Part 7
The moment he had been waiting for had come, the moment when he could open his eyes and see her lay next to him wrapped in his arms. She was a angle her eyes lightly shut and her cheeks rosy, in all the times he had watched her sleep this time felt different for some reason.
He moved his arm to around her waist causing her eyes to flicker open, his face lit up once again as she grinned back at him.
'Hey.' Her voice was soft.
'You ok?' He stroked her cheek lovingly.
'Couldn't be better.' She pulled the duvet up to their necks and moved closer to Jay.
'Either could I. Although we have work today.' He wrinkled his nose at the thought of getting out of bed.
'For once I have to agree with you.' She ran her cold foot up his bare leg.
'Um Dr Winters I think you need warming up.' He grinned at her as his hands ran up her leg sending a shiver down her spin.
'Um...Well as much as I would like that. I don't like being late for work.' She kissed him before grabbing Jay's t-shirt and throwing it over her and then climbing out of of bed and walking to the bathroom.
'Spoil sport' Jay complained as he propped up his pillow and looked up at the ceiling.
But if he was honest he didn't care last night had been amazing he could finally hold her in his arms and run his hands across her back. It felt like all this extra weight had been lifted and now he could breathe easy again.
'You alright mate, you seem different.' Noel eyed up Jay as he grinned at him.
'Couldn't be better.'
'Oh, ok.' He scratched his head before turning back to his work.
Jay knew why he was asking, as he had been grinning madly all day which in recent months was a rare sight. But he didn't care he was on cloud nine and on-one or nothing could bring him down from that.
'Jay I think your needed.' Noel gave Jay the heads up as Polly and the new paramedic Jamie brought through a patient. But it seemed different it wasn't just one doctor it was all of them Mr Jordan, Zoe, Adam and Ruth. He knew something was up from that as he followed the group to recues.
'Jay maybe you shouldn't do this.' Ruth placed a caring hand on his shoulder as Polly reeled off the list of injuries.
'Ruth what's going on?' He starred at her as she gloved up.
'Jay listen to me, He's going to be ok. He's just got a little over worked.' As soon as she said that he knew who it was and when Adam stepped away to reveal Charlie lay out unconscious on the bed Jay knew he was right.
Jay couldn't breathe he felt sick, Charlie was back in this situation again. He knew he had come back too soon and doing to man shifts. He slowly approached the bed as the team worked on the wise nurse.
'Charlie! Is he ok?' He turned his attention back to Ruth. She could see the fear in his eyes as he starred at her.
'Nurse Faldren. Leave us to it.' Mr Jordan shouted at Jay.
'No. I want to help, I need to help.' Jay pleaded
Ruth took jay's hand and led him towards the door he was in complete and utter shock one minute he was on cloud nine and now he was facing losing someone very close to him.
'Come on babe. Get a tea, let us do our job.' She placed her hand on his cheek as he sighed deeply in frustration.
'I need to...' She stopped him placing a finger on his lip.
'You need to calm down and get a tea. Jay he's going to be fine.' Her voice was soft she wanted to reassure him but she also knew that Charlie was in a bad way.
'Ok. But I'm coming back soon.' He ran a hand through his hair before taking a quick glance back at Charlie and leaving recues.
'Dr Winters. Help now!' Ruth rushed over to help the team as they struggled to stabilize Charlie.
He was in a daze; they were all in a daze as the rest of the staff stood outside recues. They had been waiting for an hour but it felt like days and nothing, on-one had left and on-one had gone in .Nothing
Jay raised his head as a tired looking Adam appeared from recues. They all stood up anticipating his answer.
'He's ok guys but he's got to go up to ICU.' They all sighed in relief.
A few moments later Ruth and Zoe came through informing Big Mac he was needed.
'Hey.' She sat down next to him running her hand across his cheek.
'You look shattered.' A smile graced his lips she always knew how to make him feel better.
'Thanks. Is he ok?' he turned to face her.
'Yeah, but he needs to go up to ICU.' They both looked up as Big Mac pushed Charlie into the lift.
'Can I see him?' He stood up ready to approach him.
'Tomorrow you need to sleep now.' She grabbed his hand as he tried to pull away from her grip.
'Please. Just a sec.' He pleaded with her but she wasn't giving in she knew that he needed to calm down a little before he saw Charlie.
'No Tess is going up with him. Give them time to sort him out.' She shook her head as the lift doors closed.
'Fine.' He said dully. He knew Ruth was looking after his best interest but it didn't stop him being annoyed with her.
A silence fell between the pair as more and more people entered the ED.
'I'm going home my shifts over. Like you said I need to rest.' He said it with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
'You're mad with me.' Her head fell she didn't want him to be mad. She just wanted him to get some sleep.
He didn't want to upset her and he knew that his words had done just that.
'Look I'm just tired, I need to get home and sleep. It's been a long day.' He looked up at the ceiling as she didn't reply.
'I'm not mad at you.' He pointed out as she shuffled on her feet.
Finally he couldn't take her silence anymore he used his finger to raise her head to look at him.
'Are you sure?' She finally spoke.
'Yes, come here I could never be mad at you when you're trying to help me can I.' He came close to her wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her tightly.
They eventually pulled apart when Ruth began to feel eyes on them.
'Well.' She blushed slightly as Jay pushed aside a piece of hair that was covering her eye.
'I better get home, but were ok right?' He rubbed her arm.
'Course we are.' She lent up on her tiptoes and kissed him softly on the lips.
'I...I better get off, Nan will be waiting.' He winked at her as they walked towards the staffroom. Ruth stopped by the door as Jay entered to collect his things.
He threw his rucksack over his shoulder before pulling something out of his dirty scrub pocket and passing it to Ruth.
'What's this?' She looked confused as jay jogged away from her turning around when he reached the exit.
'Love you.' He grinned before making a swift exit from the emergency department.
As the door swung shut, Ruth opened her palms to reveal love heart harribo , she smiled to herself even the smallest romantic thing that Jay did made her feel weak at the knees.
He felt refreshed he knew Charlie wasn't going to be back to normal straight away but he was pleased he was going to get better.
He dug his hands deeper into his pockets as the wind hit him as he approached the familiar hospital. Once he had dumped his clothes in his locker he headed up to ICU. When he reached the door he buzzed he rocked on his heels as he waited, soon enough a short brown haired nurse approached the door.
'Can I help?' She leaned on the wooden door frame.
'Yes I was wondering if I could see Charlie Fairhead.' He gave her the trademark Jay smile.
'Well Mr Fairhead could do with his rest after his turn last night.' His face dropped.
'What? Is he ok?' he felt like he couldn't breathe he needed, he wanted answers.
'Sir he needs time, maybe come back later.' She gave him a smile before shutting the door.
He was shocked, he felt like someone had punched him in the stomach, he needed some air so he ran, and he ran out the ward, out the hospital and out of the eye shot of prying eyes.
She found him slouching against the wall, heavy tears streaming down his face. She darted over to him wrapping her arms lovingly around his neck as he turned to face her, his eyes were bright red and he looked like he had run a emotional marathon as he sobbed into her scrub top.
'Hey, Hey calm down tiger. What's happened?' She rubbed his back.
He didn't reply he just continued to sob into her shoulder. After a few straight minute of crying he pulled away from her and breathed in deeply.
'They won't let me see him. The nurse said he took a turn for the worse in the night.' He quickly blurted out as Ruth ran her hand through his messy hair.
'Jay listen to me. Tonight me and you will demand to go up there. Because I can't see you in this state again.' She said before turning to see Dixie and Jeff unloading a patient.
'I should...'She stuttered before Jay nodded to her to say it was ok.
'I'll meet you after my shift and we will go up and see him.' She shouted back at him before turning on her heels and running with the paramedics.
They stood there hand in hand waiting for the nurse to appear after their shift as Ruth had promised.
'Your back.' She sounded sarcastic
'Yeah and I would like to see Charlie if that's ok.' He squeezed Ruth's hand.
'Well...'she went to make her excuse.
'Look five minutes that's it, he just wants five minutes.' Ruth interrupted her raising her voice in frustration.
'Fine, come through. Five minutes.' She rolled her eyes as Jay rushed through the doors with Ruth closely behind.
'Go!' Ruth let his hand go as he began to enter the ward.
'What? You're not coming in with me.' He rubbed his neck.
'You'll only be in there for a bit I'll wait. 'She titled her head slightly looking deeply into his eyes.
'I think I love you too much Dr Winters. 'He leaned forward and kissed her cheek softly before disappearing into the ward.
There were tubes and wires surrounding him he didn't look like the real Charlie. The black circles around his eyes and his still form, Jay's eyes fell to his head the brushing from where he had fallen was obvious as the blue and black patches covered the side of his head. He sat down in the worn chair just taking in the sight of Charlie.
'You better get well soon gramps or I'll start running Tess ragged again.' Jay chuckled slightly.
'Sir times up.' The moody nurse poked her head around the door.
He gave her a simple nod before turning back to Charlie.
'Right mate I have to go but Louis is coming up soon and Tess.' A lump began to appear in his throat.
Jay puffed out his cheek trying to hold off the tears as he made a quick exit from the ward.
'Jay?' Ruth stood up as Jay entered the corridor
He didn't say anything he just wrapped his arms around Ruth and held her tightly promising to himself that he would never let go of her.
'What was that for?' Ruth let a smile grace her face as she pulled away.
'Because I love you.' He grinned back at her and took her hand leading her away from the horrible hospital atmosphere.
