Jane burst through the hospital doors with Roxy and rushed straight to the desk. She had a horrible feeling of déjà vu and was, frankly, sick of running to the hospital when Christian was injured. She knew it wasn't his fault and in no way thought badly of him for it, but it pained her to see him hurt and gave her a horrid feeling in the pit of her stomach. She loved her brother too much for this, but she had to be strong for him and support him through any problems.

All she knew was that he'd been brought in by ambulance after a fire at the Argee Bhajee. There were rumours flying about on the conditions of those brought out, but she knew Syed had gone with him so he must be okay, however she couldn't see him in the waiting area. "Christian Clarke, please, he's been brought in by ambulance. I'm his sister," she told the receptionist while Roxy glanced about for Syed.

"Where is he? He was brought in too, do you think he got hurt?" Roxy asked quietly.

"He was with Christian when they came in, maybe he's still with him. That could be a good sign," Jane replied in a hushed tone, watching as the receptionist looked everything up.

"If you take a seat I'll get one of the nurses out to speak to you." The receptionist smiled at her. Jane recognised him from before but it was clear that he saw so many people that he had no clue who she was.

She smiled her thanks at him and, fidgeting with her bag, she and Roxy went and sat where they could get a good view of anyone approaching. Roxy took Jane's arm and they supported each other while they waited.

Not too long after, a familiar face came bursting through the front doors with such a clatter of arrival that it made the two women turn around. Jane's mouth opened in shocked confusion when she saw who it was. Zainab?

It made very little sense for her to be here, considering she hated Christian. But then, if Syed was at the hospital, Jane realised, maybe this was the prod that Zainab had needed to realise how foolish disowning her son was.

Zainab saw them, and though clearly reluctant, she walked over to them. "Have you heard anything?" She mumbled to Jane.

"No, not yet. We're waiting for someone to come out to us," Jane replied.

"Surprised to see you here, Zainab," Roxy put in, her mouth running away from her at a time Jane considered to be inappropriate, but then she wasn't about to tell Roxy to shut up either. "I'm sure Christian will be touched to know you came, though."

"I'm not here for him." Zainab answered, not letting Roxy's words get to her. "I want to know Syed is okay."

Jane pulled her bag onto her lap. "I think he's fine, Zainab. He was in the ambulance with Christian and from what I heard, he made it out okay. It's Christian that's..." she couldn't finish it. Was he hurt? Injured? Was his life on the line? She didn't know and she didn't want to speculate out loud as it would just catch in her throat.

Tamwar and Afia came in through the A&E doors, in a calmer fashion than Zainab had, and managed to sidle up to them without drawing attention to themselves. "We got a good parking space." Tam said, clearly at a loss as to what to say, and Afia gripped hold of his hand tightly in support. "Not too far... just right, I guess... just like porridge."

"Porridge?" Afia asked.

"Like in Goldilocks. Not too hot, not too cold."

"You could have picked chairs, or beds, if you wanted to reference Goldilocks and the three bears - why porridge?"

"Chairs and beds are far too ambiguous. No one would have understood the reference without explanation."

"You had to explain it anyway with the lame porridge reference though, so it really didn't make a difference in the end which one you picked."

The inane conversation of the young couple blurred into the background while they waited, and Jane bounced her leg up and down, watching it hypnotically as they waited until a hand shot out and stopped her from doing it. She looked up at Roxy's concerned face and gave a weak smile.


Syed stood outside the curtained off area, refusing to leave where Christian was. Being in another room was too far at the moment. He stood with his arms crossed, occasionally biting at his nails and trying to keep still despite the pent up energy and frustration.

He could hear the faint murmur of the medical staff talking but he had no clue what they were talking about, either because of the language and words or because it was too faint to hear properly.

The Doctors had only managed to force him away from Christian's side by insisting he get checked over too. He'd kept telling them he was fine but they'd managed to pull him away long enough to test for themselves. He was perfectly aware of the smoke inhalation they would flag up but he'd been given oxygen at the site, and then again in the ambulance, and he felt fine. And if they even tried to tell him his racing heartbeat was cause for concern he was prepared to tell them exactly why it was racing.

He was just glad that this time he was here through the whole thing. That he'd been in the back of the ambulance with Christian, that he'd been able to hold his hand. He'd learned his lesson from before - he'd told the medical staff with full confidence that Christian was his husband and they hadn't blinked. It was lucky that they trusted him and could see rings on their fingers and it didn't seem that they would actually check up on it in great detail. It had meant they'd kept him up to date as much as possible. But if he went five minutes with no word, it was enough to set him off worrying again.

"Mr Masood?" A soft voice asked from behind him and he spun, hoping it was someone with news. The young nurse stood there and did her best to smile and appear sympathetic to him.

"What's going on?" He asked, hurriedly.

"Mr Clarke is being well taken care of. You need to let the doctors do their job and it'll still take a while longer. There are people asking for you in the waiting area. Friends and family. Maybe you should go and let them know."

"I need to be here for Christian." Syed shook his head.

"He's not awake for the treatment. He won't know if you go away for half an hour."

"But I'll know..." Syed insisted.

"The others out there, they're probably just as worried as you are. They need to know you're okay too. Please..." She put an arm out to guide him and reluctantly, with a look back at the drawn curtains, he shuffled away with her to go and see who was out there.

He was surprised to see a small group of people and not just Jane there when he went out. He saw his mother and Tam and had no idea what to really say with both of them there. He was still getting used to his mother looking him in the eyes. Jane pulled him into a hug, one he realised he needed when he felt her arms close around his shoulders. He saw Zainab's face, downcast, clearly guiltily thinking she should be able to offer this kind of support, and a rebellious side of him wanted her to see that he was going to have plenty of support from other people. He was surprised when Roxy hugged him too; she had never been affectionate with him yet hugged Christian on a regular basis just as part of saying hello to each other.

As he pulled back he asked, "What's everyone doing here?"

"We wanted to make sure you were alright." Tam answered, "We heard you were at the hospital after the fire. We were worried."

"Thanks, but I'm fine." Syed nodded. "Christian, he, uh..." He put a hand over his mouth as he gathered himself. "They rushed him here. The fire got him."

Jane covered her face with her hands and sat down as she took in the information. Roxy put a hand on Syed's shoulder. "Syed... there was a body bag..." She didn't want to alarm him. They must have all thought at first that one of them had been killed and he understood now why they had all come to the hospital. Jane must have been terrified at first. He could only imagine their relief to know that an ambulance had taken them, but knowing someone had died must have made them anticipate the worst.

Syed looked back up at Roxy; he knew exactly who would be in that body bag. For sure this time. "Alec." He answered quietly. Letting them digest the information, he looked at his mother sympathetically, considering how much Alec had also hurt her when Kamil had been taken.

"But he died, before." She was shaking her head, scared.

"He faked it, somehow. He came back. He started the fire."

"He's gone now." Roxy stated. "Properly gone, yeah? He can't hurt anyone anymore." She rubbed his back and he tried to smile in appreciation of her words but knowing he came back in some form a first time, no matter how impossible it was that he could come back from this, he still heard a voice at the back of his mind telling him to be wary and look over his shoulder.