Evening all, thank you so much for the lovely reviews! Here's the next part! Jessie xx
Chapter 55. Part One.
Gerry left Sandra at the door to Robert's room with a brief squeeze of her arm and went to fill Nick in with the finalisation of the case and to relieve him; he'd already sent Steve home saying that he would take the first shift. Strictly speaking, none of the UCOS team was required to stay with the armed guard which had already reduced in number following the confirmation of Dillon's arrest, but the three men had tacitly agreed that they would take turns in being present. Gerry didn't like to admit that it was because they had little else to do. As he got a coffee from the machine and took a seat outside of Carrie's room, he mused on the leads they had on another case and tried not to imagine that he wouldn't be discussing it with his guv'nor in a few hours time. He'd grown used to the young northerner very quickly; maybe it was because she was the same age as his eldest, maybe it was because he'd become accustomed to having the accent around the office and had missed it since Brian's retirement, maybe it was because she'd fitted in as though she'd always been there and maybe his vigil was due to the inherent determination of UCOS to stick together no matter what or who tried to tear them apart. Some habits just didn't go away. He pulled out his phone and tried to work out how he was going to tell Brian that they wouldn't be fishing that afternoon.
Despite the odd temperature in the room and the unfamiliar smell, the small side-ward didn't repel her on re-entry. It was the only place she could be, that at least felt correct. Still, she swallowed as she became reacquainted with the most awful sight of her life. Funny really, all the bodies, the people with lives disrupted by crime, none of them could compare to actually being in the moment she was in. Mia had fallen asleep, her head lying on the bed beside his hand which was clasped loosely in both of hers. Sandra walked across to the bed: he didn't look peaceful. Normally when he slept, he looked younger, unworried, safe. Now, today, she could tell he was in pain even though he was sleeping. Was being in a coma really the same as being asleep? She didn't know enough to answer that. She fought between her responsibilities for a moment, then leant down and kissed his forehead, brushing the hair away from his eyes and tracing her fingers lightly down his cheek. She sighed, he didn't even flinch.
"Mia?" she whispered softly, rubbing the girl's shoulder gently. She ran her fingers through the girl's newly auburn hair as she stirred.
"Mmmhhhuuu, Dad?" Mia murmured as she registered being woken. "Sandra. You ok?"
"Yeah, yeah, all sorted. You?" Sandra offered something of a grin in grim opposition of what she was feeling.
"I fell asleep," Mia stated with a humourless giggle. "Do you think he noticed?"
"I'm sure he didn't mind," Sandra kissed the top of her step-daughter's head. "Has there been any change?"
"No," Mia pushed back her hair and brushed it idly with her fingers. "At least, I don't think so. They've been in and out checking things and prodding things. That bloody thing," she pointed at the monitor. "Hasn't stopped bleeping and beeping. He hasn't moved. He doesn't even know I'm here."
"I'm sure he does," Sandra bit her lip lightly and stepped away. There was a second chair in the corner of the room which she lifted, brought next to Mia's and sat down. Leaning back she propped her feet on the base of the bed and stretched her shoulders back. Mia migrated towards her and rested her head on Sandra's shoulder.
"Sandra?"
"Mmm?"
"What happened?"
Sandra ran her fingers through Mia's hair and rubbed the girl's arm in what she hoped was a comforting gesture though part of her heart felt mechanical with tiredness and worry. Gerry had filled her in on what details he knew; the actual logistics of how Rob and Carrie had been hurt was still hazy. She told Mia as much as she knew before they both fell asleep, each with a hand around Robert's.
It was only a short time before the peaceful scene was broken. Gerry gritted his teeth as he pushed open the door. Thankfully, Sandra opened her eyes almost immediately relieving him of any awkward waking tasks. She met his eye and nodded. She could tell he hadn't been to bed yet and it made her feel almost guilty for the hour or so she'd just managed to steal. Nudging Mia she roused the girl who blinked and rubbed her eyes.
"Sorry, but they, er, they want to come and check on him," Gerry explained apologetically.
"Of course," Sandra lowered her feet and slowly sat up in the chair, her eyes drawn back to the prone figure of her husband. She frowned slightly, wondering what they were going to check. She probably ought to ask.
"What time is it?" Mia mumbled as she stood up.
"Just after ten," he told them. "They'll want to talk to you after…"
Sandra nodded numbly. She knew Gerry was using words to fill in the silence as much as she herself would have done, had their roles been reversed. They followed the old man into the corridor. The thought struck her oddly, she thought at a time like this, that Gerry looked older than she had ever seen him. Or noticed him to be, perhaps. She supposed they all were; older, that was. It had been ten years since they'd met and hardly a day had gone by when they hadn't seen each other. Of course, there had been the weekends, not always without meeting mid-way through for a drink or meal. And they'd had holidays away from each other. But age was never really noted in those situations. Mia held her hand as the doctor spoke to them with an expression of worry eased into compassion; questionably honest in his line of work. He was tired, Gerry. She knew he hadn't slept yet; she would insist that he go home as soon as this encounter was over. It had only taken one silent exchange of glances for them to establish that he would stay and hear the doctor with them; and one sharp narrowing of the eyes to assure the doctor, who was a little stodgy in his own age, that Gerry would stay as the he finished by saying that they hoped Rob would wake naturally in a few hours time; time for them to get some rest and refreshment.
"Stuck up sod," Gerry whistled through his teeth as the smart shoes clicked up the corridor to Carrie's room where David was nervously sat outside having been similarly evicted from his partner's bedside.
Mia giggled despite herself, practically stuck to Sandra's side where she had drawn herself after the doctor's last full stop. Sandra too smiled and looked between them both before gazing back through the window to where her husband lay sleeping.
"Right," she whispered more to herself than the others before shaking down the desire to run and hide and speaking more firmly. After all, he was going to wake up. The stuck up sod of a doctor had just told her. "Mia, do you want to go back with Gerry and pick Bella up? She'll want a bath and a change of clothes. Plus they'll be hell to pay if she's not here when he wakes up."
She hugged the girl tighter before releasing her with a smile. "Come back in a couple of hours, yeah? And, Mia?"
"Yeah?" Mia couldn't help the tears in her eyes or the smile on her face.
"You need to brush your hair."
Gerry politely turned his laugh into a cough as Mia's hands flew to her head and immediately found her step-mother's words to be true. Sleeping first with her head against hospital blankets and second leaning on Sandra's shoulder, her hair had become slightly wild.
"Gerry, you ok to take her and then get some sleep?" she leant towards him and kissed his cheek. "You look dreadful."
Gerry's lips twisted into a smile as her familiar acerbic humour warmed his tired heart. He nodded and touched her arm. "Steve'll be back soon, you'll be ok?"
She assented that she would be, and turned back to the window as they walked away. She offered a glance up the corridor where David Grant sat slumped on a plastic chair waiting. She didn't envy him that. He'd been at the hospital all night, waiting. She frowned as the nurse who'd stayed in the room after the doctor had come out to talk to them walked past her having finished whatever it was she'd been doing. Her job, Sandra corrected herself. Like she'd taken herself off to do within half an hour of getting to the hospital; leaving a young girl at her father's bedside with no explanation or comfort. What sort of a wife was she?
Gerry and Mia had barely made it to the end of the corridor before they were met by a familiar whirlwind.
"Wotcha," Steve greeted them both. "How's everything? Has the doc been round yet?"
"Er, yeah, just," Gerry wondered momentarily if his energetic mate had physically bowled into them or whether it simply felt like it because he was so tired.
"Hi Mr. McAndrew," Mia knew exactly what Gerry was thinking and was emotionally drained with trying to work out what was going on and how she felt about it that the only reaction left to her was amusement which came out in her quiet greeting.
Steve smiled at the kid, "Heya Mia, how you doing? By the way, look who I found in the car park."
Gerry and Mia barely had to look over his shoulder to see two worried faces striding towards them, caught in some sort of argument about shelving and Lithuanian handy-men.
~ An hour earlier ~
"Esther, love," Brian called, checking the letterbox as he walked past the front door on his way to the kitchen. Though why he still did, before nine in the morning, when the postman never turned up until lunchtime he couldn't say. "Can I have two eggs?"
"Two eggs?" Esther mocked as he entered the kitchen and kissed her cheek. "Now what's brought on this hunger, I wonder?"
He caught her suggestive wink and returned it with one of his own. "Couldn't say," he shrugged casually. "Have you got black pudding?"
Esther rolled her eyes. "What is it they say?" she muttered, half aloud and half to herself. "About sex being the price of marriage? They need to put the prices up."
Brian sensibly kept his smirk to himself along with his correction of her quotation, cited he believed to Thornton Wilder, though widely reported as anonymous. He picked up his sudoko book from its place on the bookshelf. He had a book of quotations somewhere. He started to look at the titles lined along the shelf in the kitchen. The kitchen bookshelf was a sturdy piece of DIY put up to hold predominantly Esther's choice; although he had argued it ought to be cookbooks only. She didn't have that many cookbooks though, surprising really. He remembered being in Jack's kitchen and marvelling at Mary's extensive collection. Gerry had a whole cupboard, because heaven forbid they should be seen on show. Sandra didn't have any. There was a funny thing, he was sure he'd seen that book on both those other shelves/cupboards.
"Brian, what are you doing?"
"Just trying to get at this book here," he told her, wasn't it obvious? "Ah! Got it!"
She shook her head and cracked his second egg into the pan as he settled down at the table and began to flick through one of her old cookbooks until he apparently got bored of it and started on a sudoko. Everything was peaceful for a moment until the shelf came crashing from the wall.
