Chapter 38
Charlie carefully entered the room and saw her fast asleep with Louis in her arms, also sleeping. He tilted his head and smiled, as he watched them. He never pictured something like this, the woman he loved, and his son sleeping. She gently stirred and opened her eyes to see him stood there.
She smiled at him, and asked, "Baz ok?"
He returned her smile and nodded, "Yeah."
"Good." She sighed with relief.
Louis gently stirred in her arms, and Charlie walked over towards her, taking him from her. He gently rocked him to sleep, and kissed him on the forehead lightly.
"You ok?" He asked her.
"Tired. You?" Duffy replied, as she yawned and stretched.
"Me too." Charlie began to yawn also.
Charlie put his hand on her shoulder, and gently squeezed it, she put her hand over his, and squeezed it back. They softly smiled at each other, then sighed.
Then a loud knock tapped on the door.
They both looked up and saw Chloe appear.
"Duffy, Charlie, um, sorry to um, bother you, but um." Chloe said, as she walked into the room, just as Peter and Jake followed on behind her.
"Peter, Jake? What's happened?" Duffy asked in shock, and both boys just looked worried, as they walked towards her and just hugged into her.
Then Peter said.
"It's Gran. Dad hurt Gran Mum."
He then hugged into her once more.
"What?!" Duffy said in horror, as she looked up at Charlie.
Charlie stood in shock.
"Oh God Mum!" Duffy replied.
"He, he, pushed the door onto her and she, she, fell. There was so much blood Mum." Peter explained as he began to cry into her shoulder.
Jake was squeezing her too, as he cried into her other shoulder.
Charlie's brow furrowed in anger.
"Oh God, boy's shhh, shhh, it's ok, she'll be ok." Duffy replied as she hugged them tight, and looked up in shock at Charlie.
"Where is she Chloe?" Charlie asked, as he saw how upset Duffy was.
"Max is assessing her, she's conscious, just looks like a nasty gash to her forehead. She has a neck brace for precaution. Max says she'll need x-rays to rule anything out." Chloe explained.
"Oh God, Mum!" Duffy answered, as tears filled her eyes.
"And Andrew?" Charlie asked, as he couldn't hide the anger in his features.
"Josh said he left him back at the house. Kate refused to let him near her or the boys." Chloe replied.
"Right." Charlie said, as he hugged Louis to him.
"I need to see her." Duffy requested, as she looked at Chloe.
"Can you, um." Duffy asked, as she signalled to the boys.
Chloe replied, "yeah, no problem."
"Listen, boy's, I won't be long. I'm just going to see Gran ok. Will you stay here with Chloe? I'll be back soon. I promise." Duffy explained, as she pulled back from hugging the boys.
Peter and Jake looked at each other, then back at Duffy and nodded.
Duffy looked up at Charlie, the look she gave him, pleaded that she needed him too. He nodded in response.
"Will you, um, watch Louis for me too Chloe?" Charlie asked, as he gently put him down onto the on-call bed, making sure a pillow was next to him so he couldn't fall out of bed.
"Yeah, course." Chloe replied, as she looked at the boys.
"We'll be back soon boys, ok." Duffy said once again.
Peter and Jake both nodded, then sat down on the chairs in the room.
Duffy left the room, and Charlie followed on after her.
-x-
Max stood looking at her obs chart, and gave a few instructions to Sam.
"Monitor her obs every 15 minutes, until she has had all the fluids. She just needs the x-rays. She'll just need to rest from here." Max explained to Sam.
"Quite a nasty wound Kate. We've got the neck brace on for precaution for now. But once we've seen the x-rays we'll know more. If you have any further pain just let Sam here know, and he'll be able to give you some more pain relief. Your back any better?" Max asked Kate.
"Not really." Kate explained.
"Right, we'll have to order a spinal x-ray too, just to be on the safe side." Max told Sam.
"Right ok Max." Sam replied.
Max then whooshed the curtained back, and closed them behind him. Max then walked over to the nurses station.
"Josh." Max asked, as he walked over towards Josh stood in the Nurse's Station.
"So it was Duffy's husband who did this?" Max asked as he neared Josh.
"According to Kate and Peter yeah." Josh explained.
"He pushed the door onto her and she fell onto the stairs hitting her head and back?" Max asked.
"That's what Peter said yeah." Josh answered.
"Right, ok, we'll do some x-rays and see what they come back with." Max replied.
"She'll be ok though?" It's Duffy's Mum Max." Josh explained.
"She looks alright for the moment. But we'll have to see what the x-rays say." Max replied.
"Right, alright." Josh said.
"Josh, Max. What's happened? Where's my Mum?" Duffy asked as she came bounding through the double doors in a panicked state, Charlie followed on behind her.
Both men looked up to see the dishelved appearance of both Charlie and Duffy.
"Bloody hell mate what happened to you?" Josh asked, aghast.
"Never mind me. What's happened to Kate?" Charlie asked, as he frowned in annoyance.
"She's fine, conscious, a nasty gash to her forehead. She has a neck brace for precaution. We'll request a cervical spine x-ray, and full spinal x-ray. Although I can't see any lasting damage on my initial assessment. Just ruling things out. She's fine. A bit shook up though." Max explained to Duffy and Charlie.
"Oh God, I can't believe he'd do that to Mum!" Duffy replied in shock.
"Hey." Charlie said, as he put a reassuring hand on her arm.
"No, no. This is all my fault. All our fault. Where is she Max?" Duffy replied, shaking off Charlie's hand. Her emotions overcoming her as tears filled his eyes.
"Cubicle Six." Max replied.
"Right." Duffy replied, sniffing back her tears.
She turned on her heel and walked towards the cubicle. Charlie sighed, as he watched her walk down the corridor.
-x-