They got out of the taxi and Charles paid the driver £200 with a £50 discount, only because he still had his army uniform on and the driver said he would knock some money off because of it.
Charles walked in front of Belinda and Dave to lead the way to the reception, as it was Molly's parents' first time in the Queen Elizabeth. They walked to the receptionist to ask where the HDU Department was because none of Charles' soldiers had ever been that badly injured. "Walk through those double doors behind me, turn right to the lifts and go onto the first floor or turn left and go up the stairs. Once you're on the first floor, keep walking straight through 2 sets of doors and turn left. There will then be another receptionist there as it's quite confusing to get to it."
"Okay. Right, thanks." Charles could only grasp bits of what she was saying, so they followed his instructions and reluctantly, they got to the first floor receptionist with the help of a few nurses, "hi, could you tell me where the HDU Department is? We've been directed up here and told to ask for more instructions."
"Yes. Certainly. Carry on walking straight down this corridor and once you're further down, you'll see a sign on your left saying 'Acute Cardiac Arrest' and on your right, you'll see an electronic speaker attached to the wall. Press the orange button on that and someone will answer and speak through the speaker to which you'll have to reply with the patients name you're going to see, then they'll open the doors for you. After that, there will be a phone attached to the wall that will ring and you or someone will have to answer it to say whether you're allowed in yet or ?"
"Yes, thank you." They follow the receptionists exact instructions and were let into the HDU/ICU waiting room. On the left, there was a long coffee table with a sofa and 2 blue chairs at the ends of the table. On the right there were 2 long sofas and and 3 blue chairs again. Leaned against the wall, there were blue and brown chairs for visitors who didn't have somewhere to sit. There was also a TV in the top left corner with subtitles on that had an awful signal. There was a kitchen inside the waiting room for regular visitors who wanted a cup of tea or wanted to store their meals in there, but they all had to have labels otherwise the nurses would bin them.
After a few minutes of sitting down, the phone rang and Charles answered it. A male voice said, "Visitors to see Molly Dawes?"
"Yes that's us."
"Great. She's in bed 6 if you would like to come through, a maximum of 2 please."
"Okay sure." Charles put down the phone and turned slowly on his heels, "they only want a maximum of 2 people."
"Oh Charles. Don't worry about it. Me and Dave will just say we are her parents and you say you're her boyfriend, simple as that."
"Are you sure it's going to work Belinda?"
"Yes, now come one. I would like to see my daughter."
Charles led the way and they were all stopped by a nurse, "I'm sorry, but there is only a maximum of 2 people per bed."
"We are all very important people to her. I'm her boyfriend and these are her parents." Charles was tempted to use his rank to let them see Molly altogether, but decided to wait out for the time-being.
"Well, I suppose I could bend the rules a little bit."
"Thank you so much!" Charles hoped that by his army uniform and his badge as a Royal Commanding Officer would change her mine.
They all walked to room 6 and saw Molly with tubes everywhere. Charles could spot a nose tube, a feeding tube, a morphine tube, a capita, a blood supply tube and and grey clip on her finger to measure her heart rate. Her eyes were fluttering as Charles moved to the left side of the bed whilst Belinda and Dave were on the right side of her bed. Charles picked up her hand and started stroking one whilst Belinda started stroking the other, "Boss?" Her voice was extremely faint.
"Hey Molly. Your parents are here to you know." Molly turned to look at her parents and let out a little smile, "you've had us all worried sick Molls."
"Sorry about that."
"You shouldn't be sorry." Dave seemed a little pale and his voice was shaky.
"Dave y'alright?" Belinda noticed the change of colour in his face, "maybe you should sit down. Sit on that chair there." Belinda pointed to a chair with her spare hand.
Charles walked over to the other side of the bed to help Dave sit down, "I'll get you a drink if water." He walked outside Molly's room to find a nurse, "hiya sorry. Can I have a cup of water please."
"Yeah sure." The nurse walked into the staff room and poured a glass of water and Charles was about to walk into Molly's room but stopped outside.
"He's a good lad your captain ain't he? He told us about you getting in to trouble and him threatening you about lobbing you out of the plane. He said he thought you might gonna be a bad apple that infects the rest of the group." Molly chuckled at the memory even though it really hurt, "he also told us that you declared you're feelings for each other, just before you got shot. Y'know what Nan says about only finding a good'un once, well you've found em twice Molls: Smurf now this posh bloke of yours. But if you want my advice, stick with the posh bloke, your Captain. He's definitely good looking and a gentleman."
"I have no intention of ignoring James. He's too good for me and I think me and him love each other a lot." Molly's voice was croaky but you could hear her clearly, even from outside the door.
"Ditto Molls." As soon as Molly finished that sentence, Charles handed the water to Dave and walked round to the same side of the bed he was on, "I also have no intention of not loving you. We are a match made him heaven. But you also got a bit of that wrong there Molls, you're too good for me. No man would ever be good enough for you." Charles kissed Molly on the hand and Belinda looked at Dave and mouthed 'he's a keeper ' and Dave agreed.
After some small talk about what was going on at home, Molly fell asleep. Charles kissed Molly on the forehead after her parents did. They left her room and walked into the waiting room. Dave finally recovered now, he was feeling a bit dizzy and light headed. They managed to get out of the hospital no problem, however, Charles had to get back to Bath to see his parent so he gave Belinda and Dave £250 to get back to their house and said that he won't be able to make it to the hospital tomorrow as he will have to fill in the After-Action Report and will need to update his section about his Dawesy. Belinda and Dave said it was fine as Belinda's mum, also know as 'Nan' could hire a Corsa for a few weeks so it's not the expensive trips to London from Birmingham. They all said good bye to each other as they got in separate taxis; one going to Bath and the other to London.
A/N 1: The instructions, waiting room and the layout of the HDU/ICU Department are the instructions that my brother, mum and I were given when my Dad was in HDU after having an emergency operation a month ago at Great Western Hospital in Swindon, as that was the closest to us as its about a 20 minute drive from where I live. :)
A/N 2: What happened to Dave in this story happened to me when I went to see my Dad, so I can relate.
A/N 3: You all have 4 choices. Would you like me to carry on the trips to the hospital? Or skip to the bit where Molly gets out of hospital? The bit where Molly is recovered and Charles goes down to see Molly for a weekend in London? Or the bit where there is a 2 section reunion in London?