Chapter 11

It was Monday morning, painfully early, and an entire 11 days after James had been taken, that they finally rescued him and got him to hospital.

Robbie had squeezed himself into the ambulance, holding the blonde's hand as he remained unconscious for the entire journey, the paramedics rushing around them and shouting orders and pulling out injections and bandages and stitches and-

And James had flatlined twice.

So now, here he was, sitting in the hospital waiting room, the sun only just about starting to rise outside, still in his ambush gear stained by James's blood and his hands tightly gripping his hair as he tried to convince himself everything will be okay don't worry everything will be okay.

"Robbie!"

He quickly looked up only to find a teary Laura standing a few meters away from him.

At the sight of her frazzled appearance and streaky makeup, he felt tears come into his own eyes, and she rushed forwards, paling, fearing the worst.

She came to a stop only two feet in front of him, "Is he...?"

"... He was alive, last time I saw him".

She let out a sigh of relief and all but collapsed down on the chair next to him, "Oh thank god... How was he?"

"He was rushed into surgery a while ago, but on the way here... his heart stopped" He admitted, "Twice. And there was so much blood... God, Laura, there was so much blood".

She put her arm around his shoulder and pulled him close, "Don't worry, Robbie. This is James we're talking about! He'll pull through, you know he will".

"He's never been hurt this bad before".

"But he didn't let that- that- that bitch break him either, now, did he?" She shot back, "He's a strong one, our James, and this is no different".

He took a deep breath and slowly nodded, straightening up in his uncomfortable plastic chair, "I know, I know, but I just... I still can't help but worry... Where's Innocent?"

"Paperwork" Laura replied, "She wanted to be here, but... well... one of her experienced senior officers decided to go for a kill shot rather than a disarming shot, so she's trying to get it all sorted".

He groaned and put his head in his hands, "I couldn't... I couldn't just let her... she had a knife and she'd already hurt James so much and I was so fucking terrified that she'd go just a step too far and- and- and-"

"I know, Robbie" She replied gently, "But thankfully, Innocent's on your side. She's getting it all sorted out now as we speak so there'll be no loose ends to come back and haunt us later on. Kenneth has been sent to my morgue, where she'll stay until we can find some family member or friend to claim her body... Once James heals and gets better, we'll be able to put all of this behind us, don't worry".

"DI Lewis?"

He quickly jumped up as a doctor suddenly emerged from the doors they had wheeled James to.

"Yes, yes, that's me!" He said loudly, marching over, "I'm here for James. Where he is? Is he alright? Is everything okay? There were no complications, were they? What happened to-"

"Robbie" Laura interrupted gently, placing a hand on his arm, "Just let the poor man speak, yea?"

He sighed and nodded, giving a weak smile as way of apology.

The doctor smiled back, "Mr Hathaway is out of surgery, though he'll need many more over the next few days once he recovers some more. Currently, he's been moved to a private room in the Intensive Care Unit. He's in a critical condition, and nowhere near being stable... but he's alive and being kept sedated and that's all anyone can do for him right now".

He's alive.

He's alive.

Robbie suddenly felt the entire world brighten around him.

"Am I-" He coughed to clear his throat, "Am I allowed to see him?"

The man sighed, "Normally... no".

His face fell.

"But considering the circumstances... How Mr Hathaway came to be injured, the nature of your professional relationship, the fact that you are both police officers, and that Dr Hobson, while more used to working with dead bodies, is still qualified to work with living people... I think I can allow it".

Lewis could have kissed the man.

"Go straight through those doors" He continued, pointing at the way he had come through, "Turn right. It's the fifth door down on the left-hand side of the corridor".

He barely had time to bite out a quick, "Thank you!" before he took off, all-but running down to the ICU room that James was in.

Once he had pushed the door open, however, he froze.

Lying there, still and pale on the hospital bed, was his awkward lad.

He was surrounded by machines, machines that kept his heart beating for him, and he had a breathing tube shoved down his throat, a small piece of medical tape keeping it in place. Thick blankets pulled up to his shoulders prevented Robbie from seeing the worst of the damage, and he vaguely recalled Laura mentioning that he might have hypothermia after she'd seem him shivering so much in the video Kenneth had set up. His skin was so ashen, it just blended right in with the bedsheets, contrasted only by the dark bruises forming around his neck, the split lip and black eye, and the stitched-up gash running along a sharp cheekbone.

Robbie shoved down the sudden urge to collapse and weep, and instead, forced himself to walk over and sit in the chair next to the bed.

James remained silent, unconscious, and he stared at him with conflicting emotions.

On one hand, he was so fucking happy that he was alive, that he was still here, that he was safe.

But on the other hand, he was damaged.

Not beyond repair, because James was too bloody stubborn to let that happen, but damaged enough that they had one hell of a long road ahead of them to recovery, both physically and mentally.

And it was going to be their road, because while there were many times throughout their friendship and work that he had turned his back on the awkward sod, this was most definitely not one of them.

And so, he leant back in his chair, continued to gaze at the bundled-up sergeant, and tried not to think about how he couldn't even hold his hand.