Chapter Ten
The paramedics rushed through the hallways towards accident and emergency, pushing all the doors that got in the way wide open with the end of the trolley, as they entered accident and emergency they were meet by two female nurses who proceeded to help push the paramedics push the trolley into the treatment room, looking behind them they saw four women closely following them to the treat room, as they reached the treatment room the doors reading AUTHORISED PERSONNAL ONLY slammed shut, Charlie and Frankee stopped in their tracks at the sight of the doors shutting whereas Joey and Mel continued until they reached the doors they both just simply stared through the window panels on the door looking at every move every doctor or nurse made, they both moved aside when they say the two paramedics heading towards the doors where they were standing, the paramedics looked at both of them offered a slight smile and walked towards the exit of the hospital, Joey turned back to look at Frankee who as the paramedics did offered a small smile not even attempting to move towards her, as Joey was changing focus to locating Charlie she noticed in the corner of her eye that Frankee's attention was fully on Mel, who was stood staring through the window panels. She scanned for a second when her eyes fell to Charlie who was stood next to the exit seemingly waiting for someone to arrive, Joey wanted to go over and thank Charlie for everything that she did for saving Brooke, but she couldn't not until she knew for sure that she would be thanking Charlie for saving Brooke and not trying to save Brooke.
About ten minutes past and Joey and Mel were still standing at the window panels waiting to hear something, they moved several times for nurses and doctors, when they say a doctor heading towards the door the both moved again thinking he was going to walk right past them as he and a couple of doctors had done before, instead he stood looking at the file one of the nurses had handed him, he looked at both women and asked
"Hello ladies I'm Doctor Ryan, Is one of you Ladies Maxine Carter?"
"No, that Brookes mum she lives in England?" Joey answered automatically
"Okay, is there anyway of contacting her?"
"Yeah I have her number on my phone, I could give it to you?"
"That would be great, Thank you" Doctor Ryan waited patiently for Joey to write the number down in the space marked Contacts phone number on what she guessed was Brookes file "We'll contact her when we know more" The doctor began to walk away from the two women.
"How Ahh how is she?" Joey asked with a hint of helplessness in her voice
"I'm sorry but unless your down as one of her next of kins then I can't tell you I'm sorry" Doctor Ryan replied with an apologetic tone in is voice
"Its fine, but who's her other next of kin"
"That's one Josephine Collins, is that either of you?"
"Yeah, that's me, so you can tell me how she is right?"
"Wrong, not unless we can't contact her mother"
"So if you can't get hold of her mum then I'll be told how she is?"
"Yes Miss Collins, I know that this is a worrying time, but she is in the best hands now all you can do is wait, I know it's hard to do"
"I know she is, I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything but..." Before Joey could finish the doctor cut her off
"You're worried about your friend..." This time before Doctor Ryan could finish Joey cut him off
"She's not my friend, she's my cousin, she's the only family member I have left that wants me around"
"My apologies Miss Collins, I didn't realize you were a family member"
"Well maybe if you or any of your staff had bothered to come out here and ask then you would have found out" Joey said letting the emotion of everything she had just seen overtake her
"Joey, there was no need for that" Frankee said slightly raising her voice "He's doing his job"
"Actually there was a need for it Frankee, we are worried about Brooke she could be in a coma or worse and your sitting there calm, like this is normal your best friend could die and you think her cousin doesn't have a right to be angry because nobody will tell her a damn thing" Mel replied to Frankee tears falling down her eyes at the moment she said Brooke.
What everybody failed to notice was that the doctor had made is way to the hospital entrance desk and had picked up the phone, dialed the number Joey wrote down and began to talk to somebody on the other end, looking at the notes while he did so, then writing down some information he was being given into Brookes file
Joey looked at her and mouthed 'thank you' though she hated Mel for what she did to Brooke she could see why Brooke fell for her, it was the same reason she fell for Charlie. They were both strong women who stood up for what they believed in (though it took Charlie longer to stand up), plus they were both beautiful and unbelievably stunning. Thinking about the comparisons of Mel and Charlie, Joey's mind wondered to Charlie's other qualities and the little things she used to do like making sure she woke up the exact same time every morning and taking the same route when jogging never changing it.
The doctor placed the phone back as it was when he picked it up, then looking at the information he had just written down, she moved towards Joey, Mel and Frankee, noting that Charlie seemed to be staying out of the way of the other three women. He looked at Joey "Can you come with me please?" Joey didn't verbally reply she merely nodded her head and walked off with the doctor. Charlie, Frankee and Mel watched Joey and the Doctor, the words flowing from his mouth none of them able to tell what he was saying, the more he said the more visibly shaken Joey seemed to get, then Doctor Ryan said something that caused Joey to begin crying uncontrollably she looked up at Doctor Ryan and seemingly asked something then when he replied with a shake of his head, Joey backed herself up until she felt the wall on her back, then she slowly slide down the wall until she was seated on the floor, she looked up at the doctor and asked another question Doctor Ryan nodded and helped her up from the floor. They moved towards the door where Mel and Joey had been stood waiting for answers to Brooke's condition. As they got closer to Mel and Frankee, Mel was the only one to move towards Joey; Charlie remained further away from everyone not wanting to make things difficult for Joey.
When Joey and Doctor Ryan where near enough to the room, Mel walked up to Joey and hugged her, everyone was a little surprised when Joey didn't pull away from the hug (even Joey herself),
"Is she gonna be okay?" Mel asked when Joey didn't reply and just looked at her with sorrow in her eyes she asked again, "Is she gonna be okay?...JOEY tell me...please" Again Joey didn't answer her but instead looked at the Doctor and nodded for him to inform Mel of Brookes condition
"Miss Carter has suffered some very serious and severe injuries to her head and her spine, which will both require surgery within the next 24 hours"
"So once she has the surgery she'll be okay right?" Mel asked slightly confused
"Once she has the surgery, we'll have a better idea of her condition?"
"So, why is Joey crying, that's a good thing right, she's gonna be okay, Right?"
"As I told Miss Collins, even with the surgery there has been a lot of damage to her spine, some of which we may not be able to fix"
"So, it means she's got to have more surgery?"
"Even with countless surgery's, she may never regain the full use of her body"
"What does that mean the FULL use" Mel again asked not really hearing the doctor
"For god's sake Mel...SHE'S PARALYSED"