Velma was taken to the local hospital and the gang were settled in for the wait, expecting Velma to come round soon. After half an hour of waiting, and way too much medical activity around Velma's cubicle than they would have liked, the gang were getting worried. They were all familiar with hospitals, all had needed to be patched up from injuries they had received in mystery hunting, most of the time it was just bandages, a plaster cast at worse. This time things felt different. Daphne was called over and returned shortly, visibly shaken and upset. Fred and Shaggy shared worried looks,
"What's wrong Daph?" asked Fred.
Daphne sat down "They are airlifting Velma to State University hospital. They can't treat her here, they think she may need brain surgery" she replied near tears at the end. Fred was frozen to the spot and the colour drained from Shaggy's face. a few seconds later Fred managed to snap himself out of his shocked state "Let's get moving gang, that's a good 4 hour drive. Daph, call your father and tell him what's going on, we're off the case."
They arrived at State University hospital early next morning, Velma had already undergone numerous tests and scans before they had arrived and was currently in the Intensive Care Unit awaiting a decision on surgery. The gang took turns in being with her, later they would agree that this was the scariest thing they had ever had to do. At midday she was again subject to another battery of tests and scans to see if she would need surgery after all. Fred and Daphne waited for the results. Daphne sat on a chair, head in hands, staring at the floor, Fred paced up and down. Scooby's howling could still be faintly heard though the double glazing
"I can't believe I did that, I knew Velma was hurt, why didn't I check on her? Why didn't I just come straight here?" muttered Fred
"Fred, please sit down" said Daphne "None of us knew how badly she was hurt. No-one is blaming you, I don't and neither will Velma"
"But..." he replied
"No buts Fred Jones." said Daphne sternly.
Just then a doctor walked in "Are you the friends of Miss Dinkley?" he asked.
Daphne nodded and got to her feet "I'm Daphne Blake and this is Fred Jones", she glanced at Fred and took his hand
"Please, be seated" the doctor said "I'm Dr Armand and I'm responsible for looking after Miss Dinkley"
"How is she doc?" said Fred, almost to afraid to ask
"Well, she's not out of the woods yet, but there will be no need for surgery and she can now be moved out of the ICU into a high-dependency unit, I know it does not sound like progress, but it is. We have reviewed her CT and MRI results and while there was a small bleed on the brain it has stopped, there is however slight swelling of her brain so we will be keeping her sedated and cooling her head for a while longer to minimise the chance of further brain injury"
"Further injury," gasped Daphne "you mean she already has brain damage" Fred hung his head "Will she be all right? Will she still be our Velma?" asked Daphne. The doctor paused
"That's harder to say, then best I can say is probably, given the injury profile and the fact that she was brought here quickly the prognosis is good, but we will only know for sure when we bring her round."
"When will that be" Fred whispered
"That depends on how quickly the swelling goes down. I guess that you are a sporting man Mr Jones?" Fred nodded to the doctor's question "If you were to injure a muscle then you would rest it and apply ice for a while to prevent further injury" Fred nodded again "that is in effect what we are doing to Miss Dinkley's brain. We will rescan her tomorrow and then decide where we go from there"
"Can we see her?" asked Daphne
"In a short while, I'll send someone to get you when she's settled in" replied the doctor.
