The paramedics wheeled Ruby through the emergency entrance doors, the lound sound of a bang from the doors clattering off the end of the bed as they moved. Rachel looked up from her file and was shocked to see what was coming towards her. She closed up the file and made a beeline straight for the trolley, away from the patient she was checking on.
"Oh my God. Ruby...Ruby sweetheart it's Rachel", she said in a soothing manner as she drew Ruby's attention towards her.
Ruby's eyes were flushed with tears. Blood from the cut above her brow covered the left side of her face. Her chest was still bleedong from the burst stitches and the piercing screams made it evident to Rachel that Ruby was in a servere amount of pain. She looked past the paramedics and could see Charlie pacing behind them with Angelo in pursuit. She could see the terror in Charlie's face and the concern of a mother for her daughter. The medics pushed the trolley into the empty ER bay and stepped away to allow Rachel to proceed.
"Ruby, sweetie, it's alright were going to do everythong we can to ease your pain", Rachel said as she Ruby tighten her grip on the blanket covering her.
"I can't feel my legs...I can't...", Ruby trailed off as she felt another sharp pain jut through her back.
Charlie edged away from the archway into the room and moved up to the opposite side of the bed, taking hold of her daughters hand for support and comfort. She winced when Ruby's grip intensified. The shock of her tight grasp sent a realistation through Charlie that her daughter was in more pain than she dared to think about.
One of the medics picked up the medical clipboard he brought in with Ruby and started giving a brief description of the injuries they could pick up on from the accident site.
"Laceration to the forehead, blood sugar levels are low. A serious trauma to the lower back, deep laceration from a stray shard of glass from the windscreen", he said looking down at his notes.
Rachel padded down the support barrier that was keeping Ruby on her side and looked at the wound on her lower back. She gasped in horror at what she was seeing. The glass was lodged so far into Ruby's back it could barely be seen through the blood. She looked up at Charlie who was keeping a brave face for her daughter and then turned to the nurse who was checking Ruby's blood sugar levels.
"We need to get her into an operating theatre now. Page Dr. Marsden, tell him it's an emergency and we don't have time to wait", she ordered, watching the brunette nurse race out of the room and towards the reception desk.
Charlie stood silent at the side of the bed, trying to take in what was being said and also trying to comfort Ruby and sooth her through the pain. But to no avail. It seemed like every ten seconds a strong wave of pain would hit Ruby and the tears and screams were more than she could take. For a quick moment, Ruby's gaze locked with Charlie's and the look of despair was heart wrenching. Charlie held her grip of Ruby's hand and stroked her hair with the other. Ruby nudged her head ever so slightly into Charlie's comforting hand movements and let out a piercing squeal as another pain wave hit her.
"Ruby take a deep breath, I'm going to give you some pain relief to settle you down, ok", Rachel daid as she administered a morphine injection into the drip.
Within a matter of seconds the pain started to ease to a bearable level and Ruby began to loosen her grip on Charlie's hand. The nurse came back and informed Rachel of the deals of her phone call with Dr. Marsden. Charlie looked up and saw Rachel gesture for her to walk outside to talk in private. Angelo was sitting on one of the chairs outside waiting for her. Rachel stopped in front of Charlie and put a comforting hand on her arm.
"We're taking Ruby straight down to the operating theatre now. With the pain she's in it's the only way to see how much damage has been done and it will allow us to repair as much of it as we can", she said looing at Charlie's concerned expression. "Hey, don't worry. Ruby's a fighter. She's not going to give up that easily",
Rachel looked at Charlie with an encouraging smile and Charlie tried to acknowledge it. But she couldn't. This was the second time Ruby had been in a life threatening situation and it was the second time she had ended up in hospital because of it. She turned and looked back into the room at Ruby's bed. She was laid on her side, back to the door, the nurse prepping her for surgery. Charlie looked down at the blood stain bandaging wrapped around the wound in her lower back and grimaced. Although she wanted to believe everything would be alright, her gut feeling was telling her differently.
"Can I see her before she goes?" Charlie asked.
"Yes, of course", Rachel replied gesturing her hand back into the ER bay.
Charlie walked over to the far side of the bed and placed a comforting hand on the side of her daughters cheek. Ruby looked up at her and nestled her face into Charlie's hand and let out a small smile. Charlie pushed a few strands of Ruby's hair behind her ear. She leaned down and gave Ruby a long lingering kiss on the forehead and looked up to the surgical team enter to take Ruby.
"I'll be right here waiting for you, ok. I love you so much", with one last kiss on the cheek, Charlie stood up and stepped back.
She watched as they wheeled her out of the room and she followed them into the corridor. She stopped outside the room and watched as they wheeled Ruby down towards the elevator to bring her up to craddled her hands in her chest and let out a silen sob. Angelo stood up and walked over to her and placed his arms around her waist. Charlie flinched and tore his arms off her. Angelo stood back in shock at the rejection and looked at his girlfriend.
"Don't touch me", Charlie said trying not to raise her voice in a public place.
"What Charlie I just want to...." Angelo was cut off by a clearly angry Charlie.
"This is your fault. If you hadn't called for police back or chased after Derrick none of this would have happened", she said fighting back tears.
"Charlie you don't mean that. I was just trying to help", Angelo replied sounding sincere. But Charlie was having none of it.
"Yeah well we both know your track record of trying to make things better usually gets someone else hurt", Charlie snapped back.
Angelo stood back in disbelief at what she had just said. He knew she was hurting but he never thought Charlie could be so cold. He felt himself getting emotional at the rejection from Charlie and knowing too well from her comments that she didn't want him there, he left.
Charlie stood in the corridor and watched him leave, her heart pounding out of her chest. The anger started to subside once he was out of sight and with that she dropped to the chair behind her let out a sigh. She reached into her jeans pocket. She pulled out her locket, the one she carried for protection. In one way it did what she expected it to do but to Charlie, she wished it had have been Ruby who was safe. She opened it up and stared at the pictures in side. Praying tings would be alright.
