Chapter 3 - We Playing Lions
Fitz had been thinking for a while now, unlike his Stephen he couldn't sleep. He just couldn't get his brain to switch off. He hadn't much sleep and he didn't feel the need to have any. After the guard debacle Fitz had immediately upped the security. Now, there were not only security personnel at the entrances to the corridor but, also the entrance to Liv's room.
Sitting in his chair, he glanced over to the clock and saw that it was approaching 11am.
"Hey Stevie..." He gently nudged his friend who had been passed out and snoring for the last few hours.
"Mmhhmm..." Stephen grumbled in response.
"Stevie, c'mon man. Wake up." Fitz tried again nudging him a bit harder this time.
"What? What's happening? Is it Liv?" He questioned, waking up instantly and looking towards Olivia.
"No..." Fitz said sadly.
"Sorry, Fitz she will wake up. I'm certain of it, just give her some more time. It hasn't even been 24 hours yet."
Fitz did his best to smile at his friend.
"So... What did you want?"
"I can't stop thinking about the kid. Could you see if you can find who he is? I have this feeling that we know him, somehow."
"Yeah sure man. What are you doing today? Do you want me to bring some decent food back with me?"
"I think Mum's bringing Oscar by later, I still need to talk to him about all of this. I'll ask her to grab something, thanks though."
It was now approaching midday, Stephen had started to look into who the kid was but wasn't having any luck with it. He had since returned to the hospital to be with Fitz.
"Hey Stevie, I'm going to get the doctor. Get an update on Liv before Mum gets here."
Just as they were about to leave the room the doors were pushed open and in walked Lily and Gerry Grant. Just behind them was Abby who was walking in carrying a sleeping Oscar in her arms. They all walked straight towards Fitz and Stephen.
"Boys... How has she been?" Lily asked, looking at the two of them, before drawing them both in for a hug.
"No change Mum, we were just going to get the doctor actually." Fitz replied looking towards Oscar. "How has he been?"
"Well, he snuggled up to me last night and hasn't let go." Abby said stroking the young boys' back. "He's scared Fitz. He understands but in a way he doesn't. It's difficult."
"Okay. Let's talk to the doctor." Fitz said walking towards Abby to take his son from her. She was easily able to place him in his arms without waking him. Whilst he was taking Oscar from Abby, his parents took the opportunity to greet Olivia.
After Fitz had taken Oscar from Abby, she walked out. A few minutes later, she came back in with the doctor in tow. Fitz didn't see the doctor come in as he was busy with Oscar who started fussing after Abby left.
"Hi everyone. I understand you would like an update on Olivia's condition?" Dr. Noakes asked.
Fitz placed Oscar on his hip in an attempt to soothe him, looking up at the doctor as he spoke, Oscar happily settled against his father's chest.
"What can you tell us doctor?" Gerry asked, seeing that nobody else was going to.
"Well... Most importantly Olivia is currently stable, so that's a good sign. Obviously she hasn't woken yet but that's normal, her body has a lot of recovering to do. We are going to be keeping a close eye on her for any changes. Although she is currently stable, she's been through a lot and we cannot be sure as to the extent of the damage at this time. Apart from that all I can really say at this moment is that, it's going to be a waiting game really. Like I said; whilst her injuries are severe, she is stable and from what we can assume her body is using this time to recover. Do you have any questions?"
"Will there be any lasting affects?" Fitz asked, looking away from Oscar to the doctor.
"Right now, it's hard to determine that. Generally speaking after traumatic head injuries there are some side effects, for example; headaches, dizziness or mood swings. Ideally once she wakes we would run some more tests, that will help us to determine any more serious side effects as a result of her injury."
"Like what doctor?" Lily questioned.
"Well firstly there are cognitive problems such as, speech and language problems, memory loss and confusion or the inability to think. As well as some more physical problems such as the loss of function in her arms or legs. Of course, none of this is guaranteed but it's better to hear the worst, in my opinion. She could wake up and be completely fine but in circumstance like this, all we can is wait until she wakes. Is there anything else you would like to know? "
"No, thank you, Dr. Noakes." Fitz answered for all of them, adjusting Oscar in his arms once again.
"Okay, well don't hesitate to ask if you do have any more questions." He said before he turned and left the room.
After the doctor had left, Fitz, still carrying Oscar made his way over to the bed. Lily knew that he still hadn't told Oscar why his mother was here. She thought that this was as good as time as any to explain.
"Hey O, do you want to say 'hi' to Mummy?"
Before he could reply lily had started to usher everyone out of the room.
"Fitz we are going to grab some lunch, we'll bring something back for the both of you." She said giving Fitz knowing look.
"Hi Mummy..."
Fitz turned his head back to look at Oscar when he heard him speak. He waited to see if he was going to say anything else, but when he didn't he knew now was the time to tell him.
"Okay, right. So..." Fitz cleared his throat, thinking of how to start. He placed Oscar on his lap as he sat down in the chair by the bed, so he could look at his properly. This was going to be even more difficult than he imagined.
"Okay , so O... You know that I said that Mummy is asleep?" Oscar just nodded his head in response. "Right well, Mummy was in an accident and she got hurt."
"But why?" He questioned.
"Well we aren't sure why."
"Not me. I didn't hurt Mummy. We playing lions. I was nice, I had kind hands. Not me Daddy." He choked out, the tears welling in his eyes.
"No not you O. A bad man hurt Mummy, he made her fall and bump her head. It wasn't you buddy." Fitz assured the young boy, pulling him in closer to his chest.
"I sad Daddy."
"I'm sad too buddy." Fitz said placing a kiss on the top of his sons head.
Fitz spared Oscar the details of the attack, he's only four and he thought it may scare him to know exactly how his mother ended up in hospital.
The little that Fitz knew he had been told by the doctors and that was strictly from a medical perspective. He had been told that her left arm was broken and that her left wrist was completely shattered, he had been told that she was unconscious when the ambulance arrived and he had been told that she had split open her forehead. He had that what, but he also needed to know that how and they why.
Abby was with Olivia at the time and had seen what had happened, and he needed her to fill in the blanks. He needed to know the how. Abby had said that she would. Later. For whatever that means. Fitz knew that he needed to talk to Abby but realistically that would have to wait. Right now Oscar needed him and Abby refused to talk.
"Daddy..."
"Yeah O?"
"Is Mummy sleepy for a long long time?"
"Maybe,"
Fitz could see that his answer wasn't what his son wanted to hear, but he couldn't lie to him. The longer he looked at him without saying anything more, the sadder he became. The tears were now falling down Oscars cheeks as he began to cry hysterically.
"I miss Mummy..." He wailed. "I want Mummy." He continued to weep loudly.
"I know buddy, I want Mummy too."
Fitz ran his hand up and down Oscars back in an attempt to soothe the young boy and placed a kiss on his head. Just listening to the anguished cries was bad enough and now Fitz could feel his own tears beginning to fall down his face once again. After a few moments the loud crying had subsided and simmered to soft sniffles and although he was still upset, Fitz could tell that he was losing the battle against sleep.
It wasn't long until Fitz had a sleeping Oscar in his arms, who was clutching onto his fathers shirt. Fitz didn't want to move and risk disturbing Oscar but he needed to talk to Abby. He decided to leave it for a little while, at least until they came back with food.
A few hours later, Lily and Gerry arrived back at the hospital and, as promised they had some luch for both Fitz and Oscar. They ate their lunch whilst idly chit chatting to one another. It wasn't until they had finished that Fitz asked where Abby and Stephen were.
"Stephen said he had to check in at the office and Abby said she should be here any minute." Lily answered, looking at her watch.
Fitz had been checking his watch every minute or so for the last 20 minutes, Abby had only just walked through the door to Livs room when Fitz stood up.
"Any minute now huh?" Fitz said snidely.
"Give it a rest Fitz, I got held up." Abby replied angrily.
"Guys... Not in here." Gerry spoke in a hushed tone, looking in the general direction of Oscar and Olivia, the anger evident in his voice.
Fitz and Abby just stared at one another, silently blaming the other person.
"Outside." Was all Fitz said in a clipped tone.
Abby just stared at him before turning around an leaving, not bothering to wait for him.
By the time Fitz had moved from where he stood and had left the room, Abby had walked down the corridor and was stood waiting for him. He briefly scanned the area until he found her, then started to move in her direction. Fitz stopped in front of Abby and was waiting for her to start talking.
"What's your problem Fitz." Abby shouted as she pushed him.
"What's my problem? What's your problem?" Fitz asked annoyed with her attitude at the moment.
"Do you even know what I am going through right now?" Abby asked incredulously. "That is my best friend in there."
Fitz just scoffed at her comment.
"She may be your best friend but she's also my girlfriend. Do you know what I am going through?" He fired back at her. He could not believe her right now. "My son sat on my lap in there and cried for 20 minutes because he wanted his Mummy."
That comment hit Abby like a ton of bricks.
"We all care about her Abs, please I just need to know what happened."
"I don't really know Fitz, I swear it all happened so fast. One minute we were having fun and the next... well the next, we were... she was, she was on the floor." Abby started to break down in front of Fitz, she fell forward into his arms.
Fitz pulled her in close and hugged her, waiting patiently until she continued talk.
"There was so much blood, Fitz, so so much... it was everywhere and Liv, Liv wasn't moving. I thought she was dead. She wasn't moving Fitz. She was lying on the floor and I kept shouting at her, I ran down the steps to her as fast as I could but she wouldn't talk to me. I tried Fitz, I tried... We didn't mean for this to happen. We just wanted to have a fun night out." She said through her tears.
"Abby, how did she fall?"
"She didn't fall. At least I don't think she did. I think she was hit by someone and then pushed." Abby said, trying to think back to the accident. "I'm so sorry Fitz."
"It's not your fault Abby."
She buried her head back into his chest as she continued to cry. After a while Lily came out of Livs room to find Abby asleep against Fitz, they had moved to sit down after they had finished talking. Silently Lily sat down next to Abby and Fitz got up, walking back down the corridor.
20 minutes later, Stephen had returned to the hospital and was looking for Fitz.
"Fitz! Where have you been? I've been calling you for ages." Stephen shouted, running down the corridor when he saw Fitz.
"Relax man, my phone must be out of battery. I only went to grab a drink, what's your problem." Fitz said with more attitude than Stephen deserved. Fitz was now at the stage where just about anything was frustrating to him.
"I found out who he is, the kid, you'll never guess." Stephen rushed out, out of breath, completely ignoring the attitude from his friend.
"Stevie just say, I haven't slept in god knows how long and I really haven't the energy to play guessing games." He said part tired, part annoyed and part just wanting the answer as fast as possible.
"It's Luke. Luke Ballard."
AN
Okies, another chapter. I know it has been a little while and I didn't intend for it to be but, there was a particular comment that really just knocked me off for a little while. I understand that part of putting your writing out there is that people aren't always going to think about it the way you do and that's fine. Still the stuff that was written, it does makes you wonder why you bother.
