AN: Please don't be a silent reader, I know some of you are reading for a second time and have nothing to say on the story but if this is your first time reading I'd love to know what you think about what's happening and what is going to happen, you may even pick up on key details I've missed which helps massively. Once I've finished my other WIP The Becoming I'll be finishing the fourth book of this series and making a decision as to whether there will be a fifth!

Chapter Seven

The hospital was alive with activity when they arrived. Ana had curled herself up in a ball in the wheelchair that had met them at the doors of the emergency room. She was hurried through; the bright lights and the screams of pain and distress were making her extremely on edge. They took her straight down to x-ray as Marie had filled them in on everything that she had found when she'd checked Ana over and the priority was making sure she had no debris left inside her. They got her into a gown in x-ray, needing to be able to access all her wounds.

After being x-rayed she was taken up to a ward that was being used as an overflow for the emergency room, Ana was put in a side room with Taylor and Christian staying with her every step of the way. She was extremely co-operative but silent, only making a noise when she was in pain. It was frightening to the two men to see her like this. This was not the Ana they knew. Christian just did what everyone asked of him, or kept as close to Ana as he could, he didn't know what to do with himself, he was suddenly a lost boy with no idea while also being aware he had to be strong for Ana.

"Right my name is Julie and I'm going to be taking care of you Ana ok?" The kind nurse said gently, as though she was speaking to a wounded child. Ana gave a small nod as she got onto the bed. "I'm just waiting on a unit of blood for you and some fluids and antibiotics to make sure you don't get an infection." Julie explained as she hooked Ana up to a heart monitor and took all of Ana's vitals. "The Doctor will be with you soon. I think everyone wants to make sure the hero of the day is taken care of."

Ana looked weirdly at the nurse, who was she calling a hero?

"Oh, I've heard all about you Ana, lots of my patients saying how you saved their lives. How brave and heroic you were taking control of the situation and taking care of people." Julie explained with a soft smile but Ana was frowning at her, not liking being called a hero.

"I did what anyone would have done." Ana whispered as she lay back in her pillow.

"You went above and beyond that Ana." Julie replied softly. "There are people alive right now because of your actions and quick thinking."

Ana just shook her head and closed her eyes, she wasn't a hero, and no one should have been calling her one either. She didn't need that on top of everything, she just wanted to know that people were alive as her mind only thought of those she knew who were dead. All those faces going around and around in her head, haunting her every moment.

"Why don't we put the TV on and then I'll go and let the doctor know that you're ready to be seen?" Ana just closed her eyes wanting to block everything out as Julie popped the TV that was on the wall on, before taking her leave. Marie going with her.

Christian was a lost puppy, with Taylor guarding the door he stood there just looking at Ana, his heartbreaking in his chest seeing how vulnerable Ana looked. He'd seen all the clips of her on the TV, being so calm and in control. He'd heard eyewitnesses talking about her, praising her, and calling her an angel and a hero. He'd been so proud of her, now, however, away from the scene and the victims, his Ana was crumbling.

Julie returned with a bag of blood and fluids and quietly hooked them up. Ana co-operated with having the port put into the back of her hand while the news played quietly on the TV. Christian continued to just stand there, watching, unsure what to do with himself. He was a fish out of water. He'd never had to be an emotional support to anyone before other than Ana. Since they'd been together, other than when she'd been fired, the only emotional support she'd needed was someone to take control from her after a hard day at work. This was something he'd never experienced before and never imagined experiencing either.

"Do you know how Douglas Hall is doing?" Ana asked the nurse, breaking the silence that had been between them.

"I haven't treated him, but I can find out for you. Is he a friend?" Julie asked and Ana gave a small nod.

"John's dead." Ana said looking now at Christian. He gave a small nod, Taylor had told him that John Flynn, Ana's mentor for the last two years had died. "I couldn't save him."

"Ana, you couldn't save everyone." Christian said finally moving beside the bed as Ana began to cry quietly.

"He was dead straight away, I went over after the bombs stopped and he was dead." She explained through her tears.

Christian looked at Julie who was looking so sympathetically at Ana. Tonight, they had seen the worst of the worst. Julie had seen injuries like none she'd ever seen in her career and Ana had seen things she never should have been witness to. Though to lose a friend was something else and Julie couldn't imagine the pain and the anguish the young woman in the bed must have been feeling.

"I'll get a doctor and see how Douglas Hall is doing." Julie said before leaving the couple alone. Christian climbed into the bed beside Ana so that he could hold her, he needed to know that she was ok and that she was alive and holding her reminded him of that.

A few minutes later the doctor came in with a trolley with everything he needed to sort Ana out. Christian climbed out of the bed and took the chair beside it so that the doctor could work. He was a younger doctor, with dark hair and green eyes and he looked like he needed some sleep. It had clearly been a rough night for everyone at the hospital.

"Right Ana, I can confirm that no debris has found itself lodged in your body anywhere, so that's a really good sign. You're having blood now which is good, I want to stitch up your shoulder and your arm and clean and bandage your feet. Then I think your forehead needs some steri-strips and I just want to make sure you're not concussed." The doctor explained. Ana nodded, she was happy to comply with whatever was needed because she just wanted to know how Doug was doing and then go home. "Do you know when you last had a tetanus?"

"No."

"I think we best give you a shot too just to be on the safe side." He said signalling the needle and vial he already had with him.

Christian had to watch as Ana was patched up and stitched up. Her arm was in a really bad way, a large piece of skin was hanging off, but Marie had said she was confident she wouldn't need a graft as long as the skin stayed alive. The doctor also seemed to be quite hopeful that if Ana took good care of the injury there was no reason that she would lose the skin and need a graft, which Christian was pleased about even if Ana seemed unaffected by the news.

It took a couple of hours to completely stitch her arm and shoulder where she had a through and through injury which the doctor explained Ana had been very lucky as it had missed all the important veins, bones and muscle and just gone through the fatty tissue and out the other side, it meant she'd lost some blood and that her shoulder would be sore for some time but other than that she should make a full recovery. He was also happy that she wasn't concussed and after checking the injury on the back of her head once more he was satisfied that it was a surface wound.

"Now, I want you to rest while you get blood and fluid, then you can go home after you've rested, you are going to need to keep weight off your feet for a few days and I am going to need to arrange a nurse to come and change the dressings daily on both your feet and your arm." The doctor explained. Ana nodded, already half asleep because she'd now been awake for over twenty-four hours, the sun was already up and of course, the adrenaline was now well and truly gone.

As Ana started to snooze lightly Christian turned his attention to the TV, they were currently estimating that fifty people had died but somehow, he knew that figure was being grossly underestimated. They were also still discussing Ana, speaking now to volunteers who said how she had gone to the churches and continued to help when she had left the scene. His heart burst with pride, though he wished he could also shake her for her stupidity, she was probably even more hurt because she had walked half of Islington continuing to help instead of being seen too. The clip of Jason Taylor grabbing her played before the reporter said that Ana was clearly in shock and dazed in front of the press, unsurprising according to the reporter.

"We have now heard that Ana Steele MP has been admitted to Saint Mary's hospital and is finally receiving medical attention, we will bring you more information on the heroic young woman who has been dubbed the Angel of Islington as soon as we have it."

Christian scoffed at the nickname that Ana had been given, he knew her well enough to know she'd absolutely hate it. In her mind, she was no hero, no angel. Though she was his hero and his angel and clearly would be to others too, those people as the nurse had said, who would not be alive if it wasn't for Ana.

She whimpered in the bed and Christian turned to her, she had a frown fixed on her face and Christian knew this was the start of the nightmares that would haunt her for months if not years to come. It broke his heart. He knew Ana had struggled the last time she'd been caught up in a terrorist incident, but last time she had been young and had stayed hiding rather than confront the atrocity head-on. This time she had put her own needs aside and helped others ensured they were taken care of and done whatever she could for people's injuries.

"Christian…" Ana whimpered as her eyes flew open, a nightmare pulling her from her sleep.

"I'm right here." He said coming to sit on the edge of the bed.

"It was awful." Ana hiccupped, her eyes fluttering shut again. "There was blood and body parts everywhere."

Christian didn't know what to say, he knew Ana needed to get this out somehow, but he had no idea how to open the conversation or how to lead it. All he knew was he needed to let her talk if she wanted to.

"There was a little boy." She whispered. "He was dead Christian. All alone on the cold pavement." She continued. "Why did this happen?" She started to cry, and Christian took her hand into his own, allowing her to cry it out as that's what she would need right now, to be able to cry.

She couldn't tell Christian all that she'd seen, the images were going around and around in her head like a movie and she couldn't hit the stop button. The blood, the gore, the bodies, each and every face she had looked at. Some of those faces weren't even whole, they had parts missing from them, the devastation caused by the type of bombs that had been used.

"Have they given any news on what this was?" Ana asked as she stopped crying.

"They're doing a press conference at nine am." Christian replied, it was showing on the ticker on the news channel, so he knew that was coming up.

"I don't understand what happened. Why attack us like that?" She said. "It makes no sense."

"Ana, it never makes sense, you know that." Christian replied, that was always the thing with terrorist incidents, they never made any sense why the locations were chosen, why the victims had to suffer and so many had to die.

"How are you doing Ana?" Julie walked back into the room with a couple of coffee's in her hand, one each for Ana and Christian.

"I just want to see Doug." Ana said quietly, she still didn't care about herself and was thinking of others.

"You can see him before you go home, I've spoken to him. He's going to be going into theatre later to get some shrapnel removed from his body. But he's doing really well. Apparently, a young angel saved his life." Julie smiled making Ana roll her eyes, she was already sick of being referred to as an angel and she hadn't heard the half of it yet. "He was singing your praises."

"I don't know why I abandoned him." Ana said with shame written all over her face.

"I heard you left him to go and help other people." Julie said quietly as she checked the bags that were feeding blood and liquid to Ana.

"There were so many hurt." Ana whispered. "So many dead."

"I know sweetie, it was a tragedy." Julie said quietly as Christian moved out the way so the nurse could get closer. She took Christian's place on the bed.

"How many are they saying are dead?" Ana asked quietly.

"Fifty at the moment but it's rising." Julie replied honestly, she didn't see any point in lying to Ana as it was on the news anyway.

"How many died since getting to hospital?" Ana asked.

"We've lost three I think so far, but they've been sent to five hospitals for major incidents." Julie explained. "But Ana, your actions saved so many, think of that sweetie, all those alive because you acted."

"There was a woman…" Ana started. "She'd lost her legs… they were stringy like shredded paper or something… I stole a belt and a neckerchief from dead bodies to make tourniquets…" Ana started to cry again as she recalled this particular woman, Christian had to swallow the lump in his throat hearing Ana talk about what she'd seen, he couldn't imagine what she'd seen.

"And she's alive because of you." Julie said making Ana look at her with wide eyes.

"No one would survive that." Ana said. "I did the tourniquet knowing she was going to die anyway."

"No, Ana she's alive." Julie said her eyes sparkling as she told Ana. "She's in theatre right now and they're fixing her up. She has lost both legs but she's alive."

"You're sure?" Ana asked, tears of what Christian believed to be joy appearing in her eyes.

"I was on the floor when she arrived." Julie said. "She was unconscious and in a bad way but I remember the neckerchief on one leg and the belt on the other, she was rushed straight through to theatre."

"She's alive?" Ana choked. "She's alive." She began to cry again, and Julie pulled her into her arms and held her tight.

"This is why they're calling you an angel, she is only alive because of what you did Ana. She'd have bled out on the pavement if you hadn't done what you did." Julie said as she rocked Ana gently from side to side as she cried. Christian had to wipe his own tears, he was relieved that Ana could be given some good news at least in the middle of all the heartache.