Chapter 3

'Tess... Tess... Can you hear me? Come one Tess; squeeze my hand if you can hear me.' Zoe says as Tess is strapped to a bed, entering resus. Dixie, Charlie, Rita, Lily and Ash surrounding her.

'Okay I feel slight pressure, she's with us' Zoe says. 'Right Dixie-'

'Yeh, this is Tess Bateman, 46, in an RTC, car verses lorry, fractured tib and fib, deep laceration to the head, embedded glass in thigh, and suspected internal bleeding in the abdomen, GCS was 4 en route, BP 80 over 55 and she's had 10mg of morphine.' Dixie reads out clearly and confidently.

'Okay guys, let's do this.' Ash says without hesitation

Meanwhile, on the other side of resus...

'Fletch... Fletch... Can you hear me mate' Jamie says

'Yeah...' Fletch replies weakly as he tries to sit up but Jamie, Ethan, Cal, Iain and Robyn stop him.

'Fletch do you remember what happened?' Cal asks him

'Yeh, I went to pull out and get back on the road and a lorry hit... Oh my god! Tess! Tess! Where is she? Is she okay?' Fletch asked suddenly remembering that he wasn't alone in the car.

'Woah, woah calm down mate' Jamie says, clearly worried about Fletch

'I need to see her!' He says and tried to sit up but his friends were having none of it.

'No, Fletch lie down and let us treat you, once you are done then you can see her okay?' Cal said, calmly

'...Okay fine...' Fletch said surrendering

'Right Fletch, we've just had your CT result back and everything's fine so we are just going to remove the collar. Okay?' Cal said

'Yep' Fletch replied

'Right, now move your head up, down, left and right for me' And Fletch did that slowly.

'Any pain?'

'Nope, just a bit stiff that's all' Fletch said rubbing his neck

'Okay, your chest X-Ray was clear, so you only have a broken arm, some cuts to your head and a bit of bruising on your abdomen' Cal said 'You've been lucky' Cal said as he looked at Fletch. This reminded Fletch of Tess.

'Tess!' He said urgently as he sat up, and looked at Cal, 'I need to see her!'

'Okay, she has just had surgery on her thigh, to get the glass out and to stop the bleeding in her abdomen, so don't overdo it' Cal says softly

'Oh god. What have I done' Fletch says, his mouth open wide from the shock

After Fletch has had a cast put on his arm with a purple coating, because it is Tess' favourite colour, he hops on his crutches over to Tess's bed where she is sleeping. Fletch sits down next to the bed and takes her hand in his, entwining their fingers together and admiring her beauty. She slowly beings to stir and turns around to see Fletch holding her hand. A tear rolls down Fletch's check and he sees that she's awake.

'Oh Tess...' He started, as more tears flowed down his face. A tear rolled down her face too as she sees him crying.

'Fletch, don't cry...' She says to him soothingly while wiping the tears of his face with the pads of her thumbs.

'Its all my fault, I should've never pulled out, I have hurt you.' Fletch says ashamed of what he has done.

'Hey, look I'm fine. I am fine, just a few cuts and bruises' Tess says and they both start laughing.

'Fletch, this wasn't your fault' Tess says while grabbing his other hand, being careful of the pot on it.

'It was just an accident, it could've happened to anyone, don't blame yourself' Tess said softly

'Thank you Tess, Thank you' he says as he embraces her, being careful not to hurt her even more.

'Why are Tess and Fletch holding hands?' Jamie asks Robyn looking over at them having a deep conversation.

'I don't know, they were in the same car together, they might have been doing anything. If you get what I mean' Robyn says back laughing

'Alright guys we've got patients to treat. Less talk more work' Zoe says interrupting their conversation before it goes any further

'I know but-' Jamie started as he looked back at Tess and Fletch who were now hugging each other lovingly. Both Zoe and Robyn looked over too and Robyn was surprised but Zoe had seen them hug before so it wasn't a big deal to her.

'See' Jamie said to Zoe

'What?' Zoe replied confused

'They're hugging each other!' Jamie replied shocked

'So? I hug Charlie all the time, it doesn't mean anything. It just means we're friends' Zoe replied. Jamie just nodded and walked of, still thinking about them. Then something clicked in his mind, and he started to wonder if he was right or if he was going crazy.

'I am so so sorry' Fletch said, still hugging Tess.

'You have nothing to be sorry for' Tess said pulling away from the hug and looking fletch directly in the eyes.

'I love you Fletch, always.' She says simply

'I love you too' Fletch says and then kisses her gently on the lips. As they both break apart from the kiss they can feel eyes on them so they turn around. They see Zoe, Ash, Rita, Jamie, Cal, Lily, Charlie and Robyn staring at them, most of them with their mouths open wide. Fletch and Tess looked at each other, a worried look on Tess' face and a scared look on Fletch's. Fletch sat up straight and turns fully to face the crowd, one hand still firmly clutching Tess's.

'Right... Well... Erm... We have sort of... Erm...' Fletch starts, stuttering

'Been having an affair' Jamie finishes for him. Fletch sighs loudly.

'Yes, fine okay. Me and Tess have been having affair over the past few months. Don't judge me yet, but me and Nat have no love between us. She shouts at me, at the kids, she drinks all the time and she wants to know where I am every second of everyday, even before I was with Tess. I was going to tell her tonight when I got home, that I want a divorce, but then this happened.' Fletch said confidently. Everyone was still stood looking at them but then one by one they all either nodded or smiled.

'SO SHE'S THE WOMAN?' Natalie shouted making herself visible, by pushing through the doctors and nurses that were standing in front of her. Tess was extremely scared and shocked, so she held Fletch's hand tighter which made him turn around to look at her and mouth 'Don't worry.' As he squeezed her hand in return.

'I always knew you were having an affair since you were coming back at weird times in the morning and being happy and upbeat every time you came off your phone! Then one night when you went to pick the kids up, you forgot your phone so I went through your messages to see filthy ones that you were sending to someone called, 'X' which I assumed was a woman! And today I see you coming out of working walking particularly close to someone and getting in the car with her, but I couldn't see who she was! NOW I REALISE IT WAS THIS OLD COW!' Natalie says, clearly furious.

'Maybe we should take this in my office' Zoe suggested calmly

'No.' Fletch said firmly

'Adrian...' Tess said quietly. Fletch turned around and looked into her eyes, then placed a gentle kiss on her lips. 'It'll all be okay' he said calmly brushing a piece of hair away from Tess's face, and she nodded.

'Oh please, that's disgusting!' Natalie shouted

'Stop shouting.' Fletch said, getting more and more annoyed by the minute and walked closer to her so he was a few feet away.

'Excuse me?!' She said even louder

'I said stop shouting. Every single day I hear you shout! At me or even the kids! You are a terrible mum! Letting them go to school without any food for the day! Dropping them of late to school and telling their teacher that it was my fault! Checking up on me every second! Telling me that I can't go out because you want me at home so you can go to the pub! And coming into my place of work, harassing me and insulting Tess! How dare you insult her! I don't love you anymore and I want a divorce. I can't take anymore of your crap!' Fletch said panting as all of his anger spilled out. Everyone stood watching as no-one could take their eyes of the married couple arguing. Natalie was a little taken back at Fletch's sudden burst of anger.

'I'll talk to the lawyer in the morning. Have a good life Adrian.' Natalie said and then left, and didn't look back. Fletch walked back to Tess grabbing her hand when he got close enough.

'Fletch...' Tess said, the tears becoming evident in her eyes.

'It's okay Tess it's all okay. I've done it, I've done it.' He said a smile appearing on his face as he leant forward and kissed her, with passion. She reciprocated but soon realised they had an audience and sharply pulled back.

'What's the matter? Are you okay?' Fletch asked quickly, obviously worried.

'Nothing, it's just...' She started and leaned closer to Fletch so only he could hear. 'It seems we have formed an audience' she said and they both started to laugh. They both looked at the people surrounding them. Their friends and colleagues that were now all showing a smile or grin.

'Zoe could you...' Fletch asked pointing to everyone

'Oh, yeh of course. Right, back to work everyone shows over' Zoe shouted at everyone. Everyone left wishing the best to both Tess and Fletch.

'We will move you to the high dependency cubicle so you can have some privacy.' Zoe said to Tess while winking at her.

'Thanks' Tess and Fletch replied in unison

Once Tess was moved to the high dependency cubicle, Fletch walked in and went to take a seat next to her bed.

'No,' Tess said weakly, 'Sit with me.'

'Are you sure, I might hurt you?' Fletch replied cautiously

'I don't care I want you close to me. I need you close to me.'

'Okay' Fletch said while clambering into the bed. He squeezes bedside Tess in the bed and tries to find a comfortable position for both of them. They found it as Tess was sat between Fletch's legs with her back and head resting on his chest and shoulder.

'This is nice' Tess says sleepily. Fletch wraps his arms around Tess, careful not to hurt his broken arm, and kisses her forehead. A sigh escapes him.

'Are you okay?' Tess asks concerned

'I'm fine, actually I'm brilliant. I have got a great job, I have got amazing friends and I have got the women of my dreams. And the best thing is, this isn't secret anymore.' Fletch says

'I know but-'

'I don't have a place to live... Which is where you come in' Fletch says carefully

'Of course you can live with me' Tess says as she leans up and kisses him.

'Ah' Fletch starts pulling away from the kiss. 'I may have ruined your car, but I can certainly make up for it in more ways than one' Fletch says and Tess turns to face him as he winks at her. She starts laughing and he joins in. After having laughed for a good 5 minutes they are both tired and fall asleep in each other's arms.