Chapter note: This chapter contains a non-consensual M/M sexual assault, though not rape; I couldn't write that. Even what I did write for that small scene was making me a bit nauseous.
Stopping off at Pulses, Bernie picked up two teas and some muffins. Realizing that she had no how Dom took his tea, she grabbed some sugar, milk, and stirrers, and shoved them into the pockets of her hoodie.
As she stood at the door of the on-call room, she knocked but got no answer. She wondered and hoped that maybe Dom had been able to get some rest before coming back on the ward. Before raising her hand to knock again she heard sounds of movement coming from inside.
"Zosia?"
"No, no, Dom, it's…it's Bernie. May I come in?" After a moment, she heard the lock being turned and the door opened fractionally. Stealing herself, she pushed it open and saw Dom heading back to the bed. Walking to the nightstand, she placed down the teas and everything else that had been shoved into her pockets before leaning against the wall.
As Dom poured the milk into his tea, it allowed her to see his reddened eyes; eyes that were doing everything they could to avoid making contact with hers, with a bone weariness from his body. She sighed. This was a situation in which one friend would offer the other a hug, but she wasn't sure if it would be welcomed. She'd had no doubt that if she had have been Zosia, that hug would be accepted, but they were of the same level, but they were not of the same professional level or age.
She shook her head; she'd never really felt comfortable in giving or receiving affection from anyone, including her own kids. She loved them, certainly, but physical affection towards others had always been a struggle; even her interactions with Alex whom she claimed to have loved had been stilted. Due to the warmth and contentment she felt with Serena, she'd grown accustomed to willingly initiating hugs with her kids and Serena.
There was still an underlying reluctance to share them with others. Yet as she walked over to the cot, sitting down to hug Dom, she realised in that moment the simple act of wrapping her arms around him conveyed so much more than words. Thus, it hadn't completely surprised her when Dom curled into her side much as Cam did when he was a boy, the tears flowing freely. They stayed like that a few moments until Dom was ready to relinquish his hold on her. Bernie grabbed one of the napkins on the drinks tray and handed it to him, giving him a few moments to collect himself.
"Thank you," Dom spoke quietly. Feeling the need for a bit of distance, Dom pushed himself backwards, so that his back rested against the wall and he pulled his legs up in front of him.
Bernie repositioned herself on the bed, so she sat with one leg on the bed and one on the floor, and she looked over at the young man. He looked a shadow of his usual vibrant self. After a moment, she spoke.
"Mr. Hanssen will be keeping Dr. Mayfield busy for some time in his office. Ric Griffin's coming down to help Raf on AAU for a bit. Why don't I drive you over to the flat to pick up your things now, then you can leave them in the office until the end of your shift?"
"You don't need to do that, Ms. Wolfe," Dom started, initially out of habit, and partially out of some sense of distancing himself to a place of less familiarity.
"You're not asking. I'm offering. As a friend." Taking a deep breath, Bernie stood, stretching her back as she did. Holding out a hand, she added, "Come on, young Jedi. Let's get you sorted."
Dom smirked back at her, grabbing her hand and hoisting himself to his feet. "Yes, Master." Bernie quirked an eyebrow. Dom grinned widely, regaining some of his natural humour, he responded, "Well, I could hardly call you 'Mistress' with all its connotations, which we won't so go there." Tilting his head sideways a moment as he looked at her, he added, "I didn't quite take you for a Star Wars fan."
Smiling a little wistfully, Bernie responded, "It became a bit of a habit when I was home in between tours that Cameron and I would marathon the early Star Wars films. We've got them all on DVD."
"How are things…?" Dom started, mostly as a means to keep the conversation away from his own troubles, at least for the moment.
"Better. Cam called on the weekend. He's doing well on the ward of the hospital where he's working in London. And Charlotte's getting towards the end of her final term at uni. It's still hard with her sometimes. I don't know how to make things easier to bridge that gap yet. We had a good conversation at Christmas but not a lot of movement since."
"She'll figure things out. Need me to have a chat with her?" Dom offered with a cheeky grin.
"I think I'll wait on that, Dr. Copeland." Bernie said with a dry laugh. "Come on. I've got to go say goodnight to Serena before she heads home and then we'll head to the flat to get your things. Is Zosia still expecting you in the morning after your shift?"
"Yeah. She's working tonight as well, so I'll catch a lift home with her in the morning." Dom grabbed his tea and took a bite of his muffin as he climbed off the bed and joined Bernie at the door.
When the lift door opened on to AAU, Fletch looked over, hearing Bernie's distinctive laugh echoing onto the ward. He didn't know the current cause of it, but he was glad of it all the same; he'd missed that raw laugh lately. Following behind her was a giggling Dominic Copeland as they wound their way around the desk towards her office.
"I'll be just a minute, Dom," Bernie said as she headed to say goodnight to Serena."
Dom nodded then headed over to Fletch to check in with him for a quick chat as he waited for Bernie.
Closing the door behind her, Bernie moved over to sit on the edge of Serena's desk. She picked up Serena's hand, grasping lightly with one hand, caressing it with her other. "Hey, you. Thank you for waiting. I was longer than I expected. Sorry."
Serena shook her head. "It's fine. Just a few odds and ends. Raf has pretty much got everything covered out there."
"You ready to go?" Bernie asked, noticing the tired expression crossing Serena's face.
"I'm going to take Dom to get his stuff from the flat to bring it back here. Ric is on standby should Raf need him for a consult until we get back."
"How was the meeting with Hanssen and Sacha?"
"Productive. Hansson's going to keep Mr. Mayfield busy for the time being until we return; he will be put on immediate suspension from all duties and research."
Bernie stood up in front of Serena and tugged her up into a hug. "Come on. Time for you to get home. I'll call you later with an update."
Serena nuzzled her nose against Bernie's neck and breathed her in. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Bernie said as she pulled back and placed a kiss on Serena's forehead. She grabbed her overcoat from the coat tree in the corner, pulling it on, before holding Serena's for her to do the same once she had finished putting her paperwork in her bag. Heading back out onto the ward, Serena at her side, Bernie nodded for Dom to join them and all three left the ward.
It hadn't taken long for Dom to collect his things from Isaac's flat. All of his things were piled into a wheeled suitcase and a holdall. Placing both of them on the rear seat of Bernie's car, the two of them returned to the hospital. Dom had carefully placed Arthur's medals in his coat pocket, the last things he'd retrieved from the flat, and now he was running his fingers over them, like a talisman, hoping to draw strength from them and their connection to Arthur.
Once they got in the hospital, Dom said he needed to go up to grab his things from his locker to bring down to AAU, so Bernie offered to bring his things up to the ward so he wouldn't need to make an extra trip with them.
They parted ways at the lifts, Bernie electing to take the stairs up the one floor to AAU, the added weight of the luggage an extra challenge to her journey, the physical exertion clearing her focus. By the time she passed through the doors onto the ward, Fletch was directing her over.
"Ms. Wolfe. I was just about to page you. Red phone just rang. Motorway RTC. Four people on the way in. The ED is taking one of them, we've got two critical and the other is going up to Darwin."
"ETA?" Bernie said as she quickly moved to her office.
"Five minutes."
"Okay. Where's Raf?" she asked as she quickly scanned the ward for the registrar.
Grabbing some necessary supplies, Fletch headed for the Trauma bay. "Keller, to handover a patient, to make room for incoming. He'll be right back."
"Page Dr. Copeland. I'll need him with me for one of the patients, and Raf can take the other. Let me just drop this off, I'll switch scrubs and join you." Quickly piling Dom's luggage into the corner of her office, Bernie headed to the locker room to change scrubs. She was back on the floor just before the first trolley came through the doors, immediately followed by the second. Once she had received the initial reports from the paramedics, quick assessments were done on both patients to see where her skills were needed most. As she looked up, Raf had returned to the unit and checked with her to see where he was needed.
"You didn't see Dr. Copeland in your travels up on Keller, Mr. Di Lucca?" Bernie asked. It wasn't like Dom to be delayed unless there was an emergency.
Raf was slightly confused by the request. "No. Well, he wasn't on the ward that I could see."
Turning her attention to the patient in front of her who was fast going into acute respiratory distress and having severe pain in his chest, Bernie grabbed her stethoscope and listened to his chest, quickly firing off orders to Fletch for blood work and scans. "Oh, and while you're at it, can you page Dr. Copeland again, please?"
"Will do." Fletch headed out the bay flaps towards the nurse's desk and sent Morven back to help Bernie while he paged for Dom again. He returned to the bay, and picked up the patient's chart, quickly making note of Bernie's orders then grabbed the vials and needles required for blood work while Bernie continued with her assessments and treatments. She ripped off her gloves and apron, depositing them in on her way out. Quickly checking with Raf on the status of his patient, she then glanced at her watch. She was concerned. It wasn't like Dom to ignore a page. Something felt off.
In the dimmed lighting of Keller's locker room, Dom sat on the bench, his hoodie draped over his lap and several other belongings lay on the bench beside him. He just needed a few minutes before heading down to AAU to join Bernie. His thoughts were all over the place and he needed to focus if he was going to be of any use to Ms. Wolfe. As such, he hadn't heard the door open and shut and his first awareness of anyone else being in the room was when he suddenly felt hands grabbing the front of his jacket and forcibly lifting him off the bench, turning him and pushing him against the row of lockers. The wind knocked from him, Dom struggled to break free from the hold.
"Isaac, what the hell? You're not even supposed to be here!" He wasn't getting any leverage.
Pushing Dom even further back against the locker, not even acknowledging the grimaces of pain crossing Dom's face. "And why do you think that is, hmm? Your dykey major friend fabricated another complaint against me. Why can't she just mind her own damn business?"
"Because she cares about her friends," Dom said calmly. No longer struggling, he was just trying to shift over slightly as a lock was pushing into his back.
"Do you know I was stuck with that insidious Swedish bastard for the past hour and a half trying to lecture me on professional practice and the effects of bullying in the workplace?" The contempt he felt for the CEO at the moment was intense. "He wouldn't know an intense sexual relationship even if it was rammed up his arse!"
Dom started to push Isaac back, trying to use the locker as leverage even as he felt the other man's erection pushing against him. "Stop it, Isaac. This is going too far." The revulsion was making him sick to his stomach. The moment he felt Isaac grab his crotch, Dom swiftly brought his knee up, making contact with Isaac's groin, allowing him to break free of the hold, and he moved to pick his things up from the bench.
"What's all this then? Going somewhere?" Isaac growled out.
"Yeah. Down to AAU."
Turned as he was, Dom didn't see the punch to his side coming until it connected, sending him stumbling against the bench. Dom slid to the floor, trying to curl up trying to protect himself as much as possible. It didn't prevent the kicks that continued towards his ribcage, legs and abdomen.
What seemed like forever but had actually been just a couple minutes, Isaac had stopped, shifted down onto one knee to look at Dom's face, grabbing his jaw. "Tears? You're pathetic." He pushed the side of Dom's face hard against his boot. "See if your friends down there can patch you up, if they can be bothered." Isaac stood, taking Dom's things and dropping them on top of him before taking his leave of the room. His groin hurt like hell, but there was no way he was alerting anyone he was injured as he moved up the hall, his coat draped over his arm held in front of him.
In his state of mind Isaac hadn't noticed Bernie had arrived on the ward, and she intended to keep it that way for a moment, quickly glancing over the unit as she looked for Dom. She caught Sacha's queried look from the desk and mouthed the word, 'Dom?' and got a shrug in response. She headed for the locker room, pushing the door open and noticing an obviously injured Dom.
"Shit!" Torn from her desire to rush back onto the ward and stop Isaac herself, and needing to see to her friend, she quickly turned, knelt down and immediately began assessing Dom for his injuries. "Dom, it's Bernie. Can you hear me?" Bernie felt him nod, then heard him wince. "Where does it hurt the most?"
A weak smile. "Everywhere."
"Is your neck injured?" Bernie asked, maneuvering her hands around the back of his head and neck feeling for any abnormalities.
"Head is sore but nothing feels broken."
Already having a damned good idea of the culprit, she actually needed Dom to answer her question. "Who did this to you?"
"Isaac," Dom replied, as tears rolled down his cheeks and dropping to the floor.
Grabbing his hoodie from the floor next to him, she rolled it up and placed it under Dom's head. Bernie nodded. "Are you okay for just a minute? I'll be right back."
"Yes."
Bernie shifted and all but ran back onto the ward, her gaze falling on Isaac's form resting at the desk, looking at some papers. Noticing Essie appear beside her, she whispered, "Quick as you can, go into the locker room. Dom's injured. Stay with him until I get back."
After receiving a nod of confirmation, Bernie moved with determination to the desk. Schooling her features, and calm as she could, she asked, "Mr. Mayfield, what are you doing here?" She was surprised he was still on the ward, given what he'd just done but supposed his misguided notion of self-importance wouldn't let him try and get away that quickly.
He turned to look at her. "I should ask you the same. Don't you have a ward to run?"
His smarmy attitude was grating on her nerves. Where the hell was the hospital security? Time as of the essence. Not wanting to alert Isaac of her true motive for being on the ward, Bernie responded, "I do. But Mr. Levy called me up for a consult."
"I did?" Sacha questioned then noticed Bernie's steely gaze. "Yes! Yes, I did. Let me just get the paperwork." Sacha moved behind the desk and picked up a folder, ostensibly glancing at the chart. "One of the patients from that RTC, sent up from the ED. How are the ones down your way?"
"Holding their own. Mr. Di Lucca and Dr. Digby are monitoring them. What seems to be the issue?"
Sacha was saved from having to come up with a plausible diagnosis for her consultation claim when Henrik Hansson, flanked by two of the hospital's security officers appeared on the ward.
"Ms. Wolfe?" Hansson inquired directly.
"Mr. Hanssen, please call the police. Gross bodily harm on a member of staff." Turning to address the security guards, "Take Mr. Mayfield to the staff room." Bernie spoke with a gruffness to her voice. She waited for the guards to do as she ordered. Satisfied the threat was taken care of, she spun around and rushed back to the locker room. "Grab a backboard and a trolley," Bernie ordered Sacha as she noted he was right behind her. "He's going to need x-rays, full bloods, and a complete CT scan."
Immediately they got to work on their colleague and friend, getting Dom up onto the trolley and wheeled into a bay; Bernie, Sacha and Essie working mostly quietly as the outcome of the evening's events weighed heavily on their minds. Henrik moved back to the nurse's desk and kept watch, knowing the young doctor was in safe hands but stillo feeling the personal need to remain close at hand. Mr. Mayfield could wait until hell froze over as far as he was concerned right now.
