Dixie smiled back at her best friend keeping her hand against his cheek rubbing it softly. She was glad that he was awake; this act of affection didn't go unnoticed by a very groggy Jeff.

'You alright mate?'

'Yeah, fine.'

'You don't usually act like this.'

'Like what?'

'Being affectionate towards me, it is unnerving.'

'Why? Someone have a guilty conscience do they Jeffrey?' Dixie replied raising her voice slightly showing she wasn't impressed by his latest stunt.

'No, why should I have a guilty conscience?' Jeff asked.

'Oh I dunno, something about going into a building that was collapsing and getting yourself injured in the process. Does that ring any bells?'

'Don't know what you are talking about Princess.' Jeff returned rolling his eyes in mock innocence.

'Don't you Princess me lethal weapon.' Dixie replied giving his cheek a light tap.

The pair relaxed into a smile and comfortable silence, Jeff was staring up at Dixie who continued to rub his cheek being careful not to aggravate the cuts that were scattered all over it. Jeff continued to smile at his partner not really comprehending why she was behaving how she was. He tried to move his arm to put it on hers but couldn't. A sharp pain soared through his body as he jerked harshly gritting his teeth wincing in pain. Dixie noticed this straight away pressing the button attached to the tubing to release a small dose of morphine into his system. Jeff had closed his eyes at this point making small groaning noises to indicate he was still in pain. Dixie continued to rub his face to try and calm him down.

'Ssssh, it's OK love, it will be alright.'

After a few moments the morphine seemed to have kicked in as Jeff relaxed his face looking slightly calmer than he did, but he was confused.

'Dixie, why can't I move my arm? Dix what has happened to me, why can't I move?' Jeff started to become a little hysterical as he started to realise he was in resus strapped to a bed unable to move. Dixie didn't quite know how she was going to tell him, but he had a right to know. Jeff noticed she had gone silent; this only made his feel even worse.

'Dix are you still there? Princess please tell me what is going on?'

Dixie lent over so Jeff could see her face placing both hands on his face so he had no choice but to look directly into her eyes. Once she was certain she could remain composed, she started to talk to him.

'Jeffrey, you are a stupid man who bloody scares me and today was one of those days. You went into the shopping centre and the building collapsed. Listen to me sweetheart, you are going to be OK, but you did get hurt.'

Jeff continued to look at his friend as she spoke, her mouth was moving but nothing was going in, he could feel himself getting teary more so through fright than anything. Dixie saw the horror in his face, she wanted to stop and tell him nothing else, but he had a right to know. She would rather he found out from her than from anyone else, after all, they were close friends, inseparable by all accounts.

'Mate, listen to me. You are in resus, you were trapped when the building came down. You have some small cuts to your face and they have strapped you down until you have a scan to check for any other damage.'

'What do you mean any other damage Dix? Tell me please Princess.'

'Love, I am really sorry but both your arms are broken. You are going to need surgery on your left arm, which is why you cannot move them.'

Jeff's face paled once more, this couldn't be true, he always got out of tough situations unscathed, what was so different about this one? Had his luck officially run out?

Dixie could see that this was all too much for him to digest at the moment so she chose not to mention about the punctured lung as the possibility of spinal damage, it could send him over the edge if she told him now. He had had enough of a shock for the moment. She continued to look him in the eye as she saw a tear falling from it, knowing Jeff wasn't one for tears or letting his emotions show, she lightly rubbed the tear away with her thumb as he took a few deep breaths to compose himself. More tears started to fall from his eyes; Dixie continued to rub them away for him knowing he wasn't able to do that for himself at the moment.

After a few minutes of silent sobbing from Jeff, he plucked up enough courage to talk to Dixie.

'How is the bloke I was trying to help?'

'He got out OK mate, he is very grateful to you for pushing him out of the way.'

'Yeah, look what my heroics did though.'

'Mate, I am not going to deny that what you did was wreck less and stupid, you could have died in there, but, you did save someone who is now happily reunited with his son.'

Jeff managed to give her a half smile. Dixie looked down at him lying there on the bed helpless; he was going to need a lot of nursing, a lot of care. Was she up to the job? Would Jeff want her to help him?

She was disturbed from her thoughts as Big Mac, Tess and Nick entered the room.

'Jeff, Dixie, how are you feeling?'

'Like a building has just collapsed on my chest, how do you think I am feeling?'

'Jeff' Dixie said sternly as she moved to the side to let Nick assess Jeff's pupils and vitals.

'Right, well, we are going to take you off for your scan now Jeff, Big Mac and Tess will go with you. Once we have the results we can discuss your treatment and recovery with the pair of you in more detail.'

Dixie nodded at Nick as he moved to the side to write down some more notes in Jeff's file.

'OK Jeffrey, time for a little ride.' Big Mac said as he released the wheel brakes and began to move Jeff away. As he did, Dixie lent forward once more as Tess moved the machines onto the bed with Jeff.

As she got closer to Jeff, he whispered, 'I am scared Dix.'

'Don't be love, it will be OK and we will deal with it together OK.' She leant forward placing a soft kiss to his head as he was wheeled off.

Dixie watched on as they led Jeff away, she could see their colleagues gasping as they saw Jeff for the first time, Polly was there talking to Noel as she saw Jeff for the first time, placing her hand over her mouth in shock before looking towards resus to see Dixie stood there.

Nick noticed Dixie's vacant stare as he looked over towards her, 'Dixie are you OK?'

Dixie simply nodded trying to keep her own emotions in check as Polly walked towards the doors.

'He is going to really need you now, two broken arms Dixie and the possibility of spinal damage; he is going to have to rely on you for everything. You might want to consider contacting the trust to arrange for special leave. If you don't want to, I can always do it on your behalf.'

'No, it's OK thank you Mr Jordan, I will contact them once I know what is happening with Jeff.'

'OK, whatever you think is best. I will be down to see you both in a little while with his results.' Nick smiled at the young paramedic before walking out of resus as Polly entered rushing over to her friend.

'Oh my God Dixie, what is happening?'

'He has gone off to have a scan; we will no more after that.'

'Is there anything I can get you?'

'No, I am alright thanks Pol, I am going to go and get some air before he comes back.'

'OK, shall I come with you?'

'I will be alright on my own thanks, honestly, you get yourself off home and I will text you when I know what is going on.'

Polly nodded reluctantly at her friend before giving her another hug.

Dixie left the warmth of the ED finding herself outside sat in the peace garden letting the calming noise of the flowing water relax her thoughts. Something Nick had said rang through her mind, Jeff was indeed going to need her and rely on her for everything. The reality of this started to hit home, she would need to dress him, get him undressed, wash him, shower him, feed him, help him to the toilet, everything. Was she up to this task? Would Jeff want her looking after him seeing him at his most vulnerable? She knew it will fall to her as she was his wife on paper, but their marriage wasn't a conventional one by any stretch of the imagination. Dixie closed her eyes taking in a few deep breaths of her own, the outcome of this scan coupled with Jeff's current injuries was going to make things hard for them, she wondered if their friendship would come out the other side intact. As much as she knew he would protest and be stubborn, Dixie was determined to help him; after all, she felt it was her fault for him getting injured.

Dixie didn't know how long she had been sat there lost in her own thoughts, thoughts about her and Jeff until she felt a light tap on the shoulder, turning she saw Tess stood there.

'Dixie, we have Jeff's results. Mr Jordan is waiting to speak to you both about them.'

Dixie took another deep breath before nodding following Tess back into the ED.

A / N – Thank you for reading, not entirely happy with this chapter but cannot work out how to have made it better. I hope that you all like it.