Chapter 26

The doctor smiled. "He's going to be fine Mrs Dawson."

Rose suddenly felt her body swaying and her feet move from beneath her. The blood rushed to her head as she took in what the doctor was telling her. He rushed towards her and grabbed her just as she lost her balance and sat her down on a chair.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Rose nodded. She tried to catch her breath as he stood up to get a drink of water from the cooler. He sat back down beside her handing her the cup. She took it and slowly took a sip from it.

"He'll be out for a while until the anaesthetic wears off but he's out of surgery and resting now. Would you like to see him?" the doctor offered.

Rose looked up at him and nodded slowly. He stood up and offered his hand, knowing how unsteady she was. She gratefully took it and leaned against him as he guided her along the corridors towards Jack's room. They stopped outside and the doctor turned to her before he opened the door.

"Now Mrs Dawson, please don't be alarmed when you go inside. There's a lot of machines and tubes hooked up to him but remember, they're all there to help him." He told her.

Rose nodded and turned to the door as he opened it. She stepped inside and gasped as she saw Jack lying helplessly on the bed. It was just like the doctor said, he was hooked up to so many different machines, all beeping and making so much noise. She slowly walked towards him clasping onto her bag as she made her way to the chair beside him. Her eyes glazed over Jack's body as she felt tears building up inside her. Finally she snapped out of the trance she seemed to be in as she realised that regardless of the tubes and wires and machines, this was still her Jack. She pulled the seat up to his bed and sat down, reaching over and taking Jack's hand in hers. She reached up and ran her fingers over his forehead pushing his dirty blond hair from his eyelids. She looked over his face which now had a lot more colour in it than it had when they were in the ambulance. His skin felt as soft as ever as she ran her fingers over his cheeks and over his lips. How she longed to kiss him. She thought back as hard as she could and realised she couldn't remember when they had last kissed. Had they kissed when they came out of the restaurant? Or was it before they left the hotel? Rose felt frustrated with herself that she couldn't even remember something like that. When had she last told him she loved him? She could have lost him tonight and she had no idea when she'd told him she loved him. The tears started to freely fall down her face as she lowered her head to the bed, resting her forehead on his hand. His skin felt warm against hers and she lifted her head slightly and gently kissed his fingers. Eventually after sitting there for some time, she finally felt tiredness overcome her and she fell asleep with her cheek resting against his fingers.

...

As the sun came up, Cal and Stacey were making their way to the airport as Cal had booked them onto an early morning flight back to New York. Stacey had tried asking Cal more about the previous night but he hadn't exactly been forthcoming with information and had got more and more annoyed the more she pushed that eventually she just stopped asking. Eventually their flight was called and they both made their way onto the plane in silence.

...

Rose slowly opened her eyes as she started to take in where she was. She began sitting up and groaned as pain shot through her back from leaning across the bed for the past few hours. She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes as she finally focused on the body in front of her. Glancing over him, her eyes finally rested on his face and she gasped as she saw him looking back at her. He gave her a weak smile as his eyes met hers. She leaned forward and rested her hand on his cheek.

"Jack?" she whispered.

He nodded before lifting his hand slowly and resting it on hers.

"I can't believe you're awake." She stood up and sat on the edge of the bed before leaning down and kissing his cheek. He smiled at her before pulling her back down again and planting a kiss on her lips. "I thought I'd lost you." She said as they parted. "How do you feel?"

"A bit sore. Queasy but otherwise alright." Jack groaned.

Rose kissed him again before rushing to find the doctor to come and check up on him. The doctor checked him over and was happy with his recovery. They kept him in hospital for another few days before he was well enough to leave. Rose had phoned Amy and the others as soon as she knew that he would be alright to tell them the good news. She had given the phone to Jack so he could speak to them all and laughed when he had to hold the phone away from his ear after Amy handed the phone to Sarah who screamed down the phone with happiness that her Uncle Jack was alright. The doctor had cleared him to fly in a few more days and they agreed it best that they just went home rather than continuing their trip. Rose had taken care of everything and booked extra nights in the hotel they were in then sorted out flights home. She was just happy to finally get him out of the hospital. The doctor warned that he would be left with scars on his stomach but apart from that, he would make a full recovery.

...

A few days later, just before Jack and Rose were due to fly back to New York, Fabrizio was wandering down the street on his way to work. He had been extremely shaken about almost losing his best friend that he had missed some work. He was now heading in for his first day back now that he knew that Jack was alright. His mind was going crazy as he wandered down the street not paying attention to where he was going when he walked straight into someone.

"Oh I'm sorry." He stuttered as he tried to gather himself.

"It's alright." The person said. "Fabrizio?"

Fabrizio looked up at the woman in front of him. "Oh, Stacey how are you?"

"I'm fine and yourself?" she smiled.

"Well not so good." He admitted. "Not been so good since I heard about Jack."

Stacey's ears pricked up. "What about Jack?" she smiled to herself, he must be devastated that Rose dumped him.

"Just since his accident." Fabrizio continued.

Stacey suddenly looked up at him. "Accident?"

"Yeah, he was in England with Rosa and someone attacked him. He was stabbed twice in the stomach." He felt his head spinning as he relived what Rose had told him.

Stacey suddenly felt as though the world had disappeared beneath her feet as she felt herself fall against the wall. Fabrizio rushed to her and held her up as she leaned against him. "Fabrizio? Is he..." she knew she didn't have to finish the sentence.

Fabrizio looked at her. "Is he? Oh is he dead? No, he's not dead. In fact, he's probably on his way home now with Rosa."

Stacey felt relief wash over her as she realised that Jack was still alive and had recovered but soon enough that relief was replaced by anger. Cal had done this. There was no other explanation. No wonder he didn't want to tell her anything. It was too coincidental that Jack had been attacked at the same time that she and Cal had been plotting something to split them up. She had to make him pay for this.