** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1
Another Level 12/?
Driving toward her home, the traffic almost non-existent at 6am on an average Tuesday morning, Nicola tried to stop the battle that was raging in her mind. She knew that leaving James, being with Ollie and trying to make a better life for her children was the right thing to do. She loved him, she wanted their baby and she knew that given time the kids would adapt to the change but try as she might she couldn't shake the fear in the pit of her stomach caused by the thought of what James might be capable of. She'd spend almost 20 years with the man and in that time she couldn't remember a time when she wasn't at least a little afraid of him. Right now she didn't want to think about DoSAC or the press or Malcolm her protective instinct toward her children including the one she was carrying was kicking in full force and all she wanted to do was go home, get them all out of bed and out of the house as quickly as possible.
"Fuck you James, I should have done this fucking years ago and I swear this time I'm going to. This time I have a fucking good reason to make sure it happens." She murmured reaching across to the glove compartment dropping it open and rooting around inside trying to find the bottle of water she kept there while still keeping one eye on the road. Her mouth still tasted horrible from her last bout of sickness and it wasn't helping the nausea she was feeling right then she needed something to clear it at least until she could get home and brush her teeth. Growling with frustration when she couldn't find it she slowed the car down stopping at a deserted junction and glancing around before releasing her seatbelt and reaching back to where she'd thrown her handbag when she got into the car.
"I swear there is always a dozen bottles of water lying around this car but yet I can't find one when I fucking want it." She snapped giving up and sinking back into the driver's seat about to clip her seatbelt back into place when the sound of screeching brakes made her eyes snap to the rear view mirror and her foot instinctively push the accelerator to the floor. The first thing she felt was the tension on the pedal, the second was the complete lack of movement from the car and the last was the impending sense of dread as she braced herself on the steering wheel and waited for the impact.
Grabbing his car keys from the hall table after throwing himself together in record time Ollie lifted his laptop case from the floor by the door and headed out of his flat toward the parking garage. It had been less than a quarter of an hour since Nicola drove away and the desire to follow her hadn't lessened. If anything he was even more sure that leaving her to drive home alone was the worst thing he could have done. Now all he wanted was to get to her, make sure she was ok and not leave her side again until they had dealt with the latest press fuck up and put the wheels in motion to get her as far away from that house and James Murray as possible.
Driving out of the garage and in the same direction as she had gone he couldn't help but let his mind wander again to the life growing inside her, the baby that was safely protected so long as he could make sure she was safe and he knew that had to be his only aim. After they sorted out the latest crisis that had been thrown at them it wouldn't matter what else the world of politics had to say she would be his only priority.
"You're a fucking fanny Ollie why the hell didn't you just tell Malcolm there were more important things to deal with right now, why didn't you make this go away like you should have. Is it any fucking wonder she's having doubts again if you can't deal with the first thing that's thrown at you and…..what the fuck?" Turning into the street that lead toward the long row of Victorian terraces where she lived he saw the lights and heard the sirens before he registered anything else, he noticed the cordon of police tape and the young man being loaded into the back of a police car next and as he finally slowed his car at the tape and watched a uniformed police officer come toward him he finally registered the familiar dark blue hatchback and a flash of dark brown hair between the paramedics working at the side of it.
"Nicola!" He screamed jumping out of the car and wrestling with the police officer who was trying to prevent him from crossing the tape and running toward her. "Get off me that's my partner, I want to see her, is she ok? Nicola!"
"Sir if you wouldn't mind just waiting a second I'll get someone to come and talk to you." The Officer replied his tone even in what was obviously an attempt to calm Ollie down and which failed completely. "Sir please I….."
"Let go of me!" He shouted finally breaking away from the other man and getting past the tape getting to the side of the car before anyone else could intercept him and seeing the large radial cracks on the windscreen of the car, the blood pouring from a nasty gash on Nicola's forehead and the edge of the steering wheel.
"Sir I'm going to have to…."
"Touch me and I swear you'll look fucking regret it." He shouted his stomach lurching as a paramedics moved him a short distance away from the car.
"Do you know the lady?"
"Know her? Yes I fucking know her she's my partner and she's pregnant what the fuck happened she only left me twenty minutes ago!"
"We don't know what happened exactly, the young lad the police have just taken away hit her from behind, he's unhurt but he was over the drink drive limit so he's been taken for questioning. What's her name, can you tell us her name?"
"Of course I fucking can It's Nicola, her name is Nicola."
"OK well we're getting ready to move her, she's unconscious at the minute but it's good that you told us about the baby that changes what we can give her drugs wise, we're taking her to London met A&E why don't you…"
"You can't, she has to go to the Royal Free….."
"Sir that's an extra ten minute's drive it could…."
"She's a government minister, Nicola Murray, she can't just be taken to the local A&E she has to go to the Royal Free and if you think I'm following you then you can fuck right off I'm going in the ambulance with her."
"Ok….shit…..right if you insist on coming you need to move your car out of the middle of the road." The paramedic replied the slightly panicked edge to his tone telling Ollie he had no idea how he was supposed to deal with something like this when there was someone well known involved.
"I'll do that now, you make sure there is fucking radio silence on who this is you hear me? If we arrive at the Free and there are two dozen fucking reporters outside I'll make it my personal fucking mission to set the dogs on every one of you to find out who leaked it."
"Ok I'll tell the incident coordinator but we need to move her now not just for her sake but for the baby's too so move your car and hurry up."
Working on auto pilot Ollie moved his car to the small layby at the side of the road before running back to the side of the car where the paramedics were putting a collar on Nicola before lowering her onto a stretcher and carrying her into the back of the ambulance. Following them he waited until they had hooked up what seemed like a dozen machines to her body and two of them got out before climbing in beside her taking her hand as one of them took a seat at her head making notes on a clip board.
"Nicola, come on baby open your eyes, talk to me, what the hell happened." He whispered squeezing her hand gently as the doors closed and the ambulance started off. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I should never have let you leave. I should have told Malcolm to fuck off when said we had to come in, I should have made sure today our only focus was on you…..please baby, please be ok."
"She has strong vital signs there's no reason to believe that she won't wake up any minute." The paramedic said quietly as he stared back at her his eyes filling with tears. Twice, twice in under an hour he'd let something happen that had put her and their baby in danger, twice he'd failed her already and it hadn't even been twenty four hours since she'd told him she was pregnant. All he could focus on was the blood staining her t-shirt, the way it had stared to dry in angry red streaks on her face and he swore at that moment that if she and the baby came out of this ok he would never put anything before their safety again, he'd never ignore his gut feeling when it told him not to leave her again and he would make sure that by the time she was on her feet again she never had to worry about anything but her children, their baby and herself ever again.