Erin hated hospitals. Currently she was lying on a bed in a cubicle in the accident and emergency department waiting to be discharged. Suddenly the curtain to her cubicle was pulled back and Harry stepped in looking very sympathetic

"I phoned Nikki to give her an update" he told Leo who was sitting next to the bed on a rather uncomfortable looking chair "How's the patient doing?"

Erin grumbled in response and Harry was sure he caught a few questionable four letter words

"The doctor's checked her over" Leo told Harry as the younger man pulled up another chair

"What's the damage?"

"Like you can't see!" Erin snapped, the hospital was making her more grumpy than usual

"She's re-fractured her wrist, dislocated her elbow, and broken her ulna, not to mention three fingers and a thumb.

Harry grimaced as he eyed the bulky cast that covered Erin's arm from her shoulder to her hand and was bent at the elbow. Her fingers were strapped up and the whole ensemble prevented Erin from being able to move her arm

"The doctor thinks she must have packed some real force behind the punch" Leo told Harry "She must have hit the wall a good couple of times to cause that much damage, of course it didn't help her arm was injured to begin with"

"How's her leg?" Harry asked, not being quite sure if he wanted to know

Leo gently moved the covers back from the bed to reveal a cast covering Erin's leg from the thigh downwards

"Badly fractured in several places" he said simply and was met with a groan of frustration from Erin

"So you've managed to break your arm and leg only days after coming through major surgery" Harry said incredulously "You're more accident prone than Nikki!"

"Do you want to tell him what happened?" Leo asked and Erin nodded

"I was trashing my room" she said shakily "And I tipped my bed over, it landed on my leg…" she said meekly

"And you punched the wall…" Harry said and Erin nodded

At that moment the doctor came in, giving all three of them a professional smile "Well Erin I think we can discharge you now. We would usually keep you in overnight but obviously you're in capable hands and I've also been informed of your hatred for hospitals so taking that all into consideration we're going to release you"

"Good" Erin muttered

"I want you to keep off your leg as much as possible" the doctor told her "And I want you to rest your arm as well"

Erin nodded and tried to tune out to what the doctor was saying, she really hated hospitals


A week later and Erin was still laid up at home. Leo had thought it best that she stay at home and recover, so he'd been on the phone to her teachers to arrange a way to keep up her studies from home. She'd had lots of work sent home and was surprised to find she wasn't that far behind. School work had been hard to do as her writing arm was strapped up in plaster, but Harry, Nikki and Leo were all there to help her and she was starting to make progress

Unfortunately her injuries weren't making as fast progress as her school work was, the broken bones she'd suffered in the past from living with her mother, were slowing down the progress of the fresh fractures recovering. Erin was increasingly frustrated by this but it was Leo who was always there to soothe her and keep her spirits up.

"How's the invalid?" Leo asked walking into the living room

Erin had been sleeping downstairs for the last week as she was unable to get upstairs without risking another fall which Leo was very keen to avoid

"Sore" Erin groaned laying her head back on the pillow

Leo gave her a sympathetic smile as he looked over his daughter, as much as he hated to see her in pain, he did admit this was the longest he'd ever seen her still and it was doing her wonders keeping her patient

"Take these" Leo said handing her a couple of colourful pills which she swallowed down with the help of some water

"How long do I have to stay like this?" she motioned to her casts

"A little while yet" he told her softly "You need to wait for the bones to knit back together again. It's only been a week…"

"I want to go back to school" she pleaded

Leo shook his head "You heard what the doctor said, you're meant to be resting. Don't run before you can walk"

Erin scowled at his poor taste of joke "I can walk though"

"You're meant to be keeping as much weight off as possible" he chided

"Please…" Erin begged "Just to the kitchen and back"

Leo rolled his eyes "And then you promise me you'll rest" Erin nodded

Very carefully the pair of them managed to strap a blue foam shoe around her leg cast and slowly pushing herself up on a crutch and being balanced by Leo, she managed to stand upright. However as soon as she put weight on her injured leg she let out a hiss of pain and started to wobble

"Erin this isn't a good idea" Leo said balancing her

"Please…" Erin said and Leo could to the determined look on her face

Taking little baby steps, Erin tried to get across to the kitchen. The distance had seemed so short when she wasn't injured but now it seemed like a marathon effort

"I can't go on" she wheezed after only half a dozen steps

"Okay" Leo said as he wrapped her arm around his shoulder and she hopped back to her makeshift bed

"That was rubbish" she said as Leo helped her lie back down, un-strapping the shoe from her foot and making sure both her injured limbs were elevated

"It was more than before. Anyway you've got to remember you had major surgery a week ago and your body is still recovering from that. You're not going to be able to push yourself as hard" he told her

Erin just mumbled and sank back down into the pillows just as the doorbell rang


"Hi Leo" Nikki said as both Harry and herself stepped into the welcoming warmth of Leo's house

"How's Erin?" Harry asked as he took off his jacket

"Still quite weak" Leo said quietly so Erin couldn't hear "The abuse she suffered in the past is really taking its toll on her body's ability to recover"

"She'll make a full recovery though?" Nikki asked

"After she gets the cast off the doctor says she'll have to wear a brace for her arm and leg and she'll be on crutches for a while after" Leo told them "Her leg has been badly broken from when she lived with her mother and it's going to be very weak. And we all know the trauma her wrist has been through"

"Poor kid" Harry sighed

"She'll get there" Nikki assured him

"Of course she will" Leo gave a gentle smile "She's the most stubborn person I know"


"You have been in the wars" Harry said as the walked into the living room where Erin was

"Ignore him" Nikki said shooting a look at Harry "How are you feeling?"

"Better" Erin said although Nikki didn't believe her for a second, a certain maternal telepathy informed her otherwise

Nikki leant towards Erin and adjusted her pillows

"She shouldn't have to strain her neck like that" Nikki scolded Leo

Harry just rolled his eyes at Leo and mouthed the word 'women'

"And don't think I didn't see that!" Nikki turned to Harry who just held his hands up in defence

"I'm going to make some coffee" Leo said sensing that it was his chance to escape

"I need to make Alice a bottle" Nikki said following him as she took the sleeping infant from Harry "She'll wake up soon"

Harry just chuckled as he heard Nikki launching into full blown maternal mode at Leo and resumed his position besides Erin

"Bad things do happen to me" she sighed wincing as she adjusted her arm

"Not you're just very accident prone" Harry chuckled as Erin scowled at him "How's the school work going?" he said changing the subject quickly

"Slowly" Erin groaned "I can't even do half my art because I can't even move my arm without it hurting"

"It'll get better though" Harry encouraged

"I'm going to have to have physiotherapy after I get my casts off" Erin sighed "And I'm going to have to be on crutches for ages"

"That's only to help you" Harry told her "You'll be up and about before you know it"

"I couldn't even walk to the kitchen today, I got as far as there" Erin pointed only a very short distance away from where she currently was

"You're weak at the moment; you're body needs tine to recover. You'll be able to do it in time but for now you just have to take baby steps"

Erin nodded suddenly feeling very sleepy. The painkillers that she had been prescribed were very strong and soon she drifted off into a deep sleep