Apologies for not updating earlier, Real Life has grabbed hold at the moment, but I hope that these few chapters make up for the wait.
Again, sorry.
C
26
Nick finally took pity on Ben, having also glanced over at the
almost apoplectic senior Doctor. Drawing himself up to his full
height (being this tall does have its advantages, he told Zoe
later), Nick used his presence to subdue Dr. Keneally.
"Benjamin. Young Margaret is supposedly asking for her nightwear,
according to Dr Doom here?"
"Yes" sighed Ben, hating it when Nick played him like this.
"And?"
"And WHAT?"
"Oh Benjamin. You've let me down. Maggie wants her nightwear.
Doctor, was that what she said?" Nick turned and looked down at
Keneally. "Exactly what she said?"
"Ah, yes, yes, it was." Blustered the Doctor, puffing out his chest.
"Ah, sir, she, ah – " I cannot believe I'm saying this, thought
Tim. "She actually, well she actually asked for her p.j.'s. She just
kept saying Where's P.J., where's P.J.?' "
"Do be quiet young man!" ordered Doctor Keneally. "That's completely irrelevant. Get these people out of here, and then I think that you should take some time to learn when and when not to open your mouth, Doctor" Keneally said, his last word a sneer, his mouth falling open in shock as the men in front of him completely ignored him.
"Where's P.J? Oh good grief. She's as bad as he is. Even in her
sleep, mate, even in her sleep!" grinned Ben, reaching over to shake
P.J.'s hand. "Ok, this is going to be fun, " he said, glancing
between his colleagues, and then at the two confused Doctors. "Who wants to enlighten our dear Doctor Keneally here?"
"I think that delight should go to our esteemed Detective" Nick
offered. "Patrick Joseph?"
"Why, I'd be delighted" he said with a happy grin, moving into the room, and sitting
carefully on Maggie's bed.
"Get off the bed" hissed Keneally, sticking his head into the
corridor and looking for a security guard.
His attention was distracted for a moment as Maggie, perhaps sensing
the disturbance and the electrified emotions in her room, muttered
again.
"Mm, P.J., where's P.J?"
"Oh, now that's enough. Out. All of you. I will not have my patient
disturbed like this!" Dr. Keneally finally snapped, coming over
and moving to physically eject P.J. from the room." I don't know
what is going on here, but my priority is my patient, and as you can
see, she's having delusions – "
"I'm here Mags, I'm here," P.J. whispered, ignoring the man beside
him. "Maggie, I love you, please wake up." And he dropped the most
gentle of kisses on her forehead. "Come on Mags, let me see those
gorgeous eyes of yours" he said, kissing her again.
"What the – " Keneally said, flinging his hands up in the air.
"Doctor, for a supposedly clever man, you have no clue about people
at all, do you?" Nick said disdainfully. "Patrick Joseph Hasham.
P.J. Hasham. P.J – pyjamas, nightwear? Hello?" he said, waving a
large hand in front of the Doctor's eyes, not at all sure anyone was
really home.
"Oh good grief!" grinned Tim. "I see it now,"
Algernon Keneally glared at him, the whole scene all falling into
place. Casting his nose into the air, he marched out of the room,
talking to Tim as if her were nothing. "If you are so interested in
these clowns then Doctor, this case is all yours. I have other
patients to attend to."
Nick and Ben grinned, clearing a path for him. "Our pleasure" Ben
told him.
"Our complete and utter pleasure, you silly little man" Nick told
the departing Doctor, pointing to Ben when Keneally turned round and
glared. Ben, for his part, was pointing at Nick, while Carol just
about managed to hide her grin. Tim was struggling not to laugh as
well, his laughter fading as he realised he'd have to work with
Keneally again tomorrow.
"What a pompous little man," Nick said thoughtfully, having seen
Tim's face fall, and realised what he was thinking. "Reckon I might
put in a complaint about his treatment of our Margaret, Ben, what do
you think?"
"Mm Hm. Just ignored us, and we knew exactly what she was on about,
and was willing to ignore information relevant to a patient's well-
being. Not good for a prat – er, man like our Dr. Keneally. Yep,
one - two? - complaints coming up. Good thing we had another Doctor
around, " Ben told Nick.
"Yep, very good thing young Timothy was here. Think I might write a
letter telling his bosses how good he is. What about you Benjamin?"
Ben grinned, having seen Tim wince at the use of his full
name. "You'll get used to it, the rest of us have. He's a good bloke
really, our jolly green giant here. And Tim, thanks." Ben said,
reaching over and shaking Tim's hand.
"Jolly GREEN giant?" muttered Nick, "Green? I'll have you know……"
"Mum, take these two loons away, and I'll go and check on our
patient and her pyjamas," grinned Tim, glancing back into Maggie's
room.
27
P.J. grinned as he watched the others leave, but his attention was
soon back on the woman in the bed beside him. Looking down at her,
he was just in time to see her eyes flutter open, and to hear her
voice again.
"Where's – P.J., you're here!" she smiled tiredly, her hand moving
to find his.
"Sure am, gorgeous. " he paused, then decided to dive right in,
kissing her forehead gently, unable to stop himself. "Mags, I love
you. Don't ever do that to me again. You scared the living daylights
out of me. I love you so much, and - and you're asleep again" he
smiled softly as her eyes closed.
Forcing them open again, she just about had the strength to talk.
"I love you too P.J." and then she slept, holding his hand - and
his heart.
OOO
Out in the corridor, Dr. Keneally had disappeared, leaving Ben and
Nick with broad smiles on their faces. Carol had gone back to her
desk, with a hug for each of them.
Sitting in the chairs, Nick turned to Ben. "You all right mate?"
"Fine, fine. Bit peckish, but fine."
Nick just stared over at him, waiting.
"Ok, ok, maybe I'm not fine. "Ben said, after a while. "But I will
be. I can't help liking her, Nick, but I know I don't stand a
chance. P.J. – she and P.J. are linked somehow. I should have seen
that – they're so in love and I missed it. Well, maybe I didn't miss
his side, but Maggie – " he sighed, "Whatever. Anyway, if she and
P.J. are happy together, then who am I to get in the way? I'll just
have to cast my sights elsewhere."
Nick just smiled. "It is good with them, isn't it. I knew there was
something between them, I mean, they're always together, and she can
calm him down like no-one else can – and he gets away with murder
with her. But I could never prove it."
"That's cos we didn't ever know ourselves until the other night."
P.J. said, from behind them. Tim had checked on Maggie, and finally
convinced P.J. she was fine and that she would be sleeping for the
rest of the day. There was no danger, and she would have a headache
and some bruises and bumps when she woke up, but she was going to be
fine.
"Tim's given her something to help her sleep, and said we should go
down and get something to eat. It's almost eleven o'clock, and I've
not eaten since breakfast – and I'm starving! He's also given me the
names of a couple of good hotels – I'm staying here until Mags is
ready to come home with me"
And a loud voice behind them startled them all.
"Hasham! Where is she? And how come it took Tom to call me and tell
me about my daughter, when you lot have been here for hours?"
28
P.J. froze, his blue eyes wide and staring at Nick. Nick's eyes
were
just as wide, and Ben was no help. This was going to
be……………….interesting.
Pat Doyle – the original policeman and the original father. P.J.
had
met Pat a few times, and both times had come away from the meeting
more and more aware of how protective the man was of his daughter.
She was the Golden Girl, the one who made the world turn. In
Pat's
eyes, she was also a brilliant policewoman, and would make
Commissioner one day.
Except she might not if it became known that she and a certain
Senior Detective were hopelessly and completely in love with each
other – and that most of her station knew about it.
"P.J.?" Nick muttered, and the super efficient Detective the
all
knew and loved swept into action.
"Nick, go and talk to Carol and get her and the nurses to try and
dilute this, I don't know, keep my name out of it – use the
nightwear thing. Ben you – " he paused for a second, and then
continued," You go and check on Mags, and I'll talk to
Pat." And,
with a deep breath, he turned to face Pat Doyle.
"Pat! Hi, how are you?"
"Don't give me that, Hasham! What happened to my daughter and
why am
I only just hearing about it – and why the hell did I hear from
Tom
bloody Croydon and not from you?" the smaller man demanded,
moving
right up to P.J. and glaring at him.
"Oh boy" Nick muttered, moving over to the nurses station.
(Zoe, if looks could kill, I'd have been staring at a pair
of
smoking boots right then,' Nick told Zoe later. Pat Doyle
really
does adore his daughter' He sighed, reaching over and gently
stroking his pregnant wife's bulging stomach. Just like
I'll love
this one' )
"Carol, as you may have noticed, that's Maggie's Dad."
"Ah, yes, so I see!" Carol said, watching the standoff that
P.J. was
trying to defuse. "And I take it that he doesn't know about
P.J. and
Maggie?"
"Ah, no. No he doesn't. You see, we all work at the same
station,
and two coppers at the same station aren't allowed to feel like
they
do. There's all these rules and stuff, but the long and short of
it
is that the powers that be reckon it might affect performance, and
that the solve rate might dip, or that they'd be too preoccupied
with each other to look out for the rest of us." He told her.
"But it hasn't with them?"
"Nope. But then again, they only admitted all of this the day
before
yesterday – "
"Nick, don't be silly, you just have to look at them to know
that
they've been in love forever" Carol rebuked him gently.
"No, really! They only kissed for the first time yesterday
morning .
Carol, P.J. told me on the way here. It was the first time, and then
Maggie and Ben had to drive down here, and all of this happened!"
"Well, that makes it all the better then" Carol smiled.
"I take it
they have a good - what was it – solve rate?"
"Well, yeah, they do. One of the best in the station actually,
"
Nick said, a grin forming as he realised where Carol was going with
this. She'd come to the same conclusion he and Tom had a while
ago
when they'd talked in Tom's office.
"So they work very well together with all of that romantic
tension
between them – just think about how good they'll be now!"
Carol
finished with a smile. "Now, what did you want to talk to me
about?"
"What? Oh, yes, ah, well, maybe - just until P.J.'s either
been
swatted by Pat or got him to understand, whichever one happens,
well, we were wondering if you guys could try and keep the love
connection quiet? Geez, I'm not doing this very well, am I?"
he
said, stumbling over his explanation.
"You want us to leave P.J.'s name out of it when talking to
Mr.
Doyle, and use the nightwear angle somehow instead?"
"You make it look so easy" Nick grinned.
"No worries Nick, I'll have a word to the girls, and
we'll do our
best. Now, it looks as if your mate might need a hand!" she said,
peering around Nick to where P.J. stood with Pat. "Oh, and it
looks
as if Ben wants you too."
Nick took the easier option. "Ben, what is it?" and, from
down the
corridor, P.J. heard him, and his blue eyes bored into Ben, until
Ben gave a thumbs up, and mouthed she's ok', letting
P.J. turn his
attention back to the man in front of him.
"Ben?"
"Nick, she's fine. I couldn't talk to her cos she's
fast asleep"
"Of course she is, Tim gave her something to sleep and she'll
be out
for a while" Carol told them. "Which is one thing in your
favour"
she said, turning and staring over at the man that loved her patient
so much – and her father, who loved his daughter so much.