Waking Up


"What do you mean accident?" Thea shook her head, not comprehending what she was possibly being told.

"Do you mind if we come in-"

"Yes, I do." Thea said, "What do you mean there's been an accident? It's… it's late." Thea shook her head, "She'll be in bed. She was having a sleepover with some school friends." Thea nodded, "You must have the wrong address."

"Sofia was hit by a car." Officer Peterson nodded as Thea stared at her, "She's gone to hospital. The little girl she was staying with, her mother called an ambulance right away. She told us she couldn't get a hold of you." She explained.

"I… my phone is…" Thea pointed behind her, not exactly sure where her phone was. From now on, she would take it everywhere with her, "She was… hit by a car?" Thea shook her head, truly not believing it.

"She's in surgery just now." Officer Peterson nodded, "If you want us to drive you to the hospital-"

"Hey, what's going on?" Dominic came downstairs, wondering what was going on, what was keeping Thea so long. When he noticed the two police officers standing, his stomach turned.

"We… We need to go to the hospital." Thea turned to Dominic who walked over, knowing by the look on her face that something was extremely wrong. He'd never saw his wife look the way she did right now.

"Why? What's going on?" Dominic shook his head, turning to the police officers, looking back at Thea who was staring off in a trance.

"Sir, your daughter was hit by a car, around an hour ago." Officer Peterson said.

"What?" Dominic screwed his face up.

"She's at the hospital right now. In surgery." The officer continued, "We think it may be wise if you and your wife get there."

"She's in surgery?" Dominic questioned, feeling light headed, turning to Thea who wasn't saying anything, who'd gone a shade of yellow.

"Yes." Officer Peterson nodded, "If you need us to drive you-"

"N-No." Dominic shook his head, "No, I'll drive." He nodded, turning to Thea who still wasn't moving.


After the police left, Dominic managed to get Thea functioning properly, getting dressed and waking up James and Sam. They did their best not to alarm their two other children and told them Sofia had just fallen over and perhaps sprained something. They dropped both of them off at Dominic's brother on the way to the hospital. Neither spoke a word to each other. Neither knew what to say.

They headed into the hospital and were directed to the ICU on the children's floor. Thea knew her way around the hospital very easy. It was her place of work. But for some reason, she got them lost twice. Her head was all over the place.

They finally arrived to the ICU and immediately began speaking to Sofia's doctor. All they wanted to hear was that their baby girl was ok.

"Is she alright?" Thea asked, not being able to help it. She barely let the doctor introduce himself.

"She's out of surgery." Doctor Arnold nodded, "She had a bleed on her brain and quite a lot of swelling. We managed to stop the bleed and the swelling has come down a great deal. That's all good news." He clarified as Thea nodded, placing her hand on her beating chest.

"Is she awake?" Dominic asked.

"Not yet." Doctor Arnold shook his head.

"How did this happen?" Thea shook her head, drying her tears, feeling completely numb to all of this news. All she could see was her daughter's excitable smile as she dropped her off earlier to stay with one of her school friends. Now she had wished she'd never left.

"I'm not quite sure about the details." Doctor Arnold, "The lady who came in with her was here but… I don't see her now." He looked around the waiting room.

"Was she awake when she came in?" Thea asked.

"No, she was unresponsive." Doctor Arnold said as Dominic ran his hand through his hair stressfully.

"Can we see her?" Dominic asked.

"Yes, I'll take you to her room." Doctor Arnold nodded, heading down the corridor as Thea and Dominic followed.

Thea felt Dominic grab her hand immediately before walking into the room, looking over at Sofia lying in the bed. One side of her head and the back of her head had been taped, and she was connected to the obligatory monitors, as well as having an oxygen tube in her nose.

Thea immediately let out a silent cry, walking over to the bedside, taking a seat and placing her hand on top of Sofia's.

"Mom and dad are here, baby." Thea spoke, "You don't have to be scared, ok?" She nodded, drying her tears as she looked at her baby girl, feeling immense pain from the sight of her. She seemed so small and fragile. So unfairly hurt and vulnerable. It made her heart break. It made her angry… she wanted answers.

"Why does she look so small?" Dominic asked quietly, swallowing the lump in his throat as he eventually joined Thea. He'd stood at the door for a moment, taking in the image of his daughter which made him want to fall apart.

"Are those police officers here?" Thea turned to him, keeping her hand on Sofia's, her eyes now going puffy and red from the crying and constant tears that were streaming.

"I don't know." Dominic shook his head.

"Why was she outside so late?" Thea shook her head, "And… who hit her? Did they arrest them?"

"It was probably an accident." Dominic nodded. He couldn't think about if it wasn't an accident. He was doing himself a favour. He didn't need that kind of anger within him. Not yet.

"They've shaved some of her hair." Thea noticed.

"That's the least of my worries." Dominic said as Thea nodded.

"She'll want some of her things in here with her." Thea said, "We'll need to get a bag." She nodded.

"We'll get it." Dominic nodded, "I want to be here until she wakes up."

"Yeah." Thea agreed, noticing out the window of the room which looked out onto the waiting room, Lily's mother appearing with a coffee.

She wasn't sure if it was just the protective mother in her, the devastated mother, or just her personality and brashness, but she stood up from the chair and stormed out of the room, heading in direction for Lily's mother, Andrea.

"Oh, Thea." Andrea stood up once she saw Thea appear. They weren't best friends. Merely school mom's with children who enjoyed playing together.

"What the hell happened?!" Thea yelled angrily. In these moments, she recognised she was her father's daughter. Always.

"I was trying to call and-"

"Why was she outside so late?" Thea shook her head, "Why weren't you there? Keeping an eye on her? When your daughter is at my house I don't just let them wander off when it's pitch black outside. They're… she's only nine." Thea's voice broke with anger and emotion.

"They told me they wanted to drink their hot chocolate outside." Andrea shook her head, "I told them to stay at the house, on the front porch." She said.

"Then how the hell did she get hit by a car?!" Thea screamed, about to grab Andrea as Dominic came over, pulling Thea away before she did something she would very much regret.

"Ok, I know." Dominic nodded, hugging his wife as she cried into his shoulder, "I know you're mad." He brushed his hand down the back of her hair. He knew his wife felt things on a different level. Pain, joy, sadness, happiness. The magnitude of those things within her was much greater due to her disorder.

"I'm so sorry." Andrea walked over to them slowly.

"Just give us a minute." Dominic nodded to her quietly as Andrea nodded, backing away whilst he continued to console Thea, "She's gonna wake up real soon. You don't want her to see you upset or anxious." He said, "It was an accident, ok? She's going to be ok, and get better." He nodded. He wasn't positive of that. They didn't really know much right now. But he knew he had to convince Thea first before he convinced himself.


They spent a few hours at the hospital, sitting by Sofia's bedside, watching the monitors and Sofia closely. It was extremely painful. All they wanted was to see her open her eyes. To know there was promise that she was going to be ok.

They discussed who to call from their family and decided to wait until they knew more about Sofia's condition before calling. It was the middle of the night anyway, and neither wanted to scare anyone with a concerning phone call in the middle of the night.

"She never wants to go to those damn sleepovers." Thea whispered, still holding onto Sofia's hand, hoping her daughter sensed that they were here with her.

"She normally has fun at them." Dominic said as Thea nodded, "It's not that woman's fault." He added quietly.

"She should have kept a better eye on them." Thea said bluntly, "They're just little girls."

"Sofia's got good road sense." Dominic nodded, "She wouldn't have just ran out onto the road, especially if she saw a car coming. I can't picture how it even happened."

"Me neither." Thea sighed, feeling Sofia's hand start to twitch and move a little in hers, "She's moving." Thea nodded as Dominic watched, "She's waking up." Thea said hopefully, watching as Sofia begin to stir a little, opening her eyes.

"Hey, baby." Dominic said softly as Sofia kept her gaze straight ahead.

"Dad?" Sofia mumbled.

"We're here, baby." Thea nodded, taking Sofia's hand in hers, watching as Sofia looked down a little, "You should go get the doctor." Thea told Dominic who nodded.

"Mom?" Sofia said, tilting her head a little and looking at Thea, which was when Thea noticed her daughter's gaze was different, as if she couldn't find them in the room, like she was trying to figure out where their voices were coming from.

"Hey, we're right here, baby." Thea nodded, squeezing Sofia's hand whilst Dominic stood up to get the doctor.

"I can't see you." Sofia mumbled quietly, still out of it from her surgery, but struggling to see her parents in the dark room. The dark everything.

Dominic paused on his way out the door, turning around and looking over at Sofia.

"It's ok. You're just a little tired." Thea nodded. She figured Sofia was just coming round from surgery very slowly, no doubt she was scared and had no idea what was going on.

Dominic however, stood at the door, looking over at Sofia. Her eyes were open, but something wasn't right. He then watched her little hands by her side, feeling around the bed beside her. It was then he realised… she couldn't see.

"Thea." Dominic said quietly, walking back over to Thea beside the bed, watching Sofia.

"There's normally a button we can press for the doctor to come." Thea nodded, looking around the side of the bed, "You've been so brave, sweetie." She told Sofia in an upbeat voice, nodding as Sofia turned to her slowly, her head leaning back on the pillow. Thea could see that their eyes weren't locked. Her daughter's stare seemed to be going past her, as if she was looking at something behind her mother.

"Thea." Dominic said quietly, sitting back down beside Thea who kept her eyes on Sofia.

"Sofia." Thea said, watching as her daughter's hand felt around the bed, trying to reach Thea, trying to find her in the room.

"Mom, I can't see you." Sofia said in a frail voice.