Chapter 18
The surgery waiting room was eerily quiet. While the rest of the hospital was noisy and bustling, the waiting room on the fourth floor, where Lizzie and Darcy had been deposited by a nurse, was practically silent, all of its occupants wearing forlorn faces, and all but one, sitting still.
This was the room where the uncertain were made to wait, the people with loved ones who were here by chance, not choice. And with the exception of Will Darcy, who had taken to pacing back and forth with restless worry, everyone was stationary. Lizzie watched him with concerned eyes as he walked the few meters, back and forth and back and forth. After several minutes he was receiving glares from most of the rooms other occupants and Lizzie spoke up.
"Darcy," she said his name, a croak in her quiet voice. He looked up at her and she gestured him over to sit beside her, he looked like he might refuse but strode across to her and sat down. She reached out and took his hand to comfort him, squeezing it lightly, he gave her a meek smile before focusing his attention on the ground, after a few minutes his leg started to jiggle, and Lizzie knew getting him to sit still was fruitless, but she didn't blame him. And they waited.
"William Darcy?" A voice broke the silence, both Will and Lizzie shot up quickly from their seats as two men entered the room, one wearing a suit and the other in a police uniform.
"Yes?" Darcy asked weakly, the man in the suit gestured for him to follow them out to the hall, and still grasping Lizzie's hand in his, he followed them out.
In the hall the suited man glanced at Elizabeth for a second, then their joined hands before he spoke.
"My name is Detective Bridges," the man in the suit said, "This is Officer Michaels," He gestured to the uniformed officer, "I've just come from the site of the accident,"
Darcy just nodded, unsure of what to say and the detective went on.
"To me, it appears that your sister's accident wasn't exactly, an accident," He said, "It looks like her car was forced off the road by another driver…" he paused because both Darcy and Lizzie had gasped at his words.
"Do you have any idea who would want to harm your sister?" Detective Bridges asked, to which Darcy and Lizzie both answered,
"Wickham!" Lizzie's voice was filled with frightened worry, and Darcy's unabridged anger, Lizzie rubbed her thumb along the back of the hand she held as he clenched her fingers.
"Wickham?" the detective asked, Darcy was still seething so Lizzie answered him.
"George Wickham," she said, "He's known William and Georgiana all their lives, he attacked me last week, and Georgiana already has a restraining order against him from a previous altercation. He's, just not a very nice person."
Darcy almost scoffed, that was an understatement, but he held himself back as both the detective and the uniformed officer were writing things down in their notepads as she spoke.
"Is this true Mr. Darcy?" Detective Bridges asked, and Darcy affirmed with a nod.
"Witnesses say they saw a dark blue sedan speeding away from the accident site, we're looking into traffic cameras in the area to see if we can get a license plate, do you know if this," He consulted his notes, "Wickham owns a car like that?"
"He doesn't have a car," Lizzie said.
"Do you have any idea where we could find him?" He asked, to which both Darcy and Lizzie shook their heads.
"Alright, well I'll look into it. I'll be in touch when things calm down a little. I hope that your sister is okay," he said, closing his notepad. As the two men walked away, Darcy shifted to lean against the wall. He rested his head back against the yellowing wallpaper with a sigh, and Lizzie came to stand in front of him. Their hands still joined, Lizzie didn't feel like she could let him go, and Darcy, as wrong as it may have been at this moment, was enjoying her touch too much.
After Detective Bridges left, Lizzie realized it was getting close to five, and Jane would be expecting her and Katie home soon. So making sure that Darcy would be ok, Lizzie stepped out of the waiting room to make a few calls.
"Bingley," Charlie greeted, when he picked up his office phone, Lizzie's first port of call.
"Charlie, it's Liz," She said,
"Lizzie! Is everything okay? Phoebe said that Georgiana was in the hospital but Darcy left his phone behind so I couldn't reach him! What happened?" He asked in a panicked voice. Being Darcy's best friend, Charles had known Georgie since before she could crawl, Lizzie hushed him and explained the situation.
"It was a car accident, or not so much of an accident I guess, they're not sure yet, but they think she might have been run off the road."
"Good heavens!" He exclaimed, "Who would do such a thing?"
"We're not sure, but the police are looking into it," Lizzie said, not sure how much to say about George Wickham. While she knew that Charles didn't know the full story, she was sure he knew more than Darcy thought he did. But she kept quiet for now.
"Listen, I'm staying at the hospital with Will," Lizzie said, "So I need to ask you a favour. Can you take Katie home?" She asked, "I know you were meant to come over and see Jane tonight…"
"Say no more Lizzie, it's not a problem at all. You just stay with Darcy and make sure he's all right. If anything happens to Georgiana, he's going to need someone there to support him, and I know he'd want it to be you,"
"Charlie…" She groaned,
"No, no, I won't say anymore, it's not the right time, obviously. But I know that much to be true. Don't you worry about Katie. I'll get her home safe and sound. You look after Darce,"
"I will, thanks Charlie." She said, and they ended the call. With her head still swimming over Charlie's comment she speed dialled Jane and listened to the ringing for a long minute before she finally answered.
"Hello?" She greeted, sounding out of breath.
"Janie, it's me," Lizzie said, rather pointlessly since Jane would have seen her name on the caller I.D.
"What's the matter Lizzie, you sound upset?" Whatever was playing on the television in the background was suddenly muted and Lizzie knew Jane was giving her, her undivided attention.
"I'm a bit worn down, I'm at the hospital. But don't worry, I'm fine, and Katie is fine." She added on quickly before Jane could jump to conclusions.
"Who is it?" Jane asked, concern filling her voice.
"Georgiana," Lizzie supplied, "She was in a car accident, and she's in surgery. I'm here with Darcy, and I don't think I'll be home anytime soon."
"Oh my goodness, is she alright?" Jane asked
"We don't know yet, but I'm going to stay here until I know some more, or until Darcy doesn't need me…"
"Need you? Did you guys talk?" Jane asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
"We talked a little, but nowhere near enough. We'd hardly gotten past 'I'm Sorry' before we got the news about Georgiana, I'm just trying to help, and I'm worried about Georgie too. She's my friend as well. So I'm staying."
"I wouldn't expect anything less of you Lizzie," Jane replied.
"I've asked Charlie to bring Katie home, seeing as I know you two have plans tonight. But I imagine I'll be very late, if I get home at all, so don't wait up for me."
"No problem Lizzie, I'll leave you a plate in the fridge in case you're hungry."
"Thanks," Lizzie said, "Oh, and Jane. Don't leave the apartment alone all right? And tell Katie the same thing. We don't think this was entirely an accident and given everything that's happened with Wickham I don't want to take any chances."
"You think he did this to Georgiana on purpose?" Jane asked,
"I'm almost positive, so be extra careful Jane. I can't have anything happening to you as well."
"Make sure you're being safe too Lizzie, I love you,"
"Love you too Jane, bye."
She hung up and pocketed her phone again, taking a few moments to gather herself before going back to Darcy. She grabbed two bottles of water from the vending machine in the reception area before re-entering the silent waiting room and taking her seat beside Will. He took the bottle of water from her appreciatively, but didn't take more than two sips before he took to fiddling with the bottle cap and picking nervously at the label. Lizzie didn't comment, but rested a hand on his forearm, giving it a gentle squeeze.
It was another couple of hours of waiting before Georgiana's doctor reappeared in the waiting room. Darcy was sitting in silent contemplation, praying for the best, and Lizzie had fallen asleep resting on his shoulder.
"Mr. Darcy?" The doctor spoke, drawing his attention. His head shot up at the sound of his name rousing Lizzie awake.
"Yes?" He croaked,
"She's fine," he said, which caused Darcy to finally relax his tense body, "She's still asleep, I'm going to keep her sedated overnight. She has suffered a number of injuries, and it's going to take a while for her to recover," The doctor explained. He started to go through the injuries Georgiana had suffered but didn't get very far before Darcy interrupted.
"Can we see her?" Darcy asked,
"Of course," he said, stopping his explanation, "Follow me."
The doctor led them through a few corridors across to the other side of the ward,
"She'll stay in intensive care overnight and we'll make a decision about moving her to another room in the morning," the doctor said when they arrived outside the large double doors that led to intensive care. When they arrived outside Georgiana's room Darcy finally let go of Lizzie's hand and rushed inside to his sister's bedside.
Lizzie and the doctor followed him in and stood by the end of her bed,
"So what's happened to her, Doctor?" Lizzie asked, now that Darcy could see that Georgiana was, in a sense, all right, he seemed a lot more receptive to listening, but Elizabeth made sure she paid extra attention just in case she had to repeat anything later on.
"She has several broken bones, her left arm and right leg as you can see are in plaster, but she also has some cracked and broken ribs. One of her ribs caused a minor puncture to her lung, which I had to repair. She has a head injury, but it appears to be minor, but we won't know for sure until she wakes up. There's no significant swelling of the brain or fluid buildup in the cranial cavity though, which is a good sign. The rest of her injuries are somewhat superficial, lots of bruises and some lacerations. She's going to have a rough road, but I'm confident that she can make a full recovery."
Even though the doctor assured him that Georgiana's unconsciousness was medically induced and she wouldn't be waking up any time soon, Darcy wouldn't leave his sister's bedside that night, and for Lizzie, that meant she couldn't possibly leave either. She'd tried to convince him to let her take him home to change and eat, but he was adamant he wasn't leaving until Georgie was awake.
She felt herself dozing on and off in the armchair by the window in Georgiana's private room, Darcy was still sat in the chair by her beside, holding her good hand.
"You don't have to stay Lizzie," his voice croaked, sometime in the early hours of the morning. She straightened herself up in her chair and gave him a sleepy smile.
"Of course I do," she replied, "Not only is Georgiana one of my best friends, but someone has to make sure you're okay as well. It's the least I can do Will."
He didn't say anything more, but he stared at her for a good long moment across the darkened room. In the dim lighting and from this distance Lizzie couldn't read any meaning in his eyes or his expression, so she simply continued to smile gently at him and settled back in her chair. Eventually he turned away from her again, returning his gaze to Georgiana's sleeping face. She must have dozed off again, pondering over thoughts of Darcy, because the next thing she knew it was morning and she was woken by a nurse bustling in to check Georgiana's machines. Darcy, while still seated in the chair by his sister's bed, was slumped forward, having fallen asleep at some point in the night, his hand still grasping Georgiana's, and his upper body resting on the mattress. It was a miracle he hadn't fallen out of his chair.
"The doctor won't be in for his rounds until eight," The nurse whispered, "He can't be comfortable like that. You should try and get him home to rest." Lizzie checked her watch. It was only five in the morning.
"Believe me, I tried," Lizzie whispered back, stretching the kinks out of her back as she stood, her neck ached from sleeping in that chair. She could only imagine the state Darcy would be in when he woke, but somehow she doubted he'd notice too much.
Instead of rousing Darcy and trying again what she knew would be a fruitless effort in convincing him to go home Lizzie went in search of coffee. When she got back to Georgiana's room, Darcy was awake, silently staring at his sister's limp form in the bed.
"Hey," Lizzie whispered, Darcy's head whipped around to face her.
"Lizzie!" He murmured, "I thought you'd left,"
"Went to get coffee," she replied, holding out a warm styrofoam cup to him and stepping towards the bed, he took it gratefully and sipped the warm liquid glancing back at Georgiana for a moment before giving Lizzie his attention.
"Thank you for staying," he said.
"You're welcome, the nurse said that Doctor Murray won't be here until eight," she said, resting her weight on the arm of the other bedside chair.
"I'm going to wait," he said.
"I figured, I guess I'll go and hold down the fort with Charlie at work then?" She asked.
"I really appreciate it," he said, "Just get Phoebe to cancel all my appointments for now, I'll…"
"I'll take care of it, don't worry," she interrupted him, reaching out and giving his hand a squeeze. "You call me if you need anything?"
"I will, thank you Elizabeth" he squeezed back and she gave him a smile before collecting her purse.
"I'll see you later," she said as she left, heading home to change and get Katie before heading into the office.
With Darcy out of the office for an unforeseen amount of time, she, and especially Charlie would have to pull some extra weight, but as long as Georgie was unwell she knew Darcy would need the extra help, and she was glad she was able to give it to him. She only wished they'd managed to talk out the rest of their situation, because now she didn't know where to draw the line. Could she go back to the hospital, spend the night hours looking after him? Was it inappropriate for her to call him, text him, ask if he was okay? Then she remembered what Charlie had said last night. Darcy's phone was still at the office. Well, that wouldn't do. Appropriate or not, Lizzie knew she wouldn't be able to stay uninformed about Georgiana's condition, so getting Darcy's phone back to him was going to be her first job when she got into the office.