Lenny returned a while later.
"Ive got good news!"
"I can go home tomorrow?"
"How did you know?" Lenny asked.
"Ahhh..." Jess said, pointing to her head. "I know things." Lenny laughed.
"Well, maybe you will be strong enough to walk out tomorrow." He said.
"Yeah, maybe. My legs ache now though from earlier. Its weird. I'd only been laying down for a day."
"Its the surgery. Not only have you been laying down for a day, but your abdomen hurts when you walk, right?" Lenny asked.
"Right..."
"So it is going to hurt for a while, but after a few weeks you will be completely pain free." Lenny smiled.
"Yay!" Jess said.
"Linda's going home soon and she said she will come and see you before she leaves."
"Cool." Jess said.
Linda came in soon after Lenny left.
"I got you something." She said, and handed over a bag of fruit pastilles.
"Aww thank you! You didn't have to.." She said.
"But I wanted to." Linda smiled. "You've been great."
"Thanks to you, and everyone here." Jess told Linda, opened the bag and offered her a sweet.
"Thanks." Linda said, popping the sweet in her mouth.
"When does mums shift end?"
"In about 2 hours." Linda said.
"Ugh." groaned Jess. "Thats so long!"
"Its not that long! You can go home tomorrow morning, which means you have something to look forward to."
"Yeah I guess." Jess said, offering Linda another Haribo. She took one.
"I need to leave now, so I will see you tomorrow before you go hopefully."
"Okay. See you tomorrow." She said, and Linda waved and left.
Outside the cubicle, Zoe ran into Linda.
"Zoe, you don't know how lucky you are to have such a nice daughter." Linda told her.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Britney still hates me. She won't let Joe near me." Linda said.
"She will come around." Zoe said.
"Maybe, but she," Linda quietened her voice to a whisper. "She slapped me the other day."
"She what?"
"She slapped me." Linda said. "Im thinking of putting her back into care."
"What about Joe?"
"I will give him the option of staying or going. I can't separate him from Britney if he doesn't want to go. I will give it some time before I make any decisions though."
"Good Idea." Zoe said.
"As I said. You are lucky to have such a nice daughter. Talkative, friendly..." Linda said.
"Thank you Linda. I can tell her if you like."
"You can If you want. I don't mind." Linda smiled. "Well, Id better get going. I will see you tomorrow when you take Jess home. You are getting a few days off to look after her, right?"
"Yeah, Tess let me off for a few days." Zoe said. "Thanks for everything Linda."
"No problem." Linda said. "See you tomorrow."
"See you." Zoe said, and went to go and check on Sam.
"You alright Sam?"
"Yeah, not so dizzy anymore." She said, sitting up.
"So... whats this I hear about you and Dylan?" Zoe asked.
"I might aswell tell you as everyone will ask..." She said. "Well, we were married before I went into the army, and we had a fight before I left. We split, but never got round to divorcing. I still liked him, but I wasn't sure if he still liked me. After today, I found that he did... So we are getting back together." Sam beamed.
"Ooooooh thats great Sam!" Zoe said. "When are you leaving here?"
"Nick said the day after tomorrow." Sam said."I still have concussion."
"Yeah." Zoe said. "Im leaving tomorrow morning with Jess."
"Thats great! Finally better to get back home."
"Yeah, she can't wait." Zoe smiled. "Id better get going."
"Okay. See you when you get back to work, yeah?"
"If you are back working by then, yes." Zoe said. "See you."
"Bye Zoe."
The next morning, Jess was almost bouncing out of bed.
"Can we go now?" Jess said to her mother.
"Not yet! Just need someone to take your blood again and make sure you are completely back in health." Zoe explained.
"Uh im fine!"
"We will see with the blood tests." Zoe said and Jess huffed. "Linda will be here in a minute."
"Okay." Jess said, grumpy.
"Ready for a blood test before you go?" Linda said as she walked in.
"Yeah, I just want to get home." Jess said.
"Well, this will be over soon." Linda said, and prepared a needle. She tied something just above Jess's elbow to help her find a vein. "Ready?"
"Yeah." Jess said, and she felt Linda push the needle in, and winced.
"Almost done." Zoe said, whilst holding her daughters hand.
"There." Linda said. "I will be back in half an hour wih your results." She smiled and left the cubicle.
"I gotta wait another half an hour?" Jess said. "I want to go now!"
"Be patient." Zoe said, letting go of Jess's hand. "The time will soon come." Jess huffed again. "Look. Lets play a game of pontoon while we wait, yeah? I know you like that one."
"Sure." Jess said, pleased that she had something to do.
Soon enough, the time came when Linda came back in.
"Bloods are clear. You may go!" She seemed happy for Jess. "Zoe, you need to fill out the discharge papers."
"Okay. I will do it when we have Jess ready." Zoe said. "You ready?"
"Yeah!" Said Jess, swinging her legs over the bed, not thinking about the fact that she had surgery only two days ago. She winced.
"Slower..." Zoe said.
"I know... I forgot." Jess said, and stood up. She still wasn't exactly steady, but it was a lot better than the other day.
"Can you walk on your own?" Linda asked her.
"Yeah." She said, and slowly walked to the front desk with Linda and her mother.
"So, sign here." Linda told Zoe.
"I know, Ive been telling this to people for years." Zoe said.
"Oh yeah..." Linda said.
"There." Zoe said.
"You can go now Jess! Enjoy your few weeks off school." Linda said.
"I will, thanks! Maybe I will come and visit one of the days so Im not bored at home."
"Good idea. Will look forward to it!" Linda told her.
"Cool. See you." Jess said.
"Yeah see you Linda!" Zoe waved.
"Bye!" Linda said, and watched them both leave.
