AN: Chapter 5 is finally up! Sorry for the mega delay, I've had exams and went home for a few days but now I'm back and the rest of the story should come along pretty quickly hopefully. Thanks for all your reviews they are much appreciated!
Chapter 5:
Neela felt as though she had barely left the hospital at all over the next couple of weeks. Somehow multiple members of staff had been given leave at the same time and so the remaining staff had been under a lot of pressure.
Once again it had been a hectic day a county general hospital with trauma after trauma and a constant stream of patients. Neela sighed as she went over to admit to fill out the paperwork on the last patient she had. She looked at her watch. It was only 5pm and she was on for another 3 hours. Although the chaotic day had kept her busy, she was absolutely knackered and couldn't wait until her shift ended. She yawned as she flipped open her chart and began filling it out.
"Tired roomie?" Ray walking over to the desk.
"Extremely. Aren't you?", Neela asked. Ray had been working on the same traumas' as her and had been just as occupied the whole day but yet he managed to look as lively as ever.
"Not really. I've got a long night ahead of me still so I need to preserve my energy".
Neela frowned, "But you've been on since before me and I'm off at eight. When does your shift finish?"
"Oh I'm off at six but I'm going out tonight. It's Aaron's birthday tonight and so we're going to a bar in town", he replied.
"I really don't know how you do it Ray. I can barely keep my eyes open", Neela said yawning again.
"So I'm guessing you don't want to come tonight then?", Ray asked.
"Nope. Even if I wasn't practically dead I can't because it's the finale of Passion Valley tonight!", She said happily.
"Well then it's a good thing I'm going out so I won't have to go through the torture again", he teased.
Neela didn't believe him for one minute, "Like you don't want to find out whether Stephanie manages to escape from Isabelle's trap in time to warn George not to marry her because she's planning to poison him on their honeymoon so that she can steal all his money!"
Ray snorted, "sure I do". Although he wasn't going to admit it to Neela, he was actually a bit disappointed to miss it. After being forced to watch the whole series he felt that he should at least get to see what happens to Stephanie and the rest of the characters. And of course watching it with Neela is always good for a laugh, he rationalised. He chuckled thinking about how Neela always got annoyed at him for laughing at her when she was watching it.
"What?", She said eyeing him suspiciously.
"I was just thinking about how funny you are when watching it", he said grinning.
"Well I'm sorry that you'll miss your weekly comedy show then", she said dryly.
"Me too", he said genuinely.
"Come people, I don't pay you to stand here and talk!", Morris called at them coming up to admit.
Ray and Neela both rolled their eyes.
"First of all Morris you don't pay us, and second of all I can't believe they pay you at all", Neela retorted and Ray snickered.
"Someone got out of the wrong side of bed this morning", Morris said as both of them walked away.
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"So how did you hurt your arm Tom?", Ray asked the teenage boy whose arm he was wrapping up.
Tom looked at him nervously, "I…er… didn't see where I was going and tripped".
Ray glanced up at Tom surveying him. Something was definitely amiss. Ray had already spotted another bruise at the back of the kids neck. He had seen enough abused children to spot the signs and unfortunately Tom looked a likely candidate.
"Well I'll have to call your parents to tell them what happened", Ray said carefully watching for a reaction. Sure enough, Tom looked up quickly, "No! It's fine, they're busy, I can take care of myself".
"Is everything ok at home Tom?", Ray asked gently, "Because if it's not then I can help you. Sometimes even the people that love you can hurt you, but you shouldn't have to worry about getting hurt".
"No…its just…my dad. He lost his job a while ago…he started drinking", Tom said timidly.
"It's ok Tom. I'm going to get someone from social services to come and see you". Ray said.
"No! He didn't do it on purpose it was an accident!", Tom said looking like he regretted saying anything at all, "They'll take me away and lock him up!".
"Tom the most important thing is your safety but it sounds like your father could do with some help himself. I'm not going to lie to you. There's a chance that you may temporarily have to stay with relatives or possibly in a home. Alcohol can make us all do things we regret but if this really was an accident then there's a good chance that once your father has been able to get back on track that you'll be able to go home". Tom was old enough to understand and Ray thought he deserved to be told he truth, "But don't worry, I'm going to make sure that everything gets sorted out, ok?"
Tom nodded miserably.
"Ok I'll be back soon", Ray said getting up.
He set of towards the admit desk and phoned social services and explained Tom's case to them. When they sent someone down Ray took them over to speak to Tom and sat down with them. Tom looked as though he didn't want to say anything but Ray had another chat with him and gave him the courage to explain exactly what had happened. The social worker managed to sort out temporary stay for Tom with one of his aunt's, and Ray asked them to get some counselling for the father.
Ray stayed with him until his aunt came to pick him up and tried to keep his mind off everything by asking him about school and his friends. Finally when his aunt arrived, Ray said goodbye to him.
"Thanks for everything", Tom said.
"No problem, and don't worry we're going to make sure that your dad gets all the help he needs", Ray said seeing them out.
After Ray finished signing off his chart it was almost eight.
"What are you still doing here?", Neela asked coming up behind him, "I thought you finished at six".
"I did", Ray replied. He explained to her about Tom and Neela looked sympathetic.
"Poor kid".
"Yeah. I didn't want to leave until I made sure he was ok", Ray said.
"That's really good of you". Neela said. She had seen over the past months how Ray had become more and more dedicated to his work and patients and she was really proud of him, "you're a great doctor Ray".
Ray shook his head, "It was the least I could do", he said, "are you ready to go home?"
