Chapter Fourteen

Hey again! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, and thank you for checking out my Christmas story and reviewing that as well! Please keep the reviews coming, it makes me smile when I check my e-mails and see the reviews waiting! Sorry for the delay, but things are majorly busy at the moment with work- especially with the silly season upon us. Please review!

Chapter Fourteen

The four sat as they were directed, awaiting permission to see their colleague, in silence. Gina looked up as she heard footsteps approaching, and a nurse appeared in front of them.

"Mr Smith is settled in his room now if you would like to see him" she told them with a friendly smile. Gina nodded.

"Two at a time is it?" she asked, and the nurse looked quizzically at her.

"Officially yes, but I won't tell if you won't" she told them with a slight wink. Gina nodded her thanks to the young nurse and the four headed to the room as directed. Gina had to stifle a sob at the sight before her; it was far worse than she had ever expected. Her friend lay flat out on his back, his skin as pale as the sheets beneath him. His head was swathed in white bandages that completely hid his dark hair. The view of his face was almost obscured by the still present ventilator tubes. Monitors were connected to his chest, beeping out to the rhythm of his heart, and his hands had bandages and plasters on them from IVs and his finger had a clip attached that monitored the amount of oxygen in his blood. The sight of the police sergeant hammered home how seriously ill he actually was, and with a sob escaping her stricken throat the inspector launched herself forward to stand directly beside the bed and grabbed hold of the free hand between both of her own, curling her fingers around the limp ones of her friend. She squinted at the group behind her, her vision blurred by the tears formed in her eyes.

"Look at him" she muttered, her heart literally breaking at the sight of him. Adam rushed forward and enveloped her into his arms, being careful not to pull her away from the grip she had on the pitiful figure laid on the bed beside them.

"Dale is strong, he'll be fine. A few weeks and he will be chasing the nurses and begging to be released" he tried to console her. She finally released the tears that she had been holding onto since Dale had collapsed, Adam held her tenderly until she had cried every tear that she had. Tony and Bob stood off to the side. Allowing the broken woman her moment to share her emotions and then reign them back in. When she had managed to regain control, she turned her attention back to her friend. Tony approached her from behind and pushed a chair up behind her.

"Thank you" she told him sincerely as she sat down, her hand never relinquishing it's grip on Dale's, as he released his grip on the chair, Tony looked closely at his sergeant, he looked absolutely awful, yet he was alive and for that the constable was grateful.

"He's gonna be just fine, he's too stubborn not to be" Tony told his boss. "I think I might go back to the nick, keep the others up to date and all that" he told her, and she nodded gratefully. In truth Tony felt helpless, and the area car driver did not like feeling like that, at least by going back to the station he felt like he was doing something. As Tony left Bob moved around the other side of the bed and sat down mirroring Gina's position. Adam sighed as he stood directly behind his inspector.

"Gina I am going to catch a lift with Tony and go back to the office. You can consider yourself on leave for as long as you need" he told her kindly. "Please let me know if you need anything whatsoever" he continued, she turned around and grinned up at him touched by the way that he had known exactly what she was going to ask him for before she even needed to utter the words.

"Thank you Adam" she told him, once more blinking back tears. He smiled sadly at her before leaving the private room and following behind Tony.

"Do you really think that he will pull through okay sir?" Tony asked his boss once they were in the car. Adam sighed, how did you answer a question like that? He knew the answer that Tony wanted, he just wasn't sure that he was able to.

"I think he has a long hard fight against him, but Dale is a natural fighter" he replied, hoping that that would satisfy the constable. Tony nodded, he knew that his question had been unfair, after all who could say what fate had in store for anyone? Adam simply sat back and hoped that he had spoken the truth, the rest of the journey passed unsurprisingly in silence.

Gina just sat and stared at her friend, she was more than aware that there was little hope of him waking up within the next few hours, yet she really couldn't bring herself to leave him, just on the off chance that he did wake up- she couldn't bare for him to wake up alone and in pain not understanding what had happened. She looked across the bed and saw her own emotions reflected on the face of the former sergeant who sat across from her. Bob looked like he was ready to break any moment and he also looked exhausted.

"Bob why don't you back to Dale's place and get some sleep?" she suggested, and he looked up at her as if he had forgotten that she was there.

"I don't want to leave him" he replied, his tone small and quiet.

"I just thought that if you went and got some sleep now whilst I stay with him, and then we can swap for a few hours later" she reasoned, herself completely unwilling to leave the young man, but not wishing to sound selfish. She desperately wanted to be there when Dale woke up. Bob seemed to consider her suggestion for a few moments before replying.

"That is a good idea, but I think it should be the other way around. I am sure you don't want to sit here in your uniform all day, why don't you go and get changed and have something to eat and then come back. When you get back I will go and get some sleep and you can stay here" Bob suggested, and despite not really wanting to agree there was no way that she could argue with the logic in what he had said. She smiled slightly at him.

"Okay then Bob that is a good idea" she told him, getting to her feet and instantly making up her mind that she was going to find the fastest taxi driver in London and make the quickest change of clothes ever. "I be back soon" she told him. She then leant forward and placed a gentle kiss on Dale's forehead. "You had better be waiting for me" she told him softly, not even letting the thought of him leaving them enter his mind. With one last glance over her shoulder she left the hospital and headed home for a brief visit.

Gina was true to her thoughts and the cab driver had her home within half an hour, she instructed him to wait outside her home, and she dashed in. She promptly threw a McCains Panini into her microwave and dashed upstairs pulling off her uniform as she went. She dragged her jeans off the floor and reached into her wardrobe for a warm roll neck jumper, finally she pulled on her flat boots and ran back down stairs, just as the microwave beeped at her. She took it out of the microwave and poured herself a glass of water. Within five minutes she had eaten her snack and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and was dashing back out to the awaiting cab. She made it back to St Hughes less than two hours after she had left it.

Bob looked up in amazement as Gina came hotfooting it back into Dale's room, changed and back from her break.

"Any chance?" she asked between her gasps for breath.

"No, no chance, that was quick" he commented.

"Yeah well only had to get changed and have some lunch, traffic is really light" she replied. Bob looked at his watch and noticed that it was five thirty in the evening right in the height of London's rush hour. He refrained from commenting, but got to his feet not willing to break his word by not leaving for his break.

"Okay then. I will see you both in a few hours" he told her, gently squeezing Dale's hand as he left the room. As Bob had stepped out Gina slumped back in her chair exhausted, she looked over at her friend and noticed that he still looked terrible. His handsome face pale and bruised from the vicious attack.

"Dale I am telling you that if you don't get through this okay, then you are demoted and I might even consider sacking you" she told him, she honestly couldn't imagine sun hill without Dale Smith now, come to that she couldn't' imagine Gina Gold without him either.

End Chapter Fourteen