"Poor bastard." Dr. Mac was shaking her head as she left the Inspector in the room. She was glad to have him with her, it forced her to pretty much keep herself together- she really needed to stay busy and calm to avoid thinking of Phryne Fisher. She didn't want to worry the Inspector, but she was not particularly happy with some her stats. She had lost quite a bit of blood, which had been absolutely unnecessary and she would certainly beat the woman over the head about that one for years to come. That child on scene had been in no danger-it was bloody smoke inhalation! The fact that he was outside when it happened and barely coughing when the ambulance arrived, he had been in no danger whatsoever! If she ever came across the ambulance team who listened to the idiot woman with a large and gaping head wound rather than common sense and medical precedent… well, God help them all!

She rolled her eyes and sighed, leaving in search of the other doctor working on the case trying to arrange about the surgery. To be honest, even if Jack had asked her to stay with him during the procedure, she wasn't sure what she would have done. However, she was awfully glad she wasn't put in that position- he really was an awfully good guy, despite the fact that he was,in fact, male. "Phryne, I hope you get better and quickly- I'm looking forward to watching this all play out."

She had been in surgery for five hours Jack counted while waiting outside for her. He kept alternating between pacing the length of the waiting area and sitting down with his torso hunched over and his eyes closed, thinking about her. Five hours of surgery couldn't be a good thing. If she was having so much trouble with blood, then digging about in her innards for five hours couldn't possibly be helping at this point! He stood again and re-started his pacing when he heard footsteps coming down the hall. He looked up as Mac came through the door. He was across the room to her in about three steps.

"Phryne, how is she?" Mac was shaken herself, "How is she doing, tell me!" Tears started to pour down Mac's face and cheeks, but she was shaking her head and smiling.

"Inspector, I can't promise anything. But, in my personal opinion, I think she may just pull through this one." The relief crashed across both of them and they stood there, quietly hugging in the middle of the hallway,smiling and feeling united over their mutual cause to keep this woman safe- despite her continued attempts to the contrary.

"Really?"

"I can't say for sure, obviously. But the internal injuries were far less severe than I thought they would be. There were a few tears we had to repair that were bleeding through, but we were able to set the ribs and re-inflate the lung- although that's going to be prone to infection with pneumonia for at least two months. We did have to remove her spleen, it was crushed in the wreck, but it's a fairly useless organ anyways and she isn't going to miss it; one of these days evolution will eliminate them in humans entirely, but it hasn't happened yet. We did have a few moments of concern with her blood pressure, so I'm not going to lie to you and pretend everything is perfectly fine and we are out of the woods. But the surgeon was excellent and our biggest threats are really more related to possible infection from the procedures, rather than from the accident itself- you should see her stitches, even Dot would be amazed at how tiny and even they are, it really was an excellent surgeon." Jack swooped in to hug this brilliant red headed physician who just completely won him over for life- anything she ever needed, he was going to make sure she got, she had just given him the best news he ever heard in his life.

"When will she wake up so we can speak to her?"

"I can't say for sure. They were medicating her pretty heavily when I left the room towards the end. She will be in a lot of pain for a pretty long while. I personally think we should all consider keeping her unconscious for the next few weeks. Its going to be about a month before the ribs heal enough to not be excruciating and I don't see her taking well to that amount of time on strict bed rest while she heals- and after that I'm going to make her use a cane for a bit, can you imagine how impossible she's going to be about that? Drugging her unconscious for the next six weeks seems a much better option if you ask me."

"Something tells me that between all of us involved, we can maybe find a way to keep her in check and heal. I don't care if that means I have to put constables on duty in her bedroom around the clock, every day, just to make sure she behaves as ordered by her doctors."

"Men in uniform surrounding her all day in her bedroom? That doesn't seem likely to lead to her resting all that much either." Mac couldn't help herself sometimes. Now that she had seen everything that happened in the accident and assessed every single inch of that woman, she was feeling much more positive and confident about the outcome, she could afford to tease the Inspector a bit.

"Can I see her now? Please?"

"She won't be awake you know. I'd bet a lot of money that it's at least 10 hours out before she is." That did not seem to deter him in the least. She sighed, lovers can be so stubborn and stupid sometimes, "But I suppose you can go in and see her once she's back in her room, they need to bathe her further and check some of her stats in the postoperation area. Maybe it would make more sense if you tried to sleep somewhere? You've had a pretty long 24 hours."

"I'll be fine, I don't need to go anywhere. I want to be here, when she wakes up."

"Inspector, I understand how you feel, truly. But there are no real rules for how this kind of thing goes. Even when she wakes up, she will be groggy and disoriented and likely won't remember that she saw you in a few hours."

"Doctor, I understand all of that, and I do appreciate it. But I really need to be here when she wakes up. I need her to know that I'm here. Even if she forgets it instantly, I need to see her eyes and hear her voice…" Jack's voice caught- there were too many terrible thoughts to try and follow and he needed to block them out as much as possible.

"Well then, Inspector. I'll see if I can find someone to rustle you up a pillow and extra blanket."