Hey guys :) Thank you all so much for the reviews from the last chapter, I loved every one of them, and they were much appreciated!

Apologies for any mistakes or inaccuracies in this, I'm not a medical professional or a professional author. Hope you enjoy.

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Murphy can feel pain.

His whole body is screaming at him, and there's hands touching him everywhere, and he doesn't like this shit. He doesn't know what happened, or why everything is a mixture of darkness and agony, or where Connor and his big head are.

But then he remembers.

Murphy remembers the car speeding around the corner, and Connor's face as he stared at the car that was about to smash into him. Murphy remembers the pure panic and fear that had taken hold of him. Murphy remembers how he'd tackled his brother out of the way.

Then his world had exploded into a mess of colours and agony, and then he had felt nothing.

He can feel himself slipping away again, and it's all the Murphy can do to pray that Connor made it out of the accident in one piece. Because he's not sure if he has.

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Connor wakes up to loud noises, bright lights, and pain.

He tries to look around, tries to find out what's happening, and why everything feels so wrong, but there's someone talking to him, and he figures that he should listen. "…nor? Connor, can you hear me? This is important, Connor, can you hear me?"

There's a split second where he's frozen, but then he managed to lick his cracked lips slightly, and try to cough out a response. "Y-yeah."

"That's great, Connor, that's great. Now, there was an accident, and you're in the hospital, but I need you to stay calm for me, can you? You're going to be fine, Connor, just a few bumps and scrapes, but we need to do some x-rays and get you cleaned up, is that okay?"

He blinks at her, and breathes in shakily. It feels like there's someone sitting on his chest, and breathing is getting harder. He should probably tell the woman. But then Connor remembers who used to sit on his chest to annoy him, and his breath hitches, and something starts beeping like crazy over to his right.

"Murph!" He wheezes out, and attempts to sit up.

But either he's not strong enough, or the nurses are way too strong, because he can't move. Something is slipped over his face, and there's oxygen blowing into his face, and it just feels so much better. The beeping quietens down, and he opens his eyes again to see the same woman standing over him still. Her hand is planted gently on his chest, and Connor struggles to concentrate, because he needs that anchor.

"Connor, you need to stay calm for us, okay? I need you to take some deep breaths, and just lie still."

But nothing is right, and there's a pounding in his head that's just screaming out Murphy's name, "M-m brot..brother." His voice is cracked and sounds all wrong, and hurts, but Connor doesn't even care as long as he can get words out.

She looks to the side, at something out of his vision, and suddenly an understanding looks comes over her face. Connor tries desperately to look at what she was looking at, but there's another hand holding his forehead down, and he's still stuck in the neck brace.

"Your brother Murphy was in the accident with you, and he's being treated here as well, okay Connor? I'll be able to get an update on him later for you, but right now, we need to take you to CT and x-ray, and make sure that everything is okay with you?"

All Connor can see is the dark shape of Murph as he lies motionless on the ground, and the way he'd been yelling at Connor just before the car had rounded the corner. "N-no."

"Yes, Connor. There's nothing that you can do for Murphy at the moment, except let us help you. Now, this is Doctor Walsh, and he'll be looking after you."

Another head swims into his vision, and Connor blinks painfully as he focuses on the middle ages man leaning over him. He can't shake his head, and he can't move because there are people poking him all over the place, so he tries to speak again, "No, I-I've got ta… get ta… Murph… He—"

But his breath is taken away as he bursts into a coughing fit, and everything is pain and fear, and all he wants is Murph.

"You can't do anything for Murphy until you're well, you know." The new doctor says in a slightly blasé way. "But if you want to waste more time, time that we could be spending getting you back on your feet, then be my guest. My shift doesn't end for another five hours either way."

Connor glares at him, seeing the man's point all the same though. He needs to get off this fuckin' gurney if he's ever going to be any use to Murph, and he can't do that until he's able to sit up without passing out. "Fine. Do yer f-fuckin'… tests, but t-then… I want ta see m'brother."

His eyes bore into the doctor's, and he feels a grudging kind of respect for the man, who clearly knows how to get him to agree on something.

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The next hour passes in a blur of x-rays, and injections, and pain, and doctors looking at his chart, which is growing in content by the second.

Through it all, Connor lies still, eyes fixed on the ceiling. He moves when they tell him to, speaks when they ask him questions, and doesn't complain or flinch away from anything. He bites his lip when he's put into the CT machine, and again when he's in the x-ray department, but doesn't say a word.

He doesn't realise for a long while that he's no longer in his shirt and holey jumper, but instead in a hospital gown, with heart monitoring wires sticking out the front of it. Connor lies in his jeans and socks, and wonders if Murphy has been almost stripped down, like him.

He listens as they speak about him quietly, behind the thin curtain that can't keep any volume out. He's broken his wrist, which would explain why it was throbbing, and cracked two ribs as well. Connor scrunches up his nose, feeling the plastic oxygen cannula they hooked onto him, and thinks about Murphy. When they start speaking about how he most likely cracked his ribs due to the amount of force that Murphy crashed into him with, Connor simply squeezes his eyes shut, and pretends none of this is happening.

Then they're back in with him, and some guy is putting his wrist into a plaster cast. When he asks what colour Connor wants, he simply stares ahead, not answering and not caring. Later, he sees that they decided for him, a plain white cast.

He lets the nurses support him as another doctor secures this thick belt like thing around his ribs. It helps immediately with the pain, and he manages to nod marginally at the man as the nurses lower him back down to the gurney. Someone raises the head of the gurney then, and then he's able to look at something other than the ceiling, so he stares out at the ER, with disinterested eyes.

Connor feels almost numb. He's almost numb, because he can't bring himself to care about anything, except for Murph. He asks the nurses every eight minutes exactly if they've heard anything about his brother yet, because eight is Murphy's favourite number, and Connor can't bring himself to wait for any longer than eight minutes before asking again.

Ma come rushing through the doors of the ER when he's on minute number six. She sees Connor, lying on the almost fully reclined gurney, neck brace still fixed on, and he can see her clutching her rosary tightly.

"Hey M-Ma," He croaks when she gets nearer, and Connor's not sure if he's ever seen his mother as close to tears as she was then, "Have ye heard…anythin' about M-Murph?"

The blood that had been drying on his face has been wiped carefully away, and Connor knows that there's a small plaster sticking to the right side of his forehead. He also knows that he has three stitches embedded in the back of his head, which had hurt at the time, but he figures that it's redundant to tell Ma.

She shakes her head, and just stands there, beside him, staring. Then she speaks, and her tone is even rougher due to the tears that she's clearly holding back, "Ah, Connor. Wha' happened, love?"

Connor blinks, pushing down all the feelings of fear and pain that come rushing up, and tries to shrug in spite of the neck brace. "Murph. Where's Murph?"

Something inside him breaks just a little bit more, as he sees his mother's face pale, and his eyes begin to sting, "Yer brother's in surgery. They haven't said much ta me, other than ta say tha' his leg is… pretty bad. Maybe 'is back as well, but they don't know fer sure yet."

He watches as a tear rolls down his mother's face, and turns his head away from her slightly, "I want ta see him."

"He's in surgery, Connor. An' then they said tha' they might have ta move yer brother ta another hospital… but we don't know anythin' fer sure."

"Then I'll go with him."

.

After that, Connor doesn't say anything else, other than to remind his mother to check for news on Murphy, every eight minutes. She does it, clearly seeing how broken he is really, and then just sits beside the gurney, her hand gently on his good one.

When another hour passes, and a nurse comes into his cubicle to give him some more pain medication, Connor hears that he's going to have to stay in hospital overnight. He sees his mother looking at him warily as the doctor tells them, but he doesn't even react.

He wouldn't have gone home anyway, so it doesn't make a difference to him.

Connor's not leaving without Murphy.

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It's only when he's settled in his room for the night, that news of Murphy comes through.

Connor is sitting against the raised head of the bed, neck brace removed, with all the wires and IVs still attached, when a doctor that he doesn't recognise comes in and asks to speak to Ma in private. His mother tries to stand up quietly, but he reaches out a hand, and grabs her wrist.

"Murph. I have ta hear, Ma."

She nods silently, and then tells the doctor in no uncertain terms that he'd have to speak in front of Connor, or she'd… Connor almost laughed when he listened to her, knowing how his mother got even more gruff and insulting when she was worried.

The doctor spared a glance towards Connor, who was scowling at him, and then began to speak, "Mrs MacManus, I am, eh, the doctor who was assigned to your son's case. Murphy. My name is Mr. Farrell, and I worked closely with the orthopaedic surgeons on your son. He was… he was brought in with extensive leg trauma, as well as a small head injury, and multiple abrasions and soft tissue damage. It would seem that when the car collided with him…"

He trailed off, and looked anxiously at Connor, who glared more, and growled, "Fuckin' say it."

"Well, the car caused a number of fractures to Murphy's lower legs, as it hit him full force, which we have attempted to stabilise in the operating room. The head injury and soft tissue damage, bruises, was caused when he rolled over the bonnet and roof of the vehicle, and then landed on the road afterwards."

Ma spoke then, her rosary fisted in her meaty hand. "So wha' does tha' all mean?"

The man sighed heavily, and Connor held his breath, "This all means that your son is in a critical condition. We would like to transfer him to Cork General Hospital, where they have a more advanced orthopaedic unit, than the one here. He may need more surgeries on his legs, particularly his right one, so we think that the move would benefit his recovery more."

"So he's okay?" Connor's voice was still raspy, and it hurt to breathe too deeply, but he leaned forward anyway, his gaze fixed on the doctor's face.

"We have him heavily medicated, and slightly sedated, so as to keep him stable. His head injury wasn't too severe, just a few stitches needed, so it's safe to give him the low amount of sedation that we are at the moment. It would be in his best interests to transfer him to Cork as soon as possible, so we have an ambulance standing by, waiting until we're completely satisfied with his vitals. He is currently in the ICU, being fully monitored, and cared for.

"The consultants at the other hospital have been informed of the situation, and are preparing for his arrival in the next few hours or so." Then the man took a deep breath, and properly looked at Connor for the first time, "Your brother has been seriously injured, and I can't make any promises. But his vitals are surprising good considering the amount of trauma his body has gone through, and we're hopeful here… Now, Mrs. MacManus, we have some paperwork that we need you to fill out before we can move Murphy."

Connor nodded silently to his mother as she shakily walked out of the room, and then closed his eyes briefly.

His brother was going to be okay. He was going to be okay, because Connor didn't know what he was going to do if Murphy wasn't okay.

He sat up slowly, and painfully swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Then he starts to look around for any other clothes that he could wear instead of the thin hospital gown and his jeans. Because he was going to that other hospital with Murphy, regardless of what anyone else thought.

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When his mother walks back into the room, Connor is dressed in a scrub top he found in a bedside table, and jeans. His feet are cold in just socks, on the cold lino floor, but he simply stares at his mother, and dares her to tell him no.

"'m goin' with Murph."

She stares back at him, all the wires and IVs lying twisted on the bed behind him, and sees the look in his eyes. His mother nods, because she knows that he wouldn't stay anyway, not if his brother wasn't there.

So, half an hour later, Connor is leaning against the wall in the ambulance bay, waiting for Murphy to be brought down. He'd spent a good ten minutes yelling at some doctors who'd tried to make him stay, all his anger and worry rushing out of him, until they'd finally agreed.

He would have to be monitored once they got to the other hospital, Ma had been very clear about that, but for now, all he was concerned with was Murphy.

But then the door opened, and Murphy was wheeled out, and suddenly Connor lost the ability to breathe.

Murph.

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I hope you all liked this chapter :) Anyway, I'd love to hear back from you guys, as to what you thought of this chapter – the reviews from the last chapter gave me a boost to write this so quickly! I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can.

Review…?

Thanks for reading,

ArmedWithMyComputer xx