A Scene for Jophie,
that does not necessarily come directly after the last part

Josh kisses Sophie goodbye on his way to an afternoon start. Ryan is now 2 yrs old and an energetic little tornado. Josh took him to the park earlier to give Sophie a break and they ran around with a soccer ball, then chased some birds together. Sophie had an afternoon nap. Now she and Ryan wave goodbye to Josh at the door.

At work

They are called out to an old building where some teenagers have been mucking around. One of them is trapped under a partially collapsed stairway and the TR team have turned up with their ropes and expertise ( and some muscle ).

Josh and Lawson assess the stituation and the stability of the structures. They find some suitable posts to tie their ropes to, then Josh starts descending down to the kid. Lawson is very nervous about OHS issues but Josh is all confident bravado, willing to risk his life as usual. Having a son and wife at home has not changed his attitude.

Josh manages to get to the kid and its not too difficult to manouvere him out without deplacing the collapsed structures. Josh watches as the rescue stretcher is winched up through the gap. There's a tense moment as it bangs against the stairs, sending some dust flying, but then it continues and nothing falls down. Josh ducks for cover but he's fine. Lawson starts re-setting the ropes to pull Josh back up, but then there is an ominous creaking sound.

Something has been loosened. Everyone stands still, listening.
Lawson; "Josh ?"
Josh; "Yeah, it's cool, send the rope down"
Then suddenly the remnants of the staircase come crashing down on top of Josh.
As the dust clears there is shocked silence.
Lawson; "Everyone ok ?"
Everyone except Josh answers yes.
Lawson gingerly approaches the hole; "Josh !"
Stella; "Lawson, be careful !"
Josh doesn't answer.
Lawson; "Josh !" then he swears to himself, thinking "bloody Josh, always gotta go in and risk his life....."
Lawson pulls on the rope that is attached to Josh, it pulls tight, either it's trapped under something or stuck to Josh who is trapped in the rubble.......

They are going to need to call in re-inforcements.

There is a painful wait for reinforcements. Lawson is torn between his desire to pull apart the debris and his professional understanding that it is dangerous and unstable. Dom tries to move things out of the way which results in a tearful and strained pushing and shoving between them. Dom; "We have to get him out !"
Lawson is trying to hold Dom back; "I know Dom ! Don't you think I want to dig him out too ?"
In the end Lawson can't control his own urge and they start pulling at the debris together.
Reinforcements arrive - the rescue squad. They send down a camera. There is silence while everyone listens for signs of life. They are all on edge, biting their lips, sitting with their head in their hands. Stella stands with her arm around Dom.........
The camera moves through the dark rubble, the gaps....... then they see a blue sleeve.

Dom; "There ! That's him !"
The camera moves again and they can see part of Josh's face. His eyes are closed. There is blood on his forehead.

Slowly they start removing pieces of rubble. The camera has established that he is breathing slowly but he's unconscious and they aren't sure yet how badly he is wounded or where.
They keep removing pieces of staircase, heavy, hard wood and nails. Josh starts moaning but he still doesn't speak.

When they have removed enough rubble, they can see that his leg is trapped and a piece of wood has penetrated his waist or stomach. This is what most worries the rescuers, that he may be losing a lot of blood or have serious internal injuries. They desperately work to loosen the debris and apply compression bandages.

Josh is now moaning in pain, semi-conscious. A piece of wood is impaled near his waist. This requires the removal of his shirt and vest, they have to cut his shirt off....( uh oh ! ) revealing his fit and toned torso ( oh dear ! ). Josh is placed on a drip and removed on a stretcher, the piece of wood still sticking out of his waist. He doesn't look good, his forehead is covered in blood and dust. He lies still on the stretcher, his face pale. It's not the active Josh that they are used to seeing and the whole team is in shock.

As Josh is taken away to the ambulance, they sit around motionless. Lawson seems unable to make a decision, he stares into space in disbelief. Kerry is now also at the scene. She tries to comfort Lawson but he just shrugs her off and goes outside on his own. He sits down at the curbside and gets out his phone. He calls Lisa as the ambulance pulls out with sirens on.
Lawson; "Lisa.......I've got some bad news."

Josh is rushed to hospital and into surgery to remove the offending piece of staircase....

Lawson is picked up by Lisa. She hugs him warmly. Lawson collects himself; "Come on, let's go". He called Lisa because he needs her to help him break the news to Sophie. They drive to Sophie and Josh's apartment. When Sophie opens the door and sees Lawson in uniform with a sad look on his face, she knows it's bad news and she faints, taking them by surprise. Luckily Lisa grabs her as she goes down and they take her over to the lounge. Ryan is playing with his toy cars on the floor.
Ryan looks at Lawson in uniform; "daddy ?" not necessarily because he thinks Lawson is daddy, but he's used to seeing daddy too if Lawson is around in uniform. He wonders where his dad is. ( Now calm down girls, don't start crying now.... Josh needs you ! ) Lawson sits down and plays with Ryan while Lisa helps Sophie and explains the situation.

Meanwhile Kerry is waiting at the hospital, while Josh goes in for surgery. Lisa looks after Ryan while Lawson drives Sophie to the hospital. She's distraught and Lawson isn't much better himself, but he tries to keep it under control. There is an uneasy wait at the hospital.

The doctor emerges from surgery and speaks to Kerry first, who nods repeatedly as he speaks, and then brings him over to Sophie. Lawson supports Sophie physically while she listens to the doctor.
Doctor; "Mrs Joshua ?"
Sophie nods.
Doctor; "It looks promising.....we believe we've removed all of the wood fragments, it's a significant wound of course, but he's lucky, he's strong and young and should be able to make a good recovery. None of his vital organs have been effected. However he does also have a broken ankle so he's going to need to rest up for quite some time....... He'll need a wheelchair when he goes home.
Sophie; "How long until he can come home ?"
Doctor; "Well that depends how quickly he recovers... but it's certainly many weeks until he can return to work."
Sophie thanks the doctor and sits down in relief.
Doctor; "You can go see him now, you know..."
Sophie just nods. It's too much to take in. Lawson is very worried about her. He sits with her for a while before they go see Josh.

Lawson and Sophie follow the Doctor in to see Josh who has just come out of surgery and is still sedated. Sophie walks in with Lawson's arm supporting her. He's worried that she might faint again, but she's determined to stay strong for Josh. She walks over to the bed, trying not to cry. She says his name softly and caresses his forehead and hair with her hand, then she leans down and kisses him on the cheek.

Sophie sits down next to the bed and holds his hand. Lawson feels incredibly relieved to see Josh without a piece of staircase, and he's glad that Sophie didn't have to see that. Sophie does ask the doctor if she can see the wound, or the bandage anyway.
Lawson; "Sophie, is that really a good idea ?"
Sophie; "I need to, or I'll just imagine it anyway"
She looks, it's just a big white bandage now, wrapped around his waist.

Sophie stays by his side for a while but she can't stay too long because Ryan needs her too. It's getting late now. The doctor promises to call as soon as there are any changes. Lawson needs to take Sophie back home, but she'll also need to get her car, so they stop off at the Base. Josh had left the car at work that afternoon. Seeing the car waiting for him in the dark car-park brings Sophie to tears and she stands there a while with Lawson hugging her.
Sophie; "It's ok, I'm ok, I can drive home alone."
Lawson follows her in his own car.
When they get home, Ryan is happily having a bath. Lawson and Lisa order some take-away and they stay for dinner. Ryan asks; "Where's daddy ?".
Lawson and Lisa look at Sophie.
Sophie; "Daddy's at work"
Lawson raises his eyebrows at her.
Sophie; "You'll see him tomorrow Ryan."
When Ryan is safely asleep Lawson asks her; "Was that such a good idea Sophie ? Telling him a lie ?"
Sophie; "I thought about it. I know he'll have to see Josh in hospital and I'll have to tell him, but I wanted him to be able to sleep tonight. He'd just want to go to the hospital straight away. Tomorrow we'll go see him."
Lawson nods.



Sophie and Ryan go visit Josh in hospital the next morning. Ryan has his toy cars and trucks. The nurses enjoy entertaining him, he's already a little charmer !
Josh comes to, whilst Sophie is sitting there holding his hand. She's nearly fallen asleep with her head lying on the edge of the bed, she hadn't slept well last night. Josh can hear the familiar sound of Ryan making siren noises with his toy police cars.
The first thing that Josh says is; "Ryan ?"
Sophie looks up in delight, and Ryan comes running over to the bed.
Ryan; "Daddy ! Daddy !"
Sophie stops him from jumping on Josh. Josh reaches out and ruffles Ryan's hair and manages a faint smile for Sophie but he's tired and in pain. A nurse comes in to see what's going on, and then goes to get the doctor. Sophie takes Ryan away briefly so Josh can listen to the doctor. She calls Lawson with the news.

Later when Sophie and Ryan have gone home

Lawson and Dom arrive.
L; "Hey mate, how are you feeling ?"
J; "Like s***t"
L; " Well, that's what you get for jumping into staircases !"
D; "So I hear you've got a massive hole in you now !"
Josh manages a faint smile in response to Dom's beaming smile.
L; "Yeah well, now he has a hole that looks like an impressive bullet wound but we all know it's just staircase !"
J; "The doc says it missed all the vital bits"

L; "Well, that's a surprise given the lack of fat around your waist ! What'd it go through ?" then Lawson points at Dom; "Plenty of spare tyre over here !" and pokes Dom.
D; "Ow ! Watch it !"
Josh enjoys their friendly banter but he's tired and they soon leave him to rest.