ok, next chappie is up, so read it and weep! (Ok, kidding! There's no need for tears!)
Thanks to the reviews of CakeyxClickx, mwiles and xxXxGacieCullenHarknessxxXx! Thanks a lot mates, I liked to read them!
Nick probably broke the record for fast-dressing, because he was out of his house and on the way in under five minutes. All sleep was forgotten while he urged the Hilux through the streets of London. Now he was glad for the early call, on a Saturday morning at six the traffic wasn't quite as unbearable as on any other day. Nonetheless it seemed like ages to him, as if the car wasn't moving fast enough, or something slowed him down. Whenever Nick had to stop on a traffic light, he strated drumming his fingers at the steering wheel, glaring at the red lights, hoping they would switch soon. And he had to force his brain to think of something else, other than Jenny in the wreck of her Volvo. He really hated these little mindmovies, they seemed to make everything even worse. His mind went over all the possible injuries she could have sustained, each one worse than the one before.
Nick had to supress a nervous shudder, as the giant shape of the hospital emerged into sight. A huge building of glass and iron, polished like a crystal it stood on a corner, people walking in front of it.
Connor hadn't been specific as to what had happened to Jenny or how badly she was injured, but Nick (being himself) suspected the worst. Such as usual with him, whenever Jenny was involved, he just got overprotective, fearing what might happen to her. And she had a talent for troubles. But ironically car accidents weren't high up that list. They always suspected that they got killed by one of the creatures one day, crushed or ripped apart. The idea that one of them actually might be hurt during such a thing as a car crash didn't occur to their minds. And yet it had happened, it was always the things they weren't considering, which tended to turn around and bite them.
Nick stopped the Hilux close to the main entrance, as close as possible, spotting Abby's blue mini not far away. That meant that both Abby and Connor were here, seeing as Abby would never allow the boy to drive her car if she was still able to.
He wasted a few moments to lean forwards onto the steerin wheel and took several deep breaths. It would help no one if he ran in there, completely out of sorts; they were probably as worried as he was. No need to worry them even further with his gruesome mind-movies and gloomy view of things. Deliberately he got out of the car and made his way towards the glassy front of the huge building. Inside all was like a maze around him, something seemingly usual for hospitals, people everywhere, nurses, doctors and patients, turning corners and coming through doors.
Nick stopped the first nurse to cross his path.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for the A&E department." He said, his voice sounded calm, but the words shook him deeply inside, though he concealed it pretty good.
"It's down that hallway and to the left." She said, hurrying away before he even had a chance to thank her. Following the description he passed many doors, no patient or treatment rooms, merely diagnostic ones. Behind each one of these, fate was designed, saving people or condemning them.
His thoughts were stopped as he spotted a pacing Connor amidst the crowd and called to him. Next to the boy, on a chair by the wall, Abby sat, her eyes lighting up as she saw Nick.
"What happened?" Nick asked them both, but Connor was a tad faster than Abby. It was almost funny, the boy suddenly got professional, he knew there was no room for small talk or jokes.
"We received the call about ten minutes before we phoned you. We know nothing concrete yet, but the police told us, Jenny was hit by a truck, about the size of a pickup. The driver was drunk and didn't see her. They are still questioning him on that. Anyway, they wont let us see her, she's somewhere behind these doors. And we haven't seen her doctor either, we've been waiting since we arrived." Shrugging Connor looked towards the double-doors labeled 'OR – No visitors allowed' and fell silent. He seemed as restless as Nick felt, a dread covering their thoughts, the fear of never seeing Jenny alive again. And even though Nick thought so, he forced himself to act encouraging towards the others.
"She'll be all right. You know Jenny, never gives up without a good fight." Though he had the slight feeling that it was a lie, it helped to say these words. There was still some hope left, like a pale gleaming on the horizon, figuratively spoken, it was not yet over.
"What about Lester? We couldn't reach him in his office and I don't have the number of him at home." Abby asked, her voice careworn and sounding somewhat helpless, looking at Nick for information on that point.
"Because it's a Saturday, he wont be at the ARC until sometime around nine. Then I'll talk to him." Nick didn't even know he had spoken; everything around seemed unreal, like it wasn't really happeneing. And at the same time it was so goddamn realistic, like a very vivid nightmare with no one who would wake him up. They fell silent again and Connor; now calmer than before because Nick was there, stopped his pacing and sat down on a chair next to Abby, unconciously reaching for her hand. Nick leaned against a wall, looking at the ground beneath his feet while the world rushed around them all. From time to time he looked towards the door, mainly when it opened and someone walked out or in, but no one came to them. Time passed unheeded, minutes or even hours flying past, but none of them noticed. They were anxious to find out news on Jenny, how she was doing, how severly she was injured, if she would be allright again, normal questions anyone wanted to ask, when someone was in hospital. Nick stood still, silent as a tree in the forest, a pillar of reassurance to his younger team mates, yet Abby knew what he was thinking. His face was calm, but his eyes told the story of a man who feared the woman he cared about to be taken away from him again. He just knew there wasn't anything he could do, he was literally helpless. And that was for someone like Nick, who liked to be in control of his surroundings, a very hard time. It reminded her of that day in the Forest of Dean, when he came back from the Permian and asked for this Claudia Brown. It had been worse then, but his eyes looked almost the same. Only without the confusion of being thrown into a different reality. Tensed Abby began to bite her nails, one of her strange habits when she was worried or concerned and Connor just stared at the doors, seemingly his thoughts miles away, as if he was trying to make a doctor appear just because he wished for it. Didn't work, no one came, and after a while Connor's eyes started to dart around, looking for something to distract him. After what seemed an eternity, he looked up at Nick and spoke quietly.
"What do we do if..." he couldn't finish, but it wasn't needed. Everyone knew what he was implying at.
"She wont. She's a stong person, she wont ... die." Nick answered him harshly, hoping he wasn't lying. It had been a struggle to even say it, he rather didn't want to think about what he might do if the worst really happened. But he had asked himself the same question for the last few minutes, his mind swarmed around every possible injury from a car crash, started by some bruises and stopping at a complicated neural damaging. He really hoped Jenny would be fine again, the thought of losing her made him almost go mad, though he didn't know why exactly. He had to restrain himself, force him to not start pacing the way Connor had done when he arrived. Thankfully at last a doctor walked towards them, a woman at the age of about 30, maybe younger.
"Excuse me, are you here for Ms. Lewis?" she asked, revealing a perfect, accentfree english, possibly she was from Oxford. Instantly all three gathered around the doctor, leaving it to Nick to ask the most pressing questions.
"How is she?" Nick asked hesitantly, worried of the answer. The polite smile on the doctors lips vanished and made room for a slightly concerned frown.
"Ms. Lewis has a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, commonly known as concussion. Also a complicated fracture of her right leg, some ribs have fissures along with minor cuts and bruises. Due to the concussion she'll be disorientated for a few days up to two weeks. The leg has been repaired and remains in a cast for at least five weeks. She should take it easy now, but she'll recover completely. Usually concussion symptoms vanish within the first days completely, but I'd like to keep her here at least over the weekend, just to be on the safe side, in case there is intracranial bleeding. Which is unlikely" she added quickly, seeing Nick's horrified face "but nonetheless we'll keep her for observation. She's sedated now, to minimize the risk of her moving. Are you the husband?" she asked pointing to Nick, who shifted somewhat uncomfortable. If he said he was, they would allow at least him to go in. But that would be lying, something Nick wasn't very good at. And if he denied, it would be the truth, but no one would be allowed in.
Man, talk about dilemmas...
"No, we're her colleagues. She's not married." He answered finally, deciding that lying wouldn't get him anywhere. "Can we see her?" he added hastingly, noticing the other nod beside him. The doctor sighed, clearly not wanting to allow them all in, but aware that a visit may help Jenny's recovery. Abby seemed to read the thughts of the doc and turned to Nick, a kind expression on her young face.
"You go in. We'll head to the ARC and tell the others." Seeing him nod absentmindedly, she grabbed her coat and bag from the chair and gave Nick a quick hug.
"Say hi from us. And tell us how she's doing." She added, taking Connor's hand to lead him outside. Of course, she didn't want to leave, but right now it was best if only one went to see Jenny, it would be less confusing. She waved and disappeared around the corner.
Nick knew Abby hated hospitals almost as much as he did himself, but her sense of duty had restrained her. Now that she knew Jenny would be fine in a couple of days (not counting the broken leg) she had decided it was Nick's call after all. It was plain to everyone who had eyes that he liked her a lot. Maybe even more than was good for him, but it warmed her heart to see him care about Jenny. Abby had decided that he should have the chance to be alone with Jenny for a while, knowing his presence would calm her down. So she shoved Connor into her car and set off towards the ARC, hoping the doc would he right and Jenny would make full recovery.
For all of their sakes.
Nick gasped as he saw Jenny in that hospital bed, her beautiful face bruised and swollen, her pale skin scratched and in some places turning in hues of red to purple. Her leg hung in a sling, a plain white cast around it. She was breathing steadily, lost in medically induced slumber, but Nick supposed it was probably for the best. She would have been in pain because of her injuries and sleep could draw that out. Glancing to her bedside he perceived an i.V. drop of morphine.
Ok, when she wakes up, she'll at least have no pain. She'll be high, probably...
Despite that quite funny image of Jenny being high on morphine, he couldn't restrain the pity as he looked at her. She had always seemed so tough, unbendable, like a huge tree in an open field. Supressing the sligth tremor in his hands Nick stepped closer, as silently as manageable. Her doctor, Dr. Mitchell as she had introduced herself, had left them alone, allowing them a bit of privacy. Nick sat down next to Jenny's bed, taking in everything about her, trying in vain to ignore the bruises and the small cuts across the hand he reached for. No sound except the life support monitor and their slow breathing pierced the silence.
Long time he sat there, just staring at Jenny, hoping she'd be fine soon. Somehow he couldn't bear the thought of her loss; he simply refused to accept that possibility. He didn't know if he would be able to take that pain. It had been bad when Helen disappeared, it had been worse than anything before when Claudia vanished, but losing Jenny would probably be the worst of all. With Helen or even Claudia he had given himself enough time to realise he wouldn't get them back. But just the mere image of Jenny's dead body given to the earth was too much to take.
Then, after a long while, Jenny's eyelids fluttered slightly; she was waking up. Smiling Nick gripped her hand a bit tighter, silently thanking the universe.
"Jenny?" he whispered low, smiling brighter as her eyes finally slid open properly and she set her gaze at him. Her voice was weak and hoarse, pure exhaustion dripping form every syllable.
"What happened?"
God, she sounds so much like Claudia tright there...
"You had an accident." He answered; glad it wasn't exactly what he had told Claudia, that would have been too damn awkward.
"Where am I?"
"In the hospital." He said, and gave his voice a soothing tone to calm her. She looked confused, a bit frightened also and the last thing he wanted was to make her freak out even more. Jenny looked long at him, not saying a word, as if she was thinking about him.
"As soon as I heard what had happened, I came here. I should tell you now that Abby and Connor say hi and they hope you'll be fine soon." Nick said, not wanting the silence around them to endure.
"Abby and Connor?" Jenny asked, looking even more confused. Nick couldn't follow for a moment, the joy of seeing her brown eyes made him think a bit slower plus he though she was kidding.
"Yeah, Abby and Connor. You know, platinum blonde lizard girl and a geeky boy." It wasn't until there that he realised the meaning behind the words. Before Jenny even replied to his explanation he felt icy shudders run down his spine, finally grasping the meaning of the question and the confusion in Jenny's eyes.
"This may seem weird, but am I supposed to know you?"
Oh please God, no....
Ok, I promise, this was the last cliffhanger like that. I'll try to at the least^^
As always, tell me what you think of it!
