Rainy Days And Mondays – Part 4

Smiffy woke from where he was slumped, dozing in a chair and blinked round the room, screwing his eyes tightly shut in the early morning sun. He glanced over at Charlie and saw her laying down with her back to him, her shoulders shaking as she cried softly.

He sat bolt upright and stretched quickly, moving over to the bed and placing a hand on her shoulder, ready to lift her to him so he could at least attempt to try and comfort her.

Charlie jumped and yelped, lashing out at him and trying to fight him away. "Get off!" she cried. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Charlie...." Smiffy held onto her, wincing as her hand caught his lip, drawing blood. "Charlie – it's me!"

"GET OFF!" She fought against him, jumping again as the curtains were pulled open and several nurses rushed in.

She stared at them, and looked up at Smiffy, swallowing heavily.

"It's ok..." he smiled slightly at her. "Alright now...." He nodded at the nurses. "Thanks," he said quietly.

The nurses looked between them, and returned his nod, turning and closing the curtains again as they left.

Charlie stared up at him, her eyes settling on his lip. "Wha...?"

He frowned slightly at her expression and moved his hand up to his lip, wiping away the blood. "It's alright.... "he said softly, "I shouldn't have made you jump....."

Mickey pulled himself up from the plastic chairs in the waiting room and groaned softly, stretching. He glanced at the time and sighed, pacing the room a couple of times and rubbing his eyes, trying to wake up.

He glanced over at the door as a nurse past and called out. The nurse stopped, walked to the doorway and smiled at him. "You still here?"

Mickey nodded and gave her a small smile. "Everything ok...?"

The nurse gave him a sympathetic smile and nodded. "She's awake...she hasn't slept a lot...but she should be ok to go home today...."

Mickey relaxed. "Great...thanks..." he sat back in one of the chairs and rubbed his head wearily.

"You can go and see her if you want..." The nurse said softly, before walking away.

"You should eat something...." Smiffy said, stroking Charlie's hair as she rested against him, clinging tightly to him like she'd spent the majority of the night.

"Not hungry..." She said quietly, hiding her head in his chest.

"You still should try something....even if it's some toast..."

"I don't want any..." She said, petulantly.

Smiffy sighed and nodded, looking up as the curtain opened. "Mickey..." he said softly.

Mickey gave him a tight smile and moved stiffly over to them. "How you feeling...?" he asked, looking down at Charlie.

Charlie pulled her head up and looked at him, trying to smile and sighing as it fell at the first hurdle. "Felt better...." She said, looking at her hand as it curled tighter around Smiffy's.

"I'll bet..." Mickey frowned and sat on the edge of the bed, tentatively moving his arm out to hug her, and pulling it back as he thought better of it. He swallowed and looked at his hand. "They said you could probably go home today..."

Smiffy kissed her forehead and looked down at her. "There we go..."

Charlie sighed and turned her head back into his chest, obviously not wanting to talk.

Smiffy frowned at her and looked at Mickey. "I er...I hear it was you who found her..."

Mickey nodded. "The others were with me...they were sent home though...they send their best..."

"You've been here all night?" Smiffy blinked.

Mickey nodded. "I was waiting to see if there was any news..." he said quietly, looking down at Charlie as she looked over at him.

"Didn't have to..." she said, much more curtly than she actually meant.

"I wanted to..." he said, holding her gaze and giving her a small smile.

"Alright, Alright!" Gina marched into the briefing room, shouting above the noise. "Calm down children...there's a lot to get through.

"Have you heard anything Ma'am?" Cass piped up, clutching her hat tightly.

Gina shook her head and looked at her. "Sgt Smith said he'd contact the station with any news..."

The officers exchanged glances chattering and gossiping amongst themselves as Gina glared at them. "This isn't a mothers meeting!" she picked up the clipboard and assigned the days jobs, before glancing round at them. "Whatever may, or may not have happened last night, your job is to catch criminals...not theorise at length about what they've done!" She paused and settled her gaze on the small gang at the front. "I understand how you're feeling...but there isn't a lot we can do at the minute without a statement...we need the description...we need to know who we're looking for..."

The officers nodded all avoiding her gaze.

"You're officers of the law..." Gina continued. "You don't want some vicious scroat getting off on a technicality, just because someone felt like giving him a kicking for what he did to their friend."

"No ma'am..." they chorused.

"So get out there, do your job...and let's catch them!"

Charlie, Smiffy and Mickey sat in silence for the best part of an hour, before doctor came through to them. He looked Charlie over, examined her, before discharging her.

The two men stood the curtain, waiting for Charlie to slowly dress and gather the small amount of belongings she had with her. "Ready." She said, walking through to them as she finished. She walked ahead of them, thanking the nurses as she passed, and carried on ahead, glancing round every so often to make sure they were following close behind.