AN: Apologies for the delay between uploads, life is getting crazy. This story is complete so I'll do a couple of double uploads over the next few days but then I'll be away for a week, so there will be no update!
Chapter Eight
Ana was taken to the room that Doug was in with his wife Shelly, recovering from his surgery. He beamed at Ana as Christian wheeled her in. She was so happy to see him, and her smile shone for the first time since this had started. Christian put her right beside the bed so she could take Doug's hand. Shelly moved to one side with Christian to give the two some semblance of privacy.
"I'm so glad to see you." Ana said through the tears that she couldn't prevent from running down her cheeks.
"Same to you." Doug replied giving her hand a squeeze. "Thank you for saving me."
"Eh, you'd have been fine." Ana said brushing off his thanks, she didn't want anyone's thanks simply for helping them. "How are you doing?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing." He chuckled. "Punctured lung, they're hoping to save my leg, but we shall see, I don't care if they have to hack it off. I've lived to tell that tale, that's all that matters."
"I'm ok, hoping not to need a skin graft on my arm, got a nice through and through in the shoulder and just bumps and scrapes." Ana gave a brief summary of her injuries not wanting to dwell on them, she knew that compared to most she had been extremely lucky.
"I haven't seen the news, do they know yet who did this?" Doug asked gruffly, like everyone in the country he was angry that this had happened.
"No, they've released some photos of possible suspects but so far we don't know who they are. They did a press conference. Four bombs were in Chapel Market in total, all nail bombs. One was right outside the office if we hadn't walked away when we had…" Ana's voice broke as she realised only moments before the bomb had gone off they had been standing in the doorway and none of them would be there to tell the tale.
"Well we did and that's why we survived."
"John didn't." Ana sniffed, she couldn't cope with the fact John had died.
"I know." Doug gave her hand another small squeeze. "You meant the world to him you know."
"He meant the world to me. He was like a second father to me." Ana replied sadly, her eyes closing as she fought against the tears.
"I'll need to go see Rhian and the boys when I get out of here." Doug said, Ana nodded in agreement, she needed to go and see John's wife and kids too. It was the least she could do considering she had survived when he'd died. "Now, you need to get home and rest."
"I'll come and see you again." Ana said knowing already he had another surgery ahead of him at least.
"Ok, and relax now Ana, don't worry about work it can wait." He said as Christian came back to take hold of the wheelchair.
Ana exited the room to find a nervous Taylor and Julie waiting for her. They were frowning and looking from one to the other as if neither was sure which one should speak to Ana.
"What is it?" She asked, hating that they weren't communicating with her.
"Press are outside asking for a statement." Taylor said. "They've kind of blocked the exit, we could get the police to move them back but that could take hours because they're still clearing the scene and stuff."
"So, if I want to go home now, I need to do a statement to the press?" Ana questioned, Taylor, nodded guiltily, he didn't want to put this kind of pressure on Ana, but she had two choices, stay at the hospital till the police came to help or make a press statement Ana rolled her eyes and sighed, she didn't want to, but it beat staying here. "Well that's ok I can speak to the press." Ana said, it was a part of her job she was more than used to speaking to journalists.
Christian hated that Ana had made that decision, but he wasn't empowered to prevent her. He wheeled her quietly towards the exit. He could sense the tension she was feeling. Her shoulders were hunched, nervous about what she was about to face outside.
They stepped through the doors and the press fell silent, all Ana could hear were cameras snapping as microphones were shoved in her direction, waiting for her to say something to them. Thankfully, they were giving her the opportunity to speak before asking her any questions, unlike last time when they'd just bombarded her with questions in the early hours of the morning.
"I just want to say thank you to all the members of the public, emergency services and first responders who took care of us on the scene and to all the medics, nurses and amazing staff at the hospitals across London who have taken care of us. I am personally ok, minor injuries and I feel very lucky to have walked away from this. My condolences to all the families who have lost. This has been a devastating incident and so many innocent people have been murdered by senseless and selfish individuals. I, like so many others, cannot understand why this happened and what the motivation for this attack was. What I do know is that they're all cowards for harming innocent people going about their daily lives. They didn't deserve this. I hope they're caught and can face the courts so that we all may have justice. Thank you."
"Ana do you know how Douglas Hall is doing?" One journalist called.
"I have spoken with Douglas this morning, he's recovering well." Ana stated not wanting to tell them the extent of Douglas' injuries because the truth was she wasn't sure how badly injured he was, he'd made light of his injuries just as she had.
"Ana have you heard anything from the Prime Minister?" Another shouted.
"No." Ana replied, the confusion showing on her face. "Why would I have heard from her?"
"We're asking because no one has heard from her." Another explained, Ana looked at her frowning, what did she mean no one had heard from her? "Nor a representative from the Government."
That made no sense to Ana, usually within hours of an attack COBRA would be called and the Prime Minister would make a statement. It had been more than twenty-four hours since the attack and they'd heard nothing? That made no sense to her whatsoever.
"No more questions." Christian stated before wheeling Ana away with Taylor in front moving the reporters out of the way to the awaiting car.
A little over an hour later Ana was carried from the car into the house by Christian, Taylor bringing the wheelchair behind them. Carrick and Grace were excited to see that their daughter was home, safe and sound even if a little worse for wear. Gail immediately went to make some coffee and sandwiches while Ana was placed on the couch to watch the TV.
"How are you my darling?" Grace asked stroking Ana's face. Christian had texted them updates while they were at the hospital, but it wasn't the same as seeing her here and whole.
"I'm ok Mum." Ana said shifting away from her mother's comfort, she didn't want to be mollycoddled right now. She needed space to breathe and just come to terms with what had happened
"You need to have some sleep, now injuries, what did they say?"
"Nurse is going to come by for the next few days to change the dressings and keep the wounds clean." Ana explained making Grace frown, she could do that and take care of her daughter, she was a doctor after all.
"You need rest." Grace said as Gail brought the coffee and sandwiches through.
Ana turned her attention to the news that was still playing on the TV. Helicopter shots of the aftermath of both Emirates and Chapel Market played over and over, it turned her stomach. So much atrocity and devastation had been caused by senseless individuals.
"The press said the PM hadn't made a statement, is it true?" Ana asked turning to her father if anyone had been closely watching it would have been him.
"Not a peep from anyone." He replied making Ana shake her head, that made no sense to her at all.
"Did they give you pain killers?" Grace asked, still fussing.
"In the bag." Ana said, she wasn't planning on taking them unless she had to as they made her woozy. "Right, can I watch tv please guys." Ana asked, she wasn't in the mood to talk and a programme on the story so far was airing on the news channel which would give Ana an up-to-date account of what was going on.
"Seventy-Six so far confirmed dead, six explosions in two parts of the London Borough of Islington, this is Sky News and this is how the day unfolded."
"Wow, seventy-six now?" Christian asked the last he'd seen the death count was at fifty, so it was clearly still rising.
"It's going to be higher." Ana said sadly, she knew they would still be scraping body parts off the ground and the confirmed dead would not yet include the unidentified.
"It was just up this road at four thirty-five yesterday afternoon that two car bombs exploded simultaneously in the carpark of the Emirates Stadium just as fans were arriving for the Arsenal home game. It has so far been reported that a total of forty-seven people have died from their injuries with another eighty-plus injured. Then down the road, less than two miles away, the first of four explosions went off on Chapel Market. The first said to have occurred at four thirty-eight followed rapidly by another three. So far it is reported that twenty-nine people have died there."
"There are more than twenty-nine dead." Ana said quietly, pulling her family's attention to her, they were watching the programme that was summarising the events with her.
"Are you sure?" Christian asked nervously, he didn't want to upset her, but he wanted to have some idea of what she was sure of and what she wasn't so sure of. She may have just lived through this, but her mind was a mess, he wasn't to know what she was sure of and what she was imagining
"I turned bodies over, dozens of bodies." Ana said wiping a tear from her cheek. "Some of the bodies were in pieces, the ones closest to the explosions… they won't know for days."
Christian swallowed hard, regretting asking her now. He'd obviously made her remember something so awful about what she had seen but he could imagine she was right, that some bodies would have been so badly attacked they may have not appeared as bodies anymore.
Ana looked at the aerial footage from a helicopter of Chapel Market, it had clearly been taken earlier in the day with police and forensics all over, tents having been popped up over bodies and some bodies being moved in black ambulances.
"We were waiting for police and ambulances but they weren't coming. There was a woman running around helping everyone but no one seemed to know why there weren't first responders." They showed a clip of one of the interviews they'd conducted with walking wounded. It shook Ana to see them, they'd all been there with her. "I don't know why they weren't coming."
"The Metropolitan Police and NHS England revised their Major Incident response plan early last year to deal with the dwindling numbers of police officers and paramedics due to the cuts to public funding. The decision was made that in the event of a coordinated attack the first response would be to the area with the highest numbers of likely victims." Ana gasped hearing this, this was why they hadn't come to help them? Because of the police and ambulance numbers? She couldn't believe it, London of all places should have been able to deal with a coordinated attack.
"These seven individuals are of interest to the Metropolitan police, if anyone has any information about who these individuals are or where they might be they need to call the anti-terror hotline or crimestoppers via the numbers on your screen." They were showing clips of the press conference that the police had done and Ana studied at the pictures of the people of interest, they obviously had reason to believe these people were somehow involved to show their images on TV.
"They're white." Carrick noted. Ana nodded softly, that hadn't been something she'd missed. As everyone naturally did in these circumstances she'd expected this to be immediately connected to Islamic Extremism.
"My heartfelt condolences go out to all the victims and their families who have been affected this tragic event." Her Majesty the Queen said on the TV, they were showing a montage of everything at the moment and so Ana was getting a quick catch up on everything that had gone on. Including all the condolence messages that had come from world leaders from every continent. Yet, there was nothing from the Prime Minister, it baffled Ana.
"One of the more high-profile deaths has been confirmed as John Flynn MP who had been meeting with Douglas Hall and Ana Steele at the Islington Constituency Office."
"Oh Ana." Grace said sadly, she knew how close Ana had become to John Flynn, he'd been at Ana and Christian's house-warming party when they'd moved into their little manor.
"Ana Steele MP for Chesham and Amersham was seen helping victims for several hours after the event and eye-witness then spoke about how she went to visit the wounded and their families at the Church halls of the borough before Police Protection took custody of her." They showed the clip where she was snatched from the media scrum and she couldn't help but be relieved that Jason Taylor had found her at that moment, it had been a scary situation to be in alone with no one to help her. They then showed a series of clips and photographs of her helping people, walking around the scene, giving out water and the last clip they showed was of her lying on the floor with the little boy.
"An officer came around and asked if we had photos of our loved ones. When I showed him a picture of my daughter and grandson he took me to one side and told me that my grandson Tony was one of the people who had died. As I started crying he told me that a lady had taken care of him, that she had laid with him and sang to him, so he wasn't alone and that he had then taken over before Tony was taken from the scene. He said how the lady said she would not see Tony on the street all night…"
Christian looked at Ana as she wiped another tear from her eye. Tony. The little boy's name was Tony and on the screen his grandmother who would have to bury her grandchild and Ana was convinced probably her daughter too, if Tony was dead then it was unlikely his mother had survived.
"I couldn't let him be there on his own." Ana whispered as Grace rubbed her leg softly.
"You did amazing Ana." Christian reassured but she shook her head, she didn't do that much, so many people had died and she hadn't been able to do anything to help them.
"There was just one explosion and then another and another and then it went so quiet, eerily quiet before the screaming started. No one knew what to do or how to respond and then after a while, we saw this woman telling anyone who could walk to go into the Labour office and then she was running around the street putting people into recovery positions, making tourniquets, getting people to put pressure on deep wounds to stem bleeding. She was so calm and in control, even though she was hurt too. She was an angel."
"Why are they talking like that about me?" Ana cried. "I didn't do anything, I'm not an angel."
"I think people think you're an angel because you went out of your way to help other people, you put your own needs aside for them." Carrick said reassuringly, he was finding Ana's emotional state a concern and he wasn't sure how to respond to her.
"You saved lives Ana, remember what Julie said, that lady you put those tourniquets on survived because of you." Christian said gently but Ana shook her head violently, she wasn't an angel she didn't deserve that kind of title.
"People here in Islington have been quite moved by the events that have happened here and have been leaving tributes here in Paradise Park which is located between the two incidents."
Ana looked at the scene of flowers and candles that had been laid and the way people would pray and cry, there were balloons and teddies and all sorts being left in memory of those who had died.
"I want to go there." Ana said signalling the TV, she wanted to take her own tribute.
"Give it a couple of days till you can stand again." Christian sad quietly. He knew Ana was going to be in quite a lot of pain over the coming days and she didn't need to overdo it because the coming weeks would be tough, she'd need every ounce of energy that she could muster. "They'll come by to take your statement tomorrow."
"I know, can I go to bed now?" Ana had had enough now and just wanted to get away from her family and sleep. She needed time alone to think and breathe and come to terms with everything she had seen
"Of course, let me take you up." Christian said and while Grace and Carrick kissed their daughter on the head, Christian took her into his arms and carried her to their bedroom where she could try and get some rest, something that she hadn't had since this had all started.