Sunil and Amy were followed back to Ste's room by his nurse, Lindsey. They threw the door open and watched as she paced over to observe his state. Ste's droopy eyes hung over his oxygen mask and he seemed to be staring at nothing in particular. It must have been such a strange experience for Ste; all of the distant voices and the blurry vision and the bright lights. Would he even recognise any of these things? The condition of his brain was still completely unclear and would be so until tests were completed. At least he was finally awake.
Freddie hadn't left Danni's bedside all day. She insisted repeatedly that she felt ready to go home but Freddie and the hospital staff urged her to stay for just another while. "I didn't think you'd ever want to speak to me again after I did what I did." Danni said, sitting herself up a little more. "I didn't, at first. I thought I was going to end up wasting my time chasing you if you were just going to get up and leave like that without telling me." he laughed, passing her a bottle of water he had bought for her from a nearby vending machine. "Why are you here then? Why did you want to see me?" she asked seriously, taking the bottle but waiting patiently for his answer before considering taking a drink. Freddie's head dropped a little and he seemed to have lost the ability to speak. He rubbed his jaw with his hand before speaking. "When I found out that you had left, I was bitter and disappointed. We've only known each other for a short while but no girl has ever got me this quickly. I don't know how to explain it but I know you know what I mean. When I heard there was a massive crash, I didn't care because nothing going on around me seemed to capture my attention the way you did. When I heard you were in that car, I could have leaped out of my own skin rushing around to find out if you were okay. I dropped everything and came looking for you. When I got to the bus stop, where the wreckage was, I watched them carry your body on a stretcher to the ambulance and my legs lost all feeling. I didn't know what was going to happen to you after that. All I knew was that I had to be with you in here. I came to visit you every day to check up on you and to chat to you, even though you couldn't hear me. Now that you're awake, I can tell you that there's no other girl on this planet that makes me feel this way." The grin that grew on Danni's face as Freddie spoke was both comical and romantic. Like Freddie, she had never felt this way before. "So, you're willing to give us another try?" she croaked, finally taking a gulp of water to clear her dry throat. He smiled and kissed her gently on the forehead.
The village had become awfully still since the crash had taken place. The aftermath had been cleared away but the bus stop was still missing and the gaping car-shaped hole in the ditch behind it was a fixed reminder of what had happened that night. Unaffected by the tragedy was Trevor, who went about his days as casual as ever. He was far more invested in his new business plan of using his apparent irresistibility to control an unaware Cody who had now officially dropped out of college. "Why don't you take me out for dinner or something sometime?" she suggested, making sure to show enough of her chest to guarantee the answer she wanted to hear. They stood at the bar in the club and kept an eye out for Grace, even though Trevor had already told her he would be leading Cody on to carry out risky deeds for him. "I'd love to! What kind of food do you like? Italian? Indian? Chinese? You name it and I'll take you out." he winked, watching her fall deeper and deeper for him with every word. "Hm, I'd love to go to a fancy Italian restaurant! I think you and I deserve only the best, don't you think?" She stroked his hand flirtatiously but quickly pulled away as Grace appeared from the back of the club. She seemed to be in a hurry and rushed to the club manager's room, leaving them alone again. "I'll take you out if you do a little something for me." Trevor piped up moments later. "Oh yeah? And what might that be?" she teased, placing a hand on his chest and leaning in to kiss him. He eased her back a little bit so that he could explain the mood-killing condition. "You know that I'm a very busy business man, don't you? Well, sometimes, I don't have enough time to do what I need to do and I don't trust anyone enough to hire them to do things for me because a lot of money is at stake. But, I trust you. I really like you. And in order for me to have some time to be with you, I need to get some things done. So, I will be happy to take you out for dinner if you'll drop off some money for me to someone I know. They'll give you something in return and you just bring it back to me. Simple, isn't it? Are you up for it?" he smiled, combing his fingers through a streak of her hair. "Of course I'll do it! Just tell me when you need the money dropped off and I'll do it!" she beamed, completely unaware of how badly it could go. Trevor looked very pleased and rewarded her with a secret smooch, knowing it was all an act.
It had been announced that Ste's test results would be returning in a few moments and that Sunil, Amy, Leah and Lucas were to wait patiently. Lindsey had been so attentive and caring towards Ste but she could deliver life-changing news to him at any moment. "Can you hear me? Are you able to speak? Try and say something! Squeeze my hand if you can hear me!" Sunil pleaded, receiving no response. Amy tried to keep Leah and Lucas occupied as being in one room for too long tended to make them bored and eager to go somewhere else. Ste simply stared at the ceiling which scared Sunil greatly. It was looking more and more likely that some serious damage had been done. After another excruciatingly drawn-out wait, Lindsey finally emerged at the door with a clipboard in her hand. Sunil scrutinised every feature of her face to detect any clue as to what she was about to say but she was stone-solid and impossible to read. She stood by the bed and waited for them to gather around a little before quickly flicking through her clipboard.
"Okay, as you know, Ste has broken some bones which will all heal over time. We will try to get him a wheelchair as soon as possible so that he can get around a bit easier. We've already got a referral sent off for him so he will just need to be assessed before they can give it to him but I'm positive he will get one." As Lindsey spoke, Sunil and Amy seemed visibly agitated and just wanted to hear everything else. "When it comes to his head injuries, it is quite detailed but I will try to shrink it down for you. He has gone through some pretty serious head trauma, but, we think he will make a full recovery over time, also. He is incredibly lucky." A collaborative sigh of relief that could have knocked over Leah and Lucas was let out by Sunil and Amy. Sunil had lit up with tears of joy as Amy explained to the kids that their daddy was going to be okay. Once there was another bit of silence, Lindsey spoke again. "Although he hasn't done any damage to his skull or his brain, we would suggest that you don't put Ste through any stress of any kind for as long as possible. It could trigger something and cause damage that way so just keep him relaxed and out of harm's way. He may experience some difficulty with speech and movement but that should correct itself pretty soon so don't panic if he isn't responding in those ways. Other than that, I've nothing else to say! Do either of you have any questions?" Lindsey asked, making her way to the door. "No, but thank you so much for everything! Really, thank you!" Sunil said in praise before she disappeared into the corridor again. "Did you hear that, Ste?! You're going to be okay! Can you believe it?!" Sunil exclaimed, grasping Ste's hand and diving into his shoulder before realising he was probably hurting his broken arm.
Freddie remained with Danni in her ward and chatted to her to make her feel like she wasn't in a hospital as best as he could. At some point that evening, they were interrupted by a soft and almost inaudible knock on the door. They both looked up to see who it was. Unexpectedly, Sienna peeked her had around the door. "Surprise!" she smiled as she let herself in. Danni's face lit up and she lifted herself out of her bed to stumble to her half-sister as fast as she could. "How come you're out of... that place?" Danni asked in disbelief, avoiding referring to the psychiatric hospital as what it was because she felt uncomfortable with the idea that her sister was a patient in one. "They let me out today! They didn't think I needed any further treatment. Like before, they knew there was nothing wrong with me. Really, they just thought I may have suffered head injuries from the crash or seeing my dad again might have driven me back to madness but I'm all good and I'm free!" Sienna explained with a irremovable grin on her face. With that, she was embraced in a much-needed hug from Danni. "So, he's definitely gone this time?" Danni murmured as she pulled away. Sienna knew instantly that she was referring to their father who had died in the process of trying to hurt them once again. She nodded her head adamantly with a slight hint of sadness. Although Patrick was evil to his core, he was their father. He brought Danni back to Sienna but now they could comfortably move on and be a proper family without his controlling grip over them.
After almost an hour of trying to communicate with Ste in some way, Sunil had only managed to get some finger movement. He had begged Ste to squeeze his hand if he could hear him speaking and Ste soldiered through his pain to lift two of his fingers. It was a little movement but an enormous step forward in the early stages of his recovery. Leah and Lucas took Ste a step further when they read him poems they had written for him by his bedside. Instead of trying to squeeze someone's hand or to make a certain noise, Ste managed to alternate his breathing for a second. It was almost like a hiccup or a small, muted laugh. It was similar to hearing a baby speak its first words. All of this was accomplished in just one day. The possibilities of what Ste could potentially accomplish over the next few days or weeks was still uncertain but everyone had sturdy hope that the best would come of it. Surely, they deserved that.
"How did that big meeting go today then?" Darren asked Nancy after he came down from putting Oscar, their son, to bed. Nancy laid her bag and herself down on the couch and had a particularly unusual smile on her face. Darren followed her to the couch and took a seat across from her, suspicious of what was giving her so much pleasure. "You're never going to guess what I've just been offered!" she chuckled, clamping her hands to her face, a thrilling stare of excitement in her eyes. "Now that the headmaster position is obviously no longer occupied, the board of directors have offered me the position as headmistress!" she almost squealed. Darren leapt from the couch parallel to hers and forced a storm of kisses on her face. "You're going to take the job, aren't you?" Darren asked once they had calmed down. "Oh, of course! How could I not take it? This is the highest position I've ever had in my career! I've always wanted to have this job and now it's mine!" she beamed, glowing with pride. "Bet Sienna's not going to be too happy with that, you taking her dad's old job and all that!" Darren giggled, marching to the kitchen to grab a bottle of champaign and two glasses. "Oh, don't bring her into this! This is a moment of triumph and celebration! We're finally going to be financially stable and I'll never have to correct another blasted test!" Darren poured their glasses and they toasted. "You won't have to correct tests but you will have to run an entire college and make sure everything goes smoothly every day!" he joked, watching the grin deteriorate slowly on her face. "The first thing I'm going to do is get John Paul his job back seeing as there's no English teachers left! I'll also need to find a new drama teacher... There's also this really dreadful smell coming from some of the pipes and that's going to need sorting out... Oh, and the students are petitioning for better products in the vending machines and there's plans to extend the staff car park and that'll have to be sorted out pretty quickly-" Darren raised his hand to silence her and they began to laugh at her typical approaching methods to future problems. "Take it easy! I can see the wrinkles appearing on your face already from all the stress you're piling onto yourself! Let's just enjoy tonight and you can worry about all of those things when you've actually got the job!" Nancy downed her entire glass of champaign and snatched the bottle from the table to pour herself another. "I love you, you know." she said, slamming the bottle back down. "I love you too, and your future pay. It's one of the many things I love about you!" Darren replied cheekily. Nancy slapped his arm playfully before cuddling into him. Her life was finally taking a dramatic turn in the direction of power, stability, control and comfort. Four things she had fought for her entire life and had now earned.
