time, okay?"
"I just…. I spent all that time being angry and hating him for what he did and now…." Georgie mumbled. "I wasted all that time."
"Come on." Molly opened the door and climbed out of the car. "Sitting here wondering isn't going to do you any good. Let's just go and find out what's happened first and then we'll take it from there."
The hospital seemed quiet compared to the chaos she was used to in A&E. The click of her heels seemed to echo off the walls as they wound their way through the hospital to the ward they'd been told Elvis was on.
"Mrs Harte?" Georgie looked at the nurse standing in front of them in surprise. It was one of the few times anyone had called her that since they'd been married. It sounded strange still.
"Yes." She breathed.
"Why don't you come and sit down? The doctor will be with you soon." The nurse suggested, pointing to a small room behind them.
"He's dead, isn't he?" Georgie choked out. Her whole body seemed to sag and Molly grabbed her elbow, uncertain for a moment whether she might fall.
"No." The nurse said softly. "They managed to stabilise him to fly him back, the doctors are with him now. That's all I know. Come and sit down and I'll get you a cup of tea while you wait for the doctor."
"Thank you." Molly said quietly, guiding Georgie into the waiting room. "Breathe Georgie." She reminded, looking at her friend as she perched on the edge of the chair.
"What does that mean- they managed to stabilise him?" Georgie asked, her voice trembling as she looked up at Molly. "Is he going to be okay?"
Molly sat down beside her, drawing in a deep breath as she thought for a second. "It means what she said." She said slowly. "They managed to get him stable enough to get him here at least. I'm sure the doctor will be able to tell us more in a little while."
Georgie nodded, chewing on the bottom lip. "Okay."
They sat in that little room and waited and waited. Georgie picked at the last remnants of her nail varnish, Molly paced and the two of them both worried silently about what was to come. Georgie pulled out her phone and stared at the photo on the screen. It had been taken maybe a day or two before Elvis had been deployed, he was laying in their bed holding Lauren when she'd got out of the shower and she'd snapped the photo. He looked so happy and she could remember vividly him whispering to Lauren that she wasn't allowed to grow up too much while he was gone because he didn't want to miss everything. Her heart was heavy as she wondered if he'd ever get to see her grow up at all now.
Molly froze midway across the room as the door opened and the doctor walked in. "Mrs Harte? I'm Dr Alexander."
Molly quickly shook her head. "Molly James, I'm a family friend. This is Georgie." She turned and glanced at Georgie who was staring wide eyed at the man standing in front of them.
"How is he?" She whispered, getting somewhat unsteadily to her feet.
"Why don't we all sit down?" He suggested, sitting down opposite Georgie. Molly followed suit and sat down beside her friend. The look on the doctors face was making her nervous, she knew that look. She'd worn it many times when she'd been trying to work out how to destroy someone's entire world.
"Captain Harte-" He started.
"Elvis, please." Georgie cut in.
He smiled sympathetically. "Sorry, Elvis." He nodded. "He's stable for the moment, there's a lot of swelling on the brain and he is heavily sedated. His left leg is broken, we'll be taking him into surgery to pin it once he's stable and he does have quite a few broken ribs. There's some burns too, but they're surprisingly not as severe as I thought they might be given the nature of the injury."
Georgie looked over at Molly. "What does that mean?"
Molly looked back to Dr Alexander for confirmation. "It means he was lucky, really lucky Georgie… But he's not out of the woods."
"Exactly that." Dr Alexander agreed. "It's difficult to know what kind of damage there will be when he wakes up… There is also the chance that he may not regain consciousness. I'm hopeful, the fact that he's made it this far is a good sign- but I don't want to make you any promises. There's a long way to go."
Georgie was silent for a long moment, processing what had been said. "Can I see him?"
"Of course." Dr Alexander nodded, getting to his feet. "I'll take you to him, just prepare yourself. He's not looking his best at the moment."
Rather unexpectedly Georgie laughed. "Don't let him hear you say that."
Molly laughed quietly. "No, he'd be horrified." She agreed. "Come on.." She stood up and held a hand out to Georgie, the two of them following the doctor down the hallway to Elvis' room.
To say he wasn't looking his best was probably an understatement. Someone had obviously cleaned him up, or at least done their best because the majority of the dust and blood was gone. It was just the odd bit here and there but it was enough for Molly's mind to fill in the blanks of how she imagined he'd looked when Charles had seen him. She could see the dressings on some of the burns to his chest, just about covered by the blankets pulled up around him. His face was covered in cuts and bruises, a neat row of stitches ran along his hairline on the right hand side. His leg was in a temporary cast and propped up on a pillow. She didn't even like to think about all the injuries that they couldn't see.
Georgie's strangled sob brought Molly back into the room. She put a comforting hand on her friends shoulder, gently guiding her into the chair that had been pulled up beside the bed. "Oh god Molly." She choked out, her hand tentatively reaching out to touch his.
"It's okay Georgie, you're not going to hurt him." Molly reassured. "Talk to him, be here with him."
Georgie nodded, her hand linking with his. She noticed for a moment that his wedding ring was gone. She wondered if they'd cut it off or it had been lost. In the grand scheme of things it didn't really matter she supposed.
Molly stood, her hand still on Georgie's shoulder, watching the monitors that surrounded Elvis. She watched each slow rise and fall of his chest, willing him to be okay. The alternative didn't even bear thinking about.
"You promised me you'd be careful." Georgie whispered. "You promised I wouldn't have to raise our daughter on my own. I swear to god Elvis, if you break that promise I'll…." She glanced up at Molly as though she'd suddenly remembered she was there.
"I second what she said Elvis." Molly smiled at Georgie. "And I suspect there's one hell of a lecture coming from Charles when he gets back so you'd better rest while you can."
Georgie laughed quietly. "There's something for us all to look forward to."
Molly squeezed her shoulder. "Speaking of, I'm going to try and call my husband and let him know what's going on. Are you going to be okay on your own for a bit?"
Georgie nodded, glancing back at Elvis. "Can you thank Charles for me?"
"I will." Molly nodded, ducking out of the room. She could just hear Georgie whispering to Elvis as she closed the door behind her, walking off down the hallway to find somewhere quiet she could try and call Charles.
She found a spot in the stairwell in the end, sitting down on the stairs to rest her aching feet. She called his number and waited as it rang and rang, preparing herself to leave a message. Her heart sank at the thought of not getting to speak to him, even though she hadn't really been expecting him to answer.
"Molly?" There was a breathless voice on the other end of the phone.
"You answered." She smiled.
"What did you expect to happen? You rang me." He chuckled. A new wave of homesickness hit him hearing her voice. "How is he?"
"Stable." She said quietly. "He's a bit of a state, but all things considered he came off pretty lightly. Just got to wait and see now. Georgie's in with him."
Charles' sigh of relief was audible. "I honestly thought he was dead Molly."
"I know. I could hear it in your voice earlier." She answered. "I just… I'll say the same thing I said to Georgie- don't get ahead of yourself. There's a long way to go."
"I know." His voice was quiet on the end of the phone. "I miss you."
She could feel her eyes filling with tears and she blinked them back furiously. "I know. I miss you too."
"I wish I was there, I feel so useless here. Give my love to Lane?"
"I will." Molly nodded. "It's just a few more weeks, you'll be back before you know it. Then you can go back to complaining my snoring is keeping you up at night."
He laughed quietly. "I should go I guess." He said reluctantly.
She was quiet for a moment, just listening to the sound of him breathing on the end of the phone. She suddenly felt every single one of the thousands of miles between them. "I know." She sighed. "Me too."
"I'll try and call you tomorrow?" He suggested. "I don't know what'll be happening here but…"
"I know." She smiled. "It's okay. If you can then you can… I'm working tomorrow anyway."
"I hope you're not meaning you're going to sit on the floor in your office on your own eating pizza again." He joked.
"Maybe." She laughed. "I'd probably be there now if Elvis hadn't decided to get himself blown off the top of a building."
"Typical Elvis, has to make everything about him." His laughter died down. "Look after him for me Molly?"
"I will." She whispered. "Come on, you'd better go."
"Yeah." He struggled to stifle a yawn. "I love you."
"Love you too." She smiled, blinking back a tear as she hung up the phone.