They'd been in the ambulance just over 10 minutes before Jack realised that the last time he'd travelled like this had been with Katie. His stomach lurched at the memory. He dropped his head to his chest and closed his eyes, allowing himself a moment to dwell on how pale and grey her face had been; how she'd mumbled incoherently between the bouts of sickness. He'd have sworn at the time she was pleading to see her baby, but these days he wasn't so sure. In all honesty, he knew she was probably too out of it to be asking for anything.
He tried to focus on the information the paramedic was giving him here and now. The little girl - Alice - was breathing steadily, heart rate normal. At the scene they'd established that she had no obvious critical injuries, but they were concerned about bruising over her forehead. They couldn't rule out a head injury, so they'd decided to take her in to A&E, just to be safe. All the while, Alice had kept hold of his hand, squeezing tightly when the paramedic had touched at the tender spot above her eyebrow. Automatically, Jack had stroked a thumb over the back of her hand and murmured reassurance: "You're ok. You're being very brave, darling". The words brought Katie back to him again, the first thing she'd whispered on hearing their newborn's cries: "You're ok, sweetheart. You're ok". Jack clenched his fist and lifted his head - he had to stop living in the past. Katie was gone.
Once at the hospital, Alice was taken for scans, leaving Jack to attempt to handover to the social worker and police officer who'd arrived shortly after them.
"There's not much I can tell you, other than her mother's dead at the scene..."
"Did she say anything in the ambulance? Did she say if she saw who did this?"
Jack shook his head, "She told me she likes the animals on the farm. Especially the hens"
The social worker looked unimpressed with this revelation. Jack shrugged.
"She was shaken up enough without me questioning her. Figured I'd leave that to you guys" he said.
By the time he'd said goodbye to Alice and finished giving his statement to the police, Jack was exhausted. He walked out of the hospital entrance and halfway to the car park before remembering his car was still at the crime scene and he was stranded here in his overalls and t-shirt.
"Shit...", he swore, before noticing a familiar blonde woman striding towards him.
"Hey!" she called out with a small wave. Jack grinned back at her.
"Hey, yourself" he smiled.
"Figured you might need a lift back. You've done your good deed today, I'll do mine..."
"You're a lifesaver...?"
"Nikki."
"You're a lifesaver, Nikki"
[A short chapter, but tbf it is 6 years since I updated. Sorry about that!]