Chapter 4

Iain and Dixie pulled up at the crash-site. They could that two cars had collided head on and the outcome wasn't pretty. Rushing out of the ambulance, Iain ran over to the first car, ignoring the people telling him that it wasn't safe. He had a duty as a paramedic and he had to fulfil it. His eyes focused on a young girl with big brown eyes and long brown hair; she had blood all down her face and her leg appeared to be trapped. Without thinking Iain fell straight to her side and began checking her over.

"All right sweetheart, my name's Iain," he let out a sigh of relief when a faint groan. "I'm going to help you. But first, can you tell me your name and how old you are?"

"L…L…Lu…Lucy," the girl stuttered. "I'm ten."

"Okay Lucy, I'm going to give you this magic gas and it's going to make you feel a lot better. What I need you to do is breathe deeply and slowly so that it travels to your lungs, do you think you could do that for me?" The little girl nodded, Iain gave her a faint smile before fitting the oxygen mask to her mouth. He stood up to go find Dixie but stopped when he heard the girl let out a faint cry. "Dix," he called out beckoning Dixie to come over to him. She made her way over to him.

"Right what have we got?" She asked.

"This is Lucy, she is ten years old. Her leg appears to be trapped. Do you want to start her off with 5ml of morphine?"

Dixie nodded, "Sure, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to treat the minors. I don't think I can face," he paused, taking in a deep breath. "This."

"Okay, that's fine you go." Dixie reassured him.

Time was ticking away, the fire service were trying to remove as much rubble to free the small girl but the longer they took the quicker the whole thing would blow up. One noticed gas dripping from the bottom of the car.

"We need to get a move on lads, this could blow any minute."

Iain finished treating all the minors. He turned back to the collided cars to see the crew backing away from the car but no little girl was in sight. He walked over to Dixie, bemused.

"What's going on?" He asked; a hint of anger in his voice.

"They think that the car is going to blow in a couple of minutes, they don't want to risk it. Especially after…" Dixie paused.

"What and they are just going to leave a 10 year old kid to burn to death?" Iain's accent became stronger the angrier he got. "I'm not having this."

Iain ran straight to the car. He could hear Dixie shouting his name in the distance. He grabbed the back of Lucy's leg trying to feel wear it was damaged. It didn't feel too bad.

"Okay Lucy, after 3 I'm going to pull your leg out. Now I know it's going to hurt a lot but I know that you are a very brave little girl."

Lucy nodded drifting in and out of consciousness.

"1…2…3," Iain pulled her leg out from under the seat, the girl screamed at the top of her lungs. Iain scooped her up and walked away from the car. He had only got a couple of metres away from the car when he felt his body being forced onto the ground.

Back at the hospital, the staff were rushing around organising everyone to their stations. Charlie, Connie and Rita waited in reception to deal with the major traumas. The doors crashed open, a little girl lay on the trolley and was followed by Dixie and Norman. But, no sign of Iain. Rita could hear Dixie informing Connie and Charlie on the details, "This is Lucy, age 10…" their voices trailed off. Knowing that she wasn't needed Rita walked quickly outside to see if she could find him. She let out a sigh of relief when she seen him sitting in the back of the ambulance.

"Iain, oh my gosh." She sat down next to him. "Are you okay?"

"They were going to leave her," Iain stared into the distance.

"What do you mean?" Rita asked, confused.

"That little girl they brought in on the trolley, Lucy. They were going to leave her under that car." Iain could feel the tears pricking in his eyes.

Rita had nothing to say, instead she hugged him tightly. After a couple of minutes, Iain pulled away. His eyes were red and puffy from where he had been crying. Rita wiped away the tears with her thumb. Then she noticed he had a cut on his forehead.

"You should get that checked out," Rita said whilst inspecting it. "It might need stitches."

Iain shook his head. "I don't want to make a fuss."

Rita stood up and pulled him up by the hand. "You won't be, it will only take five minutes. Come on."

Iain followed Rita into one of the cubicles. She cleaned the wound and applied five paper stitches.

"All done," She smiled. "How about you come back to mine tonight? We can stick on a DVD. Eat ice-cream until we feel sick and just… just relax."

"It sounds like a lovely offer but I could do with being on my own tonight."

"I wasn't asking you, I was telling you. I'm not leaving you on your own. Not after your day."

"You can be quite demanding Nurse Freeman." He winked.

"Just doing my job," She smirked.

Iain wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. He leaned his face into hers and placed his dry lips on hers. Rita's hands worked their way to the back of his neck, tugging him closer and deepening the kiss. They heard high-heels clicking on the floor in the distance. Panicking, Rita broke away from him and fumbled in her pocket for her small torch. She shined it into his eyes just as Zoe swiped the curtains across.

A look of confusion brushed over her as she studied the pair before her. "Oh, sorry. Wrong cubicle."

"We're just finishing off." Rita smiled back at her. Both Rita and Iain made their way out of the cubicle, trying to fight back the giggles. Zoe was left standing there completely bemused.

At the end of their shift Rita waited outside the ED for Iain. She couldn't help but smile when she seen him walking over to her.

"Ready?" She asked.

"Yeh, there's just something I need to do first." Iain walked into the building, closely followed by Rita. He jumped into the lift and went to the children's ward.

"What are we doing here?" Rita asked.

"I need to see if Lucy is okay."

After asking at reception they finally found her but they were surprised when they found Dixie sitting at her bedside. The girl was bawling her eyes out; Dixie had her arm around her. Dixie looked up to see Rita and Iain watching her. She whispered something to Lucy before leaving her to talk to the pair.

"What's happened?" Iain asked, concerned.

Dixie shook her head. "Her mum didn't make it. I don't even know how I can help her, she hasn't got anyone else." She felt a hand grip on to her shoulder.

"I know exactly how you can help," Rita said softly.

"How?" Dixie questioned her.

"Be what you've always wanted to be. Be a mother to her." Rita smiled. "This is your opportunity take it."

Dixie furrowed her brows; then she started nodding. "I'm going to do it. As soon as she falls asleep I'll phone them, I'll tell them the situation. They can hardly say no?" She paused for a moment. "Thank you; I don't know what I'd do without you guys." She gave them both a big hug before joining Lucy again.

"I think we should go." Rita entwined her hand with Iain's; her head rested on his shoulder as they left the ward and made their way back home.